In the third round of the Banquet Cooking Tournament, Battle Shanghai Hairy Crab,
Ten-Feet-of-Blue Shan won through a cowardly Underworld Technique.
Although defeated, Leon nevertheless became the true owner of the Seven-Star Knives.
And now...
We now enter the fourth and final round of the Banquet Cooking Tournament!
All right!
It's all up to you, Mao.
But who am I up against?
That's right! Get on with it. Who's the fourth member of your team?
Relax.
That person is already waiting for you, Liu Mao Xing.
What? For me?
Demon of Vengeance: Shou An! Conclusion of Destiny
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha.
Don't you think this is a curious twist of fate, Mao?
Look, the ceiling's opening up.
That's quite a gimmick.
Hailing from the mouth of the Yangtze River, deep in Szechuan's mountains.
Both of us, who lived there for over a decade, are now meeting here
at the river's end in Shanghai, where a long journey of four thousand miles ends.
What?
It's been a while, Mao!
Sh-Shou An!
Shou An... is my opponent?
Big Sis, who's this Shou An guy?
I'm told he was the best student of Master Pai, Mao's mother.
Yes. As I recall, he was a crook who absconded with all of Kikkako's money,
eventually causing Master Pai to die of overwork.
And after Master Pai's death, Mao challenged Shou An for the position of Kikkaro's head-chef.
Mao defeated him in a battle involving a Mystery Mapo Tofu.
Shou An lost his cooking license, and was never seen again.
I guess he was in the Underworld all this time.
While in the Underworld, I've heard about Shou An, the young genius from Szechuan.
He rose through the Underworld's ranks at an unprecedented pace.
You can't ask for a better set-up for the contest than this.
Shou An! Why are you with the Underworld?
Why indeed?
Did you think there was anywhere else I could turn to after losing to you?
After I lost everything, only the Underworld, with its Black Qilin insignia, welcomed me.
And as an Underworld member, I finally found the dream that I've been searching for!
Dream... in the Underworld?
Mao, let me you a new reason why I, an Underworld chef, must fight with you once again.
F-Father!
The head chef of Ryuchin Shuka?
That's Li Tang.
The winner of this contest will gain the Legendary cookware,
Control of the Shanghai Cooking Guild, and save Li Tang's life.
So it's all up to your cooking now, Mao!
Damn you! That's my father's life you're talking about!
Rule people with cooking.
It was this Underworld slogan that inspired me more than anything else.
I specifically requested to spearhead the invasion of Shanghai.
If, by some chance, you happen to defeat me again...
I will once again lose everything.
But if I win, Li Tang dies.
Not only will I gain control of the Shanghai Cooking Guild, but my future in the Underworld will be assured.
Furthermore...
I will be able to see you suffer in the knowledge that the head chef of Ryuchin,
and the father of your friend, die because of your weakness!
To defeat you. To make you grovel before me.
This will be the glorious starting point for my dream's fulfillment!
Mwa ha ha ha ha!
Enough with your dreams.
You dare, you dare threaten Sanche's father for something like that?
Father!
Father! Father!
Open up! Father!
Why must you always be like this? Why?
Shou An. You're always using cooking to further your own ambition!
Don't proselytize to me!
Mao! Brother Mao!
Mao!
My cooking skills rank among the best there is, and yet...
Pai never treated me with the respect I deserved!
And thanks to you, her son, I even lost my license to cook!
How would you know about dreams?
The shame! The pain that I had to go through!
It's all your fault! Yours and your mother Pai's!
The pain from the blows I received to my body and spirit, I'll give them all back to you!
I'll hold my dream in my hand, while you suffer the hellishness of defeat!
Stop it! You're blaming him for something he didn't do!
Damn you, what are you doing?
I'll kill you, you creep!
You scum!
M-Mao!
Brother Mao...
Look at all those scars...
Those scars... They're the same as the one the Masked Chef, Mr. Lien, had.
Scars carved under unimaginable training, extreme even with Underworld standards.
Hey judges!
Aren't you're all from Shanghai, just like Sanche's father?!
You don't mind having someone like this Underworld bastard taking control!
Listen boy. In Shanghai, might makes right.
That's right. Underworld or Overworld, it doesn't make a difference to us.
We will judge this fairly.
What?
Enough talk! Get cooking!
We're here to see a cooking tournament!
Get on with it!
Damn it.
Do you understand now?
Unlike the cushy outside, merely surviving the Underworld is a feat by itself.
Well then, let me show you the theme for the fourth—
You stay out of this.
Very well. The pain of these wounds, and the painful memories of my mother's death...
