"Alright," said Li Xiaofei. He only thought about it briefly before nodding in agreement.
Ah Qing was different from Ji Man. She was an obedient and sensible girl. Bringing her to Chongque City wouldn’t be too much of a risk. As long as she stayed low-key and avoided unnecessary trouble, she wouldn't attract the attention of the Inner Division.
If no one investigated too deeply, he had ways to keep a person hidden. Li Xiaofei had a feeling that the village elder’s request wasn’t without reason. There was likely a deeper meaning behind it.
Ji Man, however, immediately panicked.
"You—" Her bright, watery eyes glared at Li Xiaofei. She said, "This is double standards! Didn’t you say you couldn’t take outsiders into Chongque City?"
"Hmm? Did I say that?" Li Xiaofei replied indifferently. "Maybe. But I’ve already forgotten."
Ji Man’s delicate face flushed red with anger. She was the little princess of Taoyuan, and this was the first time someone had treated her . It was the first time someone mocked her so blatantly and showed such clear favoritism towards another person.
She was always the one receiving special treatment. But now, she had been rejected by the same fat scoundrel from Chongque City twice in a row.
"That’s enough, Little Man. You may leave now," the village elder said calmly. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Ji Man was unwilling to back down. Yet, when she met the elder’s firm gaze, she had no choice but to stomp her foot in frustration and storm off. The village elder slowly stood up and bowed to Li Xiaofei.
"What is the meaning of this, elder?" asked Li Xiaofei, quickly stepping aside.
"Ah Qing is a good child. Life hasn’t been easy for her. I hope you can look after her for me once she reaches Chongque City," the village elder said. "When the time comes, I will make sure to repay you generously."
"Don’t worry," promised Li Xiaofei. "I’ll take her out of here safe and sound, and I’ll bring her back just the same."
Moments later, Li Xiaofei and Ah Qing, accompanied by Black Emperor, left Taoyuan quietly. Exiting Taoyuan required passing through a secret route that only a handful of people knew about.
Using a naturally formed Void Transition Spring, the two and the dog plunged into the planet’s magma core, ascending slowly through the underground tunnels. It took quite some time before they emerged in a vast subterranean cavern beyond the magma zone.
They continued winding their way upward. Eventually, they reached the frozen rock tunnels. After another three hours of trekking, they finally arrived at the surface of M73, the frozen planet.
Little Black quickly led them to the landing pod. At that moment, Li Xiaofei smacked his forehead.
"I knew I was forgetting something," said Li Xiaofei as he turned to Ah Qing. "That friend of mine. He’s still alive, right?"
Ah Qing covered her mouth and chuckled. "He’s doing fine. He’ll be here soon."
A moment later, a disheveled figure stumbled toward them. The moment he saw Li Xiaofei, he collapsed onto his knees with a loud thud, wailing, "Brother Chen! I’m alive! I finally get to see you again! I missed you so much!"
The landing pod soared into the sky with a sharp whoosh. It reached outer space in no time, where it docked with the shuttle that had been waiting as per their agreement. From there, they began their return journey.
Ah Qing was experiencing outer space for the first time. She gazed curiously at the vast cosmic void and the scattered stars beyond through the shuttle’s viewport. A contemplative expression crossed her face as M73 grew smaller and smaller, eventually becoming just a single glowing dot indistinguishable from the countless other stars.
A day later, the shuttle passed through the Ding-45 Stargate and entered Chongque City. This stargate was an A+ grade transit gate. It was one of the many assets managed and operated by the Exploding Star Gang.
Coincidentally, this was the very same stargate that Li Xiaofei had won for the gang from the Azure Swallow Merchant Guild after his life-or-death duel with Nangong Longjian. The Exploding Star Gang had only been in control of it for two or three days.
The one on duty today was none other than Wang Shaowei, Vice Hall Master of Red Shield Hall. The moment he saw Li Xiaofei, he hurried forward, bowing respectfully in greeting.
"Good work," said Li Xiaofei, nodding.
Then he gestured at Ah Qing behind him and said, "I bought this guard from the wandering warrior base on M73. She hasn’t obtained her identity documents yet. I’m just giving you a heads-up; I’ll take her to the Internal Affairs Bureau in the Inner Division to apply for a residence permit. Once that’s done, I’ll come back to register her entry. Is that okay?"
"For anyone else, that’d be impossible," Wang Shaowei grinned. "But since it’s you, Hall Master, I’m sure you have your own special reasons. Of course, it’s fine." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Li Xiaofei burst into laughter. "You’ve got potential."
He patted Wang Shaowei on the shoulder before leading Ah Qing through the VIP clearance lane. They passed through without a hitch even as red warning lights flashed overhead.
"You’ve got some skills, kid," Huang Dinggou said, giving Wang Shaowei a thumbs-up.
Ah Qing remained silent the entire time. She was too absorbed in observing everything about Chongque City. Her eyes held awe and curiosity.
The towering cyberpunk-style skyscrapers, the advanced technology, and the hyper-modern infrastructure had clearly opened the doors to an entirely new world for this sword-wielding girl.
Given Li Xiaofei’s current power and status, arranging accommodations for Ah Qing was a trivial matter. After careful thought, and prioritizing her safety, he decided to let her stay within his own private residence at Red Shield Hall for the time being.
Publicly, he announced Ah Qing as his personal female bodyguard. This arrangement fit perfectly with his established persona. After all, the entire city knew him as a notorious womanizer. A female bodyguard was nothing out of the ordinary.
Once everything was settled, Li Xiaofei wasted no time in calling Hu Shuo, the Director of the Demon Hunting Bureau in the Inner Division.
"You called me... just to get an ID for a woman?" asked Hu Shuo. He sounded utterly dumbfounded on the other end of the line.
As someone with immense authority, he dealt with countless people every day, all seeking his help. Anyone who reached out to him did so for matters involving millions of kilograms of celestial jade, or affairs that could decide the fate of countless nobles and wealthy elites. And then there was Li Qingchen, calling him over this trivial nonsense.
After a moment of exasperated laughter, Hu Shuo still agreed to handle the request. Now, Ah Qing’s legal identity in Chongque City was officially secured. Li Xiaofei had the Bai sisters accompany her for the time being, guiding her through the city and helping her familiarize herself with this entirely new world.
Meanwhile, his primary focus was on cultivation and increasing his strength. His cultivation efforts were divided into three key areas. The first was absorbing celestial jade energy to enhance the depth and purity of his Xuanzhen energy. This was internal refinement.
The second aspect involved using meditation and visualization techniques to continuously extract and comprehend the power of laws within his dantian world and gradually assimilate them into his own strength. This was harmonization with the Dao. His primary methods for this were Natural Art and Secret Meditation Dao-Harmonization Technique.
The third aspect focused on nourishing the physical body with the power of laws, while continuously simulating battles within the light-network, honing his real-world combat ability. This was converting power into practical combat proficiency.
Li Xiaofei could clearly feel that he was edging closer to the Divine Realm. Once he broke through, his cosmic life level would step into the Planet level, and his regular combat power would be on par with Star level warriors.
He would no longer struggle as much against opponents on the level of Nangong Longjian as long as he had his secret techniques. However, days without trouble always seemed to pass too quickly.
It didn’t take long for a new challenge to emerge. As a Hall Master, he was inevitably drawn deeper into the martial world’s power struggles. Wherever there were people, there was a martial world. Even in the vast cosmos, this rule remained the same.