The First Full Meal

At first light, like diluted ink, the dawn squeezed reluctantly through the cobwebs on the broken window lattice and into the dark side room.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

He did not get up at once. Instead, he carefully sensed the changes within his body. A night of regulating his breathing, combined with last night's "special" dinner, had produced remarkable results.

The "Crimson Sun" within him still revolved slowly at the center of his qi sea, its light steady, its warmth driving away the morning chill. In his meridians, threads of faint but undeniably real Crimson Sun Qi and Blood flowed slowly like streams, nourishing parched earth. The bone-deep cold that had tormented him for ten years had all but vanished, leaving only the weakness of someone recovering from a serious illness. But new strength was already filling that weakness rapidly.

He clenched his fist. His knuckles cracked more sharply than they had last night, and beneath the once-loose skin of his arm, he could just make out the contours of firm muscles. He was still hungry, but it was no longer the burning emptiness that seemed to hollow out his organs. Instead, it had become a distinct, directed need—his body, his "Crimson Sun," craved more energy, and better-quality energy.

His gaze swept over the slop bucket in the corner, now more than half empty. He had wrung every last bit of "essence" from it the night before. What remained was genuine filth, from which even the "Crimson Sun" could barely extract anything useful.

He had to find a new source of food, and a better one.

He patted himself down. All he had were three worn, gleaming copper coins—his entire fortune. They weren't enough to buy even half a meat bun at a restaurant, let alone the Fierce Beast meat rich in blood qi.

But sitting around waiting to die had never been his choice.

He listened carefully to the sounds outside. The two guards watching him seemed to be changing shifts. They exchanged a few quiet words, then one set of footsteps gradually faded away, probably to have breakfast, leaving only one person pacing outside.

His chance had come.

Li Yuan took a deep breath, loosened his limbs, and went to the door. He did not try to break it down; that would have been suicide. What he needed was to create a brief opening.

He raised his hand and rapped lightly on the door with his knuckles.

The pacing outside stopped. An impatient voice called out, "What is it? Stay put!"

"Brother," Li Yuan said, making his voice sound as weak as possible and adding a slight cough. "I... I have a terrible stomachache. I'm afraid I caught a chill last night. Could you... do me a favor and let me use the latrine?"

There was a brief silence outside as the guard weighed it over. The Third Elder's order had been to "keep a close watch on him and not let him leave," but it hadn't said he couldn't use the toilet. Besides, the kid had been motionless ever since he came down from the Altar last night, looking half-dead. He probably couldn't pull off anything clever.

"What a hassle!" the guard grumbled. "Hurry up! Don't try anything funny!"

The lock clicked open. Head lowered and one hand pressed to his stomach, Li Yuan shuffled outside. The guard was a swarthy, burly man who eyed him warily. Seeing his still-pale complexion—Li Yuan had deliberately suppressed his qi and blood—and frail frame, the guard decided he didn't look like a threat and waved him on.

"The latrine's in that corner. Go on your own! You've got one incense stick. If you're not back by then, I'll come get you!"

"Thanks, brother." Li Yuan murmured his gratitude, clutching his stomach as he hurried in the direction the guard had pointed.

The moment he left the guard's sight, he straightened up. The weakness vanished from his eyes, replaced by sharp clarity. He did not head for the latrine. Like a ghost, he used the shadows of the courtyard's rockeries and trees to slip swiftly toward a secluded side gate of the Li Family compound, guided by his memory.

Li Yuan knew the Li Family compound like the back of his hand, especially the obscure paths used by servants and retainers. Before long, he had made his way near the side gate without incident. There were usually guards posted there, but it was early morning, when the guards were changing shifts and eating. They were somewhat lax; one was leaning against the gate, yawning.

Li Yuan held his breath and waited. When the guard turned to speak with someone else, he slipped out as silently as a wildcat and merged into the street, just beginning to stir.

