Likewise kept close to the body, Li Xing's storage bag had fallen off early, while the ugly Jade Pendant remained hanging on her.
The domineering and fierce cosmic astral wind hadn't cut its string, nor had it fallen off due to her body shrinking in size, accompanying her all the way to the alien world. Perhaps the more you cherish something, the easier it is to lose it, and what always stays by your side is precisely what you've always disliked.
Now alone in an alien world, this ugly Jade Pendant became the only solace she brought from her hometown. The jade is still that same jade, but Li Xing, at this moment, held no prejudice against it and instead found its ugliness uniquely charming.
"Thank you."
Li Xing accepted the Jade Pendant, paused for a moment, and unobtrusively put it back around her neck.
"Xiao Xing, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"
Without the cyclical nourishment of spiritual power to soothe her internal organs, Li Xing had now fallen to the state of an ordinary human. For three days without eating, relying only on intravenous nutrition to maintain energy, it didn't matter much that Anna asked, but as soon as she did, Li Xing's stomach grumbled right on cue, and she quickly nodded, a desire for food gleaming in her eyes.
Seeing that Li Xing had an appetite, Anna was also delighted, smiling as she took out a food box and placed the porridge and side dishes on the small table in front of Li Xing.
"The doctor said you can have light, easily digestible food. I made some rice porridge, try it and see if it's good."
Anna took out a lunchbox, serving a small bowl of steaming glutinous rice porridge. To care for Li Xing's stomach and intestines, Anna cooked the porridge until it was soft and mushy, with a layer of fine, semi-transparent porridge oil on top, and the rice grains beneath blooming, with a slight greenish hue, emitting an enticing fresh aroma.
Li Xing sniffed, it smells so good! Anna's cooking skills are pretty good. Li Xing took a sip, and her eyes immediately lit up. The porridge contained spiritual energy, this... this is Spirit Rice?
She took another sip to confirm, smacking her lips, the rice grains were fragrant, sweet, soft, and melted in the mouth, followed by a warmth spreading from her stomach into her meridians, circulating throughout her body, then flowing out from her Dantian. Even though the spiritual energy couldn't accumulate in her body, the flushing and nourishment from the spiritual energy made her meridians much more comfortable, even reducing the heaviness brought to her body by the Chaos Qi.
Li Xing was overjoyed; this world actually had Spirit Rice, and it was of high quality. If she could eat Spirit Rice every day, nourishing her body with the spiritual energy in the Spirit Rice, she could hold on longer in this alien world, contemplating a way to respond would be good.
"Aunt Anna, what is this?"
"Porridge." Anna patiently answered; this child must have been fed with low-grade nutrient solutions since birth and had never seen, let alone eaten, natural food.
"This is food made from green rice, it's a natural food. Is it tasty?"
"Delicious!" Li Xing said, then timidly asked, "Is porridge expensive?"
Anna felt a pang of heartache, what a considerate child, she felt such a strong urge to take care of her!
"Not expensive. Green rice is considered a staple food, grows quickly, has a short ripening period, large yield, and the price is regulated by the government, so there won't be significant price fluctuations. Whether you buy green rice directly or purchase the rice seeds to grow it yourself, the price is very affordable."
Li Xing was excited: "Then I want to eat porridge every day from now on!"
Anna wiped her eyes and said, choking back tears, "Silly child, you're at a growing stage, you can't have a monotonous diet, there are so many things in the world tastier than porridge, once you recover, I'll make you try them all one by one."
"Alright—!"
"Xiao Xing, eat slowly, these are all yours, eating too fast could give you a stomach ache."
Seeing Li Xing's bowl empty, Anna took it and added a bit more, then took out two delicate small dishes.
"Try the side dishes I made, see how they taste. They're grown in our own garden, not high-end vegetables, but they're fresh, crisp, and help with digestion. I asked the doctor, you can eat these now, come, have a taste!"
"Mm!"
Two small side dishes for the porridge, one was green lettuce, blanched and cut into thin strips, mixed evenly with fragrant vinegar; the other was golden sweet potato, steamed and cut into small cubes, coated with a layer of sugar glaze, looking quite appetizing.
Li Xing tried a chopstick of lettuce strips, they were crisp and tender, sweet with a bit of charred bitterness, paired with the appropriately acidic fragrant vinegar, refreshing and appetizing, impossibly delicious. Chewing a couple of bites, Li Xing's eyebrows raised, this lettuce isn't right, no matter how good Anna's cooking skills are, it shouldn't taste this good, and this flavor, she seemed... to have tasted it somewhere before?
