A few moments before.
Elder Jing was absorbing Qi at a massive rate. Right now, within her Qi pool, a massive amount of Qi was present in liquid form.
From an outsider's perspective, it looked like a massive sea with a glistening blue shade to it. However, even this massive amount was considered only three-tenths of Elder Jing's Qi pool's capacity.
She still needed to raise her Qi by forty-five more per cent to be able to use the Divine Phoenix Orb, which was resting inside her pendant.
Sensing the spiritual Qi weakening, Elder Jing waved her hand in front of her while sending her spiritual sense inside her pendant, only to furrow her brows the next moment.
'I'm out of spirit stones…'
She only had a few hundred thousand stones with her, as she mostly relied on other, more effective elixirs and pills for Qi nourishment, so this result was natural.
"If only I had carried more spirit stones with me," Elder Jing muttered while biting her lip in frustration.
Now there was only one thing she could depend on to recover her Qi. Direct absorption from the surroundings. However, taking into account how thin the density of spiritual Qi was in this realm, it might even take her a month of continuous cultivation practice to reach the required Qi level.
Her sense, which was still directed inside her pendant, suddenly fell upon something. It was an ancient book of arrays she had picked up from the clan's archives, but she never got the time to read it thoroughly.
She immediately called it out of the pendant and started sifting through the pages.
'There it is!' Elder Jing's eyes brightened as they fell upon a particular page with a heading: Ancient Qi Gathering Array
The more she went through the contents of the page, the brighter her eyes became.
'While still not as fast as directly absorbing from the spirit stones…it can save considerable time,' Elder Jing nodded to herself and closed the book.
With a wave of her hand, an air of Qi spiralled around her whole body and the next moment, she no longer looked dishevelled and was all freshened up.
Satisfied, she left her quarter to inquire about some details from Zheng Ru, only to bump into Yi Chen along the way.
"Greetings, Elder Jing,"
Seeing him, she nodded in a pleased mood since she had a good impression of him.
"Oh, so it's Xiao Chen,"
Seeing that he had come from the direction of the dining hall, she asked the next moment, "I'm looking for Zheng Ru, do you have any idea where he is?"
"Ah, Master Ru just left the residence because of work," Yi Chen answered after a thought.
"Is that so?" A frown appeared on Elder Jing's face. "I really needed to ask him about something,"
'Wait, isn't this a chance for me to get closer to her?' Yi Chen suddenly thought to himself. All his drowsiness flew away the next moment, and he proactively asked.
"Uhm…if I may inquire, what is it that you wanted to ask him?" Yi Chen asked with a respectful tone.
Elder Jing thought for a second, and thinking that there was still a chance to know about such things, she said, "I wanted to ask him about some calm places nearby which had rich spiritual Qi."
Yi Chen furrowed his brows a little as he really didn't know about such a place, but still not wanting to give up, he said, "Well…I do know about a few calm places nearby, but I cannot tell whether they are rich in spiritual Qi since I just started cultivation… Is there a way to tell by normal indicators?"
Although Elder Jing wasn't expecting much but she was still disappointed with his answer. However, just for the sake of doing it, she answered his doubt, "You can tell by simple observation as well. If it has dense vegetation and a good concentration of fauna, then generally those places have a good amount of spiritual Qi,"
With that said, Elder Jing was about to leave when Yi Chen suddenly exclaimed with excitement, "I know! There's this one place which satisfies your criteria!"
"Oh?" An expectant expression appeared on Elder Jing's face, and she asked, "Where is it?"
At this question, Yi Chen went into a thought, 'If I directly tell her the location, won't she just leave…No, I must use this opportunity to make her feel a little indebted, then only I can benefit from her later.'
The next moment, with sincerity clearly written on his face, he said, "Elder Jing, it would be difficult for you to find it by yourself. How about I arrange a carriage and personally take you there?"
"That would be wonderful…but aren't you busy with your engagement preparation?" She asked with uncertainty.
"Ah, Elder Jing is indeed thoughtful. However, you really didn't need to worry about that. It just so happened that today I'm completely free as we had finished choosing our jewels earlier than expected," Yi Chen responded with a smile.
"Then I'll be grateful for your help," Elder Jing nodded. Completely pleased with Yi Chen's helpful attitude.
While going on a carriage would consume time but it would also save her some Qi, which was something she really didn't want to waste unnecessarily right now. Therefore, she genuinely appreciated his gesture.
Getting a positive response, Yi Chen immediately went to a nearby guard and told him to make the required arrangements for Elder Jing's outing.
"I understand, Young Master." The guard immediately nodded and rushed to the stable.
Everyone in the Great Blue Residence was already made aware by now by Master Ru that Elder Jing was a very important guest. As a result, there were no delays in the arrangements, and within fifteen minutes, a carriage was waiting for her outside.
"Elder Jing, please," Yi Chen respectfully gestured her towards the carriage.
"Thank you, Xiao Chen." Elder Jing nodded and boarded the carriage.
'He's really a thoughtful and responsible young man," She thought to herself while glancing towards Yi Chen, who was about to mount on a horse.