Chapter 26: Spirit Kitchen
While Fang Lin was struggling on his educational discussion with Yao'er, his Master Wang Hao was also having problems of his own.
After being brought away from the selection, Wang Hao was brought by the two guards on the north-western part of the sect. In the distance, Wang Hao could see that the Spirit Zoo was near their place. The guards left him there so Wang Hao looked around, hoping to see where he was brought to.
What he saw was a sprawling complex composed of 5 buildings. Each building vary in their size with the smallest having only 5 floors while the largest consists of 100 floors. Smoke can be seen rising from the chimneys installed in the roofs of each building. Once in a while, ingredients of varying forms were being brought inside the building while wastes were also brought out. A sign proudly hung in the gate in front of Wang Hao.
It read 'Spirit Kitchen'.
'Hoho, so you are the new arrival?" Wang Hao spun around to see the person who called him. What he saw was within his expectations.
The approaching man exudes the presence of a person who lived with the purpose of eating. His body frame consisted of more mass than Wang Hao in his current form. Wang Hao could scarcely believe that this fatty can even walk. Wang Hao marveled at the man's fat which had been undulating with each of his step like graceful waterflow. He had a huge smile on his face as he hugged Wang Hao with his massive frame.
"You're Fatty Wang right? You will definitely enjoy it here. I am Fatty Zhou, by the way."
Fatty Zhou then released Wang Hao and then he gestured to the complex grandly with his hands, "Welcome to the Spirit Kitchen! This is where the vital food needed by the practitioners of the Immortal God Sect comes from."
Fatty Zhou then continued to explain more about the Spirit Kitchen. It was established as a way to cook spirit food for the Immortal God Sect. Spirit food are foods imbued with the natural energy of the nature. What's good with this energy is that it can be consumed by practitioners of the sect. Because of the mixture of the god vein and the immortal vein in the Immortal God Sect, the energy found in the spirit food here can be enjoyed by the godly ascenders and immortal cultivators.
Fatty Zhou then explained about the size of the buildings. The largest one manages the spirit food for the Stage 1 practitioners. It is the largest because the Immortal God Sect has numerous Stage 1 practitioners. As the Stage gets higher, their number also diminishes exponentially, leading to the next buildings reduction in size. The smallest building was obviously for the Stage 5 practitioners, but Wang Hao did not hear any mention for food for Stage 6 practitioners like the Sect Head.
Then he remembered that beyond Stage 5, the practitioners do not need to eat to survive. They are like walking generators at this stages, producing their own energy to sustain themselves. They only eat to enjoy the food.
After this long explanation, Fatty Zhou looked at Wang Hao expectantly and said "With you coming here, our kitchen can have another dispatcher!"
"Dispatcher?" Wang Hao felt some unease at the way the conversation was heading. "I do not need to kill people with that right?"
"Kill people? No!" Fatty Zhou said with a laugh. "Dispatchers are those assigned to dispatch all the waste produced by the Spirit Kitchen. It is of course a hard and disgusting work, that's why nobody volunteers for it." Fatty Zhou then sneered at Wang Hao. "Those who work there are obviously forced into it!"
"Ah, fellow daoist, we can negotiate here right?" Of course Wang Hao could not just accept such a job. "You called me your friend right?"
"As if a trash like you can be a friend of this Almighty Zhou!" Fatty Zhou then let out his aura, which is surprisingly of the Fourth Stage! He rippled with the the power of the Law Soul practitioner.
"Listen to me, someone with no cultivation that only relies on connections will have no place in this sect! You may have a sect token, but it does not mean anything with that body of yours!"
"Now scram!!!"
(Author's Note: Ahh, saying 'Scram!' really felt good to me.)
Wang Hao was then unceremoniously blasted away by Fatty Zhou. Of course, he could have used his ability to resist it, but how can he explain what he did with no cultivation? He can only fake the feeling of being a cultivator once his power unlocks to the Second Stage. But in order to do that, Fang Lin and Fang Yu must be both at the First Stage. So he still needed to wait for Fang Lin to breakthrough.
The blast brought him right next to a dilapidated building. The building was filled with cracks, making it clear that this place has been not taken care well. Wang Hao then took a deep breath, which he then gagged out due to the horrendous smell emanating from the building. So he just closed his nose and marched inside the building.
Once inside, he realized that the condition inside the building was even worse than what he could imagine. 5 bodies lay all around the floor, seeming to have no care of anything at all. The ground was littered with literal trash. While Wang Hao was despairing deep inside his heart, one of the bodies shakily stood up and looked at Wang Hao.
