A Chance Encounter with a Mysterious Young Chef Who Cooks Delicious Food?!

A tempting aroma of roasting meat woke the girl.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared around in a daze. Then, as if remembering something, she sprang up from the ground and scrambled backward.

Her hand instinctively went to the Dark Green Dagger at her waist. She watched the two figures sitting by the fire nearby with wary eyes.

"Holy chovy! Uncle Er Ming, could you put some care into grilling the meat? It's burnt to charcoal!"

Tang Qi's complaint reached the girl's ears.

She looked up and saw Tang Qi holding a blackened skewer, waving it through the air with a look of disgust.

Even burnt, the meat smelled so good that the girl couldn't help swallowing.

I'm so hungry...

Just then, her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl, startlingly clear beside the quiet lake.

Huh?

Tang Qi turned at the sound, and their eyes met.

"Hungry?"

Tang Qi raised an eyebrow, picked up a cooked skewer from beside the fire, and held it out to her.

The girl's eyes locked onto it.

She swallowed hard. After a moment's hesitation, she started to reach for it...

No! Huo Yutong, Mom said you mustn't eat food from strangers!

Huo Yutong froze, snatched her hand back, closed her eyes, and shook her head desperately.

But the next moment, Tang Qi held the skewer a little closer, like a shady uncle coaxing a little girl.

"Sure you don't want any?"

Huo Yutong's little nose twitched. She wanted it terribly.

He's such a handsome young man. Surely he can't have bad intentions?

The girl lasted less than two seconds before surrendering completely.

Blushing, she thanked him, then eagerly took the skewer and wolfed it down.

In just a few breaths, the entire large skewer had vanished.

Huo Yutong licked her lips, still wanting more. Her timid gaze drifted toward the other skewers sizzling over the fire.

I want another one so badly... but would that be rude?

Tang Qi noticed where she was looking. Without a word, he gathered several cooked skewers and put them into her hands.

If a stranger had asked him for rare treasures, pills, or Soul Bones, Tang Qi would have shown him the way to his own death.

But if someone was hungry and asking for food? Tang Qi was generous to a fault.

"Go on! They won't taste as good once they're cold," Tang Qi urged.

Huo Yutong stared at the skewers in her hands. Without warning, her eyes reddened.

Since leaving the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, this was the first time anyone had treated her so kindly.

Two silent tears rolled down her cheeks and fell onto the meat. She wiped her eyes as she ate.

A little later, Huo Yutong patted her slightly rounded belly in satisfaction. Then, realizing something, she blushed.

She looked down at the fire. Nothing remained.

I think... I ate too much. I ate it all.

The girl lowered her head in embarrassment.

Sensing Huo Yutong's discomfort, Tang Qi waved a hand and pulled a large pile of marinated ingredients from his Storage Ring.

When she saw the two of them getting ready to cook again, Huo Yutong hurried over and volunteered. "Young sir, Grandpa, let me grill it for you!"

Tai Tan: Grandpa?

She rolled up her sleeves, took the grilling tools from Tai Tan, and set to work with practiced ease.

"I'm a good cook," Huo Yutong said softly, with a hint of pride.

Before long, two skewers gleaming with golden oil and giving off a mouthwatering aroma were ready.

Tang Qi and Tai Tan exchanged a look. Both their pupils contracted.

Tai Tan was a Titled Douluo, yet he felt an almost irresistible craving well up inside him.

That was far from normal.

At his level, nothing short of a top-tier rare treasure should have stirred him so deeply!

They each took a skewer and bit into it.

Tang Qi's eyes flew wide.

Holy chovy! Did this girl secretly put something in my food?

Tang Qi had thought Jiang Mother's cooking was a taste of heaven on earth. He hadn't expected to meet an even greater master!

As he ate, Tang Qi studied the girl still working beside the fire.

"Are you from a nearby village?"

Huo Yutong stiffened, then nodded awkwardly.

A poor family, huh... She must be here to hunt for a Soul Ring.

Tang Qi rubbed his chin, then changed tack. "Interested in becoming my cook? Don't worry about the pay!"

Huo Yutong's hands visibly paused.

Interest flickered in her eyes, but then she seemed to remember something, and her gaze dimmed.

The White Tiger Duke's Mansion. Mom...

In the end, Huo Yutong shook her head.

"Thank you for the offer, young sir, but there's something very important I have to do."

Tang Qi sighed. "All right, then."

A little later, the last batch of skewers was ready. Tang Qi and Tai Tan swept through it like a whirlwind, leaving nothing behind.

Huo Yutong wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, a satisfied smile on her face.

The girl tidied up and was about to say goodbye and continue on her way when Tang Qi stopped her.

"Here."

Tang Qi casually tossed her a Gold Soul Coin.

Huo Yutong caught it without thinking. When she saw what it was, she panicked and waved her hands. "No, no, I can't!"

"Not enough?"

Tang Qi teased her on purpose.

"No, no! That's not it!"

"Then keep it."

"But you need a reason, don't you?" Huo Yutong murmured.

"A reason? Isn't giving me a meal I loved reason enough? Isn't making me happy while I ate reason enough?"

"What do you think, Uncle Er Ming?"

Tai Tan licked his lips, still savoring the meal, and nodded sincerely.

Huo Yutong held the Gold Soul Coin, hardly able to believe it.

All the savings she and her mother had gathered over the years amounted to only a few Silver Soul Coins.

She had earned a Gold Soul Coin just by helping cook one meal?!

She wouldn't have dared dream of such a thing.

"Young sir, could you... could you give me Silver Soul Coins or Copper Soul Coins instead? A Gold Soul Coin is far too much..."

Huo Yutong's voice grew quieter and quieter, as though this was her last attempt to refuse.

"Silver Soul Coins? Copper Soul Coins? I don't carry change that small." Tang Qi waved a lazy hand.

Only then did Huo Yutong carefully tuck the Gold Soul Coin against her body. She bowed deeply to both of them.

"Thank you, young sir! Thank you, Grandpa! You're good people!"

With that, she turned and ran off with a spring in her step.

Two days later, fifty li outside the Star Dou Great Forest.

Leaning against a warning sign, Tang Qi grumbled, "Where's my Brother Huo? He should've arrived by now!"

Don't tell me the Douluo Will hid him away? That shouldn't happen, should it? Has the Douluo Will gone blind and mistaken a peerless good man like me for that born-evil Tang San?

"Xiao Qi, what exactly are you looking for?" Tai Tan, who had been hiding, couldn't help revealing himself.

At first, he had thought Tang Qi wanted to obtain his fourth Soul Ring. But then he reconsidered: Tang Qi hadn't even reached level forty yet!

"Heaven's secrets must not be revealed." Tang Qi solemnly pointed one finger at the sky.

So it was the Sea God's will.

Understanding dawned on Tai Tan.