Chapter 9
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Chapter 9: Superior Food
Yun Ye walked out of the cafeteria, lost in thought about the information he just gathered.
Earlier, he had asked about prices. Although ordinary food was free, the issue lay with what counted as "ordinary food."
What if it wasn’t ordinary?
"Heh… Although I can eat freely, a person’s stomach is limited; how much can I really eat?"
"Those truly beneficial superior foods all cost money. If my talent isn’t good enough, relying solely on ordinary food will never awaken my Spiritual Roots. Even the lowest grade superior food would be difficult for my family to afford for long."
"Sigh, money is everything. Those prominent families never worry about food!"
These were points discussed by a few new students who had some family background.
Entering the Academy indeed offered a slim chance to awaken Spiritual Roots, but everyone was different.
Some individuals soared in their first year, becoming experts who awakened their Spiritual Roots.
Others trained until they were sixteen, only to be abandoned by the Academy without even a hint of success, failing to awaken even partially.
The differences stemmed not only from talent but also from the availability of resources.
Top-tier resources could even disregard one’s qualifications, instantly awakening Spiritual Roots and saving a tremendous amount of time.
Unfortunately, these resources were far beyond the reach of ordinary people, and currently, the only type of resource Yun Ye could access was one.
That was "superior food"!
Practicing cultivation means absorbing nutrition to strengthen oneself, and how much one can eat directly relates to the speed of growth!
But how much can a person’s stomach hold?
Even if one could eat freely, it was impossible to digest indefinitely; one had to wait, wasting a lot of time.
This gave rise to superior food.
As food made using special techniques, superior food concentrated vast amounts of life energy. The better the quality, the more life energy it could provide, and the effects on practicing the Qi Cultivation Technique would be more pronounced.
It was said that top-quality superior food, infused with medicinal herbs, could directly awaken Spiritual Roots within a month of continuous consumption.
Unfortunately, that came at a sky-high price, crafted only by a few masters, which common families could only dream of.
"Superior food, huh?"
Yun Ye pondered.
He had asked about prices before, but even the most affordable cultivation resources were still beyond what an ordinary person could afford.
Superior food was divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D.
D-level was the lowest, costing ten pieces of dark copper for one serving, equivalent to three servings of ordinary food.
C-level cost thirty pieces of dark copper for one serving, equivalent to five servings of ordinary food.
B-level cost one hundred pieces of dark copper for one serving, equivalent to seven servings of ordinary food.
A-level cost three pieces of silver for one serving, equivalent to ten servings of ordinary food.
One piece of silver equaled one hundred pieces of dark copper.
For A-level superior food, eating just two meals would require spending all the savings of the Yang family for a lifetime, making it an astronomical cost for Yun Ye.
Yun Ye returned to his residence.
The words "Bing Qi" constantly reminded him that a new chapter had begun, momentarily lifting him from the lowest level of this world.
Yun Ye took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
After surveying the room for a moment, he closed the door and windows and untied the bundle he had kept tied to himself.
As he spread it open, he first revealed a couple of pieces of clothing, followed by a total of 51 pieces of dark copper.
Yun Ye rubbed his swollen belly.
By his estimation, even if he ate to his heart’s content, the spiritual matter he could absorb would only allow him to practice the Qi Cultivation Technique a couple of extra times.
This meant he could practice five times a day.
If he forced himself to practice a sixth time, his body would feel hunger, but his stomach could hold nothing more, simply because there were still remnants not fully digested.
To increase his practice sessions, he could only rely on Superior Food.
The lowest D-level Superior Food equaled three servings, allowing Yun Ye to increase his daily training from five to fifteen sessions!
This was not just a simple tripling!
Life energy dissipates over time, and since Yun Ye practiced three times a day, a good portion of his hard-earned results faded away.
If he could practice more, he would lose less energy and accumulate life energy more quickly, allowing him to soar to success and awaken his Spiritual Roots!
Unlike forcibly awakening them, doing so in a condition of strength and abundant life energy would prevent his vitality from waning drastically, making it the right path.
True voluntary awakening of Spiritual Roots should occur without prior training, but with a body that has reached a life level sufficient to awaken them.
Forcing an awakening through life-and-death crises or extreme emotions, even if successful, would lead to a short life.
