2: Chapter 2 Devouring and Feeding Back
Lin Yuan's gaze returned from the void and landed on his own hands.
Dire beasts won't work; they're too dangerous.
Plants are possible, but the efficiency is too low.
So, what about something in between the two?
A clear answer emerged in his mind.
Poultry and livestock!
They possess life energy far exceeding that of plants, yet lack the aggression of dire beasts, making them the most perfect "fodder" at this stage.
Once this thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed.
Lin Yuan quickly opened his phone, his fingers sliding rapidly across the screen as he searched for information about the city's outskirts.
Wet markets within the city were too small a target and too crowded with prying eyes, making them unsuitable.
His targets were those large-scale farms located in the suburbs, or... agritainment resorts.
Soon, an agritainment resort named "Green Field Villa" caught his eye.
The address was in the Eastern Suburbs, it was quite large, and its specialty was free-range local chickens.
This is the one.
Lin Yuan glanced at his account balance.
It was the tens of thousands of yuan he had scraped together by living frugally over the past eighteen years.
In the past, this money might have been the security for his future life.
But now, it had only one purpose.
To become the first cornerstone of his journey to the peak of the Martial Dao.
...
The next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten.
Lin Yuan had already caught the first Maglev Train heading to the Eastern Suburbs.
Half an hour later, he stood before the main gate of "Green Field Villa."
A slightly plump middle-aged man wearing a traditional buttoned shirt walked over. Seeing Lin Yuan dressed as a student, a standard businessman's smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Little brother, here to play alone? We have fishing and fruit picking, and at noon you can try our villa's specialty dishes."
Lin Yuan didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
"Boss, I'm not here to play."
He paused and calmly announced, "I want to buy the chickens and ducks you have here."
The boss was stunned for a moment, but his smile became even more enthusiastic. "Sure, how many do you want to buy? Our chickens are all raised on insects, the meat is absolutely delicious. Take some back for your family to try, I guarantee—"
"I want them all."
Lin Yuan interrupted him.
"..."
The smile on the boss's face froze.
He looked at Lin Yuan again with the kind of gaze one would use for a mental patient.
"Little brother, you... what did you say?"
"I said, I'm taking all the free-range chickens and ducks in your villa."
Lin Yuan's tone didn't waver in the slightest.
"Name a price."
The middle-aged boss's Adam's apple bobbed once, and the suspicion in his eyes was gradually replaced by a hint of greed.
He asked tentatively, "Little brother, adding the chickens and ducks together, there are at least nearly a hundred of them. Are you sure... you're not joking?"
"My time is precious."
Lin Yuan frowned slightly.
"If you can't make the decision, or if you think I'm joking, I'll go to the next place."
This kind of unquestionable decisiveness didn't seem like a joke.
The middle-aged boss's mind became completely active.
Whether he's a lunatic or not doesn't matter; as long as he pays, he's the God of Wealth!
His eyes darted around as he rubbed his hands, quoting what he considered a high price: "Well... little brother, as you know, we practice ecological farming here. The costs are high, so the price is naturally... how about this, a flat price of fifty thousand!"
After speaking, he stared intently at Lin Yuan, prepared to enjoy the other's shocked expression before "mercifully" lowering it a bit.
However, Lin Yuan's reaction completely exceeded his expectations.
There was no shock, no bargaining, and not even a hint of emotional fluctuation.
Lin Yuan simply pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times.
Ding!
A crisp notification sound came from the boss's phone.
[Your account has received a credit of: 50,000 yuan.]
Looking at that long string of eye-catching numbers on his phone screen, the boss was completely dazed.
He actually paid?
Without even blinking?
Are students these days all this rich?!
"The transaction is complete." Lin Yuan put away his phone. "Now, they are mine."
"Yes, yes, yes, they're all yours!"
The boss's attitude underwent a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, the fat on his face smiling into the shape of a chrysanthemum.
"Little brother is truly a straightforward person! Should I call some men to help you load the chickens and ducks onto a truck?"
"No need."
Lin Yuan shook his head.