Let us resolve the shared past which has torn us to shreds.
But as the owner of this emblem, I will say this!
This contest...
Is not the start of your dream!
The end of your four thousand mile journey through the Yangtze in Shanghai...
Will also be the end of your corrupted dream!
Mao...
Brother Mao.
Mao!
Y-you dare!
There is only one ingredient that can resolve our past differences.
You mean the same ingredient that bound us that day in Kikkaro?
Yes. It can only be...
Tofu!
Tofu...
The Kikkaro battle took place under a cruel rule, where defeat meant losing your cooking license forever!
And the theme given by Admiral Lee, the evaluator from the capital,
was to recreate the Mystery Mapo Tofu my mother once made.
Very well. There probably isn't a better ingredient to settle our scores here once and for all.
So the theme is tofu.
Well, it seems pretty anticlimactic after all the excitement in this tournament.
I mean, for you to just use tofu that's pre-made...
How's this?
How about starting from scratch, by making the tofu itself from soybeans?
Anyway, we're quite full after eating all that delicious food.
It won't hurt to take a break.
Handmade tofu sounds interesting. I'm fine with it.
Same here.
Good. Looks like it's settled.
It's eleven in the evening right now.
It takes about eleven hours to make tofu from soybeans.
Adding a cooking time of about five hours, means that tasting begins sixteen hours from now.
That will be tomorrow afternoon at three.
Remember, don't be late!
We won't wait for even a second!
Mao and Shou An, I hope to see a tofu dish worthy of a final round.
There's a small kitchen at the bow and at the stern.
You will each make your preparations in there.
Well then, the final round ingredient for the Banquet Cooking Tournament has been chosen!
Mao and Shou An will duke it out with a tofu dish, the ingredient that binds them both!
Mao, you'll be the one crushed here at the end of the Yangtze River.
We'll see about that, Shou An.
What do you think about this contest, Leon?
Shou An was already defeated by Mao in a tofu battle before.
And now he's fighting another tofu battle.
Simply put, I'd say Mao has the advantage.
No, I don't think so.
It was ambition and hatred towards Mao that allowed him to endure the severe Underworld training.
And rise through the ranks with astonishing speed.
If those twisted desires are strong, then his Underworld Techniques will gain power.
That's what makes Underworld Cooking Society chefs so fearsome.
But one thing seems certain: The Legendary cookware,
Control over the Shanghai Cooking Guild, and the life of Sanche's father...
They all depend on Mao's cooking.
Father.
Don't worry, Sanche. Have faith in Brother Mao!
Right, Brother Mao?
Yeah. Don't worry, Sanche.
I'll make a tofu dish, the likes of which was never seen before!
But Brother Mao, making tofu from soybeans takes a lot of time, doesn't it?
Do we have enough time?
Don't worry, Shilou. See, it's just a little past eleven right now.
To make good tofu, I must separate the good soybeans from the bad, and clean them.
This will take at least an hour.
One hour?
Yeah. And then, we soak these soybeans in water.
We need one night for the water to fully penetrate the beans.
I suppose the process will be finished by tomorrow morning, at around nine.
Then we'll grind, boil, and filter the softened beans through a cloth.
This separates it into soymilk and soy pulp.
Finally, we add brine to the soymilk.
Brine? What's that?
Oh, I know! It's what makes soymilk coagulate into tofu, right?
That's right!
Once you add brine (or saltwater) to the soymilk, it becomes soft and semi-solid.
At this stage, it's called "warm soymilk curds." I guess it'll be around ten at that stage.
And that's when it's most delicious!
A softness that melts in your mouth, with a silky texture to it!
Then we put the warm soymilk curds into a mold, and put weights on it.
Then we submerge it in water and carefully slip the mold off.
And presto!
You get soft, sweet, freshly-made tofu with the scent of soybeans.
Oh man, I can't wait. I'm drooling.
That leaves almost four hours before the tasting starts at three.
Yeah. That's why I can prepare this without any time pressure.
So there's nothing to worry about, Brother Mao!
All right. That's enough cleaning for the soybeans!
This takes a lot of patience. Soybeans are delicate and fragile.
It won't do any good to have any germs still hiding here.
Hey, Mao. You should rest a while.
You could just leave the beans alone while they soak, right?
That's true, but...
Take a break, Brother Mao.
You should conserve your energy if you want to knock out that cocky bastard.
I've heard about Shou An, and how he's a very mean person.
Just look what he did to you.
That's enough, Mei Li.
Anyway, make sure you beat that guy, Brother Mao!
Yeah. I can't afford to lose this! Not when it's my personal fight as well.
Mao.
