Seeing Zhang Wei indifferent, Jun Qing could only raise the stakes.
"Twice, I'll make you two top-tier dishes!"
"Greedy bastard, don't push your luck!"
"This ham is just rations in your hands. Give it to me, and I'll give you ten times the reward!"
"How about a trade? Or sell it to me, I'll pay the highest price!"
Trade?
The harvest was complete. If he could swap for other ingredients to use as seeds... it seemed not bad.
"Trading ingredients is fine, but do you have ingredients of equivalent level?"
Jun Qing's face turned red again. His blood pressure surged.
If he had level 55 ingredients, he wouldn't be in this frozen wasteland.
"I mean, trade with dishes, the taste will definitely be superior!"
"Pah!"
Trade with dishes?
He actually had the nerve to say that. If it was purely about taste, Zhang Wei could whip up dozens of variations without breaking a sweat.
The value of a dish lay in processing ingredients and elevating their flavor by several levels.
In other words, this person wanted to trade ingredients of several levels below.
Shameless to the extreme...
Having no interest in haggling, Zhang Wei leaped from the treetop, which was thousands of meters high.
Jun Qing and the others watched in dumbfounded silence.
"Chef, what now?"
"Search!"
The Overlord Tree had a high fruiting rate; they should be able to find ripe fruits.
At the base of the tree, Zhang Wei collected the monkey corpses and extracted their brains.
These monkeys were light. Even falling from such a height, their limbs remained intact.
Finally, he arrived at the Ice Plains Dragon's corpse.
The scorching dragon blood melted the surrounding snow.
Zhang Wei tossed a dagger in, and soon it turned into molten metal.
"Iron melts at 1535 degrees Celsius. This dragon blood's temperature is comparable to lava."
"An Ice Plains creature, its body temperature is this high..."
"As expected of a powerful level 50-plus creature, remarkable even in death."
"No wonder they say cooking dragon meat is extremely difficult. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius... it's not easy to even cook it."
Ingredients like this were not uncommon in this world.
They were collectively known as – Special Culinary Ingredients!
Requiring specific methods for processing.
Intent as Blade!
Zhang Wei precisely cut the dragon's wing. The Ice Plains Dragon had a wingspan of tens of meters, and it would take considerable time to sever the membrane intact.
A rumbling sound came from the distance.
A Scale-Armored Ground Dragon, its body limp, was being dragged across the ground.
A man holding a saber was dragging it by the tail, the hundred-ton corpse as light as a feather.
"Quite skilled, at least on Haru's level."
The saber-wielding man boomed, "My name is Heng Xing. Brother, have you seen a large group of people, reasonably well-dressed?"
"They went up the tree."
Zhang Wei replied without looking up, busy with his task.
"Effortlessly slicing through the dragon's body with a palm saber, you've got some skills."
"Mere trifles."
"This dragon was originally my prey."
Zhang Wei looked up, sizing up Heng Xing.
After a moment, he said, "You were no match for it."
Being seen through so easily, Heng Xing's old face flushed.
Heng Xing quickly changed the subject, "Do you know how this dragon died?"
"I killed it with one slice. I didn't mean to, it just happened."
What the heck!
Do you think the Overlord of the Ice Plains is made of porcelain? Killed with one slice, and it just happened?
This boasting is utterly groundless!
If the Ice Plains Dragon was accidentally killed by you with one slice, then what about this Scale-Armored Ground Dragon?
Seriously injured by one punch from you?
Heng Xing gave a thumbs-up, "Thick-skinned, I like it!"
Zhang Wei sighed inwardly. Why did no one ever believe him when he told the truth?
Heng Xing looked at Jun Qing and the others busy at the treetop, and continued to chat casually with Zhang Wei.
"It's incredibly difficult to find a good chef partner these days. I've been starving and freezing in the ice plains for over ten days for that Overlord Tree Ham."
"I'm leaving."
"Leave the dragon wings."
"Huh?"
"After all, I killed the Scale-Armored Ground Dragon, it should belong to me."
Heng Xing continued, "Appeasing a good chef is not easy. Let me have this one, and if you ever need anything in the future, just ask."
Zhang Wei was exasperated. These people were proposing conditions that were utterly worthless.
Even offering some rare ingredients would be better than this drivel.
"You killed the Scale-Armored Dragon, so it's yours... but I can't give you these dragon wings."
"Do you also have a chef you need to appease... Alright, then we'll have to spar."
"Not interested."
Heng Xing drew his saber and held it before his chest, purple-blue arcs of electricity crackling across his body.
"Eight Forms of Thunder Control, please enlighten me!"
Hmm?
Zhang Wei's interest was suddenly piqued.
This was a martial skill?
In this world filled with pots and pans flying everywhere, a genuine martial skill appeared!
Martial skills were different from culinary skills.
Culinary skills were the embodiment of appetite, an innate talent!
The abilities of the Gluttony Demon manifested in the host. They were unrepeatable, unable to be learned or imitated.
Whereas martial skills could be passed down. The extraordinary power granted by Gourmet Cells only served as a battery. Because they focused on combat rather than hunting, their combat power was stronger.
Correspondingly, learning martial skills was extremely difficult, far less convenient and quick than culinary skills.
"First Form of Thunder Control: Desolation of the Eight Directions!"
Arcs of electricity scattered outwards, emanating from Heng Xing.
The ice and snow, impure as they were, served as excellent conductors. Zhang Wei even felt a tingling sensation in his feet.
"Second Form of Thunder Control: Violet Lightning!"
The electric light turned from purple-blue to violet, converging on the great saber, seemingly a type of enchantment skill.
"Third Form of Thunder Control: Arc Flash!"
Under this move, Heng Xing himself transformed into a bolt of purple electricity.
He flashed past Zhang Wei's side at extreme speed.
"Missed?"
"No!"
The greatest characteristic of electric light was its linear trajectory, somewhat like electromagnetic acceleration.
Heng Xing's target was beside Zhang Wei; from the very beginning, he had no intention of confronting Zhang Wei head-on.
The moment he flashed past his side, Heng Xing injected all his electrical energy into the great saber and hurled it forcefully towards Zhang Wei's back.
With the enhancement of the electric light and Heng Xing's arm strength, the speed was incredibly fast!
And to an ordinary person amidst this series of dazzling maneuvers, it would be extremely difficult to guess the target of the attack.
Moreover, the outward-radiating electrical light could not only obscure vision but also paralyze the opponent.
As for Zhang Wei...
He was, of course, dumbfounded.
Let alone cracking the technique, he hadn't even seen the entire complex sequence of movements clearly.
BOOM!!!!
Heavy Sword, Unsharpened!
The colossal saber, weighing tons, flew at extreme speed. The sheer impact force could pierce city walls!
In terms of kinetic energy alone, it was comparable to a supersonic train collision.
Dust and smoke billowed.
The great saber tumbled and spun in the air. Heng Xing leaped up and caught it.
The arcs of electricity on his body had dimmed considerably.
The series of martial skills just performed consumed a lot of energy. It would take at least three breaths before he could summon violet lightning again.
"This strike, anyone below level thirty would die instantly upon being hit. Even the Scale-Armored Ground Dragon would ache for a while!"
"I'd like to see how you dodge this!"