"Who are you?" Xue Xue asked.
She looked toward the door of the hospital room and realized there was no one standing guard there. The man before her didn’t look like a hospital staff member, which instantly made Xue Xue alert and cautious.
"I’m Li Guorui’s superior," Li Xiaofei said with a slight smile on his face. "I’m also the one in charge of this entire place. You don’t need to worry, Miss Xue. No bad people can infiltrate this area."
Xue Xue remained expressionless, though the wariness in her eyes did not fade. She said, "Alright then."
Li Xiaofei dialed a number. Five seconds later, Li Guorui appeared at top speed. When he saw Li Xiaofei, he paused slightly and said, "Big Brother, why are you here?"
"I came to check on your little girlfriend," Li Xiaofei replied.
A trace of embarrassment and awkwardness immediately surfaced on Li Guorui’s face. Xue Xue’s delicate and beautiful face flushed as if dyed in blood. She glanced at Li Guorui, then quickly lowered her head. This was the first time anyone had made such a joke in front of her.
"Hold out your hand," Li Xiaofei said.
Xue Xue was taken aback. She instinctively looked toward Li Guorui, who gave her a gentle nod. Only then did she comply.
Li Xiaofei took hold of Xue Xue’s wrist, and a thread of Xuanzhen energy, delicate like a floating silk strand, slowly entered her body. In truth, with Li Xiaofei’s level of cultivation, a mere glance would have been enough to clearly perceive the supernatural mutation within Xue Xue’s body.
This girl had awakened a light-type ability, which possessed strong potential. After all, she had been the tourist with the highest concentration of Energy Spores among all the injured back on Mount Tai.
But Li Xiaofei needed to do a deeper examination. The energy he injected into Xue Xue flowed along her meridians and acupoints, circulating through several complete cycles.
At last, he detected phenomena that could not be seen with the naked eye. The Energy Spores inside Xue Xue’s body had formed a strange equilibrium with her blood circulation.
The spores had first entered her heart. Once the fusion with the heart was complete, the energy, carried by the heart’s pulsing rhythm, had merged into her bloodstream. As her blood circulated, it delivered the energy to every corner. Her organs, flesh, bones, bone marrow were constantly reshaping and enhancing themselves from within.
The energy core is the heart, and not the dantian. The energy flows through the bloodstream, not through meridians and acupoints. Interesting.
Li Xiaofei began to grasp the basic principle behind the evolutionary path of so-called superpowers. After observing for a while longer, he finally withdrew his fingers.
"Brother, how is it?" Li Guorui asked proactively.
Li Xiaofei chuckled and said, "A perfect fusion. No side effects whatsoever. With proper guidance later, she’ll undergo a second awakening very soon."
Li Guorui was overjoyed. Xue Xue, on the other hand, was listening with a bit of confusion. Li Xiaofei didn’t offer much further explanation. He simply turned and left, leaving the two young people to communicate slowly on their own.
Over the following month, Li Xiaofei transformed into a true sky-walking traveler, spreading Energy Spores across the globe. However, since the project was still in its experimental stage, each release involved only a minuscule quantity of Energy Spores, less than one ten-millionth of the total stockpile.
Roughly tens of thousands of lucky individuals were favored by the Energy Spores, receiving a substantial concentration of fusion and subsequently awakening a variety of extraordinary superpowers.
These included birdmen who grew wings but couldn’t fly, rubber-like people whose body parts could expand and shrink at will, and others who could breathe fire, move at blinding speeds, or even turn invisible. A few even gained super strength.
Based on Li Xiaofei’s observations and conclusions, after being exposed to Energy Spores, not only did individuals develop superpowers, but their physical attributes also saw dramatic enhancements, ranging from two to twenty times that of the average person. This enhancement was all-encompassing, affecting stamina, endurance, strength, muscle fiber resilience, memory, reflexes, and more.
Additionally, Li Xiaofei discovered a notable, though not yet fully confirmed, pattern. Non-Great Xia individuals had about a fifty percent lower probability of developing superpowers from the Energy Spores compared to Great Xia citizens.
One month later, Li Xiaofei returned to the seaside cliffs of Rebun Island in Hokkaido, Jiepeng, where Ishihara Masami was cultivating her swordsmanship at the cliff’s edge. This sword genius of Jiepeng had made rapid progress under Li Xiaofei’s guidance. She had already reached the realm of unity between man and sword, surpassing even Jiepeng’s former number one sword saint, Oniba Henzō.
“Master!” Ishihara Masami lit up with joy upon seeing Li Xiaofei and immediately came forward to bow respectfully.
Li Xiaofei nodded and motioned for her to follow him down to the shore. The waves rolled endlessly, echoing with vitality.
“Return to Silent Lake,” Li Xiaofei said. “A year ago, you were meant to inherit the Sword Sect. Now that you’ve mastered your craft, it’s time to go back and take what rightfully belongs to you.”
“I have no interest in the position of sect leader,” Ishihara Masami replied simply and directly. “But if Master requires me to take it, then I will not hesitate.”
The gratitude and admiration she held for Li Xiaofei had long taken root in her heart. Ever since the day she avenged her past, she had vowed to dedicate her entire life to him.
“Then go,” Li Xiaofei said. “Take control of the Sword Sect, unify Jiepeng’s martial arts world, become the strongest Sword Saint in Jiepeng’s history, and be the spiritual pillar of this nation.”
“Yes, Master,” Ishihara Masami replied respectfully.
Once she had perfected her swordsmanship, her appearance had become increasingly ethereal. She was like a snow spirit who had accidentally wandered into the mortal world, with an otherworldly aura that did not belong to this realm.
As Li Xiaofei looked at her, a sudden impulse stirred within him. He took out a measured concentration of Energy Spores and released them directly toward Ishihara Masami.
The energy surged like flames, instantly engulfing her in a brilliant blaze. She didn’t evade in the slightest, nor did any panic appear on her face. To Li Xiaofei’s surprise, Ishihara Masami absorbed all the Energy Spores in less than ten seconds.
Li Xiaofei observed carefully as her heart began to beat powerfully. After enduring the initial heart fusion, Ishihara Masami’s physical capabilities surged once again, and the energy pulsed through her bloodstream, flooding every part of her body.
The entire process was noticeably faster than it was for an ordinary person. As a faint blue vein protruded and gradually faded beneath her snow-white skin, Ishihara Masami quickly returned to normal. When she felt the strange power coursing through her, immense gratitude appeared on her face.
“Thank you, Master,” she said. She would cherish this gift bestowed upon her by her teacher.
Li Xiaofei gave a slight nod. When he administered the subsequent superpower tests, it was confirmed that Ishihara Masami had gained the ability to fly. This was an incredibly powerful ability, especially when combined with her supreme mastery of swordsmanship. It enabled her to stand undefeated in most battles.
Li Xiaofei continued with his experiments. He instructed Ishihara Masami to operate her superpower using true qi cultivated through traditional martial arts, attempting to find a point of fusion between superpowers and martial cultivation.
The initial results were modest. However, the two energies did not conflict with each other. Li Xiaofei sent Ishihara Masami off to Silent Lake on Mount Hakutou.
As for himself, he remained by the shore of Rebun Island as he began to summarize and compile the results of the past month’s global release of Energy Spores. He analyzed the data in detail. A bold idea was gradually taking shape in his mind.