I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress-Chapter 163: After the Banquet

With no tournament scheduled for tomorrow, almost everyone who was present at the Clan Plaza ate, drank and enjoyed until late at night.

It was only natural, since today was a day for celebration.

The sound of music spread all around, wine cups were clinked one after the other, budding couples became familiar with each other and engaged in sweet nothings, while the elders used this time to sit back and relax and occasionally talked about the clan’s future prospects.

In simple words, the banquet was as lively as possible.

However, far from this place, Yi Chen’s figure was currently making his way through the dim streets of the clan before finally arriving at the residence.

"...Oh yeah. The keys were with Qin Yao," he just remembered when his eyes fell on the locked gate.

’Well...not that it matters.’

He shook his head the next moment and, with a little force, jumped over the boundary wall to enter the courtyard.

"The wine’s effect is still strong, so I’ll first sweat it all out before focusing on my skill comprehension."

Yi Chen muttered as he went to get his sword and soon began swinging it in the courtyard.

Swing!

+1

Thrust!

+1.2

Slash!

+0.9

.

.

.

He kept at it as the numbers being showcased in his swordsmanship progress bar kept increasing consistently.

Time kept passing, and before Yi Chen could realise two hours had already passed.

If not for the drenched robes, which were sticking to his body and had started to become a hindrance to his movements, Yi Chen wouldn’t have even realised the passage of time and would have continued swinging his sword.

Phew!

After stabilising his breath, he let out a long exhale and finally said with a nod, "This much should be enough..."

A while later, Yi Chen went to the bathing area to freshen up, and by the time he returned, Qin Yao had arrived and was standing unstably in the corridor.

"B-Brother Chen? Ahh, so you had already returned," Qin Yao nodded in understanding with a wide smile.

His face had a red hue over it, and it was obvious he had drunk a little more than just a few cups of wine.

"F-Feng Min...and I had been looking f-for you for quite some t-time earlier...so that’s why we were unable to find you..."

"...you drank?" Yi Chen asked with a subtle frown on his face.

"Yeahh... just a little though...it was both sweet and bitter...hehe,"

Qin Yao answered with his eyes that were struggling to remain open.

’Just a little you say...’

Yi Chen shook his head with a snort and the next moment helped him to his room.

"Brother C-chen..."

Qin Yao muttered while being supported by Yi Chen.

"Yes?"

"T-Thank you...Feng Min...she accepted my proposal..." he said with a grin the next moment.

"That’s great," Yi Chen answered with a pleased smile, even though he already knew about it and soon placed him on the bed.

"Right?... I’m glad things worked out...ha-"

Qin Yao seemed to be quite exhausted as the very moment his back rested on the bed, his eyes closed automatically, and sleep took over him.

"Sleep tight then," Yi Chen muttered with a smile and soon left for his room.

’The nap which I had taken in the evening had made up for my lack of sleep. Thanks to that, I can once again pull an all-nighter.’

Yi Chen thought to himself and soon took out the skill book for Bursting Fire Steps, and began going over its intricacies.

He had already finished the book several times, and in each of those times, he had focused on a few topics and pondered over them to expand his comprehension in that area.

Time passed slowly, and by the time it was six in the morning, the rising sun had begun spreading its light and had crept inside his room.

Feeling the warm rays resting on his lap, Yi Chen opened his eyes and stopped his practice.

"It became a lot slower..." he thought with a subtle frown on his face.

Even with the 10x buff, his comprehension of the Bursting Fire Steps only increased by 5% with a whole night of focus, which was quite low compared to last night.

’And at the rate it’s going, it seems...this pace is likely to decrease even further.’

Yi Chen thought to himself while glancing at his Comprehension percentage, which had reached 76%.

This had given him even more reason to keep focusing on Bursting Fire Steps, as only then will he still be able to reach 100% before the 10x Comprehension Buff expires.

’It’s a pity that my cultivation will be suffering...but it’s still something that needs to be done,’ Yi Chen thought with a sigh.

Pushing himself off the floor, Yi Chen stretched his stiff back as the soothing sound of bones cracking echoed in his room.

"A good crack," he nodded with a pleased expression and soon went to freshen up.

Knowing that Qin Yao would take a while to wake up today, Yi Chen prepared breakfast for both of them after he was done with bathing.

Later, he finished his meal and went to his room to start comprehending the Bursting Fire Steps once again.

Just like what he had anticipated, the pace at which his comprehension was increasing significantly decreased.

’Although slow, with this pace I’ll still be able to reach 100% in the next fourteen days...hopefully it won’t decrease even further after I breach the 80%...’

Yi Chen thought with an unsure expression as he soon busied himself with comprehending the Bursting Fire Steps.

Three hours later, he met with Qin Yao, who had just woken up and was currently sitting on a chair with a spoon in his hand and an almost empty bowl resting on the dining table.

"Thanks for the soup, Brother Chen,"

"You’re welcome," Yi Chen said with a smile and asked, "You’re feeling better now?"

"Yes, it helped a lot with settling my stomach," Qin Yao answered truthfully.

"Yep, that’s what it’s for. I’ll make something light for our lunch as well, so you can go and freshen up until then."

"Alright, Thanks again," Qin Yao said and soon left for the bathing area.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen prepared simple fried rice for lunch. A while later, the two enjoyed their lunch together while Yi Chen poked fun at Qin Yao about Feng Min to enjoy his embarrassed expression.

"Alright, I won’t tease you further." Yi Chen chuckled as he was done with the dishes and said, "However, don’t let the relationship hamper your cultivation progress and ensure the same for Feng Min as well.

I’ve seen plenty of such cases happening where individuals stop focusing on themselves, and later, because of their lack of progress, become bitter not only at themselves but also their partner, which eventually ended up breaking their relationship."

Yi Chen advised as an elder brother. Although he didn’t date in his former life, he did watch plenty of relationship advice videos that came up on his feed. Therefore, he used this moment to make Qin Yao more aware. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Hearing Yi Chen, Qin Yao nodded sincerely and said, "I’ll ensure that never happens, Brother Chen!"

An expression of conviction was apparent in his eyes when he said that.

"Good," Yi Chen nodded with satisfaction, and a while later, the two soon went to the courtyard to practice with their weapons.

Qin Yao trained with his spear while Yi Chen increased his sword proficiency next to him.

During the rest times in between, Yi Chen would inform Qin Yao about the few areas of improvements which he had noticed while observing Qin Yao’s fights at the Major Ascension Trials.

"Ah! So that’s why..."

Qin Yao’s eyes brightened in realisation and absorbed Yi Chen’s words like a dry sponge before busying himself with correcting them.

So, the afternoon after the banquet, when the majority of the clansmen were resting and taking the one day off for granted, Yi Chen and Qin Yao kept pushing through with their regular training routine.

Later that night, after dinner, they continued with their training. One focused on his cultivation while the other focused on raising his skill comprehension.

Yi Chen wanted to push himself further, but by the time it was three in the morning, he could no longer persist in his battle against sleep and was finally forced to yield.

The next morning, he was woken up by Qin Yao earlier than usual, and the two soon freshened up and finished with their morning tasks as fast as possible.

The reason was that they needed to arrive at the Soaring Dragon Arena an hour earlier than the scheduled time.

"So, what if you’re the emperor? Why do we have to wake up so early and wait for your arrival?" Yi Chen muttered in frustration while wearing his robes.

A while later, the two were done with their breakfast and arrived outside the residence to wait for the carriage to arrive.