The food market setup was the same as Aryan expected, a place filled with big and small stalls and peoples making crowds before the shops. But to his disdain, the materials getting used was something out of his expectations.
Only one thing came to his mind when he saw the food getting cooked in the stalls, "The Grand Feast of the Gourmet King" held once every three hundred years by the head of the Immortal Gourmet Sect.
A feast filled with delicious delicacies, whose aroma was enough to calm down the temper of mythical beasts. Only some selected hundred or so practitioners were allowed to attend this feast.
And the selection process was not based on their power but by the Gourmet King himself. He used to invite each and every person who had piqued his interest. No good, no bad exists in his eye. If anyone dares to disobey or break the rules of his feast, he or she had to suffer his wrath….
The peculiarity of this feast was not the food dishes (even though they were one of a kind), but the ingredients used to make them. All the ingredients used were something that cannot be found easily, not with wealth or with the connection.
Luck, powerful enough to defy the heavens and fortuitous encounters, were the two things needed to get a hand on the ingredients of the feast. Even the fires being used in cooking were something that many cultivators never read or heard of.
Heavenly Phoenix Fire, Fire of Hell's Gate, Fire of Burning Soul, Fire of Hope and Despair, and so on...
In ancient times it was hard enough to encounter a phoenix, let alone meeting a Heavenly Phoenix of immortal stage and get its fire for cooking!!
Something similar was the scenario in front of Aryan's eyes at that time. All the food stalls were using different high-grade fire varieties to cook regular food dishes. Some were using the fire of Hell's gate while others used the light of Hope and Despair, and the most commonly used fire was the fire of the Heavenly Phoenix.
Aryan gulped down his hunger and looked at the stalls in astonishment. Everything in the food market was off the charts. "Onee Sama, if I am not wrong, they are using the fire of Hell's gate fire….." asked Aryan in a timid voice.
"Yea, they are, it's in the lowest grades though,"
"Cough, cough, it is one of the lowest grades...!!"
"Yea, it is the lowest tier of the lowest grade. They say it is somewhat nutritious and good for bones."
'Ha ha ha somewhat nutritious….. In my time, food made from such fires was good, so good. Good enough to upgrade the spiritual roots decided by birth, by a fold or two. And in this era its the lowest grade….. Hahaha…...'
Looking at Aryan thinking about something, he didn't intervene and waited for him to snap out of it. After recollecting his memory, Aryan snapped out and asked Yoshino to find a good booth. As wished, she found them a proper booth, with empty seats, less crowd, and a spicy aroma.
Its name was Neon's Hors-d'oevure, a shop dedicated to food appetizers. Continuous sizzling and crackling sounds were coming, from behind the booth and two sleek but sturdy men were taking orders and serving food.
He found it somewhat weird as other cooks were doing live cooking to attract their customers, but this one was not doing anything of that sort and cooking behind the booth. Even though they weren't doing the live kitchen, the food decorated on the booth and the aroma was enough to lure in a huge crowd.
Another contradicting fact he observed was that even though it could easily attract a large group, only some people were seated there, and others were passing by without noticing it.
She looked at Yoshino and asked her through telepathy, "Onee Sama, Why everyone out there is passing by without noticing this booth?"
"Fufufu, you noticed now?"
"Yea,"
"Fufu, owner of this shop, has erected a barrier around the shop, only those who are destined to eat his food will notice this shop, and the rest will pass by without noticing."
"What barrier is this? Never knew such a thing exists that can attract who are destined and will ignore the rest."
"It's his cultivation technique, Fate Diversion," replied Yoshino and picked up the menu card on the wooden bench. Both of them took a look at the menu list and the ordered dishes for their own. Yoshino ordered chicken karaage with three different varieties of sauce, while Aryan ordered something that he had never seen nor eaten. He ordered a food dish called Dosa with two different types of chutneys.
After some minutes of waiting, one of the men working there served them with their respective orders. Karaage for Yoshino and Dosa for Aryan. The hot sizzling food and its appetizing aroma were too tempting for them, they were dripping saliva like a hungry wolf just to take one bite of the food before them.
Another surprising thing that Aryan found was Dosa was not a single dish like Chicken Karaage but a dish containing two parts. One was the outer layer, and one the other was filling or stuffing.
The stuffing was made from mashed potatoes and fried with different onions and spices to give out the spicy umami. And was wrapped around by the outer layer part which was yellowish-white, and a mix of brown.