"Mhm," Qin Yao said after a thought, "The groceries are enough for two more days, so I'll just rest a little before going over today's lesson while cultivating. What about you?"

Hearing his question, Yi Chen responded with a nod, "Since we don't have to go out today, then I'll also just cultivate in my room until evening."

With the dishes done, the two soon went to each other's rooms.

Taking out a few spirit stones, Yi Chen once again placed them in a circular fashion and sat in the middle of them.

Spiritual Qi from both the surrounding and the spirit stones began being absorbed by his four refined meridians at a rapid pace, and within an hour, his Qi was replenished.

What followed was the usual pattern, and he successfully refined another meridian before repeating the same process.

It was only by seven in the evening that Yi Chen opened his eyes.

A total of two meridians had been successfully refined by him today.

Glancing at his Comprehension which rose by another percentage, he nodded to himself, 'I'll start attempting to create that ring when my comprehension reaches thirty-five per cent.'

After securing the spirit stones inside his card, he pushed himself up from the wooden floor.

In the kitchen, he met Qin Yao, who had just begun with the dinner preparation.

"How was your practice?" Yi Chen asked.

"Well…it was going well initially, but in the middle of refining my meridian, I thought of trying out what Master demonstrated to us in the morning.

Confident in my proficiency, I thought I would at least be able to form a smaller version of those fire rings, but I ended up failing three consecutive times. As a result, I exhausted all of my Qi and now will have to wait for half a month until it's replenished."

Qin Yao sighed disappointedly as he said that.

Hearing this, Yi Chen couldn't help but ask, "Don't you have spirit stones? You can just replenish your Qi faster with its help,"

He felt that it would be normal for a clan as large as the Feng Clan to provide its disciples with spirit stones.

"I had…But I have already used the one low-grade spirit stone that was allotted to me," Qin Yao sighed disappointedly and said, "The next one will be allotted in twenty days, so I have no choice but to wait until that time for another one."

"Just one spirit stone? Isn't that way too low?" Yi Chen asked with a confused expression when he heard his words.

'Is the Feng Clan really in such dire straits that it could provide only one stone to its disciples?'

"It is!" Qin Yao whined as if great injustice had been done to him. The next moment, as if a floodgate had been opened, words filled with discontent started coming out of his mouth without stopping.

"According to the clan's rules, all the external disciples in the Meridian Refinement Stage must receive five low-grade spirit stones per month.

However, for years now, we've been receiving two spirit stones instead of the promised five.

Since everyone was on the same boat, I was able to swallow it, but now, after I was nominated by Master for the entrance test, those bastards began to outright discriminate against me and started giving me only one stone.

If not for that, I would have long entered the third level!"Yi Chen silently listened to everything Qin Yao had to say, and by the end of it, a crease formed on his forehead.

"Didn't you inform Elder Lei about it?" Yi Chen asked.

"I didn't…" Qin Yao pursed his lips bitterly and said, "After looking into things, I got to know that the reason I was being deliberately targeted was because of the Second Elder.

"The Second Elder?" Yi Chen asked with a frown, wondering why someone in such a high position would try to make things difficult for Qin Yao, who was just a Meridian Refinement Stage cultivator.

"Yes." Qin Yao nodded and said, "He's in charge of the Treasure Hall, which is responsible for the resource allocation within the clan.

From my discreet inquiries, I got to know that his relationship with Master is very hostile and that was the reason why I was being targeted by the officials of the Treasure Hall, who were either doing it on his orders or of their own volition."

"This…" an expression of rage became evident on Yi Chen's face when he heard his words, and scolded, "So what? You must have still told Elder Lei about it instead of carrying all this by yourself!"

"I-I didn't want to make things troublesome for Master when there are already so many people against him in the clan, so I decided to keep quiet…also, Brother Chen… please don't tell Master about this.

At the moment, I lost control of myself and told everything to you but in reality, the problem is still manageable. So, what if they cut my spirit stones by one? With my talent, I'll make sure to push them to dust even with getting just one spirit stone."

Qin Yao declared when he noticed Yi Chen's angry expression. He was worried that he would complain to Elder Lei and make things troublesome for him.

"Those termite-like bastards!" Yi Chen shouted in irritation the next moment.

From what he had heard from Qin Yao so far, it was clear that not only were these officials from the Treasure Pavilion eating away the resources that should belong to the external disciples, but they were also deliberately making things difficult for Qin Yao.

And these low officials being able to run so rampantly also implies that this Second Elder is also involved in corrupt activities.

'There ought to be more people like Qin Yao who are being taken advantage of like this. No wonder the Feng clan is on the verge of losing its status as a major clan!' Yi Chen clenched his teeth in anger.

If not for Qin Yao's request to keep things between them, he would have immediately informed Elder Lei about it.

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