Destiny is ashes

Chapter 12 The Disappearing Partner

An Jing didn't say much. He lowered his head and bit off the piece of meat.

At first, the teeth feel like biting into a piece of tough rubber, but with just a little force, the teeth cut through the slightly charred muscle fibers on the surface, and the most tender meat inside bursts open, spilling out a lot of mellow juice and fat.

This refreshing and chewy feeling was incomparably wonderful. With every bite he swallowed, he could quickly feel the meat being digested and decomposed in his body, turning into nutrients for his body. This sense of satisfaction would quickly turn into an unsatisfied greed, making An Jing involuntarily want to eat another bite...

It felt like just a moment, and An Jing had eaten up all the meat in front of him, leaving only the white bones that had been eaten away by his teeth.

"What kind of beast's meat is this?"

Sitting on the chair, An Jing's face had turned red, and he felt a burning fire rushing out from his chest and abdomen, rushing straight to his torso and limbs, with the intention of penetrating into the smallest part of his body and penetrating even to the roots of his fingertips and hair!
An Jing had an urge to stand up, roar loudly, and release this inexplicable heat - and in fact, someone else was already doing this.

For a moment, the entire cafeteria turned into a gathering place for wild beasts, with all kinds of roars and screams echoing, just like a wilderness mountain.

"What kind of test is this?"

An Jing took a deep breath and suppressed the surging impulse in his body. He noticed that not everyone was dominated by this inexplicable impulse.

Zhang Ying was howling at this moment, and his voice sounded like the howl of a wolf, long and with a shivering chill.

Gu Yeqi on the side curled up, holding his stomach tightly, refusing to make any sound.

Those who are unwilling to make any sound and those who are venting their anger are about half and half. There may be more people venting their anger, but not by much.

——Just let them vent like this?

An Jing took a few more deep breaths. The next few times he was able to easily suppress his instinctive impulses. He watched everything with curiosity, and half of his energy was devoted to paying attention to the teaching lecturers and the "servants" of Xuanming Manor.

They are now waiting on the side, and like An Jing, they are watching all this with great concern.

About half a quarter of an hour later, as their strength was exhausted, both the children who were tired of howling and the children who were enduring the heat had returned to normal, and the servants brought them cups of thick medicine.

Just as Gu Yeqi said before, the main ingredients of this medicinal juice are ironwood core and ice silvergrass seeds, which can calm the mind and spirit.

Both Zhang Ying and Gu Yeqi are right; they are both correct.

An Jing took it and drank it in one gulp. It tasted purely bitter, but strangely refreshing. The seeds of the ice silver flower would expand after being boiled and cooled. They had a soft and tender texture. When you crushed them and swallowed them, you would feel an icy feeling exploding in your mouth.

The heat caused by swallowing the beast meat began to gradually subside. An Jing closed his eyes. After a few breaths, he opened his eyes and completely calmed down.

But that heat and that power were not illusions - the beast meat was definitely not simple, it was not from ordinary beasts!
Most of the other children also paused after drinking the medicine, though they looked a little dazed, as if they were thinking about what they were doing before.

"Okay. Everyone is a little excited today, go back and have a good rest."

At this time, the owner of the medicine shop came forward and said kindly: "Take a rest tomorrow morning. You don't need to do morning exercises. Everyone can sleep a little longer."

"As long as you behave well, everyone will have meat to eat - the better you behave, the more meat you get."

Instead of practicing before going to bed, everyone returned to their respective dormitories and went to bed early.

In the past, almost everyone fell asleep as soon as they touched the pillow, but today that was impossible and everyone tossed and turned.

In the dormitory, we couldn't help but start chatting.

"I don't know why, but I felt like I couldn't suppress it..."

Zhang Ying complained. He was on An Jing's left side, and his voice was a little hazy through the bamboo wall: "I feel like I have turned into a giant wolf, and I can't help but want to make a sound... The meat is delicious, but it's too weird. I have never eaten meat that makes people feel so... so strong!"

"Yes. Quite remarkable."

Ye Xiuyuan was on the right side of An Jing. His family had been educated for generations, so he spoke in a refined manner: "I have seen this kind of meat during the annual sacrifice of my family. It should be the meat of some wild beast."

“A vicious beast?!” Zhang Ying raised her voice, “A vicious beast that is comparable to a peak internal energy master or even an internally strong martial artist? How is that possible!”

His astonishment was not without reason, because even for the hunting team in the northern border, hunting a ferocious beast would require a lot of effort and even result in casualties.

If they encounter multiple ferocious beasts, even the entire hunting team may be wiped out.

But its flesh, skin, bones and tendons are all treasures, and are the materials for many precious medicines, rare machines and magical tools. Both the private sector and the government will pay a large sum of money to buy them. As long as they can hunt down a ferocious beast, it will be enough to make a hunting team surplus for the whole year.

Even Zhang Ying had never eaten beast meat. Ye Xiuyuan was also confused and said, "This is also what I am confused about. Even in our family, the four branches of the Ye family only use a slightly larger piece of beast meat and other cattle and sheep as sacrifices."

