Shi Ming was tall and had a hearty appetite. Ever since traveling through the spatial passage of his Minor World to arrive in the vast Spirit Martial Realm, he hadn’t eaten once, and his stomach had long been growling. When he heard there was food inside the wooden box, his eyes lit up, and he nearly began drooling.
"With the spiritual energy so abundant here, the food must taste better than anything from the Minor World... Hmm, let’s see what delicacies they’ve got..."
Before the nial servant disciple could even leave, Shi Ming couldn’t help himself. He stood excitedly, happily opening the wooden box on the table before him.
Inside the box, neatly arranged were Solomon’s Seal, Poria, Fo-ti, Snow Lotus Fruit, and other Spiritual dicines. Yet, the feast of at and fish Shi Ming had imagined was utterly absent.
"This... this is our food? You’re telling we’re supposed to eat these?"
Shi Ming’s left hand shot out, grabbing the nial disciple by his collar, while his right hand pointed at the Spiritual dicines in the wooden box. His tiger-like eyes glared as he asked, filled with dissatisfaction.
"Y-yes..."
The nial disciple, just sixteen or seventeen years old, was thin and timid by nature. Caught by the towering Shi Ming, he trembled uncontrollably and stamred, head bowed and voice barely audible.
In every sect, nial disciples were the weakest in strength and the lowest in status. Lingxu Palace was no exception.
The nial disciple delivering food before him usually spent only a small amount of his ti cultivating; most of his days were spent on laborious tasks like cleaning palaces, serving food, or tending to flower beds.
On top of that, nial disciples had to endure the ridicule and disdain of their sect’s senior brothers and sisters. If they displeased them, they were often beaten, forced to swallow their grievances.
With Shi Ming’s towering physique and commanding aura, this nial disciple felt an imnse pressure weighing down on him, fear gripping his heart.
When the disciple ca to deliver food to Fang Bai and Shi Ming, he had already heard that these two new disciples possessed Innate Spiritual Roots and were fiercely contested over by two palace Elders as Personal Transmission disciples. Their bright futures as pillars of Lingxu Palace were practically guaranteed.
Faced with two disciples of such imnse potential, the nial disciple dared not show the slightest disrespect, treating them with extre caution.
He had intended to wait until Fang Bai and Shi Ming finished their als before taking the box and leaving, but he didn’t expect Shi Ming to be dissatisfied and grip him angrily, looking ready to throw a punch.
Staring at Shi Ming, who glared with puffed cheeks and flared nostrils as if he’d attack at the slightest misstep, the nial disciple felt like crying. Internally, he lanted, "Big Brother, your food, clothing, and housing are all arranged by the sect. Why are you venting your anger on ? I’m just the delivery guy!"
Though he thought this in his heart, he dared not say it aloud, fearing that if he annoyed Shi Ming, he might be beaten to a pulp, with no place to cry about it afterward.
Shi Ming wasn’t an unreasonable person. Seeing the nial disciple trembling in fear, he let go of the boy’s collar and impatiently said, "Take this food away and bring us so at instead!"
"Huh?"
The nial disciple froze for a mont, then stamred nervously, "Senior Brother Shi... um... in the palace... disciples all eat this. There’s no... no at..."
Shi Ming sneered, "Don’t give that! The mountains here are teeming with flying beasts and Spirit Beasts. Just catch one and roast it! Hmph! I just saw a fat rabbit scurry past a mont ago. Stop wasting ti and bring two fat geese. We’ll roast them ourselves!"
The nial disciple nearly burst into tears. "Senior Brother Shi, I can’t! The Spirit Beasts here are all tad and raised by the palace disciples. Hunting them is strictly forbidden. If I do, I’ll be expelled from Lingxu Palace!"
"Alright, Shi Brother, don’t make things difficult for him!"
Fang Bai calmly took the Solomon’s Seal, Poria, Fo-ti, and Snow Lotus Fruit out of the wooden box and laid them on the stone table in front of him. Then he waved his hand to indicate that the nial disciple could leave.
Relieved, as though pardoned from a death sentence, the nial disciple shot Fang Bai a grateful glance. He fetched two bowls of spring water from nearby, placed them alongside the Spiritual dicines, and quickly tidied up the box before scurrying away.
"This is no Minor World. We should adapt to the local customs... Besides, these are treasures. Eating them is imnsely beneficial to us Martial Artists’ cultivation!"
Fang Bai picked up a piece of Solomon’s Seal, popped it into his mouth, chewed a bit, and swallowed. He savored the taste. "A Holy Grade Spirit dicine aged several thousand years is actually quite delicious..."
"Really that good? Let try..."
Seeing Fang Bai devour several servings of Spiritual dicine with a look of bliss, Shi Ming hesitated but eventually picked up a piece of Solomon’s Seal and popped it into his mouth.
Upon tasting it, the initial bitterness turned into a sweet and fragrant flavor. As he chewed, the juices filled his mouth and trickled into his stomach, transforming into strands of Spiritual Energy that flowed into his Qi Sea.
Soon enough, the Spiritual dicines on the stone table had been devoured by the two of them. Though the portions weren’t large, their hunger completely disappeared. Shi Ming couldn’t help but marvel at the sensation.
After consuming the Spiritual dicines and drinking a bowl of spring water, each patted their stomach contentedly, feeling about 80% full.
"This place is great and all, but not having at or wine is a sha! Looks like the cultivation life ahead is destined to be austere!"
Shi Ming bemoaned toward the heavens.
Fang Bai, on the other hand, found such an "austere" cultivation life familiar and even comforting, having lived this way in his previous life.
In the days that followed, perhaps due to being preoccupied, Elder Wu Zhihua, tasked with guiding Fang Bai, never ca to see him once.
Shi Ming’s situation was the sa, and the two of them spent their days idly chatting together.
The nial disciple responsible for delivering their food, however, grew increasingly familiar with them through his frequent visits and no longer feared them.
The boy’s na was Huang Zhong, a seventeen-year-old orphan who had been taken in as an infant by a high-ranking Lingxu Palace mber.
Huang Zhong had decent aptitude and was once hopeful of reaching the Foundation Establishnt Realm. But two years ago, during cultivation, his impatience caused Spiritual Energy to beco chaotic, leading to deviation. His ridians beca blocked, and even after consuming nurous Spirit Pills and Spiritual Liquids, his condition did not improve.
Deed a lost cause in Martial Dao by Lingxu Palace’s leaders, Huang Zhong was completely cast aside.
Unwilling to accept fate, Huang Zhong had secretly gone to nearby cities multiple tis, seeking pills to heal his injuries from Pill Masters. However, the prices they asked for were too steep; he couldn’t afford them and had to let go of that hope, resigning himself to life as a nial disciple.
After befriending Fang Bai and Shi Ming, Huang Zhong gradually opened up. Each ti he delivered food, he would spill his grievances to them without reserve.
Young at heart, he would grow emotional and, at his saddest monts, break into uncontrollable sobs. Fang Bai and Shi Ming often found themselves consoling him for ages.
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