by <unknown>
Although the name “Giant Creatures of Starry Skies” sounded very domineering, high class, and luxurious, in truth, it was actually a product of modification by cultivator sects using secret drugs. They took ordinary meat from pigs and elephants and hybridized it. Classified as a rapid growth product. Within three months time, they induced the life of a 10 ton heavy artificial livestock. The final canned product was very greasy, and its taste was of the utmost inferiority. The typical resident of the city rarely ate this product.
However, this canned meat, with its blend of bones and viscera, had a cheap sales price. 15 credits can buy an entire 5 lb large can of the meat and was considered a rare delicacy among the poor class. It was also Li Yao’s primary source of protein. He held 35 cans in stock in his house at any given time.
When Li Yao came in contact with the can of Giant Creatures of Starry Skies, he was like a 3-day starved feral wolf meeting a lamb that was skinned, cleaned, and spiced. His eyes let out a red glow and “wheezing wheezing” sounds came out of his throat. It was unknown where he drew the strength, but his entire person lept up and seized the can of meat into his embrace. He opened his mouth wide into the gaping bloody hole of a predator and gnawed down, ignoring the circumstances.
“Gnash Gnash! Gnash Gnash!” The sound of teeth colliding was like two meat grinders striking against each other. Sparks flew out from between the sawlike teeth.
A can of Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat was extremely salty, extremely fishy, and extremely oily. Normally, Li Yao only needed a thin, small flake to pair with three big bowls of rice. This time though, it was like he was eating the world’s most precious rare and delicious delicacy. He devoured the food ravenously as if possessed by a Taotie, finishing the entire 5 lb can of the canned meat in a minute.
There was a numbness between his lips and teeth, and his stomach had actually swelled to an incomparable state. The Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat is compressed into great density. When the meat is introduced to liquid, it can increase in size by at most a dozen fold.
A thought shook in the depths of Li Yao’s mind and jumped out as a scene. It was from the dream of grandeur. The instructor of the Hundred Smelting Guild’s low level workers, the Titan, was speaking,
“Breathe in the stars and swallow the moon. This Fasting Cultivation Technique allows you to devour the essence energy of heaven and earth directly. Only high stage cultivators can use this profound art. You pieces of sh*ts aren’t even capable of attempting it!
“For you pieces of sh*ts, your only source of essence energy is from food. The basis for all cultivators is to ‘eat’. Learn how to ‘feast’. It is the first step to becoming a cultivator!”
“Next, I will impart onto you all the Great Art of the Swallowing Whale. This technique has the specialized purpose of teaching you all how to feast. It is capable of helping you all gorge down the sea and absorb the energy contained within the food!”
“When this art is cultivated to the pinnacle, the digestive strength and speed of the digestive system is raised by a hundredfold, allowing one to swallow 800 lbs of animal meat per day. Even the toughest and hardest skulls of magical beasts are grounded to dust, completely absorbed, and transformed into the most fundamental of energies — essence. The essence instantly replenishes within the skeletal bones of the entire body, allowing one’s blood vessels to expand energetically, giving one extraordinary strength.
“Keep in mind, the Hundred-and-Eight Hands Chaos Gale Hammer cultivator art is not perfect. There is still a small margin for improvement. However, if you don’t practice the Great Art of the Swallowing Whale well, you will forever be a mortal. Don’t even think about stepping on the road of cultivation!”
“Ou Yeming, come up here for this senior. Take this repulsive 200 pound fish and eat all of it down. This senior will first teach you members of the Hundred Smelting Guild’s Main Mountain this secret technique, the Great Art of the Swallowing Whale!”
…...
Li Yao’s eyelids suddenly opened to a pair of round and protruding eyes. A “Rumble Rumble” sound pierced out from within his stomach. It was as if a powerful engine had suddenly been ignited!
In a split second, it was like several monsters fleeing within his stomach. The skin of his belly was stretched to near transparency!
