Chapter 453: The Holy Spirit Cult Overseas
"Lingqing, there's a new dish today."
"But teacher, aren't you taking leave starting tomorrow? Why are you launching a new dish today?"
"Because this dish is limited to one serving per month. If we don't serve it today, this month's quota gets wasted."
"Ah… huh?"
Ye Lingqing blinked. This was the first time he had ever heard his teacher mention the word limited. Even when it came to those extremely precious Purple Card Dishes, his teacher had never said they were limited.
"Teacher, could it be that today's new dish isn't a Purple Card Dish?"
"It indeed isn't." Qi Han glanced at Ye Lingqing and explained for the first time, "What the outside world calls Purple Card Dishes are actually 3 Star dishes. Today's dish is a 4 Star recipe, so it's just a tiny bit different."
"3 Star dishes?" Ye Lingqing only now realized that even those miraculous Purple Card Dishes weren't the limit of his teacher's cooking. "Then teacher, how many stars does cooking go up to at maximum?"
"Five stars…" Qi Han sighed quietly. "Even now, I still haven't mastered a 5 Star dish. If I get the chance in the future, I'll let you taste one."
So today's 4 Star dish still wasn't his teacher's limit?
Ye Lingqing's eyes brimmed with expectation. "Teacher, so what kind of dish is this 4 Star one going to be?"
"You'll find out in a moment." Qi Han smiled mysteriously and kept him guessing. Then he looked toward the entrance. "They're already here. Go open the door. I need to start cooking."
"Understood." With excitement on his face, Ye Lingqing hurried toward the shop entrance.
Just what kind of dish could surpass the Purple Card—no, the 3 Star dishes? What kind of miracle did a 4 Star recipe produce?
Heading for the kitchen, Qi Han's anticipation was no less than his disciple's.
He was curious himself, what kind of heavenly phenomenon would the Peony Fish Fillet trigger?
It had to be even more spectacular than the 3 Star ones.
…
Outside Han Shi, Qi Poxiao watched the shop attendants enter and let out a sigh.
"What a pity. Starting tomorrow Han Shi closes for two whole months. My poor stomach will suffer."
"You're telling me." Tang Qianqiu looked sluggish. His gaze drifted toward the notice board that had been hanging outside since morning, the clearly written leave dates making him sigh again. "This time little Boss Qi didn't even say where he's going. Last time he took extended leave I at least knew he was heading to Star Luo City, so I managed to follow and eat a few meals."
Qi Poxiao couldn't help rolling his eyes.
As the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, he didn't have Tang Qianqiu's freedom. With Tang Sect branches spread across the continent, that guy could slip off anywhere under the excuse of 'inspecting the branches.'
Though speaking of which…
Qi Poxiao suddenly asked, "Still no trace of the Holy Spirit Cult's leader?"
During this period Tang Qianqiu had secretly dispatched a large number of Tang Sect disciples to search for clues and hunt for their whereabouts. Qi Poxiao and Tang Qianqiu themselves had also painstakingly searched every Spirit Beast region on the Douluo Continent.
Aside from the core circle of Star Dou Forest—where even they had to avoid the apex beasts—those two, as the strongest of their era, could practically walk sideways anywhere else.
Yet despite such large-scale searching, not a single trace of the Holy Spirit Cult's leader had been found.
However, it wasn't entirely fruitless. After repeated investigations, they finally discovered evil Spirit Masters committing crimes under the banner of the Holy Spirit Cult—indirect proof that the sect of evil Spirit Masters did indeed exist.
Tang Qianqiu pondered for a moment, then seemed to recall something. He spoke slowly, "It's not as if we gained nothing."
"Oh?" Qi Poxiao's eyes brightened. "Let's hear it."
"The Intelligence Hall disciples in each Tang Sect branch looked through their old reports and found something strange." Tang Qianqiu wore an odd expression. "Many of the cities with Tang Sect branches had suspicious individuals appearing for quite a long period about half a year ago, as if they were gathering information everywhere."
"If it was just one or two incidents it wouldn't be worth mentioning, but since we were investigating the Holy Spirit Cult, all branches compiled their intel, and once the reports were aligned, we noticed that all of these information-gatherers appeared within the same time window, and shared certain similarities. That alone is highly problematic."
"And what they were investigating was also rather…" Tang Qianqiu's expression became even stranger. "Some of them didn't even know how many nations exist on the Douluo Continent, and some had never even heard of Tang Sect or Shrek Academy…"
"Evil Spirit Masters tend to isolate themselves to avoid exposure. Could that be why they're ignorant of everything?" Qi Poxiao frowned. The explanation barely worked, yet still felt far-fetched.
"Are those people still in those areas?" Qi Poxiao asked after a pause, a thoughtful glint in his eyes. "If we could catch one or two and question them closely, that would be ideal."
"That's the biggest problem." Tang Qianqiu sighed helplessly. "It was later discovered that this group all vanished eight months ago. Continued investigation showed that they all went to Bluewave City and boarded ships leaving the continent."
"It happened right when Star Luo was switching emperors and the empire had yet to fully stabilize, so no one noticed. Only after tracing back through layers of intel did this clue finally surface."
"And that Holy Spirit Cult leader I seriously injured… also disappeared around that very same time."
Qi Poxiao's expression grew heavier. "So the Holy Spirit Cult's evil Spirit Masters… may have fled overseas?"
Tang Qianqiu nodded slightly. "At this point, it's quite likely. There are only a few obscure islands overseas that are even inhabitable, but searching them would be troublesome. My thought was—why not strengthen covert defenses and leave it at that? If they don't return to the continent, let them fend for themselves."
"That works." Qi Poxiao nodded in agreement. "Hunting them down offshore is too much trouble. As long as they don't come back to harm the continent, let them rot out there. But—"
Whatever he was about to say abruptly halted.
Both Limit Douluo suddenly turned their heads toward Han Shi.
At nearly the same moment, startled cries erupted through the queue.
"Look—what is that?!"
Following the shouts, everyone's gaze turned toward Han Shi—and then slowly rose upward.
Mist-like vapors quietly condensed, gathering above the restaurant.
To the few powerhouses present, the world around them seemed to turn into a vacuum of spiritual essence. Countless strands of Heaven and Earth energy surged from all directions, converging above Han Shi.
The dense energy, nearly tangible, shifted from cloudy vapor into something new—and after a short moment, it transformed into a river of energy over a hundred meters long, flowing across the sky.
The sight drew gasps from all around.
A Heaven and Earth essence river spanning the sky like that—half of Shrek City would surely see it!
Tang Qianqiu nearly shot into the air on the spot to investigate, but Qi Poxiao caught his arm and stopped him. "Wait."
Qi Poxiao's eyes glimmered as he felt the torrent of essence winding through the heavens. His gaze slowly fell upon the entrance of Han Shi.
Such a spectacle… could a mere dish cause an anomaly of this magnitude?
None of the previous Purple Card Dishes had ever produced anything like this. Why was this time so different?
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