Part 1: A Rice-Based Reckoning
The arena trembled.
From the eastern gate sloshed in a group of cultivators barefoot, soaked, and shimmering with damp rice qi.
Their robes? Wet, beige, and squishy.
Their leader? A child no older than twelve with wild hair and a bowl strapped to his forehead.
He sneered, "I am Porridge Prodigy Tian Shao—leader of the Congee Cult's Eight-Grain Sogginess Sect! Prepare to be STUCK in place, Soup Scum!"
Wei Yun's brow twitched. "That… is objectively the worst intro I've heard today."
Tang Zhi whispered, "I stepped on one's robe and it squished like wet socks…"
Mu Yao raised a blade and gagged. "Why do they smell like heartbreak and kitchen accidents?"
System alert:
> [Congee Cult detected. Warning: Techniques revolve around Sticky Qi, Slow-Time Zones, and Emotionally Manipulative Texture-Based Trauma.]
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Part 2: Sticky Situations and Rice Rain
Without warning, the Congee Cult launched their opener:
"Rain of a Thousand Grains – Sorrowful Edition!"
Sticky rice bullets rained from the sky. The battlefield turned into a slow-moving disaster.
Xu Liang shouted, "My legs are glued!"
Tang Zhi tripped and face-planted into spiritual porridge.
Pan-Pan tried to fly… only to find a sticky glob had glued his wings mid-flap. He face-slammed into the ground like a dropped dumpling.
Wei Yun remained calm. He pulled out a steaming ladle.
"Soup Sect's Wok-Wielding Wind!"
He spun, creating a soup cyclone. The rice grains began sizzling mid-air. The smell? Divine.
Porridge Prodigy Tian Shao screamed, "He's frying our Sorrow Grains! Stop him before he stir-fries our soul!"
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Part 3: Emotionally Unstable Rice Arts
Tian Shao unleashed his trump card.
Forbidden Art: Stickiest Heart Sutra – Cling to Me, Despair Forever!
Suddenly, the battlefield was flooded with sobbing rice spirits.
They wept about lost seasoning, abandonment by salt, and betrayal by curry.
System update:
> [Mental Stability Check: Tang Zhi has failed.]
[He now believes he was once a bowl of rice abandoned at a banquet.]
Tang Zhi, dazed: "They... they left me on the table… untouched…"
Mu Yao slapped him. "Snap out of it, rice brain!"
Wei Yun scowled. "Enough of this soggy sorrow."
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Part 4: Broth-Based Salvation
He raised his hands.
Soup Sect Divine Skill: Broth of Remembered Flavor!
Golden broth spiraled from his cauldron, forming a halo of warming flavor.
Each droplet fell on his teammates, snapping them out of rice-induced despair.
Tang Zhi blinked. "Wait… I'm not a grain! I'm a man!"
Pan-Pan stirred. "The broth… it healed my trauma…"
Mu Yao's sword lit up.
"Let's cook them."
Soup Sect Formation: Simmering Redemption Array!
They surrounded the Congee Cultists.
Each attacker used moves laced with seasoning, herbs, and aggressive sautéing.
The battlefield now smelled like high-class dim sum.
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Part 5: Final Boil – The Legendary Rice Cooker
Porridge Prodigy shrieked. "Then… BEHOLD OUR TRUE POWER!"
The arena floor cracked.
From beneath rose a monstrous artifact:
The Primordial Rice Cooker of Infinite Overcooking!
Its lid opened with a hiss.
Steam burst out, and from within came Elder Sticky, a thousand-year-old porridge being with no bones and one goal: smother you slowly.
Wei Yun narrowed his eyes.
"System, what the hell is that!?"
System:
> [That's a sticky nightmare given form. If it hugs you, you become porridge.]
Pan-Pan screamed. "I DON'T WANT TO BE A CONGEE!"
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Part 6: Wok vs Cooker – Clash of the Cuisines
Wei Yun summoned his personal artifact:
The Skyfire Soup Wok.
Engraved with ancient fire runes and the words "BOIL WITH PURPOSE," it gleamed as he spun it with masterful flair.
Broth Emperor's Final Technique: Boil the World, Stir the Heavens!
He soared upward and spun, creating a vortex of divine soup that descended like a culinary comet.
The rice cooker trembled.
The porridge monster wailed, "Nooooo not the spices—!"
BOOM!
The battlefield was flooded with perfectly balanced congee.
Tian Shao landed face-first in his own porridge pit.
Wei Yun walked over, offered him a spoon, and smirked.
"Next time, season it first."
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Part 7: A Mysterious Invitation
As the crowd roared (and slurped), a robed messenger flew in.
He bore a scroll stamped with gold.
"On behalf of the Dao of Culinary Combat Conference, you are invited to the Regional Flavor War Tournament in three days' time."
Wei Yun's eyebrow rose.
"Regional… flavor war?"
System pinged:
> [Major Event Triggered: "Flavor War Tournament Arc – Unlocking Sects from Ten Culinary Cultivation Nations."]
[Warning: These will include Spicy Sovereigns, Bitter Clan Elders, and Sweet Cultivators with Hidden Sadness.]
Wei Yun turned to his disciples.
"Get your pots ready. The real madness begins now."
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End of Chapter 14.