Chapter 9: The Water Mirror is a Good Thing 

Looking at the ingredients in front of him, Chen Xi pondered which dish would be the most appropriate for the occasion today.

In fact, Chen Xi’s plan was very simple and straightforward. To put it plainly, he was going to use his skills to crush them. Since Wang Xun had claimed that he was just a trickster, Chen Xi decided to let Wang Xun judge for himself who truly lacked real talent. At the same time, he would send a warning to the Beast Tamer family behind Wang Xun. Chen Xi may be a mortal, but that doesn’t mean any lowly person could casually defame him.

Similar to live cooking shows on Earth, Chen Xi planned to use the special public function of the water mirror on Beast Island to achieve the same effect as a culinary live broadcast in the real world.

Due to his status, the water mirror in the Moonlight Celestial Beast’s cave had absolute priority on Beast Island. This meant that by using the water mirror in the Moonlight Celestial Beast’s cave, Chen Xi could directly connect to any area among the celestial beasts and force them to watch him cook.

As he was thinking this, a cool touch of water unintentionally wet his fingers. Chen Xi looked down and happened to spot an ingredient, which instantly gave him an even better idea to crush Wang Xun.

Chen Xi still remembered how Wang Xun had bragged before, saying that the Beast Tamer family’s heritage could bring out the full potential of ingredients. So, today, Chen Xi decided to try for the “extreme.” But Chen Xi’s idea of “extreme” wasn’t about refining ingredients, it was about deliciousness.

After picking all the shrimp out of the ingredients, Chen Xi silently calculated in his mind, then began selecting the side dishes. Unlike before, this time he chose many different types, all laid out on the chopping board, some of them even piled up a bit.

“This is such a mess!” Sitting in front of the chopping board and watching Chen Xi cook, the Moonlight Celestial Beast dissatisfiedly extended its paw and forcefully swatted a shrimp that had jumped out of the water bowl back into place.

Chen Xi saw this and hurriedly smiled, giving its head a gentle rub to tease it. “Watch the shrimp. I’ll make something tasty for you later.”

Again, it was using its paws.

The warm breath on its head made its ears flush with color. The Moonlight Celestial Beast, displeased, turned around and slapped Chen Xi with its paw. But its eyes never left the wooden bowl containing the shrimp, and it now seemed more cautious and focused than before.

“Meow~” A Moonshadow Celestial Beast tilted its head curiously, watching the Moonlight Celestial Beast’s movements. It imitated it, swinging its paw at the water bowl. However, its legs were too short, and it almost fell into the water.

“Be careful!” Noticing this interruption, Chen Xi quickly called out a warning, but it was already too late. Fortunately, the Moonlight Celestial Beast acted swiftly, pulling the Moonshadow Celestial Beast back before it could fall into the water.

“Next time, be careful.” Gently comforting the scared little fluffball, Chen Xi turned and smiled, winking at the Moonlight Celestial Beast. “Lucky to have you.”

“Hmph.” The Moonlight Celestial Beast proudly flicked its tail, but its green cat eyes were filled with tenderness. This mortal who loved to act spoiled—only I, its master, would pamper it all the time.

—

After a while, Chen Xi’s preparations were finally complete. As soon as it was time for Wang Xun to prepare the meal, he immediately activated the water mirror, connecting it to the Sun-Chasing Celestial Beast’s cave where Wang Xun was located.

At this moment, Wang Xun had just set up his spiritual cauldron. And coincidentally, the ingredients he was using today were exactly the same as Chen Xi’s!

“What is he doing?” The sudden activation of the water mirror interrupted Wang Xun’s next actions. Upon seeing Chen Xi’s figure in the mirror, he furrowed his brows in confusion. Other immortals and celestial beasts also felt quite surprised.

Could it be a show of force?

Wang Xun watched quietly for a while and, somewhat bewildered, had the thought that made him laugh and shake his head.

“Has he gone mad?”

