Chapter 168: Gluttony

When they heard the words of the presiding god and learned that the next exam was actually an eating contest, many of the contestants present felt a jolt of alarm and began to ponder their own advantages and disadvantages in this arena.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, on the other hand, listened with eyes shining, thinking to themselves, "Doesn't this next exam mean we can eat and drink for free to our hearts' content?"

"A buffet, right?" Zhang Yu muttered inwardly. "I've got to eat back the registration fee, travel expenses, and teleportation fees."

Bai Zhenzhen guessed, "The next exam wouldn't be unlimited pre-made dishes, would it? That would be awesome!"

Zhang Yu said, "We're taking the Foundation Establishment exam. How could they possibly serve pre-made dishes? At the very least, it should be high-value, hard-to-digest stuff like beast meat—that's what's appropriate for an exam."

Just as the two were discussing what they might eat in the next exam, Yu Xinghan also walked up beside them and said, "This is the Immortal Capital. In the next exam, even eating dragon meat would be perfectly normal."

As he spoke, his eyes were filled with longing, and he couldn't help but start salivating uncontrollably.

Hearing the words "dragon meat," both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were taken aback, then felt a bit incredulous.

"All-you-can-eat dragon meat?" Zhang Yu said. "Isn't that a bit over the top?"

Yu Xinghan said, "What's dragon meat in the Immortal Capital?"

"Look at these Immortal Capital people on site—which one of them isn't a tycoon? Ordinary food, how could it possibly be enough to satisfy their digestion?"

He jerked his chin in the direction of Yun Jing. "See that No. 11? He's a big shot among the high school students of the Immortal Capital. It's said that his monthly spending on outsourced cultivation alone is in the tens of millions."

Bai Zhenzhen sighed, "These filthy rich people are just disgustingly wealthy. Where do they even get all that money?"

Yu Xinghan said, "They're from Layer 1.5... stuff from Layer 1.5—how could you, someone from Layer 1, possibly understand?"

Bai Zhenzhen: "Then how do you, someone from Layer 1, know news about Layer 1.5?"

Yu Xinghan said, "I know it from my master, of course. He's been keeping tabs on all kinds of intelligence from the Immortal Capital."

"After all, this place gathers the richest companies, the most advanced technology, and the most promising students of immortal cultivation from Layer 1 of Kunxu. Paying attention here is like watching the wind vane of the future immortal cultivation world…"

As he spoke, Yu Xinghan looked at the two and started selling, "Would you like to subscribe to my cutting-edge news from the immortal cultivation world? I also have sharp commentary from Golden Core true persons?"

Paid Q&A—this was a new business Yu Xinghan had recently started, which had brought him considerable income.

Zhang Yu was somewhat interested when he heard this, but then he thought about his current savings and curled his lip. "Let's talk about it later."

Just then, under the expectant gazes of Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Yu Xinghan, buckets of food were being transported to the scene.

But when the lids were opened and they saw the synthetic food inside, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were filled with disappointment.

Especially since they had already been eating synthetic food for months, the thought of having to compete by eating more of it made them feel nauseous, their faces turning green.

Zhang Yu cursed inwardly, "Damn it… I paid thirty thousand in registration fees last time, and this is what we get to eat?"

A trace of embarrassment also flashed across Yu Xinghan's face as he thought to himself, "Just how much did these presiding gods embezzle?"

Meanwhile, Deng Bingding, the chief examiner, continued to explain the rules of this exam.

In summary, this exam was about who could eat the most, with synthetic food provided in unlimited quantities.

During this time, spiritual roots must not be used, magical power must not be used—in short, no power other than the physical body is allowed. Of course, mental cultivation methods, being a power of the mind's visualization and thus part of the physical body's power, are not restricted.

Furthermore, any methods including vomiting or hiding food are considered cheating, and any offender found will have their eligibility for the Foundation Establishment qualification permanently revoked.

Deng Bingding said, "Eating, digesting, metabolizing—these are the roots of physical strength and a major manifestation of bodily fortitude."

"A true strongman must possess powerful internal organs, fine control over everything inside the body, and a strong ability to recruit the power of the stomach and intestines."

"You could say that the stronger the body, the stronger the digestive ability, and the greater the appetite—this is an inevitability."

"This stage examines you from that angle, testing your physical strength and your control over your body."

"If running, jumping, and bearing weight are the external exercises of the body,"

"then what we're testing you on today is the internal exercise of the body."

"Everyone, do your best."

In the blink of an eye, as the exam officially began, a row of bar charts appeared on the light screen ahead, showing the contestants' numbers and the portions of food they had consumed.

With the start of 3, 2, 1, the bars on the light screen shot up wildly one by one.

With a loud crashing sound, one burly man hoisted a bucket and, like a whale swallowing, gulped down the synthetic food inside with a great sloshing noise.

As the synthetic food poured in crazily, there was even a sound like the surging of river water, causing many surrounding students to turn their heads in surprise.

The burly man named Meng Tao in a blink of an eye swallowed a large bucket of synthetic food, then couldn't help frowning slightly.

"This is really damn hard to eat."