Shou An is a Szechuanese cooking genius that my Mom,
herself known as the "Fairy", trained with everything she had.
So fighting against him is the same as fighting against my Mom.
And Mom has always been my goal.
During the contest at Kikkaro, I really wasn't any good.
It was only luck that let me win.
But this time, I want to settle this once and for all.
Then that's even more reason for you to rest, Brother Mao!
You need sleep, or your tongue may not work for you later.
I'll keep an eye on the soybeans here so you can sleep, Brother Mao.
Thank you, Shilou.
Come on, all you weary warriors. Get some rest as well!
That's well and good, but will you be all right here, Shilou?
Do you know who you're talking to?
These beans are in safe hands with me, Big Brother Shell!
That's what worries me.
Well, thanks then. Shilou, Mei LI.
Just leave it to us!
Have a good rest, Mao.
Master Shou An, why would that boy choose this ingredient?
Perhaps he has some big surprise hidden under his sleeve.
Don't worry. This is exactly what I want.
Tofu is something I've worked with since my days in Szechuan.
With my Underworld techniques, I'm not who I was before.
Mao, I will defeat you tomorrow!
With the great cooking secret in Szechuanese banquet, Three Harmonies Tofu!
It seems Master Shou An is the one with a big surprise.
Tee hee hee hee!
However, it never hurts to be careful.
What?
Big Sis. Do you know what sort of tofu dish Brother Mao will make?
No clue.
Knowing Mao, I'm sure tomorrow will be something.
I bet Mao is dreaming about what to cook right now.
Ah?!
What's wrong, Big Sis?
Um, something bit me on the neck.
You think there might be mosquitoes here?
Ack, it bit me too! So there's a mosquito in here.
Hey, Big Sis?
What? You fell asleep?
Don't sleep... You're making me... sleepy...
What is it, Mei Li?
Wh-what is this smell and heat?
Eh? Why is that on the stove?
It stinks! My nose is dying!
It's like something is rotting.
We fell asleep, and when we woke up, the pot was here and stinking like this...
A-and the soybeans turned into this...
W-what is that weird sticky stuff?
That's... Impossible! How could this have happened?
What happened to the soybeans?
Shilou! What did you do this time?!
I didn't do anything!
Wait, that looks exactly like natto!
Natto?
You mean the fermented soybeans in Japan that your mother spoke of?
What's wrong, Mao?
Oh crap. This is it.
What is it, Mao?
This is rice straw.
It's chock full of a germ called B. subtilis natto that's used to make natto!
Someone put this with the soybeans, and set it on the stove to help cultivate the germs.
You didn't notice anything yesterday, Shilou?
Actually...
Both Big Sis and I got sleepy after being stung by mosquitoes.
What?
It wasn't a mosquito. That looks like a needle wound.
Someone pricked you with a needle containing a sleeping potion.
The Underworld does this sort of thing.
The Underworld?
It's got to be Shan. Nobody else would do something this cheap!
Damn it! How low can the Underworld Cooking Society stoop?!
If only we kept a closer eye on things.
I... I'm sorry, Brother Mao.
You moron! Sorry won't cut it!
What idiot told me that the soybeans were in safe hands?! Moron!
Auuugh! Help me, Brother Mao!
It's five in the morning! Just ten hours before the tasting!
We barely have enough time to make the tofu right now!
There definitely won't be any time left to do any cooking after that!
No way...
You can't use these beans anymore. What will you do, Mao?
Not even Mao can correct this.
Is there anything that can be done, Mao? Father's life is at stake.
Mao...
I-I'm sorry, Brother Mao.
I'm sorry.
Brother Mao?
Mao...
No. Thank you, Shilou, Mei Li.
Thanks to the sleep I got, my head is much clearer now.
What? What?
There's barely enough time to make the tofu.
Out of misfortune... comes an idea that turns it into providence.
Sanche, rest assured that your father will be saved.
A-are you sure, Mao? Is it going to be all right?
It'll be all right, Sanche!
Shan! Thanks to you, I'll be making the tofu dish of the century!
What?
What do you mean by that?
FREE AS THE WIND
Every night when I fall fast asleep I can hear you whispering in my dreams, feel me.
Then a bluish flame burns bright within Shining, sparkling hotter than ordinary fire.
Look at all the rain gently falling down, Filling over the dry lake bed with freshwater streams.
If we both go down like this inside our hearts, Who knows what places we will find and explore?
Destiny ensured that we both meet at the same present.
Free to frolic like the wandering wind.
Ohhh, can we stay like this until the very end of time?
This intensity I feel for you, is from Cosmic Power...