Chapter 13

Li Yao, like a suddenly rich nouveau riche, was excited to the extreme, his mind filled with all sorts of indecent scenes. He abruptly pulled back the quilt and jumped out of bed. Unexpectedly, his legs went weak, and with a "thud," he fell flat on his back, feeling his limbs completely drained of strength, as if all the energy had been sapped away, even the door had been removed!

The Blackwing Sword, hearing the noise, flew in from the outer room, chirping frantically. With a "whoosh," it flew out again, bringing back a washbasin mirror and shining it on Li Yao.

"How can this be!" Li Yao was greatly alarmed.

He looked as if he had been struggling to survive in a vast desert for several months, emaciated to the point of being skin and bones. His sunken eye sockets took up half his face, and his body was entirely devoid of flesh. His pale purple veins hung limply on his skeleton, like dried earthworms, and his skin had turned gray, making him look like a living zombie.

This shock was no small matter. His sharp senses, exceptional memory, and crystal brain-like computational and analytical abilities all vanished in an instant. Li Yao almost reverted to his original state, only slightly better than before.

Almost simultaneously, a ball of fire seemed to be burning in his stomach, a fire that kept exploding and spreading!

Li Yao felt as if every cell in his body was screaming in agony, "Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!"

Even the myriad thoughts deep in his brain were so hungry that they began to devour each other!

"Quick, Little Black, get me something to eat!"

Li Yao had never imagined that extreme hunger could be as unbearable as a drug craving. He rolled on the ground, shouting at the Blackwing Sword.

The Blackwing Sword chirped twice, dissatisfied with its master's attitude, but still flew to the outer room and quickly brought back two five-pound cans of "Star Beast" meat.

The "Star Beast" sounded very grand and luxurious, but in reality, it was a hybrid of ordinary pigs and elephants, created by secret drugs in three months to weigh ten tons. It was a fast-grown meat animal, and the canned meat was very greasy and had a terrible taste, rarely bought by ordinary citizens.

However, this mixed meat can, containing bones and offal, was cheap, costing only 15 yuan for a large can of five pounds. It was a rare delicacy for the poor, and also Li Yao's main source of meat, with dozens of cans always stored at home.

At this moment, seeing the Star Beast meat can, Li Yao, like a starving wolf that hadn't eaten for three days, saw a clean, spiced lamb. His eyes glowed red, and he made a "gurgling" sound in his throat. Suddenly, he found the strength to jump up, grab a can of meat, and start gnawing on it with his mouth wide open.

"Crunch! Crunch!" The sound of his teeth colliding was like two meat grinders hitting each other, sparks flying from the teeth.

The Star Beast meat can was extremely salty, fishy, and greasy. Normally, a small piece of it could go with three large bowls of white rice. Now, it seemed like the rarest delicacy in the world. Possessed by a glutton, Li Yao devoured it ravenously, finishing an entire five-pound can in a minute.

His mouth and teeth were numb, but his stomach was extremely bloated. The Star Beast meat can expanded when it met water, up to ten times its original size.

In the depths of Li Yao's brain, a scene flashed, a segment of words from the head of the low-level miscellaneous servants of the Hundred Refinements Sect, "Gigantic Spirit God," in a dream:

"Absorbing the essence of the stars and the moon, abstaining from food to cultivate, directly swallowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth—these are the profound methods that only high-level cultivators can use, not something you, a bunch of trash, can attempt!"

"For you, trash, food is the only source of spiritual energy, the foundation of all cultivation. The first step to becoming a cultivator is to learn how to eat!"

"Next, I will teach you the 'Whale Swallowing Technique,' a cultivation method specifically for eating, which will help you devour and absorb the energy in food!"

"When cultivated to the extreme, your digestive system will move a hundred times faster, allowing you to eat eight hundred pounds of meat a day, crush even the toughest bones of spiritual beasts into powder, and completely absorb and convert them into the most basic spiritual energy, instantly filling your limbs and meridians, making your blood surge and your strength immense!"

