He thought of this and immediately jumped up, heading toward the world where the sunlight came from.
"Thunk!"
He passed through the sunlight and the projection of another world, hitting the ceiling of the hall.
Chen Shi landed, rubbed his head, and looked up.
The sunlight came from another world, and it seemed like following the sunlight would lead him there.
He jumped again, reaching out to touch the sunlight, but it was like an illusion—visible but untouchable.
"It seems the space in the temple isn't another time and space, but rather there's a mysterious power here that lets me see another world, allowing its sunlight and moonlight to shine in."
Since he started changing his true blood, his appetite had grown. Whether it was his grandfather's medicinal meals or Granny Sha's dishes, he ate everything and was hungry again soon after.
He was getting hungry too quickly, losing five or six pounds in just two days.
Originally weighing only sixty pounds, losing that much made him look even more frail.
Chen Shi knew he was at a critical stage.
The first step in cultivating the Sacred Fetus was to change true blood.
When humans are infants, the blood flowing in them is true blood—pure and requiring no cultivation. Infants breathe through their navel, connected to their mother, called fetal breathing. The necessary air is transmitted through the mother's blood, filtered and pure.
This is called Innate True Qi.
But after birth, breathing through the mouth and nose brings in the polluted air of the world, known as acquired qi. From then on, the body becomes heavier and more polluted, with less and less Innate True Qi. In old age, when Innate True Qi is exhausted, one dies.
Cultivators practicing evil techniques often change their blood in old age, injecting young people's blood into themselves to regain youth, using the Innate True Qi in young blood to replenish their own.
Some even refine the Purple River Chariot, extracting the placenta of pregnant women and refining the unborn infant's blood to delay aging.
Chen Shi's fast hunger was also a form of nourishment, absorbing the essence from food to replenish Innate True Qi and cultivate true blood.
However, ordinary food contained little essence, while his grandfather's medicinal meals had a complex medicinal power suitable for absorption.
But Chen Shi's rapid cultivation meant the essence from food couldn't keep up, so he began consuming his own muscles and organs to refine blood.
If he couldn't get enough food, he might "starve to death"!
The faster he cultivated, the faster he starved!
Chen Shi had to slow down his cultivation because he spent most of his day eating and looking for food.
Granny Yuzhu's ducks were almost unable to lay eggs due to his demands, Old Lady Wuzhu's watermelon patch was nearly empty, and the fish in the Jade Belt River had significantly decreased. He even often ran to Hillock Village at mealtime, causing Granny Sha to get a headache whenever she saw him coming.
Chen Shi even considered using himself as bait to catch a big Gun Fish for a taste.
He was too hungry.
One day, Chen Shi went to the Mountain Lord Temple. After cultivating for a short while, he felt very hungry. Staying a bit longer, the hunger became unbearable.
Feeling anxious from hunger, he hurried outside to find some wild game or fruits to fill his stomach. But this mountain was newly grown, with no other plants or animals except the big tree in the temple.
Chen Shi had to walk down the mountain path, reaching the place with the chubby children. He was so dizzy from hunger but kept moving forward a few more steps until he suddenly fainted with a thud.
In a daze, he saw the blue sky and white clouds, feeling like he was lying flat, but the moving leaves and flowers indicated he was being moved.
He was too hungry and fainted again.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Shi groggily opened his eyes, seemingly seeing the pretty face of a stream maiden, but it quickly turned into Granny Zhuang's old face.
"He's awake!"
Granny Zhuang's voice came, and Chen Shi felt his hunger slightly ease. His vision cleared, and he found himself lying in Granny Zhuang's tree hollow, surrounded by glowing mushrooms.
The stream maiden sat quietly nearby, and the chubby children with big eyes were gathered around, watching him with concern.
Granny Zhuang was holding a chubby child, pulling his hair to pick a few red fruits from his head, making the child cry loudly.
Chen Shi looked around and saw that the other chubby children's heads had fewer red fruits, indicating they had been picked.
