Food System in Cultivation World

Chen Xu opened the Fireworks Collection and checked the new prompts.

Outside the cave, the white rain danced like wild pearls, while inside, the blue eagle's long screech echoed continuously.

He was in this place, his body and mind seemed to merge with the untamed and exuberant world.

But the feeling of joy remained; he was still himself.

A new technique that could be unlocked appeared on the Fireworks Collection:

[Stove Fire Body Protection Technique, guiding kitchen smoke and fire into the body to temper and protect it.

At its initial stage, it forms a Fire Armor Body, refining the physique, making it impervious to water and fire, immune to mortal weapons, and repelling evil beings.

At its next stage, it transforms into a Spirit Communication Body, allowing the absorption of Heaven and Earth Qi, accelerating cultivation, and gathering spirituality.

Ultimately, it achieves a Glazed Appearance, becoming completely transparent, with the internal organs harboring spirit, maintaining youth and prolonging celestial life.]

Maintaining youth and prolonging celestial life!

Is this longevity?

Chen Xu's heart raced, but upon closer examination, he found that the Glazed Appearance did not equate to immortality.

Or rather, achieving immortality is not that simple.

Maintaining youth refers to the slowing of aging, while prolonging celestial life refers to lifespan extension.

That is all—

Yet even such is something that countless masters in the world pursue all their lives without obtaining.

As for Chen Xu now, with all three Tri-Attributes surpassing 290 points, his lifespan is not much greater than that of ordinary mortals.

The Celestial Book Plate displays:

[Cultivation: Late Stage of Meridian Passage Realm 21%]

[Lifespan: 18/180]

Compared to when he first entered the Meridian Passage Realm, his lifespan limit increased by thirty years.

Conceivable, the difficulty of extending lifespan.

This is only because of Chen Xu's powerful Essence that he has such a longevity limit. For example, County Magistrate Feng, despite being an Advanced Scholar with vast Literary Qi, struggles to surpass the mortal century limit.

This Stove Fire Body Protection Technique clearly has the potential to fundamentally develop Chen Xu's physique.

Ensuring his vast Tri-Attributes are not wasted, overall, it can be considered a superior extraordinary technique.

However, Chen Xu can only unlock the first layer [Fire Armor Body] for now.

The cave was a bit inconvenient, so Chen Xu did not rush to unlock and practice it. He adjusted his breathing, calming his emotions.

The blue eagle ceased its long screeching, folded its wings, and looked around with lively spirit.

Soon after, it suddenly took a leap with its eagle foot, jumping in front of Chen Xu.

Then this magnificent eagle lowered its proud head suddenly, bowing, curling one foot, and extending its head and neck toward Chen Xu.

This was a sign of submission.

Chen Xu smiled slightly, reaching out to gently stroke the blue eagle's head, saying, "Brother Eagle… no, perhaps I should call you Eagle Friend."

This big eagle, accompanied by two young eaglets, seemed to be a female eagle.

Initially, Chen Xu could not distinguish its gender and casually called it Brother Eagle. Now he decided to call it Eagle Friend, suitable for both genders.

The big eagle opened its mouth and chirped, rubbing its head against Chen Xu's palm, then moved to the inside of the cave where lay two snake corpses.

One snake was big and the other small, both with their front halves lying in the cave while their rear halves were deeply hidden in a crevice deep within the cave.

Upon closer inspection, the end of the cave was supposedly a dead end, with the cave wall blocking the way, so the big eagle built its nest here.

Now, under the light of an oil lamp, a narrow crack revealed itself amid the jagged rock pile of the cave wall.

The two snakes had crawled through this narrow crack to hunt in this place.

The big eagle opened its beak and grabbed the two snakes, gave a fierce yank and a fling, and immediately pulled out a slender snake tail six to seven feet long from the deep crevice.

Pop!

The snake tail fell to the ground.

The two young eaglets huddled in the corner, chirping softly.

The big eagle responded with a call, then pecked into the crevice with its sharp beak.

A moment later, it pulled out a dark red object resembling a stone egg, then paced over to Chen Xu and placed the object at his feet.

The big eagle tilted its head, chirping loudly.

Chen Xu's gaze fell on the ground, clearly seeing a term manifesting above the object:

[Blood Stone Marrow, a symbiotic object around the nest of spiritual species, consuming after grinding and steaming can enhance Qi Blood.

Or it can be mixed into Blood Stone Ink, used to draw talismans to increase the efficacy of talismans by more than 20%.]

This is indeed a rare spiritual material!

The big eagle pushed the Blood Stone Marrow on the ground towards Chen Xu, chirping to urge him to accept it quickly.

"Do you want to give me this?" Chen Xu asked with a smile.

The big eagle nodded repeatedly, flapping its wings to urge him further.

