Spiritual Content

The cafeteria had four floors.

The first, second, and third floors were where the liberal arts students ate together.

As for the fourth floor, it was the dining area for Martial Arts Students. They practiced martial arts daily and expended tremendous amounts of energy, requiring far more replenishment than liberal arts students. Thus, they ate Nutritional Meals specially formulated by chefs.

Dragon Ascending Nation enforced twelve years of compulsory education, with tuition fully waived from elementary school through high school. However, students still had to pay for cafeteria meals. An ordinary meal of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, soup, and rice cost only five yuan, making it far more economical than eating outside.

The Nutritional Meals eaten by Martial Arts Students were much more expensive, with the cheapest portion costing at least fifty yuan.

The students of Thirteen Middle School all came from ordinary families. Their parents worked for others, and their lives were not well-off. Therefore, the liberal arts students ate ordinary meals on the first, second, and third floors, unwilling to be extravagant enough to eat Nutritional Meals on the fourth floor.

Those who ate Nutritional Meals on the fourth floor were usually Martial Arts Students or teachers.

Martial Arts Students had no choice in the matter.

After cultivating Jing Li and circulating Galloping Horse Strength, their qi and blood flowed faster than before. This accelerated their bodily cells' intake of energy, increasing their demand for it.

When the body's energy was consumed at a fierce rate, it had to be replenished through food.

After parting with Chen Bo, Qin Fen headed to the fourth floor of the cafeteria.

Although Chen Bo had said he would treat him to cafeteria meals for a week, Qin Fen would not truly let Chen Bo pay.

Chen Bo's family circumstances were ordinary as well. His parents had to get up in the dead of night to prepare breakfast, earning every penny through hard labor. One fifty-yuan Nutritional Meal was enough for Chen Bo to eat ordinary cafeteria meals for an entire week.

There were not many people on the fourth floor, unlike the crowded three floors below.

As Qin Fen knew, the second and third years had six Martial Arts Classes in total, with only a little over a hundred Martial Arts Students combined. Each class had fewer than twenty students, and third-year students did not necessarily have to study at school.

The martial arts and courses taught by the school were fixed. If students completed the curriculum ahead of schedule, they did not need to attend school. They could cultivate at home or study at a martial arts academy.

Therefore, Martial Arts Teachers teaching the third year had it quite easy.

These Martial Arts Students sat in groups of three or five, discussing martial arts together.

Qin Fen came to the counter, topped up his meal card with ten thousand yuan, and asked the cafeteria auntie to serve him a fifty-yuan Nutritional Meal.

The auntie pushed a tray out through the window. On it was a water lily bud as large as a washbasin. Qin Fen looked at the Nutritional Meals on the other students' tables and saw that they were wrapped in the same kind of water lily bud, so he did not ask any questions.

Holding the tray with both hands, Qin Fen found an empty seat and sat down.

Then, he tore open the flower bud petal by petal. Exquisite food was revealed inside: rice as translucent as jade, like diamonds, steaming hot and fragrant enough to make one's mouth water.

After taking one bite, Qin Fen felt the fragrance linger between his teeth, and he could not help wolfing it down.

In one minute, he swept the food inside the flower bud clean, then patted his stomach in satisfaction.

He had never eaten such delicious food before.

"How is it? Not bad, right, this Nutritional Meal?"

At that moment, Zhou Wu sat across from Qin Fen, carrying a tray with both hands.

"Teacher."

Qin Fen immediately straightened his posture, sitting tall with his chest out.

"It's lunchtime. There's no need to be so stiff."

Zhou Wu also tore open the flower bud petal by petal, revealing golden roasted meat and milky-white thick soup inside.

Judging by its appearance and the fragrance spilling forth, Zhou Wu's Nutritional Meal was clearly more expensive than Qin Fen's.

"These Nutritional Meals were developed by Internal Training Grandmasters of the Martial Arts Bureau after decades of research. They are cooked with special utensils, so vital energy does not leak away, impurities are smelted out, and the stomach and intestines are not harmed," Zhou Wu said. "And this rice is not ordinary rice either. It is Spirit Rice grown with the finest spirit water. The energy contained in one bowl of rice is equivalent to five jin of ordinary beef."

Qin Fen could not help nodding.

Eating too much ordinary meat and vegetables not only easily burdened the stomach and intestines, affecting cultivation and producing twice the effort for half the result, but their nutrients would also quickly be absorbed and depleted, requiring another meal to maintain what was needed. This would undoubtedly waste far too much time.

Spirit Rice was a product of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence. It grew in places rich in Spiritual Qi and contained Spiritual Qi.

Ordinary Spirit Rice had thin Spiritual Qi, with a Spiritual Content of roughly '0.01'.

The Spirit Rice consumed by martial artists had a Spiritual Content above '0.5'.

Before the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, there had been the term "Gold Content." It originally referred to the amount of metal "gold" in gold jewelry and gold products, and was often extended to describe the intrinsic quality of something.

Spiritual Content had roughly the same meaning as Gold Content, except it referred to the amount of "spirit" contained within certain objects.

Although Spirit Rice had a Spiritual Content of only '0.01', the energy and nutrients stored within it far surpassed ordinary poultry and flesh. Thus, eating food containing Spiritual Qi could reduce the number of meals needed and greatly increase a martial artist's cultivation speed.

A Nutritional Meal like this would cost at least a hundred yuan outside.

At two meals a day, it would cost six thousand yuan a month. For an ordinary family, that was an enormous burden.

At school, it cost only fifty yuan. This was the school's consideration for its students.

Of course, the school would not subsidize it out of its own pocket. The more Martial Arts Students there were, the more special funding the Martial Arts Bureau allocated.

"After eating, don't rush to cultivate. I'll teach you a massage technique."

Soon, Zhou Wu finished eating as well. Then, following the rhythm of his breathing, he gently massaged his abdomen with both hands.

As he massaged his abdomen, he said, "You should have learned about the body's acupoints in medical class. These are sensitive points where nerves are concentrated. Follow the sequence and gently massage the Zhongwan, Daheng, Tianshu, Qihai, and Daimai acupoints. As you press and knead them, swallow the saliva secreted in your mouth. This will give your stomach and intestines more force to move and digest.

"Although this massage technique is not as effective as circulating Jing Li to digest food, you cannot possibly eat outside—especially in high-end establishments—and then set up a boxing stance after the meal, circulate Jing Li, and mobilize your qi and blood. That would be far too inelegant.

"Of course, if you reach the Third Realm of Jing Li, Smooth Strength, where you can issue strength smoothly and withdraw it at will, you can transmit Jing Li to every part of your body. Then, without this massage technique or setting up a boxing stance, you can still circulate Jing Li to your abdomen and speed up digestion."

"Thank you, Teacher."

Qin Fen followed along and learned from him.

He had indeed learned about acupoints in medical class, but he had not expected them to be applicable to cultivation.

More than ten minutes later, Qin Fen felt that the food in his stomach had been completely digested. The energy traveled through his blood circulation to every part of his body. At this time, he needed to circulate his qi and blood to accelerate his body cells' absorption of energy.

Teacher Zhou Wu had already left. Upon reaching the Third Realm of Jing Li, one could transmit Jing Li to any part of the body, much less Teacher Zhou Wu, an External Training Master of the Fifth Realm. He did not need a massage technique to digest food.

Qin Fen rose, returned his tray to the counter, and went back to the classroom.

Thanks to reader Qian Feng for the 100-coin reward.