Plot? I don't care, I have my priorities.

For ten days, I stayed in the ruins. Researching how the Qi cultivation techniques of this world worked and how I could combine Chi and Qi.

Thanks to my knowledge of the spiritual side of things from my Avatar memories, I finally had a minor breakthrough in the research.

The most optimal way for me to combine my Chi meridians and Qi meridians is to use materials that are rich in elemental Qi as catalysts to go through the Body refinement stage, resulting in my body being restructured according to the new cultivation method I devised.

But the problem with this is that I had already gone through the Body refinement stage before. While my cultivation was destroyed, my body was still that of a person that had gone through the Body refinement stage without the Qi to show for it. This meant that if I were to repeat this stage of cultivation, there is a high chance of my body being crippled permanently.

Once I am done with that, I will have combined the Qi meridians and Chi meridians, resulting in me being able to cultivate again.

Now here are the immediate problems I need to take care of.

I will need to get my hands on the materials first. Four, in particular, are required immediately if I am to start cultivating again.

The Qi core of a Wind Eagle that is at least in the Qi core perfection realm.

The Thousand years old Ocean Lotus that the Endless Seas sect usually auctions every five years.

The Divine Jade that is also occasionally found in auctions due to its rarity.

And finally, the Volcanic crystals that are only found in the Demon realm.

As for the rest of the materials for me to combine my sub-elemental bending, I can take care of that at a later time.

Out of these materials, the Volcanic crystal is the one that I can get my hands easily on since Father has two of those with him.

I can contact my friends in the Merchant Alliance to get my hands on the Divine Jade so that is not much of a problem either.

The main problems are the Thousand years old Ocean Lotus and the Qi core of the Wind Eagle.

Both of these things are very rare and can only be bought from the auctions held by the Royal family every five years. Even then, they would cost enough money to make a few minor sects go bankrupt for one of those things.

That meant I need to get my hands on as many Spirit stones as I can which means I need to go out of the sect and look for a rich Spirit stone vein.

With that in mind, I walked out of the ruins and headed back to the sect when I saw that the door was already open and Father was pacing on the other side of it.

"Father? What happened?"

"Xiuying ran off without telling anyone! She is going to the royal capital to get revenge on the third prince and our people in the Volcanic edge city failed to catch her"

…..The hell? What is that idiot protagonist thinking?

Wait, our people actually failed in catching her?

"Who did you send to surround the city?"

"It was the Volcanic guards"

The Volcanic guards? The special group of cultivators that have been groomed by every generation of the Sect leaders to work as our version of the Black Ops units?

Even the weakest of them have a cultivation of the Dao formation realm, how the hell did that brat that is only in the later stages of the Qi ascension realm manage to escape from them?

As if he had read my thoughts, Father started to speak with a grave voice.

" It was the bastards from the Feng family, they interfered with our operations, allowing Xiuying to find an opening and escape"

"…Was it Elder Feng?"

"No, it was the eldest son of the family"

Eldest son? Oh, that guy.

The Eldest son of the Feng family is a cultivation genius nearly on par with the protagonist idiot Xiuying. When his younger brother had brought embarrassment to the family and the sect last year, he had nearly killed his idiot brother. He was only stopped when his father intervened in the issue and had the idiot house arrested.

The only reason that the second son of the Feng family was not killed off by my father is because of the fact that the Feng family is related to the Royal family. The current patriarch of the family is the younger brother of the Empress.

But, it doesn't make sense, why would the eldest son hamper the Volcanic Flame sect and deliberately create an opening for Xiuying to escape? Are they friends or something?

"What should we do now?"

"For now, concentrate on regaining your cultivation. I will search for Xiuying"

I somehow doubt that you will be able to catch her. She is a protagonist of this world. That means that she will only be found at critical moments or maybe when she has already surpassed you in every way possible way and has only returned for some face-slapping of her enemies.

But I still have my priority number one.

"Father, I need one of the Volcanic crystals that you have"

At my words, his eyes widened in disbelief as he subconsciously held onto his storage ring.

At my flat look, he recomposed himself before turning away from me.

"What makes you think that I have-"

"Last year, during the party held by the first prince, I saw you swipe two pieces of them from the Emperor in exchange for one of our Obsidian swords"

When I directly destroyed his lies even before he spoke, he gave a dejected sigh before bringing out a crystal that glowed with a red light and gave off tremendous heat.

This is precisely the Volcanic crystal.

"Why do you want it anyway?"

"Let's just say that the previous life and death situation did not come without any benefits for me"

Without waiting for his reply, I head straight for my room.

It is time to head to the city and get in contact with the Merchant Alliance.