The Canteen

Zhou Lulu said with a troubled frown, "I like reading, so I wanted to study under Fourth Elder, who specializes in Confucian cultivation. But my father insisted I choose Hundred Refinements Peak. He said Fourth Elder had read himself stupid and that I shouldn't learn from him."

"Your father is...?"

"Fifth Elder, Zhou Xin."

Lu Yang immediately fell silent. Hundred Refinements Peak belonged to her family, after all. Of course her father wanted her to choose somewhere within the family.

The main peak of Hundred Refinements Peak was a crimson mountain towering into the clouds, as if a volcano had erupted and lit up the sky.

Whether it was because of the years spent refining artifacts or because Hundred Refinements Peak was simply like this, the temperature here was slightly higher than elsewhere.

It was early spring, yet Hundred Refinements Peak seemed to have already entered summer.

Lu Yang felt a prickling sensation on his skin, as though something were burrowing into his body. His cultivation technique began to circulate on its own, forming a membrane as thin as a cicada's wing around him.

Zhou Lulu quietly explained from beside him, "Junior Brother, what you're sensing is metal qi. So many magical artifacts are forged on Hundred Refinements Peak that the air is filled with it. It won't harm cultivators, though. You'll get used to it."

"But your reaction was quick, Junior Brother. Very few people respond like you did."

Lu Yang smiled. "My cultivation technique is pretty handy."

Lu Yang also heard a clanging sound. In his imagination, a senior brother was probably wielding a huge iron hammer, pounding a piece of refined iron until sparks flew and it was forged into steel.

Following the noise, he saw that it was coming from the canteen.

"Mm—"

Lu Yang felt that he could probably get used to this.

He was already getting used to it.

The canteen entrance was full of hustle and bustle. People came and went, chatting and laughing, gesturing with all kinds of food in their hands as if they were wielding broad blades and sharp swords, roaming the land to uphold justice.

They were like students stopping by the canteen to buy food after class, and like chivalrous heroes who had just stepped out of a weapons shop.

"Is Li Haoran here?" Lu Yang remembered that Li Haoran, who had a Fire Spirit Root, had become Fifth Elder's disciple. In theory, his cultivation realm should be about the same as Lu Yang's, but he didn't know how far Li Haoran had actually progressed.

Zhou Lulu shook her head. "Junior Brother Li hasn't emerged from seclusion yet, so he isn't qualified to sell food in the canteen. Father said Li Haoran has a very good foundation and needs to soak in the magma more to develop his potential."

"I heard that when Junior Brother Li first soaked in the magma, he screamed. Later, he went quiet. He's probably gotten used to it."

"...Could it be that he didn't get used to it, but got cooked?"

"Hm?"

Lu Yang hadn't thought that taking a hot bath in boiling water wasn't even the worst of it. His senior sister had been far too kind to him.

It was a shame he hadn't seen Li Haoran. Otherwise, they could have compared notes on bathing.

When Zhou Lulu reached the noisy canteen, all her enthusiasm vanished without a trace. She started having second thoughts and quietly took two steps back. Then she spoke so quickly she sounded like a machine gun: "Junior Brother Lu, the food here is good value, and the vendors are honest with everyone. Go buy something yourself!"

As soon as Zhou Lulu finished speaking, she vanished. Lu Yang hadn't even seen how she disappeared.

Lu Yang sighed. It seemed he would have to fend for himself.

"Braised fish bones, freshly made! The perfect choice for sawing wood or chopping people! Everyone who's tried them says they're great!"

"Flatbread! Freshly baked meat-filled flatbread! You can kick it and punch it, and it still won't break!"

"Come take a look! Noodles harder than steel and iron bones! A must-have for tying people up—they'll never escape! Buy now and get a free guide to binding!"

The canteen was like a marketplace in the mortal world. The stall owners all shouted themselves hoarse as they hawked their food. The only difference was that the canteen was much noisier than a marketplace—the stall owners were cultivators, after all, and they had powerful voices.

Lu Yang saw a senior brother holding a braised fish bone in each hand. Its sharp spines were like blades. A light slash could leave a wound so deep it looked as if a ferocious shark had taken a bite.

The senior brother selling the fish bones enthusiastically pitched his wares. "Junior Brother, want a fish bone? This one's from a fish demon in the Azure Pool. It had the strength of a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator when it was alive, so its bones are extremely hard. It took me ages to refine them, and I only managed to make a few. You can use one as a weapon in battle, and eat it when you're hungry."

As he spoke, Lu Yang heard a crisp crack as the man bit off a fish bone.

Lu Yang had no idea how he had trained his teeth.

Lu Yang looked at the handy fish bones, then at the price.

Yeah, he couldn't afford them.

Seeing Lu Yang give him an apologetic smile, the senior brother didn't press him. He continued pitching to other customers.

Lu Yang saw another senior brother reach right into a wok and pull out a fried dough stick, then drain off the oil.

"Junior Brother, want one? I've got ones for Foundation Establishment cultivators and ones for Golden Core cultivators. The Foundation Establishment ones are only one hundred and fifty contribution points."

Price-wise, they really were cheaper than the Mountain-Shaking Hammer on the exchange board. The hammer cost two hundred and seventy contribution points, while a fried dough stick cost only one hundred and fifty—almost half the price.

"But hardness isn't the only advantage of my fried dough sticks. They contain three layers of hidden force. When you land a blow, all three layers erupt together, unleashing astonishing power and catching your enemy off guard."

"And if you're hungry and want to eat one, that's fine too. They have a very long shelf life."

The senior brother selling the fried dough sticks took a bite. The three layers of hidden force exploded in his mouth. Apart from his cheeks puffing out a little, nothing happened.

"Senior Brother, I'm new here, so there are some things I don't understand. Why can these fried dough sticks be used as both weapons and food? Can you really bite through them?"

The senior brother could tell Lu Yang's cultivation level. Since he was a Foundation Establishment Junior Brother, he must have just joined the sect. It was normal for someone new to have questions about this.

"This is one way to train and test the results of your body tempering."

"Body tempering means refining your internal organs and bones on the inside, and your skin and seven apertures on the outside. Only then can you be called a true body cultivator. And teeth are an indispensable part of the process."

"I've heard that some body cultivators only temper their skin, sinews, and bones until they're as hard as they can be. When they charge with brute force, even mountains tremble. You could call them excellent, but people facing these body cultivators, who are impervious to swords and spears, have a hard time. So they came up with a solution."

"What solution?"

"They use spells that change their size, like 'size as one wishes,' to shrink themselves and attack the body cultivators from the inside. Those body cultivators haven't trained their internal organs, so this kind of attack can defeat them with ease."

"Those people don't count as true body cultivators. You could call them backwater body cultivators."

The senior brother's teeth clicked together, making a sound like metal striking metal.

Those who refined artifacts counted as half body cultivators. Their bodies couldn't match the strength of true body tempering cultivators, but they trained both inside and out.

"Ordinary cultivators use magical artifacts as weapons. A body cultivator's body is their strongest weapon. If it's their strongest weapon, eating a fried dough stick shouldn't be difficult."

Lu Yang understood. The canteen's food was highly specialized and served two purposes: one kind was sold as weapons to people like him, who weren't body cultivators, and another was sold as food to body cultivators.

"Meng Jingzhou became Third Elder's disciple, and he's a proper body cultivator. He should be able to bite through one."

Thinking this, Lu Yang bought a fried dough stick and gave it a couple of test swings. It was heavy, with a real heft to it.