Wolfing It Down

A petite maid hurried through the heavy snow, carrying a large wooden tub full of laundry. Suddenly, she looked toward the distance in confusion. Someone seemed to be kneeling there, and there didn't appear to be any snow around him.

"What's going on?" The little maid headed over, puzzled.

"It's the master!" As she drew closer, she recognized him at once. The man kneeling there was none other than the lord of Snow Eagle Territory. His bare back was faintly red and radiated scorching heat, while mist rose all around him. Not a speck of snow remained within ten meters; it had all melted away. Powerful knights and mages would have been astonished by the sight.

But the little maid was just an ordinary person. How could she understand what it meant for the heat radiating from someone's body to melt all the snow within ten meters?

"Why has all the snow around him melted? Could this be Battle Qi?" the little maid wondered. Unable to hold back, she called out, "Master, master, are you all right?"

She was a little timid.

Dongbo Xueying used to practice spear techniques until he was drenched in sweat and steaming with heat, sometimes collapsing to the ground, completely exhausted. So the little maid thought her master had once again become so absorbed in his spear practice that he had pushed himself too far.

"I'm fine." Dongbo Xueying's voice was hoarse as he slowly stood up.

"I'm perfectly fine."

Dongbo Xueying glanced at the little maid. "Better than fine!"

The little maid didn't dare say a word.

"Give my order to the kitchen. I want an entire magical beast roasted and brought here," Dongbo Xueying instructed.

"An entire one?" The little maid's eyes widened.

Ordinary horses weighed seven or eight hundred pounds, sometimes over a thousand. A Frost-Flying Magic Beast Colt weighed as much as two thousand pounds. Magical beasts were even bulkier, generally weighing several thousand pounds or even tens of thousands! At the castle, Dongbo Xueying ate magical beast meat as his main food every day, since it contained more energy. The knights in the castle ate it, too.

That was why the castle kitchen kept one or two magical beasts in cold storage. But they were meant to feed the entire castle, and were supposed to last for quite a few days.

"Yes, an entire one. Last time I checked, there was a third-tier magical beast and a second-tier one. Have the third-tier one roasted and bring it here," Dongbo Xueying ordered.

"Yes." The little maid obediently went to deliver the message.

Dongbo Xueying watched as the little maid hurried off with the large wooden tub, then smiled and went to pick up his clothes. He put them on, looking like the same heroic young man as before... But no one but him knew just how terrifying his body had become!

"Let's see how high I can jump." Dongbo Xueying looked at the main building of the castle where he lived. The castle was imposing, and the second-floor railing stood seven or eight meters above the ground. Before, he could only just manage to grab it with a running leap and pull himself over.

Whoosh!

He pushed off with both feet. In a flash, he shot into the sky, soaring so high he rose above the entire castle before finally coming back down. Dongbo Xueying himself was startled. With the heavy snow falling, no one had noticed the brief spectacle.

"I can jump that high? The main castle building is over twenty meters tall. I remember the walls of Yi Water City are quite high, but only eighteen meters. Can I clear them with a casual leap now?" Dongbo Xueying was astonished. From the height of his jump, he was beginning to get a vague idea of his own strength.

Dongbo Xueying quickly came down from the roof and went to wait in the dining room for the roasted meat.

Because—

He was truly, unbearably hungry! He had never been this hungry in his entire life. Though Dongbo Xueying was thrilled by how much stronger he had become, the reason he had immediately ordered roasted meat was that the hunger was driving him nearly mad.

"Crunch, gulp..." Dongbo Xueying picked up some pastries and other snacks from the fruit plate on the dining table and swallowed them in just a couple of bites. His evolved stomach digested and absorbed them in an instant, but the energy they provided was pitifully small.

"Master, master." A burly, bearded servant hurried into the dining room, his voice deep and rough. "You want an entire roasted magical beast? The third-tier one?"

"Yes!" Dongbo Xueying glanced at him. "As quickly as possible! Bring it as soon as it's done."

"Understood, understood." The bearded servant jumped in fright and hurried off to get it done.

Normally, if the lord sent someone to deliver an order, a cook like him wouldn't dare ask a single question. But this order was bizarre! A whole third-tier magical beast meant a full twelve thousand pounds of meat, and it was worth a fortune. What's more, the person who had delivered the message wasn't the lord's personal servant, but a little maid who did the laundry. That was why the cook had come to ask.