The speed of his stomach intestines digestive movement exceeded that of a normal person by a dozen fold. It digested the Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat at lightning speeds, breaking the meat down, transforming it into the most rudimentary form of energy, and supplied steady energy to the dried skeletal bones of Li Yao’s body and also to Li Yao’s eight meridians!
The speed of the Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat’s expansion when introduced with water was not able to exceed the speed of digestion and absorption. The protruding belly quickly flattened down to its normal state and even started to cave inward.
“This won’t do. I’m still hungry. Hurry, bring me another can!”
The food just slid down Li Yao’s throat. With two or three bites, he devoured his second can of Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat completely clean. Still, he was not satisfied. He slapped the floor board to let Blackwing know to continue fetching meat.
Three cans. Five cans. Twenty cans ...
In a short hour, he had unrelentingly eaten a total of 31 entire cans of the Giant Creatures of Starry Skies canned meat. He had drank down a full bucket of water, eating dry and wiping clean his house’s entire stock of food. Only then did he let out a burp, wishing he had more to eat.
“Squeak squeak, Squeak squeak?”
Blackwing looked at his owner somewhat worryingly. It had never seen a person eat the Giant Creatures of Starry Skies canned meat in such a crazed fashion. It did not know what kind of illness it’s owner caught and could not help asking with concern.
Li Yao smacked his lips and used his tongue to pick out a sliver of shredded meat from his teeth. He reflected quietly, “It seems like I’m not full yet. I can eat three or five more cans.”
“...” Blackwing was speechless for a moment. It would have surely rolled its eyes at this moment if it had eyes.
“Finally, I am alive again!” Li Yao was completely satisfied and let out a relaxed breath. He held his fist tight and carefully sized up his arm, trying to understand the bubbling force coming from within the depths of his marrow.
Following the crazed digestion and absorption of the cans of Giant Creatures of Starry Skies meat through the use of the Great Art of the Swallowing Whale, his body had experienced a change like the turning of heaven and earth.
The beast meat had transformed into the purest of essence energy, and an abundance of essence energy permeated through his body. The once dried veins filled once more, and the withered muscles swelled once again. His skeletal system became like reinforced steel, and his body had turned exceptionally durable.
Looking in the mirror, his face still had a somewhat ashy tone to it. His body was a bit thin compared to before; however, concealed below his pale dark skin were dense muscles that bulged out with only a slight flex. His muscles were like coils of thick steel rope.
Li Yao held his fist tight. He hammered his pecs twice with strength that wasn’t too light nor too strong, making a muffled sound. It was as if seven to eight layers of dried leather were padded around his sternum; he absolutely did not feel any sort of pain.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!” He swung his arm, consciously swinging out seven to eight punches. Three to five oppressive images appeared suddenly in the empty air, and the sound of the fists piercing the air of the void rang out.
“My punching power has increased by at least 15%. My punching speed has increased by at least 20%. The Great Art of the Swallowing Whale can be summarized in one sentence — It's really f*cking tyrannical!”
The recollection of the fragment of memory from the dream of grandeur gave him a technique that could surprisingly be used in the real world. Li Yao could not help but be wild wi
th joy. He was similar to a wandering hobo who had picked up a windfall that fell from the sky.
However, when he was revisiting the enormous storehouse of memories within the dream of Ou Yezi, he discovered that although he could remember with absolute clarity the first second, the next second was mired with haze. Spots were mottled. It was absolutely useless.
“If only I could recall the dream world in all its details... Even if I am only able to sneak learning from Ou Yezi’s life experiences from his youth to his death, becoming the first Master Artificer of the Federation would be as easy as turning over my hand! When that time comes, I’ll have mountains of gold and seas of silver, I’ll have luxurious vehicles and beautiful women, I’ll be revered by everybody, I’ll be the most popular idol of millions and millions of youths…”
Li Yao chuckled with a foxy smile as he let his mind imagine freely.
Blackwing made a cold snort of complete utter disdain. It twisted its hilt and flew away.