"Remember, if you don't master the '108 Hand Cloak Chaos Hammer Technique,' there's still a chance for improvement, but if you don't master the 'Whale Swallowing Technique,' you'll always be a mere mortal, and you won't be able to step onto the path of cultivation!"

"Ou Ye Ming, you come up first, eat all two hundred pounds of stinky fish, and I'll teach you the Hundred Refinements Sect's secret technique, the 'Whale Swallowing Technique'!"

...

Li Yao's eyes suddenly bulged, and from his stomach came a "rumbling" sound, as if a powerful machine had suddenly started!

In an instant, it felt like several beasts were running rampant in his stomach, stretching his abdominal skin to near transparency!

His gastrointestinal tract was moving at a speed dozens of times faster than normal, rapidly digesting and breaking down the Star Beast meat, converting it into the most basic energy, continuously supplying it to his dry limbs and meridians!

The speed at which the Star Beast meat expanded when it met water couldn't keep up with the speed of digestion and absorption. The protruding abdomen quickly flattened and even became concave again.

"No, I'm still hungry. Quick, another can!"

Li Yao, his mouth watering, finished the second can of Star Beast meat in a few bites, still unsatisfied, and slapped the floor, urging the Blackwing Sword to bring more meat.

Three cans, five cans, twenty cans...

In just an hour, he had swallowed thirty-one cans of Star Beast meat, drank a full bucket of water, and finished all the stock at home, still feeling unsatisfied, he let out a satisfied burp.

"Chirp, chirp?"

The Blackwing Sword looked at its master with concern—it had never seen anyone eat Star Beast meat so crazily, unsure what was wrong with its master, and asked out of concern.

Li Yao smacked his lips, using his tongue to pick out a strand of meat, savoring it: "I don't seem to be full yet. I could eat three or five more cans."

"..." The Blackwing Sword was speechless. If it had eyes, it would have rolled them.

"Finally, I'm alive again!" Li Yao exhaled with great satisfaction, clenching his fist and carefully examining his arm, feeling the power surging from deep within his bones.

As he consumed can after can of Star Beast meat, under the intense digestion and absorption of the "Whale Swallowing Technique," his body underwent a tremendous transformation.

The meat was converted into the purest spiritual energy. With the abundant spiritual energy, his dry blood vessels were re-filled, his withered muscles swelled again, and his bones became as tough as steel.

In the mirror, his face was still somewhat grayish-yellow, and his figure was slightly thinner than before. However, beneath the dull skin, there were tight muscles that bulged with the slightest effort, like thick steel cables.

Li Yao clenched his fist and lightly pounded his chest muscles, making a dull sound. His chest felt like it was padded with seven or eight layers of dried leather, and he felt no pain.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" He swung his arm and punched the air casually, creating several afterimages and the sound of the wind being split by his punches.

"My punching power has increased by at least 15%, and my punching speed has improved by at least 20%. The 'Whale Swallowing Technique' is indeed one word—dominant!"

Realizing that the memory fragments from the dream could actually be applied in the real world, Li Yao was overjoyed, like a homeless person who had found a fortune from the sky.

However, when he tried to recall the vast memory bank left by Ouyezi in the dream, he found that, like all dreams, the once clear memories became hazy and fragmented, making them unusable.

"If only there was a way to recall every detail of the dream. Even if I could learn just a fraction of Ouyezi's skills, becoming the top weapon master in the Federation would be a piece of cake! Then I would have mountains of gold and silver, beautiful cars and women, and be revered by millions, becoming an idol for hundreds of millions of young people..."

Li Yao chuckled wickedly, indulging in his fantasies.

The Blackwing Sword snorted disdainfully and flew away, twisting its hilt.

At this moment, the crystal brain suddenly beeped, and a virtual paper crane flew out from the lower right corner of the screen, circling Li Yao's head three times, and then burst, turning into a cold message:

"Didn't you come to school today?"

A round, yellow little person followed, with raised eyebrows and a questioning face. It was Si Jiaxue.

(End of page)