Chapter 2- The Ambitions of the God of Gluttony
At this time, Gu Zheng’s face was completely pale, and his eyes were filled with fear. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t look like he was “alright”.
This time Gu Zheng did not insist, and instead stiffly nodded his head. Just a moment ago his within his mind he had seen as well as heard that vision. He had seen a bronze monster as well as well as heard a voice in his mind that spoke directly to him.
The will of the God of Gluttony… God of Gluttony… what was the meaning of this, also what was this Chaos Calamity of the Heavens? Gu Zheng was completely confused. He was never an absolute materialist. However, suddenly hearing someone else’s voice in his mind was very frightening, it was a normal response.
Gu Zheng’s injury was not very severe. Out of his entire body, only his fingers were injured. After a blood test, a CT scan, then followed by an ECG the tests ended with the inspection turning up almost nothing.
“His heartbeat is a little bit faster than normal. Otherwise, there’s nothing else wrong. I’ll give you guys some medicine to take. If at any time you feel uncomfortable, come back to the hospital!”
The doctor quickly gave them the diagnosis results. The check showed that all functions were basically normal. Only his heartbeat was slightly faster than normal. If one were to remove this point, it could be said that there were no problems at all.
There being no problem was a good thing. The three including Huang Tao all let out a sigh of relief. However, Gu Zheng was still dazedly staring ahead with his eyes wide open. His mind was completely occupied with everything that had just happened. That bronze monster and that sound, no matter how he tried to remember, he had never heard of anything like it. It felt as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.
Taking the medicine, paying the money, Huang Tao dragged Gu Zheng along and left the hospital.
“Gu Zheng, this time, because of you, we can’t go out and have fun. It’s best if you were to come to my house today and cook us a meal as compensation!”
Huang Tao immediately spoke after they had left the hospital. Gu Zheng’s father was a three-star Michelin Chef. Since he was little, he had eaten and drank with his father. Although his skill was far from the level of his father’s skill, the dishes he made were still pretty good, they weren’t worse than what would be made by an average hotel chef.
These people had relatively limited incomes, thus wanting to go to a hotel often to eat was very unrealistic. So they would want Gu Zheng to come as they wouldn’t have to pay. Whenever they had the opportunity, they would ask.
“No problem, this time I really owe you guys!”
Gu Zheng shook his head, but he didn’t refuse. Due to his sudden coma, these guys were most likely extremely worried, this was genuine concern. Taking him to the hospital, having him have a check up, as well as helping him to pay for his medicine… They didn’t need to say anything, he would have definitely expressed his gratitude.
“Gu Zheng, don’t listen to Huang Tao. Right now you are still ill, first go back and rest. You must have those thoughts. Next weekend we’ll get together!”
Zhao Yongkui walked over, his hands were even holding a bottle of mineral water. Indicating that he wanted Gu Zheng to first eat his medicine. Out of the four of them, he was the oldest. He worked at a middle-class small company. Also, out of the four, he was the most stable.
“Keke, How is this so bitter?”
The medicine was just your typical capsules, there were only two types. It could be washed down with a single mouthful. Gu Zheng had just put the drug into his mouth before he fiercely spat it out. A very unpleasant bitterness was left in his mouth and he quickly drank the water he had been holding.
“Poisonous food, not edible!”
“Inferior water source, don’t drink anymore!”
The sound that Gu Zheng could not hear again no matter how he tried had suddenly appeared again, which caused Gu Zheng’s cough to become more severe.
“Gu Zheng, what’s wrong?”
Zhao Yongkui rushed over, Huang Tao and Du Yang also went to Gu Zheng’s side. The three’s gazes were all filled with worry.
“I’m fine, just now I ate the medicine too quickly and choked on it. I’ll eat this medicine after I get back!”
Gu Zheng hurriedly waved. This time’s reaction wasn’t as exaggerated as last times. The voice that had appeared before when he was in the hospital did not seem to be an illusion. Internally he asked: “What kind of thing are are you, why can you speak to me?”
“I am not just a thing, I am the spirit device of the God of Gluttony. If you don’t know, don’t speak such nonsense!