Right at this time, the crystal processor suddenly let out a “Dee Dee” sound. A virtual origami crane flew out from the right hand corner of the hologram. It flew and orbited around Li Yao’s head for three rotations. With a “Bang” sound, it exploded, transforming into an ice cold message strip,
“You didn’t come to school today?”
A small plump yellow avatar followed at the end. The small avatar’s eyebrows were angled vertically; its entire face was filled with questioning. It was Si Jiaxue.
Chapter 14: Little Border of Hidden Lake |
Li Yao had to stare blankly for quite a while for him to recall that “yesterday” he had made a promise with Si Jiaxue. Only when he looked at the time did he realize that it was already 5 pm in the afternoon. He had surprisingly slept for an entire day and night.
No matter what fantastic magical abilities he could conjure in the dream world, in the real world, he was still the ordinary poor youth with an embarrassing lack of money. Just a moment ago, he had eaten his entire stock of a few months worth of food provisions with a single breath. A hundred thousand credits was simply a huge sum of money for him. He had the urge to hold it physically tight within his grasp.
Li Yao hastily typed a response on the virtual glyph-script keyboard, “Where are you? In two hours — no, in one and a half hour, I will deliver it to you!”
When he hit “Send”, the glyph script condensed and transformed into a tiny virtual magic origami crane. It flew to the lower right hand corner of the hologram and faded away.
Only after exactly 3 minutes did Si Jiaxue send out an address, “I’m at this location. There will be a person waiting outside the door for you in half an hour. It will be fine to just directly hand over the goods to this person.”
It appeared as if she really did not have a good impression towards Li Yao. She did not even want to meet face to face with him.
Li Yao did not care though; everything was fine as long as he received his money. He replied with an “OK” and closed the hologram. He took out Si Xiaxue's outdated crystal processor and with a “crack crack” of his knuckles he began to repair it.
“Huh?”
He immediately discovered something different about himself when he was opening the crystal processor with a screwdriver.
Today, his mental state was especially good and his mind was especially clear. With just a careful scan with his two eyes, he seemed to be able to clearly understand the underlying architecture of the complicated and profound interior of the crystal processor in front of him.
He softly closed his eyes. A phantom transparent image of the outdated crystal process slowly emerged into view. One by one, every piece of fine component broke away and whirled slowly in mid air, allowing him to see each component from every angle and giving him an extremely clear understanding of the details in its entirety.
Li Yao had a certain feeling that even if this job wasn’t the kind of easy task that swapping a heat-sink was, but rather the challenging assignment of repairing the crystal core and the like, he would still be capable of tinkering and repairing the processor.
“It looks likes it wasn’t a total waste to watch Ou Yezi craft artifacts for several hundreds of years. Although I have completely forgotten about all the dream’s details, my visual judgement has improved by leaps and bounds!”
And as such, his repairing speed had increased phenomenally. He only needed 30 minutes of his original estimation of at least an hour of work in order to complete the repair successfully. In addition, he also subtly modified the heat sink structure. He used a new type of heat sink structure that only existed 30 years ago and applied it within this hundred year old crystal processor. He estimated that the heat dissipation efficiency of this crystal processor would increase by 17%, increasing the clock speed needed to trigger the thermal trip by at least 9%.
“It's practically perfect. To have this job done is worth paying 100,000 credits. It's not the least bit expensive!”
Li Yao scrutinized his own work and was extremely satisfied. He felt that this was the most remarkable piece of work he had ever displayed since birth.
While engrossed in his satisfaction, an acrid stench permeated into his nasal cavity. Li Yao was suddenly aware of the sticky sweat he had produced while he was dreaming; it stained his body. He lifted his wrist to look at the time, it still wasn’t too late in the night. He might as well go take a shower. He scrubbed his body up and down ferociously, changed to a clean set of clothes, and walked out relaxed and invigorated.
The address given by Si Jiaxue pointed to a buffet-style restaurant located in the upper eastern district. The upper eastern district was a rich district where the bigwigs gathered. Li Yao rarely went here in the past, and during the times he did pass through this area, he would always feel a sense of shame and inferiority. He had felt like he was a beggar bursting into a banquet hosted by high society.
