Chapter 7: Devouring All The Worldly Smoke And Fire
The residential community’s night became lively, with the lights from ambulances and police cars intertwining, attracting many people to come downstairs to watch.
The relevant personnel responsible for testing knocked on the doors of neighbors in Building 9, checking one by one to confirm if they had been polluted.
No need to ask, the people around could guess who had the incident.
“Old Man Zhao, right? It must be him. His home smells worse than shit. If he doesn’t spawn demonic creatures, who does?”
“It really is. The fourth floor is sealed off. Luckily, the neighbor across didn’t come back from the night shift, or it would have been really scary.”
“Yeah, we’ve told him so many times, but he just wouldn’t change. Now he’s got people coming to his door. He’s probably going to suffer.”
“No suffering. He’s from upstairs. I went downstairs just now and took a look. There’s nothing inside.”
A person who had finished the check and come downstairs said: “Old Man Zhao is probably gone.”
The crowd sighed again.
Everyone in the residential community had heard about Old Man Zhao’s eccentricities. This guy was indeed obnoxious and unreasonable, but he hadn’t caused any major trouble. When it came to life and death, they all showed a bit more tolerance.
But some people were very anxious, wishing they could scatter Old Man Zhao’s ashes.
Li Haihua and Liu Qingxia cursed Old Man Zhao while hurrying to the hospital. Seeing Li Ye flipping through his mobile phone on the hospital bed, Liu Qingxia’s eyes instantly reddened.
He went out for a night run and didn’t encounter demonic creatures, but ended up encountering one at his own doorstep!
But before they could speak, Li Ye on the bed put down his mobile phone and smiled: “Just need to hang two bottles of IV fluids. No big deal.”
His parents breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Qingxia cursed: “That damn Zhao guy. Even dead, he won’t settle down!”
“Little Ye, why are you staying here?” Li Haihua glanced at the ward and asked.
Their hearts had been in their throats earlier because Li Ye was in a single-person ward, and they were afraid something had happened to him.
“Arranged by the government. They said I have merit, and there will be a reward later.”
Li Ye chuckled: “Mom, I’m hungry.”
“Okay, Mom will go buy some. Old Li, you go ask the doctor again to see if Little Ye is really fine.”
After his parents left the ward, Li Ye picked up his mobile phone again and looked at the information he had just searched about the Five Plagues Ghost.
The ward was a single-person ward with a very good environment. Li Ye didn’t have to pay for this part; it was arranged by Huang Qingyi.
As for him, he had also gone for treatment. They could talk about anything tomorrow.
Li Ye really didn’t want to talk about anything today either. His attention was all on the Five Plagues Ghost and the authority he had obtained.
Li Ye had slain a god!
The information online was varied and mostly inaccurate, but Li Ye wasn’t doing academic research. He could still find some relevant records.
The Five Plagues Ghost, a demonic creature that influences food, but it is born from everyday items like rice, oil, sugar, vinegar, and chopsticks.
The reason it is rare is right here: these daily necessities must become moldy, and still be continued to be used, in order to spawn such a demonic creature.
Not to mention modern society, even in ancient times it was hard to see. If you don’t throw away these moldy things and keep using them, who else would get the plagues?
The Five Plagues Ghost first appeared alongside the Flame Emperor. In the recorded “Red Emperor Subduing Plagues Scripture,” it tells the story of the ancient great power Shennong teaching ancient people to use cauldrons to cook food, eliminating demonic creatures.
This matched closely with the strange precept Li Ye had heard.
As for the Five Plagues Ghost, Li Ye found a relevant record: from ancient times to the Sui Dynasty, it was called the Five Plagues God!
And the authority he obtained.
“Little Ye, I brought you preserved egg and lean meat porridge. Eat this first. When we get home, Mom will make more for you.”
His parents came in at this time, their faces obviously much more relaxed.
They had asked the doctor, and it was indeed the mildest pollution, equivalent to a common cold. Li Ye was a martial arts trainee, so hanging two bottles of IV fluids would allow him to go home.
Li Haihua placed the small table board on the bed, Liu Qingxia set out the porridge, picked up the spoon, and was about to feed him.
“I’m just hanging IV fluids, not that serious.”
Li Ye took the spoon, scooped a spoonful of porridge, and put it in his mouth.
