It was simply as if, all of a sudden, Heaven collapsed and the earth cracked.

In the air that was almost frozen solid, everyone stared in horror, eyes wide, at that face traced by tears. Murky tears slid down his cheeks, drop by drop, falling into the empty bowl below.

Guo ShouQue shed tears.

Crying and mourning for the departure of happiness, howling in grief.

That happiness was far too cruel; it froze even the darkness and Disaster itself, made them shrink and wither in Sorrow.

In the dead silence, only the sound of breaking could be heard.

From his face, from within his shell... fissures spread slowly. Those closed wounds burst open again, like cracked pottery, pieces falling into the bottomless darkness inside.

He was collapsing.

After being shattered by this gentle happiness, the monster had nowhere left to hide, and fled into the darkness with a wail, dispersing along with it.

On that tear-streaked face, the cracks spread and turned to dust.

"Thank you, Miss Huaizhi."

Guo ShouQue lifted his ruined face and thanked her sincerely, in tears, welcoming the coming of the end.

In the end, on that decayed face, a mocking smile suddenly curled up: "But, you’re not thinking... this is it, are you?"

In that instant, decay and disintegration came to an abrupt halt.

The withered darkness surged, erupting forth, turning into a solemn Crown that enveloped his mottled long hair, reflecting a dim radiance.

Swallowing all splendor entirely.

Within the pure darkness, that face that had stopped cracking smiled as it examined Huai Shi’s stunned expression: "Did you really think I’d be broken by something like this?"

Huai Shi froze where he stood.

He forgot to breathe. He could only hear the rapid yet labored pounding in his chest, his heart clenched tight by an invisible hand, struggling in pain. A sudden chill swallowed him whole.

Unbelievable.

This old monster actually felt no attachment at all to that kind of happiness!

What goddamned thing has he been chasing his whole life? Is he even really considered alive?

Is he really... the "human" I thought he was!

"One move short... just one move. What a pity."

Guo ShouQue threw his head back and laughed, raising his hand to cheerfully wipe the tear tracks from the corner of his eyes: "Such a taste of happiness really makes one nostalgic. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

It was a beautiful finishing blow, Miss Huaizhi. Absolutely beautiful, so beautiful that for a moment I actually thought I was going to lose.

What a pity, what a damn pity, haha, hahahahaha, hahahahahaha!!!"

"Are you heartbroken? You really were just a little bit short, Miss Huaizhi. If I were the kind of person who clings to that sort of happiness, then the winner right now would definitely be you, right?"

Guo ShouQue grinned mockingly, sharp Teeth jutting from his gums: "Too bad, for a disciple who’s thrown his dignity all the way down into Hell, someone like that, I don’t owe even a shred of care or affection anymore!!"

Without the slightest attempt to hide his coldness and cruelty, Guo ShouQue said in contempt: "I already abandoned him, long ago!"

Huai Shi’s face went ashen, the warmth inside him gradually freezing over.

The enemy in front of him was a monster who could casually cast aside happiness, and throw away the concern for the most important person like a worn-out shoe!

In this instant, right before Huai Shi’s eyes, Guo ShouQue—who had already undergone a complete Metamorphosis into a monster—raised his hand and stretched it toward Huai Shi’s face.

Between his five fingers, a phone appeared, revealing the lock screen.

A photo.

"The hell is this?"

Huai Shi’s eyes went wide.

On the photo was an innocent yet cheeky expression—an eight-year-old or so little girl, with two ponytails, smiling sweetly as she rode on her grandpa’s shoulders, flashing a V sign at the camera.

"See it? See it? See it!"

Guo ShouQue practically shoved the phone screen into Huai Shi’s face. On the screen, that old man wearing a goofy knitted hat was laughing happily at Huai Shi through the glass.

"You didn’t think this Old man was some bereaved old coot, all alone in the world, did you?"

Guo ShouQue asked curiously, "In this day and age, do people still think experts are all heartless and emotionless, no ties, no attachments, can’t even find anyone to send a red packet to during the holidays? No way, right? No way?"

"...Th-this... who is this?"

Huai Shi just felt his head buzzing, not quite working.

"Obviously my granddaughter. She might be that unworthy disciple’s daughter, but she’s nothing like that bastard who only knows how to stab his Master in the back!"

Guo ShouQue’s eyes bulged as he boomed: "She’s already at the age where she calls me grandpa, soft and squishy, like a dumpling kneaded from glutinous rice. So her nickname is Little Glutinous Rice—see? You see?"

He took a deep breath and roared in Huai Shi’s ear: "This is my true treasure!"

"As for that dog who forgets his ancestors and rebels against his own lineage like Shou Jing, I don’t care where he dies! He can forget about stepping into my house—just bring my Little well-behaved over, that’s all that matters."

With that, proud, smug, delighted, and excited, Guo ShouQue spread his arms and proclaimed: "I already have a treasure far better than that so-called happiness!"

In the dead silence, Huai Shi felt his mind turn into a tangled ball of string, a thousand loose ends whipping around, and in the end it all condensed into a single word.

Fuck...

Your Mother, Guo ShouQue, you’re actually a winner in life?!

He had schemed exhaustively, considered every possible variable.

Huai Shi had crafted a hundred thousand plans, prepared for every Transformation, yet it never once occurred to him that this Wang Ba Guo ShouQue was actually living such a good life!

A hundred thousand lemons were stuffed into Huai Shi’s heart in an instant, and his eyes grew moist.

