26: The plump cook's single swipe of the ladle poisoned an army of 100,000.

A storm is brewing.

The Evil Qi of a hundred thousand soldiers converged, nearly piercing a hole through the clouds in the sky.

At the foot of the mountain, banners were like a sea, and spears were like a forest.

The smell of iron and blood poured upwards with the mountain wind, making the dilapidated plaza of the Hidden God Sect feel a bit more desolate.

At the mountain peak.

The trio of Xiao Chen, Shi Tian, and Leng Yanran stood in a triangular formation, shielding Li Daoxuan.

Though they faced an army of a hundred thousand, there was no trace of fear on their faces; instead, their Battle Intent was soaring.

What a joke.

Even a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor had been turned to dust by their Revered Master's flick of a finger; what did a mere hundred thousand Mortal soldiers count for?

"Revered Master, let your Disciple go!"

Xiao Chen gripped his iron sword, eager to try. "It's the perfect time to test the power of my divine weapon!"

"Don't hog the glory, Senior Brother!" Shi Tian carried his hoe, refusing to be outdone. "Let me go! One swing of my hoe, and I guarantee I'll dig a mass grave for them!"

Li Daoxuan hadn't even spoken yet.

"All of you, pipe down!"

A full-throated roar suddenly came from the nearby kitchen.

*Clang!*

The kitchen's broken wooden door was kicked open.

Fat Aunt walked out aggressively, her left hand carrying a black wok larger than a door panel and her right hand holding a giant frying ladle still dripping with oil.

Her chubby face was filled with displeasure, and her hair bun was even crooked.

"What's all this noise! What's all this noise!"

Fat Aunt's loud voice was louder than the war drums at the foot of the mountain.

"The chicken soup I just stewed was almost knocked over by you little rascals!"

She walked to the edge of the plaza, hands on her hips, and began to curse at the black mass of the army below.

"Hey! You bunch in the iron skins down there!"

"Do you know this is private property? Do you know what you're stepping on?"

Fat Aunt pointed at a patch of freshly tilled vegetable garden on the hillside, heartbroken.

"Those are the radishes I just planted! That's the vegetable garden I worked so hard to cultivate!"

"Every step you take is trampling my seedlings to death. Can you afford to pay for them?!"

At the foot of the mountain.

The Great General Who Guards the North, who was just about to order the assault, was stunned by this sudden roar.

He looked up at the fat woman standing on the peak with her hands on her hips like a shrew shouting in the street, his brow furrowed deeply.

"Who is that?" he asked the lieutenant beside him.

The lieutenant looked bewildered. "General, looking at her clothes... she seems to be a cook?"

"A cook?"

The General laughed out of pure anger.

He had traversed battlefields for decades and destroyed countless nations, but he had never seen such an arrogant cook.

"Presumptuous!"

The General roared, his voice like a great bell.

"A mere village woman dares to shout at this General!"

"Archers, prepare!"

"Turn that fat woman who doesn't know her place into a pincushion for me!"

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

With one order, ten thousand arrows were fired at once!

The black rain of arrows was like a swarm of locusts, carrying the ear-piercing sound of breaking air as they blotted out the sun and shot toward the peak.

"Revered Master, watch out!"

Xiao Chen and the others' expressions changed, and they were about to draw their swords to block.

"What's the panic?"

Li Daoxuan calmly waved his hand. "Watch your Fat Aunt's performance."

Upon the mountain peak.

Facing the rain of arrows enough to cover the entire plaza.

Fat Aunt didn't hide; instead, she let out a cold snort.

"Playing with arrows with me?"

"When I was playing with poison, your ancestors were still playing with mud!"

She slammed the large black wok onto the ground.

*Clang!*

A loud bang rang out, sounding like a great bronze bell.

An invisible sound wave spread out. Those sharp arrows flying in mid-air actually began to wobble as if they were drunk, eventually clattering to the ground in a mess without even touching the corner of Fat Aunt's clothes.

"This... what kind of sorcery is this?!"

The General at the foot of the mountain was dumbfounded.

However.

This was just the appetizer.

Fat Aunt's giant frying ladle twirled in the air.

