Of course, Churin Temple wasn't Tai Lin Temple. Tai Lin Temple indulged in meat and alcohol without restraint, while Churin Temple dealt purely in ingredients.
So the monks kept only vegetables and staple foods for themselves, planning to send the meat down the mountain to the villagers.
"Mr. Kael, are we leaving now?"
Seeing that Kael still hadn't moved, Zhou Yu couldn't help asking. The monks were busy working here, and it felt awkward for him to just stand around watching. He had originally wanted to help, but the monks had stopped him.
After all, these ingredients were for their own consumption, and every one of Churin Temple's warrior monks was quite strong. Even if Zhou Yu joined in, it wouldn't really improve their efficiency. So after a bit of discussion, they decided it was better to leave.
He couldn't help anyway, and Zhou Yu didn't want to keep waiting here. But Kael showed no intention of leaving, and Zhou Yu couldn't just take Meili Zhou and go on his own.
"Let's wait a bit longer," Kael shook his head. "We'll leave after the monks finish moving the ingredients. There's something under the Eight Spirits Pagoda that I need."
Kael hadn't forgotten what lay beneath the pagoda. Whatever was down there was extremely useful to him. He just didn't know what kind of remains it would be this time—hopefully not another duplicate.
Zhou Yu and Meili Zhou were both stunned. In their understanding, the most precious thing in the Eight Spirits Pagoda was the Eight Extremes Sacred Codex, which had already been taken—and Meili had even deciphered it.
They never imagined there was still something hidden beneath the pagoda.
About an hour later, the ingredients inside the Eight Spirits Pagoda had been completely dealt with by the monks of Churin Temple. They had also heard Kael mention that something was hidden below, which immediately piqued everyone's curiosity.
A group of people gathered around the pagoda, their eyes fixed on Kael and the structure itself. Since Kael didn't stop them from watching, then knowing the secret wasn't a problem—he clearly didn't care.
Once everyone had cleared out of the pagoda's immediate area, Kael stepped forward. Using his sense of smell, he began to probe beneath the Eight Spirits Pagoda. He had already felt something before; now he was pinpointing its exact location.
"It's here. Knife!"
Staring at the floor, Kael suddenly swung his hand down like a blade. Several flashes of cutting light passed by. His hand then curled into a claw, stabbing straight into the ground. In the next instant, a large square chunk of stone flooring was ripped free and lifted up.
"Hiss… That's insane strength! He actually tore up such a huge piece of ground!"
Even though they had already witnessed Kael's power before, the crowd was still shaken by this display of brute force. It was almost unimaginable.
Boom!
Kael tossed the slab aside, and after a deafening crash, he leapt straight down into the hole beneath it.
The opening was pitch-black, like a bottomless abyss that swallowed everything. But Kael wasn't worried—his Gourmet Cells hadn't detected any danger.
He dropped rapidly and soon landed on solid ground. At that moment, he sensed a strange force spreading toward his consciousness space.
Kael didn't take it seriously. The reason was simple: this force couldn't even break through the defenses of his consciousness space, let alone invade it. He could easily block it outside and render it useless.
Still, he had a good idea of what this place was.
If nothing unexpected had happened, this was likely the same place where, in the original story, Dharma had made Liu Maoxing and Song Wan experience the bitterness of human suffering.
Back then, both of them were forced to relive the most painful moments of their lives—physically and mentally—because of this very place.
Kael had once thought that was simply Dharma's way of using Qi. But now it seemed that Dharma hadn't caused it at all. Instead, it was the special Qi of this place itself.
Dharma's role had merely been to set a theme, send people down here, and then bring them back up. That was all.
Unfortunately for this force, it couldn't invade Kael's consciousness space.
The surroundings were completely dark, but Kael could see clearly. This was a massive cavern. At first glance, it looked empty, but directly ahead were three branching tunnels.
Kael chose one and walked straight in. The moment he entered the tunnel, the force that had been trying to invade his consciousness vanished.
After walking several hundred meters, he emerged into an even larger cavern. What greeted him left him stunned.
This wasn't a pile of bones.
It was a corpse.
A gigantic corpse—nearly a hundred meters long. The massive body of a turtle, with an enormous snake coiled around it.
There was no mistaking it.
This was the corpse of the Black Tortoise.
What surprised Kael most was that this wasn't a skeleton at all, but a preserved corpse. That alone was astonishing.
He leaned closer and activated the Devil's Sense of Smell. He needed to confirm whether this Black Tortoise corpse was edible. If it was, then without question, it would be an incredible ingredient.
He was cautious because the situation here was special. The Black Tortoise's remains had likely existed for one or two thousand years. Under such conditions, Kael couldn't be sure whether the interior had already rotted.
Even though Gourmet Cells could handle rotten food, Kael had no interest in eating something that disgusting.
After examining it carefully with his sense of smell, he reached an unexpected conclusion.
It was edible.
Perfectly so.
"That's surprising…"
Preserving it for a thousand years wasn't inherently impossible. The dragon bones and qilin bones he had encountered before should theoretically also have avoided decay under the influence of Qi.
So why was only the Black Tortoise preserved like this?
Kael quickly found the answer.
The concentration of Qi here was completely different from places like Mt. Qingzhao or West Lake. The Qi in those locations was already close to dissipating.
But here, beneath the Eight Spirits Pagoda, the Qi was still incredibly dense—so dense that Kael couldn't even estimate how long it would last.
"In that case… the Black Tortoise probably didn't die that long ago."
