Chapter 278: A Promising Future

After a burst of excitement, Zhang Gui fished five pure Pu Pills from his pocket, shoved them into his mouth, and began chewing them greedily.

The period spent searching for the Mysterious Domain Cave.

Because he felt his transcendent rank was only half a step away from the small leap from Fifth Rank "Bing Upper Middle" to Fourth Rank "Upper Bing".

So he specifically ordered the recruitment of Young Strong Men on the Ming Song Northern Border to fill the Zhenlong's Stone Corpse Soldier army, deliberately hunting down those cultivators who took advantage of the chaotic times to commit misdeeds.

Whether dead or alive, all of them were to be brought back to Shanhai County.

Zhang Gui crossed the sea to Zhenlong Island, using the "phosphorus‑free insect eggs" he had on hand to hatch Human‑Head Flesh Worms.

He killed them to obtain positive mysterious feedback, thereby advancing his transcendent level.

However, Zhang Gui originally thought that it only required his self‑created "Civilized Path" imprint in the mysterious realm to become slightly deeper—at least once or twice, at most five or six times.

Then he could inevitably ascend to the final stage of "Bing‑Class Transcendent" and hence look forward to the honored status of a "True Person Seed"!

Unexpectedly, Zhang Gui completely exhausted the phosphorus‑free insect egg clumps—about three quail‑egg‑sized pieces—that he had rummaged from Lao Fan's money bag in Shanhai County.

After hatching, they killed over a hundred Human‑Head Flesh Worms.

In the end he obtained exactly ten chances for his "Civilized Path" imprint to become slightly deeper in the mysterious realm.

Yet his transcendent power remained at "Bing Upper Middle", with not a iota increase.

Only his "food capacity" began to keep increasing.

Previously, a single "main meal" of three or four pure Pu Pills could equal a hundred jin of meat.

Accompanied by ordinary wine and dishes as "side food", enough for the appetite of three to five big men.

Now a "main meal" can involve chewing more than ten pure Pu Pills raw.

As for "side food", since it is eaten solely because of Zhang Gui's eating habits, it hasn't changed much.

Yet this phenomenon has never been observed in Zhang Gui before.

However, the newly promoted "Heavenly Rank" strongman Tao Yaoyao of the ancient human sect "Dai Luo Sect", while teaching him transcendent knowledge in "Jie Shan Yuan", once mentioned it in passing.

He said that a top‑tier prodigy qualified to become a "True Person Seed", during the process of leaping from Fourth Rank "Upper Bing" across the Heavenly Moat to reach "Upper Yi".

Some will experience a smooth, natural progression, but others will exhibit various anomalies.

One of them is the "Whale Devouring Aspect", i. e., a massive increase in food capacity.

Supposedly, the reason is:

First, because the leap from "Human" to "True Person" is too great.

If the advancement speed is too rapid, the mortal body feels discomfort and requires a massive amount of nutritional supplementation.

At that time, taking spiritual pills, miraculous medicines, or celestial fruits is naturally best; if unavailable, only dietary supplementation remains.

Second, also because the leap from "Human" to "True Person" is too great.

Yet the "too great" here refers to this ascending prodigy, who is already a leader among prodigies.

Others' life metamorphosis is a kind of "optimization", but he simply tears it down and starts over, fundamentally "from mortal to deity".

Mortal beings nurture life; the fetus exists in innate ignorance, so we won't mention it.

Yet a mother, from ten months of gestation to birth, instinctively urges herself to eat and drink well, storing nutrients.

Thus a petite woman weighing a hundred jin can suddenly gain half a person's weight.

Even mortal fetuses are like that, let alone nurturing a deity!

This time the "mother" can't help much, but preparing the deity's own "Body, Heart, Spirit" three treasures, how could there be no intuition to respond early?

Zhang Gui feels he is becoming increasingly able to eat, which must be this "response".

However, he is more special; other True Person Seeds develop the "Whale Devouring Aspect" during the transition from "Upper Bing" to "Upper Yi".

