Chapter 88: Is This Phoenix Meat?

Xu Ziyan’s hand trembled, nearly dropping the Phoenix meat into the campfire. She couldn’t sense any aura from the other person, nor did she feel any Aura Pressure from them, but Xu Ziyan wasn’t foolish enough to think the person before her was ordinary. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have approached so close without her noticing.

Her mouth felt dry. She swallowed hard twice before rasping, “Senior, is there something you need?”

“That… meat… smells… good!”

The Scarred One-Armed Man seemed like he hadn’t spoken for a long time, spitting out the words one by one.

Xu Ziyan quickly handed over the Phoenix meat she was holding. The man didn’t hesitate, grabbing it and stuffing it into his mouth to chew vigorously. Watching him eat so hungrily, Xu Ziyan swallowed hard twice, then carefully cut a small piece of Phoenix meat with her sword and began nibbling on it.

Before she had taken more than a few bites of her small piece, the Scarred One-Armed Man had already finished his portion. He looked unsatisfied, his gaze somewhat embarrassed as he stared at Xu Ziyan. Xu Ziyan hurriedly said:

“You can have all of this. I’m full with just this small piece.”

The Scarred One-Armed Man nodded, grinning at Xu Ziyan. In the night, his two rows of white teeth made Xu Ziyan’s heart jump. She quickly lowered her head to eat her meat, avoiding looking at the Scarred One-Armed Man.

After just a few bites of the Phoenix meat, Xu Ziyan immediately noticed something different. As soon as the meat entered her stomach, it turned into strands of Spiritual Energy that rushed into her Meridians. Following the Great Celestial Cycle Circulation, it entered her Dantian. Xu Ziyan felt this Spiritual Power was no weaker than the Spirit Burst Pill she had refined herself—in fact, it was several times stronger.

Given her current Cultivation Level, Xu Ziyan immediately felt she couldn’t suppress this Spiritual Power. She hurriedly put down the remaining Phoenix meat and tried hard to contain the energy inside her body. But the more she suppressed it, the more painful it became. However, she didn’t dare to perform Meditative Rest in front of the Scarred One-Armed Man, so she endured the agony, her face nearly scrunched up in pain.

“Sigh~~”

A soft sigh came from across from her. Xu Ziyan felt the Scarred One-Armed Man float over. Just as she thought to dodge, she felt a large hand press onto her head. Immediately, a gentle force surged in from her Baihui Acupoint, quickly entering her Meridians. It guided the rampaging Spiritual Power through her system and delivered it into her Dantian. Then the hand left the top of her head, and Xu Ziyan immediately heard the sound of chewing resume from across from her.

Xu Ziyan now understood that the other person meant her no harm, so she sat there calmly and continued her Cultivation. After completing three more Grand Cycles, fully digesting the Spiritual Energy from that piece of Phoenix meat, she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze showed joy and gratitude—she discovered that with the Scarred One-Armed Man’s help, her Cultivation Level had reached the peak of the First Layer of Foundation Building Stage, on the verge of breaking through to the second layer at any moment.

“Thank you!” Xu Ziyan said sincerely.

The Scarred One-Armed Man had already finished all the Phoenix meat on the campfire and was contentedly rubbing his stomach. Seeing Xu Ziyan thank him, he gently shook his head, then pointed to the piece of Phoenix meat that Xu Ziyan hadn’t finished eating earlier and asked:

“Are you still going to eat this?”

Xu Ziyan’s face turned red. Embarrassed, she handed the meat to the Scarred One-Armed Man and said, “I’m not eating it. You have it.”

The Scarred One-Armed Man smiled at Xu Ziyan, showing his clean white teeth. Just as Xu Ziyan was thinking how white his teeth were, she suddenly noticed the man’s expression change. Following his gaze over his own shoulder, Xu Ziyan saw a Swordback Tiger pouncing toward the Scarred One-Armed Man from behind.

Xu Ziyan could already feel the Aura Pressure from the Swordback Tiger. Just from the pressure, she could tell she was definitely no match for it. Her heart sank immediately. Just as she was about to use Sword Flight to escape into the air, she heard the Scarred One-Armed Man give a cold “Hmph,” then flick a finger backward. A Fireball shot from his fingertip, striking the Swordback Tiger between the eyes with lightning speed.

The Fireball didn’t explode on the tiger’s head but instead shot into its skull. Then, to Xu Ziyan’s shocked gaze, it went “Boom!” and exploded. The originally massive tiger head was blown to pieces, and the headless Swordback Tiger crashed heavily to the ground.

“Such… such a small… Fireball has this much power?”

Xu Ziyan trembled as she stared at the Scarred One-Armed Man across from her, her eyes revealing a trace of fear.

After killing the Swordback Tiger with a flick of his finger, the Scarred One-Armed Man didn’t even turn his head, continuing to eat the Phoenix meat in his hand.

The Valley fell silent at once, leaving only the sound of the Scarred One-Armed Man chewing. Xu Ziyan sat nervously opposite him, watching him cautiously. The sound of his chewing echoed loudly in the empty Valley, and with each chew, her heart trembled along with it.

Xu Ziyan now felt both respect and fear for the Scarred One-Armed Man before her. Not only had he killed a Swordback Tiger—which was incredibly powerful to her—with a casual finger flick, but just from eating this Phoenix meat, her heart was also filled with astonishment.

She had only managed a few bites before she couldn’t handle it, yet the Scarred One-Armed Man had eaten a huge piece cleanly without any reaction at all.

The man ate very quickly. After putting the last bite of Phoenix meat into his mouth, he smacked his lips with clear dissatisfaction. Looking somewhat sheepishly at Xu Ziyan, he said:

“Girl, do you have any more of this meat?”

“No!” Xu Ziyan quickly shook her head.

How could Xu Ziyan possibly tell him she still had Phoenix meat? Now that she knew the benefits this meat held for Cultivation, and considering that every part of a Phoenix was a treasure, if he found out she had a complete Phoenix corpse and decided to kill her for it, wouldn’t she die for nothing?

Seeing his somewhat disbelieving look, Xu Ziyan quickly took the Storage Pouch from her waist and dumped everything inside onto the ground. Right now, she couldn’t worry about the Elixirs she had refined that were in the pouch—they were nowhere near as valuable as the things inside Kunpeng’s Heart! Xu Ziyan’s heart pounded “thump-thump” as she nervously thought:

“He wouldn’t be able to detect Kunpeng’s Heart too, would he?”

The Scarred One-Armed Man’s gaze swept over the items on the ground. He didn’t seem interested in the Elixirs, but his eyes quickly scanned Xu Ziyan’s body, making her feel as if a blade had just scraped over her.

Just as Xu Ziyan was feeling incredibly tense, the Scarred One-Armed Man withdrew his gaze, a flash of disappointment in his eyes. Immediately after, he asked with a probing tone:

“Where did you get the meat you were eating?”

Xu Ziyan’s heart went cold. Did he recognize it as Phoenix meat from the taste? What should she do now?

“Is this Phoenix meat?”

Before Xu Ziyan could even think of an excuse, the Scarred One-Armed Man’s words nearly scared her into collapsing on the spot…