Compared to before, the voice suddenly got louder. It was clearly filled with anger. Gu Zheng calmed down. This voice could actually respond. It was just that his reply had almost caused him to laugh aloud. He really wasn’t just a thing.
“What’s the God of Gluttony?”
Gu Zheng multitasked. On one side he told Zhao Yongkui and the others that he was okay and he silently asked himself.
“Heng, rotten wood cannot be engraved, the God of Gluttony was an ancient holy immortal, he had an extremely large influence!”
Its answer seemed somewhat proud, however, it did not satisfy Gu Zheng. He had already said this before, it was equal to saying nothing at all.
“Alright, I want to ask you why you have appeared inside of me. Do I have something wrong with me? Who is this God of Gluttony that you mentioned before?”
This time Gu Zheng asked somewhat more. He and the other three with Zhao Yongkui were waiting for the bus that would arrive in front of the hospital, preparing to return to the city. There weren’t many people on the bus, there were plenty of open seats. Gu Zheng by a window, seemingly very quiet. After a bit, he closed his eyes and focused on the internal exchange with the God of Gluttony.
He was a sick person, he didn’t say anything, but the other three did not object and let him rest peacefully.
“Elder God of Gluttony lived in the prehistoric world. After the date of the Chaos Calamity was calculated, he prepared the will of the God of Gluttony in advance, so that the inheritance would continue. The will of the God of Gluttony flew from the prehistoric world to you here. That is what I am. My words from before were what the Elder God of Gluttony pass on to the inheritor. I merely relayed the message. Your physique satisfies the Elder God of Gluttony’s immortal inheritance requirements. In accordance with Elder God of Gluttony’s previously set instructions, I have completed the process of recognizing you as my master. Starting from now, you are Elder God of Gluttony’s descendant of the new generation!”
The voice slowly spoke. Gu Zheng finally understood how this will of the God of Gluttony had come. It was actually was that piece of stone at the Pear Farm that was the Will of the God of Gluttony and had already recognized him as its master. Although this result was somewhat hard to believe.
“I represent the words of the God of Gluttony’s descendant. What do I need to do? After thinking, Gu Zheng once again asked a question.
“Continue and complete the ambition of the God of Gluttony. Spread the name of the God of gluttony!”
“What is the ambition of the God of Gluttony?”
“Eat the world’s delicacies, and make the most delicious dish ever under heaven!”
The spirit device spoke very proudly and Gu Zheng was stunned. Inside he was somewhat dazed.
To eat food from all over the world, what kind of ambition was this? Alright, Gu Zheng steadily vowed. He had to admit that this was his life’s wish. As a food critic, he vowed to eat of this world's delicious foods and fine tastes.
As for the making the most delicious tasting thing in the world, that it seemed as if it was his father’s desire. His father had told him more than once that he wanted to make the world’s best food and become the most outstanding chef in history, forever being marked in culinary history.
“Earlier, what were you saying about something contained poison? Why was the medicine I just ate so bitter?”
Gu Zheng suddenly remembered the recent events and immediately asked another question. Just remembering that bitter flavor made him shudder. He had never eaten such a bitter thing, now he was feeling as if his tongue was rotting.
“Just now, that thing you ate contained poison. The God of Gluttony also doesn’t have the ability to eat everything. Things with poison can’t be consumed. You are the descendant of the God of Gluttony, naturally, you have to comply with this. Thus you have to avoid all toxic food!”
“That’s medicine, not poison!”
Gu Zheng internally exclaimed. He felt that it was strange. Along with his surprise, he remembered the old saying “medicine is three parts poison”. It seems that this saying was true.
“No matter what it is. If it has poison, it cannot be consumed. You would only taste bitterness. That is the God of Gluttony’s tactical response. If you force yourself to swallow, at your current strength, after the conditioned response, there’s a possibility that you might end up spitting up blood!” (T/N: Be glad you can eat your medicine. If Gu Zheng was sick and tried to eat medicine, he would end up spitting blood… >.> )
Chapter 3- The Unrefusable Test
Gu Zheng’s body shivered, he recovered and he felt as if he had lost blood.
Great. If he were to suddenly explode, there would only be a puddle of red blood on the ground remaining of him. He had no idea what tomorrow’s news would say. Perhaps it would not be on the news at all since they wouldn’t want the public to know about something like this.
