With the Legendary Cookware at stake, Leon and I have began our knife skills battle.
We are to create four dishes from the red sea bream caught at dawn.
With his seven favorite knives, Leon prepared the fish with amazing speed.
To keep up, I have prepared a wire knife and one other blade.
It can't be. That's only taught within the Underworld Cooking Society.
Sacred Knife Skills Contest...
I'll take you on with this hundred-hole knife!
Four Chinese Regions Locked! Red Sea Bream Continental Seal
It looks like both contestants are finished.
The panel includes Elder Kuan, Elder Yien, Elder Sunfu, and...
Myself, Luo. The leaders of the Cantonese Cooking Alliance will be the judges!
You start, Leon. Bring us your first dish.
My first dish is sashimi. I used flesh taken from the gills, the dorsal fin, pelvic fins, and the caudal fin.
All of which are extremely difficult pieces to remove.
And you have removed them so perfectly!
This is indeed the ultimate perfection of knife skill.
It has luminous cross-sections created by perfect knife strokes.
I say, such a firm texture of powerful tail muscles, honed by constant flapping!
The tasty elasticity resists and pushes back the teeth!
An absolutely incomparable taste achieved by the best of knife skills!
Thought so! Leon's skills are the real deal.
Bring your second dish!
Stewed fish head with vegetables.
The soft smell of the sea tickles your nose.
Such a thick and heavy soup.
That looks so good.
Shilou!
D-Delicious!
The tasty red sea bream head melts in your mouth...
Delicious! It's an unbeatable taste.
Next! What's the next dish?
Thin slices.
Such a remarkable cut.
Super-thin slices... I admit it takes great skill, but...
After having the sashimi for the first dish, it's also a bit anticlimactic.
That's not true. The third dish is the main course.
Main? Main?
This?
Dip the slices into this bream soup stock before eating.
How unusual.
But how will it compare to the first two dishes, I wonder?
It's a great taste that's out of this world!
Thin silky slices with a smooth touch on the tongue...
Combined with perfectly prepared soup stock!
Presented in a steamboat, I could eat hundreds of slices!
Man, I want to try that.
Don't drool on an enemy's dish!
Although... I know how you feel.
Right! Even though he is from the Underworld Cooking Society, an enemy of Mom and myself,
Leon nevertheless has wonderful cooking skills.
Leon, what is your fourth dish?
The fourth dish is my special steamed fish head.
So you decide to end this course with a proven orthodox dish.
The savory taste is fully sealed inside.
Hmm, it's delicious!
Hot and tasty!
All four elders look as if there is no greater happiness than this.
Amazing! Leon's cooking is simply amazing!
Yes. I certainly enjoyed that.
Now I know why Luo called this young man a genius.
I hope Mao is all right. This isn't going to be like before.
Yeah. The enemy's abilities are at a different level from his opponents thus far.
Brother Mao...
Brother Mao has to be all right. He definitely won't lose!
Although his techniques are flashy, everything he did was basic and legal.
He didn't use a single Underworld Technique. Why?
With that, we complete the tasting of Leon's four dishes.
Next is Mao. Bring out your dishes!
Yes!
What's this?
What is that?
Sea bream.
That's not what I meant!
Liu Mao Xing. Is this your first dish?
No, Master Kuan. This bream is the entire course!
What?
What did he mean by that?
Beats me.
What should we do?
One whole bream. Is that it?
Has it even been cooked?
Doesn't the contest call for four dishes?
Let's see what dish was produced with the Hundred-Hole Knife.
Need I remind you that the theme was for four dishes?
If you are short of even one, it would mean your defeat.
Yes sir.
Hey Shilou! Come give me a hand!
Huh? M-Me?
Come on, hurry up. Don't just stand there!
Good going, shrimp.
Do your best!
Thank you, thank you!
W-what is it, Brother Mao? What am I supposed to do?
Yeah. Shilou, let's cut the wire together from this and that side.
Wire?
There certainly is a wire.
I didn't notice.
Listen, we cut it together on my mark.
G-got it.
All right. Are you ready, Shilou?
Okay.
Three, two...
W-what's this?
It's so bright!
W-What the?
The inside is spreading out like a fan!
This is...
Amazing!
Ahhhh, B-Brother Mao!
You mean this red sea bream is...
I knew it! It's China!
Yes, that shape is certainly China!
C-China inside a Sea Bream...
He turned the red sea bream into China!
A Liu Mao Xing Special: Sea Bream Continental Seal is complete!
A-amazing.
A whole continent inside a red sea bream!
He's thinking big!
A Liu Mao Xing Special: Red Sea Bream Continental Seal!
To express the whole of China within the fish!
That takes incredible knife skill!
It's incredible, Brother Mao.
Mao.
Oh yes. East, West, North, and South. He's got all of China all right.
And there is probably even more than meets the eye.
What?
Then let's see how it tastes like.
I'll start from the East.
I'll have the West.
This... could it be?
No doubt about it!
This Red Sea Bream...
It contains the taste from China's four major culinary regions!
What? Four tastes inside a fish?
This must be Peking!
A slice of roasted back meat with green onions, covered with a wheat wrap in the style of a Peking Duck.
It's a wonderful snack that goes well with any amount of wine!
