Devour My Shennong Power!!!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—"

The sound of oil dripping into the fire continued to ring out, carrying waves of scorching aroma. On the iron grill, the meat that had been carefully sliced into large, thin rectangles had already been seared golden-brown by the flames. The rendered fat had originally hung beneath the meat without falling, but after a pair of hands turned it over, it finally dripped down.

"Lianshan! Hurry, hurry! Is the meat over there done marinating yet? The meat on this grill is almost cooked!" Seeing that his own batch was nearly done, Xu Yanwu called for Lianshan to bring over the Wind Master meat that was soaking up the flavor.

"Not... not yet!"

Lianshan hurriedly chopped the meat, then tossed it into the seasoning Xu Yanwu had specially mixed up to marinate.

"We're running out of seasoning too!"

Xu Yanwu flew into a rage. "Why didn't you tell me earlier that we were out of seasoning?!"

He took the cooked meat off the grill and placed it on a tray over another fire to keep it warm. With a rub of his hands, Xu Yanwu produced a large kettle and tossed it to Lianshan. "Keep seasoning the meat. I'll go check on the dragon meat soup..."

Xu Yanwu had already grilled several racks of Deer meat. That was the result of more than an hour of hard work by him and Lianshan...

Actually, they had grilled more than enough meat. The two of them could not possibly grill meat for everyone in the tribe. After all, grilling meat was not like stewing snake soup, where one big pot was enough. It would be fine to grill some for everyone to taste, then teach them how to grill it themselves. Still, watching Lianshan flusteredly scramble about filled Xu Zifu with an irrepressible sense of delight...

But delight aside, the soup still had to be stewed...

"Come to think of it... does my grilled meat not smell good enough? Why hasn't anyone come over?"

Xu Yanwu chewed on the diced Rain Master meat in his mouth, scratching his head in confusion.

"Forget it, I'll just carry it over later. Damn... is Rain Master meat really this delicious..."

---In the tribe---

"It smells so good..."

A young man stretched out his neck and sniffed the fragrance in the air, practically drooling. "I really want to have a taste..."

Another young man beside him rolled his eyes. "That's monster meat. Go eat it if you're not afraid of dying."

"I was only saying..."

Listening to the people outside, Chi Yuan sat inside the tent with a headache. "Why is he cooking Honkai Beast meat? Isn't that stuff inedible..."

Danzhu sprawled beside the table, looking utterly unconcerned. "It's fine. Uncle Xu Yanwu isn't an ordinary person. The Honkai Energy in Honkai Beast meat can't threaten him, can it?"

"That isn't the point."

Chi Yuan frowned. "Even if Honkai Energy won't affect him, that aroma..."

"Grrrummble—"

Waves of unwilling growls from hungry stomachs sounded outside the tent.

"...will make it very easy to distract the people in the tribe," Chi Yuan sighed.

----Xu Yanwu's side----

"Why isn't anyone coming..."

Xu Yanwu tore off a piece of grilled meat with his teeth and chewed gloomily. "It's obviously so delicious..."

Before he could finish, Xu Yanwu turned and glared at Lianshan. "Why aren't you eating yet?"

"..." Even the hand Lianshan held the grilled meat with was trembling.

Their ancestors had passed down the bloody lesson, generation after generation, that monster meat could not be eaten.

But why was this ancestor-level figure in front of him chewing monster meat so deliciously...

Wasn't it supposed to be inedible...

"Brother Xu... didn't they say that after eating monster meat, people would turn into monsters too...? Can this meat really be eaten..."

Lianshan hesitated.

Xu Yanwu frowned. "Why can't it?"

"To put it bluntly, the power that turns people into zombies is just the Honkai Energy inside Honkai Beast meat. I've already absorbed all that Honkai Energy, so this Honkai Beast meat is nothing more than ordinary meat now. What's there to be afraid of?"

Still...

Xu Yanwu stroked his chin as he examined Lianshan, his eyes narrowing slightly.

This guy was Shennong, right?

And Shennong had that legend about tasting a hundred herbs, right?

So... he could make something happen here!

Xu Yanwu had already formed a rough expectation for Lianshan's future path.

He would train Lianshan into the number one Jungle Warrior on the Land of Shenzhou!

That's right! The kind who could eat his way through the entire world with nothing but a Jungle knife!

"Lianshan, go ahead and eat the meat. I guarantee nothing will happen to you."

An uncontrollable smile spread across Xu Yanwu's lips.

Think about it: Ji Lin was the strongest warrior on the Land of Shenzhou when it came to fighting the Honkai. It would not be excessive for him, Xu Yanwu, to train Lianshan into the strongest warrior capable of eating Honkai Beasts, would it?

One day, when Xu Yanwu brought Lianshan's divine arts to completion, they would face a swarm of Honkai Beasts. Lianshan would smile, draw a Jungle knife, and charge at the Honkai Beasts with a swing of his blade.

Devour My Shennong Power!!! (Eat my Shennong power!)

It somehow sounded pretty damn awesome...

"...All right."

Lianshan began gnawing on the grilled meat pitifully. At first, he was reluctant, but before long, he was simply fighting to eat more.

"Burp—"

After finally chugging down a mouthful of soup to fill the gaps in his stomach, Lianshan lay on the grass with his belly swollen from overeating. Helplessly, he watched Xu Yanwu lift the enormous cauldron he had created and pour it straight into his own mouth.

"Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug..."

Lianshan's mouth twitched. Brother Xu could eat far more than he had imagined...

Xu Yanwu had eaten at least ninety percent of the grilled meat, not to mention lifting the cauldron and directly chugging the dragon meat soup...

"Not bad, not bad!"

Xu Yanwu wiped his mouth, sensing the food that entered his stomach being digested at incredible speed, then replenishing his mana bar.

Yet Xu Yanwu's stomach did not even show the slightest sign of swelling.

"Lianshan, didn't I say there'd be no problem?"

Xu Yanwu picked his teeth and yanked Lianshan up from the ground.

"B-Brother Xu, be gentler, ugh..."

Everything Lianshan had eaten was already crammed up to his throat. When Xu Yanwu pulled him like that, Lianshan nearly threw up on the spot.

"...You got stuffed into this pathetic state from so little food."

Xu Yanwu completely ignored the fact that he had once been a weak, nerdy shut-in himself. While mocking Lianshan, he pressed his right hand against Lianshan's stomach. "I'll help you digest it..."

What Xu Yanwu was actually thinking was...

Lianshan, so you won't be a weakling in front of your wife someday, you can forgive me for modifying you just a little, right...