That thought made Kael's heart race.
It meant this world might truly still have living sacred beasts.
The condition of the Black Tortoise corpse clearly differed from that of the Azure Dragon and the Qilin. It might have died not long before the Eight Spirits Pagoda was even built.
Previously, after seeing the Qilin bones and dragon bones, Kael had assumed all the sacred beasts had perished at the same time for some unknown reason. But the Black Tortoise corpse completely overturned that assumption.
For Kael, this was excellent news.
At the very least, the meat of the Black Tortoise should allow his Gourmet Cells to evolve further.
And then there was the Qi.
The force that had tried to invade his consciousness earlier was the Black Tortoise's Qi—likely left behind to protect itself. Even in death, it lingered.
The Black Tortoise's strongest trait was, without question, defense.
From the Qilin, Kael had gained auspiciousness. From the Azure Dragon, he had obtained the Tree of Life. Now, from the Black Tortoise, he sensed multiple attributes.
Longevity, naturally—after all, the Black Tortoise symbolized long life. Water, as its elemental attribute. And then there was something more sinister.
Nether.
That nether attribute was likely the reason Liu Maoxing and the others had been forced to experience the bitterness of life here. It directly affected the soul, dragging people into illusions.
And finally, there was the ultimate defense of the Black Tortoise itself.
Qi could evolve alongside Gourmet Cells, effectively raising the upper limit of Qi. Kael had no intention of abandoning it. The more attributes he possessed, the stronger he became—and the better it was for him.
With so many special attributes present, Kael knew he would be staying here for quite some time.
He didn't leave immediately. The distance wasn't far, and if he raised his voice slightly, the people above could hear him through the tunnel.
"Everyone, listen. I'm going to stay down here for a while. Whatever you do, don't come into this cave."
His voice echoed up from the depths. He warned the monks that entering the cave would trap them in an illusion.
Kael could resist it because his consciousness space had been reinforced by Gourmet Cells. The power here simply couldn't invade him. But others weren't so fortunate.
Once they entered, they would fall completely into the illusion. And if they came down, getting back up would be extremely difficult.
In the original story, Liu Maoxing and Song Wan had Dharma escort them. But Dharma was gone now. Without Kael's help, anyone who came down would likely be trapped forever.
Using ropes to lower someone down and pull them back up later was theoretically possible—but realistically, no one from Churin Temple wanted to take that risk.
After hearing Kael's warning, no one dared enter.
As for Zhou Yu and Meili Zhou, Kael told them to return first. He would be staying below for quite a while, and he had no plans to go back to Guangzhou anytime soon.
There was no need for them to wait for him.
"Let's go, Meili. We should head back," Zhou Yu said. "If we're gone too long, Yangquan Restaurant might run into trouble."
He wasn't worried about the restaurant's operations. He was worried about the people there. Both he and Meili had been captured before, and they hadn't been able to send any word back.
They needed to return as quickly as possible.
They had flown here, so the journey over was fast. But going back was another matter. Even on horseback, it would still take time.
So the two of them immediately set off.
As for Churin Temple, with the Eight Spirits Pagoda no longer restricting them, their lives returned to normal.
The warrior monks continued their training.
The reason was simple: Tai Lin Temple.
After all, Tai Lin Temple was a subordinate force of the Taiji Cuisine Realm. Even though the Eight Spirits Pagoda was gone, the hatred between Tai Lin Temple and Churin Temple wasn't something that could be erased so easily.
The monks of Churin Temple understood this very well. Given Tai Lin Temple's nature, it was only a matter of time before they came looking for trouble again.
To avoid that—and to better protect themselves—they couldn't stop training.
This was the abbot's decision, and it was unanimously supported by all the monks.
They all understood one truth: having a sword and choosing not to use it was completely different from not having a sword at all.
In the former case, your safety depended on others' moods. If someone felt like killing you, you were done. In the latter, even if it seemed aggressive, you had the power to protect yourself and those around you.
So the warrior monks of Churin Temple didn't disappear with the Eight Spirits Pagoda. On the contrary, their numbers continued to grow. Everyone was holding onto the same resolve.
Destroy Tai Lin Temple.
Not only to avenge their fallen comrades, but also to put an end to the long-standing conflict between the two temples.
Of course, achieving that wouldn't be easy.
Behind Tai Lin Temple stood the Taiji Cuisine Realm.
Even if Tai Lin Temple was no longer as important to them as before, the Taiji Cuisine Realm couldn't allow Churin Temple to grow unchecked and return to its former peak.
So Tai Lin Temple would continue to cause trouble for Churin Temple, restraining its growth.
Otherwise, with even a weakened form of Qi, Churin Temple might one day grow into a force comparable to theirs.
While Churin Temple gradually stabilized, things were far from smooth for the Taiji Cuisine Realm.
Especially for the "Demon King" Jing Hua(Leader of Taiji in this fic).
He had been in the middle of training the captured chefs when Ramon, Song Wan, and Ping He suddenly returned.
Ignoring Jing Hua's attempts to stop them, Ramon directly loaded the captives onto an airship and personally escorted them home.
As for those who were already dead, Ramon could do nothing. He had no way to bring the dead back to life.
So he could only send the living back first.
At the time, Jing Hua had been completely dumbfounded. Stopping them was useless.
Later, they reported everything that had happened at the Tower to him.
After hearing it all, Jing Hua was even more stunned.
No matter how he looked at it, Kael no longer seemed human.
He was a monster wearing human skin.