Zhang Wei had no choice but to accept the fact that his talent was severely lacking.
According to the book, the concentration of Gourmet Cells determined one's strength, and each Food Demon had its own inheritance.
Every advancement in strength was a convergence between the host and the Food Demon.
The deeper the inheritance of a Food Demon, the fewer the barriers there were.
The strongest Food Demon had an inheritance of 13.4 billion years, traceable back to the beginning of the Big Bang.
Conversely, some new-generation demons had only a few hundred million years of inheritance, meaning their path to advancement was fraught with peril at every step.
As for Zhang Wei's Food Demon...
It was probably only born half a year ago.
The difficulty was not about the quality of the road, but rather that Zhang Wei had to forge the road himself.
No, blaze a trail!
The path of advancement that countless people could not complete in a lifetime, Zhang Wei had to carve out. The difficulty was unimaginable!
"If I really followed the eight steps of a Western-style full-course meal, let alone reaching the pinnacle of the food chain, I might not even make it into the gourmet world."
...
...
Northland Aurora - Mo City.
As one of the coldest human settlements in the mortal realm, Mo City's temperature could drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius.
Although slightly less extreme than the Ice Hell Plains, it was still the limit of what ordinary humans could endure.
It was currently early spring, and the ice and snow in Mo City had not yet melted. As the capital of the Northland, Mo City was quite vast.
In a pawnshop.
The appraiser picked up a magnifying glass and examined the white powder before him.
After a full ten minutes, the appraiser said, "Salt essence of extremely high purity, weighing a total of 3.52 grams... The highest price we can offer is... 13,500 Berries."
Berries had immense purchasing power. Mixed with precious metals, one Berry could be exchanged for 16 kilograms of grain.
And the person in front of the appraiser was naturally Mo Du in disguise.
Carrying a large bag of gold coins, having dealt with those who followed him in a small alley, Mo Du felt utterly exhausted.
"This time, selling it in grams and two grams, how long will it take?"
"Moreover, every time I encounter these short-sighted fools. Living is already hard enough, why must they insist on taking shortcuts!"
He glanced at the corpse lying on the ground, and Mo Du's brow furrowed tightly.
"If all else fails, I'll have to consider the legitimate channels... Perhaps an auction house would be a good option."
Mo Du had also considered underground black market points, but in terms of volume and credibility, they could not possibly handle ten kilograms of salt essence.
In an era where salt essence was measured by the gram, ten kilograms was an astronomical figure.
Mo City's annual quota was roughly the same amount.
Keep in mind that Mo City had thousands of restaurants, and hundreds of three-star hotels were capable of using salt essence!
Any hotel that acquired the salt essence Mo Du possessed would significantly enhance the quality of its high-end cuisine, bringing great benefits to the hotel's future development!
High-end hotels had an annual quota of only 70-150 grams of salt essence, which was enough for about 50 dishes. Given their customer traffic, this was a mere drop in the bucket.
The moment Mo Du walked into the auction house, a storm that could not be quelled was destined to sweep across the Northland!
Meanwhile, on the other side, more than a dozen teams from border towns had set off, embarking on different routes into the Ice Hell Plains.
...
...
Two-headed pterodactyls soared through the sky.
Unlike the terrifying Icefield Dragons, two-headed pterodactyls were more docile and had a capture level of only six. Coupled with their strong physique and endurance, they were commonly captured and domesticated as beasts of burden.
Of course, the cost of raising two-headed pterodactyls was quite high, and the goods they carried were usually of considerable value.
Relay station.
A dozen pterodactyls were parked to rest, with large piles of fat and raw meat resembling small mountains to provide the energy for flight.
These flying beasts of burden were luxuriously equipped, with a large salt character on their breastplates.
These were the transport teams belonging to the four great salt merchants.
"Finally caught up... Hah... I thought you guys had already flown."
A tall, agile man sprinted from a distance. His speed made the transport team members immediately wary!
"Haru? You've lost weight."
"What the heck, you know me?"
"Stand down, all of you. You're no match for him."
A man clad in a coarse linen robe stood up. The scar on his face added a touch of ferocity. Behind him was an exaggerated greatsword, and with each step he took, it left deep footprints.
The greatsword wielder said, "My brother challenged you back then, and you are indeed worthy of being a reincarnation of 'Shitian', the strongest warrior of the Kurk tribe."
"Heh, I left the Kurk long ago. Haven't been a mercenary for many years... This greatsword looks a bit familiar..."
Haru's casual demeanor vanished, and he recalled the scene from back then, the time he came closest to death on a mission.
Two mercenary warriors, one with a saber, one with a broadsword.
They fought desperately against Kurk warriors who outnumbered them several times, and many of their tribal brothers fell by their hands.
"You are... Badao? Where is your brother Hengxing? By the way, your nicknames are quite chuunibyo."
Haru was quite surprised to encounter fellow villagers from the roof of the world here.
Badao drew his heavy sword and pointed it vaguely at Haru.
"We can catch up later. What are you doing here?"
"Uh... Robbery."
Haru scratched his head, looking rather embarrassed.
...
Half an hour later, Haru, holding a transport box, appeared in a certain tunnel.
With every step he took, a blood-red footprint was left on the ground.
"Damn it, this bastard! I haven't seen him in years, and he's suddenly gotten so strong."
"Fortunately, his older brother isn't here, or I might have been done for today..."
"Work hasn't been smooth lately. I keep running into these freaks..."
At this moment, Haru was covered in sword marks, his Gourmet Cell healing reaching its limit.
Thinking of this, Haru recalled the tiger-striped man in the Ice Hell Plains.
Even now, thinking of him brought a sense of despair, like facing an insurmountable mountain!
Crushing!
Even without martial arts, with crude techniques, he was as unmovable as a mountain.
"Damn it, one day I'll catch you and make you cook for me for the rest of your life!"
Recalling his recent setbacks, where even his combined strength with Hengxing and Badao couldn't defeat him back then, now he could heavily injure Haru with his own power alone.
Haru felt a surge of anger!
Even the salt essence he had just snatched no longer felt appealing.
"Looking at the wear marks on that greatsword, Badao must have been honing it without interruption all these years..."
"I've wasted too much time in the City of Progress, even becoming that kind of fat pig."
"To be honest, I haven't made any real progress in all these years, just relying on past achievements."
"If I continue like this, how will I ever catch that person?"
"..."
Haru, hailed as the strongest warrior in a hundred years, possessed exceptional talent. No matter what combat skills he learned, they came as naturally as water flowing.
What he lacked was the heart of a warrior.
Haru once had it, but alas... The girls in the City of Progress were as tender as water, and the beds there were too soft!
He roughly pulled off his necklace and threw it on the ground. It was the sign of the Champs-Élysées Hotel.
He threw out handfuls of business cards from his pocket, featuring various seductive and alluring ladies and their contact information.
With every step he took, Haru's face twitched with heartache.
"Don't think of me, ladies. I'll savor your tenderness slowly in the future."