The Blood Rice paddy was a square field, about fifty meters long on each side. It looked quite large, but its yield wasn't actually very high. Once they gathered up the rice ears, there wasn't much to show for it.
After all, this wasn't some hybrid rice. A single Blood Rice stalk might have only a few dozen grains.
On top of that, their school uniforms were loose tracksuits. The boys used all four jackets to bundle up the rice, then stuffed their pockets full of it, and soon had stripped the entire field of every last rice ear.
Not a bit went to waste.
"Come on, let's go eat!"
Ji Ruo said cheerfully.
He'd realized that the [Absolute Sense of Direction] trait he'd obtained earlier was a divine skill!
Finding this Blood Rice paddy might not have been a coincidence. Perhaps Ji Ruo's intense desire for food had imperceptibly corrected their direction of travel through [Absolute Sense of Direction].
After all, Ji Ruo had been leading the way the whole time, so they could pretty much rule out luck on anyone else's part. And Ji Ruo's luck, to be honest, was terrible. In both his past and present lives, he'd hardly ever won even a "Buy One, Get One Free" prize.
A short while later, the group reached a small hill about eight hundred meters away. The terrain here was open, with little vegetation, but there was a depression at the summit, and a section of rock jutted out from one side of the cliff to provide cover.
At the center of the depression was a tiny spring. It was practically a natural campsite.
Liang Shixian sighed. "I won't say anything else, but I'm impressed by your ability to lead the way, Ji Ruo."
Ji Ruo grinned. "I'm a Gold Medal Tour Guide. This is nothing!"
Liang Shixian chuckled. "I said you were fat, and now you're out of breath?"
The group crouched beside the spring, rinsing the Blood Rice and removing the husks as best they could.
They had no tools, so they rubbed the grains between their hands. Fortunately, Blood Rice grains were larger than ordinary rice, so although it was a bit of a hassle, it was manageable.
Besides, Blood Rice greatly benefited Martial Dao cultivation, so everyone was delighted.
Night fell. They rubbed the rice from dusk until late at night, hungry enough to see stars, before they finally had enough for a meal. Their fingers were stained blood-red, and the color wouldn't wash off anytime soon.
Then they ran into a new problem.
"So... how do we cook it? Do we just eat it raw?" Liu Neng asked awkwardly.
Liang Shixian was stumped too.
They didn't have a pot!
And they were on top of a hill, where it wasn't suitable to start a fire.
In the usual sense, you had to light a campfire when staying outdoors. It was an effective way to keep wild beasts away.
But the Secret Realm was different. It was full of all kinds of Monster Beasts and Demonic Beasts, and many of them weren't actually afraid of fire. Lighting one at night might scare some away, but it could also attract danger.
Ji Ruo thought for a moment, gathered the prepared Blood Rice in front of himself, and plunged in his hands. The rice barely covered his palms.
"Don't worry. I've got a way."
"What way?"
"I can fry rice," Ji Ruo said mysteriously.
"???"
No pot, no fire—what was he going to fry it in?
Then they watched as Ji Ruo shoved both hands into the prepared Blood Rice and began stir-frying it.
Everyone: "???"
When Liang Shixian and the others saw red light rising from Ji Ruo's palms, they were dumbfounded.
Was this how Iron Sand Palm was used?!
"You young people have been pampered too much. You can't even fry rice when you're out in the wild? That won't do." As Ji Ruo spoke, he rapidly stirred the Blood Rice in front of him with his palms.
At first glance, Ji Ruo seemed to be using Iron Sand Palm to force the rice to fry. In reality, he was practicing Iron Sand Palm.
Perhaps it was because Blood Rice was higher quality than ordinary rice, but Ji Ruo was delighted to discover that every time he stirred it, he gained a point of proficiency.
That was much faster than gaining a point for every ten stirs!
So Liang Shixian and the others watched as Ji Ruo's palms grew a deeper shade of red with every stir, and the temperature around them gradually rose.
They were baffled. Using Iron Sand Palm to fry rice was one thing, but why did it look like he was controlling the heat too?
Could it be that he really planned to fry the Blood Rice until it was cooked with Iron Sand Palm?
What they didn't know was that Ji Ruo wasn't controlling the heat. He really was making progress.
His Iron Sand Palm had originally been at the Entering the Hall level. With all that rapid stirring, he gained a huge amount of proficiency and had already broken through to Mastery.
Ji Ruo also realized that the Iron Sand Palm he trained with through the system seemed a little different from the conventional version. His Iron Sand Palm seemed to come with a built-in ability to turn uncooked rice into cooked rice.
As the others watched in bewilderment, a faintly sweet, fishy fragrance drifted into their nostrils. The Blood Rice, which had been somewhat hard, gradually softened. Each grain became plumper and glossier.
How had it actually cooked?!
Could Iron Sand Palm really be used like this?
"Once the Martial Exam's over, I'm learning Iron Sand Palm too," Zhang Quan muttered.
