Sometimes, after going through all kinds of hardships to find top-tier ingredients, the whole pot of spiritual food might have its spiritual structure collapse during cooking, maybe just because the heat was off by a little, turning into a pot of something Indescribable.

With Decomposition sweeping over it, the Guidance will thoughtfully give a handling suggestion:

[Suggested to offer to the Sacrificial Emperor, can refund 7% of material cost.]

All those rare ingredients collected over several days, even weeks, will, at the moment of failure, turn into a discount kickback of Emperor Zhao chopping at your ankle.

This is the reality of Spirit Chef Party players: glamorous on the surface, miserable in the dark.

Yet he just happens to love this line of work.

Every time he lifts a lid and sees a pot of Spirit Meal perfectly formed, it fills him with pure pride and a strong sense of achievement.

He still clearly remembers the scene when he first successfully made "Clear Moonlight Soup."

The soup in the pot was clear as moonlight, Silver-tailed Fish Fillets faintly visible in the broth; the moment it slid down his throat, every pore of his body felt like it was breathing the night wind.

During that time the Challenger Tips kept ringing in his mind, and besides Body Refining Level, there was also permanent attribute enhancement.

That success had him riding high for several days.

And it was this Spirit Meal's success that set him on the path of being a Spirit Chef.

As he explored and learned, he found the Spirit Chef playstyle more and more interesting.

There were surprise discoveries from time to time.

For example, stewing Thunder Fruit together with Calming Lotus could actually neutralize the violent Thunder attribute, turning it into a mild Body Tempering Medicine.

Or how he once accidentally found that after Bone Decay Grass was distilled three times, it could instead refine out a special plant essence that combined with the Spiritual Energy in the air—this was a special process that even Extracting Life Soul couldn't achieve.

These unexpected surprises hidden behind ingredients were like one puzzle after another waiting to be solved, utterly captivating him.

Although he would occasionally feel depressed, frustrated, or irritable... at the moment of success, all those negative emotions would become fuel for emotional transcendence.

As his thoughts surged, the float suddenly trembled violently.

Realizing a fish was on the hook, Cheng Shan flipped his wrist, and the fishing rod bent into a dangerous arc.

Then the lake surface exploded with blue light, and a small, translucent fish leapt out of the water, its scales flowing with a pale blue halo under the moonlight.

Cheng Shan flicked his wrist and a golden kitchen knife appeared in his hand, drawing a bright arc under the moonlight.

The instant the blade touched the fish's body, time seemed to slow down.

In the flowing radiance, the fish scales were completely stripped away.

The Blade precisely cut in along the gill; as it danced between the fish's scales and the air, it stirred up a fine shower of blue light particles.

The first slash was a diagonal cut; as the fish head separated from the body, it was still faintly twitching.

After the second horizontal cut and a lift, the half-translucent fish bones were completely peeled off and flicked away like a work of art.

With the third light spin of the knife, the fish meat blossomed in midair into thirty-six slices of Water Bream Sashimi as thin as cicada wings, each piece keeping almost the same thickness, exuding an ice-crack texture under the moonlight.

As the Decomposed slices fell, Cheng Shan gave his wrist a shake.

In an instant, all the slices neatly stacked onto the surface of the blade.

From the fish breaking the surface to being cut into sashimi, the whole process took less than two seconds.

This was his signature skill.

Players of different systems all had their own areas of focused investment.

Monster Stream players poured sacrificial power into the growth of their Main Life Soul, Hunting Party players mainly invested in perfecting the Star Vein System… whereas the biggest expense for their Spirit Chef Party players was in forging and upgrading their Rune Resonance Weapons.

Monster World had far too many ingredients that were difficult to handle; having a good kitchen knife was more important than Life Soul growth.

With a junk weapon, it was hard to even achieve Defense Break on ingredients.

Next came ingredient processing.

Cheng Shan lightly rotated his wrist, sliding the stacked fish slices from the blade onto the Ice Crystal Cutting Board he had taken out from his Space Bag.

He then retrieved three more items from the Space Bag: a small pouch of coarse salt, a bottle of Morning Dew Flower Dew, and several stalks of emerald-green scallion segments wrapped in oiled paper.

The back of the knife tapped the ice board, shaking up a puff of frost mist, and the fish slices flipped through the mist, precisely catching starlit crushed ice.

Putting down the fishing rod, he pinched up a stalk of Spirit Onion with his fingers and gently pressed it against the board.

The kitchen knife rose and fell rapidly along his knuckles, and in the blink of an eye the scallion segments turned into fine threads, each uniformly as thin as a strand of hair.

The fish slices on the Ice Jade Plate had already been spread out like petals.

Cheng Shan dipped a bamboo skewer into the dew and gently dotted the center of each piece of Water Bream Sashimi, then sprinkled a small pinch of coarse salt.

The moment the salt grains touched the fish, they let out a faint "zzzz" sound and a soft blue glow spread out.

Finally, with a light rub of his index finger and thumb, he scattered the shredded scallions evenly across the fish slices. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

As if laying a layer of thin gauze over this "Water Bream Sashimi."

The making of this Spirit Meal didn't involve much technical difficulty, and the main ingredients were all very common; there was no need to go overboard.

After finishing, Cheng Shan used Decomposition to scan it once:

[Water Bream Sashimi (For Sale)]:

Spiritual Food Quality: Level 2 – Quality 47.

Made by player: Certified Unplayable.

...

After confirming the quality, Cheng Shan skillfully opened the Trading House interface, entered a price, and clicked list.

The Challenger Tips sounded in the next second, showing that the item had already been bought by a player.

Cheng Shan wasn't surprised by this.

As the player base expanded, the number of Spirit Chef Players gradually became unable to meet the demand for Spirit Food.

This led to the price of Spirit Food continuously rising.

Secondly, in Monster World, as long as you made your in-game ID known, you would never lack buyers.

Even for Spirit Meals of the same quality and price, players would prioritize those made by famous Spirit Chef Players.

For example, the universally acknowledged leader of their Spirit Chef Party—the "Head Chef" who had pioneered the Spirit Chef playstyle—his Spirit Meals could always be sold at a premium.