In recent days, Wang Xun had heard a lot of rumors about Chen Xi. Even though he hadn’t seen how Chen Xi prepared meals firsthand, he could guess the general idea. So he was even more dismissive. After all, Chen Xi didn’t even have any spiritual power, no matter how many tricks he tried, ^[1]“a frog in a well” is a Chinese idiom (井底之蛙) that refers to someone with a limited perspective or narrow experience, often unaware of the broader world. It implies that the person … Continue readinghe was still just a frog in a well.

“Showing off in front of the masters, he’s simply asking for humiliation.” Han Qing also snorted coldly. Wang Xun, coming from the Beast Tamer family, knew that every ingredient had a special refinement method. Consuming it could strengthen the body, far beyond what a mortal like Chen Xi could ever compete with. In his eyes, Chen Xi’s actions were no different from walking into a trap to be humiliated.

For a moment, the crowd was in an uproar, and even the Sun-Chasing Celestial Beast thought Chen Xi was overestimating himself.

However, in reality, their confidence didn’t even last five minutes before it collapsed into dust.

“Six Ways to Eat Shrimp” was the dish Chen Xi had prepared this time. As the name suggested, the six courses all revolved around shrimp.

Originally, this dish only had three cooking methods: boiling, steaming, and frying. But since the Celestial Beasts were different from the cats of the real world, they didn’t have dietary restrictions. Therefore, Chen Xi’s cooking methods were more diverse. What originally had three variations now had three more.

He heated oil in a pan, and with the size of a palm, lake fish and slices of ginger, garlic, and onions slid into the hot oil, turning into a beautiful golden color in an instant. After adding a bowl of broth, he simmered it for half an hour, until the fish was tender and the bones were soft, making it perfect for fish jelly.

After tasting it slightly, Chen Xi was satisfied and filtered the broth into a square container. He then placed a few complete pieces of fish onto the plate of the Moonlight Celestial Beast and handed the rest to the gluttonous Moonshadow Celestial Beasts who didn’t mind the appearance of the fish.

The fish simmered in the broth was incredibly tender, and the fragrance of ginger and garlic removed the earthy taste of the lake fish, leaving only the freshest and most delicious flavor that made it irresistible. The Moonlight Celestial Beast squinted in satisfaction, also looking forward to Chen Xi’s following dishes.

On the other side, as the fish meat with white garlic cloves was placed on the plate in the water mirror, even the Sun-Chasing Celestial Beasts, who were served by Wang Xun, couldn’t help but be attracted to it.

“Ah, I want to eat!”

One of the younger beasts, saliva flowing uncontrollably, tried to get closer to the water mirror.

“It’s worthless!” The older ones quickly knocked it to the ground, stubbornly saying, “It’s just a trick by a mere mortal.” They had all been brainwashed by Wang Xun and believed that Chen Xi was just using tricks to deceive people. Even though they were also struggling to resist the temptation, they still refused to admit it.

“Exactly.” Wang Xun also quickly regained his composure and spoke up, starting to refine the ingredients, trying to divert the Sun-Chasing Celestial Beasts’ attention back to him.

But, it must be said, Chen Xi’s cooking truly left Wang Xun at a loss. He had originally thought it was just a misrepresentation among the immortals, exaggerating things on purpose, but unexpectedly, Chen Xi’s cooking skills were so enchanting.

With every move Chen Xi made in the water mirror, Wang Xun felt as if his heart was being roasted over a fire, anxious and restless.

Wang Xun calmed himself down, using his spiritual power to its fullest, trying to suppress Chen Xi, but the next step Chen Xi took left him with no power to fight back.

Steaming, boiling, mixing, frying—various cooking techniques were employed, dazzling the eyes. The waves of delicious aromas were simply irresistible, drawing people into the feast.

The garlic paste with special sauce perfectly highlighted the freshness of the shrimp. As for the vermicelli, Chen Xi replaced it with a cool jelly made from fish stock, which melted when heated, enhancing the shrimp’s taste even further, making it even more mouthwatering.

The soft-fried and blanched shrimp required great precision in heat control. Paired with dipping sauces, the fresh shrimp meat was sweet and chewy, almost as if it had come to life. Adding a bowl of soup and two cold dishes made for a truly celestial meal.

