Chapter 11

What a cute little girl! Although she wasn't dressed up much, her bashful and blossoming appearance was truly pitiable.

Hu Gao wiped away the saliva that was almost dripping to his chin and said with a broad smile, "It's Qinglian, come in quickly."

The little girl nodded and walked into the room with small, quick steps. She placed the small basket she was holding on a table that was about her height, and stood by the side, pursing her lips without saying a word.

"Qinglian, what's wrong with you? You look so gloomy," Hu Gao sat down and carefully lifted the gray cloth covering the basket. He wondered if the people in this world ate with their hands or chopsticks, or if they used knives and forks, which would be quite embarrassing.

"I, I thought I would never see Big Brother again," Qinglian said, seeing that Hu Gao seemed fine, she carefully moved a small stool over, placed one hand on the table, and sat down.

Hu Gao suddenly understood! If the Hu Clan's guardian deity really descended, the original Qinggao would likely have vanished, just as the unnamed elder said when he first woke up. He was the only one who survived the ritual, but how to explain this to the little girl was a bit of a headache for Hu Gao.

"How do you know about Big Brother's situation?"

"Hmm." Qinglian's face turned red, "I... I forgot to tell... Big Brother, my grandfather is the Great Elder of the Netherworld, and he told Qinglian that Big Brother has lost his memory and doesn't... remember me."

Pfft! The Great Elder of the Netherworld is the head of the Qing lineage. No wonder there was always an elder with green hair standing by his side. There was this connection. But could this little girl be sent by the Great Elder to test if he really lost his memory?

But it didn't matter. After all, he genuinely lost his memory. Thinking of this, Hu Gao smiled, "That's right, Big Brother lost his memory. From now on, I'll have to rely on Qinglian."

"How... how can that be! Even though Big Brother lost his memory, you survived the disaster and are now a successor, the hope for the family's revival."

Hu Gao couldn't help but reach out and ruffle the little girl's hair, "It seems our little Qinglian knows a lot."

"Grandfather loves Qinglian the most, and he only tells me many things," Qinglian, now more relaxed, no longer stuttered. "Alright, is Big Brother hungry? Have some food first. This is something Qinglian specially asked someone to make!"

Hu Gao didn't need any more prompting; he was already eyeing the food in the basket, wondering where to start.

"Hmm?" He picked up a golden, spherical object from a bowl-like ceramic container and asked, "What's this?"

"This is a baby golden-furred beast, less than six months old. After shaving off its fur, it's roasted at high temperature using the simplest [Fire Control Technique] in a very short time. This cooking method was actually created by Big Brother before."

Ah, no wonder it smells so good. Hu Gao couldn't help but marvel. He never thought the original Qinggao was a foodie. This was a good thing for him. Without hesitation, he clamped the meat ball with both hands and took a bite, chewing slowly and savoring it.

Mmm, it was indeed delicious. The outer skin was crispy and oozing with oil, and the meat inside was even more tender than shrimp balls from China. The most interesting part was that after eating it, there seemed to be a liquid-like substance inside, smooth and refreshing, with a lingering aftertaste.

Awesome! So awesome! In front of the little girl, Hu Gao lost all his composure, quickly finishing off the golden-furred beast balls, his mouth and hands covered in oil. Following Qinglian's smooth explanation, he started to feast on the remaining food in the basket.

Dried and marinated with exotic fruit powder, the Zhongming bird meat was rich and crispy, leaving a lasting aftertaste with each bite; the Henggong fish sashimi, sliced so thinly it was almost transparent, dipped in the juice of an adult Yangzi tree, made him feel as if he was in an icy world; and finally, the fresh, sweet, and juicy Meileng fruit, just picked from the branch with dew still on it, combined with the various delicious flavors in his mouth, almost made Hu Gao faint from happiness...

Hu Gao rubbed his now bulging belly, almost lying down with his hands on his head, and said to the cute Qinglian, "Big Brother is reading the [Totem Original Interpretation]."

Qinglian, seeing Hu Gao was full, hopped off the stool, ran to the bed, and picked up the book left by the transmission elder. She flipped through it casually and said, "The earliest version of this book can be traced back to the Ice Age Chaos period, supposedly written by the high priest of the then Lóngyuè Empire, but many key contents have been lost over time."

Hu Gao was taken aback. He noticed that when the little girl talked about knowledge, she wasn't shy at all and spoke clearly. Could this be the legendary emotional-cognitive dissociation causing language disorder?

"Qinglian, have you condensed a totem?" Hu Gao suddenly became very curious. He felt that Qinglian was a strange genius.

To his surprise, Qinglian shook her head. Her previously excited mood instantly turned gloomy, "Qinglian can't enter a meditative state, so... I... can't."

Hmm, what a coincidence. The little girl couldn't enter a meditative state either. It seemed that meditation had a significant threshold. Otherwise, everyone on the continent would have totems, which wouldn't make sense.

"It's okay. As a successor, Big Brother can't enter a meditative state either," Hu Gao couldn't help but reach out and ruffle Qinglian's green hair, "By the way, is it difficult to condense a totem?"

"According to Fang Wuxu, the first emperor of the powerful Dragon Tiger Empire, ordinary people need to reach the Wuxu level of mental power to enter a meditative state. However, the methods for judging mental power levels have all been lost, so people can only judge the strength of one's mental power by the speed at which they communicate with the elemental forces during meditation.

Entering a meditative state is just the first step in condensing a totem. When it comes to summoning the soul, only one out of ten people succeeds. That's why some geniuses later created the method of capturing beast souls to condense totems, but the success rate is still low."

Hu Gao was thoroughly impressed by Qinglian. He thought that as a genius, he could just read some books and condense a totem, but the path ahead was unexpectedly so difficult!

Hu Gao sighed and looked at Qinglian with what he thought was a profound gaze, "Perhaps, only this difficulty that ordinary people need to look up to is the only driving force for me to keep moving forward!"

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