What Is Spiritual Power? Can You Eat It?

"Let this be a warning, brothers! Stay alive and don't you dare die, or the moment you close your eyes, someone might marry your wife off to God knows what kind of person—and you won't even get a chance to object!"

"Hehe, I actually like little demon spirits like that! So soft and delicate—she'd definitely start whimpering if you bullied her, and she'd be so much fun in bed! Sigh, it's such a waste for a beauty like that to be widowed. I wonder if the Qin Family will let him remarry once the child is born..."

"You're fucking disgusting!"

"I've got experience in that area..."

The crude men's conversation quickly went off the rails, filthy jokes pouring out one after another. If Jing Yi, the protagonist of the discussion, had heard them, his face would have turned green with rage!

Unfortunately, he could not hear them. At that moment, all his attention was captured by another deeply shocking sight!

This was another vast area.

Several strange-looking large machines had been set up haphazardly inside. People were operating them, dismembering some enormous... beasts.

Blood and chunks of flesh were everywhere, and the air reeked of an unpleasant stench. The sounds of metal cutting through bone, hard shells, and raw flesh were unbearably grating. It was as though they had suddenly gone from a civilized world into a savage wasteland. Aside from General Chen and his guards, who were used to it, Jing Yi and the people sent by the Qin Family all went pale!

This was also part of the "intimidation" plan. General Chen was determined to frighten Jing Yi into becoming a wilted quail at their very first meeting, so that he would obediently let General Chen manipulate him. In truth, the military district did have to process a large number of "beasts" every day, but the scenes were never this bloody. Humanity's current technology had long since moved beyond methods this primitive.

Seeing Jing Yi's reaction, he nodded in satisfaction again.

Would he cry?

As General Chen had grown older, he had become increasingly willful in his actions. Old people became like children—such was human nature, something even great power and high status could not prevent.

Jing Yi clenched his fists, trembling all over.

He's going to cry, he's going to cry... General Chen watched him from the corner of his eye.

Jing Yi turned toward him. The corners of his misty peach-blossom eyes were tinged red as he looked at General Chen with pitiful vulnerability and asked, "What kind of creatures are these? Are they poisonous? Can they be eaten?"

General Chen: "...Huh?"

Jing Yi continued staring at him with those misty peach-blossom eyes. Upon closer inspection, they were actually filled with anticipation and hope?

A guard stepped forward to smooth things over. "Some of them have venom glands, but their flesh and blood aren't poisonous..." As for whether they could be eaten... They were so disgusting. Who would eat them?

Jing Yi looked eagerly toward those beasts. So they really could be eaten! Weren't they just enlarged versions of mantises and centipedes? Look at that translucent, tender meat that had been stripped out! Trembling slightly—marinate it with seasonings, then sear it on an iron griddle... or slice it thin for hot pot... or blanch it in boiling water and dip it in ginger-vinegar sauce... or simply deep-fry it, then toss it with Sichuan peppercorns and red chilies...

After days of having his taste buds tortured by alien food, Jing Yi's eyes turned green!

Back on Earth, opinions had differed over whether mantises and centipedes could be eaten. Those who believed they could were a minority; most normal people had absolutely no interest in them. Opinions on these unusual ingredients were also severely polarized. Those who liked them loved them deeply, while those who disliked them felt sick just thinking about them. Jing Yi, however, belonged to that minority.

He had grown up in an orphanage, where conditions were extremely harsh. They went years without seeing meat, and the little brats wanted to taste anything they could get their hands on. After years of exploration, their favorite ingredients had come to include grasshoppers, mantises, cicadas...

As for centipedes and scorpions, they had overlooked them at first. But later, Jing Yi read Jin Yong's wuxia novels, which mentioned Beggar Hong, a legendary gourmet. That remarkable man had once used a rooster to fish for centipedes in freezing snow and ice. After catching one, he would skin it, remove its shell, scald it in melted snow water, and eat it hot with dipping sauce. The description was so vivid and appetizing that it was simply impossible to resist!

Thus, the adventurous Jing Yi officially added this ingredient to his hunting list.

And now he had encountered an enlarged version. How much meat was that!

His saliva was about to overflow.

General Chen had never imagined things would take such a turn, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

What the hell kind of person was this?!

What Is Spiritual Power? Can You Eat It?

In the end, Jing Yi still shamelessly begged for two pieces of meat.

By two pieces of meat, each one weighed more than fifty pounds. They were quite substantial. They were inconvenient to carry, and he already had an appointment with a doctor to test his genes, so he could only reluctantly accept having them delivered to his door...

As Jing Yi barely held back his saliva, he repeatedly reminded the soldiers responsible for dismembering the "beasts" to make sure they delivered them while they were fresh. Better too much than too little—if possible, they should send him all of it...

The soldier was speechless. Who knew what he had imagined? His face went pale as though he were desperately fighting back the urge to vomit. General Chen turned away as well, looking as though he could not bear to watch. Zhang Qiu and the Qin Family's small team thought of Madam Qin's instructions before they left, and silently shed two lines of tears. They increasingly felt that their mission to "stop the young madam from continuing to embarrass himself" was destined to be full of thorns.