Yizhiye was rendered speechless by Namuzhong's words.
Indeed, he had just tried to curry favor with Zhengwei, or perhaps show off, and had done so at the quickest speed possible. Who knew it would ultimately turn into a joke.
Shen Xiaoyan, Zhengwei, and the others were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
If she still wanted to maintain some semblance of her image, meager as it was, Shen Xiaoyan still hoped to salvage the situation.
If not for that, she truly wanted to slam the table right now.
Did this Yizhiye truly believe he had lived for 800 years, and not 80 days?
"Cough, let's eat," Namuzhong said to the still-laughing crowd, seeing Yizhiye's dejected expression.
"Eat, eat."
Shen Xiaoyan and the others were very cooperative, each picking up the spoon from their respective bowls of congee.
However, they hadn't recovered yet. Even though they had scooped up the congee, they didn't dare to put it into their mouths, for fear that one careless moment would lead them to burst out laughing.
Yizhiye glared at everyone hatefully, then made a move that made everyone even more unable to contain their mirth.
He suddenly sat down on the wooden chair, picked up a spoon angrily, scooped a spoonful of congee, and put it into his mouth.
He didn't bother to taste the congee, nor did he seem to feel the heat. He simply swallowed it.
Seeing his actions were done in one smooth motion, Shen Xiaoyan truly believed that the congee wasn't hot at all.
But she glanced down at her own bowl of congee, which was clearly still emitting steam.
They had all scooped from the same pot, so there was no reason why Yizhiye's congee wouldn't be hot.
Under these circumstances, only two reasons could explain this.
One, Yizhiye was not afraid of the heat.
But looking at his furrowed old face and slightly red-rimmed eyes, this was clearly impossible.
Then there was only one other possibility: he hadn't expected it to be so hot, and unwilling to spit it out, he had just swallowed it directly.
Imagine, a mouthful of hot congee in the mouth, the tongue almost scalded off, but it was swallowed directly.
The scalding hot congee, going down the delicate throat, would it peel off a layer of skin, or perhaps cause blisters?
When the congee reached the stomach, the burning sensation would be like being in a sea of fire.
Shen Xiaoyan shook her head. She hadn't expected Yizhiye to be such a stoic person.
Truly, one cannot judge a person by their appearance, nor a sea by its measure.
After Yizhiye finished that spoonful of congee, he sat there holding his spoon.
Namuzhong, standing beside him, asked worriedly, "Brother Xiao Xie, you..."
"It's nothing. I'm just savoring the deliciousness of this congee. It's so good, it's making me cry."
Yizhiye waved his hand, interrupting Namuzhong, and continued on his own, even turning to show Namuzhong his tears of emotion.
Naturally, no one present believed Yizhiye's words, but since he wanted to play it this way, no one would deliberately expose him.
Everyone lowered their heads to eat, but still let out intermittent, strange sounds.
Every time these sounds came, Yizhiye would transform his grief and anger into appetite, eating voraciously.
Although he usually ate well, he was never this exaggerated.
Because everyone still couldn't help but laugh, they ate less.
However, after everyone finished their meal, the table was still spotless, with not a single leftover.
If they hadn't eaten, where did all the food go?
Shen Xiaoyan and the others pondered this, their gazes unconsciously falling on Yizhiye's stomach.
They saw that Yizhiye's previously flat stomach was now distended.
Looking at Yizhiye's expression, they couldn't help but burst into hearty laughter again.
Yizhiye must have been extremely full. He tilted his head back, leaning his entire body against the back of the wooden chair, panting heavily.
Hearing their laughter, Yizhiye merely rolled his eyes and made no further comment.
After everyone had laughed enough, Zhengwei finally turned the topic back, "Tell us, why did you do that?"
Yizhiye straightened his body and sighed at Zhengwei, "I originally thought that in a place with such thin spiritual energy, it would be impossible for you to succeed in spiritual awakening so quickly, or rather, I thought you wouldn't be able to awaken your spirit at all..."
"What are you saying? Then you still gave us the spiritual awakening incantation? You were just trying to appease us." Lu Taobao's entire body exploded when he heard Yizhiye's words. He shouted, and his body already rose from the wooden chair, his face full of anger, waving his fist as if to strike Yizhiye's old face in the next second.
"Listen to me finish. Who is your impatient temper like?" Yizhiye said lazily.
"Sit down first and let him finish," Zhengwei also waved his hand at Lu Taobao, then glanced at Yizhiye and continued, "If he can't give us a satisfactory answer, it won't be too late for us to act together."
"Pfft!"
Yizhiye was so angry at Zhengwei's words that he almost vomited blood, but considering Zhengwei's monstrous talent, he still closed his mouth.
"Let me put it this way, the problem you are currently encountering is that you are about to awaken your spirit," Yizhiye said solemnly.
Zhengwei opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted by Yizhiye shaking his head.
"Listen to me. Spiritual awakening not only requires practicing the spiritual awakening incantation. The most crucial point, to successfully awaken your spirit and officially begin cultivation, is that you need a place with high concentrations of spiritual energy. The surrounding spiritual energy should be viscous like liquid, allowing you to absorb it directly into your body. This way, you can obtain the assistance needed to awaken your spirit."
"So, that means if these conditions aren't met, it's impossible to awaken your spirit?" Zhengwei retorted.
"Yes. In the Sacred Spirit Continent, before everyone awakens their spirit, their elders will prepare spiritual awakening liquid beforehand."
"What is that?" Shen Xiaoyan asked.
"Spiritual awakening liquid is developed by alchemists in the Sacred Spirit Continent. After consuming it, it can help people successfully awaken their spirit. It's not expensive, so it's very popular," Namuzhong explained from the side.
"If that's the case, you must have spiritual awakening liquid on you, right?" Zhengwei said with certainty.
"Yes. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given you the spiritual awakening incantation. If I encountered this situation, wouldn't I just have to wait for you all to gang up on me?"
After Yizhiye finished speaking, he adopted an air of being well-prepared, and coupled with his face, he was really amusing no matter how you looked at him.
"Fortunately, you have some self-awareness. Otherwise..."
Lu Taobao said, shaking his wrist.
"You really want to hit me?" Yizhiye looked at Lu Taobao, a half-smile on his face.
Don't doubt his combat strength just because his transformation failed.
Otherwise, he would definitely make those who doubted him regret it.
"I alone am naturally not enough." Lu Taobao also had self-awareness, spreading his hands.
"But, if we are together, that's not necessarily true."
After Lu Taobao finished speaking, he stood up and hid behind Shen Xiaoyan and Zhengwei's chairs, looking at Yizhiye.
Yizhiye was too lazy to argue with him. With a flick of his wrist, a small bottle appeared in his hand.