Then, she lightly flicked it toward the unknown "chicken soup" in the pot that was still bubbling with green bubbles.

"Don't leave yet."

"Taste the new dish I just developed."

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall... Sad Crisp Breeze Enhanced Version!"

*Splash—*

A large ladle of green soup was tossed into the air.

It did not fall.

Instead, it instantly vaporized in mid-air, turning into a pale green mist with a strange "fragrance of food."

The mist drifted with the wind, floating unhurriedly toward the army at the foot of the mountain.

"What's that smell? It's so fragrant..."

"Yeah, why does it smell a bit like... the braised pork my mother makes?"

"Wait, why do I feel like I have no strength in my body..."

When the soldiers at the foot of the mountain smelled the fragrance, they were initially intoxicated.

But soon, they realized something was wrong.

First, their hands and feet went soft, and they couldn't even hold their swords.

Following that was dizziness, and their vision began to double.

Finally.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

Like falling dominoes.

Swaths of soldiers collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back, foaming at the mouth, and their bodies twitching.

The scene was extremely spectacular.

The hundred thousand soldiers were densely packed, one next to another.

Some were rolling on the ground, some were giggling foolishly, and some were dancing wildly as if performing some bizarre breakdance.

The golden-armored General was not spared either.

He fell from his Iron-Armored Rhino, his limbs stiff, with only his eyes able to move, his face filled with endless fear and absurdity.

He couldn't understand.

His hundred thousand iron cavalry, who had traversed battlefields and were invincible...

How... were they taken down... by a cook... with a ladle of "food"?

Is this even logical?!

At the mountain peak.

The trio of Xiao Chen, Shi Tian, and Leng Yanran fell into a state of petrification again.

They stared blankly at Fat Aunt, who was holding her ladle and wiping sweat from her forehead, feeling like their brains were insufficient again.

"Aunt... Fat Aunt... isn't she a Mortal?" Shi Tian asked stutteringly.

"Didn't she... just cut her hand while slicing cucumbers earlier?" Xiao Chen felt his worldview collapsing.

Only Leng Yanran, the former Demon Empress, felt a chill throughout her body as she looked at the pale green poisonous mist.

She recognized that poison.

It was a variant of the long-lost "Seven-Step Soul-Severing Powder"!

Colorless and odorless, it killed upon contact with blood; even Soul Transformation experts couldn't withstand it!

But now, this thing was actually being used by Fat Aunt as a seasoning for cooking and tossed out casually?

And looking at its power, it was even a freaking enhanced version?!

"So... everyone was acting that day..."

Leng Yanran murmured to herself, "Only the three of us... took it seriously..."

A sense of intellectual humiliation, as if being deceived by the whole world, spontaneously arose.

At the mountain peak.

Fat Aunt looked at her "masterpiece" with satisfaction and patted the oil stains off her hands.

She turned around and gave the dumbfounded Li Daoxuan a simple and honest smile.

"Sect Master, it's all settled."

"Since they've come, they shouldn't leave."

"It just so happens that those few plots of wasteland on the back mountain haven't been cultivated yet."

"These hundred thousand able-bodied men should be enough, right?"

Li Daoxuan looked at the spectacular scene of "demons dancing wildly" below the mountain, then looked at Fat Aunt's harmless smile.

He took a deep breath and gave her a thumbs up.

"Not bad."

"Not only did you solve the enemy, but you also solved the Sect's labor problem along the way."

"Fat Aunt, your ideological awareness of sustainable development is very high."

"This month's Outstanding Employee Award belongs to no one but you."

Listening to the conversation between the Revered Master and servant, the corners of Xiao Chen and the others' mouths twitched wildly.

An army of a hundred thousand!

Just like that... they've become free laborers for reform?

"Revered Master, what... what about that General?" Shi Tian pointed at the golden-armored General who was still twitching below.

Li Daoxuan thought for a moment and clapped his hands:

"Perfect."

"Big Yellow's doghouse is a bit old; have him build a new one for Big Yellow."

"Remember, it has to be the kind with carved dragons and phoenixes; the prestige must be pulled to the max."