That day, after Yu Yan invited him to sleep inside the cave Jian Shen read too much into her words.
Because, unlike what he expected Yu Yan wasn't hiding her real intentions at all. She meant exactly what she said. Yu Yan only invited him to spend the nights inside the cave.
There was no sort of sleep beside me, and keep each other warm scenario as Jian Shen hoped for.
But, there was something Jian Shen really enjoyed after moving inside the cave.
And that was, eating normal food.
After Jian Shen began spending the nights inside the cave, Yu Yan took it upon herself to prepare his food.
Due to this, Jian Shen's tongue which was forcing itself to enjoy the overly sweet, or too riddled with condiment food, was finally able to taste proper food.
Yu Yan wasn't someone who could be considered as a professional chef who could make mouth watering dishes.
But, to Jian Shen who hadn't eaten normal food for so long it felt so good to his tongue that he was moved to tears.
In fact, when he first ate the food that Yu Yan made for him, Jian Shen couldn't hold back his happiness after eating a few bites.
"Yu Yan! Please don't ever leave me!"
"What are you saying so suddenly?"
"Please, Yu Yan! If you leave me... I don't know how much longer my tongue can take it!"
"I'm still not able to understand what you're saying."
"I love your food so much, that I can't live without it!"
While Yu Yan was beginning to think if her food was really that tasty, Qingyu and Juewang were lost in their own thoughts.
'Hmmm... Maybe my food is still lacking some salt... I'll increase the amount of salt the next time.'
'I think husband likes his food spicier! I'll add more spices and see how much he likes it!'
Luckily Jian Shen was oblivious to the duo's thoughts, and could therefore enjoy his meal in peace
...
After Jian Shen began spending the nights inside the cave, his schedule didn't change much.
He spent his day in the same way as before, by training his sword techniques and then using them to fight against Lower Grade Ancient Beasts to hone his combat skills.
And during the evening he bled his fingers to achieve sword fingers, and finally after eating the food made by Yu Yan he'd spend the nights by cultivating within the array that Qingyu and Juewang moved inside the cave.
While there wasn't much change compared to his life outside the cave, and living inside it, Jian Shen appreciated the fact that he could see Yu Yan a lot more, and eat normal food.
One day Jian Shen spent longer than usual in cultivation since he had successfully entered the Qi Crystal Core Realm, and wanted to solidify his foundation before he stopped cultivating.
Entering the Qi Crystal Core Realm, Jian Shen's rugged Qi ball inside his Dantian further compressed and turned harder to form a crystal ball.
The crystal ball no longer had an uneven surface, and instead, the nine coloured ball had a smooth and lustrous surface.
Having successfully entered the Qi Crystal Core Realm, the nine coloured lustrous core took up more than a fourth of the space inside Jian Shen's huge Dantian.
But even after entering the Qi Crystal Core Realm, Jian Shen didn't feel as if his body had undergone any major change.
Because other than the obvious improvement in his strength, all Jian Shen could sense was that the Qi inside his body had grown denser, and would, therefore, allow him to last longer in a fight.
However, there was no improvement to his vitality like Jian Shen had expected and hoped for.
Shaking his head that he was feeling too hasty and hoping for achieving something like increasing his life span too easily, Jian Shen stood up and stretched his body.
As for the reason behind Jian Shen's such an explosive improvement of cultivation within just a week of moving inside the cave, it wasn't due to his being around Yu Yan or any such thing, instead, it was because Qingyu and Juewang felt that his speed of cultivation was too slow.
It wasn't that his speed of cultivation was actually slow, but compared to how much time he had lost and was forced to recultivate, going by the same speed, Jian Shen would definitely fall behind those talented geniuses of his age.
Sure, given Jian Shen's cultivation speed, even if he lagged behind those in the same generation as him in the Mortal Realm, he was destined to surpass them very soon.
However, for Qingyu and Juewang who were looking far into the future and helping Jian Shen, they only considered those in the realms above them as Jian Shen's actual competition.
Due to this, they decided to help Jian Shen grow stronger without leaving any lasting negative impacts on his body.
Thus, the two of them looked all over the World Crest and found specific fruits which would fill Jian Shen's body with the same particular types of Qi, who he was cultivating in.
And since the fruits were naturally produced, consuming them didn't impact Jian Shen's cultivation or health and leave any impurities inside him.
Seeing that Jian Shen had successfully broken into the Qi Crystal Core Realm, both Qingyu and Juewang immediately congratulated him.
"Congratulations on your breakthrough, Jian Shen."
"I knew that you could do it, husband!"
Nodding his head, Jian Shen thanked the both of them for helping him, and made his way outside the cave.