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"Go ahead, Cousin. Don't worry about me—I've long grown tired of it," the young man said with a wave and a smile.
Jiang Yun lifted her gaze slowly, giving him a half-irritated look. "Little brother, are you showing off to your big sister?"
"Not at all," Jiang Shuo raised his brows. "I'm just stating the truth—I really am tired of it."
"Though I don't resent it, since I'm the one enjoying it... wasting food is never good. Come on, eat." He patted the back of her hand lightly and handed her a pair of ivory chopsticks.
Jiang Yun gave a helpless smile and nodded softly. "In that case, your sister won't hold back!"
She took the chopsticks and placed a mouth-watering, juicy cut of venison into her small mouth.
With one bite, the juices burst forth.
A drop escaped the corner of her mouth, sliding down her fair chin.
Jiang Shuo picked up a napkin and carefully wiped the oil from his 'friend's' face—a rare visitor.
"Just eat. Don't mind me."
…
In less than an hour, the eleven dishes had been devoured by Jiang Yun, leaving nothing but empty golden plates.
The young man glanced curiously at her little belly.
It was only slightly rounded.
She can really eat... You'd never guess it from her appearance.
He had thought her to be a refined lady—but it turned out she was a foodie too.
"Whew~"
"I'm full. No, I'm stuffed…"
Jiang Yun lounged in the rattan chair, gently caressing her slightly bulging stomach, her face glowing with contentment as she stared up at the ceiling.
In that moment, she looked nothing like the graceful, composed figure from the cliff. The sleeve of her green lotus dress was haphazardly lifted, revealing a large expanse of smooth, snowy skin.
Jiang Shuo chuckled. "If you like the food, then come see me more often."
"I may not be allowed to leave the sect, but you can always visit."
Jiang Yun nodded lightly. "No problem. How about I visit you once a month?"
"Just make sure to have the food ready for your big sister's arrival. Hahaha… That sounds so weird when I say it out loud…"
Though she joked about it, she still stretched her long legs out under the table to get more comfortable.
The space in front of the young man was gradually encroached upon. He kept pulling his feet back, but Jiang Yun, as if playing a game, kept playfully nudging his calf with her dainty toes.
Jiang Shuo glanced down and saw her pale, exposed ankle. A ticklish sensation welled up inside him, leaving him feeling rather helpless.
"Stop playing, Sister Yun'er. It's been nearly two years—what level have you reached in the Taixu True Essence Technique?"
Hearing his question, the girl, half-reclined in the chair, finally grew a bit more serious. She scratched her cheek with a slender finger. "Hmm…"
"Mid-fourth level. Still quite a long way from the fifth."
"But my dantian has expanded enough. The soul power converted from true essence is nearly five to six times that of an average Soul Saint."
Jiang Shuo's eyes flickered subtly at her words.
His cousin, hailed as a prodigy, had only reached the fourth level after becoming a Soul Saint.
Meanwhile, he hadn't even acquired his first soul ring and had already reached the early third level.
Is it because my soul transmigrated, making it unusually resilient? Or is it because of my status as the heir—having been nourished with body-altering treasures since childhood?
"What's on your mind, Xiao Shuo?" she suddenly asked, her delicate cheeks tinged with a faint blush.
The boy had been looking down in the direction of her snow-white thighs, which were exposed because her dress was slightly too short.
Though the sect's customs were somewhat feudal, the nobility on the continent was more open-minded. She had just returned from the Sun Moon Empire and hadn't had time to change her clothes. She never expected this young boy… to just keep staring!
"Huh?" Pulled from his thoughts, Jiang Shuo raised an eyebrow and looked at his cousin.
Jiang Yun had already pulled her long legs back, slightly regretting her earlier teasing.
Seeing his blank expression, she realized she might have misunderstood and hurriedly said, "It's nothing, nothing…"
"You should rest. I have to go now, I still haven't seen my father."
With that, she sprang to her feet and fled from the dining hall of Zhuozheng Palace in a fluster.
Jiang Shuo blinked in confusion but said nothing.
Judging by her travel-worn appearance, she did seem to have just arrived at the sect.
A short while later, quiet returned to Zhuozheng Peak. He was alone once more.
But he no longer felt the same loneliness. Instead, a sweet, comfortable feeling settled in his heart.
He left the dining hall and entered the training room, sitting down cross-legged.
He began to circulate the Taixu True Essence Technique through the major and minor heavenly cycles.
It was through these complex and repetitive cycles that a tiny amount of true essence could be generated and stored in the dantian.
Every time he practiced this technique, Jiang Shuo was amazed by it.
If there was a cultivation technique in the world that moved at a turtle's pace, it would probably be the Taixu True Essence Technique.
Because it was just so incredibly boring.
Although talent and comprehension mattered, this was not a technique that could be mastered quickly. Only through tireless, day-and-night repetition could a mere sliver of true essence be born.
In the early stages, the amount of true essence produced was pitifully small, incomparable to the soul power gained through meditation.
Without a doubt, such slow progress was extremely tedious for a Soul Master, far less efficient than the quick returns of meditation.
Though the sect required every Jiang clan disciple to practice it, most did so with a "just getting by" attitude. Even many Titled Douluo-level experts only reached the fourth or fifth level.
There were even more Taixu disciples who, after three years of practice, still hadn't generated enough true essence to form their dantian.
Even knowing that great power lay at the end of the boredom and tedium, the vast majority of people couldn't stand it and gave up on true essence to focus solely on soul power.
Of course, when a person chooses a technique, perhaps the technique is also choosing the person.
The boredom and tedium might just be the threshold.
Having lived two lives, Jiang Shuo's willpower was stronger than most, and he felt he could persevere.
That was why it was common for him to remain in meditation for over twenty hours at a time.
…
The sun rose in the east, the mist evaporating from the mountain forest.
By the time sunlight reached Zhuozheng Peak, the youth slowly opened his eyes.
Opening the training room door, he found a charming maid already waiting respectfully outside.
"Young Master, breakfast is ready. You said you would be going to hunt for a soul ring today."
Jiang Shuo nodded. A few minutes later, he arrived in the dining hall, where a meal was already laid out on a table made from precious redwood.
Disciples of great sects and noble clans were typically served medicinal meals instead of ordinary food.
The difference lay in the rarity of the ingredients.
Before Jiang Shuo was a spread made with ingredients that even the princes of the Four Great Empires could not enjoy, specially transported from the Far North.
Compared to the Star Dou Forest, the environment of the Far North was extremely harsh.
But the medicinal herbs born from such adversity were the most resilient and tenacious.
While their energy might not match that of herbs from spirit-rich lands, they were much more suitable for the human body to absorb, because only the purest essence could survive in such a harsh, barren environment.
The Taixu Sect had a subsidiary sect on the edge of the Far North, specifically responsible for gathering and transporting these herbs.
Thousand-Year Ice Bird's Nest Soup; congee made from the most succulent parts of a Thousand-Year Ice Bear; and blocks of Frozen Bone Marrow, transported whole before being melted into water.
Jiang Shuo's daily meals cost over one hundred thousand gold soul coins.
To put it in perspective, the annual tax revenue of some cities on the continent did not even reach that amount.
Only a sect like the Taixu Sect could afford such extravagance.
The luxury on the table was so extreme that even Jiang Shuo felt a little hesitant to eat.
From this perspective, his perpetually stern and solemn father, though he rarely spent time with him, had already provided for him on a material level to the absolute highest degree.
(End of Chapter)