In Leiyang City, at a tavern, a hotpot bubbled away. Yet the pot held not a scarlet oil broth, but clear chicken soup and soft white chrysanthemums, their fragrance assailing the nose in a style all its own.
And what had been tossed into the pot to cook was not meat, either, but fresh fish—the freshest sea fish.
After relations with the dragon race improved, delicacies from the deep sea were no longer some rare luxury beyond ordinary means. Especially after the Immortal Alliance displayed its might and swept away Linghuang Island, where Ancient Method Cultivators had entrenched themselves, Immortal Alliance cultivators could now venture into the distant seas without again encountering the dangers posed by Ancient Method Cultivators—though which side was "dangerous" naturally depended on the circumstances.
Those sea fish, whose evolution had been meddled with by the dragon race for hundreds of millions of years until they existed solely to be eaten, were incomparably delicious. Even without any aging process, the peptide content in their flesh far surpassed that of any livestock raised by humans, their savor beyond human imagination. And the strength and thickness of those muscle fibers, born not for movement but for texture, were just right. Every bite was an explosion upon the tongue.
Even the lingering essence and demon qi within the flesh became part of the delicacy.
Jiang Lin, a Myriad Dharma Sect disciple, chewed a mouthful of sea fish and fell slightly dazed. "Damn, the dragon race really knows how to enjoy themselves..."
In Ronde or the West Border, a meal like this required only a little extravagance, no more expensive than a casual treat for one's teeth. But in Leiyang, it was somewhat difficult. Since the power of essence within the meat was itself part of its flavor, any cheap preservation