I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress-Chapter 129: Myriad Fire Swords
Keeping Qin Yao in mind, he gently closed the gate and entered the building with soft, deliberate steps. He soon made his way through the corridor and entered his room.
The very next moment, he took out the skill books from inside his robes. Transferring one to his storage ring, he focused his attention on the one remaining in his hand: Myriad Fire Swords.
’I just can’t wait to rain down thousands of swords towards my enemies.’ The grin on Yi Chen’s face widened as he imagined the possibilities which this martiall technique held.
The next moment, he sat on the wooden floor cross-legged and began going through the lines of text with great attention.
As for what the Elder at the Flying Dragon Hall had mentioned about this skill book being more complex than the rest...Yi Chen wasn’t worried at all.
The reason behind this confidence was simple. There were still 21 days of his 10x Comprehension Buff remaining!
’I refuse to believe that I will be unable to comprehend it.’ With this thought, he began going through one page after another as the sounds of flipping pages pervaded his room.
Normally, one would have taken plenty of days comprehending the skill book for two to three hours per day when their mind was freshest. It was only at this rate that they would be able to get the gist of it after ten to twelve days.
However, Yi Chen only needed a little more than two hours and by the time it was half past seven, his understanding of the Myriad Fire Swords had increased significantly.
The status panel in front of him accurately conveyed that.
======Cultivation Arsenal ======
#Weapon Arts
1) Basic Swordsmanship [Progress: 923.5 / 1000]
#Cultivation Arts
1) Crimson Fire Arts [Comprehension: 70%]
2) Myriad Fire Swords [Comprehension: 13%]
#System Items
1) 10x Comprehension Speed [Activated: 21 days left]
============ END ===========
’I would love to give it a try now, but it’s a pity...’ Yi Chen sighed as he glanced at his Qi pool, which was almost empty at the moment. After cultivating last night, he had not got any time to absorb spirit stones.
"Well," Yi Chen said while standing up, "I’ll take care of it after dinner."
With that said, he soon went to the kitchen to help with the dinner preparation.
"Brother Chen!" Qin Yao greeted him with a smile when the two of them met.
"Yes, how did your practice go?" Yi Chen asked the next moment.
"It’s going well, I’ve already refined one third of the meridians in the Third Level," Qin Yao said with a grin, "It’s all thanks to Brother Chen’s help."
"Don’t play yourself short, it’s also because you’ve been tirelessly cultivating now that you’re not limited by the lack of spirit stones," Yi Chen said with a smile and began giving him a hand.
While at it, Yi Chen told Qin Yao about his visit today to the Flying Dragon Hall.
"Great! I’ve only seen it from outside since one needs to be at least at the Fifth Level of Meridian Refinement Stage to be able to enter the Flying Dragon Hall.
How is the place? Is there something specific that caught your attention? What skill books did you choose?"
A series of questions came out of Qin Yao’s mouth as he eagerly waited for Yi Chen’s explanation.
Seeing this, Yi Chen snorted with a smirk on his face and patiently explained all that he saw and learnt in today’s visit to the Flying Dragon Hall.
"So, such a vast number of martial techniques are available in the hall..." Qin Yao muttered in amazement as a feeling of wanting to visit the Flying Dragon Hall personally welled up within him.
"Haha, cultivate faster if you want to go and see it yourself," Yi Chen chuckled when he saw this expression.
"I’ll try to," Qin Yao scratched the back of his head while saying.
Suddenly, being reminded of something Qin Yao said, "Umm, Brother Chen, tomorrow I’ll be going to the clan arena to participate in the knockout round."
"Knockout round?" Yi Chen asked with a frown.
"Yes, if I perform well there, then I’ll be able to get one of the eight spots reserved for Third Meridian Refinement Stage cultivators who will be representing our clan in the Inter-Clan Tournament," Qin Yao explained.
"Ah, that!" Yi Chen exclaimed in realisation. He had been so focused on comprehending the Crimson Fire Arts during these few months that the Inter Clan Tournament had almost left his mind.
At the same time, he was also reminded of Feng Ning’s words.
’I’m already at the Fifth level, so should I participate?’ A thought came to his mind, but he soon shook that away, ’Sounds exhausting, I’d rather just cultivate and focus on learning the new martial techniques which I just acquired.’
"That’s good. I wish Brother Qin Yao good luck then," Yi Chen said with a smile the next moment.