"I also need a place."
"Just say the word!"
"Is there a quiet, secluded courtyard or warehouse nearby where not many people go? I'll rent it for a day."
The boss was even more confused.
Buying nearly a hundred chickens and ducks, yet not wanting to transport them away, but instead wanting to rent a courtyard?
What kind of bizarre operation was this?
However, money talks, and he couldn't be bothered to care what the other person wanted to do.
"Yes, yes, yes!" The boss nodded and bowed repeatedly. "There's an abandoned small courtyard behind the villa, usually used for storing junk. It's absolutely quiet and no one will disturb you! Forget about the rent, I'll give it to you for free, little brother!"
Lin Yuan glanced at him.
"The rent will be paid as per the rate, five hundred a day."
He didn't like owing favors, even such insignificant ones.
Soon, under the boss's personal guidance, Lin Yuan arrived at the so-called abandoned small courtyard.
The courtyard wasn't large, surrounded by waist-high earthen walls. The ground was overgrown with weeds, and abandoned farm tools were piled in the corners. It was indeed very secluded.
"Little brother, are you satisfied with this place?"
"It's fine." Lin Yuan nodded. "Drive all the chickens and ducks in."
Half an hour later, with several villa workers busy at work, nearly a hundred chickens and ducks were driven into the small courtyard all at once.
For a moment, the entire courtyard was a chaotic mess of flying feathers, with quacking and clucking merging into a deafening din.
The boss and the workers watched this eerie scene, looking at each other. Finally, under the magic of money, they left with hearts full of doubt.
The courtyard gate was heavily closed.
The world was finally peaceful.
Lin Yuan stood in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by the crowded and noisy poultry.
Deep within his dantian, that ink-jade-like lotus seed was vibrating frantically, transmitting a desire that was almost greedy.
"Let's begin."
Lin Yuan whispered softly and slowly extended his right index finger.
A wisp of pale, almost transparent flame quietly ignited at his fingertip.
Flame of Guixu!
Without the slightest hesitation, he flicked his finger toward a large, strutting rooster closest to him.
The pale flame left his body, soundless and invisible, sinking into the rooster's body like a phantom.
The next moment.
The large rooster, which had still been clucking, instantly vanished.
It wasn't death.
It didn't turn to ash.
Instead, it was forcibly "erased" from this space!
A warm current, more than ten times more refined and substantial than when he had devoured the green pothos before, surged back from the sea of vegetation grotto-heaven!
Boom!
Lin Yuan's body shook slightly, his blood surged, and every cell in his limbs and bones cheered with joy.
The long-stagnant bottleneck of his cultivation showed a visible sign of loosening!
Mortal Realm Three Stars... Peak!
It works!
An indescribable wild joy welled up in Lin Yuan's heart.
He no longer hesitated and transformed into a cold harvester.
The Flame of Guixu at his fingertip became the most efficient slaughtering knife.
He walked through step by step, the pale flames constantly flicking from his fingertip.
Poof.
Poof.
Poof.
There were no screams, no struggles, and not a trace of blood.
The fall of each wisp of flame represented a life being completely erased, then transformed into the most refined energy, surging into his body.
The clamor in the courtyard was diminishing at an alarming rate.
Lin Yuan had completely immersed himself in the ultimate pleasure of this rapidly increasing power.
His body, like a sponge that had been parched for eighteen years, was frantically absorbing this sweet rain.
His blood was boiling!
His muscles and bones were booming!
Mortal Realm Four Stars!
Mortal Realm Five Stars!
Mortal Realm Six Stars!
Under the incredibly domineering conversion of the guixu black lotus, the miscellaneous life energy of these poultry was perfectly refined and absorbed, becoming a part of his own cultivation.
There were no bottlenecks.
There was no unstable foundation.
Every wash of energy was a perfect tempering!
When the last fat white duck vanished silently in the pale flame, the entire courtyard fell into a dead silence.
The evening afterglow spilled down, stretching Lin Yuan's shadow long and thin.
Boom!
A surge of energy, colossal to the extreme, completely erupted within his body!