Fortunately, he hadn’t rushed to eat the medicine.
“All medicines have poison… this kind of saying... From now on, if I can’t take medicine, what do I do if I get sick?”
Gu Zheng thought suddenly and hastily asked. He didn’t know exactly what would qualify as being poisonous, however, medicine always being three parts poison was not wrong. However, if he could no longer eat medicine in the future, when he was sick, would he have to fight the disease alone?
“Cultivate diligently, When the God of Gluttony reached the second realm, never again was he impacted by sickness!”
The voice once again sounded. This time he did not wait for Gu Zheng to retort, he directly told him the abilities of the God of Gluttony.
The secret art of the God of Gluttony was the cultivation method that the God of Gluttony himself had created. The God of Gluttony was born in the ancient times of the Great Desolate and was one of the Great Nine Immortals. In the Great Desolate, he had extraordinary status, thus his cultivation method’s difficulty was extremely high. Only he and his descendants had the ability to cultivate it.
The God of Gluttony placed too much of an emphasis on gourmet food and his whereabouts were uncertain as he traveled everywhere to sample the various delicious delicacies. The Great Desolate was large beyond imagination, even when the God of Gluttony traveled for so many years, he had not traversed it entirely. In addition, he hadn’t been able to leave a successor, so while the Chaos Calamity had yet to come, he transferred his inheritance into the Will of the God of Gluttony and released it out to the world to be obtained by a fated individual.
“This Immortal Secret Art of the God of Gluttony you told me about, I haven’t felt anything whatsoever. Have I really already started cultivating it?”
After listening to the explanation, Gu Zheng carefully inspected his body. Finally, he puzzledly asked another question. His body didn’t have any kind of heat flowing throughout it, there weren't any signs that appeared like those on television shows. He didn’t miraculously learn qigong, or suddenly become frighteningly powerful. He only just now realized that his body didn’t experience any change whatsoever. He even secretly pinched the bus chair, there wasn’t any special sensation from the hand that he used to pinch the seat. It didn’t even need to be said whether or not the chair was broken.
“This place isn’t the Great Desolate, this also isn’t any kind of natural immortal essence. Only by relying on yourself will you be able to cultivate. You can only eat foods containing immortal essence to increase your Immortal energy, and improve your cultivation of the Immortal Secret Art.”
(T/N: now, I’m also not sure about this, but I think Immortal essence is supposed to be absorbed then converted to Immortal energy. The author says nothing so far… we shall see…)
“What kind of food has Immortal energy in it?
Gu Zheng was somewhat excited. Although this God of Gluttony’s Secret Art had a dangerous bite, now matter what you said it was still an Immortal cultivation method. If he were to succeed at cultivating it, not only would he be unaffected by all forms of sickness, he would also be able to fly in the sky and traverse the world. Except for when he was little, he had never had a daydream like this. Back then, it was merely a delusion for him to possibly become an Immortal.
“Earlier, I already did some investigating. This world of yours is really too poor, there aren’t any ingredients that contain Immortal Essence here!
Gu Zheng’s mouth fell wide open. In an instant, the hope that had just ignited was completely extinguished. It was just like what the spirit device had said earlier, this world wasn’t the Great Desolate. He couldn’t just rely on himself to cultivate. Right now there also wasn’t anything that could help him cultivate. Wasn’t this equivalent to saying that this Secret Art of the God of Gluttony that he had just received had no uses whatsoever?
It was like having an electric light bulb without any electricity, or a car without gas. He could only look at it and have no way of actually using it.
Light bulbs, cars, and etc… Even if they couldn’t be used, at least they could be exchanged for other things of actual use. This God of Gluttony’s Secret art, not only did it seem as if he couldn’t use it, but if he were to get sick in the future, it rendered him unable to eat medicine. Looking it at it this way, it wasn’t as if it did nothing.
“Don’t worry, Master God of Gluttony left his lifelong collection within the Will of the God of Gluttony. There’s definitely a lot of these kinds of ingredients!”
While Gu Zheng was feeling annoyed, the voice of the spirit device echoed out from deep within, the voice seemed to contain some ridicule.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier!”