Fuck, everyone’s a Chef Demon, so how come you, you old dog, get to be this flashy? Free all day with nothing to do, going home for holidays to pull a long face at your disciple, and a granddaughter to tease for fun... and whenever you feel like stomping some rookies you can even have the Dongxia Genealogy pay the bill as "official business."

Huai Shi’s expression twitched as he struggled to hold himself back.

Don’t just chop this old dog in half with one swing.

"Are you pissed off? Don’t you really wanna hack me to pieces?"

Guo ShouQue lay sprawled on the table, turning his face to the side and tilting his head back, grinning weirdly as he admired Huai Shi’s twitching expression: "This old man here is living the damn dream!"

Down below the stage, Amber had already covered her face, not wanting to watch this cruel scene of the old bastard flexing on the dog anymore.

Finally, after he’d shown off enough at Huai Shi’s expense, after he’d examined that numb, dead-inside face to his satisfaction, Guo ShouQue finally put away his phone, throwing his head back in laughter.

Ginger gets hotter with age.

Young folks are still too impulsive, don’t know how to think things through... your knife’s dull and your horse is skinny, what are you using to fight me with?

When the cheerful smile gradually faded, what finally emerged was the dark ferocity that belonged to a Chef Demon.

Next to Guo ShouQue, the bamboo basket over the fire shook violently, no longer able to suppress the Power gathering and Metamorphosis within, yet the lid of the basket was held down tightly beneath Guo ShouQue’s hand.

He controlled the most critical timing of the heat.

That was the straw dog offered up in sacrifice to the heavens, a tribute presented to the axis of this world itself, a supreme ritual that only a scant few Gods were qualified to share.

This was the final Tai Lao.

Beneath Guo ShouQue’s shattered shell of a body, in that bottomless, profound darkness, a solemn and reverent aura rose up. As if it intended to wake all the once-dead Gods again.

To beseech all things to witness this noble Sacrificial offering.

But when he looked at that old figure gradually sinking into darkness, Huai Shi could not understand.

"With that kind of status, that kind of family, and this level of skill... Guo ShouQue, your life is so good already, why go to such lengths to scheme for the Ranch Owner’s Blessing?"

Why bow your head to something that could erase the entire world?

He could not stop himself from asking, "Is the Chef Demon’s Power really that important to you?"

"The Ranch Owner?"

Surrounded by endless Disaster, Guo ShouQue turned his head. Huai Shi had no idea what he was thinking, and Guo ShouQue asked back in puzzlement: "That kind of thing is the biggest denial of ’Chef Demon’ there is, isn’t it?"

Huai Shi froze where he stood.

He could not comprehend it: a Chef Demon who had fallen because of human nature, who had stepped onto this path of Disaster with bottomless appetite as its source, would actually refer to the "Ranch Owner" with such contempt, calling it "that kind of thing."

Nor could he understand why the Ranch Owner, who regarded all things as food, would deny the very value of the Chef Demon’s existence.

"Miss Huaizhi, I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood something, haven’t you?"

Guo ShouQue laughed mockingly: "You actually think there are Chef Demons who sincerely, from the bottom of their hearts, believe in the Ranch Owner? Other than idiots who don’t even know what they themselves are doing, you really think anyone could feel awe toward that kind of thing?"

The Ranch Owner’s Seat was never something Chef Demons worshiped.

On the contrary, as long as that kind of thing exists for even a single day, it’s a humiliation that every Chef Demon must endure and bear!

That’s right, Miss Huaizhi, you don’t understand yet, you haven’t grasped it.

Just like me back then—I could never understand the obsession my teacher could not abandon even up to the moment of his death, the obsession he passed down to me.

Only after truly becoming a Yiya Kitchen Devil, only after truly possessing the qualifications to accept the trial that ’leads to the summit of the Chef Demons,’ did he realize how ridiculous his former thoughts had been.

How naïve.

This is a scar that can never be forgotten and can never be ignored.

What he saw back then, when he longed for the true essence, when in pursuit of the ultimate he did not hesitate to step into the Paradise of Bliss—how cruel a sight was it?

That was exactly the Hell that fills every Chef Demon with fury and terror!

There’s no need to prattle on about the arduous adventures and countless setbacks and trials along the way—when he finally reached the end of that journey and saw the Ranch Owner for the very first time, he understood everything.

That truly was a God descended into Hell, a genuine sovereign, an undiluted symbol of God.

This Blessing that herds and raises all beings; this majesty that reaps everything. What It represents is precisely the just law of the world’s end and the union of all things into one.

Never sated, eternally devouring, eternal greed and hunger.

If it were nothing more than that, how great would that be? If just a sliver of that supreme Divine Nature could be shifted by human will, wouldn’t that be wonderful?

But from a small, unexpected difference sprang a decisive divergence.

It made it impossible for any Chef Demon to revere this great God; what arose instead was a hatred that could never coexist under the same sky.

—It had only ever been thinking about "eating"!

As long as It eats, It feels full; as long as It eats, that is enough. Beyond that, no matter how exquisite or marvelous the cuisine, to It, it’s no different from a lump of dirt.

Everything a Chef Demon does, in Its eyes, has no value whatsoever!

The Extreme Realm they pursue their whole lives, the entirety of their devotion and achievement—all of it, in Its view, is utterly meaningless.

It’s too humiliating.

This humiliation is so enormous that every Chef Demon who learns the truth finds it unbearable.

Humans, in Its eyes, are no different from one another—no matter black or white, good or evil; and food, in Its mouth, has no distinctions either—no matter delicacy or filth.

God is equal.

Whether enemy or subordinate, It holds the same equal compassion and recognition for them all—and the same appetite and greed.

A God and a world that equal are downright nauseating!