Scavenger Gourd

After forging the artifact!

Yin Ming had completely been reduced to an ordinary man without cultivation.

At once, he bit his finger, squeezed out a drop of blood, and let it fall onto the shabby yellow-skinned gourd.

The drop of blood met no resistance as it seeped into the gourd and lit up countless cryptic inscriptions.

Once the gourd bore his imprint, the initial refinement of the spiritual treasure was complete.

"This is... an Innate Spiritual Treasure!"

The instant it was refined, information about the yellow-skinned gourd flooded his mind. Yin Ming knew he had gambled correctly!

This was an Innate Spiritual Treasure with one complete Divine Restriction.

Its name was: Scavenger Gourd.

Using this treasure to attain an immortal dao divine position, he should become either the Beggar God or the Vagrant God.

It sounded somewhat similar to the Broom Star, which represented misfortune.

But there was one most fundamental difference between them.

The gods who could wield divine artifacts through the Investiture of the Gods had all entered the list with a wisp of remnant soul.

Rather than Orthodox Gods, they were more like artifact spirits of Innate Spiritual Treasures.

But Yin Ming was a genuine immortal. Above, he was not subject to that old Jade Emperor; below, he was not subject to mortal emperors. By the standards of the immortal dao system, his status was equivalent to that of a Primordial Innate Demon God.

"Crack..."

A crisp, ringing whip crack sounded!

Jeroen Hoven always appeared even earlier than the sun.

With his long face darkened, he barked, "You have five minutes to eat. Today, you will turn over all the land on the southeastern side of the manor. Young Master Hank wants to grow the largest and most beautiful flower garden in Green Forest as a gift for his grandmother's seventieth birthday."

When he was in a good mood, even that old dog Hoven looked kind and pleasant.

As a qualified serf, he had long grown used to nobles saying one sentence while serfs worked themselves to death.

No matter how much he cursed inwardly, his face had to show complete willingness, as though he gladly accepted it without the slightest trace of resistance.

"Breakfast!"

Breakfast was still black bread, water, and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

However, just as he picked up the black bread and prepared to eat it,

Yin Ming suddenly thought of the Scavenger Gourd and tucked the entire piece of black bread into his clothes.

"Eno, black bread may taste awful, but you can't work without eating. Jettansen from the room next door was twice as strong as me. The day before yesterday, he collapsed because he skipped breakfast and never got back up."

Yin Ming had generously shared half a piece of white bread last night.

Randy now considered Yin Ming one of his own. Afraid Yin Ming had gotten spoiled by white bread, he leaned over and quietly tried to persuade him.

Old dog Hoven might be fierce, but at most, one or two newly arrived serfs died beneath his whip as examples to scare the rest.

Old serfs like Yin Ming, Randy, and Jack were rarely whipped by him anymore.

The serfs in Count Golden Lion's territory were replaced so quickly because they did exhausting work while receiving severely insufficient nutrition, causing them to usually die before reaching thirty.

And picky serfs did not even live past a year!

"I ate white bread last night, so I'm not very hungry yet. I'll save it for when I get tired from working."

Yin Ming made an excuse. After all the serfs finished their black bread, he followed the crowd, carrying a hoe toward the southern side of Tulip Manor.

The land here was dry and barren. If grain were planted here, the harvest would not even exceed the seeds.

It was indeed more suitable for flowers. Turning over stony ground took effort, but it only cost a few serfs, so the expense was not considered high.

"Store!"

The serfs worked separately.

That way, everyone's workload could be clearly seen.

Taking advantage of the absence of anyone nearby, Yin Ming stored the black bread from his clothes inside the Scavenger Gourd.

[Name: Charred Black Bread.]

[Ingredients: Rye flour: 64%, bran: 32%, grit: 2.5%, grass scraps: 1%, trace elements: 0.5%.]

[Note: Baked over charcoal. Contains the essential components required by the human body on a daily basis. Long-term consumption will harm health.]

[Extractable: Food Essence: 2, toxins: 0.01.]

All information about the black bread appeared before his eyes with incomparable clarity.

Like the most advanced virtual projection, it formed a 3D image of the black bread, with countless index labels marking even its molecular structure.

This was the Scavenger Gourd's ability. It could analyze any item stored inside it, thereby maximizing its utilization.

It was precisely because of this "waste recycling" ability that Yin Ming had named it the Scavenger Gourd.

Compared to the Innate Spiritual Treasures in myths and legends that could destroy heaven and earth at a whim, the Scavenger Gourd possessed no combat power whatsoever. It was merely an exceptional support-type spiritual treasure.

Even if someone offered him the Jade Disk of Creation, Yin Ming would not trade it. A spiritual treasure that suited him was the best spiritual treasure.

"Extract!"

Yin Ming chose to extract the Food Essence.

The black bread began to melt, spilling two streams of white light that turned into two pills.

All that remained on the ground was a pile of residue and a tiny amount of black poisonous substance.

The Scavenger Gourd had a mustard-seed storage function, but once it contained items, the gourd could no longer be stored in his sea of consciousness.

"Food Essence... it should taste better than black bread, right?"

Yin Ming picked up a white pill between his fingers and tossed it straight into his mouth without hesitation.

This thing had been extracted from black bread, and the poisonous substances had been removed. It might taste bad, but it definitely would not be poisonous.

The pill melted upon entering his mouth, and a faint wheat fragrance filled his mouth.

Though bland, it did not taste bad. His stomach felt a faint warm current, his body rapidly replenished its energy, and a long-lost sensation of fullness spread through him.

"Food Essence! In the immortal dao system, it should be called a Grain-Repelling Pill."

The main ingredient of black bread was flour, and its energy content was actually not low.

It was merely affected by impurities, so only a small portion could be absorbed by the human body. Furthermore, digestion itself consumed a great deal of energy.

The Grain-Repelling Pill increased the utilization rate.

Half a piece of black bread could satisfy an ordinary person's daily consumption.

If Count Golden Lion had the Scavenger Gourd, the serfs' food rations could be cut by another seventy percent.

"..."

After swallowing the Grain-Repelling Pill, Yin Ming was brimming with strength. He completed half of the day's assigned workload in an hour.

So he deliberately slowed down and loafed around.

The best serf of the day could receive a small piece of white bread.

But aside from tasting better than black bread, it was actually a losing deal. It simply could not make up for the extra physical exertion.

Experienced old serfs would only time things carefully and complete the standard workload for the day.

"Wait! Could these weeds also be used to extract Food Essence?"

Cows ate grass and produced milk, people drank cow's milk, so why could people not just eat grass directly and cut out the middleman?

In the past, such talk could only be found in idiotic forums, but with the Scavenger Gourd, the idea seemed highly feasible.

"Store!"

Trying it would not cost him anything.

Yin Ming stored a pile of weeds inside the Scavenger Gourd.

[Name: Pile of Weeds.]

[Ingredients: Purpleroot Herb: 45%, Silverleaf Herb: 14%, Tigerclaw Vine: 11%... soil: 4%.]

[Note: A pile of common weeds. Their roots and stems have a weak hemostatic effect. A skilled physician might be able to turn waste into something useful.]

[Extractable: Grain-Repelling Pills: 3, Hemostatic Powder: 1, toxins: 0.1.]

Yin Ming extracted the Food Essence, condensing it into three pale green Grain-Repelling Pills.

It took weeds weighing twenty times as much as the black bread to produce the same number of Grain-Repelling Pills.

But weeds could be found everywhere. The weeds at Tulip Manor alone could be extracted into a large pile of Grain-Repelling Pills.

"It hasn't been easy! One month and four days after crossing into another world, I've finally solved my food problem."