"Xuanming Manor gave each of us a portion, the amount is so large that it is simply unbelievable..." "Who cares about that?" Zhan Feng's voice was particularly loud. As soon as he opened his mouth, he was booed by everyone, including An Jing, for fear of attracting the instructor.

Even so, he lowered his voice and said nonchalantly: "It's much better than being a refugee. I'm finally hungry."

He was originally a beggar in Mingshan City. No one gave him money because he was too tall, but no one was willing to take him in to work because he was too young. The old beggar who originally raised him froze to death during the frost disaster. The only reason he was able to survive was because he ate whatever he picked up and was lucky enough not to eat anything poisonous.

He had a very good impression of Xuanming Manor. Here he could have enough food to eat and it didn't matter how hard it was to exercise. In fact, being able to eat enough and then work himself to death was the greatest blessing for him.

This statement attracted a lot of people's agreement. After all, all of them were selected from the refugee camps. All of them had been hungry and had not eaten meat or rice for a long time. But in Xuanming Village, they could eat their fill and enjoy themselves, and even eat as much as they did today.

No matter what, in their eyes, there is nothing wrong with Xuanming Manor except that the people there are too nice and make people afraid of not having a meal.

"I'm afraid this won't last long."

Canglinzu smacked his lips, still recalling the taste of the meat: "Isn't it the same for all those hidden sects? They screen and test people at every level, and throw out those who don't meet the requirements."

"At that time, I will no longer be considered a disciple of Xuanming Manor, but only a servant of Xuanming Manor, just like those servants and uncles... Such good days will not last long!"

After being together for such a long time, everyone knows that Cang Linzu was indeed sent to a martial arts academy with a large sum of money raised by his family, but he was sent back after two years because he was said to have "insufficient physique".

But how was it possible? Xuanming Manor rated Cang Linzu's physique as being top notch, second only to An Jing. This made Cang Linzu extremely indignant. He kept grumbling through his teeth that it was all because of the martial arts instructor who was so obsessed with money that he would be kicked out if he didn't give him the money.

His biggest dream was to succeed in his studies at Xuanming Manor, and then return to his hometown - if his hometown still existed - to give his mentor a good beating and make that bastard say that he was not talented enough and that he was looked down upon by his family.

Cang Linzu was not very worried that he did not meet the requirements, he just wanted to learn more martial arts skills in Xuanming Manor.

"It's true."

Ye Xiuyuan agreed with Cang Linzu: "I don't know how many people will stay in the end... Brother An Jing will definitely be one of them."

"Right, Brother Jing?" The other kids also said, "We may be eliminated, but you will definitely stay!"

“…Maybe the test has already started.”

An Jing doesn't like to participate in discussions on this kind of topic, but since someone brings him up, he will speak up.

He turned over in bed and said bluntly: "The enthusiasm for exercise, the degree of self-discipline, physical fitness, height and weight, how much food you can eat, when you get up on weekdays, whether you exercise regularly...all of these may be related to the 'assessment'."

"Let's go to bed early today." Turning over again, An Jing closed his eyes and said calmly, "Since the owner of the manor asked us to rest for half a day tomorrow, there must be a reason."

"Go to bed early, get some extra sleep, and don't delay the afternoon drill."

"Okay." "Yeah." "Yes, big brother!"

An Jing had a high reputation, and the whole dormitory fell silent as soon as he said this. Soon, shouts, grinding of teeth, and talking in sleep began to rise one after another.

An Jing also felt waves of fatigue and thirst gradually rising inside his body... He did not lie to Deputy Medicine Envoy. When he saw the meat, his body instinctively told him that it was not enough and he would not be full.

In fact, his stomach was full. The meat was heavy and enough to fill his stomach. But he was still not satisfied. The meat could only temporarily relieve his hunger and thirst, but it could not satisfy his body.

With this feeling, not knowing whether he was full or hungry, An Jing fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the morning sun illuminated the mountains, dyeing them golden and red.

An Jing rubbed his eyes and pulled back the blanket, realizing that he had probably slept an hour late.

This was very unusual for him. He went to bed earlier than usual yesterday, but got up late today. No wonder the deputy medicine envoy said yesterday that there would be no morning exercises today. I'm afraid that most of the children would not be able to get up this morning.

If it is the meat of a ferocious beast, it may indeed have this effect.

An Jing sorted out his clothes and put on his training clothes, saying to himself: "If you eat too much and have too much nutrition, you will feel sleepy easily. Maybe this is the reason."

There were thirty people in the dormitory. An Jing took a quick look and found that everyone except himself was sleeping soundly. This was probably because their digestive abilities were inferior to An Jing's, or it might also be because An Jing was not really full.

But it doesn’t matter. There is still some time before noon, and An Jing plans to do some morning exercises to restore his physical strength.

However, when An Jing was ready to leave the dormitory, he suddenly discovered something.

Zhang Ying is missing.

(End of this chapter)