Chapter 141: True Blindness

Ugh!

An hour later, someone finally gagged.

After consuming five portions, the accumulated toxins in Wang Meng's body erupted. He could no longer withstand it and lay on the ground, vomiting uncontrollably. Moments later, his face turned green, he foamed at the mouth, and his entire body convulsed on the ground.

"Medic! Medic!" Chen Fang, who was nearby, immediately shouted.

"I see him, don't panic. It's just a minor issue." The middle-aged medic walked over to Wang Meng and lifted him with one hand. At this moment, Wang Meng was hunched over, like a large shrimp.

"Needles!" The medic gestured, and a row of silver needles immediately flew out from a box. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The silver needles pierced different parts of Wang Meng's body. As the needles were inserted, Wang Meng's body relaxed and straightened. Simultaneously, the silver needles turned purplish-black.

"Spew it out!" The middle-aged medic struck Wang Meng's abdomen with a palm. Like a ball, Wang Meng was repeatedly tossed into the air. After taking several consecutive strikes, Wang Meng fully regained consciousness.

"He's fine now," the middle-aged medic said to Liu Yongli.

"Your Nine Needles of Rejuvenation are getting stronger and stronger," Liu Yongli said with a smile. "He recovered so quickly."

"The main thing is that the problem wasn't severe," the middle-aged medic explained. "He's only at the first level of the Gluttony Technique. The Nine Needles of Rejuvenation are more than enough. If he had failed while attempting to advance from the third to the fourth level of the Gluttony Technique, the Nine Needles of Rejuvenation wouldn't be able to save him; it would require the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate."

Liu Yongli nodded and said to the recovered Wang Meng, "You don't need to eat any more today. Your training intensity will also be reduced accordingly."

Wang Meng was somewhat unwilling. "Commander, I want to continue training..."

"Training for what?!" Liu Yongli reprimanded him. "Martial artists should pursue their limits, but that doesn't mean seeking death! Pursuing breakthroughs and courting disaster are two different things! You're only at the first level of the Gluttony Technique. Your daily training limit is this much. If you force yourself to train further, you'll ruin yourself!"

"Yes, I understand." Wang Meng was still somewhat unwilling, but he retreated to the side to rest.

Those who cultivate the Gluttony Technique to a higher level can replenish their primal energy faster from food, and nutrients are delivered more uniformly throughout their bodies. This can enhance various resistances. However, there is a limit; it's not something that can be infinitely enhanced. Even if what Zhao Xing provided was normal sustenance, anything consumable can become toxic if accumulated in sufficient quantities! Wang Meng, being only at the first level of the Gluttony Technique, could not eat any more today, and his corresponding training load also had to be reduced.

Gag!

Soon, another person couldn't endure it. His symptoms were different from Wang Meng's. It wasn't poisoning, but rather an excessive absorption of the primal energy from the Hemp Fish Fruit, which caused his body to go numb. Even though he hadn't finished digesting, he continued to consume primal energy, leading to an excess of it surging wildly within his body. His condition was slightly more severe than Wang Meng's.

"Needles!" The middle-aged medic then turned this person into a pincushion as well.

"I can't take it anymore!""Needles!""Gag!""I'll needle him!"

One after another, people experienced side effects, but under the middle-aged medic's treatment, they quickly recovered. The only ones still eating were Chen Fang, Hu Bing, Zhang Jie, and Xia Jing.

"Wow, they're still eating.""Hemp Fish Fruit... is this the Hemp Fish Fruit? It's terrifying.""Don't talk to me, your breath smells like dead fish.""As if your own body doesn't smell."

"Medic, can we get rid of this smell?" Wang Meng looked at the middle-aged medic.

"I'm a medic, not a cleaner," the middle-aged medic stated blandly. "This smell won't dissipate. It will naturally disappear in a few days."

"The six of you will undergo mountain running training to aid digestion. When the time comes, you'll proceed with speed-eating training." Liu Yongli gave instructions to the six.

"Yes, sir." The six lined up and ran towards the gravelly mountain terrain ahead. As for the remaining four, they continued eating.

Xia Jing, Chen Fang, Hu Bing, and Zhang Jie were all Eighth-Rank martial artists, with Xia Jing having already reached the late stage of Eighth-Rank. Ranked martial artists can eat an entire ox in one meal. These four were among the best in the Martial Division, and their Gluttony Technique had reached the second level or higher. Therefore, they continued to eat Hemp Fish Fruits to earn points. However, Hemp Fish Fruit is a third-tier supply, and its primal energy concentration is quite high. The six who had already gone for their run could only manage eight or nine portions before reaching their limit.

"With the first level of the Gluttony Technique, even if consumed slowly, digesting third-tier supplies wouldn't exceed a hundred jin."