Bought outside, of course it was the simplest ingredients, but now for Li Ye, anything edible would do. He wanted to verify something.
One spoonful of porridge entered his stomach, and Li Ye immediately felt the difference.
He could precisely detect his own qi and blood improving, even if it was a minuscule improvement almost negligible.
Authority ‘Food Qi Method’, the strength Li Ye obtained, its meaning is to consume all the mortal world’s food qi.
And manifested as being able to eat food, with everything eaten providing feedback to himself.
And this degree is infinite!
In the current world, eating is very important for martial arts training. If you don’t eat enough, you can’t train. If you eat poorly, the effect of martial arts training won’t be good.
For those with poor talent, they have to spend a lot of money on top-quality ingredients and supplements, supplemented by better training methods, to strengthen qi and blood.
But people always have a limit to how much they can eat, and it’s impossible to absorb it all.
Li Ye’s family definitely couldn’t afford those top-tier ingredients that cost tens of thousands at a time, but now he didn’t have to worry about that.
The strength brought by the authority allowed him to fully absorb the food qi from food, no matter the quality of the ingredients. As long as it was edible, it could improve qi and blood.
The only condition was that it had to be cooked food to have this effect.
This was the information he had immediately comprehended after obtaining the authority. Now he was just verifying it.
He had previously worried about never feeling full, but now while eating, he realized he had been overthinking.
The food eaten still had a feeling of satiety. Normally, he would still get hungry and full.
Seeing Li Ye quickly finish a bowl of porridge, Liu Qingxia said: “Little Ye, no more night runs in the future. Are you itching to not encounter demonic creatures? Mom knows you know a lot, but knowing a lot is useless. When a scholar meets a soldier, there’s no reasoning. Demonic creatures aren’t something you can solve just by knowing a lot.”
Li Haihua chimed in: “Knowledge critique doesn’t represent weapon critique. The country handles demonic creatures. You just focus on martial arts training. If you want to deal with demonic creatures, wait until you’ve trained well, then anything goes.”
“Won’t happen again.” Li Ye nodded.
Night runs were just to consolidate his foundation, but now with the authority, what foundation did he need to consolidate!
Just charge upwards!
The two bottles of IV fluids were soon finished. Li Ye handled the discharge procedures and went home with his parents.
Building 9 was still sealed off. Even to be safe, everyone in the entire residential community had their doors knocked on one by one for testing, to see if anyone was sick or showed signs of pollution.
After returning home, Liu Qingxia opened the fridge and went into the kitchen to make a night snack.
The night snack was naturally simple, just ten minutes, and Liu Qingxia brought it out.
“Clean up after eating and go to sleep early. You have school tomorrow.”
With that, his parents returned to their bedroom.
This rollercoaster had tired them out too, and they had to go to work tomorrow.
The night snack was simple: bacon sandwich, a bowl of oatmeal milk, and a bowl of steamed egg. Li Ye wolfed it down, feeling his qi and blood improving, and smiled contentedly.
Although it wasn’t the world-destroying authority he had once imagined, it was still very good.
In a sense, he wasn’t afraid of getting sick, because the Food Qi Method could even absorb the disease qi from food.
In theory, as long as the quantity was enough, Li Ye could eat garbage and break through Dragon Gate.
And what the authority brought was also that very intuitive sense of qi and blood improvement, allowing him to know exactly his progress.
Qi and blood can’t be quantified. Just like each person’s cultivation strength, it’s like drinking water—only they know if it’s cold or warm. It’s just that the manifested intensity differs.
There’s no standard for the qi and blood needed to leap Dragon Gate. If qi and blood are abundant enough, you leap; if not, you don’t.
But now, with the authority, based on Li Ye’s intuitive sense of qi and blood, he could know where he was at and when he could achieve Qi Blood Leap to break through Dragon Gate.
If the standard for his own Qi Blood Leap was 100, then his current level was about 80, and it was hard to increase without spending big money on supplements to force it up.
Normally, there was no possibility of Qi Blood Leap. His previous decision to not do martial arts training was correct; another year would be a waste.
But now with the authority, it was completely different.
The preserved egg and lean meat porridge eaten at the hospital, according to his own quantification, improved by 0.001. The night snack improved by 0.002.
So now his qi and blood had reached 80.003.
No need for martial arts training to improve—just eating was enough!
