"Here, you must be hungry," Yi Chen entered the tent and stretched his hand holding a warm meat skewer towards her.

"Guard Bai can't even eat because he's unconscious, so how can I eat?" she asked with a guilty conscience and refused to take it from Yi Chen's hands.

"That's exactly why you should be eating. He almost gave his life to save you, and now here you're not valuing your health by avoiding dinner. Do you think he'll be happy to see you in this state?"

Yi Chen's words struck a chord and made her hesitate. The next moment, she took the skewer from his hand.

The mouth-watering smell immediately invaded her nostrils, making her stomach grumble in delight.

"Look, even your stomach agrees with me," Yi Chen chuckled.

Hearing Yi Chen's words, she smiled with an embarrassed expression on her face and took her first bite.

'Delicious…'

She thought in delight and began devouring the rest without a second thought.

They had been engaged in that battle since early afternoon, so it was obvious that she also didn't get an opportunity to have lunch.

Seeing her eating so passionately, Yi Chen smiled and thought to himself while nodding, 'Yes, that's how children are supposed to eat."

After she had finished eating, he asked her out of curiosity, "Earlier, you had shouted at the bandit that his target was you and not to harm your guards. Why are you being targeted?"

"This…" Miss Zhou hesitated a little, but thinking that Yi Chen was the one who had saved their lives she decided to reveal it to him.

"Do you know about the ten noble clans of the Jade City?" she asked all of a sudden.

"Yes, I do know a little," Yi Chen nodded with a subtle frown. A feeling that he had just got involved with something he shouldn't have formed in his heart.

During his journey, he had talked about the Jade City with a lot of people and had gathered a lot of information about the place.

The ten noble clans were the ten strongest families in the capital city, and their members were born with the right to inherit the Kingdom's throne.

"I'm from the Zhou Clan, which ranks fifth in terms of might when compared to the other clans.

Recently, there had been some changes in the clan internally, and the spot of the Royal representative was passed down to me.

It had happened only a few weeks ago, and the word had yet to reach the public ear.

Keeping all this in mind, I sneaked out of my home to come here with Guard Bai and other guards, thinking nothing would happen…If only I had known it would get so dangerous, I would have never done it…"

Miss Zhou bit her lips in frustration as she finished her words. Her reckless action had almost cost her guards their lives.

As for Yi Chen, he was currently glancing at her status panel.

==============

Name: Zhou Mei

Age: 13 years

Strength: 60

Cultivation: Third Level of [Meridian Refinement Stage]

Qi Nature: Water

Extra: A talented sprout

==============

'From what I've heard, generally people with above average talent enter the First Level of [Meridian Refinement Stage] when they are ten years old and then take at least three years per level until they reach the Ninth Level,'

Yi Chen thought to himself.

'She really is talented to reach the Third Level when she's just 13 years old,'

His gaze then went towards her crestfallen expression, and he said enthusiastically.

"Cheer up, I talked with the mercenary who has good medical knowledge, and he said that Guard Bai would definitely wake up by tomorrow morning."

Hearing his words somewhat relieved Zhou Mei as she nodded with a smile.

Seeing this, Yi Chen stood up and said while stretching his back, "Anyway, it's late, so you should go and rest now so that you can wish Guard Bai tomorrow morning with a bright face."

Zhou Mei was about to reject his suggestion, but when she heard his last few words, she couldn't help but change her decision.

Seeing her standing up, Yi Chen grinned subtly and, after dropping her off to her carriage, left for his tent.

At this moment, a question was going on in his mind.

It was whether he should go with Zhou Mei to the capital city or not. Although she had not suggested it, it was clear from her words that her life was at risk.

With her guards injured and the strongest among them not in any state to fight, it was clear that her life would be at an even greater risk.

'To do or not to do…' he sighed to himself.

While accompanying her would make him arrive in Jade City faster, it would also create more enemies for him.

Just after hearing her status, he could gauge that she was stuck in a political storm right now and having any relation with her while in the capital would only make things more complicated for him.

Logic clearly told him that he should abandon the idea of helping her. That was the safest path.

However, it wasn't the path for Yi Chen.