The morning air in Black Mountain City still carried the chill of the night and the fragrance of breakfast. Shops were opening along both sides of the street, and vendors' cries rose and fell one after another.

Li Yuan had a clear destination. He didn't even glance at the enticing bun shops and noodle stalls; he couldn't afford them. Following his memory, he turned into an even narrower, damper alley, its ground slick with wastewater.

This was an area where low-level martial artists and commoners of Black Mountain City lived side by side. The air reeked of sweat and livestock, with a faint, hard-to-detect tang of blood.

His eyes searched the stalls on both sides of the alley, finally settling on an inconspicuous one beneath a tattered awning. The vendor was a burly man with a face full of coarse features, wearing a greasy leather apron. He was busy at a huge iron pot, where murky, dark-red broth churned around irregular chunks of bone-in meat, giving off a strong, slightly rank odor.

Soup made from scraps of Fierce Beast meat... Li Yuan's heart stirred. Stalls like this sold the scraps hunters left behind after butchering Fierce Beasts: sinew, bones, organs, and trimmings. They were dirt cheap, usually bought only by desperate laborers or the lowest-ranking martial artists. Though the blood qi in them was weak and impure, they were still far more potent than ordinary livestock.

He walked up to the stall and set his three warm copper coins on the grease-stained counter.

"One bowl of soup, with extra meat." His voice was calm.

The vendor glanced at him. Seeing a sallow, skinny boy, he said nothing, grabbed a chipped pottery bowl, and ladled out a generous scoop of the dark-red broth from the bottom of the pot, where bits of meat and bone had settled. Then he handed it to him.

Li Yuan took the bowl. His fingers touched its sides, and he could feel a restless warmth within, far stronger than that of ordinary meat soup. He didn't drink right away. Holding the bowl, he hurried deeper into the alley, to an empty corner, and leaned against the cold wall to make sure no one was watching.

He looked down into the bowl. The broth was murky, dotted with white beads of oil and tiny scraps of meat. Several dark chunks of meat, threaded with cartilage and sinew, lay at the bottom. It looked terrible.

But he could feel a clear yearning stirring in the "Crimson Sun" within him.

Without another moment's hesitation, he lifted the bowl and, not even bothering to wait for it to cool, gulped straight from the rim.

The broth was scalding, with a heavy, fishy saltiness and an indescribable wildness that belonged to Fierce Beasts. Its texture was coarse, and the scraps of meat and cartilage took effort to chew.

But as the food reached his stomach—

"Thrum!"

The "Crimson Sun" seemed to have been injected with a shot of adrenaline. It began spinning faster in an instant! A surge of warmth, far more powerful and searing than when it had devoured the slop scraps the night before, erupted from his stomach!

The power of "Smelting" surged into action, efficiently stripping away and refining the "Blood Qi Essence" within the Fierce Beast scraps—impure, but undeniably real!

Pure streams of Crimson Sun Qi and Blood formed, trickling together like rivulets joining a river before rushing rapidly through his body. His parched cells greedily drank in the rare nourishment. His muscle fibers trembled faintly, and an itchy, tingling sensation rose from deep within his bones.

After downing a bowl of hot soup, beads of sweat even appeared on his forehead.

Not because of the soup's temperature, but because of the surging, roiling heat within him!

He set down the empty bowl and licked his lips, savoring the long-lost warmth and fullness spreading from his stomach throughout his body.

He was full.

Not with the bloated sensation of being stuffed with rough food, but with the genuine, solid satisfaction that came from having energy brimming within him and his qi and blood replenished!

He could clearly feel his strength growing once more, his weakness mostly driven away. Even his vision seemed brighter.

This was what food was supposed to feel like!

This was the "fuel" the "Crimson Sun" was meant to enjoy!

Li Yuan looked down at his empty hands and the empty bowl he'd bought with his three copper coins. A yearning unlike any he'd felt before began to grow wildly in his heart.

He wanted more.

He wanted better.

He wanted to make that "Crimson Sun" burn even more fiercely!