Chapter 51 – Spirit Food: Triple Cultivation Speed

The enchanting fairytale, filled with delightful surprises at every turn, completely captivated the pure-hearted Chu Lingluo, making her fall in love with Fairytale Manor and filling her with immense admiration for Mu Lin, the creator of the Tree City and the manor.

At this moment, she looked at Mu Lin with reverence as if he were a celestial being.

Feeling that the Tree City was too precious, she even wanted to compensate Mu Lin with some Spirit Stones.

After Mu Lin refused, she didn’t insist. However, the next day, when she arrived at the formal Training Ground, she brought along a large food box.

Opening the box, Chu Lingluo laid out a series of exquisite dishes before Mu Lin.

This time, before Mu Lin could refuse, Chu Lingluo spoke earnestly:

“Young Master Mu, please don’t refuse. This isn’t something I bought—I made it myself. My secondary cultivation path is Spirit Cooking. I’d like to ask you to taste it and offer some feedback.”

“…Alright.”

Seeing Chu Lingluo’s earnest and hopeful gaze, Mu Lin didn’t refuse this time.

However, after just a few bites, Mu Lin’s eyes widened in astonishment.

As a practitioner of the Spirit Cooking path, Chu Lingluo’s creations were exceptionally delicious, a true delight to savor.

But that wasn’t what surprised him. What astonished Mu Lin was that all the ingredients she used were Spirit Materials.

Mu Lin could feel that once the food entered his stomach, a warm current spread throughout his entire body, strengthening his physique.

It even gave him the illusion:

“If I regularly consume this kind of Spirit Food, my constitution, and even my meridians, will continuously be enhanced.”

What Mu Lin found particularly thoughtful was that among these Spirit Foods, there was a dish called Silver Moon Osmanthus Fish Soup.

After drinking it, Mu Lin felt a rich Moonlight Power filling his entire body.

This moonlight energy could restore Mu Lin’s Mana—the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi.

Moreover, it even allowed Mu Lin to cultivate the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture during the daytime.

Upon realizing this, Mu Lin felt not joy but unease.

“This is too valuable, I…”

Before Mu Lin could finish, Chu Lingluo waved her hand and said:

“This is nothing to me. As a practitioner of Spirit Cooking, I make many dishes every day. If you don’t eat them, they’ll just be thrown away.”

After speaking, realizing this hadn’t dispelled Mu Lin’s concerns, Chu Lingluo added somewhat sheepishly: “Actually, I also have some selfish motives. I really love the Tree City you built, and I adore the people there too. I hope, Brother Mu, that you can create a large-scale creation for every character and every story…”

Hearing this, Mu Lin breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that she had a request.

As for Chu Lingluo spending Spirit Stones to purchase Paper-Folding Artworks, that was nothing unusual.

In his previous life, some otaku who loved collecting were known to have “a wall at home worth a house in the city.”

There were also wealthy women who, because of their love for bags, beautiful clothes, or shoes, would buy countless items.

Some even bought an entire house just to store these things.

Was such behavior extravagant? Yes. But was it common? Quite common.

Ordinary people couldn’t understand the behavior of the wealthy, who might wear a precious garment only once.

Moreover, this extravagant lifestyle wasn’t limited to women. While men rarely bought bags, it wasn’t unheard of for them to buy a garage full of luxury cars.

Compared to them, Chu Lingluo’s desire to purchase artworks as an art enthusiast was hardly out of the ordinary.

“Then it’s settled.”

Knowing that he would be crafting dozens, even hundreds, of large-scale artistic creations for Chu Lingluo from now on, Mu Lin no longer held back when eating the Spirit Food.

Coupled with his innate trait, Snake Swallowing Elephant, even though Chu Lingluo had prepared a large amount of Spirit Food, Mu Lin managed to finish it all.

Chu Lingluo wasn’t angry about this; instead, she was all smiles.

Seeing the Spirit Food she had made completely consumed by someone she admired gave her a sense of satisfaction.

