Really Going to Eat a Tree?

"Hmm? Didn't you understand?"

Seeing Zhao Tiezhu hesitate, Zhang Yuxian's expression turned cold.

"I..." Zhao Tiezhu was utterly speechless. He felt that Zhang Yuxian was clearly just messing with him.

Had Lord Zhang heard the sarcasm I directed at Yi Yun earlier and deliberately decided to punish me?

But no matter how dissatisfied he felt, he didn't dare talk back to Zhang Yuxian.

At that moment, the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp looked at Zhao Tiezhu sympathetically. They naturally knew what Zhao Tiezhu had said to Yi Yun when he had been showing off earlier.

Who would have thought retribution would come so quickly!

Seeing what had happened to Zhao Tiezhu, the two burly men who had previously shouted about eating a huge stone mill and drinking the East River dry felt their calves cramp.

They wished they could slap themselves twice. Why had they run their mouths so badly earlier, insisting on going crazy alongside Zhao Tiezhu? In a moment, retribution might come for them too!

They could at least gnaw on the old locust tree, but how were they supposed to eat a stone mill?

"Zhao Tiezhu, what are you still standing around for? I told you to eat the tree. Did you hear me?"

Seeing Zhao Tiezhu's unwilling expression, Lian Chengyu shouted angrily at him.

Lian Chengyu didn't care what the reason was. He simply assumed that this was Zhang Yuxian's order. Anything the envoy commanded had to be carried out—and besides, he wasn't the one suffering.

"I...I..." Zhao Tiezhu grimaced. Finally making up his mind, he said painfully, "I'll eat..."

He crouched down and, bracing himself, snapped off a piece of wood.

The wood was sturdy enough to build a house with. Zhao Tiezhu was so grief-stricken he could have cried. Does he take me for a termite?

Noticing that Lian Chengyu's expression had turned unfriendly, Zhao Tiezhu had no choice but to close his eyes and stuff the wood into his mouth, chewing as if he were being marched to the execution grounds.

The texture was enough to make a person wish for death.

Zhao Tiezhu felt as if his throat were being cut open. After finally swallowing one piece, he gazed pitifully at Zhang Yuxian, clearly asking whether that was enough.

But Zhang Yuxian merely said coldly, "Continue!"

Zhao Tiezhu nearly fainted!

He was good at lifting stone mills, chopping trees, and driving stakes into the ground. But eating wood? That was simply torture!

"Lord Zhang, may I ask what secret technique this is?" Lian Chengyu had originally thought Zhang Yuxian was punishing Zhao Tiezhu, making him understand that anything he said had to be carried out.

But now, it didn't seem quite like that. Perhaps making Zhao Tiezhu eat a tree really was some kind of secret technique.

If that was the case, he might have to eat wood himself in a moment, so he had to ask clearly first.

Zhang Yuxian was somewhat more amiable toward Lian Chengyu. He said, "This secret technique is called the 'Elephant Swallowing Art.' It is a method for training the stomach and digestive abilities! Those who cultivate the Elephant Swallowing Art to great mastery can devour food like whales swallowing and oxen drinking at every meal. It is even rumored that those who reach great mastery can eat an entire elephant. That is where the technique gets its name."

When the people of the Warrior Reserve Camp heard this, their expressions immediately became extraordinarily vivid. After all that, the Elephant Swallowing Art was actually a technique for eating.

Isn't this just a glutton's skill? And this counts as a secret technique?

Seeing the expressions on the faces of the Warrior Reserve Camp members, Zhang Yuxian knew exactly what they were thinking.

He said disdainfully, "With your ant-like, shallow insight, you actually dare to recklessly judge and speculate about the Army Suppressing Technique of the Brocade Dragon Guard? How laughable!"

"Training the stomach and intestines is extremely important for martial artists! If your heart and lungs are strong, at most your stamina will be a little better, and you'll be more capable in battle. However, being good at fighting cannot compare with being good at cultivation. A strong stomach and intestines are of great benefit to cultivation!"

