Exotic Beast Meat

Everything that happened in the classroom went unnoticed by Chen Lie, who was lost in thought.

It was not until the dismissal bell rang that Wang Hui came over to Chen Lie and patted him on the shoulder.

"Chen Lie, what are you spacing out for? School's over. Want to play a couple rounds at the virtual experience center?"

Chen Lie stood up and shook his head. "No, I'm going home."

"Hey, wait! The report from the blood vitality test we took at the martial arts hall the day before yesterday is out. I'll give it to you."

As he spoke, Wang Hui handed Chen Lie a paper report.

Chen Lie took the report and looked down. A set of figures jumped out at him.

Name: Chen Lie Bone age: 17 Blood vitality: 0.93 cal Strength: 2.89 jun (43.35 kg)

After leaving the school, Chen Lie saw the bone age of seventeen on the report and felt his heart stir. I really came back...

In his previous life, his martial arts talent had not been outstanding. It could only be considered average, and his blood vitality had only broken through 1 three months before the college entrance examination.

Even after his family spent a fortune buying him all kinds of expensive supplements, he had barely managed to enter an ordinary martial arts university within the province. He had only become a first-rank martial artist at the age of twenty-one.

During those few short years of martial arts cultivation, he had consumed several times the resources his younger sister had. He had nearly drained the family's wealth, turning them from a well-off household into one burdened with debt.

"This life will definitely not be like that!"

Chen Lie murmured to himself. The Blue Star where he lived was merely an extremely insignificant planet in a remote star region under the rule of the Central Galactic Empire.

The Central Galactic Empire had founded itself upon martial prowess. The Order Army roamed the stars, the demons and barbarians of all directions submitted, its dynasty endured, and its martial fortune flourished. Its territory was so vast that it encompassed over ten thousand life-bearing planets.

Although Blue Star was a planet under the Central Galactic Empire's rule, the development of its martial arts civilization was not even one ten-thousandth of the empire's. Blue Star was simply too remote. It had only entered the interstellar age within the last century and remained in the initial stages of martial arts civilization.

In his previous life, Chen Lie's martial arts cultivation had reached the realm of a ninth-rank grandmaster. He had been able to roam the stars, and thus had been fortunate enough to witness a colorful corner of the Central Galactic Empire.

In his previous life, he had once served as a steward in the scripture repository of the Tai'a Star Province Martial Cultivation Academy, one of the Central Galactic Empire's ten great star provinces, where he had been responsible for organizing all kinds of martial arts texts.

His mind held martial arts knowledge that surpassed Blue Star's by countless years, as well as the Central Galactic Empire's advanced martial arts civilization. Compared to it, Blue Star's martial arts were practically still in an uncivilized primitive stage.

Anyone who could enter the Tai'a Star Province Martial Cultivation Academy, even an ordinary student, was an unrivaled prodigy selected from the major planets. The academy's top students could rightly be called cosmic-level geniuses.

And Chen Lie, with the memories of his previous life, was qualified to stand at the same starting line as those geniuses.

It was no exaggeration to say that on the path of martial arts, he only needed to make a little effort to leave Blue Star's strongest martial arts geniuses unable to catch even a glimpse of his back.

Following the route from his memories, Chen Lie returned home.

The moment he pushed open the door and entered, the first thing he did was look around at the arrangement of the appliances and furniture.

"It still looks just like it did in my memories."

Chen Lie took two steps forward and saw his younger sister, Chen Xingyao, curled up on the sofa, watching an expert on television analyze martial arts.

"Chen Lie, you're back? Dinner's almost ready. Go wash your hands first."

Chen Lie turned around and saw a young woman in an apron. She was his mother, Feng Yuelan.

It had probably been more than seventy years since he had last seen his mother.

"Okay, I know, Mom."

Chen Lie suppressed the complicated emotions in his heart and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came back out, his younger sister Chen Xingyao was already waiting at the dining table.

Feng Yuelan brought the dishes and rice to the table one by one, untied her apron, and sat down as well.

"Chen Lie, did you get the results of the blood vitality test you took at the martial arts hall last time?" Feng Yuelan asked.

Chen Lie said, "Yes. 0.93 cal."

Upon hearing that, Feng Yuelan immediately said, "Still 0.93? Mom remembers that your blood vitality was already 0.93 cal when you tested at school last month, wasn't it?"

Chen Lie merely nodded and gave a quiet acknowledgment.

At that moment, Chen Xingyao, who had been eating, suddenly put down her bowl and chopsticks. Looking at Chen Lie, she said, "Then aren't you just useless? It's been almost a month, yet your blood vitality hasn't even gone up by 0.01 cal. You're a senior in high school, but your blood vitality is about to be surpassed by me, a freshman.

Mom, I think Chen Lie should just give up martial arts. Studying liberal arts would be fine too."

