A/N: Special 2k Chapter for the 100th Chapter. Enjoy :)

"Uhm…Brother Chen," Qin Yao finally gathered up enough courage and called Yi Chen.

"Yes, is there a matter?" Yi Chen asked with half his attention still plastered on the sword in his hand.

"You…you're so strong! Are you already a Qi Absorption Stage cultivator?" Qin Yao asked with a hint of disbelief in his tone.

Finally putting the sword aside, Yi Chen said, "Well, you got it wrong. I'm not a Qi Absorption Stage Cultivator. I'm still at the Meridian Refinement Stage."

"Wow!" Qin Yao exclaimed even more intensely and said, "To think you would be this strong even at the Ninth Level of Meridian Refinement Stage…In the whole city, there might just be a handful of Cultivators who would be able to do what you have just done,"

Hearing Qin Yao's words full of praise, Yi Chen coughed a couple of times and said, "You got it wrong again."

"Wrong? What did I get wrong?" Qin Yao asked in confusion.

"I'm not a Ninth Level but a First Level Meridian Refinement Stage cultivator," Yi Chen answered with a straight face.

"Haha, Brother Chen, you sure know how to joke. Is that even possible? I've never heard of something like…" Qin Yao was about to dismiss Yi Chen's words as a poorly attempted joke, but seeing no change in Yi Chen's eyes while he looked at him, he started doubting his own knowledge and stopped speaking midway.

Qin Yao: "..."

Yi Chen: "..."

"Are you serious?" Qin Yao finally couldn't control his thoughts and asked out loud. His steps too came to a halt the very next moment.

"I always was." Yi Chen answered the next moment and, not waiting for Qin Yao, kept walking.

'This…'

Confusion, disbelief and finally awe. Qin Yao's expression transitioned between the three stages before finally realising that Yi Chen was already a few meters ahead of him.

"Brother Chen, wait!" Qin Yao quickly recovered from his stupor and caught up with him.

"How…Just how can you be this strong? I've never heard about a First Level Meridian Refinement Stage Cultivator being this strong!" He asked Yi Chen fervently.

"I don't know. Maybe there's just something special about me. I guess that's why Elder Lei also took an interest in me and told me to come meet him when I became an adult," Yi Chen pulled a reason out of his ass and stated it like truth.

The expectant gaze on Qin Yao's face broke when he heard Yi Chen's shameless words, but at the same time, it made sense to him.

'Yes…Brother Chen had mentioned the Crimson Fire Arts while we were eating earlier…if Master didn't see any talent in him, then there's no way he would have passed the Qi Absorption Art to him, who was not even a clan member then.'

Qin Yao nodded to himself in understanding and muttered, "So that's how it is."

"Yes, so if you're done asking, let's increase our pace a little, the sun will set before we return," Yi Chen replied from the side, not wanting Qin Yao keep poking on the issue.

"Oh, yes!" Qin Yao answered and increased his pace. Thanks to that, the two of them were able to return to Feng Lei's residence before dark.

After placing the items he had bought on the table, Qin Yao muttered, "I'll go and freshen up first before preparing dinner."

"Alright, make sure to call me when you're finished freshening up. I'll also want to help out in the dinner preparation," Yi Chen offered.

"Sure!" Qin Yao answered with a wide grin and left for his room.

'I don't want to take a bath again, so I'll just change my robes to a more comfortable one,' Yi Chen thought to himself and returned to his room.

While removing his robes, Yi Chen's gaze fell on his reflection in the full-length mirror placed in his room.

An amazed expression was evident on his face.

"No matter how many times I look at this toned body, it always amazes me…" he muttered to himself and chuckled.

'I wonder how amazed Yu'er would be when she sees my physique now. My shrivelled body from that time is incomparable to my current physique,' he suddenly thought with a grin, but the next moment, his mood turned melancholic.

"I wonder when I'll see her again…if it takes too long, then would she still have feelings for me?...or would she..."

With these strings of depressing thoughts running rampant in his mind, he finished changing into a new set of robes.

Glancing at his new sword, which was leaning against the wall next to him, he grabbed hold of it and started practising his wings. It was his way of giving his chaotic mind a rest.

Swish!

Slash!

Strike!

The sword tore through the air and made a menacing sound with each swing, making Yi Chen want to attempt the next strike with even more force.

Time passed quickly and without him even him realizing more than twenty minutes had passed.

Knock Knock

"I'm done bathing, Brother Chen? Hm? What's that sound?" Qin Yao asked with a frown the next moment.

It was only when he heard Qin Yao's sound that Yi Chen stopped his swings and slid the door open a second later.

"This…" Qin Yao couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw Yi Chen's state.

"I was just practising my swordsmanship and got carried away a little, haha," Yi Chen muttered while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

'...you call this a little?'

Seeing Yi Chen's sweat-drenched robes, Qin Yao thought to himself with pursed lips. The next moment, he suggested.

"About Brother Chen helping me out in the kitchen, how about you freshen up first? I'll do the basic preparation and wait for you."

"...Yeah, I'll do that then," Starting to feel how drenched he really was, Yi Chen didn't refuse.

A few minutes later, with a fresh set of robes in his hand, Yi Chen made his way towards the common bathhouse at the back.

A depression was made on the ground inside the bathhouse, and it was lined with stones.

Steamy, warm water could be seen circulating nonstop inside it from a crevice, ensuring that the water in the pool would always stay clean and warm.

