He exclaimed with clenched fists.

’Won’t I be able to upgrade it all the way to Tier 1 now?!’ he thought in excitement.

Just the Myriad Fire Swords, which he was practising, was a Tier 3 High Rank technique, so he couldn’t wait to see what the future had in store for him.

"A Tier 1 technique..." he couldn’t help but wishingly think over it.

From what he knew, in the entire Jade White Kingdom, it was only the Imperial Family that possessed a Tier 1 technique. Even the ten noble clans didn’t possess it.

Therefore, the possibility of upgrading a technique he was already familiar with all the way to Tier 1 appeared extremely lucrative to him.

At the same time, a future where he would have several of these original techniques available in this section flashed through Yi Chen’s mind.

"That’s enough daydreaming for now..." Yi Chen chuckled at his actions when he had yet to even enter the Qi Absorption Stage.

It was at that moment that he saw all the fragments of ice around him turn into thick black clouds that soon drifted towards the stone tablet.

Seeing the massive dark clouds revolving atop the stone tablet, which seemed a little bigger than before, he nodded to himself.

’There were definitely more than the earlier numbers, so that’s only natural,’ he thought as his gaze fell on the stone tablet where the countdown had restarted.

72:00:00

71:59:59

.

.

"Three days again, huh..." he let out a breath when he saw the countdown and glanced towards Gao Zhen’s figure.

She was standing next to her tent and was glancing at the countdown as well. Using the Bursting Fire Steps, he soon appeared next to her.

Hearing the bursts, Gao Zhen turned around and soon saw Yi Chen’s figure standing a few feet from her.

"Looks like I finished them earlier than I thought," he said with a grin and asked the next instant, "Were you able to rest?"

At that question, she made an uncertain expression before answering, "...a little."

Although she spent the majority of her time admiring Yi Chen’s swordsmanship, she decided not to talk about it.

"That’s enough since we only have a few hours until dinner anyway," Yi Chen said and gestured towards the stone tablet, "Let’s begin the next session then."

"Yes." Gao Zhen nodded with a firm expression and soon began the absorption process.

Days passed by one after the other with the same thing happening every three days.

The only changes were the fact that the number of Glacial soldiers coming in each wave had increased drastically.

However, that didn’t pose much of a hindrance for Yi Chen, who used them as an opportunity to raise the Dance of Death’s proficiency.

Needless to say, because of their increasing numbers, the massive clouds of dark Qi revolving atop the stone tablet also increased over time. Along with that, so did Gao Zhen’s rate of absorption.

With the following changes, days kept adding up and a month passed by.

By now, all of Gao Zhen’s roots had turned black, and only the crystal, which still glimmered in light blue, remained.

Now that all her roots had absorbed dark Qi, the suction rate of her spirit root while practising the breathing techniques was several times more than before.

However, despite this huge absorption rate, the crystal had only shown minimal changes despite Gao Zhen trying her best to absorb as much dark Qi as possible throughout the week.

Inside Yi Chen’s tent.

"I think it will take me another month to completely change my spirit root’s nature," Gao Zhen told Yi Chen, who was sitting next to the flame, a few feet away from her.

At first, she really felt that she would be able to complete this task within one month, but the little to no change her crystal had shown in the last week had proved her wrong.

Therefore, after assessing how long it might take in the following days, she decided to inform Yi Chen about it today.

"Another month, huh... Alright." Yi Chen nodded at the news while exhaling a silent breath. His eyes lingered on the flames as he sank into thought.

A part of him wanted to express his frustration, but the rational side reminded him that, in the end, he really had no control over the situation. So, the best thing he could do was to wait.

Seeing his reaction, Gao Zhen couldn’t help but knit her brows and ask, "Aren’t you frustrated?"