"Will Brother Chen not be taking part in the tournament?" Qin Yao asked while stating, "Since you’re already at the Fifth Level, you won’t be needing to participate in these knockout rounds as we only have five Fifth Meridian Refinement Stage in our clan, leaving three spots still vacant."
"Is that so?" Yi Chen asked. However, in his mind, he still found the idea of not attending the tournament much more comfortable.
"Yes, you just need to register yourself for the tournament at the clan, and you can directly show up on the tournament day, five days later," Qin Yao said with gleaming eyes, "If Brother Chen takes part, then our chances of success would rise to a hundred percent,"
From Qin Yao’s tone and expression, it was apparent just how much trust he had in Yi Chen’s abilities.
After hearing this, Yi Chen too couldn’t help but start having second thoughts.
’Feng Ning sounded pretty confident that day...they should be able to manage without me, right?’
But still he didn’t want to make a decision so quickly, so he answered, "I’ll think over it for a while then."
"Yes, please do that. You can approach our clan’s administration hall for registration until the last day, so there’s no need to hurry," Qin Yao nodded and began savouring the dinner.
Yi Chen too followed, and the discussion on the dining table soon shifted to Crimson Fire Arts like usual.
Now that Yi Chen’s understanding of the absorption the art had increased significantly, Qin Yao was immensely benefited during these exchanges.
Time passed, and after he was done with the dinner, Yi Chen returned to his room and began filling his exhausted Qi pool.
Thirty-three low-grade spirit stones were soon placed in a circular manner, and Yi Chen took a spot inside the circle the next moment before closing his eyes.
Time passed, and three hours later, all the spirit stones around Yi Chen had turned to dust, and his Qi pool was completely filled.
"Alright, let’s give it a try then," Yi Chen muttered to himself. The next instant, his brows creased, and an expression of focus took over his face.
The innate Qi within his Qi pool began circulating through his refined meridians and was guided out of Qi points once they reached his skin’s inner surface.
The next instant, strings of red Qi got out of his body and began taking the shape of a sword right in front of his eyes. It started with the hilt, then the blade and finally the tip.
Soon, a one-meter-long sword entirely made up of fire appeared right in front of his eyes as the overall temperature of his room increased by several degrees.
"Amazing..." Yi Chen muttered when he glanced at the fierce-looking sword that was floating right in front of his eyes. Its fiery red edges looked sharper than any regular sword.
The next second, Yi Chen attempted to control it in the air, and the sword began moving forward at a slow pace, turned around, came back, went up, went down...
The more Yi Chen controlled the sword, the heavier his breathing became, not because of exhaustion but exhilaration.
However, this excitement was short-lived as not even a minute had passed, and the sword had disintegrated. The reason? His Qi pool was depleted.
[Qi Pool: 0 / 330 (Recovery Time: 24 days)]
Earlier, more than two hundred units of his Qi were spent on the sword formation itself. The remaining hundred or so units of Qi were only able to keep the sword intact and moving for not more than one minute.
"...I can’t even enjoy something without having a higher cultivation base," Yi Chen bitterly thought to himself and shifted his attention to cultivation the next moment.
After cultivating for a few hours, it was around three in the morning, and he decided to call it a night in disappointment.
’It’s a pity I was so busy today. I wasn’t even able to refine my meridians by half...’ Yi Chen sighed to himself before closing his eyes.
The next day, while Elder Lei was conducting his lecture as usual, a clansman from the administrative building arrived at the door.
"What is this?" Qin Yao asked the other person as he received a parchment in his hand.
"It’s regarding the nomination letter which the Ninth Elder had submitted yesterday," The clansman informed and soon left.
Qin Yao just nodded and walked back towards the courtyard, and glancing towards Elder Lei, he handed the parchment to him.
Wordlessly, Elder Lei went through the entire parchment, and a while later raised his head to glance at Yi Chen.
"The Patriarch has rejected your nomination for the spot. Someone else has been appointed to take that spot." Elder Lei stated without any shift in his tone.
"What?" It wasn’t Yi Chen but Qin Yao who exclaimed in confusion and asked, "How can this be possible, Elder Lei? Isn’t that spot something that’s reserved only for disciples of your choosing?"
"Yes, generally it only gets taken by others if I’ve not chosen a candidate until a month before the entrance test. However, some special provisions were made because of the clan’s current circumstances," Elder Lei answered.
"Special Circumstances?" Yi Chen asked with a subtle frown on his face.
"It’s related to the Inter Clan Tournament..."
Elder Lei explained the whole situation to the two of them.
