Chapter 188: Reflection

A while later, Gao Zhen landed the carpet at a spot just next to the lake.

"It’s time to set up our camps then." Gao Zhen said with a smile. Her voice had recovered its mature tone, and it was apparent that she was no longer concerned about her brothers.

Her storage ring glimmered the next moment, and a few sets of camp pitching materials came out of it.

Glancing at the familiar set of tent pitching materials, Yi Chen couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

’It’s been a while since I last pitched a tent,’ He thought with a subtle smile while thinking back on his travelling days.

Thanks to all the nights he had spent pitching tents, he had become somewhat proficient in it by now.

As a result, the moment he saw the materials, without any instructions from Gao Zhen’s side, he naturally went to grab a pole with the intention of driving it at a suitable spot.

However, before he could bend and grab hold of the pole, it, along with the other nearby poles, began rising up in the air on its own.

’This...’

His eyes shifted towards Gao Zhen the next second. Her hand was stretched in the direction of the poles.

Noticing Yi Chen’s gaze, she smiled in realisation.

"Oh, this should be Young Master Chen’s first time seeing the external use of spiritual energy, right? Keep a close eye. You’ll surely enjoy it."

The smile on her face changed to a smirk, and the very next instant, all the poles aligned themselves vertically before inserting themselves at specific places on the ground.

That wasn’t the end, as the next second, all the canvas material also started floating up in the air, followed by the ropes and stakes.

The canvas gently rested on top of the poles while the ropes passed through the eyelets and secured themselves to the stakes, which were already driven into the ground.

’All this can also be done by spiritual energy?’ Yi Chen exclaimed in his mind in amazement while glancing towards Gao Zhen, who seemed to be handling the task effortlessly.

The desire to enter the Qi absorption Stage as fast as possible once again welled up inside him, but was quashed soon after as he was reminded of his snail-like cultivation rate.

’Just when will I get the cultivation speed buff again...’

He sighed internally.

Meanwhile, Gao Zhen busied herself with doing the final touches, and finally, four separate camps were set up for everyone to use.

"Make yourself at home." Gao Zhen said with a smile and walked inside one of the tents.

Zhou Lan and Xie Rou too followed soon after, and it was only after seeing this that Yi Chen came out of his stupor and busied himself with arranging the insides of his tent.

Covering the ground with a suitable cloth, he placed a sleeping mat on top of it.

’Done.’ Yi Chen thought with a smile.

It had only been two minutes, and he was already out of his camp, unlike the women of his group.

’Now tell me, do I really take more time than a woman?’ he snorted to himself playfully before observing the surroundings.

The sun was much brighter than before, and the chirpings of birds and insects had slowly begun to engulf the whole forest.

Turning towards his right, his eyes fell on the vast crystal-like lake. It looked so humongous that he might have mistaken it for the sea if not for already seeing its ends from above.

Taking a few steps towards its edges, Yi Chen glanced downwards at his reflection in the crystal-like surface.

’Oh? I’m looking even better than normal in this lighting...I’m starting to like this lake even more now...’ he thought with an amused smirk and bent down to admire his reflection more fondly.

Clearly, like what he saw, he soon crouched on his feet and with his gaze still plastered on the water’s surface started making several different expressions.

Starting with a few serious ones...he shifted to the contemplative and thoughtful ones...then shifted to the angry ones and finally, out of amusement, tried a few he felt were the charming types.

"Well...the charming ones could use some work..." he chuckled in a self-deprecating manner and tried a few more expressions.

"The lighting here is really good...if only I had a camera with me," he muttered in nostalgia.

"Camera? What’s that?" a voice came from his side and alerted his very being the very next second.

He jerked his head to his side, and his pounding heart relaxed somewhat when he realised who the other person was.

Gao Zhen’s curious face appeared in front of him as her eyes waited for an answer to her previous question.

’This...did she see everything?’

As his heart calmed down, he was soon reminded of what he had been doing earlier, and a sense of embarrassment washed over him.

"Ahaha...so it was Madam Gao," he forced out a laugh and asked the next second, "I didn’t even notice Madam Gao’s presence. May I know since when Madam Gao has been standing here?"

"Me? Not for long..."

Gao Zhen answered nonchalantly.

Seeing this, an expression of relief formed on Yi Chen’s face the very next second. However, that only lasted for a moment.

With an amused smirk on her face, Gao Zhen continued, "...I had only arrived when Young Master Chen had started making faces at the lake,"

"..."

Yi Chen’s expression fell the next instant.

Forcing an awkward smile on his face, he asked, "So Madam Gao saw that..."

"From ’that’ if Young Master Chen means you making faces at the lake, then yes, I did," Gao Zhen said with a teasing smile, making sure to emphasise the point.

"..."

Yi Chen’s expression turned even more awkward after being pointed out so directly by her. He wanted to shift the conversation to something else, but was at a loss for words.

Seeing Yi Chen’s situation, Gao Zhen chuckled and asked the next second.

"Young Master Chen still didn’t answer the question that I had asked earlier. What’s a Camera?"

"Ah, that..." Yi Chen raised his eyes in realisation as a hint of relief appeared in them as he answered her query, "It’s just a term which I created myself for items that are able to capture images..."

He was obviously lying. However, he knew that his lie had some basis.

Since he already knew about the existence of artefacts like Sound Transmission Stones, he was very confident about there being a similar artefact that replicated the task of cameras.

"Ah, you meant an Image Capturing Stone," Gao Zhen nodded her head in understanding.

"Yes! That’s exactly what I meant. Back then, I didn’t know its name, so I had named it randomly."

Yi Chen nodded with a bright expression.

"So that’s how it is." Gao Zhen nodded in understanding and said, "I actually have one with me right now. Does Young Master Chen want to take a picture with it?"

She suggested all of a sudden, and the next moment, a grey ball-like object, which was covered in strange inscriptions, appeared in her hands.