Each Displays Their Unique Abilities

The examiners' seat.

Ding Baozhen looked at the flustered examinees, his face showing obvious displeasure.

"Hmph, everyone... making such a fuss over picking out ingredients, what kind of behavior is this?"

"If he were a qualified ninth-grade chef, he should have already finished conceiving the dish and obtained the necessary ingredients by now."

A ninth-rank chef may not seem like a high-level position, but the requirements for culinary skills are by no means low.

Compared to the numerous small stall owners and cooking enthusiasts who lack chef qualifications, chefs who have reached a certain level are truly elites.

According to Ding Baozhen, it is only natural to be stricter with them.

Gao Wenjie smoothed things over, saying, "Lord Ding, they are not yet true ninth-rank chefs. They are young people and need more training. It is understandable that they lack experience."

Zhou Yan's gaze swept across the room before she said, "Moreover, there are a few promising candidates among this batch of examinees."

Ding Baozhen looked in the direction Zhou Yan pointed and indeed saw several candidates who had already selected their ingredients and begun the initial processing.

His brow relaxed slightly: "These few are not bad; they can be considered promising talents."

"Food is a matter of great importance to the nation and should not be neglected. I came to Shexian County to see how its culinary traditions are developing."

"If there are any young talents who aspire to a career in cooking, I would not mind recommending them to a few of my old friends."

"After all, culinary skills are the foundation of our Great Xuan Kingdom. Only with successors to the art of cooking can our Great Xuan Kingdom prosper for a long time."

Gao Wenjie smiled and shook his head: "Lord Ding has traveled all over the world and is very knowledgeable. I'm afraid that the candidates from our small Shexian County may not be worthy of Lord Ding's attention."

Ding Baozhen remained noncommittal, saying, "We'll have to see to know."

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on a chef who had already begun preparing ingredients.

She was a young female chef. Unlike the others around her, there was no panic in her eyes. Her movements were methodical and orderly. She showed no signs of exam tension. Instead, she appeared as calm and composed as if she had practiced a thousand times.

"What is she doing?" Ding Baozhen asked curiously, intrigued.

"The main ingredient is mandarin fish, as for the side ingredients... there are too many to tell yet," Gao Wenjie said, shaking his head. "Just in case, she probably brought a few extra ingredients, so I guess she won't use them all in the end."

"It might be squirrel-shaped mandarin fish," Zhou Yan said, a hint of admiration flashing in her eyes. "This is a very time-consuming dish. If you make it well, it will be more than enough to pass the ninth-grade chef assessment."

Ding Baozhen nodded in satisfaction: "It is commendable that you dared to choose such a difficult dish in the ninth-grade chef assessment."

Gao Wenjie observed for a while longer, then said with a smile, "If that's really the case, then she must be very confident in this dish. We're in for a treat today."

"I hope so," Ding Baozhen replied, then turned his gaze to another examinee.

The examinee was cutting tofu. His knife skills were very sharp, and he cut the tofu into even small pieces in just a few strokes.

This time, Ding Baozhen recognized the dish the other person was cooking at a glance: "This is... Mapo Tofu?"

"Fermented black beans, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns... that should be it." Gao Wenjie nodded.

Although Mapo Tofu is a classic dish from Sichuan, it is very famous in various parts of Da Xuan, so it is not surprising that some people make this dish.

"Your basic skills are good. If you can add a bit more creativity, passing this assessment shouldn't be difficult," Ding Baozhen commented.

He then looked away from the uniformly sized tofu blocks on the cutting board and looked elsewhere.

"Um?"

Suddenly, a look of doubt appeared on Ding Baozhen's face, and his gaze stopped on a certain spot in the examination room.

There, a boy stood quietly beside the stove. On the stove sat a clay pot, seemingly simmering something.

Based on the discarded scraps nearby, Ding Baozhen quickly deduced that the boy was probably stewing a pot of chicken soup.

"stew?"

Ding Baozhen shook his head subconsciously.

Although this young man was one of the first candidates to finish selecting ingredients and start cooking, Ding Baozhen believed that his choice was unwise.

With only an hour to prepare soup, it's inevitable that things will be rushed, and the heat might not be just right.

Moreover, chicken soup hardly showcases knife skills, which doesn't align with the question's requirement of "a dish that combines knife skills, cooking techniques, and seasoning."

Unless... he has some way to solve these two problems.

Gao Wenjie and Zhou Yan also noticed this unconventional boy; he was the only one in the entire examination room who used a clay pot.

"Strange, he should know this topic isn't suitable for soup, so why is he like this?" Gao Wenjie stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Is it because he's only good at making soup and had no other choice, or...?"

"He must have been confident to do that," Zhou Yan said with certainty. "His relaxed demeanor shows that he is very confident in himself."

"And look, he left the chicken breast and two chicken legs out and didn't stew them into the soup, which means that the dish he conceived was definitely not just chicken soup."

Just then, the boy suddenly moved. He pushed his palms forward, and a thin stream of orange-red flames emerged from his palms, merging with the stove fire, and then slowly rose up.

"Controlling fire with true qi?" Gao Wenjie sat up straight. "No, it's not ordinary control of fire with true qi, it's a culinary skill!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Ding Baozhen's eyes. To be able to master the cooking skill of controlling fire at the ninth rank stage meant that this candidate had a very high level of both internal energy cultivation and culinary talent.

After carefully observing it several times, Ding Baozhen pondered and said, "This cooking technique... is somewhat similar to the seventh-grade 'Fire Refining Palm'."

"If it really is this cooking skill... then he could very well bring the chicken soup to the perfect temperature in half an hour, or even less."

"But... a seventh-grade culinary skill consumes a lot of true energy. Can his internal strength withstand it?" Gao Wenjie couldn't help but worry.

"Since he has chosen to do this, he must be confident. Let's wait and see."

As Ding Baozhen spoke, his gaze turned to the other candidates in the room.

……

"Hmm, this rate of consumption... as expected, even if it continues for a full hour, it won't be a problem at all."

"Moreover, the stewing process doesn't take that long at all."

Nan Xu sensed the energy drain from continuously using the Fire Refining Palm technique and nodded in satisfaction.

The sixth-grade "Mind and Qi Hunyuan Gong" is really useful. Not only does it give a lot of true qi at each level, but the highest attribute it adds is still willpower, and it also gives a lot more to the true qi limit.

In addition, the active effect of consuming stamina to restore true energy means there's no need to worry about running out of true energy.

And so, Nanxu used his true energy to simmer the chicken soup for more than half an hour, constantly skimming off the foam, until he finally got a pot of clear chicken soup that looked quite presentable.

He tasted the soup and shook his head slightly.

"As expected, it's still not quite there yet."

However, Nan Xu did not continue to urge the Fire Refining Palm. Instead, he kept the chicken soup on a low flame, picked up the chicken breast and chicken leg meat that had already been chilled with the Frost Condensation Finger, and placed them on the cutting board.

This soup is only one part of the dishes he conceived, and is far from being the main dish.

Next, he needs to prepare the main ingredients for the dish.

Just then, a loud voice suddenly rang out in the examination room.

"My dishes are ready. Please enjoy them, gentlemen!"