"Have you had everything set up?" Yang Qing asked, directing the question to the young man who had just finished up with the noodles and was moving on to a stir-fried mix of vegetables.

"Mmmh," the man nodded as he savored the crunchy flavor of his festivals.

"And?" Yang Qing impatiently asked. His stomach grumbled immediately after asking the question, which drew laughter from the young man.

"They're all at the square of the vegetable and soup street. You're in luck, I told them to prepare something for you for their evaluations," the young man offhandedly said as he took another vegetable with his chopsticks.

"Do you think I'm judging a food competition," Yang Qing muttered under his breath. Though he said that, internally he was ecstatic. He'd get to sample a lot of different dishes.

The organizations being evaluated within the White Baobab Kingdom were 50. The majority of the organizations being evaluated were restaurants, while the remaining few were organizations that had an indirect relation to it, such as merchant stores that dealt in the supply of food ingredients.

There were no sects being evaluated within his list since it was a rarity for a sect to startup in the White Baobab Kingdom. The White Baobab Kingdom gave priority to restaurants and they also didn't have that much land to give.

In the whole kingdom, there were only two sects. They were both rank 4 sects, but were at the lower end of the spectrum when it came to rank 4 organizations. The only reason they were allowed to settle in the kingdom was because as per their terms of settlement, they agreed to act as buffers for the kingdom.

They were allocated lands that were at the border of the kingdom, more specifically the borders that the kingdom shared with organizations that they had poor relationships with.

Those two sects could develop and recruit however they wanted within the kingdom and did not have to pay tribute, but in exchange for being allowed to settle within the White Baobab Kingdom, they had to keep an eye on the border. Should an attack happen, they were to do all they could, to stall for time before the reinforcements from the palace came.

The king was also a bit lax on that decree since he allowed them to give up should the enemy be multiple levels above their capacity to handle.

Despite not being cooking-based organizations, other than the king and the party that he had when he was formulating the kingdom, these two sects could be considered the oldest organizations within the White Baobab Kingdom. They have been there for close to 150 years and have embedded themselves into the culture of the Kingdom.

The White Baobab Kingdom may not be able to compare to other well-established rank 4 organizations in terms of overall power scale, despite having a quasi-palace realm cultivator, but it was one of the most close-knit kingdoms Yang Qing has ever been to.

As a young kingdom, that was one of the most fundamental things it could have to help propel it forward. Yang Qing couldn't help but look forward to the day it finally bloomed into a top-tier kingdom.

....

As Yang Qing was daydreaming about how many restaurants the White Baobab Kingdom would have if it became a top-tier powerhouse, the young man led him to the square of the vegetable and soup street.

True to its status as a cooking-based kingdom, the streets and the arrangement of the kingdom were done according to a type of dish. For ease of arrangement and planning, organizations that specialized in a particular type of food were all placed in the same area and that area was named after the food they specialized in.

It made things easier in terms of navigation by customers and also for new chefs and even proper planning. Merchants who dealt in a particular ingredient would know which street they could best serve....

It wasn't long before they arrived above the vegetable and soup street. All the buildings were atleast four stories. They were narrowly shaped and had a tiny distance between each other. However, despite the compact nature, the buildings were all meticulously arranged and their designs were impeccable, one would think they were transformed out of a painting.

They all had different designs and colors to them that helped maintain their own individuality but still melded well with each other. The roads were narrow and virtually no carriages could be seen on the roads. Swarms of cultivators all over the street could be seen walking to and from the buildings.

To maximize space usage and minimize congestion, the use of carriages and terrestrial spirit beasts was forbidden within the streets of the White Baobab Kingdom, but the use of avian spirit beasts was allowed. The rules applied to everyone within the kingdom, even the king himself, who was the young man accompanying Yang Qing to the vegetable and soup square.

Despite having to walk from street to street, the swarms of crowds below didn't seem to mind it. They all had joyous excited faces to them, while others had looks of contentment. Most of those who came to White Baobab Kingdom, did so because of their desire and passion for food. Everything else was immaterial compared to it.

….

"There they are," the young man on the yellow vine crane said as he pointed toward a well-arranged party by the square.

"This guy, he really arranged it like a food judging competition," thought Yang Qing as he wryly smiled at the arrangement he was seeing.

The organizations he was to evaluate were split into two sides each standing behind a long table that was partitioned with a small board that separated one organization from the next, and above them were banners with their organization's name.

