The dish Gu Xi intended to cook this time was the main soup from the Plague Recipe, called the Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup.

The method was rather casual, involving more than ten kinds of poisonous herbs combined with over five kinds of poisonous mushrooms, all boiled in a pot. Generally, once it turned a deep green, deep purple, or dark red, the soup was considered done.

As for the quality of the herbs and mushrooms used, there were no strict requirements.

The only requirement was the ratio of two herbs to one mushroom.

Of course, if you could consider the flavor, and then think about the mutual generation and restriction of the Five Elements, or perhaps the roles of the herbs in terms of hierarchy, it would be even better.

If you didn't consider this and just tossed things in randomly, you could still make the soup.

However, whether the soup would be edible was another question.

Although Gu Xi was making the Plague Recipe,

he wasn't doing it to practice proficiency.

If it were just for practice, he could have left this recipe to the chefs in the kitchen.

There was no need for Gu Xi to think too much about it.

Gu Xi was now aiming to make something he could eat.

Thus, while handling these materials, Gu Xi was quite serious in his treatment.

If these herbs weren't all poisonous and could be tasted without processing, Gu Xi might have tried their taste directly.

However, Gu Xi had his methods; by gently pinching the materials in his hand and judging their condition by the emitted aroma, he could make assessments.

Though he couldn't make completely accurate judgments, he could still detect sour, bitter, spicy, and other tastes to some extent.

As for cooking this soup, for Gu Xi, it wasn't a difficult task.

Gu Xi selected a few herbs with more juice and extracted their essence.

Using the juice of these herbs as the base, Gu Xi added a fruit called the Blood Fruit as oil, letting it roll back and forth in the red-hot pot. With each roll, a blood-red oil would seep into the pot bottom.

Once the oil reached the right temperature, Gu Xi added all the sliced mushrooms into the pot, initially causing a burst of explosions, followed by adding the extracted herbal juice into the pot.

After that, some seeds, leaves, and similar herbs were tossed into the pot according to proportion. Finally, Gu Xi turned up the heat directly, uncertain about the exact duration required, knowing only that the soup was successful once it reached one of the aforementioned three colors.

As for any other colors, it was regretful, but they were all unusable.

As the pot boiled on the fire, Gu Xi sat beside it, occasionally glancing at the soup, while also frequently checking the scroll that Wang Datong had given him.

While reading the scroll, occasionally, Wang Datong's seal would appear.

This was an effect generated while reading the book.

But Wang Datong didn't dare to make things difficult for Gu Xi in this regard. Every time a phantom attempted to attack Gu Xi, Wang Datong, engaged in a fight with Death Incarnation-Titan, would quickly retract his phantom to avoid displeasing Gu Xi.

In this way, while reading the scroll, Gu Xi was unaffected by time limits, allowing him to read as long as he wished.

Thus, he kept flipping through it, occasionally checking on the pot.

After about three to four hours, with the sun directly overhead, it had reached noon when Gu Xi saw the bubbling steam in the pot had turned a pure purple.

However, due to the prolonged cooking, all the materials in the pot had completely dissolved, rendering the soup thick enough to resemble rice porridge.

[Cooking successful, you have completed a pot of Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup (Blue).]

[Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup (Blue): Plague Recipe, upon consumption, grants partial immunity to toxins, temporarily boosts Power by 5 points, Constitution by 5 points, and enables slow Life recovery for 2 hours.]

[Note: Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup is brewed with toxic ingredients, and contains strong toxins. Overconsumption may negatively impact the body.]

[Note: After consuming the Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup, your blood will carry toxins for three days. Avoid bleeding or dying within these three days as this acts as a precursor to a plague.]

Gu Xi glanced into the pot, watching something like swamp bubbles rise from the soup, hesitating for a moment.

Should I try this soup?

But Gu Xi was genuinely reluctant to take a sip, glancing at the funeral procession carrying Wang Datong's coffin.

Unlike the Li Family's bridal procession, this funeral procession consisted of 'living people,' albeit those under Wang Datong's control.

Commanding them was akin to directly commanding Wang Datong.

Previously, Gu Xi hadn't considered taking action, but now it was different. Gu Xi pointed to one of the pallbearers.

"You come over and take a sip."

Having observed Gu Xi reading the scroll he had presented, Wang Datong had been watching Gu Xi's activities, so he knew what Gu Xi had been cooking.

Wang Datong himself couldn't resist such a toxic substance, let alone his subordinates.

"Master, this..."

"I just want him to taste it. If it's bad, I won't eat it."

The attributes of the Hundred Poison Mushroom Soup were already established, indicating the soup was successfully made.

Naturally, Gu Xi had no intention of letting others drink it, but the color seemed off. Afraid the taste wouldn't be right, he decided to have someone test it and get a sense of the flavor.

Upon hearing Gu Xi's directive, Wang Datong immediately responded, "Compeer, why are you still hesitating? Hurry and go."

The pointed by Wang Datong promptly stepped forward, taking a bowl to draw soup from Gu Xi's pot.

Seeing the large bowl, Gu Xi couldn't help but shake his head.

"Just this much? Are you trying to take the whole pot?"

While speaking, Gu Xi separated a portion out.

There was about a mouthful's worth.

Not minding the quantity, he dipped his finger into the soup and tasted it. His expression slightly changed.

But he quickly felt the changes in his body; without saying much else, he drank the little soup in the bowl.

"How is it?"

"He said the taste was strange, neither sweet nor salty, yet with a bitter and spicy hint. Still, it's ultimately drinkable."

Faced with this situation, Gu Xi was somewhat helpless too.

After all, he wasn't a professional chef and could only judge the taste of herbs by smell.

It was possible to judge wrong.

And given the multitude of ingredients he added, even a small mistake could alter the flavor.

Luckily, the soup's effects remained, and Gu Xi wasn't one to shy away from a bit of discomfort.

Knowing how bitter the soup tasted, he resolutely closed his eyes and gulped it down in large swallows.