The synthetic food in the bucket had no seasoning whatsoever; to Meng Tao it felt like eating dirt.

But after seeing that large bucket of synthetic food quickly devoured, his pride had already suppressed his disgust for the food.

"Hahaha, I usually use the Gluttony Spirit Root! My entire digestive system has long been accustomed to large amounts of eating."

"Even if I can't use the Gluttony Spirit Root now, the advantage I have is absolutely not comparable to others." "In this gluttony exam, I might even make it into the top three! Or even the top two!"

So while Meng Tao was frantically devouring the synthetic food, he glanced slightly at the light screen not far away, and joy appeared in his eyes.

First place, No. 23

Second place, No. 11

Third place, No. 18

Seeing himself ranked third, Meng Tao's first thought was naturally a flash of joy.

But when he noticed that the top two were continuously pulling away from him, that flash of joy turned into surprise.

Meng Tao couldn't help glancing in the direction of Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao, wanting to see how the two of them were eating.

And that look made his heart even more shocked.

He saw that Yun Jing's chest seemed to have opened a large hole, and he was directly pouring the food into that hole in his chest, needing no swallowing motion at all, as if pouring synthetic food from one bucket into another, pouring it right into his body.

No mistake, not a single character missed, all content is within view!

Meng Tao thought in shock: "Has he completely given up on taste and swallowing? Eating for him is like adding fuel."

On the other side, Ye Lingxiao, with his Qi and blood swelling and muscles stretching, suddenly expanded a whole size larger.

His limbs, chest, throat, esophagus, and stomach all enlarged dramatically, turning him into a small giant. He picked up the food bucket as if it were a big cup and casually poured it into his mouth.

Meng Tao thought to himself: "Ye Lingxiao can actually stretch his physical structure so freely..."

"Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao... these two have bodies like monsters. Do they have no weaknesses at all?"

"But it's okay. At least getting into the top three in this round is pretty decent for me."

Just then, they heard the chief examiner Deng Bingding say calmly: "Some students may be wondering why we use synthetic food for this exam."

"Because synthetic food is the easiest to digest, puts the least burden on the body, and can best accommodate various stomachs—it's suitable for testing."

"I know some people dislike eating it, but being able to adapt to the food as quickly as possible is also part of this stage's assessment."

Huang Zichou, listening to Deng Bingding's explanation, knew that these were all excuses. The real reason was to save the budget.

"These high school students are all bottomless pits when it comes to eating. If we served something valuable, they'd eat through the budget in no time. It's better to just let them have as much synthetic food as they want."

While Deng Bingding was speaking, not far away Dai Xingzhi was gulping down synthetic food while thinking to himself: "This is really disgusting."

As a citizen within the North Sixth Ring of the Immortal Capital's upper city, Dai Xingzhi had hardly ever eaten synthetic food. To him, it was food specially meant for poor people who came to the Immortal Capital to work.

Now gulping it down, he indeed felt it getting harder to eat, harder to swallow.

He thought to himself: "Not only do my stomach and intestines have to adapt, but I also have to endure it mentally. I'm afraid only those poor wretches who eat it every day are used to it..."

"Damn, I'm going to throw up..." Zhang Yu gloomily gulped down the large bucket of synthetic food in front of him, feeling nothing but misery in his heart.

"I already feel like throwing up after eating this stuff for so long every day, and now I have to compete by eating it?"

"Who the hell said 'no pain, no gain'? All the synthetic food I ate before... it's just dragging me down in the Foundation Establishment exam."

Finally, Zhang Yu couldn't help asking: "Examiner! Can I add some seasoning?"

Deng Bingding said flatly: "No. Overcoming the sense of taste is part of cultivation, and it is also one of the elements of this assessment."

Dai Xingzhi looked at Zhang Yu who had made the request and thought to himself: "Sure enough, a damn rich guy."

Seeing Zhang Yu's expression as if he was about to throw up, he thought: "It's a bit hard to eat, but is it really that exaggerated? What kind of food does he usually eat? Is it because he's so rich that he's always been picky about taste?"

Even in the Immortal Capital, wealthy high school students, in pursuit of scores and rankings, are used to putting taste behind their other needs.

But Zhang Yu's performance, in Dai Xingzhi's eyes, was that of someone used to comfort all the time, lacking the cultivation perseverance of an Immortal Capital native.

Especially when comparing Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao's performances, he felt this even more strongly.

"Hmph, so it's true—even if both are rich, these out-of-town rich people are no match for the rich of our Immortal Capital."

And just as the students were frantically swallowing synthetic food, chasing and overtaking each other on the light screen's rankings,

The Lesser Deity Huang Zichou glanced at the performances of a few students and said, "The second phase is about to begin."

On the field, Meng Tao, who had been gulping and wolfing down, suddenly began to slow down.

And it wasn't just him—at the same time, several other students who had been eating voraciously also gradually slowed their pace.

Huang Zichou commented on the network, "Heh, the so-called Gluttony Contest, a competition of food intake, isn't just about who eats the fastest."

"As Lord Deng just said, it's about overall metabolism and digestion, about the mobilization of the stomach and intestines' strength, about the students' control over their own bodies."