"Oh? Do you not understand?" Seeing Zhao Tiezhu hesitate, Zhang Yuxian's expression turned cold.
"I…" Zhao Tiezhu was speechless. He felt that Zhang Yuxian was teasing him.
Did Lord Zhang hear his lampooning of Yi Yun, and was purposely teasing him?
But no matter how discontent he was, he did not dare to retort Zhang Yuxian.
At that moment, the members of the warrior preparation camp looked at Zhao Tiezhu with pity. They knew what words Zhao Tiezhu had previously said to Yi Yun.
They did not expect retribution to come so quickly!
Seeing Zhao Tiezhu's misfortune, the two men who had pitched in about eating a large stone roller and drinking the East River's water began to twitch.
They wished they could slap their own mouths. Why did they join Zhao Tiezhu's craziness? It was possible they would receive their just deserves in a while!
It was possible to take a bite or two from the large pagoda tree, but how could one eat the stone roller.
"Zhao Tiezhu, what are you idling for? You were ordered to eat the tree, did you not hear?"
Lian Chengyu saw Zhao Tiezhu's reluctance and reprimanded him.
Lian Chengyu did not care what the reason was. He decided that since it was commanded by Zhang Yuxian, any order from the High Ambassador had to be complied. After all, it wasn't just because of his rotten luck.
"I… I…" Zhao Tiezhu made up his mind despite his bitter face. He said, "I'll eat…"
He crouched down and broke off a piece of wood.
Zhao Tiezhu looked at this piece of wood with a tearless grief. This piece of wood could be used to build a house. I'm being treated as a termite!
Seeing Lian Chengyu's unfriendly face, Zhao Tiezhu could only resign to fate as he stuffed the piece of wood into his mouth with his eyes closed.
This taste was an indescribable 'enjoyment'.
Zhao Tiezhu felt as if his throat was being torn apart. He had managed to swallow a piece with extreme difficulty. He looked at Zhang Yuxian helplessly. It read, "Is that enough?"
But Zhang Yuxian simply said, "Carry on!"
Zhao Tiezhu almost fainted!
He was great at lifting stone rollers, chopping trees and piling, but eating wood was a torture!
"Lord Zhang, I don't understand this mystic technique?" Lian Chengyu had originally thought that Zhang Yuxian was teasing Zhao Tiezhu, letting him understand the importance of following orders.
But now it didn't look right. It appeared as if making Zhao Tiezhu eat the tree was part of the mystic technique.
If so, then even he had to eat the wood in a while. So he asked to be sure.
Towards Lian Chengyu, Zhang Yuxian's attitude was better. He said, "This mystic technique is known as the 'Elephant Swallowing Technique'. It's a technique used to train your stomach and digestive abilities! A person who accomplishes much in the Elephant Swallowing Technique can eat as much as they want every meal. It is rumored some can even eat an entire elephant, hence its name."
The members of the warrior preparation camp had an expression on their faces. Simply stated, this Elephant Swallowing Technique was just a technique for eating.
Isn't this a gluttony skill? Can this be considered a mystic technique?
Seeing the expression on the members of the warrior preparation camp, Zhang Yuxian knew what was on their minds.
He said disdainfully, "You people have the exposure similar to an ant. How dare you evaluate the cornerstone skill of the Dragon Vanguard! Simply ridiculous!"
"Training a warrior's stomach is very important! With a good heart and lungs, you can endure longer, and fight harder. But being good at fighting can't be better than cultivation. With your stomach strong, it will be a benefit to cultivation!"
"For Mortal Blood warriors, you may be moving stone rollers, fighting, climbing up trees and houses. Where does all this energy come from? It's from your meals!"
"Some warriors with a well-trained stomach have astonishing appetite. They can finish a cow in three days, the amount of nutrition they absorb will naturally be more. Their muscles will grow stronger, and their strength increases naturally."
Zhang Yuxian's voice was loud but Yi Yun was moved by his speech.
Indeed, a warrior's energy output was terrific. This energy had to come from somewhere. And that energy source for Mortal Blood warriors had to come from their meals.
Meals were energy. If one could eat more, there would be natural benefits.
Consider the children of average talent that came from noble families. Most of the time, they would not be distributed desolate bone essence for their cultivation. The only method to increase their strength was by eating desolate beast meat.
Most people would be full from about four kilograms of desolate beast meat. With such an appetite, it was pointless for them; they might as well take care of the family business.
There were others who could eat a hundred kilograms of desolate beast meat and still have room for more.
All the desolate beast meat could be digested, obtaining the essence within. By working hard to cultivate, they would be able to reach a higher level.
Hence, having a good stomach allowed one an advantage!
Zhang Yuxian's foundation mystic technique was the Elephant Swallowing Technique.
It was a fundamental technique for practicing the arts!
Zhang Yuxian carried on, "The warriors from the large tribes, practice the Elephant Swallowing Technique with desolate beast meat. As you lack the materials in the Cloud Wilderness, you can't even fill your stomachs. However practicing the Elephant Swallowing Technique is still useful!"
"Having a strong stomach allows you to absorb the nutrients of anything you eat!"
"Commoners will waste a lot of the essence when they digest the five grains they eat. Most of it is excreted as feces."
"Human waste is even eaten by dogs. Maggots thrive in the feces and the dung beetles roll the dung into balls as their brooding chambers! In it, there are large amounts of nutrients that were not completely absorbed!"
"If you can't even absorb the five grains, don't even think about eating precious foods!"
"Without a good stomach, you won't even be able to digest precious foods!"
"After learning the Elephant Swallowing Technique, you will be able to absorb anything you eat completely! When you encounter a famine, you can eat and digest the bark on the trees or Guanyin clay (Kaolin/China clay), giving you the nutrition to sustain life!"
"From today, your meals will consist of tree roots, tree bark and Guanyin Clay. After you are done eating, follow my method to practice your Elephant Swallowing Technique to kickstart your stomach to digest these hard-to-digest foods into nutrients!"
After hearing Zhang Yuxian's words, the members of the warrior preparation camp were speechless. They had to eat that?
They could only have wood and Guanyin clay as meals for three days!
They had originally thought that they would be able to feast on the meat Zhang Yuxian had obtained from hunting fierce beasts.
However, reality is cruel. Not only did they have no chance at eating fierce beast meat, they were not also barred from eating rice porridge.
The faces of the members of the warrior preparation camp were bitter. No one wanted to eat the tree.
They needed to at least ease into the process.
As they looked at each other, Yi Yun walked out of the group. He crouched down in front of the big pagoda tree, broke off a branch and swallowed it down, leaves and all.
Practicing the arts wasn't meant to be an enjoyment. It required suffering, frustration and the risking of their lives.
It was not limited to only martial arts. Yi Yun knew that on Earth, children who practiced acrobatics, dance or Judo underwent tough training. For example, a teacher would kneel on a child's back to exert pressure. That kind of pain wasn't something an adult could endure.
In this strange world, behind the scenes of a peerless expert was indescribable effort. Eating some wood or Guanyin clay was nothing.