He sighed dejectedly. If something happened to the girl along the way to the capital city, then he knew that he would be struck with guilt for not helping her out despite having the ability to.

'I'll suggest it to her tomorrow morning,' Yi Chen nodded to himself and soon entered his tent.

After taking out a manual from inside his backpack, he sat cross-legged on the mat before opening the [Crimson Fire Arts] manual. Turning to a particular page, his eyes immediately familiarised themselves with the contents.

Although he had not gotten his Qi's nature checked, and it was a bit impulsive of him to attempt this step without confirmation, he still chose to put his complete trust in Feng Yu's words and begin this process early.

'The earlier the better. Moreover, there's no way Yu'er would tell me something she wasn't sure of,' Yi Chen thought to himself with trust apparent in his eyes.

The next moment, he closed his eyes. It was finally time to enter the First Level of [Meridian Refinement Stage].

Meridians, just like blood vessels, are a part of the body's transportation system. However, instead of blood, what they carried was Qi.

There was a total of nine sets of meridians in the body.

One set consisted of a wide meridian, which was connected directly to the Qi pool situated in the lower abdomen. Its other end extends outwards and becomes thinner and thinner, only to divide itself into forty thinner branches that are connected to the Qi points on the surface of the body.

Like this, there were nine sets of meridians. Each set connected the forty Qi points from one of the nine areas where the Qi points are situated to the Qi pool. (A/N: Refer to Chapter 19, if you've forgotten.)

Because of lying dormant since one's birth, these meridians get clogged with many bodily impurities, and the only way to cleanse them is by circulating Qi through them by the usage of a Qi absorption art.

With his mind finally cleared, Yi Chen followed the steps written in the manual and started breathing at a natural pace.

With each inhale, he tried to get a sensation of warmth from his lower abdomen.

For the first hundred breaths, there was no response whatsoever, but Yi Chen didn't give up. He kept utilising the art, and finally, the sensation came!

A little excited to get a feel of his innate Qi, which confirmed that his Qi was of a fire nature, he immediately tried to circulate it through one of the many meridians that were attached to his Qi pool.

The feeling was similar to walking in a dark room in an attempt to find the light switch. With the little Qi he was able to guide, he kept feeling the inner surface of his Qi pool in an attempt to find a meridian's entrance.

Each failure would result in him doing the same breathing process again from the start.

An hour and a half slowly elapsed, and Yi Chen's robes were drenched in sweat by now. At that moment, his brows suddenly raised, and an excited grin could be seen on his face. He had found the meridian's entrance!

With this done, he pushed his innate Qi through it. The fiery nature of his Qi ensured that all the impurities it touched were burnt out of existence, and slowly and steadily it entered one of the forty branches before getting exhausted.

A few moments later, Yi Chen opened his eyes in confusion. He could no longer feel any Qi within his body.

'Did I exhaust my Qi?' Yi Chen thought in confusion. He had not asked much about the [Meridian Refinement Stage] from Zheng Ru thinking he was going to be taught by his uncle later in the Jade City anyway.

Yi Chen opened up his status panel the next moment to check for any anomaly.

==== GODLY CULTIVATOR SYSTEM ====

Name: Yi Chen

Age: 18 years

Strength: 130

Spiritual Qi: 0 / 10 [ Recovery time: 30 days]

Cultivation: Ninth Level of [Elementary Transformation Stage]

Innate Ability: Eye of Truth Lv.1 [Progress: 820 / 100,000 EXP]

[Cultivation Arsenal]

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

He had indeed exhausted his Qi. His gaze then went towards the time it would take for his Qi to recover.

"One month!" Yi Chen couldn't help but exclaim in frustration when he saw the recovery time of his Qi.

"I knew it would take a little time, otherwise it would be too easy…but 30 days?! Just how many days would it take me to clear the other 39 meridians then! This fucking shit…" He exclaimed with irritation and collapsed on the mat the next moment.

'It was my mistake for thinking this journey would be easy…only sleep can cure my irritation right now,'

Yi Chen grumbled in his mind and using a blanket to cover himself went to sleep.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.