The horror of that energy flood far exceeded the sum of any previous times!
Lin Yuan let out a muffled groan, his body trembling violently, and even beads of blood seeped out from the surface of his skin.
He immediately sat cross-legged, doing his best to guide this energy to wash through every corner of his physical body.
Mortal Realm Seven Stars!
Mortal Realm Eight Stars!
Mor-tal-Realm-Ninth-Star!
As the tide of energy slowly subsided, Lin Yuan's cultivation steadily rested at the very peak of the Mortal Realm!
In a single day, he had crossed six minor realms in a row!
If word of this got out, it would be enough to subvert the entire martial arts world's understanding!
Lin Yuan opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing through them for an instant.
He clenched his fists, feeling the surging, almost overflowing power within his body.
This... was definitely not the power a normal Mortal Realm Ninth Star could possess!
His gaze landed on a waist-high bluestone in the corner of the courtyard.
It was a landscape stone used for decoration by the resort.
He stood up, walked over slowly, and then, seemingly at random, threw a punch.
Pure physical strength.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across the surface of the hard bluestone!
Lin Yuan's breath hitched for a moment.
Splitting stone and cracking monuments, a thousand catties of force!
This was the hallmark of a Strength Realm martial artist!
He understood.
The guixu black lotus's "All Things Return to Source" was not a simple devouring of energy at all.
It was a perfect cultivation cheat!
With extremely low cost and an almost 100% absorption rate, it refined and converted any miscellaneous life energy into the most suitable source power for his cultivation!
This refining efficiency could be described as terrifying!
He looked into his dantian. Within the sea of vegetation grotto-heaven, that original ink-jade lotus seed had now quietly sprouted, growing into a tightly wrapped black flower bud, its petals inlaid with dark gold, mysterious and noble.
The Flame of Guixu that the black lotus could release and mobilize had also grown dozens of times larger than before.
Lin Yuan's heart hammered against his chest like a drum.
Excitement!
It was the excitement of being completely released after eighteen years of suppression!
One must know,
The martial arts of this world had strict barriers.
Mortal Realm, Strength Realm, Qi Realm, Origin Realm, Heaven Realm, Sect Realm, King Realm, Emperor Realm, and Emperor Realm.
Nine great realms, each realm a different world.
Each realm was further divided into one to nine stars.
Before the Origin Realm, the only way for a martial artist to improve was to temper their blood and qi. One either relied on years of grinding work, or could only rely on throwing money at it, using various heavenly treasures that enhance blood and qi to forcibly pile it up.
That bank card of his with a balance of only tens of thousands of yuan.
That was his entire net worth that he had painstakingly saved up, but if this money were thrown into the bloody maw of the gold-devouring beast that was martial arts cultivation, it probably wouldn't even make a splash.
This was also why his cultivation progress over the past eighteen years had been as slow as a snail's crawl.
But what about now?
He looked down at his hands, which were almost too clean, then glanced at the empty, eerily quiet courtyard.
Dozens of chickens and ducks, and a few hours of time.
In exchange for a terrifying promotion from Mortal Realm Three Stars to the peak of the Ninth Star, with even one foot stepping over the threshold of the Strength Realm!
This deal...
Was simply an incredible profit!
What geniuses? What monsters?
Could anyone cultivate like him?
This wasn't just winning at the starting line; this was directly taking a flight to the finish line!
He would advance triumphantly all the way, and he would trample all geniuses under his feet!
He would become the only... "Natural Disaster" of this world!
As night deepened, Lin Yuan returned to his simple rented room.
He sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes.
Inside his body, his blood and qi were like mercury, rushing endlessly. That surging sense of power made him incredibly intoxicated.
The peak of the Mortal Realm Ninth Star was only separated from the true Strength Realm by a layer of window paper that could be poked through with a single touch.
Tomorrow would be the College Entrance Martial Examination that would decide the fate of countless high school seniors.
The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled up into a very faint, silent arc.
He could feel that everyone's perception in the entire Luling City would be completely subverted by him tomorrow.