Chapter 14: Eating Meat, Eating Meat (Recommendation Votes!)

The last beast Jiang Feng hunted was an earth-type mountain boar.

It weighed about five hundred jin, with two thick tusks jutting forward. Jiang Feng deliberately provoked it, making it charge at him blindly until it rammed its tusks deep into a tree trunk. Then, Jiang Feng snapped off one of its tusks and drove it straight into the boar’s heart.

The boar's tusk was surprisingly sharp. When Jiang Feng pulled it from the tree and examined it, he realized that with a little refining, it would make an excellent short blade.

In fact, many martial cultivators used weapons forged from the bodies of luminous beasts—claws, teeth, bones, and horns were the most common materials.

He took the boar’s leg back to the nameless little valley and began to process it with practiced skill.

The flesh of a luminous beast was far tougher than that of an ordinary animal, but fortunately, the boar's tusk made for a sharp enough knife. He soon sliced the pork into finger-thick strips, washed them clean in the stream, rubbed them with salt, and set them to cure.

This little valley was one he had selected with care and had cultivated intentionally. Wild ginger and aromatic herbs grew along its edge; Jiang Feng gathered a good amount and collected some edible mushrooms as well.

He piled firewood under a stone stove, lit a fire, set an iron pot atop it, and placed the ingredients in one by one to simmer.

Before long, a rich aroma wafted from the pot, making Jiang Feng’s stomach growl even louder.

The meat of a luminous beast was so tough that it took a long time to cook. He fetched his dry rations and ate them with the meat broth; though his stomach ceased to protest, he still felt ravenous.

Bowl in hand, chopsticks poised, he squatted by the pot, growing somewhat absent-minded.

It had been a long time since he’d felt this hungry.

As soon as he was old enough, he’d learned to dig up burrowed field mice on the mountain, stealing their winter stores. A little older, he’d secretly picked up some martial skills and could try his hand at catching smaller, weaker animals.

After he began practicing martial arts with the young lady, he never went hungry again.

He remembered, once, in her study, he’d come across the book on cooking luminous beasts. He’d flipped through it quickly and tossed it aside, but she picked it up, glanced at it, and laughed.

She’d teased, asking if he planned to find a wife to cook for him in the future.

How had he replied?

Right, he’d said nothing. But at the time, a thought had echoed in his heart—one he’d kept to himself:

Why look elsewhere? No matter who it is, nothing will ever taste as good as what Miss makes…

Miss Jiang Chen...

Jiang Feng stared blankly at the steam rising from the pot.

Next time he saw her—who knew what she’d be like? She’d probably be even more beautiful.

Suddenly, something moved at his feet. Jiang Feng looked down to find a fluffy white ball rubbing against his ankle, struggling to climb up his leg.

The corner of Jiang Feng’s mouth lifted in a smile.

He picked up the rabbit, set it on his knee, and stroked its fur. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”

The rabbit lowered its head, nuzzled his fingers, and gazed longingly at the chunks of meat roiling in the pot.

That reaction… something wasn’t right!

Jiang Feng pressed his fingers to its brow and quickly realized that although the rabbit was awake, the remnant soul inside it was still dormant. What sat before him now was a luminous beast in its purest nature, not the fragmentary human soul it had once harbored.

He sighed and grumbled, “What are you looking at? I’m starving here. Careful or I’ll eat you! Though you’re hardly enough to fill the gap between my teeth—at best, you’d make a midnight snack! Wait… isn’t your name Midnight Snack?”

Midnight Snack didn’t understand a word he said. It drooled over the meat in the pot, clearly dissatisfied that it was taking so long to cook.

Suddenly, it hopped off Jiang Feng’s knee and bounced over to the stone stove.

It moved so quickly that Jiang Feng couldn’t stop it in time. The rabbit crouched by the fire, and a stream of blue-green breath issued from its three-petaled mouth, spraying directly into the flames!

At once, the fire surged upward. Then, the light seemed to dim, but on closer inspection, the flames had turned transparent.

This kind of fire burned at an extremely high temperature. The broth in the pot boiled furiously, reducing at a rate visible to the naked eye. Alarmed, Jiang Feng quickly poured in a ladle of water he’d prepared.

The pot continued to boil furiously; Jiang Feng kept adding water. In no time, the rich aroma nearly filled the valley, and the boar meat had been stewed to shreds.

Jiang Feng stared, dumbfounded, and murmured, “What kind of ability is that…?”

Midnight Snack bounced anxiously beside him, driving away much of the gloom in Jiang Feng’s heart. He couldn’t help but smile. He washed a leaf clean, sliced off two pieces of meat, and offered them to the rabbit.

Midnight Snack devoured them and still wasn’t satisfied, fixing him with a pleading gaze.

So it went, piece by piece, until Jiang Feng and Midnight Snack had finished the entire pot of meat together.

Only now did Jiang Feng fully realize that this was indeed a luminous beast—its appetite far exceeded its size. Half a boar’s leg had disappeared into its tiny body, and its belly barely bulged.