Feng Yuelan immediately glared at Chen Xingyao and scolded, "Watch your mouth, Yaoyao. Is that any way to speak to your brother?"

Chen Xingyao pursed her lips, unconvinced.

Feng Yuelan looked at Chen Lie with worry in her eyes, though she did not let it show as she said, "It's alright. Your father and I have discussed it. We'll buy some exotic beast meat for you two. Exotic beast meat is very helpful for increasing blood vitality. Although it isn't as effective as blood vitality essence, it won't leave any hidden dangers in the body."

The moment Chen Xingyao heard that, she said, "Exotic beast meat? Isn't it expensive? I heard from my classmates that a pound of exotic beast meat is selling for nearly twenty thousand star yuan now, and it's extremely scarce. Even if you have money, you might not be able to buy it."

"It's not that exaggerated. I'll have your father use his connections. We'll buy ten pounds and have it shipped over first," Feng Yuelan said.

As for exotic beasts, if he did not count the experience from his previous life, Chen Lie had never seen a living one.

About seventy years ago, when Blue Star had first come into contact with interstellar civilization and obtained martial arts knowledge, exotic beasts had appeared alongside it.

The moment the exotic beasts appeared on Blue Star, they destroyed more than a dozen human cities. Several million people died because of them. Later, the military mobilized and swiftly suppressed the exotic beasts.

At first, the people of Blue Star had only regarded exotic beasts as gifts from heaven.

That was because exotic beast flesh was extremely valuable. Ordinary people could increase their blood vitality by eating it, while the flesh of higher-level exotic beasts was greatly beneficial even to martial artists.

However, as time passed, the tides of exotic beasts grew increasingly fierce. Individual exotic beasts even began appearing that could threaten the lives of grandmaster-level martial artists.

It was not until twenty years ago that Blue Star's human leadership finally began taking exotic beasts seriously. They constantly mobilized troops and built defensive lines to resist their invasions.

According to news reports, exotic beasts were constantly surging out of the ground from the Kunlun Ruins in Blue Star's northwest.

As exotic beasts gradually grew stronger and became difficult to hunt, exotic beast flesh had become something with demand but no fixed price on the market. Even through connections, ten pounds of exotic beast meat would cost at least over a hundred thousand star yuan, nearly half the savings of a comfortably well-off family.

"But Brother and I both have blood vitality that is too low. Wouldn't eating exotic beast meat so early be too wasteful?

I heard that only after blood vitality exceeds 3 can someone barely absorb the energy in exotic beast meat," Chen Xingyao said.

Feng Yuelan sighed. How could she not know that giving the children exotic beast meat now would be wasteful? But the college entrance examination was drawing near, and her son's blood vitality still had not reached 1. She could not help feeling anxious.

At that moment, Chen Lie raised his head and said, "Mom, there's no rush to buy exotic beast meat. I want to try a little longer."

"Alright then. Eat first."

Feng Yuelan nodded and agreed with Chen Lie, but she had already made up her mind. If Chen Lie's blood vitality still failed to break through during the next test, then no matter what, she would buy the exotic beast meat.

After dinner, Chen Xingyao lay back down on the sofa in front of the television and continued watching the expert's analysis of martial arts.

"Yaoyao, what's your blood vitality now?"

Chen Lie walked over to the sofa and asked Chen Xingyao.

Without even raising her eyes, Chen Xingyao said, "0.91 cal. What, did hearing me say at dinner that my blood vitality was about to surpass yours upset you? You don't usually care what my blood vitality is."

Chen Lie nodded. Chen Xingyao was only fifteen, yet her blood vitality had already exceeded 0.9. If not one in ten thousand, she could at least be considered one in a thousand.

That was because martial arts cultivation on Blue Star generally began after the age of fourteen. Before fourteen, the bones and tendons in the body had not fully developed, and the body could not endure intense tempering.

Cultivation and tempering could only begin after fourteen, but it could not be too intense from the start. Otherwise, it might damage the body and prevent one from ever becoming a martial artist.

Boys and girls of this age generally had blood vitality below 0.3. Since they could not temper themselves too harshly, the growth of their blood vitality was extremely slow.

"I have a body-tempering technique that will be very helpful in raising your blood vitality. Come on, I'll teach it to you in the training room."

"You?" Chen Xingyao shot Chen Lie a disdainful glance and shook her head. "Forget it. If you have the time, you should hurry up and raise your own blood vitality.

Look how worried you've made Mom. Exotic beast meat isn't something people at our stage can use anyway. Buying it would just be a waste."

Chen Lie shook his head. His blood vitality was too low right now, so in his sister's eyes, his words carried little weight. Naturally, she did not take what he had just said seriously.

His decades of wandering through the stars in his previous life had taught him many things. When the strong spoke softly, their words could still strike like thunder. When the weak shouted themselves hoarse, people would remain deaf to them.