The arrangement looked like the table was partitioned into small stalls. On the table were various dishes. There was a small group of four people within those tables that didn't have a dish on their makeshift stalls. Yang Qing guessed they were merchant organizations based on the awkward looks they kept exchanging because of the arrangement that made them stick out like a sore thumb.

…

"Did you have to put them like that?" Yang Qing asked in exasperation. The young man carelessly shrugged in response.

Yang Qing sighed as he decided to get on with it. He jumped off Ellie's back and gently landed at the center of the square, the young man landed with him.

Even though he was the king of the White Baobab Kingdom, the gasps of awe along with other expected reactions one would expect when a king suddenly made an appearance, were completely absent, either from those walking by or the members of the organizations about to be evaluated. They all seemed rather casual to his presence, in a more genial sense. In fact, it was Yang Qing who made them a bit tense, compared to their king.

….

Yang Qing immediately started with his explanation of the evaluation procedures like usual, before he officially began with the evaluations. He started off with the merchant organizations much to their relief, who couldn't wait to get this over and done with.

Once he finished with them, he moved on to the chefs where he took his sweet time evaluating, while thoroughly sampling their dishes. He along with the king, cleaned out every dish and pot they passed by. The evaluation which should have taken him four hours to complete, took him six hours.

In that time, Ma Yuan had already woken up at some point and joined them in their sampling evaluations.

….

"Longwei, thanks for your help," said Yang Qing as he handed the young man to his left a basket with five snow peaches, a gourd filled with the hundred-leaf sugarcane wine, Yi Jie had made the other day.

"No problem, Qing," Longwei replied as he excitedly stored away the wine and snow peaches in his storage ring.

"Your ceremony should be in a few days, right?" asked Longwei.

"Mmmh, it'll be in two days to be exact," said Yang Qing as he did a mental calculation on the remaining time till his palace court promotion ceremony.

"You better bring something decent as a congratulatory gift by the way," he added.

"You think I'm as stingy as you, who gifted me a rock in celebration of the 350th anniversary of the kingdom," said Longwei in displeasure.

"It was meant to be symbolic, besides that rock cost me over 100 high-grade spirit stones and is not as useless as it seems. It affects the luck of an area, the scale is small but the effect is very much real. But If you don't want it, you can always return it back to me. With the way things are shaping up for me, I feel I'll need all the luck I can get," said Yang Qing with a hint of worry in his tone.

"Even though I don't believe you, I think I'll hold onto it. Well Qing, I won't be seeing you off as I have stately matters to attend to," said Longwei as he took a greedy sniff in the air.

"Sure, sure, I'll leave you to it," Yang Qing mockingly said.

"See you in three days Qing, I can't wait to sample Master Jiang Fu's oolong tea again. I wonder how much improvement he has made since last I was there."

"Sorry to disappoint, but Jiang Fu went into closed-door cultivation a few days ago in preparation to break through to the palace realm. It may be quite some time before he comes back," Yang Qing somberly said as he remembered there were still certain matters tied to him that involved Meng Chao.

"Whaaat?!!!! There goes my whole reason for coming," Longwei dispiritedly said. His shoulders even slumped as his eyes turned lifeless.

"Even though Jiang Fu won't be there, there's still Qi Shan who has made tremendous improvements in her dishes, it won't be long before she reaches Jiang Fu's level,"

"Really?!!" Longmei hurriedly grabbed Yang Qing by his shoulders in all the excitement.

"Yes," Yang Qing said as he forcibly pried Longmei's hands from his shoulders in displeasure.

"Also, I'll have you know, Feng Xin brought back something from the green fog region, a green flowered babirusa.

We barbecued a piece of it a few days ago and Longmei, the taste was beyond any pork I've ever tasted. If you want to have a taste, make sure you bring something of 'equal value'." Yang Qing smugly said as a cunning glint flashed in his eyes.

He left with Ellie and Ma Yuan immediately after making that statement leaving Longmei in a mumbling stupor. He kept mumbling 'green flowered babirusa' over and over as he walked aimlessly. Those around him ignored him as it wasn't the first time he acted like that.

….

Skies above the White Baobab Kingdom.

"That will teach you to extort me all the time. I'll make sure you pay it all back, in kind. Hehe my good friend Longmei, make sure you bring something worthwhile," Yang Qing muttered as he rubbed his palms together with an evil smile appearing on his face.

Ma Yuan who had prepared himself to share the backstory of his circumstances found himself flinching and hesitating when he saw Yang Qing's expression.

"He looks like a bandit's bandit," Ma Yuan thought.