"Easy now! Don't just gulp your food! Chew on it for a bit. The food is not running anywhere!" Grandma Jie berated Mu Chen who was wolfing down his food across the table.

"I knyow...Gwandma Jie...buth I am sho hungwy!" Mu Chen said with the food still in his mouth. The first thing he did when he came out of the basement was to ask Grandma Jie to prepare a lot of food for him while he rushed off to take a bath. Mu Chen had to scrub his body for over half an hour before he got rid of the stink. By the time he came out, his hunger had reached new heights. Mu Chen never imagined, there would be a day where he would be so starved. Right now, he felt he could eat an entire spirit boar by himself.

"After what you went through, it's not a surprise you would be so hungry." Grandma Jie sighed. "You had both of us worried!"

Grandma Jie had been very worried after knowing what Mu Chen was going to do. If not for Grandpa Wu who blocked her, she would have dragged Mu Chen out.

"Gwandma Jie...don't wowwy...cough." Mu Chen began to speak but almost choked on his food. Mu Chen thumped on his chest to clear the blockage. "You know I'm a cockroach."

"This is the first time I have seen a cockroach that can eat so much!" A voice came over. It was Grandpa Wu who had just returned with some more food.

Grandpa Wu placed the parcel he had just brought on the table and unpacked it. The dishes he had brought were expensive ones that had been made of spirit meat. Mu Chen currently needed some high-quality nourishment. The meat and other ingredients that the old couple kept in stock were ones that would only suffice for average humans. After all, the stall they ran was for mortals. With Mu Chen's current requirements, the amount of mortal grade food he would need would be just too big.

So Grandpa Wu decided to go and bring some high-quality food from other restaurants in the city. He still had Mu Chen's spatial pouch on him and it had some of the low-grade spirit crystals left.

Mu Chen's eyes brightened when he saw the spirit meat Grandpa Wu had brought. Mu Chen couldn't tell if it was because he had just had all of his muscles rebuilt, but right now, he had an almost instinctive appetite for meat. So without giving any mind to his table manners, he grabbed on what looked like a thigh of some bird and began to tear off the meat with his teeth, like a barbarian.

"Brat! That one was not for you!" Grandpa Wu screamed and tried to grab back the bird leg, but Mu Chen had already picked the bone clean. "So fast?!" Grandpa Wu exclaimed and reached out to grab the other remaining bird leg before Mu Chen could steal it.

Mu Chen glared at the bird's leg that Grandpa Wu had snatched and gulped. Grandpa Wu noticed the greed in Mu Chen's eyes and immediately tore and ate a piece of it to claim ownership.

"Grandpa Wu! That's not fair!" Mu Chen blurted.

"You dare to talk about fairness?! Spit out that bird leg you ate first! Then we can talk about fairness!" Grandpa Wu scoffed as he started sampling a few of the other dishes that he had brought.

Mu Chen who had turned into an incarnation of a hungry ghost was unwilling to fall behind and began tackling the food as well.

Soon the atmosphere turned rather festive as both Mu Chen and Grandpa Wu began to compete with each other for food. Grandma Jie turned into a spectator who could only giggle in amusement.

Sometime later.

"Burp!" Mu Chen finally let out a satisfied groan and rubbed his belly.

"You are done? And here I thought, I would get to see your stomach explode..." Grandpa Wu said in some disappointment as he picked his teeth with a toothpick. He was already full for some time now, but Mu Chen had still been eating.

"Grandpa Wu! You want to watch my stomach explode?" Mu Chen yelled. Grandpa Wu hadn't forgiven him for stealing one of his bird legs.

"At least it's better than dying with just your bones as dregs." Grandpa Wu shrugged.

"But didn't I succeed?" Mu Chen grinned as flexed his biceps. Now that his stomach was full, he felt as if he was filled with strength.

"You might not be lucky next time. Such methods don't become taboo without any reason." Grandpa Wu advised. "I am not saying you should shy away from the first sign of danger, but you should be careful and make adequate preparations."

"I understand, Grandpa Wu. I will be careful next time!" Mu Chen said. His preparations had been inadequate because he couldn't use his residence. If not for the fact that the amount of middle-grade spirit crystals was sufficient, he would have died.

"Anyways, what now? Do we go to your Mu Family residence?" Grandpa Wu asked.

"I want to get used to the changes in my body for a bit." Mu Chen said as he stood up and stretched a bit. "We can go back in a couple of days."

"A couple more days, eh? Ai, and I thought I would get to see that little brat soon…" Grandpa Wu sighed.

"Indeed! It's already been a week since we saw you, but we haven't even seen a hair of Xue'er yet…" Grandma Jie lamented.

A week? Mu Chen felt he had ignored something important. "Grandpa Wu! What day is it today?" Mu Chen suddenly asked.

"Huh? It's the fifteenth day of the month." Grandpa Wu said.

"It's already the fifteenth!?" Mu Chen cried out in alarm. "Crap! The internal competition! It's today!"

