Chapter 36

"Um? Didn't you understand?" Zhang Yuxian's face turned cold when he saw Zhao Tiemu hesitate.

"I..." Zhao Tiemu was speechless. He felt that Zhang Yuxian was just teasing him.

Was Zhang Yuxian deliberately messing with him because he heard Zhao Tiemu's earlier sarcasm about Yi Yun?

However, no matter how dissatisfied he was, he didn't dare to contradict Zhang Yuxian.

At this moment, the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp looked at Zhao Tiemu with sympathy. They all knew what Zhao Tiemu had said to Yi Yun earlier.

Who would have thought that retribution would come so quickly!

Seeing Zhao Tiemu's predicament, the two big men who had boasted about eating the stone roller and drinking the river water were trembling in their legs.

They wished they could slap themselves for being so mouthy and following Zhao Tiemu's madness. Retribution might soon befall them too!

They could still gnaw on the big locust tree, but how could they eat a stone roller?

"Zhao Tiemu, what are you standing there for? Didn't you hear me tell you to eat the tree?" Lian Chengyu shouted at Zhao Tiemu, seeing his unwilling expression.

Lian Chengyu didn't care about the reason; he just believed that this was what Zhang Yuxian had ordered. Whatever the envoy commanded must be followed, and it wasn't his misfortune anyway.

"I... I..." Zhao Tiemu, with a pained expression, finally made up his mind and said, "I'll eat..."

He squatted down and, with a stiff upper lip, broke off a piece of wood.

Seeing that the wood could be used for building a house, Zhao Tiemu felt like crying. Was he being treated like a termite?

Noticing Lian Chengyu's displeased expression, Zhao Tiemu, as if going to the execution ground, closed his eyes and stuffed the wood into his mouth to chew.

The texture was simply unbearable.

Zhao Tiemu felt his throat being cut, and after swallowing a piece with great difficulty, he looked at Zhang Yuxian pitifully, hoping it was enough.

However, Zhang Yuxian only coldly said, "Continue!"

Zhao Tiemu almost fainted!

Lifting the stone roller, chopping trees, and driving stakes were all his strong suits, but eating wood was pure torture!

"Sir Zhang, I wonder what kind of secret technique this is?" Lian Chengyu originally thought Zhang Yuxian was just messing with Zhao Tiemu, making him understand that he must do what he said.

But now, he wasn't so sure. Maybe making Zhao Tiemu eat the tree was really some kind of secret technique.

If that was the case, he might have to eat wood too, so he had to ask clearly first.

Zhang Yuxian's attitude towards Lian Chengyu was a bit better. He said, "This secret technique is called the 'Elephant Swallowing Technique.' It is a method to train the stomach and digestive system! Those who master the Elephant Swallowing Technique can eat and drink like whales. It is said that a master can even eat an entire elephant, hence the name."

The members of the Warrior Reserve Camp's expressions became very colorful upon hearing this. So, the Elephant Swallowing Technique was a method for eating.

Wasn't this just a glutton's skill? Could this be considered a secret technique?

Seeing the expressions on the faces of the Warrior Reserve Camp members, Zhang Yuxian knew what they were thinking.

He said disdainfully, "Your shallow understanding, like that of ants, dares to evaluate and speculate on the military techniques of the Jinlong Guard! It's simply laughable!"

"Training the stomach is very important for martial artists! Even if you have a good heart and lungs, which gives you better endurance and combat skills, it still can't compare to the benefits of good training. A good stomach is very beneficial for cultivation!"

"For martial artists in the Mortal Blood Realm, whether you lift stone rollers, fight, or climb trees, where does your strength come from? It all comes from food!"

"Martial artists with well-trained stomachs have an incredibly good appetite. They can eat a whole cow in three days. Eating more means absorbing more nutrients, which makes their bones and muscles stronger and their strength greater."

Zhang Yuxian's voice was loud, and Yi Yun was moved by his words.

Indeed, the energy martial artists unleash is very terrifying. This energy can't come from nowhere; it must have a source. For martial artists in the Mortal Blood Realm, their energy source comes from food.

Food is energy, so eating more naturally has great benefits.

Especially for those noble children from famous families but with ordinary talent, they can't get much essence from their cultivation, so they have to rely on eating the meat of wild beasts to improve their strength.

Some people get full after eating seven or eight pounds of wild beast meat a day, so they might as well manage their family's secular affairs.

But some fierce people can eat two hundred pounds of wild beast meat a day and still only be eighty percent full.

All this meat is digested into energy, and they absorb the essence and cultivate hard to reach higher realms.

So, a good stomach and eating more naturally gives an advantage!

Therefore, the basic secret technique Zhang Yuxian taught was the Elephant Swallowing Technique.

It is a foundational secret technique for martial arts!

Zhang Yuxian continued, "Martial artists from large families practice the Elephant Swallowing Technique to eat wild beast meat. You in Yunhuang have scarce resources and can't even eat enough, but practicing the Elephant Swallowing Technique is still useful!"

"Once your stomach is strong, you can fully absorb the nutrients from whatever you eat!"

"Ordinary people eat grains and other foods, and after the stomach absorbs them, a lot of essence is wasted and excreted with the feces."

"Human feces are eaten by dogs, and flies and maggots can breed in the cesspool. Dung beetles roll dung balls to raise their offspring! There is a lot of unabsorbed nutrition in there!"

"Even eating grains and other foods, you can't absorb all the nutrients, let alone eating rare herbs and treasures!"

"Without a good stomach, you can't digest rare herbs and treasures!"

"Once you master the Elephant Swallowing Technique, whatever you eat in the future will be digested more thoroughly! If you encounter a famine, you can even digest tree bark, roots, and clay, turning them into nutrients to sustain life!"

"Starting today, you will eat tree roots, trunks, and clay for every meal. After eating, you will practice the Elephant Swallowing Technique according to the method I teach you, moving your stomach to digest these hardest-to-digest foods into nutrients!"

Hearing Zhang Yuxian's words, the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp were speechless. They all had to eat.

For the next three days, they would have to eat wood and clay as their meals!

Originally, they had hoped that since Zhang Yuxian had hunted many fierce beasts, they might get to enjoy a feast.

But reality was cruel. Now, they couldn't even eat the meat of fierce beasts or even porridge.

The members of the Warrior Reserve Camp all had pained expressions, and none of them were willing to really eat the tree.

At least, they needed some time to adjust.

But while everyone was looking at each other, Yi Yun had already stepped out of the line, squatted down by the big locust tree, and broke off a branch, eating it along with the leaves.

Martial arts are not for enjoyment; they involve hardship, setbacks, and even life-threatening situations.

Even before Yi Yun's穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越" in English, but in this context, it means "before he was transported to this world"), he knew that some children practicing acrobatics, dance, and contortion had to endure their teachers kneeling on their backs to stretch them, a pain that many adults couldn't bear.

In this world, behind the brilliance of the greatest masters, there is always hard work. Eating wood and clay is nothing compared to that.

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