"Hey, you are the newcomer right? I'm Boner by the way." He then smiled ruefully. "I used to debone meat for the Spirit Kitchen. But due to an accident, my title has been changed from 'Deboner' to 'Boner'." He then looked at Wang Hao and asked "So who did you offend this time?"
"Fatty Zhou" Wang Hao could not even spit out some boner jokes as he said that name.
"Damn! You are really f*cked!" Boner looked at Wang Hao pitifully. "As you can see, there are only six of us here, including you. Each of us are assigned of dispatching the waste of each building. I do the Second Stage building by the way."
"So what am I gonna do now?" Wang Hao asked disconsolately.
"Well, you can join me in disposing the waste for today." He then walked out, with Wang Hao following him. They then arrived it the back of the Second Stage Building. They then saw 10 wagons filled with rotting food. Each wagon was around 15 meters tall and 15 meters long. Their symphony of smells brought Wang Hao's mouth to a crescendo.
"Ok, now we bring this waste into the Spirit Zoo"
"Wait, on the Spirit Zoo?"
"Oh, instead of letting all this food rot into oblivion, the Sect decided that us dispatchers can just throw this waste in the forest where spirit beast can scavenge and finish all of this."
"But isn't that dangerous?'
"Yeah its dangerous. If not for diseases, a dispatcher can die from being torn apart by beasts."
"....."
Wang Hao is definitely not happy with his situation. Then he remembered something. "Isn't the disciple selection exam happening right now?"
"Oh, its ok. We dispatchers are given a map that lets us see all of the participants. With this, we can avoid all of them. If we ever meet one, they usually recognize who we are and walk away in disgust."
"Wait, a map? Let me see!" Wang Hao excitedly grabbed Boner's had. "Let me see!"
"Ah ok..." Boner reached inside his sleeve and pulled out a jade slip. Wang Hao touched it and a 3-dimensional map was projected in his mind. He clearly saw all the participants frolicking in the forest.
He then laughed maniacally as he looked at Boner, who looked worriedly at him.
"HAHAHAHA!" We can use this map to f*ck up those disciples!" Wang Hao felt gleeful on his heart. He already had a good plan to get going. Boner looked panicked as he tried to stop Wang Hao.
"Wait, that will be really bad for us if we got discovered. We could be punished severely!"
"Haha do not worry, I have a plan!" Wang Hao then looked indignantly at Boner. "Don't you want to vent out all you anger? This is the best way to do so!"
Boner's feelings of course were roused by Wang Hao's words. "Damn it, let's do this!"
3 hours later.
A group of three First Stage practitioners have been running through the forest, trying to look for food. Their faces showed that they needed some good food to eat, but the spirit beasts here were too strong for them. Suddenly, an aroma like no other reached their noses. Their stomachs grumbled, and they instinctively followed the scent.
When they reached the source, they saw two people with mud covering their faces. One was a thin man while the other one was a fatty. Because of the mud, their faces could not be seen clearly. They were cooking on a pot when they heard the trio arrived.
"Ah, fellow daoist," the man leading the group said "Can you spare some food for us? We are really hungry right now!"
"Yes of course," the fatty replied. "But you need to pay up! 10 low quality spirit stones!"
Spirit stones are of course the money used in the practitioner world. It contains energy that can be used by both the godly ascenders and immortal cultivators. They are also easy to carry and hard to fake, making them a good thing to be used as denomination.
The man sighed in relief, hearing the demand of the fatty. If the fatty kindly offered the food for free, he will immediately suspect that this fatty have evil intentions. He reached inside his robes and gave the fatty 10 low quality spirit stones.
"Then we will not be shy!" The trio then devoured the entire food in minutes, satisfying their hunger. They were about to thank the duo earlier when they felt something wrong.
They clutched their stomachs in pain as it rumbled inside them. "Food poisoning!" That's what the group thought while they rolled in the ground.
The duo who had been ignoring them earlier suddenly attacked them, knocking them out. The duo then stripped the poor group with all their treasures and valuables.
"Hahaha!" the fatty who was obviously Wang Hao looked gleeful at his work. He used the map to identify potential victims. Then with his and Boner's knowledge of herbs, they managed to mask the rotten food's taste and smell for a short period of time. Now, they only needed to wait for some weary group to encounter them. What happens next is history.
"This test lasts for an entire month. Within this month, we shall unleash the power of the dispatchers!"
Wang Hao then looked at Boner as he announced
"We shall now start the Hungry Games!!!!!"