But today, he lifted his head high, held his chest straight, sucked in his belly, and raised his nose to the sky. With each step, he travelled three meters. He did not care what others thought of him. He was in high spirits!
Even though his wrinkled jacket had its colors already washed out, even though the top of his knees were patched cloth, even though the toes of his pair of feet met the open world with a smile, even though, with a glance of an eye, one could tell that he was a destitute youth who did not know when his next meal would be...
His expression was like that of a tyrannical guild leader who was just about to sign a billion dollar contract, carrying a chunk of gold in his pocket.
This fiery aura came from the dream world, from amassing countless imperceivable influences from countless high stage cultivators. It was a pure state of mind of the utmost superiority that had nothing to do with physical strength, rank, or status.
He was like a person who had lived dozens of years dealing with prehistoric dinosaurs. An encounter with a tiger would only be considered meeting a fat housecat to him.
The upper eastern district was located in the center of Floating Spear City and encompassed a total of 7 areas of the artificial lakes. Each of these areas were concealed, isolated from each other. The address provided by Si Jiaxue pointed to the border of one of these areas of artificial lakes, “Hidden Lake of Winter”. It was a buffet restaurant called Little Border of Hidden Lake.
This restaurant had bamboo forests orbiting around its surroundings and the restaurant also utilized the natural environment. Weather glyph arrays were set up to cause the drift of snow all year round within the radius of a hundred meters.
The snowfall wasn’t heavy but instead gave the restaurant a trace of an astral zen.
This restaurant wasn’t considered one of Floating Spear City’s highest class of luxury restaurants. The price was relatively cheap and its environment was not bad; it was very stylish. For those in power who have not seized great wealth, for the children who were supported by rich parents and were given allowances, spending money at this location matched quite well with
their status.
A woman wearing a silk skirt uniform was standing outside the door of Little Border of Hidden Lake. This beautiful waitress was in costume for she carried a paper fan. She greeted Li Yao as he swaggered inside with large steps. The manner which Li Yao walked and the clothes he wore were completely contrary to one another. It was awkward to look at, causing the waitress to actually stare for quite a while. Only after did she act with her shallow procedure of etiquette, “Hello sir, may I ask if you are a student of Crimson Nimbus Second, Li Yao?”
“That’s correct. Si Jiaxue must have made you wait for me. I have the goods here. Do you need to give it a test run?” Li Yao did not waste words as he grabbed and handed the crystal processor over.
The costumed waitress smiled and said, “There’s no need. Young lady Si said that she will naturally go and find her fellow student Li Yao should any problems really occur. Please, accept this card.”
With a slight bow, the costumed waitress held a translucent glass card covered in glyph scrypt in both hands and handed it over with the utmost respect.
This was an anonymous instant cash card. The glyph script inscribed on the card can be read by a crystal processer and the money contents inside can be transferred to a bank account. The card can also be used at most stores by swiping. It was very convenient.
When Li Yao received the instant cash card, he gently brushed against the light purple glyph characters that were twined in silver on the upper left corner of the card. The instant cash card trembled slightly, and on the card’s surface emerged a string of digits — 100,000.
Si Jiaxue unexpectedly pooled in the whole price in one card. Li Yao’s eyes were bright. With a somewhat unintended boasting whistle, he said, “Fair lady, many thanks! Oh thats right, when it's convenient, help me convey my thanks to Si Jiaxue. And if she wants to do any sort of further business, remind her often that I will totally give her a large discounted price!”
Li Yao took the instant cash card and stuffed it very gently and cautiously into his skin-tight pocket. He turned around and left with smiles and giggles. He was calculating what he would buy at the supermarket located in the commoner district. He would buy several hundred more pounds of the Giant Creatures of Starry Skies canned meat to bring home, and buy an entire flat bread beef sandwich. He was excited to eat this midnight snack.