Ahh, this must be Szechuan!
Mouthwatering flesh from the middle, fried and covered with hot chili oil!
This is Shanghai.
Shanghai crab roe is rolled with sashimi made from the tail!
And this is Canton!
Abdominal meat is mixed with Canton's fresh vegetables and seasoned with oyster sauce.
The freshness of the red sea bream and vegetables combine so well.
It's like spring has come inside my mouth!
It's delicious! Absolutely delicious!
It's like a dream!
Way to go! Now that's what Brother Mao can really do!
Shilou.
He's done it again! To seal all of China in a single red sea bream!
He thinks on a completely different scale.
Right!
Indeed. It's an idea that's beyond anyone else...
We will now declare the winner of this contest.
The four elders are in complete agreement with the results.
Who'll it be?
Mao? Or Leon?
The contest is...
A match of equals! A match of equals!
The contest ends in a tie.
Hold it!
What is it?
What's going on?
We will settle this with an extension round!
Extension round?
He's ignoring the four Elders.
What's he thinking?
You're on!
Mao has accepted!
All right! Go for it!
The elders have already decided!
Shut up, this isn't your personal fight!
But it'll be fun!
Yeah, that's right.
This isn't good.
What?
Mao will have a disadvantage in the next round.
B-but why, uncle?
Brother Mao's knife skills are no less than that of Leon!
Didn't they just prove it?
Think about it. He came from the Underworld, and yet he hasn't used any Underworld Techniques.
Ah, that's right...
He hasn't used any technique like that Azure Dragon Raging Bull Slash.
What does that mean, Dad?
It means...
Leon still has a trump card!
A trump card? A trump card?
Very well. This might be the best way for these two.
If Master Luo is fine with that, then we are fine with it as well.
But Leon, we have only one more red sea bream left.
That will do. We'll settle the match with that.
Liu Mao Xing! You're not just an ordinary Super Chef, are you?
Super Chef. People call them the chefs who lead the myriad masses to happiness.
Red Sea Bream Continental Seal. That could be none other than the work of a Super Chef.
However...
He also used the Hundred-Hole Knife, which only exists in the Underworld.
Who in the world is he?
What's that?
This is my last knife. A secret knife of the Underworld.
North Star Sirius Blade!
He has another knife!
Is that Leon's trump card?
Doesn't Brother Mao have some kind of trump card of his own?
He doesn't. All he has is a wire knife and a hundred-hole knife!
Mao is at a disadvantage. That's quite obvious.
Boy, I don't know who you are. But one thing is certain.
You are an obstacle that stands in my way!
What's so funny?
Nothing. But I am having fun.
What?
Because you're such a great chef...
And I know you'll make another great dish!
Boy, do you think of this as a fraternal contest?
Once I draw this knife, you won't stand a chance against me.
Say something, Brother Mao!
Or is it true that you don't stand a chance?
As you can see, there is only one bream left.
Choose the parts you want. I'll make do with whatever's left.
Now, Mr. Leon, you're the one who mistakes this as a fraternal contest.
What?
What are you doing?
You can't treat red sea bream that way!
He did it! He split everything in half, down to the last bone!
And the flesh isn't damaged at all.
Incredible!
Amazing knife work.
I am being serious out of respect, because you are a great chef.
You should use the best Underworld Techniques, or you won't stand a chance!
Interesting. The larger the obstacle, the more worthy it is to be crushed.
All right! He's just as skilled! He cut the bream in half perfectly!
Brother Mao means business! He can take Leon!
No, the fact remains that Mao is at a disadvantage.
But why?
The only tools at his disposal are the wire knife and the Hundred-Hole Knife.
In other words, Leon now knows everything Mao can do!
So, that won't change anything!
Brother Mao has always defeated his opponents no matter what disadvantageous conditions were imposed!
Even the great ones!
He has, so far. But that Leon is not like anyone else.
Especially with that last knife of his. Not even Mao knows what it is.
Isn't there something in the notes left by Mao's mother?
I doubt it.
My guess is that knife was sealed in the Underworld for a long time.
And Leon has won the right to be its wielder.
Not even the great Fairy Pai would know about it.
Well then, if the two of you are ready, we will now start the extension round.
No, we start the final round of the Sacred Knife Skills Contest!
I had hoped that I wouldn't have to use it.
Secret knife, the North Star Sirius Blade.
I now release your seal!
What the heck is that knife?
That knife! It's shining!
But look how ominously it shines!
What is that knife?
You said that the sea bream was caught at dawn.
In this round, whoever gives the Elders a greater taste experience will triumph.
The cooking thus far was just a warm up.
With the ultimate slices made from the same bream Mao uses...
I will let you taste heaven on Earth!
The city center has a bustling din,
As I jump over the guard rails unseen.
Must hurry over to our meeting place,
And beat the dusk in a race.
In your twinkling eyes, I see so clearly,
The soothing warmth that you feel for me.
And with only that, my poor defenseless heart,
Is starting to melt and break apart.
This is a feeling that won't stop; it just keeps going straight.
And it's starting to speed up and accelerate.
I'm by your door, and knocking hard. Won't you let me in?
Let me show you my spirit filled with passion. Yeah!