"Looking at this, it seems the five thousand jin won't be finished today." Liu Yongli observed for a while and noticed that Hu Bing and Chen Fang were also nearing their limits.

"How could they possibly finish it all?" The middle-aged medic said, "The more Hemp Fish Fruit they eat, the more their body's meridians will be numbed by its inherent primal energy properties, and trace toxins will accumulate. The four of them simply can't finish it in one day."

A long time had passed. Wang Meng and the other six had been eating for over four hours, each consuming less than a hundred jin, yet they had reached their limits. The longer they ate, the harder it became to digest. Even if the time limit were extended to twenty-four hours, Xia Jing and the other three wouldn't be able to finish the remaining four thousand-plus jin.

"They'll have to eat it tomorrow." Liu Yongli nodded. "As long as they can finish what the SInong cultivates within three days." The Martial Division's rule was that they *must* finish everything the SInong cultivated! Because the land's vitality in this area was limited! SInongs couldn't infinitely grow food. They would move to a different location after three days. One SInong, assigned to ten martial artists, and the land's vitality would weaken over time—yet they couldn't finish it? Then they shouldn't bother with other training; they should just focus on speed-eating training first. It's disgraceful!

"I have my doubts," the middle-aged medic said. "That SInong Supervisor isn't simple. Look at the batch of Hemp Fish Fruit he cultivated earlier; it didn't cause any major commotion. The weather hasn't changed, and the fluctuations in land vitality are not strong. In other words, according to his judgment, the environmental conditions are still sufficient to support further cultivation. Within three days, at least another batch of supplies will be produced."

"Another batch?" Upon hearing this, Liu Yongli's face showed a sympathetic expression: "I hope this month of training doesn't leave them with psychological trauma..."

Beside the flying boat, Zhao Xing gathered a batch of fourth-tier seeds and floated into the sky.

"After cultivating the third-tier Hemp Fish Fruits, the land's vitality had significantly diminished. Initially, it was rated 'ordinary.' After I used the Earth Store Rejuvenation Technique to treat it, it reached 'mildly fertile.' But after planting, it's now 'mildly barren.' If left alone, it would take about forty hours to recover to 'mildly fertile.' Cultivating fourth-tier supplies now would be very difficult."

Zhao Xing patrolled the gravel slope area and finally reached a conclusion. If he wanted to cultivate fourth-tier supplies, he would have to wait. However, according to the SInongs' scoring criteria, supplies had to be produced daily. If he cultivated fourth-tier supplies, Zhao Xing would inevitably lose points for one day. If he didn't plant them and instead planted a batch of second-tier supplies the next day, he wouldn't lose base points. But this would inevitably affect the growth of the fourth-tier seeds. It wasn't easy to increase the intensity for the martial artists either.

But what kind of person was Zhao Xing? "Only children make choices. I'll take it all! I'll plant both fourth-tier and second-tier!"

"Clouds!" Zhao Xing pointed a finger at the sky. The Cloud Devouring Technique was cast, causing clouds to roll and unfurl nine times, instantly covering the entire training area. The Cloud Devouring Technique had already broken through to the Ninth Revolution in his previous cultivation! Even the martial artists noticed the change in the sky.

Splash! Heavy rain poured down.

"He's making it rain, and with such a large scale?" Chen Fang looked at the clouds in the sky, his heart involuntarily startled. "What is he doing? He just planted so many third-tier supplies. Could he plant more within three days?!"

"No way, five thousand jin of Hemp Fish Fruits isn't his limit?" Zhang Jie was also stunned. They had previously witnessed the methods of military SInongs in local armies. But they had truly never seen someone as formidable as Zhao Xing. Cultivating five thousand jin of Hemp Fish Fruit in three hours—which SInong in the local armies could do that? Very few, especially since this area isn't large. There weren't many planting areas to choose from either.

"This scoundrel, he can't really plant more, can he...?" Xia Jing's lips were also pale at this moment. He was eating the fastest and had eaten the most. Several hours had passed, and he had already consumed five hundred jin! However, with Zhao Xing's rain, his heart began to feel uneasy. Before, he had been stubborn, thinking that while these five thousand jin were the limit for his group, they should also be Zhao Xing's limit. He was quite familiar with military SInongs; the land's vitality was finite, making infinite cultivation of supplies impossible. But now, Xia Jing's heart was pounding.

Soon—

The rain stopped! The downpour came quickly and left just as fast.

"Did he realize it wouldn't work, and so he gave up?" But it didn't stop for long.

Splash! The downpour began again. And so it continued, stopping, then raining.

