C4 A Person Who Could Eat Anything

Gu Feng was fearless. His presence here signaled he had no intention of leaving any survivors. In an instant, his weapon swiftly pierced toward the bandit's neck. The exhausted bandit was too weak to fight back, his feeble attempts at defense were like mere tickles to Gu Feng.

Gu Feng's short weapon mercilessly plunged into the man's flesh repeatedly, blood gushing out in a gruesome display. With a final thrust, the sword penetrated his throat, ending his agonizing existence.

"Excellent, excellent job. On behalf of my fallen brothers, I thank you!" said another man, tears streaming down his face as he watched Gu Feng dispatch the bandit leader.

"It was nothing, really," Gu Feng replied with a dismissive shake of his head and a smile. Approaching the man, he offered, "Come on, let me help you up."

"Thank you, young man. If it weren't for you, I would have perished at the hands of these thieves. It's just heartbreaking for my brothers who fought and died beside me," the severely wounded man lamented, his pale face a stark contrast to the lifeless bodies of his comrades.

"Death is final, but if you continue to live, wouldn't your brothers feel alone? You were their leader, after all."

"I can't die yet. I still have to look after their families!"

Gu Feng was indifferent to the man's sense of loyalty. What did it matter to him how deeply someone else valued their relationships? As Gu Feng assisted the victim to his feet, a wicked grin crept across his face. Without warning, his weapon sliced through the unsuspecting man's neck, blood spraying wildly. The man's eyes widened in shock.

Clutching his neck to stem the flow of blood, he pointed at Gu Feng, the seemingly harmless and strikingly handsome youth, now revealing a dark and cunning smile. Stuttering "You, you, you..." he collapsed to the ground, his eyes void of life.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention—I'm not exactly a good person." After Gu Feng had dispatched his foe, he spoke indifferently to the adventurer lying dead on the ground, eyes still wide open in disbelief. He then turned to Xianyue with a grin and instructed, "Check their bodies for anything of value. We need to leave this area quickly; it's not safe to linger."

"Oh!" Xianyue had mistakenly thought Gu Feng was benevolent, not realizing his capacity for ruthlessness.

Gu Feng couldn't quite describe what it felt like to take a life for the first time. All he knew was that his heart was racing uncontrollably, and he was in disbelief that he had actually killed two people. One thing was clear: they needed to get away from this place of conflict without delay.

The two groups had fought fiercely, and ultimately, Gu Feng was the one to profit. Aside from some silver notes, he found a palm-sized, soft leather pouch containing over a dozen beads the size of a thumb. Each bead faintly revealed a small, animal-like wisp of gas—these were undoubtedly the soulstones that practitioners sought, harvested from the Soul Beasts.

In this world, magical beasts didn't possess magic cores, only soulstones. The size of a soulstone varied with the beast's rank. These thumb-sized soulstones likely came from first-rank Soul Beasts. One shouldn't underestimate a first-rank Soul Beast; their combat power was comparable to a martial artist at the third level of Body Tempering. Even Gu Feng would have to flee if he encountered one now. These soulstones were also traded in the market, with a first-rank soulstone fetching around fifty silver coins each. With fifteen in his possession, that amounted to a substantial seven hundred and fifty silver coins!

"Eh, there are some herbs here too," Gu Feng remarked as he opened another pouch, discovering more than a dozen herbs. Regrettably, he wasn't an alchemist and couldn't identify them. His family's business was primarily in timber and ore, and he had no opportunity to study pills.

Having gathered the items, Gu Feng picked up a fine steel sword from the ground, slung it over his shoulder, and quickly departed with Xianyue. Although he hadn't found the super divine magic manual he was after, the haul was still significant. Fifteen valuable soulstones were a rare find, highly sought after in the market, often by large families who sent their own guards to hunt Soul Beasts and collect their soulstones.

Gu Feng used to receive a rank one soulstone every month from his family, which he would use to absorb energy for his cultivation. Sadly, he was not particularly adept at this practice. Years went by, and he remained at the first level of Body Tempering, much to Gu Mong's disappointment. Consequently, his allocation was reduced to one soulstone every two months, meaning he could only expect to receive six a year. And if Gu Tian managed to snatch some, Gu Feng was lucky to end up with three.

But that was no longer a concern. Gu Feng was not the same person he had once been. He was a high school student from Earth, his mind brimming with the thoughts of an advanced civilization. He could recite the 36 stratagems of war, knowledge that was pointless on Earth but perfectly applicable in this new world. The strategy he had just employed was akin to the proverbial fight between the clam and the crane, where the fisherman reaps the rewards.

Having secured fifteen first-level soulstones, Gu Feng quickly made his escape, eventually finding a small cave in the wilderness that could shelter three to five people.

Inside the cave, Gu Feng sat cross-legged, tallying his spoils of war. The unknown herbs and silver notes he had acquired were handed over to Xianyue.

"Mother, would you like to use these soulstones for cultivation?" Gu Feng inquired before he began to absorb them, addressing his mother who had only reached the second level of Body Tempering.

"I'm beyond the age for cultivation, my son. These items won't do me much good. You should use them," Xianyue replied, her face warm with affection as she looked at Gu Feng.

"Alright then. Once I've grown stronger, I'll be the one to protect you. And as for the Gu family, whether we return or not is irrelevant. We have our own hands and feet; we won't starve," Gu Feng said, carefully examining the soulstones that contained a barely visible wakan. "Honestly, the Gu family is too arrogant for their own good. It's only a matter of time before someone wipes them out."