After eating the Spirit Food, Mu Lin discovered that its nourishing effects boosted his cultivation efficiency by a full fifty percent.

Not only that, but the rate of improvement in his physical body had increased—threefold.

Yes, you heard that right—threefold.

Such an exaggerated result was due to several factors. First, the spiritual ingredients Chu Lingluo used were of high quality. Second, Snake Swallowing Elephant and Hibernation allowed Mu Lin to digest food with extreme efficiency.

Third, the nutrients in the Spirit Food were more focused on the “essence” of the physical body.

“Three times faster… If I eat Spirit Food every day, won’t my physical cultivation surpass my Mana and Divine Soul, reaching a higher level first?”

Thinking about how other Paper Artisans often looked weak and drained, while he would become physically powerful, Mu Lin felt… somewhat excited.

…

Cultivation, training, eating, and discussing the creation of the fairy-tale world with Chu Lingluo.

Over the next few days, Mu Lin’s cultivation was no longer monotonous but became rich and fulfilling.

Thanks to the nutrient-rich Spirit Food and the daily Spring Return Art, Purification Art, and Vitality Art cast on him by Chu Lingluo, even though Mu Lin used curses to harm himself, his body grew stronger day by day.

However, amid this comfortable cultivation, there were still some annoyances.

Some people’s dislike for Mu Lin was so intense that seeing him live well felt worse to them than losing money.

Now, with Mu Lin enjoying free Spirit Food every day, a noble young lady casting Spring Return Art for him, and a beauty by his side, some people were driven to distraction.

As a result, every day, people would approach Chu Lingluo under the guise of looking out for her, urging her to leave Mu Lin.

But before Mu Lin even had to intervene, they were driven away by Chu Lingluo, who took the matter seriously.

“Brother Mu is not a bad person, nor is he useless. He is a top-tier genius. Who I choose to cultivate with is none of your business. If you slander Brother Mu again, don’t blame me for being impolite!”

“Miss Chu, you’ve been deceived…”

“Hmph!”

Seeing that Chu Lingluo was genuinely ready to take action, those people had no choice but to leave.

What left Mu Lin speechless was that, after being driven away, they didn’t resent Chu Lingluo but instead glared angrily at him.

During one conversation with Zong Xiu, Mu Lin learned something else.

“Brother Mu, you’ve really stirred up public anger now. It’s said that many people are waiting for you to take the Tower Challenge. They plan to challenge the tower at the same time as you and then humiliate you by achieving better results.”

“Oh, and by the way, Jing Yeming is also planning to participate this time.”

“Jing Yeming, the one with the First-Class Spirit Root? Why would he get involved? I only provoked those with Second-Class Spirit Roots; I shouldn’t have offended him, right?”

Hearing Mu Lin’s response, Zong Xiu’s expression turned somewhat odd.

“Why would he get involved? Brother Mu, you stole his teammate! If you hadn’t stepped in, Chu Lingluo would most likely have teamed up with him.”

“With the beauty snatched away, do you think he’s angry or not?”

“That person has made it clear, saying you need to know your place.”

“In short, for the Tower Challenge three days from now, you’d better be careful… But then again, you have a Third-Class Spirit Root, so losing is just losing. As long as you keep a good mindset, others can’t do anything to you.”

Mu Lin: “That’s great comfort. Next time, don’t say it.”

After learning from Zong Xiu that he had provoked widespread resentment, Mu Lin observed his classmates and realized, just as Zong Xiu had said, that many people were indeed jealous of him.

“Think I don’t deserve my position? Indeed, strength is the foundation of everything.”

Being envied by others was nothing more than a trivial matter to Mu Lin.

As the “catfish,” he was naturally disliked.

And with his mind fully occupied by cultivation, Mu Lin had no time to bother with those idle people.

What truly troubled Mu Lin was the change in his Mindscape – Sky Burial City.

(End of Chapter)