Yi Chen slowly sat inside the pool of water and enjoyed the relaxing sensation as a deep breath left his nostrils.

A few minutes later, he opened his status panel to check his swordsmanship progress.

After his exchange with the Fifth Meridian Refinement expert back when he was escorting Zhou Mei, he had discarded his damaged sword and had not touched one until today.

So naturally, his swordsmanship didn't progress much.

======Cultivation Arsenal ======

#Weapon Arts

1) Basic Swordsmanship [Progress: 37.1 / 1000]

#Cultivation Arts

1) Crimson Fire Arts [Comprehension: 17.16%]

#System Items

NIL

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

'Oh, it rose by a few decimals,' Yi Chen thought to himself, seeing the progress in his basic swordsmanship. He remembered it still being in the 36 range yesterday when he had checked out of boredom.

It was clear that this progress was because of his little practice session just now. The comprehension of Crimson Fire Arts has also risen substantially from the previous 14% after he had started using it more and more.

'I've been very lax when it comes to my swordsmanship during this period," Yi Chen thought to himself.

Now that he had reached the Meridian Refinement Stage and wasn't in a hurry to level up, he could finally devote more of his time to honing this area.

A few seconds later, he took out a brown pill from a wooden container on the side and threw it in the pool.

Soapy bubbles filled the whole pool the very next instant, and after thoroughly cleaning his body, Yi Chen got out of the pool.

A few minutes later, Yi Chen was helping Qin Yao out in the kitchen with the dinner preparation.

"Haha, from how carefully you're doing it, it seems as if you've only recently learnt how to cut vegetables." Qin Yao giggled when he saw Yi Chen cutting a few tomatoes on the kitchen counter.

"Well…" Yi Chen maintained his silence and just smiled embarrassingly.

Qin Yao's words were not wrong, as it was only when his application for the Beijing University was accepted that he started learning how to cook from his mother.

So, with a training experience of less than a month, it was natural that he wouldn't be adept at cutting the vegetables.

Finally, the dinner was all ready and was served on the table neatly.

"Nothing beats the taste of a meal you've cooked yourself," Qin Yao exclaimed as he ate the rice ball, which he had stuffed with vegetable mash.

"That's true." Yi Chen nodded as he took a bite. Compared to today's lunch, it indeed felt tastier.

Qin Yao then briefed Yi Chen on their schedule for tomorrow morning, which was followed by some random talks, which started from their dreams to eventually land upon women.

"What?! Brother Chen's already married?" Qin Yao couldn't help but exclaim when he heard this.

"Yes, I just got married half a year ago." Yi Chen answered with a pursed smile. Complex emotions were evident in his eyes.

The thoughts which he had been able to suppress earlier had started surfacing once again, little by little, making his chest feel a little heavy.

Seeing the complex expression on Yi Chen's face, Qin Yao realised that it wasn't a topic he should probe any further and tried to change the mood.

"I also wish to get married, but all the women around me only see me as a kid…" Qin Yao sighed exaggeratedly.

"You speak as if you're not a kid," Yi Chen chuckled the moment he heard Qin Yao's words and said, "Just wait for a few more years, with your talent, you're sure to get married to a beautiful woman eventually."

"A single wife's not enough! I must get a harem of strong, beautiful women just like all those fabled cultivators!" Qin Yao answered with passion.

"Haha, you're looking for wives or a group of bodyguards? Won't their being just beautiful suffice?" Yi Chen asked in an amused manner.

"No, they should be both! If she's strong, then she will also be able to protect herself!" Qin Yao answered. Although he had lived a sheltered life in the jade city all these years, he, too, was aware of the dangers that were outside.

"That's a good way of thinking," Yi Chen nodded his head and said, "However, get married to a woman you love first, maybe along the way you'll realise that you don't really need a harem in the first place…"

'...just like how I did,' he completed his words in his mind.

When he came to this world, he was all excited about creating a giant harem filled with beautiful women from left to right.

However, after getting married to Feng Yu, all that desire started fading and was finally extinguished when he promised to meet her again in the future when she was leaving.

"Is that so?" Qin Yao asked with furrowed eyes. Since he had basically been hearing about such tales since he was a child, he had become used to the concept of having several wives.

Seeing this expression, Yi Chen just chuckled and said, "Don't think over my words too much. It's just a suggestion. In the end, it's your life, just do what makes you happy, alright?"

"Alright, Brother Chen. I'll also take your words into account when the time comes," Qin Yao nodded with a grin.

Thanks to Qin Yao, Yi Chen had forgotten about those depressing thoughts, and the topic around the table kept jumping around other miscellaneous things.

After finishing the dinner, they soon left for their rooms.

"Good night, Brother Chen, see you tomorrow," Qin Yao waved his hands.

"Mhmm," Yi Chen nodded with a smile and entered his room.

The next moment, he took out a few low-grade spirit stones from his golden card and formed a big circle.

"Let's try absorbing Qi now." With this thought, he sat cross-legged inside the circle and started practising the Crimson Fire Arts and the dense Qi stores inside the spirit stones started rushing towards his two refined meridians.

'Yes…it works!' Yi Chen thought in excitement as he kept on absorbing the Qi at a rate much faster than earlier.

A/N: For those worried, the Harem tag in the book is for a reason. And also...Do drop a review if you've liked the story so far. I would really appreciate it.

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