Time passed.

One second turned to ten, and thirty turned to a minute, but despite that, no words were exchanged between the two.

The only audible sound inside the tent was the constant crackling of the flames, accompanied by the fluttering of the tent canvas as the cold wind blew over it.

’Just why isn’t he starting...’

After the one-minute mark, Gao Zhen had begun to grow uncomfortable with each passing second and had started biting her lip in uncertainty as she kept glancing towards Yi Chen, who was leisurely drying his feet in front of the fire.

’...is he testing my patience on purpose?’ she thought with irritation welling up in her heart.

Meanwhile, unlike what Gao Zhen was thinking, Yi Chen was really immersed in warming up his toes.

’It feels so much better now...’ he thought in a pleased manner while stretching out his toes, basking in the comforting heat of the flames.

Thankfully, the flames were quite intense, and just a couple of minutes later, his toes were completely warm again.

With a satisfied smile on his face, he finally turned towards Gao Zhen, who had long retracted her stretched-out hands now that they were warm enough.

His previous neutral expression turned stern the very next instant as he said, while showing two fingers to her.

"You have two choices. The first choice is to duel with me and vent all your pent-up anger and resentment towards me, which will end with your death, or the second choice, where we discuss the matter of the Abyssal Blackglacial Arts and try to look for a way to gain proficiency in it as fast as possible to get out of this place."

Yi Chen pulled back his two fingers and asked a second later in a serious tone.

"So, which option would you like to choose? The first one or the second?"

"..."

Not expecting him to ask something like this at this moment, Gao Zhen froze all of a sudden under his intense gaze.

However, once she analysed the two options, the right choice became clear as day to her. Sucking in a deep breath, she answered the next instant.

"The second one..."

"Good." Yi Chen nodded, hearing her words and after turning his whole body to face her, said, "Here’s what I’ve planned so far. Since on the white door there are only two hand imprints in the middle, it’s apparent that even if one of us learns the Qi Absorption Art to a certain degree, we’ll be able to open it..."

At those words, Gao Zhen nodded. She, too, had come to a similar conclusion.

"...Now comes the issue of the Qi Absorption art. In order to learn it, we first need to change the nature of our spirit root. If we follow the breathing technique, then it should be able to do that. However, there’s one problem here."

"What problem?" Gao Zhen asked with a frown.

The breathing technique on the tablet was explained quite clearly, and she was unable to find anything amiss with it. So, according to her, the only thing left was to do it in practice and confirm the results.

"It’s actually related to that countdown." Yi Chen said while turning towards the tent’s entrance and asked the next moment, "What do you think will happen when the countdown ends?"

"I...don’t know...a part of me thinks that we’ll see those ice monsters once again when the countdown is over...while there’s also a possibility that we’ll face a completely different set of monsters..."

"Indeed." Yi Chen nodded at her words with a serious countenance and added, "Not only that, but I also think that the strength of these incoming waves will keep on increasing with time.

So, defeating them is only going to become more and more difficult. It’s because of this reason that only one of us should learn this Qi Absorption art, and that person is..."

Yi Chen pointed his finger towards her and stated.

"You."

"...Me?"

Gao Zhen asked with an expression of disbelief.

At first, when she heard him say that only one of them should learn the Qi Absorption Art, an unfair feeling rose within her heart.

She felt that he was deliberately trying to prevent her from learning a strong Qi Absorption Art as a way of getting back at her, and despite knowing this, she had no other choice but to clench her teeth and accept his actions if she wanted to get out of this place.

Therefore, when she saw his finger pointing towards her and heard the words that left his mouth, the next second, a feeling of surprise took over her being.

"Yes, you." Yi Chen nodded firmly, seeing her uncertain expression and added, "As things are, it would be best that you’re the only one that learns the Qi Absorption Art."

’Just what is he planning?’ Gao Zhen thought with a frown, finding it difficult to justify his actions and asked him the next instant.

"But why...why won’t you learn the Qi Absorption Art?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

’Is there something wrong with it that I don’t know about?’ She thought to herself as a number of similar doubts rose in her heart.

"From what I’ve figured, the monsters we’ll be facing in the next waves would also be of ice type...so which Qi nature do you think would be most effective in dealing with those monsters?" He asked the next instant.

"Fire..." Gao Zhen responded spontaneously and couldn’t help but furrow her brows the next instant.

"Exactly." Yi Chen nodded when he heard her words and added, "Because of my fire-natured Qi, I have a natural advantage over them...now tell me what would happen if I were to follow that breathing technique and change my spirit root into a dark-natured one?"

"...you will lose the fire nature."

"Correct. And not only that, along with that, I’ll also lose all the martial techniques which I’ve learnt since they won’t match my Qi’s nature, making me vulnerable to those monsters’ attacks."

"This..." When Gao Zhen heard those words, her eyes widened in realisation.

’Won’t the same happen to me as well?... With no way to learn any dark-natured martial techniques here, I won’t be able to fight back at all...’

"Looks like you, too, have realised." Seeing her expression, Yi Chen nodded and continued, "Therefore, it’s best that one of us, who’s much stronger, should give up on learning the Absorption art and in this case, that’s me. Did this answer your question?"

"...Yes." Gao Zhen responded meekly.