Upon returning to the Lord's Manor, Yuan went straight to his room with Xiao Hua, while Luo Li went to brief her father about their little tour and restaurant bill.
"What should we do now, Xiao Hua? We have plenty of time until the Mountain Lord attacks, but I don't want to just sit around and do nothing." Yuan said to her.
"Most people would cultivate during their free time, as every minute matters," she said to him.
"Eh… But I find cultivating normally very boring. I'm just sitting there and breathing, after all. And it'll take forever for me to reach the next level if I were to cultivate normally…" Yuan sighed.
Now that he needs millions upon millions of Qi to reach the next level, it would take him many days, even weeks to breakthrough a single level when his cultivation technique only absorbs 5 Qi per second.
"Cultivation, in general, takes a very long time," Xiao Hua said to him. "Once Brother Yuan reaches the higher realms, it might take you decades of cultivation time to improve a single level."
"But since Brother Yuan doesn't want to cultivate normally, why don't Xiao Hua read her book for you?" Xiao Hua then suggested.
"Oh? That book?" Yuan nodded. Now that he's improved his cultivation, perhaps he might learn something new this time.
A few moments later, Xiao Hua retrieved her book and began reading it.
Yuan closed his eyes and focused on Xiao Hua's gentle and innocent voice.
Many minutes later, Luo Li returned to the room, but when she saw that Yuan had entered cultivation, she decided to remain outside until he was done, as it was very offensive to interrupt someone while they were cultivating, and it might even lead to internal injuries that are very difficult to heal.
A few hours later, Yuan opened his eyes, feeling as though new knowledge was gushing into his head.
«Your comprehension for Heaven's Secret Art has greatly increased»
«Heaven Consuming Technique Mastery Level (1) → (2)»
«Heaven Consuming Technique»
«Rank: Divine»
«Mastery Level: 2»
«Description: Absorbs 500 Qi every second. Can only be activated during cultivation in the lotus position»
«Heaven Splitting Sword Strike Mastery Level (1) → (2)»
«Heaven Splitting Sword Strike»
«Rank: Divine»
«Mastery Level: 2»
«Description: Consumes 10,000,000 Qi. Must wield a sword to activate. Creates a pillar of sword light that will destroy everything that dares to block its path»
'500 Qi per second! That's 100 times faster than before! And I need 10 million Qi to activate Heaven Splitting Sword Strike now?! That's 1,000 times more than before!' Yuan was shocked by the massive improvements to his cultivation technique.
'I guess it only makes sense that you would absorb and use more Qi the higher your level,' he thought to himself.
Seeing the formidable aura around Yuan, Xiao Hua could easily tell that he'd once again improved as a Cultivator.
'Just what is Brother Yuan's limit? Does he even have a limit to his talent?' Xiao Hua pondered to herself.
Every Cultivator under Heaven is either born with or without talent and for those born with talents, regardless of how much, there is always a limitation to their talents as set by the Mighty Heavens.
'No… There exist people who do not have a limit to their talents… but those people are…'
"Xiao Hua, my understanding of the cultivation technique has improved slightly," Yuan suddenly said to her. "I can now absorb more Qi with the cultivation technique."
Xiao Hua quickly tossed her thoughts to the side and said, "Brother Yuan is always improving so Xiao Hua is not surprised."
Meanwhile, when Luo Li heard the two of them talking, she knocked on the door and said, "Are you finished with cultivation, Daoist Yuan?"
"Eh? Don't tell me you have been standing outside this entire time?" Yuan quickly went to open the door for her.
"I did not want to bother Daoist Yuan, after all." She nodded.
"Anyway, I have some news for Daoist Yuan. We have new information on the Mountain Lord, and it might begin the invasion as early as tomorrow morning."
"I understand." He nodded.
"One more thing, my father would like to invite you for dinner later, but it's okay to refuse because we know that you might still be full from the restaurant earlier today."
"Dinner? That sounds great." Yuan immediately accepted their invitation regardless of how full his stomach was, as he would never turn down a meal as long as it wasn't only soup.
"That's great! I will let my father know." Luo Li said before disappearing again.
After Luo Li left, Yuan said to Xiao Hua, "I'm also going to leave for a bit. If she returns before I do, just let her know."
Xiao Hua nodded and watched as Yuan disappeared into thin air right before her eyes.
"..."
Silence filled the room after Yuan logged off, and Xiao Hua pondered with curiosity.
'How does Brother Yuan disappear and appear as he pleases like that? He shouldn't know any teleporting techniques. And where does he go?'
However, after pondering for a few seconds, almost as though something inside her head had flipped, Xiao Hua immediately lost all interest in Yuan's sudden disappearance and treated it as though it was only normal.
Meanwhile, after logging off the game, Yuan patiently waited for Yu Rou until she entered the room and began doing her daily routine.
"Yu Rou, I'm currently doing an important quest, and even though it might not happen until tomorrow morning, I'll be staying in the game for the night just in case," Yuan said to her.
"Oh? So you're finally playing the game seriously, Brother? Okay, I'll let you play. But you really shouldn't do this too often. I don't want your health to weaken because of it."
"Hahaha, you worry too much, Yu Rou. I have never felt better ever since I started playing the game, and there are even times when I feel as though my body is filled with energy. Of course, the only thing limiting me is my pathetic condition."
Sometime later, after being cleaned and fed by Yu Rou, Yuan returned to the game.