Above the Great Dao

Thinking of this, Chen Shi immediately leaped towards the world illuminated by sunlight.

"Thud!"

He crashed through the sunlight and the projection of another world, hitting the top of the temple.

Chen Shi landed, rubbing his head and looking up.

The sunlight came from another world, and it seemed as if he could enter that world just by following the sunlight.

He leaped up again, his palm lightly passing through the sunlight, yet the sunlight and the other world seemed like a dream, visible but untouchable.

"It seems that the space-time within the temple isn't from another dimension, but there is a mysterious force in the temple, allowing me to see another world and letting the sunlight and moonlight of that world shine in."

Ever since he began to replace his blood with true blood, his appetite increased greatly. No matter if it was the medicinal meals prepared by his grandfather or the food cooked by Granny Sha, he devoured them all and still felt hungry soon after.

He was getting hungry too quickly, losing five to six pounds in just two days.

Initially weighing just sixty pounds, losing five to six pounds made him look even more frail.

Chen Shi was aware that he had reached a critical period.

The first step to cultivating the Holy Embryo was to replace the blood.

When humans are still infants, their bodies flow with true blood, which is pure and doesn't require cultivation. Babies don't breathe through their mouth and nose, but instead through the umbilical cord connected to the mother, known as the breath of the womb. The air they need for this breathing comes through the mother's blood, filtered by the mother's body without impurities.

This is Innate True Qi.

But after birth when one starts to breathe through the mouth and nose, taking in the tainted air of the mortal world, it becomes Acquired Qi, and gradually the body becomes heavy and impure, with the Innate True Qi inside lessening over time. By old age, when the Innate True Qi is exhausted, death occurs.

Cultivators who practice forbidden arts often replace their blood in their later years, injecting themselves with the blood of the young to rejuvenate, using the Innate Qi in young people's blood to replenish their own.

There are even worse cases, such as refining the Placenta Essence, which involves taking a pregnant woman's placenta and using the unborn baby's blood to supplement their own, to delay aging.

Chen Shi's rapid hunger was a form of nourishment, drawing the subtle essences from food to replenish Innate Qi and cultivate true blood.

However, the subtle essence in ordinary food, the essence of grains, held pitifully little energy. In contrast, the complex medicinal potency in grandfather's medicinal meals was more suitable for absorption.

But Chen Shi was cultivating too quickly, which caused the essence in the food to lag. Hence, he began to consume his own muscles and internal organs to refine his blood.

If he couldn't replenish enough food, he could actually "starve to death"!

The faster the cultivation, the quicker one could die of hunger!

Chen Shi had to slow down his cultivation rate, as he spent most of his day eating and searching for food.

Granny Yu Zhu's ducks were almost unable to lay eggs due to his extortion, Granny Wu Zhu's melon field was left with only a few melons remaining, the fish in the Yu Dai River had decreased significantly in the last few days, and even his regular runs to Gang Zi Village at mealtimes caused Granny Sha to develop a headache upon seeing him.

Chen Shi even contemplated using himself as bait to try the taste of a Big Gun.

He was just too hungry.

That day, Chen Shi arrived at the Mountain Lord Temple, and after a short while of cultivation, he felt very hungry. He stayed a bit longer, and the hunger intensified even more.

His hunger made him feel anxious, so he rushed out the door, intending to find some game or wild fruit to fill his stomach. However, the mountain was a newly grown one and, apart from the temple's large tree, there were no other plants, and even animals were unwilling to approach this mountain.

Chen Shi had no choice but to walk down the mountain path toward the area where the chubby children were. By then, he was so hungry that he felt dizzy and faint. He kept pushing forward a few steps until suddenly everything spun, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

In his daze, he saw blue skies and white clouds, feeling as if he was lying flat, but the moving leaves and grass told him he was being carried.

He was simply too hungry and passed out again.

After an unknown period, Chen Shi groggily opened his eyes, thought he saw the lovely face of the mountain stream girl, but it quickly turned into Granny Zhuang's aged visage.

"He's awake! He's awake!"

Granny Zhuang's voice reached him, Chen Shi felt his hunger recede slightly, and his vision began to clear. He realized he was lying in Granny Zhuang's tree hollow, with mushrooms emitting a faint glow.

The mountain stream girl sat quietly to the side, while those chubby round-faced children gathered around the bed, looking at him with concern in their large, round eyes.

Granny Zhuang was holding a chubby child, tugging at his hair and plucking a few bright red fruits from his head, each the size of a fingertip, causing the child to cry out loud from the pain.

Chen Shi looked around and saw that the red fruits on the other children's heads were much less plentiful; they had obviously been picked.

Granny Zhuang laughed, "You fainted from hunger. The little fruits carried you here, and the stream girl made you a bowl of fish slice porridge, but you were getting hungry too quickly, and it was of no use. I used ginseng grass fruit to revive you."

Chen Shi got up, feeling no hunger at all, and promptly thanked them.

The mountain stream girl blushed and left with a soft giggle.

The chubby children approached Chen Shi, some climbing onto his knees with serious expressions, imparting earnest babbling instructions to him, presumably to eat on time, before they too departed.

Chen Shi watched them go, thanked Granny Zhuang again, and as he was about to leave, he stumbled, nearly falling.

Granny Zhuang smiled, revealing her teeth, "The power of the ginseng grass fruit in your body has just reached your stomach, and has not yet circulated throughout your body. You don't have the strength to move. Rest for a moment before you go."