His "Body, Heart, Spirit" intuition is exceptionally sharp, allowing him to make the "response" one stage earlier.

"This is the extraordinary happening to extraordinary people.

I, Zhang Gui, am a uniquely special existence among "True Person Seeds".

I still recall Aunt Tao once said that among the thirty‑three criteria for judging a "True Person Seed", I met three, marking me as a contemporary prodigy.

But she also said that in the "Di Ku Jie", anyone who hits all thirty‑three criteria would crush me by dozens of "heads".

Yet when I was young, "strong" wasn't strength, it was "milk‑strong"; I don't believe the cosmic world or the primordial universe would keep "pressing" on me forever!"

Chewing the mouthful of pure Pu Pills and swallowing them, Zhang Gui's mind wandered boundlessly.

【5】 Unlike ordinary "Heavenly Craft", even at "Jia Upper" grade, one only builds a "Elixir Room" after completing the final step of city construction.

Even the "Family Business" grade of the ordinary "Heavenly Palace Opening" is only possible after completing the final step of city construction.

Only then can one build a "Elixir Room" for refining food pills where there is ground fire.

"Tiangang Unrivaled", as long as one is willing to transform metal "Metal Flying Artisan" into a metal "Dan Master", can freely construct Dan Rooms at will.

However, previously Zhang Gui thought that those tiny "Metal Flying Artisans", though numerous, were non‑renewable.

Hence he never built a second "Elixir Room".

Yet since the "Whale Devouring Aspect" appeared on his body, after deep contemplation he felt he might need to nourish the three treasures by "mass production".

Moreover, after the Zhenlong Kingdom "showed off" overseas, it must have some "specialties" to gain fame on the Chaotic Tooth Archipelago.

So he decided to go all the way in one step.

About ten kilometers behind the New World Sea City, where ground fire exists, he built a "Dan Fire City" capable of housing over ten thousand cauldrons.

Although only 1,024 of the treasure cauldrons have been lit so far, it is already a marvel of the outer sea!

"Now the Zhenlong Kingdom's monthly production of pure Pu Pills has reached about 360,000 pieces.

But should the future require me to transform into a giant hundreds of zhang tall to crush the pills and replenish nutrients, only then can the "from mortal to deity" metamorphosis be completed.

Then I would grab them all at once,"

Zhang Gui once again fished five pure Pu Pills from his pocket, gestured with them, shoved them into his mouth to chew, and continued to daydream freely,

"At the very least, I need to start with ten thousand pieces.

"Three hundred and sixty thousand pieces is roughly thirty mouthfuls."

Even if we add another 720,000 Liangfu Pills and over 1.4 million Jingliang Pills, these are low‑grade goods.

Even unseen, it's enough to eat.

Fortunately, when I began the nation‑building stage, I implemented steam mechanized production in the Zhenlong Kingdom, and the productivity was high enough.

After acquiring the "Fish‑Dragon Giant Ship", we also discovered a way to use the attraction of that mysterious "Promised Land" to hunt the Lost Giant Whale.

The meat for refining Food Pills has never been lacking…

At that moment, bathed in the sunset's afterglow, a faint silhouette blocked Zhang Gui's head,

"Sir, please stand up for a moment."

Zhang Gui, who had been squatting on the ground, came to his senses and looked up.

Seeing that a young Enclosed Citizen Officer was calling him, he honestly stood up.

"Is there any problem, Enclosed Citizen Officer?"

"What are you doing out in the suburbs at this hour?"

The questioning Enclosed Citizen Officer was An Yang of the MF County Police Station, and standing beside him was his peer True Spider Maya.

Zhang Gui was about to answer when a sudden idea occurred to him; he pointed to the ground beneath his feet,

"Let me see what's on the ground again."

"What?" An Yang was startled, looked at the ground, and found nothing there.

Thinking he was being teased, his eyebrows knit together.

(End of chapter)