Pain, It Hurt So Much!

Aunt Lan had prepared a few homestyle dishes: braised tofu, stir-fried pork with peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and winter melon pork rib soup.

Other than the soup, everything else looked like it had been prepared in advance and only needed reheating.

Perhaps it was because Huo Yuhao was dressed so poorly, or perhaps because he had just helped her.

Throughout the meal, Aunt Lan kept putting food into Huo Yuhao's bowl. Of course, she used a separate pair of chopsticks for serving, which Huo Yuhao had not expected.

Looking at his bowl piled high with food, Huo Yuhao did not refuse. He ate whatever she gave him. Only those who had gone hungry knew how happy it was to have a full meal.

Aunt Lan did not seem very hungry. She simply watched Huo Yuhao and Lan Mei eat with a gentle expression.

Lan Mei ate daintily, but Ma Xiaotao's whispered words from earlier resurfaced in her mind.

She was not being nice to a stranger for no reason...

"I heard from Lan Mei that you're good at grilling?" Aunt Lan asked Huo Yuhao after taking a sip of soup, breaking the quiet.

Huo Yuhao's mouth was stuffed full. He hurriedly chewed and swallowed before replying, "I wouldn't say I'm that good. It's just that grilling is also a way for me to make a living."

Aunt Lan smiled and nodded. "All right. I happen to be going out tomorrow, so I'll leave the work at the Grilled Fish House to you two."

"Huh?" Huo Yuhao froze.

Lan Mei's expression changed as well. She hurriedly looked at her mother. "Mom, why are you handing the grilling work straight to Yuhao? He just got here and isn't familiar with a lot of things yet. I was planning to take him to the market tomorrow to look around and get familiar with the combat area."

Aunt Lan said with a smile, "If that child Xiaotao was satisfied with his grilling, then his skills definitely aren't bad. I believe Yuhao can handle it."

"You..." Lan Mei had no idea how to refute that.

"What do you think, Yuhao? Can you handle what Aunt is entrusting to you?" Aunt Lan looked at Huo Yuhao with an impossible-to-refuse gaze.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously looked at Lan Mei, who nodded helplessly at him.

Seeing that, Huo Yuhao's expression turned serious. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Aunt Lan. Leave it to me. There definitely won't be a problem."

"Good." Aunt Lan smiled faintly. "Eat, eat."

Lan Mei pursed her lips, picked up her chopsticks, and resumed eating.

Huo Yuhao smiled helplessly and also focused seriously on his meal.

After a wonderful dinner, Aunt Lan went to wash the dishes. Huo Yuhao had intended to help, but she refused.

After returning to the second floor, Huo Yuhao was just about to begin cultivating when Lan Mei came over and interrupted him.

Leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest, Lan Mei said, "The shop has reservations from regular customers tomorrow, so we have to open. Otherwise, I would've just taken the day off."

"Yuhao, make some grilled food for me to try tomorrow morning. It wouldn't be good if we disappointed the regulars."

"No problem." Huo Yuhao nodded.

Lan Mei teased, "Xiaotao said you're really good at grilling fish. I'll get more black carp from the market tomorrow. Oh, right, that Sunlight Blueberry can only be kept for three hours, so you should eat it. Don't waste it. Without sunlight, its effect will be very weak, but it's still better than nothing."

After saying good night, Lan Mei closed the door and left.

The room fell silent at once. Under the bright light of the Soul Guiding Lamp, Huo Yuhao walked over to the window and looked up at the bright moon, a hint of confusion rising in his heart.

Moonlight was reflected sunlight.

Wasn't that sunlight too?

Could Sister Lan Mei's Second Soul Skill not provide a boost under moonlight?

With that thought, Huo Yuhao immediately sat cross-legged where the moonlight could shine upon him. He intended to give it a try. The next moment, a crack split open at his Brow Center, faint Golden Light spreading out as the Heavenly Eye officially opened.

Yes, during those days at Old Chen's place, Huo Yuhao had continued to experiment and eventually discovered that as long as there were no clouds blocking it, moonlight could also help him open the Heavenly Eye.

As long as he was directly bathed in moonlight, the Heavenly Eye could remain open.

Cultivating with the Heavenly Eye open allowed him to circulate his Soul Power slightly faster. The improvement was tiny, but it was still better than nothing. He had already made use of everything that could help him.

He put the golden Sunlight Blueberry into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed. It was very sweet. Immediately, a warm current spread from his throat throughout his body. Huo Yuhao's eyes shifted. He could feel his body becoming faintly warm. The Sunlight Blueberry had begun to take effect.

At that very moment, Huo Yuhao's body jolted violently as an indescribable pain flooded through him.

"Urgh." A muffled groan escaped Huo Yuhao's mouth. Bloodshot veins gathered in his eyes, and the muscles throughout his body tensed.

He felt as if someone were repeatedly stabbing him with needles, just like Granny Rong stabbing Ziwei. But these needles were not piercing his skin—they were piercing inside his body.

"What's going on?" Huo Yuhao endured the intense pain within his body and began examining himself. Then, something astonishing appeared before his eyes.

The light released by the moon had actually fused with his body, like moss clinging to a stone.

Wisps of silvery light coiled around Huo Yuhao, especially around his Heavenly Eye. Soft moonlight continuously flowed into it, all of it actively absorbed by the Heavenly Eye.

And the moonlight entering his body was constantly stimulating the impurities in his meridians. That unbearable agony came precisely from this.

At that moment, the moonlight seemed to be tempering his meridians, widening them and making them tougher.

Of course, the sensation was incredibly faint. It was like needing one hundred million experience points to reach full experience, yet only automatically gaining one point per second.

Yet this still filled Huo Yuhao with wild joy. His meridians were already severely blocked, making cultivation extremely slow. But if he could use this opportunity to gradually clear and widen them, making them more resilient, it would be immensely beneficial to his future cultivation.

But how exactly had this happened?

He had opened the Heavenly Eye under moonlight before, yet there had never been such a change.

Huo Yuhao could not figure it out. Sharp pains occasionally shot through his body, as though he had been electrocuted. There was nothing he could do; the moonlight was stimulating his meridians.

It hurt. It hurt so much!

"It's the Sunlight Blueberry."

But at that moment, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized through the pain. Yes, this change had only begun after he ate the Sunlight Blueberry.

"Sister Lan Mei said the Sunlight Blueberry Soul Skill's supportive effect at night was practically negligible, but judging from this, that doesn't seem to be the case." Huo Yuhao pondered.

"Could it be that, because of the Heavenly Eye, I've become a special case? A Soul Skill that can help widen and clear one's own meridians is practically a Divine Skill. But based on Sister Lan Mei's description of its effects, the results of me consuming a Sunlight Blueberry seem different from when others consume one."

Huo Yuhao continued thinking, while time slowly passed. Finally, about an hour later, the prickling pain spread across his body began to fade until it vanished completely.

As the pain disappeared, Huo Yuhao finally regained his clarity. He gasped for breath, his body already drenched in sweat.

Outside the window, many people were still walking by, but no one noticed him.

Clearly, the effect of the Sunlight Blueberry Soul Skill had ended.

But lasting for an hour was already very powerful.

"Continue meditating."

Huo Yuhao impatiently returned to his cultivation state. He wanted to see exactly what changes had occurred after his meridians had been continuously impacted by moonlight.