Chapter 76 - 32: Devouring Everything, Digesting Myriad Spirits, the Bizarre Feast Ceremony

Chapter 76: Chapter 32: Devouring Everything, Digesting Myriad Spirits, the Bizarre Feast Ceremony

Overjoyed, Zhou Qing immediately stood up, about to pull Jiang Xuan to his feet.

But just as he moved, someone reached out and stopped him.

The one stopping him was Di Chuan, seated before the winter table.

"Hold on," Di Chuan said, his expression stern and his tone perfectly calm. "Jiang Xuan isn’t necessarily a fit for your Valley of Spring alone."

"How could he not be a fit!" Di Chuan’s interruption made Zhou Qing’s expression darken instantly, his voice full of displeasure. "If his Dao Rhyme weren’t compatible, how could he have comprehended the true meaning of Spring Revival from just a single bite of a vegetable?"

Zhou Qing’s anger didn’t cause the slightest change in Di Chuan’s stern expression. He simply said calmly, "You’re right. Jiang Xuan did indeed grasp the rhythm of Spring Revival. But have you considered the possibility that his Comprehension is so extraordinary, he can grasp not just Spring Revival, but all four seasons!"

"..."

The moment he spoke, the entire area fell silent. After a long moment, Zhou Qing’s strained voice finally broke the silence.

"Th-That’s impossible, isn’t it?"

This time, Di Chuan didn’t answer. He simply fixed his solemn gaze on Jiang Xuan.

And he wasn’t the only one. Meng Yingyue, Wu Shan, and even Xia He, who was standing to the side, all turned to look as well.

An indescribable solemnity and shock filled their eyes, especially when they considered what the Four Seasons Dao Rhymes represented in the Four Seasons Valley.

...

Jiang Xuan remained completely oblivious to the undercurrents and disputes around him.

Having completed the Feast Ceremony, his entire Heart Spirit was immersed in the food before him.

GULP.

As he chewed and swallowed all the Spirit Charm and life from the first green vegetable, a gentle stream of Life Energy quietly spread through his body.

Without pausing, Jiang Xuan extended his chopsticks and picked up a second green vegetable.

It was another spring vegetable. Its path of Growth and the sensation it gave Jiang Xuan were nearly identical to the last. While no two leaves in the world are exactly the same, many are quite similar.

However, even though the sensation was similar, Jiang Xuan did not swallow perfunctorily in the slightest.

He still chewed slowly and deliberately, grinding every fiber of the leaf to dust, absorbing its entire life and all of its Spirit Charm until it was completely one with him.

The state of clarity and purity brought on by the Three Purification Mantra・True Communication allowed him to feel every pulse of the vegetable’s Growth, every single transformation, without hindrance. In the process, his understanding of spring and revival deepened at a visible rate.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH...

Amid the soft sounds of chewing, Jiang Xuan soon finished most of the spring ingredients on his table. Then, his chopsticks moved toward the summer vegetables, melons, and edible flowers.

This time, Jiang Xuan had a completely different experience.

When his teeth broke through the flesh of the fruits and the petals of the flowers, what exploded on his tongue was no longer the gentle sense of spring’s revival. Instead, it was an unrestrained, all-out Bloom—a Prosperous and flamboyant expression of Life Energy burning at its absolute peak.

The instant he absorbed all the Spirit Charm and Vitality from these ingredients into his body, he could even feel his own Flesh Body faintly stretching and growing stronger, following that vigorous rhythm of summer.

DING—

As expected, the copper bell on the Summer Vein’s table rang out. Its clear, crisp tone announced that Jiang Xuan had comprehended a sliver of the true meaning of summer’s Bloom from the ingredients.

At this, Meng Yingyue, Wu Shan, and Zhou Qing could no longer remain seated.

Xia He, standing to the side, had eyes that shone like they were filled with starlight. In the next moment, she clenched her fists, her face beaming with excitement. "This is wonderful! The Four Seasons Valley is about to have a genius of our own!"

Watching her jubilant expression, Wu Shan, Meng Yingyue, and Zhou Qing exchanged a look. They stared at one another, a hint of hard-to-conceal worry creeping into the depths of their eyes.

They weren’t worried that Jiang Xuan’s arrival at the Four Seasons Valley would threaten their own positions. They were afraid... that a prodigy with such Comprehension simply couldn’t be kept here and would eventually leave the Four Seasons Valley.

’Should we warn our junior sister not to get her hopes up?’

’You go.’

’...’

They exchanged silent glances, but in the end, no one said a word.

No one was willing to shatter the light in Xia He’s eyes. Helpless, they could only continue to hold their breath and watch intently as Jiang Xuan, bite by bite, consumed the ingredients representing the four seasons, and step by step, approached the legendary Four Seasons Dao Rhymes.

’Spring is revival, summer is a complete Bloom. Autumn... that’s condensation, a return to unity. It’s gathering all Energy into a single core.’

Chewing the ripe autumn grains and feeling their dense, reserved Energy, Jiang Xuan felt as if he was witnessing it himself: a stalk of grain passing through the budding of spring and the exuberance of summer, finally condensing its entire life’s Energy and Spirit Charm into plump kernels in the fall. It was the essence of its existence, the very legacy of life itself.

In spring, summer, and autumn, though a plant’s path through life varied, it was always one of upward Growth, filled with vigorous joy.

But when the seasons turned to bitter winter, everything changed in an instant.

The cold winter that followed autumn was bone-chillingly cruel. Swept by endless frost, all living things struggled to survive. Even plants withered and died in droves as the earth froze and sunlight grew scarce. To live, the survivors could only drive their roots deep into the frozen ground, relying on the nutrients saved from the prior three seasons. They lay dormant in the bitter, boundless cold, desperately awaiting the return of spring.

However, as Jiang Xuan chewed and swallowed the winter ingredients, he felt something within the withered, silent plants. Deep inside the buried roots, he touched a sliver of Vitality, clutched tight, refusing to be extinguished.