"Yuan, I had a breakthrough," Meixiu stopped cultivating and said to him with a slightly excited feeling in her chest.
"I noticed. Congratulations on becoming a cultivator." Yuan said with a smile.
"What do I do now?" she then asked.
"You continue to cultivate, I guess."
"When should I stop?"
"Whenever you like or feel like the progress is starting to slow down significantly."
"I understand. I will try to cultivate some more." Meixiu nodded and returned to her cultivation.
"She’s probably the most talented person behind Brother Yuan that Xiao Hua has seen in the Lower Heavens... Not including the Divine Beasts." Xiao Hua said sometime after Meixiu continued her cultivation.
"This is the first time I’ve seen you approve of someone," Yuan said with a smile.
Xiao Hua nodded silently.
About five hours later, Meixiu reached the 4th level Spirit Apprentice.
[You have absorbed enough Qi for a breakthrough]
[You have reached Second Level Spirit Apprentice]
[Physical Strength, Physical Defense +100]
[Mental Strength, Mental Defense +175]
[You have absorbed enough Qi for a breakthrough]
[You have reached Third Level Spirit Apprentice]
[Physical Strength, Physical Defense +125]
[Mental Strength, Mental Defense +200]
[You have absorbed enough Qi for a breakthrough]
[You have reached Fourth Level Spirit Apprentice]
[Physical Strength, Physical Defense +150]
[Mental Strength, Mental Defense +225]
"How long have I been cultivating?" Meixiu asked him after she lost track of time.
"About five hours," Yuan said after he looked at the time left on the key.
"Five hours?" Meixiu was surprised to hear that so much time had passed because it didn’t feel that long for her.
"If you want to continue cultivating, I don’t mind. We don’t really have anything else planned, anyway." Yuan said to her.
Meixiu nodded, "Okay. I will continue to cultivate for some more or until Yu Rou calls us to play, but let me cook dinner first."
"Let’s leave this room first before we log off so that we don’t waste our limited time," Yuan said.
"See you later, Xiao Hua," Yuan said to her before they logged off the game.
Once they left the game, Meixiu went to prepare for dinner whilst Yuan cultivated in the real world.
After dinner, Meixiu helped Yuan take a quick shower.
Sometime later, Meixiu sat on her bed and tried to cultivate the Spirit Severing Scripture.
However, unlike cultivation online, she was unable to succeed in just a few minutes.
"Yuan, are you awake?" Meixiu knocked on his door after seeing no progress, hoping he’d have some advice for her.
"I’m still up." Yuan’s voice resounded a moment later.
"I am having trouble with my cultivation," she said.
"What do you need help with? There’s very little I can do to help you in this world, unfortunately."
"I am trying to use the Spirit Severing Scripture, but every time I try to recall it, it’s like I cannot remember it," she said.
"Oh, that is probably because you’ve only just learned the technique today. Try cultivating the technique inside Cultivation Online for a few more days." Yuan advised her.
"Okay."
Meixiu returned to her room shortly after and went back inside Cultivation Online to continue cultivating for the rest of the night.
In the morning, she stopped cultivating to cook breakfast for Yuan.
After breakfast, they both entered the game together.
"I managed to reach the fifth level last night. It’s taking much longer to breakthrough with each level." Meixiu said to him.
Although it only took her 5 hours to reach the fourth level, it took her the entire night— 8 hours of straight cultivation to reach the next level.
Of course, her progression was still much faster than most of the players in Cultivation Online at this moment.
"Haha, welcome to cultivation, Meixiu. Once you reach my level, it’ll take you days if not weeks to increase even a single level." Yuan laughed.
Xiao Hua looked at him and said, "And if Brother Yuan was an ordinary cultivator, it’d take him a hundred times longer..."
Sometime later, Yuan asked Meixiu, "You’re going to continue cultivating, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I’ll go check out the restaurants in the meantime unless you want to come as well."
"It’s okay. I will stay here to cultivate." Meixiu said.
"Alright. Have fun. I’ll be back in a few hours."
Thus, Yuan left the Cultivators’ Haven with Xiao Hua while Meixiu stayed behind to cultivate.
"What do you want to eat today, Xiao Hua?" Yuan asked her.
"Anything Brother Yuan wants," she responded almost immediately.
"What about Feng Feng and Yingying? Anything specific that you two would like to eat?" Yuan asked them next.
"All up to you, Young Master."
"It also doesn’t matter to me what we eat." Lan Yingying said.
"Okay. Guess I will just look around and see what’s available."
Thus, Yuan began walking around the city until he found a decent restaurant.
Once they decided to eat there, Feng Yuxiang and Lan Yingying appeared so they could eat as well.
"W-Welcome to Lotus Gourmet, esteemed guests..."
The receptionist was startled by Feng Yuxiang and Lan Yingying’s beauty, not to mention the noble-like aura around Yuan and Xiao Hua.
It was not just the receptionist. Everyone in the store seemingly froze when they noticed their group’s presence, almost like they were looking at royalty.
"Four of us," Yuan said to the receptionist.
"R-Right away!"
The receptionist brought them straight to the best table in the restaurant inside a private room.
"I will be here whenever you need me." The receptionist said to them.
Yuan began looking through the menu, but before he could even finish the menu, he placed it down and said, "Let me just get everything on the menu."
"E-Everything?" The receptionist looked at him with wide eyes.
There were at least 200 dishes on the menu, and with only four people in their group, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to finish it.
However, the receptionist didn’t say anything and nodded with a smile on his face, "Right away, esteemed guests."