"Hehe…to be praised for something this small indeed feels good. Meanwhile, Master only praises me once in a blue moon," Qin Yao said with an exhausted sigh.

"No worries. I'll make sure to praise you more in the future in his stead, haha," Yi Chen joked.

Qin Yao too chuckled, hearing his words and said, "You can't go back on your words then, Brother Chen, I really like being praised to be honest,"

The next moment, two bowls filled with hot soup were served on the table, and after bringing two bowls full of rice, Qin Yao took his seat.

Seeing that it was only the two of them, Yi Chen suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Is Elder Lei not eating?"

"Master only eats once in a month or two," Qin Yao explained with a smile, "Since he's a Seventh Level Qi Absorption Cultivator, it's only normal."

"Seventh? Not Ninth?" Yi Chen furrowed his brows when he heard it. He clearly remembered what he had seen on the status panel earlier.

"Ninth? Brother Chen must be joking. In the entire Feng Clan, it's only our Patriarch who's in the Ninth Stage. Apart from him, no one in the clan is at the Ninth level," Qin Yao answered as if it were common knowledge.

"So that's how it is. I'm still new, so I'm not aware of such things, haha," Yi Chen answered while scratching his head, busy in his thoughts.

Thinking back on the 'extra' information he had read on Elder Lei's status panel, Yi Chen concluded something in his mind.

'He's definitely hiding his strength,'

He's a person who wants to take revenge, so it's a given that he's slowly consolidating his strength while making sure not to make his enemies feel cautious.

What this information also revealed to Yi Chen was the fact that there were people inside the clan whom Elder Lei didn't trust, which indirectly meant that he also couldn't trust them.

'So, there are traitors even within the clan's higher ups…' Yi Chen thought to himself with a grim expression.

At the same time, a desire to completely understand what had happened to Zheng Ru back then rose in his heart. Unless and until he knew everything about the situation, he would have to tread cautiously.

'If opportunity arises, I'll inquire Elder Lei about it tomorrow,' he thought to himself.

"Big Brother, what are you thinking about? Let's eat," Qin Yao gestured while grabbing the chopsticks.

"Ah, yes." Yi Chen grabbed the chopsticks and, after pouring soup on his rice, began eating. It was a simple meal, but it still felt satiating.

The two interacted a little about the clan before the plates were emptied.

"Thanks for the meal, Brother Yao. It tasted great," Yi Chen said while standing up.

"Haha, it's good that you like it," Qin Yao also stood up the next moment.

While the two of them were washing the plates, Qin Yao thought of something and said, "I'll be going to the market to buy some daily essentials in the evening. Would Brother Chen like to tag along? I'll show you around the clan market and familiarise you with everything."

"Sure, that sounds great. I'll be resting a little in my room, so call me when it's time," Yi Chen replied. He, too, wanted to know more about the area inside the clan.

"Got it," Qin Yao said with jubilation. He had been doing these tasks all alone for years now, so having a company felt quite good.

After doing the dishes, the two returned to their respective rooms.

Unlike what Yi Chen had stated earlier, Yi Chen didn't rest but instead opened up his Crimson Fire Arts manuals after sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Last night, he had refined his first meridian and had exhausted all his Qi. However, after eating the Qi-enriched breakfast, his Spiritual Qi was again back to its full capacity.

"Let's start the next round then," he thought with a grin and closed his eyes.

Circulating his innate Qi through the already refined meridian, he made it enter the second meridian, which he was in the middle of refining earlier.

From what Yi Chen could sense, the feeling was similar to thick tar being slowly melted by the heat.

In his case, the tar was the impurities clogging his meridians, and the source of heat was his innate Qi.

However, the quality of his innate Qi was so pure and dense that all impurities that came into contact with it were being charred to nothingness.

Time passed gradually as Yi Chen continued with the process.

It was only when two hours had passed, and drops of sweat had started to form on his forehead that he opened his eyes.

'Second meridian refined successfully,' he thought confidently and opened his status panel to check his spiritual Qi.

Spiritual Qi: 0/14 [Recovery Time: 16 days]

Seeing that his Qi pool's capacity had increased by two once again brought great delight to Yi Chen.

It was four in the evening by now, and Qin Yao could arrive at any moment to call him to the market.

However, Yi Chen was itching to experiment with something now that his Qi was completely exhausted.

Closing his eyes once again, he started utilising the Crimson Fire Arts and the next moment, the surrounding Fire Qi slowly began being sucked into Yi Chen's body through his two refined meridians.

Yi Chen kept at it for a couple of minutes before he opened his eyes with a frustrated expression.

"I can absorb more, but there just isn't enough Qi…" he muttered with furrowed eyes.

The feeling is similar to breathing in high-altitude areas. You could inhale with as much might as you want, but only a few Oxygen molecules would enter your lungs in the end.

Since he had only entered the Meridian Refinement Stage last night, this was his first time using his Qi Absorption Art to absorb the Qi from the environment, and he was quite excited about it…but alas.

The result was not at all as exciting as he had thought.

"No…wait a minute!" Suddenly remembering the hordes of spirit stones in his possession, Yi Chen reached out for the golden card inside his robes.

However, just then, the sound of knocking came from outside his room.

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