If the maid had been lying, she would certainly be in trouble, but the cook would likely be severely punished, too, for wasting a third-tier magical beast.

"The lord wants an entire magical beast roasted? What a waste," the bearded cook thought to himself. But he didn't dare ask questions. Who was he to challenge the lord's orders? All he had to do was follow them!

Dongbo Xueying waited, forcing himself to endure the hunger that made his whole body tremble.

At last, he smelled roasted meat.

Whoosh.

Dongbo Xueying darted out of the dining room and stood by the railing, looking down. A carriage was slowly making its way below, with a group of male servants walking alongside it. Inside the carriage was the magical beast, fully roasted and split into two pieces. Twelve thousand pounds was its pure weight after its organs had been removed and its blood drained. The ordinary servants couldn't move it on their own. It had taken them a great deal of effort to roast the meat, and transporting it had been a hassle, too.

"We have to get it to the master's dining room. It'll take some effort, so let's work together and haul it up." The male servants were discussing how to get the food, weighing over ten thousand pounds, to the second floor.

Thump!

The ground suddenly shook. A young man in black was standing in front of the carriage.

"Master." The burly male servants froze for a moment, then greeted him respectfully.

"Good. Leave the meat to me. You can get back to work." As he spoke, Dongbo Xueying lifted the enormous serving platter from the carriage. It held the roasted magical beast, split into two pieces.

Holding a platter far larger than his own body, Dongbo Xueying quickly headed for the dining room.

The male servants stood there, stunned.

Good heavens!

He was just carrying it away like that?

That was twelve thousand pounds of magical beast meat! Even if some of the fat had dripped off during roasting, it still had to weigh over ten thousand pounds. A whole group of burly servants would have struggled to drag it up to the second floor. And he had just picked it up and carried it off? How strong was he?

"Don't gossip about this outside," Dongbo Xueying glanced down and reminded them.

"Yes." The servants all obeyed.

But Dongbo Xueying knew that word would probably get out that he had ordered an entire magical beast for himself. That didn't matter. It was perfectly normal for powerful families and nobles to do extravagant things. The more lavish and extravagant they were, the more some nobles felt it showed how powerful their families were.

Who could afford such extravagance without the strength to back it up?

As for carrying over ten thousand pounds of magical beast meat, that was nothing. Sooner or later, he would have to show his strength.

"The master can carry over ten thousand pounds of magical beast meat. He must be a Heaven-Rank Knight, right?"

"Probably. A Heaven-Rank Knight at fifteen, and he won't turn sixteen until after the New Year. That's incredible."

"Hmph, you only see how powerful the master is now. You don't know how fiercely he trains every day. The servants at the training grounds say it's frightening just to watch him!"

The servants whispered among themselves.

"Clang!" The enormous serving platter hit the dining table, making it tremble.

Bang! Dongbo Xueying immediately shut the dining-room doors.

The servants all thought their master was just being extravagant, wasting food.

But in truth...

Dongbo Xueying really wanted to eat!

"Here we go." Dongbo Xueying picked up the carving knife beside him and swiftly cut off a piece of meat still attached to a bone, weighing over ten pounds. He ate in huge bites. Crunch, crunch. Before long, he had chewed up even the bones and swallowed them. His body rejoiced, greedily digesting and absorbing the food. As soon as it reached his stomach, it had already been completely digested.

His desperately hungry body continued to digest and absorb the food, drawing in energy.

Eat, eat, eat!

Dongbo Xueying devoured the meat at incredible speed. The golden, glistening roasted magical beast visibly shrank as its meat disappeared. He ate even the small bones, leaving only a few of the thickest ones behind.

"Xue Ying, Xue Ying, why are you being so wasteful?" Lion-Man Tong San's deep voice rang out, carrying a trace of anger. Only Tong San and Zong Ling dared to scold Dongbo Xueying in the whole castle.

Whoosh—

Lion-Man Tong San angrily pushed open the dining-room door, but then froze in astonishment. The enormous platter held nothing but the huge magical beast's skeleton. All the smaller bones were gone, leaving only the main frame. Every last bit of meat had vanished.

Dongbo Xueying had already wiped his mouth clean and was sitting nearby with a smile. "Uncle Tong, I haven't wasted anything."