Chapter 75 - 32: Devouring Everything, Digesting Myriad Spirits, the Sinister Feast Ceremony

Chapter 75: Chapter 32: Devouring Everything, Digesting Myriad Spirits, the Sinister Feast Ceremony

As the Feast Ceremony fully unfurled, a strange, bone-chillingly eerie sensation suddenly spread out. Xia He and the other disciples who had yet to leave all shivered, the hairs on their bodies standing on end.

Only Wu Shan, Meng Yingyue, and a few others remained expressionless, completely unaffected.

Apparently, the atmosphere emanating from Jiang Xuan’s Feast Ceremony could only affect new cultivators like Xia He. It was powerless against those at the Spirit Core Late Stage, let alone Meng Yingyue, who had reached Spirit Core Perfection.

However, despite being unaffected, their usual casual expressions vanished as they observed the solemn, serious, and even faintly sacred aura surrounding Jiang Xuan. They all put on more serious faces in unison.

"Jiang Xuan... he gives off a different feeling now. Maybe he can actually pass our Four Seasons Valley’s assessment."

"Haha, then I’m about to get a new junior brother," Wu Shan boomed with laughter. The tall, powerfully built man was clearly welcoming of Jiang Xuan’s arrival.

But Meng Yingyue, beside him, disagreed. With a curve in her eyes, she retorted, "He might just be *my* junior brother, you know. Your Summer Vein cultivates ultimate Growth and unrestrained Bloom, while our Autumn Vein focuses on the settling of fruits and the storing of all things. For a junior brother so devoted to the way of food, coming to our Valley of Autumn would be a match made in heaven."

Listening to the two squabble as if no one else was there, Zhou Qing from the Valley of Spring and Di Chuan from Winter Lake exchanged a helpless glance. From their perspective, Jiang Xuan’s devotion to eating didn’t seem to align with the Dao Rhymes of Spring Revival or winter’s silent extinction in any way.

...

Jiang Xuan, of course, was completely unaware of the subtle and not-so-subtle competition for him among the others.

Having completed the rites of the Feast Ceremony, he simply raised his hand with a placid expression, picked up a stalk of green vegetable with his chopsticks, and slowly brought it to his mouth.

BZZZ—

The moment the vegetable entered his mouth, it touched the tip of his tongue. As his tongue tasted its freshness, the unique, tender, crisp sweetness and vigorous Vitality of the green vegetable exploded across his taste buds.

’Clean and sweet with a lingering sweetness, and full of juice... There’s also Spiritual Qi. Though this vegetable is a common variety, it grew in a Spirit Mountain’s blessed land. Nurtured daily by Spiritual Qi, its quality is already completely different.’

After tasting it, the Thousand-Attracting Tongue activated. Relying on this Extraordinary Spiritual Sense, Jiang Xuan perceived the conditions in which the green vegetable had grown, as well as its freshness.

He could even roughly sense its age:

’Its growth cycle was a month at most... and this was just picked this morning.’

But it didn’t end there.

KACHA.

After his tongue had sampled the flavor, Jiang Xuan applied gentle pressure with his teeth, bit through the vegetable, and began to chew slowly.

As it was being crushed, the power of both the Feast Ceremony and the Thousand-Attracting Tongue was pushed to its absolute limit.

Now, with every chew, Jiang Xuan could more clearly touch the vibrant Vitality hidden within the vegetable stalk.

And now, he finally understood the immense difference between ordinary eating and this Feast Ceremony—the former was merely to fill one’s stomach, while the latter was to completely integrate every part of the food into one’s very bones, blood, and Divine Soul.

At this moment, through the power of his chewing and the Thousand-Attracting Tongue, Jiang Xuan experienced the entire life of this green vegetable from beginning to end.

He seemed to personally witness its joy as it broke through the soil and sprouted, to touch its elation upon first seeing the morning sun, to feel its thrill when watered by the spring rain, to experience its satisfaction as it grew taller inch by inch, right up to the very end—the deep-seated panic and helplessness of being pulled up by the roots.

But he wasn’t just an observer.

As his teeth continued to grind, the vegetable was thoroughly masticated. Its growth trajectory, its life, its joy, and its fear were all crushed to pieces along with it, sinking into the pit of Jiang Xuan’s stomach with each swallow.

Jiang Xuan devoured every part of it, fusing it with his own being.

This was the Feast Ceremony—a terrifying rite to devour all things and digest all spirits.

What surprised Jiang Xuan was that, during this process, the Three Purification Spell had also begun to circulate on its own, complementing the power of the ceremony and multiplying its Effect several times over.

’This makes sense according to magical principles. The Three Purification Spell is a preparatory Technique for revering deities and performing rites. It can cleanse the body and soul, leaving them pure and untainted, making it easier to commune with Heaven and Earth and align with the divine. Although this Feast Ceremony has an eerie feel, at its core, it is still an orthodox Daoist School ritual.’

’The Way of Heaven is to take from what has a surplus and give to what has a deficit; the Way of Man is to take from what has a deficit to serve what has a surplus... This is the purest, most fundamental principle of the Daoist School.’

With the Three Purification Spell’s enhancement, Jiang Xuan’s Flesh Body and Divine Soul were both in a limpid, clear, and untainted state. By absorbing and fusing with the vegetable’s Spirit Charm in this condition, he could more clearly touch the joy and delight of its Growth, and the unique revival and Vitality of spring that this fresh seasonal vegetable carried.

DING-A-LING—

The instant that essence of spring, representing the revival of all things, silently rippled out from Jiang Xuan, the copper bell on the table in front of Zhou Qing suddenly let out a clear, crisp chime.

This scene stunned Zhou Qing, Wu Shan, and the others.

"He comprehended the essence so quickly? His Comprehension and Talent are terrifying! And... it’s the essence of spring?"

Jiang Xuan’s progress left Wu Shan astonished, while Zhou Qing was surprised, excited, and overjoyed.

"Jiang Xuan is actually one of ours, from the Spring Vein! Hahaha, the heavens are helping me!"

Zhou Qing was also welcoming of Jiang Xuan’s arrival. The reason was that the Four Seasons Valley was different from other Dharma Veins. Here, one valley was divided into four seasons, which meant there was some internal conflict. If his own branch recruited a genius, Zhou Qing’s Vein would receive a greater share of resources.