"This...Y-Yes, I will." He answered the next instant.

"Mhm." Gao Zhen nodded and added, "It’s like a crutch. It will aid you until you’re familiar with guiding the spiritual energy on your own...Let’s see, it took me around three years to master it. With Young Master Chen’s talent, it should take you a year and a half or two."

"I understand..."

Yi Chen nodded at those words and checked the techniques’ status panel.

===== STATUS PANEL =====

Name: Li Qiang’s Spirit Guiding Technique

Use: Makes one familiar with spirit energy usage

Remark: One of the few good ones available in this realm. [Regenerate: 10,000 EXP]

========================

From the status panel, it was evident how valuable this technique was. However, despite that, she had easily handed something as precious as this to him.

"...Thank you," he said with a sincere tone the next second.

Seeing his sincere expression, Gao Zhen smiled back and said with a chuckle, "You’re welcome. You’d better live up to my expectations."

Before, whenever she gave something to him or others, there was always a calculating side active in her mind.

However, in these years trapped in this Frozen Domain, that side of her had begun to fade and was now replaced with genuineness.

"I won’t." Yi Chen answered with a confident chuckle and said, "Then I’ll go and start practising it immediately. Good luck with your comprehension."

"Mhm, you too." Gao Zhen nodded at those words.

Exchanging a brief nod, Yi Chen left for his tent with an excited expression evident in his eyes.

Meanwhile, seeing Yi Chen’s back and noticing his steps, which were more hurried than usual from excitement, a bitter smile formed on her face.

"He just doesn’t change, does he?" She shook her head and muttered under her breath, "She really is one lucky woman..."

Although she already knew that Yi Chen loved his wife dearly, living alone with another woman for such a long period was bound to evoke certain emotions in any man’s heart.

At least that’s what she used to think. It was because of this reason that after realising that they would be spending years in this place, she had prepared herself in her mind to verbally get back at him when something like that took place.

From her understanding, it was impossible for a man to remain loyal under such circumstances.

Although she didn’t intend to have any relationship with him, a part of her subtly wanted to reinforce her belief that all men are the same.

However, in this period, Yi Chen continued to remain the way he always was.

He always maintained a certain wall when they were talking like usual, his gaze never lingered on her body inappropriately, and he always maintained a respectable distance from her unless necessary, and even those moments only happened while battling the Ice Monsters.

As a result, in an attempt to prove him wrong, she met with complete disappointment in the years that followed.

"I guess I really was wrong. He wasn’t one in several million...he’s the only one." She softly chuckled to herself and thought, ’But still I’m a little glad...’

Earlier, the eyes with which he used to look at her were the same as those with which he used to look at any other woman. However, now, it was the gaze of someone looking not at a stranger but someone much closer than that...a friend.

"Friends, huh..." she smirked at the thought while shaking her head.

A second later, she cleared her mind and immersed herself in comprehending the Abyssal Blackglacial Arts.

Hours later, she was sitting in Yi Chen’s tent, enjoying the roasted fish she had grown addicted to over the years.

Flames crackled on, spreading their heat in the tent’s interior as the two enjoyed their meal while talking with each other like usual.

Since Yi Chen had just finished going over the Spirit Guiding Technique, he held several questions in his mind, so he was using this opportunity to ask her several questions in order to further enhance his understanding of the technique.

"The technique mentions that after gaining proficiency in it, we’ll be able to form our Qi seas without any hindrance. However, it doesn’t explain the Qi seas in depth and where we need to create them..."

Hearing Yi Chen’s question, Gao Zhen nodded and asked while recalling, "Long back, I think I’ve mentioned something about Qi pools having no spatial limits once one enters the Qi Absorption Stage. Do you remember?"

"Yes," Yi Chen immediately nodded in acknowledgement and added, "It was during the Inter Clan Tournament... you mentioned it to me during one of the fights."

"Correct." Gao Zhen smiled, seeing that he still remembered those words, and added, "When I had talked about a separate compartment with no spatial limits, I was referring to the Qi sea at that time."

She paused to arrange her thoughts and continued.

"In total, you need to form nine Qi seas. One in each level of the Qi Absorption Stage. It’s only when you’ve formed all nine of them that the door to the Core Building Stage opens up for you..."

She let out a breath with a hint of longing apparent in it as she said that. However, that was only for a brief moment.

The next second, she raised one finger and pointed it at her forehead.

"The first three Qi seas are formed in your mind." Her finger pointed to her chest, the next instant. "The next three in your heart and lastly..."

She pointed at her lower abdomen, the area where one’s Qi pool resides, and said, "The final three within your Qi pool."

"I see..." Yi Chen nodded diligently in understanding and said, "So the moment I form my first Qi Sea is the time I’ll enter the Qi Absorption Stage."

"Correct." Gao Zhen nodded. Seeing the diligent expression plastered on Yi Chen’s face, her smile couldn’t help but widen as she said, "Young Master Chen doesn’t need to worry too much. With your pace, you’ll soon enter the Qi Absorption Stage."

To her genuine praise, Yi Chen just smiled back while taking a bite of the fish in his hands.

Suddenly reminded of something, Gao Zhen’s brows raised in realisation as she said, "Oh, I also have good news to share today."

"Good news?" Yi Chen looked at her with curiosity.