Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating

"Senior Brother!..."

Xiang Sui had been enjoying the two men's shocked gazes when a cloying voice suddenly sounded by his ear, startling his arm into trembling. Turning his head, he saw Liang Kuan rubbing his hands together with a fawning expression.

"Don't be so disgusting."

Xiang Sui shot Liang Kuan a speechless glare and tossed him a book that had clearly been freshly copied. Then he turned to Zhu Yu, whose expression was complicated, waved a hand, and smiled. "Junior Brother, don't take it to heart. This Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating is an incomplete technique."

"The useful information left behind can only cultivate a stomach wall capable of filtering trace toxins. Its effect is not even as good as a single detoxification spirit pill, so it has little practical value."

That was what he said.

But a technique was still a technique. Even an incomplete one had to be measured in Spirit Stones.

Just look at Liang Kuan beside them. He seemed to have obtained some great treasure, grinning foolishly without pause.

"Zhu Yu thanks Senior Brother."

What else could Zhu Yu say? He gave a deep bow and silently committed this favor to heart, intending to repay it someday when he had the means.

"Thank you, Senior Brother, thank you, Senior Brother."

Liang Kuan finally came to his senses. His large belly jutted forward as he repeatedly bent to offer thanks, but his waist simply would not go down. His head bobbed again and again, making for a comical sight.

"All right, all right."

Xiang Sui waved a hand as though it meant nothing, but the corners of his mouth had long since refused to stay down. He hurriedly turned around and said as he walked, "I still have some medicinal ingredients left over from strengthening the stomach wall before. I'll have a servant deliver them to you later."

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Delight appeared on Zhu Yu's face. He scooped up the Spirit Stones from the table, caught up to him, and said, "But Junior Brother should pay for the materials."

"Yes, yes," Liang Kuan echoed from the side.

"I said there was no need."

He had already given away the technique, so how could Xiang Sui care about the cost of one or two Spirit Stones' worth of materials? Since he was giving a favor, he might as well see it through to the end. He waved his hand and strode away beneath the two men's gazes.

Liang Kuan did not stay long either. After answering several of Zhu Yu's questions, he hurried excitedly back toward his residence.

"No wonder they aren't anxious at all..."

Watching his back slowly vanish around the road ahead, Zhu Yu shook his head slightly.

From Liang Kuan's answers, he learned that—

Unlike those born in the Spirit Desert, who had a one-year deadline to reach Qi Refining, those born in the Spirit Ruins had no such time limit. However, they needed at least fourth-grade soul aptitude, and entering the sect required paying a hefty sum of Spirit Stones.

Liang Kuan did not know the exact number. He only knew that, to support his entry into the sect, his grandfather—a Spirit Planter—had sold two mu of first-grade Spirit Fields left behind by their ancestors.

"Tsk..."

Everything feared comparison. Compared to someone like Liang Kuan, whose aptitude was better than his yet who still had to sell ancestral property to enter the sect, Zhu Yu suddenly felt that the one-year deadline did not seem so terrible.

Returning to the stone house.

Zhu Yu impatiently picked up the book on the table. This was the first technique he had ever encountered. Looking at the four words Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating written upon it, he took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and gently opened the title page.

"In ancient times, there was a beast. It resembled a bear, with a small head, one eye, and crimson scales. It fed upon gold and iron..."

The opening described a great demon known as the Iron-Eating Beast. Below it was an illustration, depicting a one-eyed bear-like beast covered in scarlet scales.

The book did not mention much else, focusing instead on the Iron-Eating Beast's stomach, which melted gold and dissolved iron.

Time slowly passed.

Who knew how long later.

"Huu..."

Zhu Yu withdrew his gaze and let out a light breath, his brows filled with the joy of learning secrets of cultivation.

According to the book's records, the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique belonged to the path of Flesh Mutation and was of first-grade low quality. Once successfully cultivated, one's stomach could rival that of an Iron-Eating Beast, bringing countless benefits.