This was Yun Ye’s most direct understanding of Spiritual Roots revival.
The feeling of life energy burning continuously, inching closer to death, would make anyone anxious to the point of madness.
Even Yun Ye didn’t want to experience that again.
He hoped to steadily practice the Qi Cultivation Technique until he perfected it, and then proactively awaken his Spiritual Roots!
To expedite this process, he knew he had to find a way to earn money.
If he could eat A-level Superior Food, he might really awaken his Spiritual Roots in a short time.
(Speaking of which, is A-level Superior Food crafted by masters? Most likely not, because A-level food is readily available in the cafeteria.)
Yun Ye became curious; if A-level provided ten times the nutrition, how much would stronger food offer?
Fifteen times? Or twenty times?
Thinking this through, he suddenly realized how significant the advantages of the wealthy were. No wonder this was called "Superior Food"; every bowl truly offered an advantage!
…
The next day, a young man in gray clothing knocked at the door. When Yun Ye opened it, he held a list and asked, "From Mingzhu Village, Yang Shi? Eight years old this year? Can’t read?"
“…”
Yun Ye nodded.
"It seems to be true. Since you can’t read, you can go to the literacy hall to learn the characters first. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to study. Practicing the Qi Cultivation Technique and various martial arts might be better for you, hehe, to avoid a downgrade in status at the end of the year."
The young man in gray sneered. He had seen many commoners, some eager to learn and some unwilling.
But the outcomes were usually not very promising.
Those willing to learn characters wasted a lot of time, resulting in poor grades and falling into a vicious cycle of status downgrade.
Those who didn’t study characters worked hard in martial arts. Although they could get by for a few years, if they couldn’t awaken their Spiritual Roots, they would immediately be sent back to the countryside, losing any further potential value.
Yang Shu was one of these types.
Of course…
Some managed to get through and awaken their Spiritual Roots.
Even though they still became cannon fodder, they could bring their families into Baishi Town and rise in status.
This was the lifelong pursuit of the vast majority of people.
Ma Zhi, unfortunately, had faltered at this last step and even ended up drowning in debt by now.
Ma Zhi looked at the newcomer with annoyance and said coldly, "Keep up. Next, I will take you to various halls."
Yun Ye nodded.
His humble background was indeed a huge disadvantage, leaving him with little foundation to build upon.
In his first life, he was a serf, and in the second life, he was just an ordinary hunter, with no path to learn characters.
However, he was only eight years old now, at the most energetic and capable stage for learning.
After his rebirth, both his mindset and body improved tremendously, entering a state of rebirth at its best.
Especially his mindset; even though he had been severely oppressed in his previous life, it did not affect this one. Yun Ye only held tightly onto that hatred, waiting for the moment to burst forth.
As for his body, research has shown that a child’s brain indeed retains memories more easily than an adult’s.
However, as they grow, the need for extensive learning decreases, leading to a gradual degeneration of the brain and reduced learning ability.
This degeneration is irreversible; merely using the brain often does not delay it.
Most people feel their thinking becomes rigid and that their learning ability is weaker than that of children. This is just an objective rule of the human body and not deeply related to rigid thinking.
With Yun Ye’s new life, his body was completely renewed, and his learning ability naturally returned to its peak state.
He had the self-control of an adult combined with abundant energy and learning power, so Yun Ye had confidence in himself.
First, he set a goal: to make it through the first year without a downgrade!
…
The entire Academy was vast, even containing several large training grounds for students to practice martial arts and the Qi Cultivation Technique.
The young man in gray took Yun Ye to three places in total.
The first was the literacy hall for learning characters.
The second was the Qi hall for studying the Qi Cultivation Technique.
The last was the martial arts hall for teaching combat techniques.
At the end, the young man in gray tossed Yun Ye a set of black uniforms, which were said to be the Academy uniforms.
Free of charge.
"Tomorrow, the deputy officer of the spiritual law, Liu Quan, will come to the Academy to give a lecture. The classes will officially begin then. You should understand the consequences of being late…"
Ma Zhi left these words behind and walked away.
Yun Ye was lost in thought.
Does the government not appear harmonious?
A deputy officer coming to such an important place to lecture; is he training his own team?