Gu Zheng let out a sigh of relief while letting out a sheepish grin and inwardly scolding his foolishness. He was the descendant of the God of Gluttony, the God of Gluttony probably prepared something for his descendant. How could he not prepare anything useful for cultivating?
Gu Zheng had not finished letting out his sigh of relief when the next words of the spirit device caused his eyes to snap open: “Don’t be happy to soon, in order to receive Master God of Gluttony’s ingredients, you have to cultivate the Secret Art of the God of Gluttony to the 5th level to be approved!”
“The 5th level, how is that possible!”
Gu Zheng almost yelled out loud, but he was still aboard the town bus, so he forcibly pushed down the words he wanted to say.
This place didn’t have anything with Immortal essence, so he couldn’t rely on himself to cultivate. Not even mentioning the 5th level, he wouldn’t be able to even reach the first level. In the end, there wasn’t any progress. There still wasn’t any way to use it.
“Don’t rush, you were born after the Great Desolate Era. Master God of Gluttony was completely alone. His disciple will also be the same in this way. Therefore, within the God of Gluttony’s will, there are other alternatives in the secret art such as the Great Desolate space. First, you can go into secret art’s separate space to cultivate. Within this Great Desolate space, you can grow the seeds of common ingredients. I may have said “ common”, however they’re still from ingredients containing some Immortal Essence. After the seeds finish growing and you harvest them, you can obtain some Immortal Essence as well as improve the ingredients you need for the Immortal secret art. “
“You couldn’t finish saying it all at once?” Gu Zheng softly spoke. He had just finished speaking when he heard the sound of extremely dry laughter.
“I already told you, you were too impatient.”
The spirit devices voice was extremely indifferent, or at least that was how Gu Zheng felt it was. The laughter he had heard earlier had come from the spirit device, however this time it was laughing at himself.
“Although you’ve received the God of Gluttony’s Secret Art’s inheritance, all in all you don’t have an Immortal Body. You can only open the Great Desolate space’s first level. Each day you can only spend a total of 15 minutes inside. After 15 minutes you’ll have to leave, otherwise, your body won’t be able to take it and will end up injured!”
“Compared to earlier, fifteen minutes is fine. It’s better than nothing!”
At long last, Gu ZHeng’s sensitive liver was somewhat comforted. It’s true that it wasn’t a lot of time, however, at least he would be able to cultivate. Besides, this wasn’t the Great Desolate. He only needs to cultivate just a bit to accumulate some Immortal energy. As long as he could possess more strength than most people. Just thinking about it was exciting.
In addition to the fifteen minutes of cultivating, he could still plant some ordinary ingredients and thus gain yet another method to cultivate.
“How do you enter the Great Desolate space, does my entire self enter?” After thinking for a bit, Gu Zheng once again asked.
“To open the Great Desolate space, you need to complete Master God of Gluttony’s test, only then can you enter!”
“What, there’s still a test?”
Gu Zheng suddenly sat straight up, internally it was as if he was restraining back a million grazing horses who suddenly galloped towards him. Every time before he could finish speaking, this spirit device would interrupt him.
“Master God of Gluttony set a test, it’s supposed to be for your cultivation. This test cannot be refused, the moment I brought it up, the exam would officially begin!”
“...”
Ye Xing was already rendered unable to express the internal feelings he had right now. The test couldn’t even be rejected. After the test was proposed it would automatically begin. In the end, he didn’t even know who this God of Gluttony is. However, now he felt like he sort of knew who he was. He wasn’t looking for a successor, he was trying to mess with people.
“In order to become a God of Cuisine, not only do you need the best ingredients, but you need the best cooking skills. You must have the ability to wholeheartedly satisfy someone down to their core with your cooking in order to open the first level of Great Desolate Space. Within their heart, the cuisine you make must make them feel as if it is the best cooking they have ever tasted and fully conquer their taste buds. This is the First Test, if after three days you are unable to complete it in three days you will have failed. If so, you do not deserve to be the successor of the God of Gluttony, and will be erased!
“The test has officially begun!”
The spirit device’s voice was incredibly serious. Not only did this test automatically start, but if it wasn’t completed he would be erased. To be erased, it couldn’t mean that something as small as his name would completely disappear?