Mu Chen realized he had lost his sense of time during the tempering process. After he came out of the basement, he had immediately rushed off to take a bath after informing Grandma Jie. After that, although Mu Chen and Grandma Jie chatted for a while, he was more focused on eating. He didn't ask Grandma Jie how much time had passed since he was under the impression that only a couple of days had passed.

"Grandpa Wu! Grandma Jie! We need to hurry and go to the Mu Family!" Mu Chen said as he scurried around to grab his stuff, which to be honest, wasn't much. Just his sword and a spatial pouch. "I will go get a carriage. You meet me outside the city."

"Alright! Let's go!" Grandpa Wu said as he too also stood up in haste. "We have been prepared for days now."

Grandma Jie also stood up in spirit and simply dumped the unwashed utensils into the sink and headed back into their room to grab their stuff.

Mu Chen rushed off out of the house in the direction where the relay station was. But as he rushed, he almost ran into a wall because he was no longer used to his body. So he had to slow down and get used to his new movement speed.

The relay station was only a bit away from where the old couple lived. It would take around twenty minutes of walking to reach it. But Mu Chen was able to cover it in less than five. He wasn't even running at his full speed, because he was still unfamiliar with his body. And his breath barely changed and was very stable even after covering such a long distance.

"This speed! Even without relying on any movement speed, I can now move several times faster than I could before!" Mu Chen was very pleased with the discovery. He couldn't wait to test how much his battle prowess had increased. Unfortunately, he was running short of time.

"Sir!! Sir!! Here!! Over Here!!"

Mu Chen had just entered the relay station and was about to look for a carriage when he heard someone call out. It was quickly followed by the sound of heavy footsteps, as a burly figure came into his vision.

"Sir! Are you still looking for a carriage?"
The burly guy said as he gasped for breath. "Mine is available!"

"It's you!" Mu Chen recognized him. It was none other than Ma Hong.

Because Mu Chen had given him a few spirit stones for just delivering a message, Ma Hong had remembered him quite well. Ma Hong had seen Mu Chen walk into the station and sprinted forward to meet him.

"I am indeed looking for a carriage." Mu Chen acknowledged. "I need to go back to the Mu Family Estate."

Ma Hong's eyes immediately brightened. "My carriage has already been cleaned and oiled! The beasts are already well-fed and run for the entire day! The seats are plush and soft. Th—"

"I get it! Can we move on? I am in a bit of a rush!" Mu Chen interrupted Ma Hong.

"T-This way, Sir!" Ma Hong scratched his head and grinned foolishly and led the way to where his carriage had been parked.

Mu Chen had Ma Hong drive the carriage outside the city on the way towards the Mu Family Estate. Grandpa Wu and Grandma Jie soon arrived with their luggage. And together, they set off.

Ma Hong didn't lie. His carriage was indeed oiled very well and ran very fast and smooth. The entire journey was rather uneventful since nobody intercepted Mu Chen this time. Even then, when they reached the Mu Family Estate, it was almost noon.

Mu Chen made his way rapidly towards the central square. The Family's internal tournament would be held at the central square at noon. The square was very wide and spacious. And it served as the common area where everyone from the Mu Family could gather.

However, as he approached the square Mu Chen immediately realized something was strange. It was too quiet!

The internal competition was a very lively event with all the youngsters participating. Although the elders maintained the discipline, they didn't suppress the enthusiasm of the younger generation. This meant that it was always a very noisy affair, with all the cheering or swearing.

As he neared the square, Mu Chen felt a very bad feeling rise within his chest. He made a turn and that bad feeling was confirmed.

The square was empty!

Mu Chen stood frozen at the edge of the square. He couldn't understand the situation.

"Brat! Are you okay?" Grandpa Wu who had just caught up to him woke up Mu Chen from his shock.

"Grandpa Wu! Are you sure it is the fifteenth day of the month?" Mu Chen asked.

"You dare to doubt your Grandpa! It was you who lost the track of time, not me." Grandpa Wu scoffed.

"The family competition." Mu Chen was confused. "It's held here."

"Maybe it was delayed?" Grandpa Wu suggested as he looked at the empty square. Because it was noon and the sun was high, there wasn't anyone in the square.

"Delayed? I can only hope so." Mu Chen tried to convince himself everything would be fine. Although Mu Chen hadn't completely familiarized himself with his new strength, he now felt he had a very good chance to safeguard his position.

"You guys are not the least bit polite! How could you make an old lady like me run behind with all the luggage?" A somewhat irritated voice of Grandma Jie came from behind. She had just caught up to them, dragging her luggage. "Eh? What's wrong?" Grandma Jie was surprised to see them both standing by the empty square.

"I am not sure." Mu Chen shrugged. "Let me first take you to our residence." He said as he helped Grandma Jie with the luggage.

The residence that Mu Chen was allotted was further inside. Unless they made a detour, they would have had to go through the square either way. So Mu Chen had rushed towards the square first, without going back to his residence. He had been hoping to meet with Zhou Mei and Ningxue at the competition.

Mu Chen led Grandpa Wu and Grandma Jie towards his residence. But he didn't feel the need to rush and walked at his normal pace.

However, life was always full of surprises. The square was quiet, but there was a commotion in front of his residence!