That spirit chef raised his own spirit pigs, and seeing Lin Donglai eat with more ferocity and speed than even his pigs, with the imposing air of one swallowing ten thousand miles like a tiger, somehow developed an urge to "feed" him, and actually handed Lin Donglai a spirit meal that ordinarily required spirit stones to purchase.
These all counted as "normal wastage" for nurturing immortal seedlings. As the saying goes, a kitchen that doesn't steal, doesn't reap a harvest—the perks at the Immortal Seedling Peak canteen were still quite substantial.
The moment Lin Donglai put it in his mouth, he noticed the difference. He looked up at the fat cultivator before him, who was beaming, his round face like a full moon and his eyes like pearls, and hurriedly said, "This costs spirit stones—I can't afford it!"
The fat cultivator laughed. "No matter, just consider it my treat. Watching you eat puts me in a wonderful mood. You eat so fast, so much—even more than my spirit pigs. A good appetite is a blessing!"
Lin Donglai instantly grew wary. There was no such thing as a free pie falling from the sky! Not to mention this spirit meal was worth seven or eight spirit stones, while a Qi Refining third layer disciple received only eight spirit stones a month as stipend. And he was treating me?
This fat bastard—could he have designs on this young master?
"What's with that look? I'm Peng Yue, an outer-sect steward specifically in charge of the Immortal Seedling Peak canteen—a man with a name, a face, and standing. I can certainly afford to treat someone to a meal."
Lin Donglai: ?
He grew even more wary inside.
Seeing how sharp the boy was, Peng Yue asked, "Lad, what's your name?"
"Outer-sect disciple Lin Donglai." This could be found out with a single check, so there was no point hiding it—especially since this man ran the canteen.
Peng Yue nodded. "A name with some fortune to it."
Then he asked, "What about your spirit root aptitude?"
"Five spirit roots, low grade."
"Tsk, that's rather poor aptitude." Peng Yue shook his head in disappointment. "I was thinking of finding a son-in-law."
"Still, with an appetite like yours, you must have a talent for body cultivation. If you achieve something in body refinement down the road, you might still have a chance."
Returning to his own little courtyard, Lin Donglai exchanged a greeting with Ding Zhen, agreeing to go earn spirit stones together again tomorrow, then headed back to his room.
Once inside, Lin Donglai rubbed his belly and couldn't help sighing: spirit meals really are delicious.
A pity he'd only eaten one.
His own condensation of essence blood required an enormous amount of essence. Without eating more, relying solely on the spirit root dao seed's cultivation breathing to draw in qi would surely not be enough.
Today's spirit meal contained genuine spirit beast meat—eating a single piece was worth ten times an ordinary meal.
Although it had gone a bit cold, it was still a spirit meal. Before this, only wealthy immortal seedlings could afford one at seven or eight spirit stones per serving. Lin Donglai would have had to chop two thousand catties of dan wood branches to afford it.
As for that fat man, he wanted Lin Donglai to spend some time with his daughter after becoming an outer-sect disciple.
His daughter was called Peng Miaomiao, and she was on Zhenling Peak among the outer sect's peaks, raising spirit beasts. As for the specifics, Lin Donglai had no idea.
But Lin Donglai did not agree. He possessed a great fortuitous encounter—how could he entangle himself in romance and keep someone by his side?
He immediately fobbed him off, citing his poor aptitude, the fact that he hadn't even become a formal outer-sect disciple yet, and that if he failed to draw qi into his body before the second assessment, he would be demoted to a menial servant.
Hearing this, Peng Yue only sighed, but still let Lin Donglai eat that cold spirit meal.
Casting all distracting thoughts from his mind, Lin Donglai shut the doors and windows tight, then sat cross-legged on the bed, gripping one spirit stone in each hand. Closing his eyes, he began cultivating the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art.
The spirit root dao seed, sensing the abundant spiritual qi, immediately exerted an incredibly powerful drawing force, sweeping the qi from both spirit stones completely clean.
A single spirit stone was enough to replenish eighty percent of a Qi Refining second layer cultivator's spiritual power.
These two clumps of spiritual qi charged straight through the meridians, rampaging wildly through the meridians and acupoints where Lin Donglai was already somewhat blocked.
