...….
Time passed like the falling of the sakura blossoms, as four years went by in the blink of an eye.
As Azmodeus's cultivation entered the Half-Step Void Refining Realm with a perfect foundation, he received another visitor from the same place that Yang Hua originated from.
Or rather, he received both guests…
"You Mie and Lan Yue…" He muttered while looking at two women who looked far more mature and refined than how they appeared the last time he saw them.
"Az…" They both mumbled with strained voices.
After all the time they spent searching for him following his abrupt disappearance, they never thought they would ever catch sight of the man they fell in love with all those years ago in a place like this.
However, not everyone was as dedicated to a boy they knew for so little time over a dozen years ago.
In fact, both of them had already fallen in love with members of the Yang Sun Sect…
It was this piece of information that left them in an inexplicable state after observing the perfect facial features of Azmodeus—an appearance that slightly resembled the boy who ruled over the army of Yellowcreek City with an iron fist...
The aura within the Heaven Exploding Cave Abode became oddly melancholic, as the two women thought about what could've been.
But it didn't take long before they remembered their husbands, who were faithfully awaiting their return from the Ice Goddess Sect's outing—an outing that celebrated the successful partnership of the Grand Elder of the River Serpent Sect and their own sect.
"It looks like you two have found your own paths in this life."
Azmodeus's calming voice snapped them out of their reveries as warm smiles formed on their beautiful faces. After which, they responded, "En."
"That's good… I'm happy that you two found your happiness."
After hearing the truly compassionate words spoken by him, the smiles on both of their faces only seemed to grow.
Thereafter, they walked over to the esoteric man and sat down next to him, laughing and conversing while catching up with each other.
A few hours passed, and Azmodeus bid farewell to the two women before he went back into his Cave Abode and saw the peacefully chatting Yang Hua and Nao Long.
They were playing against each other in poker, talking about all sorts of things—things that pertained to just about every embarrassing moment they had witnessed their 'man' do over the years…
"..."
Silly...
Azmodeus ignored their topic focus as he passed by them. Eventually, he reached a part of the cave containing an extremely large kitchen area with shiny metal appliances scattered all over the place.
This was where he typically practiced his Spirit Chef Skills, and it was also the location that allowed him to breakthrough into becoming a Peak-Earth-Rank Spirit Chef!
"Today, I think I will try to make a special dessert called 'Austere Cake'."
He took out a few bowls and pans before throwing dozens of different items onto the nearest marble counter from his storage ring.
"Let's see… We got the Spirit Spider Grass, the Orange Grong Fruits, a few Unicorn Feces pieces, and this…"
Azmodeus went on to call out a long list of ingredients. After which, he wasted no time and cut up the most colorful of the ingredients before throwing them into the largest of the bowls.
Following the gathering of all the colorful ingredients, he moved onto the grayer of them and did the same thing as he did with the colorful ingredients.
The only difference was that he threw all of these into a different bowl of equal size to the first one.
And his reason for doing this was simple…
"I don't like how they look when put together during the preparation part of the cooking process... So this is always my go-to in order to separate the components of my dishes without interrupting the harmony of the hues."
To say the least, his reasoning was very… weird…
Even so, it got the job done.
So, without further ado, he got straight to work and began his whipping of the duller variety of ingredients before moving onto the smashing of the colorful assortment.
After getting everything to a point where it looked like a professional chef just got done with his work, all the ingredients started to float in the air and dart in a multitude of different directions in the enormous kitchen.
Some went to spiritual Qi-powered ovens, while others flew into blenders and appliances that almost looked like microwaves.
This was done because all of the ingredients belonged to some very rare animals before transmogrification and required 'unique' ways of cooking them or prepping them before the main segment of the cooking process began.
*Sizzle! Sizzle!*
After a few minutes of listening to a plethora of popping and sizzling sounds going off in the kitchen, all of the ingredients reached a sufficient degree of tenderness. Thus, Azmodeus was allowed to begin concocting something truly spectacular.
And that was exactly what happened, as he brought all of the materials back to him before waving his hand and calling forth his pill flame.
As one could guess, this was not the way that a Spirit Chef would prepare a dish like this one. But he had accidentally released his Pill Flame while cooking a few months back, and the result was something quite dazzling.
The reason that was said was because when many different types of rare animal ingredients went through similar prepping before being put under unique pressure, they…
POP!
Exploded!
That's right, Azmodeus was purposefully using this unique aspect that the beasts had before they died in order to cause an effulgent explosion of ingredients!
This was an extremely unorthodox way to go about applying the abilities of a Spirit Chef, and one would usually see no purpose in wasting so many precious materials.
That was not to even mention the complete mess that appeared after using such a chaotic way of cooking!
It was a method of cooking that would normally require one to move from cutting to slicing to mixing, etc...
But that was where most just weren't thinking hard or creative enough, as although it was a weird way to go about prepping, when all of the dessert components exploded in such close proximity to each other, they combined and coalesced!
This was to say that all of the ingredients would perfectly blend together and transform into something completely inexplicable!
That was, of course, as long as one was able to control the different elements contained within the ingredients themselves.
It was essentially a way of applying pill refining to cooking, and if it was done successfully, then…
*Whif~!*
After having its top opened by Azmodeus, an enticing aroma erupted from a large pot.
And inside that pot was a cake with white and blue icing decorating it in the shape of a 2D monster dolphin!
It was unknown how this was made from the combining of different elements of ingredients without going through the typical steps of cooking. However, the result was beyond exceptional, as the appearance alone was worthy of praise, let alone the smell…
The fragrance it emitted was exuded in a way that was capable of immediately attracting the attention of two women playing chess in a corner of the cave...
...…