Gu Feng hailed from Earth, specifically the twenty-first century. He didn't know much, but he had read enough novels to understand that a thriving family must stand united. The Gu family, however, was the antithesis of this. They had lasted four generations, over three hundred years, thanks to the presence of their elders. But without these stalwarts, the Gu family, which controlled thirty percent of Pan City's timber and ore veins, would surely fall to the city's other noble houses within decades.

Xianyue remained silent upon hearing Gu Feng's words. She simply sat beside him, observing as her son, who had changed so much, absorbed the wakan from the soulstone.

Gu Feng had once seemed timid and easily frightened to her, but now he was the complete opposite. He had become someone who could kill without hesitation, possessing both great courage and cunning. Reflecting on the recent events, she pondered the possibility of their enemies discovering them earlier. Had that happened, her son might have been killed, and she could have faced humiliation at the hands of the powerful before meeting her own demise.

Gu Feng had certainly considered these risks, but he was confident such a scenario would not unfold. His love for his own life far exceeded his concern for his mother's. He would never gamble with his own survival.

"Should I give him the Bronze Mandate now?"

Xianyue recalled the Bronze Mandate that Gu Mong had entrusted to her before she departed from the Gu family. She examined the token, adorned with nine Divine Dragons entwined with orbs, and mulled over Gu Mong's words. Was there truly something sealed within it? And how could it accept Gu Feng as its master? Watching Gu Feng meditate before her, she decided to tuck the token back into her bosom.

Gu Feng clutched the tiny soulstone in his hand, channeling the barely perceptible genuine energy within him, triggering an eruption of wakan from within the bead. The soulstone was punctured like a balloon, releasing a stream of pure and refined wakan. This energy coursed through Gu Feng's palm and spread throughout his body. Drawing on his existing knowledge of cultivation, he practiced the Gu family's heart sutra to contain the wakan within his skin.

The first level of Body Tempering hardened the skin to an iron-like strength. The second level fortified the meridians, making them more resilient and expansive, laying a solid foundation for future cultivation. The third level strengthened the bones, turning them as hard as steel. These initial three levels of Body Tempering were basic, but they would enhance in strength with his growing cultivation.

For instance, once his cultivation reached the Dawning, the Qi Movement Stage, his skin would naturally progress from iron to copper, steel, and eventually black iron. If he continued to focus on Body Tempering in his future cultivation, his physique would become even more formidable.

The wakan within a tiny soulstone might seem insignificant, but for Gu Feng, it was puzzlingly ineffective. When he absorbed it, it was like a mere droplet in the vast sea, failing to cause even the slightest ripple. He knew from his memories that an average person could reach the first level of Body Tempering after absorbing fifty soulstones. Yet, despite having received soulstones from the Gu family since he was eight, ten years had passed, and he should have ascended to the second level by now.

"Could my body truly be this worthless? What does that mean for my martial path? I refuse to accept this!" Gu Feng felt a twinge of disappointment.

However, he didn't rush to conclusions. As an avid reader of over eight hundred fantasy novels, he had a few theories. Perhaps he wasn't useless after all; maybe he possessed a unique constitution. To test this theory, Gu Feng grabbed another soulstone and began to absorb its wakan anew.

This time, he directed the wakan not into his body, but into his fist, concentrating all the energy from the soulstone into a single punch. As he had suspected, a faint trace of wakan was detectable around his fist, minuscule as a droplet in a pond, suggesting his body required an immense amount of wakan to be filled.

Half an hour later, Gu Feng opened his hands slightly and with a tight grip of his right hand, he crushed the drained soulstone into dust. A wicked smile spread across his face as he muttered, "Damn it, just as I thought."

"Feng, what's the matter?" Xianyue, the beautiful young woman watching over him, asked with concern upon seeing his grim smile.

"Mother, aside from absorbing wakan from soulstones, is there another method for cultivating Body Tempering?" Gu Feng asked, his heart swelling with excitement at the prospect. He knew that if he could achieve the third level of Body Tempering, his strength would be more than tenfold that of an ordinary practitioner.

"Yes, consuming spirit pills is another way. You've had your fair share in the past, as you well know," his mother informed him. "Additionally, ancient texts mention mystical spirit pools that can elevate one's cultivation by several realms when immersed in them. Whether or not that's true, I can't say for certain—it's merely a written account."

"Why does it feel like cultivating is just burning through money?" Gu Feng lamented as he took out his silver notes and began counting them.

"It's exactly like burning money. If it weren't, everyone in this world would be a warrior, and there would be no ordinary folk," Xianyue said with a smile, watching Gu Feng tally up his silver notes.

"You've got a point. I thought these thousand-plus silver notes would be enough to live comfortably. Seems like I can't avoid being poor after all." Gu Feng did some quick calculations. With his unique sponge-like constitution, he'd need thousands of ordinary soulstones and wakan to be satisfied. Thousands of them would cost at least two hundred thousand taels of silver. Contemplating the staggering amount, Gu Feng said resignedly, "I'll just have to take it one step at a time. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a pie in the sky."

"Feng, are you running low on money? Mother still has some savings," Xianyue mentioned, noticing Gu Feng putting the silver notes away.

"Savings? How much?" Gu Feng's eyes sparkled with hope as he turned to his beautiful mother and inquired.

"I have two thousand taels. If that's not enough, your grandmother has more. She adores you," Xianyue replied warmly.