And the final main course—the crab meat and fresh shrimp rice—took the feast to its peak.

The shrimp heads were sauteed over low heat to extract shrimp oil, which was then used to coat the snow-white crab meat, giving it a bright red appearance. When mixed with scrambled duck egg yolks and added to the rice, the simple technique created the freshest flavor. One bite, and it captured the heart.

With the final main dish done, Chen Xi’s cooking came to an end. The moment the dishes were placed on the table, everything on Wang Xun’s side fell into complete silence.

The six dishes, both hot and cold, with cooking techniques that ranged from simple to complex, were all flawlessly executed in Chen Xi’s hands. The plating was exquisite, resembling a work of art that was a feast for the eyes. Especially the Crystal Shrimp in Fish Jelly, where the translucent jelly encased pink shrimp meat arranged in the shape of a flower, looking like a hibiscus blooming in a cold pool. Before even tasting it, one was already intoxicated.

Incredible!

Everyone was mesmerized, unable to take their eyes off the water mirror. Unlike the hearsay before, now these incredibly tempting delicacies were directly in front of everyone. Every detail radiated an irresistible allure. Even the Moonlight Celestial Beast, which was used to Chen Xi’s cooking, showed a flash of amazement in its eyes, feeling that today was more exciting than usual.

The fragrance spread from the water mirror, drifting through every corner of the Sun-Chasing Immortal Palace. Now, not just the Celestial Beasts, but even Wang Xun, who had previously looked down on Chen Xi, couldn’t escape the allure of these top-tier delicacies. However, the shame that followed prevented him from lifting his head.

It was a complete slap in the face.

A meal casually prepared by a mere mortal turned out to be better than anything he, a third-generation disciple from a Beast Tamer family, could make. In Chen Xi’s presence, his creations were nothing more than garbage. Hatred surged from deep within him, followed by an overwhelming sense of defeat and despair.

Having lived as an immortal for hundreds of years, to be trampled underfoot by a mortal—how tragic and how laughable!

Clenching his hands tightly by his side, Wang Xun, filled with shame and rage, wished he could sink into the ground. The piercing gazes from around him made his face burn, as though he had been slapped several times.

The spiritual cauldron crashed to the ground. Unable to bear such humiliation, Wang Xun performed a celestial technique and vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving behind Han Qing, who was equally embarrassed and wishing he could swallow his own tongue.

Without the spiritual power of Wang Xun to support and refine the Beast Pills, the quality naturally declined. Watching the Moonlight Celestial Beasts and Moonshadow Celestial Beasts eating contentedly in the water mirror, the Sun-Chasing Celestial Beasts found their meal tasteless in comparison, wishing they could switch places with the Moonshadow Celestial Beasts and taste for themselves the incredible flavors on the plates.

But even so, they couldn’t take their place.

“Wang Xun is a liar! I’m going to tell the clan leader that the Beast Tamer family has been deliberately deceiving us!” It was unclear which Sun-Chasing Celestial Beast was the first to protest, but soon, more and more Celestial Beasts began to vent their anger.

The same ingredients could have been used to make a far more delicious meal, but the Beast Tamer family always served us trash, clearly not taking our Sun-Chasing clan seriously!

However, that wasn’t the end of it. Chen Xi was determined to deal with these arrogant immortals. Unlike before, when he only cooked for the Moonlight Celestial Beasts, today, he actually prepared meals for the entire Moonlight clan on Beast Island.

The Moonlight clan’s territory was spread across various parts of Beast Island, and the Moonshadow Celestial Beasts were the best messengers. They carried food baskets and scurried across the mountains and fields. The entire island was filled with the tantalizing aroma of food.

The unfamiliar yet intoxicating scent made all the Celestial Beasts on Beast Island drool. The Moonlight Celestial Beasts, however, helped Chen Xi, purposely adding fuel to the fire.

—

Author’s note:

Moonlight Celestial Beasts: You can only watch me eat ╭(╯^╰)╮

Sun-Chasing Celestial Beasts: QAQ I want to go home and tell my mom!