Granny Zhuang smiled and said, "You fainted from hunger, and the little ones carried you here. The stream maiden made you some fish porridge, but you were too hungry, so it wasn't enough. I used ginseng fruit to bring you back."
Chen Shi got up, feeling no hunger, and quickly thanked them.
The stream maiden blushed and giggled, leaving quietly.
The chubby children came up to Chen Shi, some jumping on his knees, earnestly babbling advice, likely telling him to eat on time, before leaving.
Chen Shi watched them go, thanked Granny Zhuang again, and was about to leave when he stumbled and nearly fell.
Granny Zhuang chuckled, "The ginseng fruit's power is just reaching your stomach, not yet spreading through your body. You should rest a while before leaving."
Chen Shi had to sit down.
Strangely, although he didn't eat much ginseng fruit, he felt full. The ginseng fruit in his stomach began to digest, sending waves of warmth throughout his body, making him feel comfortable.
"What kind of ginseng fruit did you give me?" Chen Shi asked.
Granny Zhuang, who seemed unaccustomed to conversation, replied, "It's the fruit from the little ones."
Chen Shi grew more curious, "What are the little ones?"
Granny Zhuang said, "The ginseng in the forest is thousands of years old. The ginseng fruit is their fruit, and one can save a life. You were too hungry, so I gave you a few more."
Chen Shi was shocked. Those chubby children were thousands of years old?
You couldn't tell at all.
"Granny Zhuang, do you know about the Mountain Lord Temple?" Chen Shi asked after some thought.
"I do. It's the place you've been visiting these days. Not long ago, it and the mountain emerged from the ground overnight, growing taller than me."
Granny Zhuang showed envy as she spoke.
She grew slowly.
Chen Shi perked up, smiling, "The Mountain Lord Temple emerging from the ground means it was here before, but later sank underground. Did you see the Mountain Lord Temple back then?"
Granny Zhuang recalled carefully, shaking her head, "I never saw it. Since I have memories, it was always flat land there, and the mountain only appeared recently."
Chen Shi was startled.
Granny Zhuang was the largest tree he had ever seen, likely thousands of years old.
But she was just a new branch growing from the stump of her dead main body!
Her main body was even older!
Does this mean the Mountain Lord Temple sinking underground happened before Granny Zhuang was born?
How ancient must that be?
"My main body was likely destroyed six thousand years ago."
Granny Zhuang pondered, "I probably grew a body six thousand years ago."
Chen Shi quickly asked, "Do you have memories from before your main body was destroyed?"
Granny Zhuang, encountering such a question for the first time, tried to recall. Suddenly, her expression changed to fear, her body trembling, her voice hoarse, "Fire! So much thunder fire! It cut through my body! It's coming!"
Her body trembled, shrinking into a corner, helpless like a little girl.
Chen Shi hurried to comfort her.
"For Granny Zhuang to be so afraid, the event six thousand years ago must have been significant. Could it be related to the Mountain Lord Temple sinking underground?"
Chen Shi pondered but soon dismissed the thought, "I'm just a ten-year-old kid. Why bother with adult matters?"
The ginseng fruit's power was indeed strong, worthy of being a miraculous medicine that could heal the dead and regrow bones. However, after eating those ginseng fruits, Chen Shi was hungry again after half a day.
"The ginseng fruit is stronger than Grandpa's medicine, but still limited," Chen Shi thought.
Two days later, the Chen family was eaten into poverty, and Yellow Slope Village was also out of food.
Even Granny Sha in Hillock Village was struggling to cook because of Chen Shi.
These days, Granny Sha no longer looked at Chen Shi with the eyes of a loving son but as a debt-collecting troublemaker.
"If I keep freeloading, the villagers will starve with me."
Chen Shi reflected on himself, realizing he couldn't just consume everything without giving back. He needed to let the crops grow before harvesting again, so he decided to go hunting in the mountains.
