Chapter 112: Finding Refuge at Musashi Temple

"The corpse of a Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast!"
"That was a complete, Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast corpse—"
"And you just handed it over like that."
"Don't you feel even a shred of regret?"

After being kicked out of the courtyard by Luo Boqing, Luo Liheng remained filled with lament as he thought about the Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast that Lu Sheng had surrendered. He grumbled at Lu Sheng while muttering incessantly:
"I haven't even eaten the meat of a Fourth-Rank demonic beast many times!"
"Couldn't you have carved off a bit of meat for us to treat ourselves?"

The thought that the meat of a Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast had just slipped through his fingers made Luo Liheng’s regret almost indescribable. The way he looked at Lu Sheng was as if he were staring at a sinner.

"What is so good about the meat of a Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast?" Lu Sheng asked with an indifferent expression, ignoring Luo Liheng's murderous gaze. "After removing the bones and feathers, there is at most about ten thousand pounds of it."

Although a Fourth-Rank Snow Eagle Beast has a massive frame and well-tempered sinews and bones—with a total weight reaching tens of thousands of pounds—once the bones and feathers were discarded, the edible meat amounted to at most ten thousand pounds.

To Lu Sheng, who possessed hundreds of thousands of pounds of dragon meat and the million-pound corpse of a White Jade Treasure Elephant, this amount of meat was truly not worth mentioning. Furthermore, he knew that the martial arts Lu Chunyuan and Luo Boqing intended to compile from that Snow Eagle Beast were likely meant for their future daughter. He couldn't ruin those plans just for the sake of eating meat.

"At most ten thousand pounds!" Luo Liheng, naturally unaware of these inner thoughts, looked as though he could kill when he heard Lu Sheng’s words. "I can't believe you can say that! Ten thousand pounds of Snow Eagle meat—even if our appetites are ten times that of a normal person—would be enough to last us over half a year. Think about it: if we ate the meat of a Fourth-Rank demonic beast for over half a year, how much would our strength increase? Not to mention anything else, if you ate that meat for half a year, you could potentially sweep the board at the Central Prefecture Martial Arts Tournament next year! Such a great opportunity, and you just handed it away..."

Pointing at Lu Sheng, Luo Liheng’s words were full of frustration at his lack of ambition; his expression was remarkably similar to that of Luo Boqing earlier. However, this performance failed to move Lu Sheng, who instead chuckled and said:
"Two people eating for over half a year? That’s based on your appetite, right? So, you only need to consume twenty or thirty pounds a day."

"Hmm! I can still afford that little bit of consumption now!"

An average person only needs to eat two or three pounds a day, but for martial artists, because their consumption is much higher, their appetites are usually several times that of ordinary people. Martial masters, in particular, need to consume ten times the amount of food an average person does to satisfy their needs. Although Luo Liheng had glossed over the energy gap between the Snow Eagle meat and ordinary food, Lu Sheng didn't mind. To him, if ten thousand pounds of demonic beast meat could buy the loyalty of a martial master and the merit that came from his admiration, it was a price he could afford for now.

Thinking this, Lu Sheng patted Luo Liheng heavily on the shoulder, stifling whatever he was about to say next. "Let’s go! Show me around the Martial Treasury Academy. As long as I am satisfied, you will be able to eat Fourth-Rank demonic beast meat today!"

He grabbed Luo Liheng, forcing him to lead the way.

"You... you actually still have Fourth-Rank demonic beast meat!" Luo Liheng stumbled under Lu Sheng's grip, but he disregarded the pain and asked, "Who gave it to you? Could it be the dragon..." He suddenly remembered that Lu Sheng had once obtained a Fourth-Rank dragon and jumped to that conclusion.

"That's right!" Lu Sheng cut him off. "It is exactly what you're thinking. As long as you listen well during these days, you won't go hungry as long as I have a bite to eat. How about it? Do you want to work under me?"

"Dragon meat! It really is dragon meat!" Overcome with ecstasy, Luo Liheng almost leaped into the air. He shouted, "Yes! Of course! From now on, whenever Editor Lu has an order, Reviewer Luo will certainly carry it out! But... about that meat, how many pounds will you give me?" His eyes filled with longing as he asked cautiously.

"How many pounds?" Lu Sheng smiled. "That depends on your performance! Hurry up and lead the way so I can get settled!"

"Fate Energy 597 (182)!"

Having finally managed to keep Luo Liheng quiet for a moment, Lu Sheng examined the auxiliary Fate Energy in his origin data, contemplating its uses. After some thought, he consumed a small portion, converting it into merit, wanting to observe whether the auxiliary Fate Energy could be replenished after being spent.

After doing this, he used his "Godly Eye of Insight" to observe Luo Liheng and found that after being promoted to a Minor Seventh-Rank Reviewer, his auxiliary Fate Energy had risen to 150 points. While there was some growth, it was not particularly significant.

"It seems that the positions of Martial Treasury Editor and Martial Treasury Reviewer are not entirely nominal, but they don't have many people under them either. If it were a substantive position like a County Magistrate, the auxiliary Fate Energy brought by the rank would surely be much higher!"

Thinking of this, Lu Sheng had no intention of becoming a County Magistrate. Instead, he asked Luo Liheng, "How many people are under the Martial Treasury Editor?"

"How many people?" Seemingly having finally snapped out of the joy of potentially obtaining dragon meat, Luo Liheng put on a fawning smile and gestured with his fingers. "Including me, the Reviewer, there are exactly eleven people. Besides me, there are three Ninth-Rank clerks, two part-time students, and five general laborers. How about it? Do you feel like you have real authority and a solid foundation in the Martial Treasury Academy?"

"Ten people! A solid foundation?" Lu Sheng gave a self-deprecating laugh. Having already understood Luo Liheng’s personality, he ignored his theatrics and asked, "Are those general laborers at my disposal from now on? If so, go call them over now and have them help me tidy up!"

It was foreseeable that he would be living in the Martial Treasury Academy for some time, so he naturally needed to get his living quarters in order and recruit people to handle daily chores.

Lu Sheng then instructed Luo Liheng, "Also, find a few cooks, especially those skilled in preparing demonic beast meat. These things shouldn't be too hard for you!"

"Cooks!" Luo Liheng grinned, having understood Lu Sheng’s intent. He patted his chest and said, "Understood! I will tell the steward of the Martial Treasury Academy to arrange a few cooks from among the laborers—and they will definitely be people who know how to prepare demonic beast meat!"

As he spoke, he moved as if his feet were greased, eager to find the steward. Once Lu Sheng heard that someone would be specifically responsible for these tasks, he grabbed Luo Liheng, asked for the location of the Martial Treasury’s book collection, and finally let him go.

With these matters settled, Lu Sheng could hardly wait to view the three collections of martial arts and enrich himself as quickly as possible.