"Careful, it's hot!"
Before Shi Linhu's booming voice had faded, the Rune Flame surrounding the stone pot seemed to gain a mind of its own. As Shi Hao's little hand approached, it instantly went out, leaving not even a trace of residual heat.
Inside the pot, the amber broth still bubbled away, giving off enticing steam.
Shi Hao wasn't afraid at all. He plunged his chubby little hand straight into the broth, grabbed a translucent slice of meat, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Mmm!"
Little One's eyes instantly went round. His cheeks bulged with food, and even his two little ears twitched in excitement.
A moment later, he waved at the others behind him, his words muffled and his babyish voice brimming with undisguised urgency.
"Ermeng! Dazhuang! Come quick! So yummy! Even yummier than beast milk!"
That shout was like setting a powder keg alight.
Ermeng, Snot Boy, and the others, who had still been held back by the adults, couldn't restrain themselves any longer. With a howl, they broke free of their fathers' large hands and lunged toward the stone pot like a pack of hungry wolf pups.
"Don't fight over it! There's enough for everyone!"
This time, the adults didn't stop them.
In the Great Wilderness, food was life. All the more so with spiritual food like this, so clearly imbued with divine essence. This was an immense blessing for the children, and none of the adults would compete with them for a bite.
Just then, Shi Hou's body went limp. Darkness swam before his eyes, and he collapsed.
A pair of rough hands caught his back in time, followed by a warm palm pressed against his forehead.
"Skinny Monkey, are you all right?" His mother, Lin Yun, looked at her son's deathly pale face, her eyes full of heartache. "Was that... that ritual dance too hard on your body?"
Shi Shoushan hurried over as well. The normally stern man now wore an expression of sheer anxiety, still gripping a bone knife tightly as though ready to draw blood at any moment to replenish his son.
"Dad, Mom, I'm fine. Just a little drained." Shi Hou waved a hand, his voice so faint it seemed to float away.
He really was drained.
The "10 vitality" deducted by the system had sucked this eight-year-old body's reserves dry. Now, even his eyelids felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds.
"Here, Skinny Monkey!"
A pair of grubby little hands reached toward him, holding a chipped bowl of coarse porcelain.
Snot Boy sniffled back his ever-present runny nose and watched him expectantly. The bowl was filled to the brim with meat broth, with two large pieces of the best meat piled on top.
Something stirred in Shi Hou's heart. "Aren't you eating any yourself?"
"Little One said you cooked this. You're the one who deserves all the credit, so you have to eat first." Snot Boy gave a goofy grin. "Hurry up and eat. Just smelling it is driving me crazy. I'm going to grab some too!"
With that, he shoved the bowl into Shi Hou's arms, turned, and burrowed back into the crowd of children.
Shi Hou held the bowl, its overpowering fragrance rushing straight to his head.
Without further hesitation, he tipped his head back and gulped down the entire bowl, meat and broth alike, in several great swallows.
Boom!
It was like a ball of blazing fire!
Once the food reached his stomach, it transformed into a scalding current that instantly washed through every limb and bone. His depleted body was like a parched, cracked riverbed welcoming sweet rain, ravenously devouring the energy.
"Ah! I'm so hot!"
Ermeng's cry rang out nearby.
The children gathered around the pot all had faces as red as monkeys' bottoms, and white steam actually rose from the tops of their heads.
The usually scrawny Snot Boy was flushed all over, his veins bulging slightly as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "I feel like I've got endless strength! I want to run!"
After shouting, the boy really did start sprinting around the clearing at the village entrance, moving more than twice as fast as usual!
Dazhuang and Ermeng simply charged into each other. Like two little calves, they collided with repeated dull thuds, their boundless energy almost frightening.
"This is..."
Watching the scene, the old patriarch, Shi Yunfeng, was so excited that he pulled out several strands of his beard.
"This effect rivals a medicinal bath brewed with the true blood of five fierce beasts! No, it's even stronger!" Trembling, he pointed at the children who were "going wild." "Impurities expelled, vital essence flooding their bodies! Skinny Monkey wasn't cooking at all-he was refining precious medicine!"
The grown men exchanged looks, unable to hide the shock in their eyes.
There was only one exception.
Shi Hao.
The little fellow had polished off more than half the pot by himself. Now he lay sprawled on the ground, patting his round little belly and letting out a thoroughly satisfied burp.
"Burrrp~"
A faint wisp of white vapor escaped his mouth. Aside from that, he neither glowed nor turned red.
As Shi Hou watched, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Sole diner 'Shi Hao' has finished eating.] [Assessment: Shi Hao's vitality increased by +50.] [Talent triggered: hundredfold return!] [Host receives vitality: +5000!]
What?!
Shi Hou froze completely.
The next instant, a terrifying surge of energy, ten thousand times more violent than that bowl of broth, erupted inside his body out of nowhere!
"Urgh..."
An uncontrollable groan of pain escaped his throat. The muscle fibers throughout his body felt as though countless steel needles were piercing and tearing them apart before forcibly twisting them together again.
Every inch of his bones groaned under the unbearable strain, while a maddening itch and excruciating pain bored into his heart and scraped through his bones!
Power!
This power obeyed no reason. It rampaged through his frail body, seemingly intent on bursting him alive!
"Skinny Monkey? What's wrong? Why is your face so red?"
Beside him, Shi Shoushan saw his son's whole body suddenly stiffen, veins bulging across his neck and face, his complexion so red it looked ready to drip blood. Scared out of his wits, he reached out to support him.
Shi Hou's consciousness was already growing hazy. The agonizing pain and exploding strength left him wanting only to grab hold of something, to prove that he still truly existed.
His right hand instinctively reached to the side.
There stood a large bluestone cauldron the village's young men usually used to temper their strength. It weighed a full thousand jin and was as hard as iron.
Shi Hou's fingers hooked over the cauldron's thick rim.
He only wanted something to brace himself against.
Crack.
A faint, crisp sound abruptly rang out.
Like a thunderclap, it instantly silenced the entire noisy gathering.
Ermeng stopped sprinting.
The old patriarch stopped marveling.
Everyone froze as though someone had pressed pause, then turned in unison toward the source of the sound.
Shi Hou swayed as he straightened up, his face still bearing the bewilderment left behind by the intense pain.
His right hand was gripping the edge of that thousand-jin stone cauldron.
No-to be precise, it was gripping empty air.
The once-intact section of thick, solid rim had vanished.
In its place, sifting down between Shi Hou's fingers, was...
Stone dust.
Blue-gray stone dust finer than the finest flour slipped soundlessly from his fingertips, forming a little mound at his feet.
A breeze passed, scattering the stone dust.
Dead silence held the crowd.
Shi Shoushan's hand, extended to support his son, froze in midair. His mouth opened, but not a single word came out.
That was a stone cauldron carved from green ridge rock! Even a fierce beast's claws could only leave a white mark on it!
His own son... had crushed it like a lump of dried mud?
Had even... ground it into dust?
Shi Hou was stunned too. He looked down at his clean, fair hand, then at the stone cauldron with a huge chunk missing, before raising his head to meet the entire village's stares, as though they had seen a ghost.
"Um..."
Shi Hou swallowed, about to say something to break the strange atmosphere.
Just then, Shi Hao, who had been lying on the ground burping, sprang upright with a kip-up.
Blinking his large, black-gem eyes, he pointed at the fine stone dust scattered across the ground and asked in his babyish voice:
"Huh? Skinny Monkey, you can't eat rocks. Why'd you crush it so fine?"
Before you continue