"Mortal Blood Realm martial artists, whether you're carrying stone mills, fighting, climbing onto roofs, or climbing trees, where does your strength come from? It all comes from food!"

"Some martial artists who have trained their stomachs and intestines well have frightening appetites. They can eat an entire ox in three days. The more they eat, the more nutrients they naturally absorb, and the more solidly their flesh and bones grow. Their strength naturally becomes greater as well."

Zhang Yuxian's voice rang out loudly, and Yi Yun's heart stirred as he listened.

Indeed, the energy erupted by martial artists was extraordinarily terrifying. Such energy could not come from nowhere; it had to have a source. For Mortal Blood Realm martial artists, their source of energy was food.

Food was energy. Naturally, eating more brought great benefits.

This was especially true for those noble disciples born into prestigious lineages but possessing ordinary talent. When they cultivated, they were unable to obtain much Savage Bone Essence. With no other choice, they had to rely on eating Savage Beast Meat to improve their strength.

Some people would be full after eating seven or eight pounds of Savage Beast Meat in a day. What kind of future could they have? They might as well go to the secular world and manage their family's businesses.

The truly ruthless ones could eat two hundred pounds of Savage Beast Meat in a day and still be only eighty percent full.

All that meat had to be digested into energy, its essence extracted, and used for desperate cultivation. Only then was it possible to reach a higher realm.

Therefore, having a strong stomach, eating more, naturally gave one an advantage!

Thus, the basic secret technique Zhang Yuxian taught was the Elephant Swallowing Art.

This was a foundational secret technique for martial arts cultivation!

Zhang Yuxian continued, "The martial artists of those great lineages practice the Elephant Swallowing Art so they can eat Savage Beast Meat. Your Yunhuang lacks resources, and you can't even eat your fill, but practicing the Elephant Swallowing Art is still useful!"

"Once your stomach and intestines become stronger, you'll be able to fully absorb the nutrients in whatever you eat!"

"When ordinary people eat the five grains, much of their essence is wasted after being absorbed by the stomach and intestines, and is ultimately excreted with the feces."

"Dogs eat human feces, flies and maggots can reproduce in cesspools, and dung beetles roll dung balls to raise their offspring! There is a great deal of nutrition in those things that has not been fully absorbed!"

"Even the five grains cannot be fully absorbed, let alone Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!"

"Without a good stomach and intestines, even if I gave you Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, you wouldn't be able to digest them!"

"After mastering the Elephant Swallowing Art, whatever you eat in the future will be digested more thoroughly! If you encounter a famine, you'll be able to eat tree bark, grass roots, and Guanyin Soil and digest them all, turning them into nutrients that sustain your life!"

"From today onward, every meal you eat will consist of tree roots, tree trunks, and Guanyin Soil. Once you're full, practice the Elephant Swallowing Art according to the method I taught you. Move your stomach and intestines, and digest these most difficult-to-digest foods into nutrients!"

After hearing Zhang Yuxian's words, the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp were speechless. So they all had to eat this stuff.

For the next three days, they could only rely on wood and Guanyin Soil as food!

They had originally been thinking that Zhang Yuxian had hunted quite a few savage beasts, and perhaps they could share in the spoils and feast to their hearts' content.

However, reality was cruel. Not only could they not eat Savage Beast Meat now, they couldn't even drink rice porridge.

The members of the Warrior Reserve Camp all wore bitter expressions. None of them wanted to actually eat a tree.

At the very least, they needed some time to accept it.

Just as everyone stared at one another in dismay, Yi Yun had already walked out of the group. He crouched beside the old locust tree, snapped off a branch, and ate it together with the leaves.

Practicing martial arts was not meant to let people enjoy themselves. One had to face hardship and setbacks, and confront the danger of death.

Not to mention martial arts training—even before Yi Yun had crossed over, he had heard of children practicing acrobatics, dancing, and contortion. To press down a child's back, their teacher would kneel on top of them. That kind of suffering was something many adults could not endure.

In this otherworld, behind the glory of peerless experts there was inevitably arduous effort. Eating a little wood and Guanyin Soil was simply nothing.