Though it did serve to open the meridians, it was simply far too brutal. The side effect was excruciating pain, as if being bitten by countless ants and stung by bees.
Fortunately, as it violently forced things open, the dao seed's root tendrils nourished and repaired them with every breath.
By the time the spiritual qi had violently circulated one full circuit through his body, Lin Donglai was already in too much pain to hold the cross-legged position, rolling on the floor in agony, before the qi entered his skull through the great spinal meridian and was absorbed by the spirit root dao seed.
This time, however, the dao seed did not grow any new tendrils. The two existing tendrils simply became somewhat more jade-colored, plump and crystalline, of remarkable quality—and the breathing depth and force related to the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art were both strengthened.
If the dao seed's current breathing depth and force were like a newborn infant—weak, yet strong and vigorous—
then before, it had been like an old man with a guttering candle in the wind, faint and fading, on the verge of his last breath.
Sensing it briefly, Lin Donglai sighed in admiration: "The scale of this qi absorption is already a hundred times beyond what I could achieve cultivating the Origin Cultivation Art myself. And the width and resilience of my meridians have both improved—in other words, my aptitude has risen somewhat."
Once the pain had mostly subsided, Lin Donglai seized the time and took up his stance again to cultivate the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Pile Art.
Tonight's spirit meal must not go to waste—he should hurry and condense essence blood.
One set of movements after another.
At the same time, low sounds like those of tigers and leopards issued from his throat.
Each breath from his mouth and nose aligned ever more closely with the spirit root dao seed.
Lin Donglai's bone marrow was again being transformed into spirit marrow capable of gestating essence blood.
The human body has marrow in many bones, but most of it has lost the function of producing blood, with only a small portion still retaining it.
Now, relying on the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art and the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Pile Art, these marrow's blood-producing functions were activated and transformed one by one, and then converted into spirit marrow with spiritual qi.
As the Record of Cultivation Essentials states: a cultivator takes the fleshly body as the precious raft for crossing the world.
Among mortals, why can innate martial artists reach the limit of two sixty-year lifespans? It is because their marrow is activated and can continuously produce blood.
And even that merely corresponds to the Fetal Breath realm.
As taught in the academy lectures, the human body has 206 bones, half of which contain blood marrow capable of producing blood, while the other half contain yellow marrow, which cannot.
This half—the blood-producing marrow—ceases to produce blood as the body ages, and thus must constantly be nourished with spiritual qi to prevent the marrow from withering.
But to nourish ordinary marrow into spirit marrow requires Marrow Cleansing Pills or a specific technique. For instance, the Azure Wood Sect's Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Pile Art could cleanse and refine at most 24 blood-producing bones.
For an ordinary cultivator, having two or three bones converted into spirit marrow was enough to convert essence blood for refining essence into qi and cultivating the Fetal Breath realm.
After all, the more spirit marrow one has, the vaster the spiritual qi required to sustain it. Unless one was a dedicated body cultivator, one would not cultivate it to completion—otherwise the qi absorbed each day would not be enough to cover the consumption, requiring additional supplementation from spirit meals and spirit stones.
But Lin Donglai did not fear this situation. The dao seed's two root tendrils drew in breath constantly, perfectly aligned with the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art and the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Pile Art.
Moreover, he needed forty-nine drops of essence blood—the product of seven times seven—to infuse the dao seed, so what he had was far from enough. He could only continue converting marrow into spirit marrow.
In these days, he had in fact only cleansed and refined five blood-producing bones. This was the result of the Marrow Cleansing Pile Art stalling at minor achievement, never reaching major achievement, let alone perfection.
But now, Lin Donglai had the opportunity for perfection.
Twenty-four spirit marrow bones were not Lin Donglai's limit.
Nor the dao seed's limit.
But the limit of the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing Pile Art itself.
Like bamboo splitting before the wind!
One! Two! Three!
Three marrow bones in a row were converted into spirit marrow.
The essence cultivated by the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art and the essence converted from the spirit meal—their qi was transformed in a frenzy.
Essence blood was produced, drop by drop, without cease.
It did not stop until nine more drops of essence blood had been produced.
The total count of essence blood had now reached a full thirty drops.
And as the Breath-Drawing Origin Cultivation Art continued its nourishment, more essence blood would keep arising in the days to come.