Liu Neng nodded emphatically. "I want to learn it too."
Liang Shixian held the cooked Blood Rice Ji Ruo had made and sank into deep thought.
Something felt off. Whether in the textbook, the teacher's lessons, or online descriptions of Iron Sand Palm, he'd never heard that it could be used to fry rice.
"Ji Ruo, this..."
"Don't ask. It's called innovation," Ji Ruo said with a grin.
He knew what Liang Shixian wanted to ask. They were both top students, after all; they understood each other without words.
"Fine."
Liang Shixian sighed. He was puzzled, but it wasn't right to pry into someone else's secrets.
"Eat while it's hot. It won't taste as good once it cools."
As Ji Ruo spoke, he didn't bother with manners. He grabbed a handful of Blood Rice and shoved it straight into his mouth.
The other three followed his example, not caring about appearances or the dust clinging to the rice.
They were starving, for one thing. And although they were only high school students, they were Martial Artist Reserves, after all, and could handle a bit of hardship.
People who trained in martial arts weren't fussy.
"Burp! That hit the spot!"
After the group finished off all the Blood Rice, Ji Ruo rubbed his stomach and leaned against the cliff wall, feeling a warm current surge through his stomach and slowly spread to his limbs.
Although they hadn't eaten meat, his qi and blood were already brimming, even more vigorous than usual. Ji Ruo looked thoroughly content.
After resting for a while, Ji Ruo got up and began to practice martial arts.
He went through Basic Movement Technique, Basic Fist Technique, and Basic Leg Technique in turn.
These basic martial techniques taught in high school didn't have any special effects, but they helped loosen the muscles and joints, strengthen the bones, and aid digestion.
As he practiced, the Blood Rice in Ji Ruo's stomach was digested. The warm current turned into a hot one, and wisps of mist rose above his head.
The "Martial Apprentice Rank Experience Potion" lived up to its name. After just one meal, Ji Ruo could feel his level-six Martial Apprentice strength slowly increasing.
And the Blood Rice they had left would last them another day or two.
The only problem was that the hollow wasn't very large, so Ji Ruo didn't have much room to practice.
Night deepened.
After loosening their muscles and bones, the group arranged their watch shifts and prepared to rest.
But just then—
"Damn it! Who did this?!"
A piercing scream suddenly rang out in the distance, startling them. Ji Ruo looked toward the source of the noise. It seemed to be coming from the Blood Rice paddy.
They were eight hundred meters away, and they could still hear that? How loud did he have to be? Was his throat imported or something?
"Where's my Blood Rice?! My whole field of Blood Rice! Waaaaah!"
The owner of the shrill voice couldn't take the blow and began to wail loudly.
Ji Ruo even wondered if the guy had mastered some kind of sound-wave martial technique. His voice had struck them from eight hundred meters away—truly formidable.
Ji Ruo said cheerfully, "See? I told you we were right to leave the stalks behind. When they find out, they'll be so moved they'll cry."
Everyone: "???"
Was that what being moved sounded like?!
Liang Shixian suppressed his urge to complain and ushered the others beneath the section of rock jutting out from the cliff. They hid in its shadow, concealing themselves.
The widespread wails startled a whole flock of birds from the woods. People who disturbed everyone's sleep were unwelcome anywhere. Some short-tempered Monster Beasts and Demonic Beasts were instantly enraged, howling as they converged on the source of the cries.
Seeing so many Monster Beasts and Demonic Beasts coming, the Goblin who'd been screaming didn't know what had gotten into him. He roared through his tears, "So it was you, wasn't it?! It had to be you! You must've stolen the Blood Rice our tribe worked so hard to grow!
"Everyone, grab your weapons! Let's kill them!"
The screams grew more complicated after that. The group couldn't make out what was happening from so far away, but they doubted things were going smoothly.
The loud-mouthed Goblin wailed, "Damn it! Our tribe scrimped and saved! We hunted all that prey and couldn't even bear to eat it—we used it all to grow Blood Rice! And you stole every last grain!
"You've cut off our tribe's path to advancement. If we're going to suffer, then so are you! I'll take you all down with me today!"
Ji Ruo's expression turned strange.
"Could that loudmouth be the Goblin Chieftain? I've got a feeling that if we go back there tomorrow, all of us will be able to get into a top-tier university."
The three of them: "..."
Hadn't the teacher said the Martial Exam was dangerous?!
Seeing their expressions, Ji Ruo looked displeased. "What's with those looks? You heard how fiercely they're fighting over there. There'll definitely be plenty of casualties tonight. Those are Martial Exam points! And they're up for grabs! It'd be such a waste to just leave them there!"
The three of them: "..."
Sure, they were Demonic Beasts and Monster Beasts, but they'd taken the Blood Rice they'd worked so hard to grow, and now they wanted to use their corpses to rack up exam points too. Wasn't that a bit shameless?
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