Chapter 221: Waiting
After filling up his Qi pool, Yi Chen stood up from his cross-legged position. Leaning backwards, he stretched his stiff back while gently twisting it on both sides.
CRACK! CRACK!
A satisfying smile formed on his face at the soothing sound of the cracks, and the next instant, he glanced at his almost depleted spiritual sea.
[Spiritual Sea: 3.76 / 48.67 (Recovery: 8 hrs of Sleep)]
"Looks like it’s finally time to rest," he said with an expectant expression.
Having not slept even a wink in the last two days, every cell in his body craved sleep.
He immediately made the preparations, and a few moments later, with his hands folded behind his head, he was resting against the cold marbled floor.
The subtle coldness emitting from the ground provided great comfort to him as he drifted into sleep in less than a minute.
Meanwhile, the eye that had been hovering in the darkness above ever since he left the gate soundlessly drifted towards Yi Chen, stopping only when it was just a few inches away from him.
Its gaze carefully scanned his body from top to bottom and finally stopped at his right chest. Its eyelid narrowed in a pleased fashion the very next instant.
’Just a little more and he’ll be ready to accept my inheritance...’
The eye glimmered and soon faded into nothingness.
Time passed, and after exactly thirteen hours and seventeen minutes, Yi Chen opened his eyes.
YAWN~
He yawned loudly and stretched his body while feeling completely refreshed.
His Qi Pool was completely filled, and it was the same with his spiritual sea after resting for so many hours.
"It looks like the three of them will take more time than I had expected..."
Yi Chen said while glancing at the three gates that were still intact.
He had expected at least one of them to be out by now, but it seemed like it would take them much longer.
After freshening up and having a sumptuous breakfast, he mused to himself, "So what should I do now?"
The answer came immediately, and a few moments later, sitting cross-legged on the ground, he began refining his meridians.
That’s what he did the whole day, the next day, and also the day after.
Three days passed by, and one of the gates finally shone brightly, attracting Yi Chen’s attention.
’That gate...’
He tried to remember who had entered that particular gate, but before he could recollect his memories, a familiar figure walked out of the gate and answered his question.
SLAM!
The gate collapsed soon after, but not putting much thought into it, Xie Rou looked towards Yi Chen and said with a smile.
"Junior Brother Chen. You’re here already."
"S-Sister Xie Rou..."
Yi Chen couldn’t help but widen his eyes as he could clearly feel the change in the air around her.
Earlier, she always carried herself with grace and confidence, which was something Yi Chen had grown used to.
However, right now, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of danger exuding from her whole being.
It was a feeling of overbearingness which she had no control over, as it naturally placed pressure upon everyone weaker than her.
Yi Chen was already familiar with this feeling. It was also this feeling that had always made him feel like he was on edge while around Gao Zhen before she destroyed her cultivation.
’Could it be...’
He immediately used his ability to check her status panel the next instant.
===================
Name: Xie Rou
Age: 19 years old
Strength: 470
Cultivation: Seventh Level of [Qi Absorption Stage]
Qi Nature: Water
Remark: A diligent cultivator [Regenerate: 10,000 EXP]
====================
"S-Seventh!!"
Yi Chen’s eyes almost popped out of his socket when he saw this huge leap in her cultivation level.
"It seems Junior Brother Chen is more perceptible than I thought..."
Xie Rou said with a smile when she saw his reaction and continued in a regretful tone, "Too bad, I wanted to surprise everyone together..."
"H-How...just how did you..." Yi Chen asked while stammering.
This enormous leap in her cultivation was too much for his mind to handle.
"Well, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a divine physique, it’s called the Nether Poison Physique."
As Xie Rou said that she brought her palm up, and the next second, a few black droplets materialised on top of it.
Splash!
She waved her hand on the stone walls next to her, and in front of Yi Chen’s eyes, a large portion of the wall evaporated into nothingness.
’S-Shiit...’
Yi Chen didn’t dare imagine what would happen if even a drop of that were to fall on his body.
"Pretty strong, isn’t it?" Xie Rou said with a hint of pride in her voice and continued, "I had to empty a lake full of black miasma while fighting fishlike monsters to get this physique."
As she said that, she curiously glanced towards Yi Chen and asked, "What about you, Junior Brother Chen? What treasure did you receive from the trial?"
"Me?" Yi Chen’s expression immediately turned bitter when he heard her question and said, "I, too, received a physique, but it seems that it’s still dormant for now..."
"Dormant? Then did it not benefit you in any manner?" Xie Rou asked with a frown.
"Well, not exactly. My strength has increased tremendously and could match a low-level Qi Absorption Stage cultivator...as for the rest, I’ll only know about it once the physique activates..."
Yi Chen stated with a bitter expression. Though he had also received an additional Qi nature, he had never heard about anyone having a dual nature, so he decided not to disclose it for now.
"This...Isn’t that great then? Just at the Fifth Meridian Refinement Stage level, you possess the strength to compete with Qi Absorption Stage cultivators... I’ve never heard of something like this before...and if it’s like this when the physique is still dormant.
Just imagine how strong you will be when it becomes active, then?"
Xie Rou was clearly impressed by what Yi Chen had told her.
His physique had not even fully activated, and yet it had given him such a great boost.
’I can’t help but feel envious...’ Xie Rou thought to herself despite having the Nether Poison Physique.
However, what she didn’t know was that Yi Chen didn’t care about such long-term prospects, as his motive was to get as strong as possible to enter the Silver Cloud Tournament and be ranked among the top 10.
"It’s indeed great, but for me..."
Hearing Xie Rou’s words, Yi Chen sighed regretfully and was about to reason with her, but just then, another gate started shining.
’Who?!’
They both immediately turned towards the gate the next instant.