It was already late in the night and the cold breeze could make one's bones shiver in the cold audibly.

A round object hanged forlornly in the sky, giving away its dim light which was unable to penetrate the thick canopy of trees, casting darkness in the forest. Yet, some of its dim light managed to pierce the forest, creating a beautiful scenery.

Speaking about the scenery, a man sat in the lotus position with his eyes closed under the cover of a thick tree.

The moonlight illuminated his face, revealing his handsome features. His rosy lips were tightly pursed together, showing his focused and determined attitude.

He took a steady, slow, and deep breath at a certain interval and slowly exhaled it back, creating a vapor in the cold and damp forest. Enduring the frigid breeze with only a single layer of thin cloth, he repeated the breathing process.

Every time he exhaled his breath, his body felt lighter and more comfortable.

This was because, with each breath, he expelled the harmful substances from inside his body, an important fundamental technique that should be practiced continuously and religiously by martial warriors to refine and build their organs to become firm.

After becoming a nascent warrior, Liu Guanyi had been doing this continuously every night until past midnight without ever taking a break.

Time waited for no one.

One could be as talented as dragons, phoenixes, and monkeys, but without any real practice and hard work, that talent wouldn't mean anything and became wasted.

A few hours had passed when Liu Guanyi finally opened his eyes.

Turning his head up, he saw the lights from the sky had decreased significantly as the world was covered in darkness, which meant that it was already past midnight.

Clenching his fists, he felt the power coursing through the flowing blood in his veins.

'Only a little bit more and I will reach the next stage. It's good that I can recover my power faster with the assistance of Shinsu.' He calculated his progress.

Then, Liu Guanyi got up and brushed off the dust off his clothes, and started to walk lightly. He walked past the shrubbery and continued his way between the tall trees.

After a while, he reached a clearing. With the moonlight shined unobstructed, the clearing was filled with beautiful violet lights.

There, a beautiful woman with long white hair sat with the same lotus position.

When he walked closer, her eyes opened, revealing her sharp and immaculate golden pupils which looked into his own, black jet eyes.

"If they know that a respectable princess of Zahard is sitting on the dirty ground in a forest in a cold night, what will they say?" Liu Guanyi said with a light smile.

Adori showed a little smile at his light-hearted remark. "Well, maybe they will find out that a princess of Zahard isn't as perfect as what they thought. But, it is your mistake to make me try it at this hour, isn't it? I am simply curious of why you are always doing it every night."

"Well, then how was it? What did you feel? This is should be your first experience of meditating, right?" Still with a smile on his face, Liu Guanyi asked.

Nodding her head, Adori answered. "Right, it was my first time experiencing it. It's really not bad, my body and mind feel much more refreshed."

"I feel much calmer as well, it feels like I don't have any problems troubling my mind and become less concerned over them. I guess doing this once in a while is really beneficial."

"However, if it's only making our mind better, why a certain person always does it every night for a few hours? Don't you think that a certain training maniac would want to waste so much of his time just for that if he can use it to train instead? It's weird, isn't it?" Adori said with a straight face as she stared at his face.

Liu Guanyi clapped his hands. "As expected of you, princess Adori, you always have that sharp mind of yours which always questioning and analyzing everything."

"Only being powerful or being intelligent isn't enough, only by having both of them would one can become truly great. I like that you always take that into account." Liu Guanyi said with a straight and serious face.

Hearing his compliment, a blush crept into her cheeks. "Hmmph! Stop trying to divert the conversation, and answer the question!" Adori spoke annoyedly.

Seeing her reaction, Liu Guanyi laughed but quickly stopped, lest it would make her more annoyed. "Your guess is right, it has much more benefit than that, but it only applies to me. I know that you are really curious but I can't really talk about it."

"Rather, let's move and talk somewhere else, shall we?" Liu Guanyi didn't wait for her response and outstretched his hand toward her.

Adori respected his boundary and simply took his hand, and got up. They walked closely out of the clearing and went deeper into the forest.

Their relationship was developing pretty well, none of them had a big ego, and both of them respected each other. So, it was natural that they were getting along.

But for Adori, Liu Guanyi was still covered in dense darkness. There were still many strange details that didn't make sense according to common sense, and mysteries surrounding him. The obvious example was his power.

However, his actions and habits were also other indications. It felt to her that his actions had some deeper meanings. At times, Adori could guess them, but sometimes, she was lost and felt that he was simply wasting his time.

As they continued walking, Liu Guanyi spoke up, breaking her chain of thoughts. "Princess Adori, what do you think of our recent battle with the animas? They are certainly aren't our opponents, but they are quite special, aren't they? Especially that Lo Po Bia member of the main branch, Yacinth, wasn't it?"

"He had managed to stand his ground against you for some time even when there is a big disparity between the both of you. If he isn't that weak, I am sure that he could become a real challenge." Liu Guanyi said with a smile.