The mindsets of Xia Jing, Chen Fang, Hu Bing, and Zhang Jie were repeatedly tested. Because to actually consume the supplies cultivated by the SInong, it largely depended on these four. The other six couldn't help much. The six combined hadn't consumed more than five hundred jin, while the four of them had already eaten eighteen hundred jin. Although their lips were blackened and their heads dizzy, they hadn't reached their limits yet. With three days, and by eating slowly and utilizing the Gluttony Technique, there was still hope of finishing it.

"Brother, please don't plant any more... Hmm? Great-grandma?" Zhang Jie ate a Hemp Fish Fruit he held, then suddenly stood up. "Great-grandma, how are you still alive? Have you come to see me...? Your great-grandson is unfilial."

Liu Yongli looked at Zhang Jie, who was hugging him and wiping away tears, with a startled expression. Had this guy hallucinated from eating?

"Bastard, let go! I'm not your great-grandma!" Liu Yongli tried to shake him off, but couldn't. At that moment, Zhang Jie's strength was astonishing!

"I'll handle this." Seeing this, the middle-aged medic inserted a needle into the back of Zhang Jie's head.

"Wuwuwu..." Zhang Jie, despite being needled, continued crying but unconsciously let go. Puff, puff, puff! Thick needles pierced different parts of Zhang Jie's body. Soon, Zhang Jie regained consciousness. He saw that his great-grandma had turned into Martial Master Liu Yongli. The latter was wiping mucus from his body, looking at Zhang Jie with disdain.

"Commander Liu? Is... is that you?" Zhang Jie was startled and uncertain. He took two steps back, only to find his limbs weak, nearly falling to the ground.

"A proper man, crying like this, it's undignified! Damn it, I couldn't even shake him off, and now I'm covered in his snot..." Liu Yongli was somewhat speechless.

"I'm sorry, Commander!" Zhang Jie apologized repeatedly, "I don't know what happened..."

"There was a problem with the detoxification process of your Gluttony Technique. The toxins weren't expelled and instead traveled to the Jingming and Tianying acupoints." The middle-aged medic suddenly pulled a needle from the back of Zhang Jie's head, then, with a blur of motion, removed two more needles from his brow.

"Ah? This..." Only then did Zhang Jie realize his head was covered in needles.

"No 'ah's,' just try running a few steps." The middle-aged medic collected the needles.

The military medic's words were also a command, so Zhang Jie immediately started to run. But after only two steps, he fell to the ground with a thud.

"This, why did I fall?" Zhang Jie's head hit a stone, but the impact was light; his dazed state didn't cause any brain damage.

"You are currently unable to achieve a unified command of your strength, and your control over your body will be erratic," the middle-aged medic said. "This is due to residual toxins affecting you... Keep running. As you stumble and fall, you'll expel them. Six hundred twenty-five jin, your performance isn't bad. I'll inform you when you've recovered enough to resume speed-eating training."

"Yes, sir." Zhang Jie immediately got up and stumbled towards Wang Meng.

The downpour stopped, but a light drizzle continued. Zhao Xing landed back on the ground, cast the Profound Earth Technique, and sank into the earth to observe the ley lines.

"After my first batch of cultivation, the elemental forces of Fire and Metal in the ley lines were abundant, while Earth and Water were weak, and Wood was suppressed. To meet my planting needs, I need to use Water to nourish Earth and control Fire, supplemented by the brilliance of Metal ley lines to restrain Fire. This situation is somewhat similar to a problem I encountered during my official examination."

Zhao Xing's current approach was precisely the solution from that official examination. Theory wasn't learned for nothing. With all the spells Zhao Xing possessed, if he didn't understand the theories of various schools, he wouldn't know how to combine spells and quickly find solutions.

"The pond had dried up, and there was no natural water source here, but there was water in the sky. I used the Cloud Technique to gather rain energy, and the heavy downpour first addressed the weakness of Water, raising it to a level comparable to Metal. In ten hours, these land conditions will reach my expectations." Zhao Xing observed for a while, then, satisfied, ended his submersion and returned to the surface.

Zhou Ming watched Zhao Xing re-emerge from the earth, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. The assessment of a SInong's performance naturally required the presence of another SInong. Zhou Ming was a master farmer from the Heavenly Seasons Institute. At first, he didn't know what Zhao Xing intended to do, but once Zhao Xing was halfway through his operation, he figured it out. By the time ten hours had passed and the land's vitality had recovered to a mildly fertile level, Zhou Ming already held immense admiration for Zhao Xing.

"He only took ten hours to restore land vitality that would normally take forty hours, utilizing the environmental conditions of this area to their fullest. In my Heavenly Seasons Institute, perhaps only Shi Yong could achieve such a feat." Zhou Ming, drinking wine, couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "How could such a promising talent not have been secured during the fourth round of selection? And to let the Earth's Bounty Institute pick him up as a missed opportunity! Ge Jinsong and Cheng Qingming, one rated him 'average' and the other 'below average,' they were truly blind!"