Thunder City buzzed with activity as chefs from all over competed in the first preliminary round.
The Cooking Competition grounds were divided into four lavishly furnished sections: east, south, west, and north.
The players supplied all kinds of ingredients, while contestants brought their own equipment. The judges were citizens from every stratum of Thunder City society and senior members of the Righteous Alliance. The rules were fair and simple.
The players had minted a currency exclusively for the Cooking Competition—Deficit Coins. Each judge received ten coins to buy the dishes prepared by the contestants.
Whoever collected the most Deficit Coins within the allotted time would win.
In short, this format combined fairness and luck. Cooking first did not guarantee good sales, nor did making fragrant dishes. It also tested the dishes' visual appeal, the chefs' salesmanship, and even their looks...
Besides the judges, the Cooking Competition also provided spectator seating.
Spectators could buy tickets to enter, watch the chefs cook, and place bets on who would advance... Wherever the Righteous Alliance went, it brought joy to the local people. This had already become an ironclad rule.
For the people of the Immortal World, having a spectacle to watch was enough. They did not care whether Lin Bai was confronting Mahayana cultivators in the sky or holding a flashy Cooking Competition in town...
Only the livestream viewers watching through their screens had developed spoiled tastes. Accustomed to the grand spectacles Lin Bai stirred up, they had no interest in a Cooking Competition involving nothing but ordinary people. Watching a bunch of ordinary people toss food in woks was less entertaining than watching a food movie!
And so.
Even though the Righteous Alliance's players racked their brains to make the event lavish, beautiful, exciting, and entertaining, only a handful of viewers watched