The meat was exceptionally fragrant, and though it had been cooked to pieces, still retained a pleasant chewiness. Jiang Feng nearly swallowed his tongue with it.

When he finished, he licked his chopsticks and muttered, “Not bad at all. Next time—”

His words cut off as a pain like an exploding bomb tore through his stomach. Jiang Feng grunted and collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, the contents of that book flashed vividly before his eyes.

For ordinary people, the meat of a luminous beast was like potent poison—utterly inedible. Only those who had merged with a Luminous Heart Seed and begun cultivating could even attempt to eat such flesh.

What made the difference?

Of course—it was luminous energy!

The meat of a luminous beast was infused with this energy, which now assaulted his stomach.

In his previous training, he’d worked on skin, bones, and tendons—the internal organs remained his most vulnerable point. Even those trained tissues could barely withstand luminous energy, let alone an untempered stomach.

If left unchecked, the energy would tear his stomach apart, rupturing his organs and killing him. But Jiang Feng was not about to let that happen.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he steadied his mind and began to guide the luminous energy with his will.

At first, his focus wavered, and the chaotic energy refused to budge. But gradually, as he sharpened his concentration, he seemed to see his own body, the tangled golden threads of energy thrashing inside his stomach, struggling to burst free.

He fixed his attention on them, patiently guiding them.

The pain faded, as though separated from him by a veil. Who knew how long passed, but suddenly, the energy responded, moving according to his will!

Delighted, Jiang Feng carefully bundled the strands and led them into his bloodstream, where they fused with the faint traces of energy already present.

He had succeeded!

Like drops of water merging into the sea, the new energy entered his blood and blended perfectly. From then on, it needed no further guidance, flowing freely with the rest, strengthening his vessels and sinews as it circulated.

With the energy now under control, the pain in his stomach dissipated. Jiang Feng withdrew his senses and smiled with joy.

Although his mixed bloodline blocked the entry of luminous energy, this method allowed him to increase its quantity from external sources!

Without hesitation, he picked up another piece of meat and ate it.

A moment later, another wisp of luminous energy entered his system—small in amount, but real and solid.

It took him two full hours to finish the entire pot of meat.

Truth be told, the meat was tough and chewy, and not particularly tasty, but Jiang Feng ate every last bit. For him, increasing his luminous energy mattered far more than flavor.

By the time he finished, the sun was setting.

At dusk, he couldn’t absorb luminous energy from the world, but Jiang Feng didn’t give up his training.

He stood in front of his treehouse and began to punch the air.

The whistling of his fists echoed through the little valley. Jiang Feng’s gaze was resolute, sweat streaming down his brow and carving rivulets across his cheeks.

This was his daily routine.

He practiced in three sessions—morning, noon, and night—ten thousand punches each time.

With every punch, he mobilized every muscle, from shoulder to arm to fist, snapping out like a whip with a loud crack.

This routine was nothing new; he’d made it a habit ever since he met the young lady.

He was no genius, nor did he possess any special advantages. Only through constant, unrelenting effort could he grow stronger.

Luminous energy flowed with his blood, merging with every muscle fiber.

Those fibers trembled, growing stronger with each repetition.

Through tireless training and relentless battle, he pressed forward toward his goal!

…

…

Three days later, in the afternoon, Jiang Feng lay hidden in a bush beside a small river, waiting patiently.

He watched his surroundings warily, his body as still as stone.

After a moment, a bull as tall as a man ambled over, step by step.

This bull was jet black, with two fiery red horns atop its head.

The attributes of a luminous beast showed in its physical features; judging by this one’s appearance, it was clearly a fire-type Redhorn Bull.

Over the past three days, Jiang Feng had collected the most fire-type fragments—a total of eighteen. The other four elements were all around fifteen, none exceeding twenty.

This meant he had opened three apertures but hadn’t embedded a single core.

The Redhorn Bull before him was a Grade Four luminous beast—the first of its kind Jiang Feng had attempted in these three days.

Luminous beasts ranked similarly to martial cultivators. Ordinarily, with three apertures open, he should target Grade Three beasts. What’s more, because of his bloodline, only a fraction of the luminous energy he absorbed could be output into his body—and even that he couldn’t control, able only to use it for physical strengthening.

In other words, he still couldn’t freely manipulate luminous energy, yet he was aiming higher than his actual level!

The Redhorn Bull reached the stream and lowered its head to drink.

Jiang Feng drew a deep breath, raised his hand, and sent a stone flying from his slingshot. It struck the bull squarely on the forehead.

The makeshift slingshot snapped with the force, the sharp stone whistling through the air at astonishing speed.

The Redhorn Bull let out an earth-shattering bellow. Spotting Jiang Feng, it immediately lowered its head, pawed the ground with its hooves, and charged at him with a thunderous roar.

Jiang Feng saw clearly—the beast’s eyes had turned crimson, as if about to spew fire. It was utterly enraged.

He didn’t back down—he roared as well and leapt forward, bracing both hands against the bull’s curved horns.

The moment his hands touched the horns, with a booming sound, they ignited into flame, as though two blazing torches had been thrust into the bull’s skull!