It was early in the morning, and the sun had just started peeking over the horizon.

Its warm rays gently embraced the cold earth and soon seeped into a building through its open windows.

Inside the building, a man was sitting cross-legged near the window and was breathing in a weird pattern.

A strenuous expression was apparent on his face as he did so. He continued doing this for another hour before finally taking a normal deep breath and exhaling.

The next moment, he opened his eyes. A confident spark was evident in those brown pupils as they admired the morning view outside.

A second later, a system message popped up in front of his eyes.

[10x Cultivation Buff Deactivated]

Seeing this message, he called out his system panel.

-x-x- GODLY CULTIVATOR SYSTEM-x-x-

Name: Yi Chen

Age: 18 years

Strength: 10 -> 15

Spiritual Qi: 10/10

Cultivation: Fourth Level of [Elementary Transformation Stage]

Innate Ability: Eye of Truth Lv1 (Passive)

[ITEMS]

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He then willed for his cultivation details, and a mini panel popped up above it.

---Elementary Transformation Stage---

Level: Fourth

Progress: 188/520

---------------------------------------

"One month of this buff surely made a huge difference…" Yi Chen sighed in regret and muttered, "It's a pity that it's over now."

Yesterday, he didn't sleep a wink and cultivated the whole day and night. He wanted to fully utilise whatever he could from this 10x Cultivation Speed buff.

In the past month, since Feng Yu's departure, Yi Chen has been fully involved in cultivating and strengthening his body.

With only four hours of sleep per day, he devoted the rest of his time to doing those two things.

It was to the point that one would even consider him crazy.

'If only it were for two more months, I would have opened all my Qi points…'

With another sigh, Yi Chen shook that thought away and stood up.

"Whatever, it's already great that I was able to reach this point in just one month," he said to himself, and soon freshened himself up.

A while later, he was running laps around the training courtyard.

Unlike before, he no longer was panting for air, and his breathing was controlled.

After about an hour, he completed ten kilometres and finally stopped.

A servant arrived to pass him a gourd filled with water and sat down on the ground to drink it as sweat oozed out of his body.

In the beginning, Yi Chen found his sudden increase in endurance in just a month quite hard to believe.

He consulted Zheng Ru about it and got to know that the reason was his increased number of Qi points.

Not only do they help in absorbing Qi after one enters the [Meridian Refinement Stage], but they also increase the body's vigour.

A while later, he passed the gourd back.

"Thanks, Servant Zhao," Yi Chen nodded in thanks and then turned his head towards the middle of the courtyard.

Zheng Ru was practising his swordsmanship there.

'Let's do this then,' Taking a deep breath, Yi Chen made his way towards Zheng Ru.

His status panel was clearly visible to him from here.

++++++++++++++++++++

Name: Zheng Ru

Age: 57

Cultivation: First Level of [Qi Absorption Stage]

Strength: 170

Extra: Longs for his daughter daily

+++++++++++++++++++++

Reading the 'extra' information, Yi Chen couldn't help but purse his lips.

In the past month, Zheng Ru had fully devoted himself to his work.

In the morning, he would train his swordsmanship and then help Yi Chen understand the basics of cultivation.

However, despite pushing himself all this time, the unkempt beard on his face was a clear reflection of the turmoil in his mind.

"Father, I'm done warming up," Yi Chen informed with a short bow.

"Alright, let's start with your sparring then," Zheng Ru gestured towards a nearby servant and the next moment, a wooden sword was passed to Yi Chen, and they began sparring.

Though it would be more appropriate to call it teaching rather than sparring.

Klack!

Klack!

Klack!

Yi Chen kept attacking from the top and the sides, but Zheng Ru was easily able to block all his attacks while holding his sword with only one hand.

"Be a little more forceful!"

"That's right, that was a good strike."

"Hm? Why was the next one weaker? Tired already?"

In the middle of each strike, Zheng Ru kept giving his pointers.

They had been doing this daily for the last three weeks.

After realising that Yi Chen was completely familiar with the breathing patterns and the Qi points present in the body, Zheng Ru had decided to start training him in the sword.

This was also one of the reasons why Yi Chen's strength had increased so much.

After half an hour, Yi Chen was sitting on the ground, covered in mud and sweat. He was patting heavily, completely out of breath.

What ten kilometres of running couldn't do was done by a mere thirty minutes of sparring.

"That's all for today." Zheng Ru pointed towards a few sets of iron weights stacked outside the courtyard and said, "Do ten sets of ten of those for cooling down like usual."

"Y-yes," Yi Chen said while wiping the sweat above his lips.

The next second, he pushed his weary body off the ground and dragged himself towards the weights.

At times, progress felt like ecstasy.

Since Yi Chen could clearly tell from his status panel that he had improved, putting his body through this daily torment felt tolerable.

An hour later, after he had freshened up, he arrived at the dining hall and took his seat in front of Zheng Ru.

The food was soon served, and they began eating.

However, unlike before, Zheng Ru continued to eat his food without saying anything.

Silent meals, that's how it has been since the time Feng Yu left them.

The plates were soon emptied, and Yi Chen had half stood up when Zheng Ru suddenly gestured to him to sit.

"Wait, I have something to tell you," he said.

A trace of surprise flashed in Yi Chen's eyes when he heard this.

Nodding his head, he sat back in his seat before looking towards Zheng Ru.

'Just what does father want to discuss?' Yi Chen thought to himself as his eyes focused on Zheng Ru.

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