I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress

Chapter 304: A Few Days Passed

"This...Doesn’t this mean-"

Before Yi Chen could complete his words, Wei Ru nodded her head and said, "Indeed, I’ll be able to take Young Master Chen along with me."

"That’s great!" Yi Chen exclaimed in joy when he heard those words. Seeing his reaction, the subtle smile on Wei Ru’s face turned a little curious.

"I was a little curious, just why is it that Young Master Chen wants to meet Madam Cao Li?"

When Du Ming Li had told her about Yi Chen’s request, Wei Ru had asked the same question to her, only to get a response that even she didn’t know the reason and Yi Chen wanted to keep it under wraps.

So, seeing Yi Chen’s reaction only ended up adding more fuel to her curiosity. Therefore, wanting to try her luck, she asked him out.

"Ah, that...there are a few things I would like to confirm by myself. That’s why I wanted to meet her."

Yi Chen answered with an uncomfortable expression.

Despite seeing this, Wei Ru tried to push him a little further.

"Confirm a few things? Like what?" she asked with an inquisitive expression the next second.

"...Like whether my observations are true or not." Yi Chen replied with a forced smile, which caused Wei Ru to break into a fit of laughter.

"Truly trying to keep a secret, aren’t you, Young Master Chen? Fine, I won’t pry over it any longer." Wei Ru said a couple of seconds later as she managed to rein in her laughter.

"I apologise. It’s a little personal, so I don’t want to share it with anyone." Yi Chen said the next moment.

"It’s alright, Young Master Chen. I’ll get back at you for this later on, so it doesn’t matter much..."

Wei Ru said with a mischievous smile and got up the next moment.

"???"

Meanwhile, a frown instantly formed on Yi Chen’s forehead when he heard her words. However, before he could ask her what she meant by those words, she stood up from her seat and headed towards the exit.

"I’m off to make a few talismans now, like always. As for the ceremony schedule, I’ll hand it to you in a few days."

By the time her words registered in Yi Chen’s mind, she had already left the restaurant.

Seeing this, Yi Chen nodded to himself before focusing all his attention on his breakfast.

A few minutes later, gulping down a glass of water, he was finally done with it.

However, instead of going back to his room, he chose to go for a walk outside. It was around nine by now, and the fog had lifted because of the sun’s warmth.

He leisurely walked alongside the road, enjoying his time, when his sight soon fell upon a large line of old men, many of whom were in a sickly condition, lined outside a Violet Collection Unit with a bag full of purple nuts in their hands.

Unlike Yi Chen’s fresh expression, they all carried an exhausted one, clearly indicating that they had woken up early to finish their work and were now here to exchange the nuts for yellow tablets.

"Sigh...I still remember when we needed to eat just two or three tablets a day and now even four of them seems too little."

Yi Chen heard one of the men in the line sighing.

"Stop reminiscing about your young days and move forward to collect your tablets, Old Pi. I’ve already heard you repeat the same lines for the last three years," the old man standing behind Old Pi snorted in irritation.

The three or four old men near the two of them chuckled at this exchange while taking a few steps forward.

Hearing his mate’s words, Old Pi could only shake his head in amusement while taking a few steps towards the cultivator who was in charge of giving him the respective tablets.

"...Thank you." He gratefully bowed towards the young cultivator and turned to take his leave, which was followed by the other person behind him doing the same.

Seeing these exchanges, Yi Chen couldn’t help but purse his lips.

’Will they still look so grateful once they know that it wasn’t the air around them but a virus deliberately made by the Violet Heaven House the reason for their disease?’

Letting out a deep breath, he kept walking, but the more he walked, the duller his mood became, and soon sickly-looking young men, women, and even children appeared in front of him.

Seeing that all of them were moving towards a bunch of towering chimneys at a distance, Yi Chen realised that they were going to work.

He was immediately reminded of the slum scene that was shown to him by Bai Tianhe and the various struggles these people faced, which successfully soiled his mood.

’I’ll just go back and cultivate...’ he thought with a bitter expression and walked back towards the Inn.

Reaching the Inn in about half an hour’s time, he sat in a lotus position in his room and immersed himself in his cultivation.

Days kept passing by with Yi Chen spending a majority of his time inside his room cultivating.

The only times he did leave his room were either during meals or if he wanted to go out and acquire more Qi Nourishing Pills.

During those outside trips, he paid Du Ming Li a visit quite a few times to check the status of the repair work that was going on.

Just like she had told him earlier, the technical team from one of the Great Kingdoms had arrived and were repairing the transportation array.

As a result, along with cultivating daily, watching them work on the array had also become one of Yi Chen’s pastimes.

Glancing towards something that looked like a grey orb placed on the shelf behind Du Ming Li, Yi Chen couldn’t help but ask one day, "That grey orb, isn’t that an Image Capturing Stone?"

He remembered Gao Zhen taking something similar out of her storage ring long ago.

’Now that I remember...didn’t she say that she would give the etched pictures to me when we had returned to the Jade City... looks like that won’t be happening any sooner.’

Yi Chen thought with a bitter smile while Du Ming Li turned her head towards the object Yi Chen was pointing towards.

"Ah, that! No, that’s not an Image Capturing Stone." Du Ming Li shook her head while letting out a chuckle while reaching for the stone, "Though I understand why Young Master Chen would get confused.

The only difference between this one and the Image Capturing Stone is the fact that this is a little bigger in size."

Grabbing the stone that was a little bigger than a tennis ball but still smaller than a volleyball, Du Ming Li placed it on the table in front of her.

When Yi Chen looked at it up close, it was only then that he was able to recollect the subtle difference.

"Then...what is it called?" He asked curiously the very next moment.

"It’s an upgraded version of the Image Capturing Stone," Du Ming Li said with a smile, "It’s called a Video Capturing Stone and is capable of storing both sound and video of the surroundings.

Because of its larger size, it is also able to store a large amount of this content and thus is a pretty useful object."

"Is that so?" Yi Chen’s eyes couldn’t help but brighten when he heard her explanation, and the very next moment he asked, "How much is it? I want to buy it?"

The smile on Du Ming Li’s face brightened hearing these words, "It costs 25 High Grade Spirit Stones, but Young Master Chen can take it for free."

Du Ming Li said while gesturing for Yi Chen to take it.

"This..."

Hearing her words, although Yi Chen felt grateful, he still shook his head and said with a smile, "Lady Du has helped me get in touch with Madam Wei, so it’s only right for me to pay for it."

Yi Chen knew that she had said that in an attempt to make up for the accident that had happened. However, to him, she had already made up for that mistake.

As he said those words, 25 High Grade Spirit Stones appeared on the table.

Seeing this, Du Ming Li gave out a subtle smile and said, "Then...if it’s Young Master Chen, you’ll be getting a 20% discount. Then that would make it-"

"It’s alright, Lady Du. I don’t mind paying the full amount if it can support your business." Yi Chen said with a smile. He had more than enough stones to afford this much.

In the last few days he had been here, he had never seen the branch being visited by any customer at all. So, although little, this was his way of doing what he could.

"Then, thank you for the patronage, Young Master Chen," Du Ming Li accepted the payment with a smile.

"You’re welcome," Yi Chen smiled back and said while pointing towards the stone, "Then can Lady Du tell me how to use it?"

"Sure! You first pour your Qi over here and then..." Du Ming Li exclaimed with an enthusiastic smile and explained everything that Yi Chen needed to know.

A few minutes later, Yi Chen left the Red Velvet Pavilion branch with a satisfied expression on his face.