Aw crap——! I remember now!
Li Xing picked up a slightly wider piece of lettuce strip to look closely——green with a yellowish tint, protruding leaf veins on the surface, radial patterns, sweet with a bit of bitterness in the flavor...
This is no damned lettuce, but it's it!
Li Xing was shocked beyond belief, her hands shaking, before Anna could get suspicious, she quickly stuffed the leaf into her mouth, chewing it thoroughly and swallowing, her heart a tumultuous storm.
The exact same Spirit Grass, the Li Family's herb garden has one. When she was a child, she was mischievous and once secretly ate a palm-sized leaf, which nearly burst her from the spiritual energy. Her father held little Li Xing, who was red all over, and knocked at the gates to ask the clan's great-grandmother for Spirit Crossing, barely preserving her meridians intact.
Since then, the herb garden had defensive arrays added to all Spirit Grass, prohibiting unrelated people from approaching, lest another fool try to steal a taste again. And Li Xing learned her lesson, remembering this Spirit Grass' flavor——
Glazed Lettuce, a first-grade Spirit Plant, one of the main herbs for the Foundation Establishment Pill, a leaf that's worth a fortune, was used as a cold dish's garnish?!
Hold on, if this plate is a first-grade Spirit Grass, then the other plate looking like sweet potato...?
Li Xing, trembling, picked up a piece to carefully identify, color like pure gold, scent like osmanthus, taste like fermented honey——Great Ancestor, this, this isn't Golden Melon!
The top-tier Spirit Grass that's priceless?!
Goodness, and these aren't considered high-end vegetables? Any of these placed in Li Xing's world would cause a bloody storm.
From what Anna said, all these Spirit Grass were grown by her family, what sort of family is this, do they have a Spirit Vein?
But there's no reason for Anna to deceive her, could it be that the custom here is to treat Spirit Grass as vegetables? The first grade everywhere, and the top grade is as common as cattle hair? If that's truly the case, then it would—it would be—
Abso-lute-ly—won-der-ful—!
Li Xing lowered her head and gobbled down, feeling the continuous warmth throughout her body, the pleasure of spiritual energy flushing through her meridians over and over, tears of excitement trickling down from the corners of her eyes.
The Li Family doesn't lack money, but that's all worldly silver and gold; the Spirit Grass and Spirit Stones needed for cultivation, not even the Li Family has many of them, not to mention all cultivation families on Blue Star are tight on them.
From the perspective of the cultivation world, Li Xing is absolutely a poor Dan Cultivator, she never imagined there'd be a day she'd eat top-tier Spirit Grass as vegetables, it feels like a dream.
Still, rare herbs, while good, for Human Clan cultivators, refining them into elixirs to ensure the spiritual power within the Spirit Grass is gentler and releases more slowly, is the safe way. Direct consumption can easily lead to being countered by the spiritual energy, even exploding the body.
Every cloud has a silver lining; if it weren't for her Dantian being shattered, her body as leaky as a sieve unable to hold spiritual power, just from the Spirit Grass she just ate, she would either explode or suffer immensely.
"Aunt Anna, are these... vegetables really all grown by you?"
"Yes." Seeing the little girl who was shocked after eating a few mouthfuls of vegetables, Anna's heart felt a mix of soreness and softness, such ordinary vegetables could move someone to tears, this child really hasn't had a good day, it makes one feel tenderly protective.
"The continent we live on is called Qianyuan, vast and endlessly wide. The flora and fauna on the continent number in the trillions. This world has two types of primal forces—Elemental Power and Chaotic Power, of which Elemental Power is beneficial to us Qianyuan people, enhancing our physique and unlocking potentials, it's the source of our proliferation and survival. But Chaotic Power is aggressive and dangerous, harmful to the body, excessive exposure could even be fatal."
"All flora and fauna on Qianyuan Continent contain both primal forces. To avoid ingesting too much Chaotic Power, foods, especially plant-based ones, must be purified before eating to remove the Chaotic Power."
"Completely purified food is costly; most common families opt for a more economical way, buying optimized seeds to grow their vegetables and fruits. Although some Chaotic Power remains during the growth of fruits and vegetables, compared to wild vegetables, the harm is almost negligible, and as long as one takes purification medicine regularly, it doesn't significantly affect the body. This is why every household grows vegetables and rice, and my family has a garden too. Once you recover, I'll take you to see it, and in the garden, you can pick whatever vegetables and fruits you want, they're especially delicious this season."
"Alright—!" Li Xing said sweetly, suddenly looking forward to the fact that Anna's garden might have quite a few high-grade Spirit Plants!