The Black Serpent of Mysterious Mountain coiled on a peak of Heavenly Yang Mountain, looking into the distance. A rain had just passed, and now the clouds dispersed, revealing a clear sky.
It breathed out clouds, which were scattered by the wind.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and a giant beast the size of a small mountain burst from the forest.
It was a Spirit Boar.
A wild boar living for fifty years, growing to eight hundred pounds, is called a Boar Spirit, already considered a spirit beast.
A Boar Spirit has a big head and small body, with incredible strength, capable of knocking over even a bull.
A Spirit Boar, living for a hundred years, has a head occupying two-thirds of its body, bristles like steel spikes, tusks like ivory, able to split mountains and rocks with boundless strength.
The Spirit Boar charging from the forest wasn't too big, standing nine feet tall, two feet taller than an adult, with tusks over two feet long, as thick as an arm, able to lift a thousand-pound boulder and topple trees with ease.
Yet, in front of this Spirit Boar was a small figure, holding onto its tusks, wrestling with it!
This figure was Chen Shi, skinny but with surprising strength, though much smaller than the Spirit Boar.
In a test of strength, Chen Shi was pushed out of the forest by the Spirit Boar, not because he lacked power, but because his two legs couldn't withstand the force, plowing the ground as he slid back.
"In terms of strength, you can't beat me!"
Chen Shi shouted, exerting force in his arms, twisting the Spirit Boar's tusks, and with a mighty heave, slammed the massive beast to the ground!
The Spirit Boar tried to get up, but Chen Shi's strength exploded, pinning its head down, and with a few punches, cracked open its skull!
The Spirit Boar twitched a few times and then lay still.
Chen Shi hoisted the mountain of meat that was the Spirit Boar, running swiftly to a nearby stream, fearing he might starve if he delayed.
The Black Serpent of Mysterious Mountain watched from afar as Chen Shi busied himself by the stream.
It didn't interfere.
Survival of the fittest—it too had a time of blood and hunting other spirit beasts.
It was observing Chen Shi.
By the stream, Chen Shi cleaned and skinned the Spirit Boar, categorizing it into ribs, large ribs, kidneys, innards, cartilage, ears, head meat, elbows, and trotters.
He chopped down some trees, setting up those suitable for roasting, and put others in his large pot for boiling.
—He had brought the Chen family's medicinal pot with him.
The Spirit Boar's fat was roasted on pine wood until golden, with coarse salt sprinkled on the sizzling ribs.
"He's a better cook than I was," thought the Black Serpent of Mysterious Mountain.
It continued watching Chen Shi, who was basting the roasted ribs with oil. The first table-sized rib was ready.
Though the Spirit Boar was a spirit beast, it had a strong gamey taste and tough meat, making it hard to chew.
Fortunately, Chen Shi's body had been tempered, his teeth growing stronger, so he ate without issue.
Especially the crispy golden parts, which lacked the gamey taste. A bite crunched, releasing juices that exploded in his mouth, delighting all eight thousand taste buds, making his mouth water in an instant—a true feast.
The meat's spirit power, once in his stomach, erupted, nourishing Chen Shi's body, greatly reducing his hunger.
The Black Serpent of Mysterious Mountain, watching this, felt a pang of hunger after three thousand years of living on air.
A moment later, it saw Chen Shi carrying the Spirit Boar's hind leg toward it.
The leg was roasted crispy on the outside and tender inside. Chen Shi feared it was too large to cook thoroughly, so he scored deep cuts, rubbed in coarse salt, and stuffed it with fragrant leaves for marinating.
The Black Serpent of Mysterious Mountain sniffed the aroma from the Spirit Boar's hind leg, feeling a rare craving after three thousand years of living on air.
—Thanks to Huohuo Zhangge for the alliance leader's reward, the boss is awesome!
Everyone, check if you have any extra monthly tickets. The new book period needs your support with monthly tickets!