Chapter 785 - 706: Reaching the Peak 105
It turns out that right at the entrance of the city, there’s a small street full of eateries, selling snacks mostly made from flowers, like flower pastries, petal cakes, fried petals, petals wrapped with meat, flower candy, braised flower roll meat, and various delightful flower-based dishes that make your mouth water, making you wish you could eat them right away.
Fei Hu was the first to give in, extending his furry paws to hug Shuangshuang’s leg, acting cute, "Mother, you promised me a big meal before, why don’t we eat here? Oh good mother, the food here smells so good, Fei Hu wants to eat."
It wasn’t just Fei Hu who was craving; even Bai Sheng and Lu Tianyi, who originally weren’t that fond of indulgence but were led astray by Shuangshuang, Feiyu, and Fei Hu, couldn’t help but crave as well.
Whether it was Shuangshuang or anyone else, they weren’t the sort to deprive themselves of good food. Since they wanted to eat, why wait? Without a word, with a quick exchange of glances, they all turned their steps towards the stall at the outer end that sold fried petals.
Those petals, who knows from what flower, looked quite thick and fleshy. They were coated in a layer of soft yellow paste, of unknown ingredients, and deep-fried thrice to achieve crispness on the outside and tenderness inside, with a sprinkle of finely ground spices. The taste was undeniably delightful.
The group surrounded the fried petal stand and ate more than a dozen portions before they were satisfied and moved on to the next stall to continue with petal cakes. The petal cakes were small and dainty, each cake a bite-sized piece crafted into various floral shapes, incredibly lifelike.
The petal cakes carried the unique fragrance of flowers, melting softly in the mouth upon slight pressure, the rich floral scent bursting forth immediately. Swallowing it, one felt as though the floral fragrance trickled down from the mouth to the stomach, with even the breath carrying the scent of flowers.
After the petal cakes, they went to the next stall selling braised flower roll meat. The flower petals of this roll were slender in shape, resembling chrysanthemum petals but much longer and fleshier, with meat cut into thin strands wrapped around the petals.
Then, the slender petals wrapped with shredded meat were rolled gently into a small flower, briefly fried for shape setting, and then drained of oil. Along with soft and glutinous fried potato chunks, it was braised, paired with a portion of green and jade-like top-grade jade rice. The aroma was so enticing that everyone had several helpings.
After indulging in so much food, they felt a bit parched, so they went to a drink stall. This time they indulged in the Hundred Flower Fruit Brew, and as the name suggests, it inevitably had a bit of a liquor taste.
Though the Hundred Flower Fruit Brew was just a small cup, its preparation was not simple. First, they selected the best-tasting kinds of Spirit Fruits, and during the bloom, a portion of petals from each was taken to brew non-spicy fruit wine.
Afterwards, using the matured fruits, they extracted juice via secret means, mixing each fruit’s juice with the corresponding petal-brewed wine, fermenting it again using secret methods, resulting in a uniquely flavored, rich and mellow beverage with a hint of alcohol.
The Spirit Fruits came in various colors, and thus the prepared beverages also varied in hue. Pouring these into long crystal glasses required meticulous color arrangement, faint pink, light pink, deep pink, pale red, light red, deep red, pale blue, light blue, deep blue...
Such layers of beverages mixed to create an incredibly beautiful color, like a rainbow after the rain captured in a glass. Each sip offered different flavors, aromatic yet non-intoxicating, a taste so indescribably good that they could drink several cups and still want more.
After having the drinks, they continued eating because every kind of food smelled so enticing that they couldn’t decide. Finally, after some deliberation, Shuangshuang and the group, being cultivators with large appetites, decided to eat their way through the street from end to end since they could.
In the end, trying to eat their way through revealed that it was impossible to finish the entire street in one meal. Each stall’s delicacies were so delicious that they couldn’t stop, and not even halfway through, everyone was too full to eat any more.
Foodies not finishing their favorite dishes remains unsatisfactory; luckily, there was an inn nearby, and they booked a small courtyard to stay in. They decided to visit the food street every day to indulge, placing large orders for every dish to take away because how could they only eat such delectable items a few times?
The reason these foods were so delicious was related to the ingredients, which carried Spiritual Energy, not only tasting wonderful but also enhancing cultivation, although the prices were steep. Ordinary foods would settle with copper or silver coins, and even those with Spiritual Energy maxed at one or two gold coins, usually one gold coin for several portions.
But the delicacies on this street were made from top-grade Spirit Flowers and Spirit Fruits grown in premium Secret Realms, and Spirit-power-infused beast meats, among other luxurious ingredients. The base cost itself was exorbitant, with the cheapest going for dozens of gold coins per portion, and the priciest, like the Flower Roll Meat, costing one thousand gold coins a portion.
With such high prices, although the street’s food was enticing, the business wasn’t bustling. Only newcomers to the Huazhi Country would try a bit, and locals could only afford an occasional treat, as it was prohibitively expensive.
A street open for so long, seeing someone like Shuangshuang’s group spend ten or more Spiritual Pearls in one go just to have a feast was a rarity.
It’s not that others couldn’t afford it, but many cultivators were reluctant to spend too much on indulgence, preferring to invest in cultivation resources rather than culinary pleasures.
However, the sparse business here suited Shuangshuang’s group; after their orders, the vendors had ample time to focus on food preparation, and Shuangshuang ordered so much food that it filled at least one, sometimes two or three Storage Bags fully.
These Storage Bags were custom-made for Shuangshuang and the others in Huazhi Country, beautifully crafted, each small one only fingertip-sized, resembling blooming flowers, hanging on like exquisite ornaments, looking extremely pretty.
These Storage Bags could be wrapped around the waist like a belt without appearing cumbersome, serve as hair accessories, or be made into necklaces, looking good any way they were worn. Even the men’s styles were exquisite yet not overly feminine.
The craftsmanship of Huazhi Country’s Storage Bags was renowned, with each having significantly more space than ordinary Storage Bags, presenting an internal space of approximately five hundred square meters. A Storage Bag filled with food would thus hold an enormous quantity.