Food Immortal

Food Immortal is a long fantasy cultivation novel by the author Shen Sheng Zhi Lang, serialized on Qidian Chinese Network and now complete, running to more than 2.3 million characters. The work is set against modern cultivation: spiritual energy on Earth is thin, and cultivators are mostly trapped, unable to advance in their realms—among them the protagonist Su Ze. He is a master chef of a lineage a thousand years old, has yearned since childhood to become an immortal, and gropes his way forward relying on a family-heirloom secret cultivation method, the Precious Scripture of the Nine Spirit Primal King, only to learn that this secret manual is in fact a patchwork "knockoff compendium." The story turns on a folk gathering of the cultivation world. At this gathering Su Ze unexpectedly obtains a treasure called a "portable cave-heaven," from which he can freely travel back and forth to another world. That is an otherworld where magic and gods coexist, and where there is even a "Great Han Empire" established by Han Chinese immigrants over generations and lasting more than a thousand years; its pantheon also presents a Chinese divine genealogy tinged with tabletop role-playing game (DND) coloring. The author stirs cultivation, cookery, otherworld adventure, and the spread of faith into one big stew: while others cultivate, he "cultivates dishes"; while others refine elixirs, he refines seasonings; while others raise swords, he raises cleavers. The protagonist cooks with the abundant and exotic ingredients of the otherworld, managing cultivation and his power base while promoting Chinese cuisine in the otherworld. The book's tone is light and humorous; its highlights lie in the setting of shuttling between two worlds, the imagination of a DND-like Chinese pantheon, and the comic effect brought by that gluttonous and witty "Director of Destinies." It should be noted that this book is a single long novel without a volume number, and is not the same edition system as the ten-volume physical series likewise published later by Nine Star Culture.