Chapter 6: This meat isn't fresh; I don't like it

After a burst of wild joy, Lin Li reined in his excitement, scrambled up from the damp grass, and hurried over to the unremarkable little tree in the center of the island.

"I never expected that you, looking so plain and malnourished, would be such a great treasure."

Lin Li carefully scrutinized the unimpressive, two-meter-tall tree before him, thinking to himself.

"When I first arrived on this mysterious island, this little tree clearly didn't have any fruit. How could such a magical little fruit have grown in just one day?

Since it was able to grow one, does that mean it can grow a second? How can I make it continue to produce these little fruits?"

Just as Lin Li stared at the tree, lost in puzzled thought, he reached out to touch its trunk.

The moment his fingers made contact with the bark, information regarding the tree appeared in his mind out of thin air.

"So that's it. If I want this magical little tree to continue thriving and produce more of those miraculous fruits, it requires a large amount of exotic beast meat!"

Having obtained the method to cultivate the magical tree, a happy smile spread across Lin Li's face. He decided to go to the market tomorrow to buy some exotic beast meat and test whether this method was viable.

The fireball he had cast earlier using his ability had nearly exhausted the spiritual energy within him.

Just as Lin Li decided to head to the market the next morning, his vision went black, and just like last time, he exited the mysterious island.

After Lin Li vanished, the mysterious island returned to its tranquility. The calm water, the slowly drifting white mist, and the malnourished magical tree—if not for the damp grass at the edge of the island, everything would have been exactly as it always was.

…………

"Hiss..."

"So painful..."

Appearing out of thin air on his sofa, Lin Li raised his right hand to rub his head, taking half a minute to recover.

"Sigh, although this pain is still within my tolerance, there's no need to ask for trouble like this. I'll have to be more careful with my spiritual energy in the future; I can't let it run completely dry again."

Once the headache subsided, Lin Li estimated how long it would take for his spiritual energy to fully recover, and suddenly, he froze.

"This... why has my spiritual energy recovery speed increased so much?

Could it be that the magical fruit also improved my cultivation aptitude?"

If it previously took Lin Li a full day to recover his spiritual energy after exhausting it, the recovery time had now been shortened by a third.

Feeling the earth-shaking changes within his body, a wild, joyful smile appeared on Lin Li's face. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless one.

…………

Early the next morning, as the first rays of sunlight appeared on the eastern horizon, Lin Li, who had tossed and turned in bed all night, immediately threw off his quilt, got up, and ran to the bathroom to wash up.

The entire process of washing his face and brushing his teeth took less than three minutes. Once finished, he didn't even eat breakfast before hurrying out the door toward the market.

The vendors at the market had started business before dawn. By the time Lin Li arrived, there were already quite a few people browsing the stalls.

Lin Li’s goal was very clear. He walked straight past the ordinary vegetable stalls toward a luxuriously decorated storefront within the market.

This was a shop specializing in the sale of exotic beast meat. Although the price was significantly higher than ordinary meat, there were still quite a few people coming here to buy it.

When Lin Li arrived at the shop, there was already a queue of people waiting to buy meat.

"So many people! I should have gotten up earlier." Muttering to himself, Lin Li joined the end of the line.

"Boss, how fresh is this exotic beast meat?"

"Old Zhang, don't you worry! My meat is absolutely fresh; it all arrived this morning. The wholesaler who supplies me told me that these beasts haven't been dead for more than twenty-four hours."

After waiting for over ten minutes, it was finally Lin Li's turn.

"Young man, how much do you want?" The butcher, wearing an apron and holding a gleaming meat cleaver, felt slightly surprised to see a young man like Lin Li coming to buy meat so early in the morning.

After all, it was very rare to encounter young people who would get up this early to go to the market.

"Give me three jin," Lin Li said. He wanted to experiment first, so he didn't ask for too much.

"Alright." The butcher nodded, his hand moving with practiced ease as he cut three jin of meat for Lin Li.

"Beep." After taking the meat, Lin Li pulled his phone from his pocket, scanned the QR code, and paid three hundred yuan.

Lin Li had bought wild boar exotic meat for one hundred yuan per jin. Ordinary farm-raised pork cost about twenty yuan, so the price difference was nearly five times.

With the meat in hand, Lin Li quickly left the market. He couldn't wait to find a secluded place to enter the mysterious island.

……

After leaving the market, Lin Li crossed the street and entered a park nearby.

Because the park was small and located in a remote area, there were very few people there for morning exercises.

Initially, Lin Li had thought about finding a secluded grove to hide in before entering the island. But after some thought, he decided it was better to be safe. He walked into the park's public restroom, found an empty stall, locked the door, and with a thought, a pale golden light flashed over his body, and he vanished.

……

The barren island, the ordinary little tree, the calm water, the white mist—everything was exactly as it had been when Lin Li left the previous night.

Appearing on the island, Lin Li took the newly purchased meat out of the plastic bag and placed it under the magical tree.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes.

Lin Li stared at the meat under the tree for a full five minutes, but it showed no signs of change.

"Why isn't there any change? Could the information that appeared in my mind yesterday be wrong?"

Just as Lin Li was feeling deeply disappointed, a message suddenly popped into his mind.

'The exotic beast meat is not fresh. It requires meat from a beast that has been dead for no more than one hour.'

"..."

Seeing this message suddenly appear in his mind, Lin Li froze. He never expected that this magical little tree would have such strict requirements for the freshness of the meat. This was completely beyond his expectations.

…………

(End of chapter)