Chen Xu raised his hand, and with the Spirit Manipulation Technique, the Blood Stone Marrow on the ground suddenly leaped like a living thing directly into Chen Xu's palm.

The large eagle chirped joyfully, flapping its wings, then turned to fiercely peck at the cave wall.

This time, it shattered all the rocks in the crevices of the cave wall, then flapped its wings so that all the rubble was tightly packed into the gaps.

It was evident that although this eagle had just awakened spiritual intelligence, its thoughts were already quite agile.

It actually used rubble to block the path, preventing any more long snakes from entering its nest.

Chen Xu quietly watched, without interfering with the eagle's actions.

Finally, the eagle pushed the rubble tightly with its beak.

It then went to the snake's corpse—

This snake corpse held a secret that Chen Xu hadn't noticed before. It was only when the eagle pulled the snake's tail from the deep hole that Chen Xu realized this so-called "double-headed snake" was indeed a two-headed snake!

It was a single snake body with two snake heads.

This snake was clearly no ordinary creature, already considered a demon race.

The large eagle pecked at the seven-inch spot on the front of the snake's body, and after some tugging, it pulled out two dark cyan snake galls.

It then carried the snake galls to Chen Xu, urging him to take them.

The snake body and snake galls both had descriptions:

[Double-headed Stone Crevice Python flesh, Basic Level mutated demonic beast flesh, can be eaten after removing the gall, with a slight effect to increase Qi Blood.]

[Cyan Frost Gall, double-headed Stone Crevice Python gall, specially processed and steamed with rice wine three times, can detoxify and improve vision, and increase night vision to a certain extent.]

The large eagle's intent was clear, offering the essence of its battle trophies to Chen Xu.

Chen Xu did not refuse its goodwill. After accepting the snake galls, he took out a bowl of Profound Yang Fire Jujube Soup that he had stored earlier from the Fire and Smoke Kitchen.

The Spiritual Food cooked by Chen Xu not only had its effects fully enhanced, but its color, fragrance, and taste were also top-notch.

The wild eagle, having grown up in the wild, had never encountered such exquisite items.

The eagle's eyes widened instantly, and its beak stretched over, dipping into the bowl for a peck. Amazingly, the eagle's entire body froze on the spot.

Seeing that the soup was about to spill from the edges of its beak, the eagle quickly ran to the corner of the cave.

There, two small eaglets huddled.

The eagle extended its beak, and although the eaglets initially shrank back, under the nudging of the eagle's wings, they tentatively reached out their tiny beaks to peck at the eagle's mouth.

"Chirp!"

"Chirp chirp!"

Moments later, the two eaglets became excited, their little beaks enthusiastically pecking.

[Like +1+1]

The eaglets were too weak; even eating Spiritual Food could only bring Chen Xu 1 like each.

Then the large eagle's feathers fluttered, and its clear cry echoed.

[Like +100]

Chen Xu smiled slightly, cuddling the little hedgehog still in a drunken slumber, and bid farewell to the three eagles.

"Eagle friend, parting is inevitable. Now that your troubles are resolved, I shall take my leave."

He came to the mouth of the cave, ready to step back into the rain.

Hearing the cries of eagles behind him, he turned to see the large eagle clinging closely to the two eaglets, its gaze bright with reluctance.

Chen Xu laughed, "The world is vast, and there are always encounters. Eagle friend, you belong to the sky. Now that you have gained intelligence, the vastness of heaven and earth is yours to explore.

Just remember, when hunting, never target the Human Race, and our meeting today will not have been in vain."

The large eagle chirped softly in response.

Chen Xu waved his hand, and the wind and rain outside the cave were gloomy as he stepped into the rain, going against the wind back to the mountain peak.

In the wind and rain, his figure gradually faded from Qihai Mountain.

As his wide sleeves fluttered, Chen Xu observed the vast sky and earth, finding enlightenment at last.

The poem he once wrote during the examination tasted anew in his mind, taking on a different flavor.

"Beyond the worldly passage of time, who can fathom mortality's cycle?

A hundred years of prosperity and decline pass by as if in a dream..."

With smiles of ease, he blended into the wind and rain.

The world vast and expansive, white veils of rain danced, and the crowds once bustling on Qihai Mountain for the literary gathering had long disappeared.

Only a few tilted wooden sheds by the mountain path remained, revealing that a lively event once took place here.

Within Chen Xu, the Innate Qi flowed silently, and his cultivation grew once more, invisibly.

He walked on the waves of rain, moving forward in the wind.

Yet he did not notice the Hundred Words Stele at the foot of Qihai Mountain, where red mist surged like a haze.

It resembled clouds, like streaming light.

Swaying in the rain, reaching toward the Mortal World.