First, its gold-melting, iron-dissolving gastric fluid not only refined medicinal pills more thoroughly, but could also digest part of their pill toxins. It could even nourish the body by consuming certain spiritual objects or minerals.

Second was a Secondary Stomach capable of holding foreign objects. Iron-Eating Beasts were born with two stomachs: one for digesting food, the other for storing it.

Unfortunately, whether it was constructing a stomach that melted gold and dissolved iron or constructing a Secondary Stomach that stored foreign objects, both were riddled with incompleteness. Only the method for laying a foundation and making the stomach wall tougher remained relatively intact.

"Using a human body to cultivate a demon's physique... this technique is truly strange enough..."

Zhu Yu sighed inwardly. He had no particular psychological resistance to it. To mortals, Qi Refining cultivators were already no different from demons and monsters, so cultivating a demon's physique was no great matter.

After sorting through his thoughts a little, he silently recited:

"Record the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique and analyze useful information."

[Target: Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating, recorded...]

[Grade: First-grade low quality. Category: Flesh Mutation]

[Gold-Melting Iron-Dissolving Stomach Meridian Record missing "56%", spiritual object information for constructing the technique missing "63%", estimated analysis time "∝"]

[Storage Auxiliary Stomach Meridian Record missing "28%", spiritual object information for constructing the technique missing "12%", estimated analysis time "∝"]

[Stomach Wall Enhancement Formula: Complete and optimizable, estimated analysis time "half an hour"]

Upon learning that the Stomach Wall Enhancement Formula could be optimized, delight appeared on Zhu Yu's face. He silently instructed the True Sight Eye to analyze it, then turned his thoughts toward the Dharma Vein Diagram of the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique, his gaze contemplative.

It could not be analyzed because his mind contained too little information about cultivation. At present, there was only one place where he could acquire such information: the Sutra Lecture Hall.

Previously, he had been unable to enter because he lacked Spirit Stones.

Now that he had Spirit Stones, the Sutra Lecture Hall was no less than an open, unknown treasure vault to him. Perhaps it could even allow him to deduce and analyze the Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating technique.

And even if it could not be analyzed, the information he obtained would still be unquestionably real.

"Go. Go now!"

With that thought, Zhu Yu could no longer sit still. Once the servants delivered the materials Xiang Sui had given him, he carefully put on his black robe, shut the door, and headed straight for the stone tower.

At this time.

Two crescent moons hung from the dome of the sky, while firefly-like lights swayed along the roadside and pedestrians came and went frequently.

Zhu Yu avoided cultivators who had clearly achieved success in Qi Refining all the way there. Before long, a gray-white stone tower appeared in his sight.

At the same time, a burst of clamor reached his ears.

"Nine Nether Dragon hatchlings! One Spirit Stone each!"

"Talismans for protection, fine talismans for protection! Stick one on yourself and never worry about Qi Refining aura interference again! Three for one Spirit Stone, selling cheap!"

"Mind-Focusing Grass, able to help one delve deeper into meditation..."

"Thirty years spent studying the Basic Visualization Method—guaranteed to teach you until you learn..."

"A body-refining technique passed down in my family! The more you cultivate, the stronger you get! Uprooting mountains and lifting peaks need not remain a dream!"

"..."

The square was loud and bustling, voices surging like a boiling cauldron. Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought they had arrived at a mortal market.

Zhu Yu swept his gaze over the scene, especially over those stalls with cloth signs held high. The stalls were still the same stalls, but the cultivators sitting behind them had changed.

Without overthinking it, he walked toward the stone tower. Once he came within nearly a hundred meters, information about today's lectures flooded into his mind.

Zhu Yu examined them carefully and decided to first try three basic courses.

"Detailed Explanation of the Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian"

"Detailed Explanation of Technique Construction and Spiritual Objects"

"Detailed Explanation of Technique Categories"