In a crowded market street, a building stood out the most. The reason was not its size, but rather how artistically and beautifully it was designed.

Above the entrance of the building, a signboard was hung. On it, a few words were written using elegant calligraphical strokes.

Green Pearl Inn.

Outside this Inn, twenty people were lined up and were waiting patiently to eat the famous delicacy for which this Inn was known.

However, unlike the first floor of the building, the second floor was completely quiet and even more artfully decorated.

Green jade sculptures in the shape of plants hung here and there and reflected their brilliance from time to time.

This was the floor where all guests looking for lodging stayed. A place covered with a noise reduction array, which created a serene atmosphere.

Inside one of the several rooms on this floor, Yi Chen was sitting cross-legged on the bed and had just opened his status panel.

==== GODLY CULTIVATOR SYSTEM ====

Name: Yi Chen

Age: 18 years

Strength: 30 -> 130

Spiritual Qi: 10 / 10

Cultivation: Ninth Level of [Elementary Transformation Stage]

Innate Ability: Eye of Truth Lv.1 [Progress: 720 / 100,000 EXP]

[Cultivation Arsenal]

============ END ==============

His strength stat had increased from the previously thirty, which he reached after opening all his normal Qi points, to a hundred and thirty!

"Awesome…" he muttered to himself in exhilaration, seeing this number.

In these days of travelling, he had glanced upon quite a few status panels and had naturally met a few cultivators.

While not one of them was over the Fifth Level in [Meridian Refinement Stage], he was still able to see a certain pattern in their strength stat.

The conclusion he reached after observing them for a decent amount of time was that in each level of [Meridian Refinement Stage], one's strength increases by a value of 10.

So by that standard, a cultivator who is in the Ninth Level of [Meridian Refinement Stage] will have a strength stat of only 120.

What did that mean?

It meant that before Yi Chen had even reached the first level of the [Meridian Refinement Stage], he had surpassed the strength of a Ninth Level cultivator!

"This strength…" Yi Chen muttered excitedly as he clenched his fists.

He was itching to test it out, but didn't want to take a chance and break anything, so he restrained this idea.

"I finally feel like a protagonist in a novel now," Yi Chen muttered to himself with a gleeful grin on his face.

The next moment, he pushed himself up the bed and stretched his sore back a little.

Crack!

Crack!

Two soul-soothing cracks livened his mood the next moment, and he entered the washroom to freshen up.

A while later, in a much livelier mood, he got out of the washroom and, after adjusting his robes, left for the first floor.

'I've been restraining my urge these last fourteen days, but today I'll definitely give this Inn's speciality dish a try!'

With this thought, he walked down the stairs and took a seat on one of the reserved tables.

For the few guests lodging in here for more than one day, this was a special privilege given solely to them.

A few meters away from him was the non-reserved area where all the tables were filled, and people were enjoying their food and dessert.

"Greetings, esteemed guest. What would you like to have today?" a staff member dressed in an eye-catching robe came towards him and asked.

"Just the usual breakfast and this time also bring the Inn's speciality, Snowy Ice Pastry, later," Yi Chen said.

"Right, sir," the staff member went back inside and informed the kitchen staff about his order.

Soon, a delicious plate full of meat, veggies and egg was served to him, which Yi Chen ate with great relish.

Burp~

Yi Chen burped in satisfaction and waited for the dessert to be served.

An expression of anticipation was apparent on his face because of all the good words he had heard about the dessert during his time here.

Apparently, the chef was a cultivator and practised Frost arts.

During these days, Yi Chen had got a chance to get some glimpses of the dessert on other tables, and it really looked quite delectable.

After waiting for fifteen minutes, the dessert was finally served to him.

"Enjoy your meal, Esteemed Guest," the staff member bowed and left.

As for Yi Chen, he barely gave her any attention as his eyes were completely focused on the dessert placed in front of him on the table.

Snowy Ice Pastry.

As the name implied, it was a pastry.

A pastry, the kind of which he had neither seen nor heard on earth.

Gulp

White frost particles were sprinkled over a thin layer of deep blue ice that had covered the pastry entirely.

Underneath the blue ice covering were the neatly layered dough with creams of different flavours.

Unable to control his curiosity any longer, Yi Chen made a small slice from the top and, grabbing it with his hand, ate it in a single bite.

An icy sensation entered his mouth, followed by the crunchy feeling of ice and the very next moment, a flood of flavour bombarded his taste buds, making him want to eat more and more!

'So good!' he exclaimed in his mind and with one small slice at a time began savouring the dessert.

"Hurry Up Guard Bai!" a high-pitched voice echoed inside the Inn as its owner rushed inside.

"Yes, Miss Zhou!" A guard holding a wrapped sword with his two hands followed after her in a hurry.

Seeing the large line of ten people, the woman couldn't help but become angry.

"Look! The line is already so long! If we had come earlier, then I would already be eating my Snowy Ice Pastry at this moment!" she shouted while pointing a blaming finger towards her guard.

"I'm sorry, Miss Zhou," the young guard apologised with his head bowed. Helplessness was apparent on his face.

Seeing this, she snorted and added, "It's all because you wanted to get my sword from the blacksmith the first thing in the morning!

We could have done that later as well, but no! What do you think is more important? My pastry or getting that sword?"

By the time she finished her sentence, her anger was at its peak.

"…but Miss, we got late because you woke up late…" the young guard tried to defend himself.

"Wrong answer!" she kicked the guard's left shin the next moment and said, "It's my pastry!"

Hearing this loud commotion going on, Yi Chen glanced towards the source of the voice with a face full of dissatisfaction.

The next moment, his gaze was directed towards her status panel and seeing her age, he couldn't help but say to himself.

"Snotty little brat!"

With that said, he didn't pay attention to the two of them anymore. He had read too many novels to realise not to get involved with such characters.

With his focus back on his dessert, he slowly enjoyed it until the end and finally left for his room upstairs.

"I'm already fifteen days late, so I cannot afford to waste any more time in this city," Yi Chen muttered to himself and began packing his belongings the moment he entered his room.

About forty minutes, with everything packed and placed, he finally left the Inn.

Making his way towards the Wagon Depot, he booked a wagon, and half an hour later, a band of three wagons left Tang City.

Their journey was through a dense forest and would take them six days to cross. Therefore, they were accompanied by a small group of four mercenaries in a wagon.

By now, Yi Chen had grown used to these things and just closed his eyes inside the rattling wagon to catch up on his sleep.

About fifteen minutes had passed when Yi Chen's eyes were shot open because of sudden, deafening sounds.

His head immediately turned behind the wagon to see what was going on.

It was not just him, as the other people from his wagon and the two wagons behind them were doing the same.

Soon, the wagon drivers exchanged a signal with each other and stopped their wagon at the side of the dirt path.

Yi Chen was confused and was about to ask what they were doing when the sound became increasingly louder.

When Yi Chen glanced towards the back, he saw a cloud of dust spreading around the dirt path. Nothing was clear.

The very next moment, a golden black carriage being pulled by two fierce-looking horses appeared from within the cloud of dust.

The horses were larger, stronger and faster than any normal horse Yi Chen had seen, and the iron hooves underneath their toes continuously slammed the earth like thunder.

Whoooosh!

The next second, like a blast of storm, the carriage left the band of 3 wagons in dust and carried forward unhindered.

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