Southern Four Lakes, Xia Fei and Avril’s residence.
Avril was of course very delighted to see Xia Fei return from the outskirts of the Terminus Star Region. Perhaps it was a habit she had formed over a long time, but whenever Xia Fei left her side, Avril could not help but worry. After all, she had experienced losing Xia Fei so many times that it had become a sort of custom.
Two years. Xia Fei had actually not gone missing for two years. Even Avril was extremely surprised by this, but she understood deep down that, though Xia Fei was living a peaceful life right now, there were turbulent undercurrents going on in him .A life filled with excitement and trouble always followed Xia Fei, and these two years of peace might very well mean that the next time he disappeared would be even longer, going off to some place even farther.
It had to be said that Avril really understood Xia Fei well. Her guess was spot on, and this was indeed the calm before the brewing storm.
“Shall I make you some fried paste noodles tonight,” Avril smiled and asked, “and we’ll have your favorite little cucumber and tomatoes?”
Xia Fei nodded. “I’d be grateful.”
Avril left Xia Fei’s training room with a smile as she softly closed the door behind her.
Phantom sighed. “You haven’t told Avril yet?”
Xia Fei shook his head. “I know how I should handle my business. Why don’t you share with me how you spent your last two years by Sophie’s side.”
Phantom chuckled. “Sophie’s really incredible. That supercomputer actually stored a vast collection of encyclopedias on plants found in the universe, including detailed methods on how to pick and refine them. There’s so much that it’s overwhelming.”
“What’s the result of Sophie’s study of you?”
“I have no clue. It looks like she gave up, saying that her father is probably the only one who can understand the problem regarding the existence of Immortal Souls.”
Xia Fei nodded as Phantom continued. “I don’t really care about her research. I was only concerned with the data and information of all those medicinal ingredients; truth be told, I did not waste my time in the past two years, and I’ve learned so much more than everything I learned in my past life.”
Phantom was very passionate about the refinement of medicinal ingredients; in fact, he obtained so much joy from learning them that it was difficult for him to tear himself away.
Xia Fei laughed bitterly. “You’ve lived well. Meanwhile, I turned up empty-handed in these two years. Good thing I have Avril with me.”
The atmosphere was very oppressive. Having not made any progress in two years was a very depressing thing, especially for someone like Xia Fei who had never once slacked off on his cultivation. This development was even somewhat cruel.
“If I’m not mistaken, not only did you fail to improve, you even deteriorated,” Phantom said solemnly.
Xia Fei nodded. “Before, I could very easily reach my top speed of thirty thousand meters per second; now, I need to try twice as hard to achieve the same speed. How did you know that my cultivation had deteriorated?”
Phantom replied with a grim face, “I already said before that your seventh brain region is severely damaged, and the reliance on medicines to promote will always have a limit. The last time you administered medicine on yourself to reach the Legendary rank left some hidden adversities in your body, so the over correction and eventual regression was inevitable.”
Xia Fei gritted his teeth. He was unwilling for his life of cultivation to end here. There was still a long way to go on this path to become a true powerhouse.
“First, let me take a look at the situation with your seventh brain region.”
With that said, Phantom dove into Xia Fei’s brain.
“It’s even worse than I imagined inside.” Phantom reappeared after some time and sighed with a heavy heart. “But it’s not completely irreparable.
“Let me take a look at the situation with your maturing Blood Demon Claw next. Perhaps this particular Blood Demon Claw is much more powerful than what we first thought. From the information I gleaned, there’s a possibility for a mutation with the Blood Demon Claw, becoming a plant that grows repeatedly.
“That is to say, from it’s adolescence till its maturity, it will then revert to its adolescence period and maturity once more, not blossoming at all.”
Xia Fei took out the transparent incubator which contained the Blood Demon Claw from his spatial ring and asked, “So how is it?”
Phantom answered, “It’s only a mutation. Life itself is a single-celled organism repeatedly mutating before it becomes a powerful sapient. Plants will occasionally experience sudden mutations, too.”
Noting that the Blood Demon Claw was less vibrant than before, even appearing to be somewhat greenish, no longer as deep red as before.
“Yeah, this is a mutated Blood Demon Claw; it’s actually a good thing for you, too.”
Xia Fei was confused. “Good thing? Strength is king in the Law Realm, and there’s no way joining with the mere strength of a Legendary rank warrior can be construed as a good thing.”
Phantom chuckled. “Let me finish. Actually, the Blood Demon Claw alone isn’t enough to guarantee the repair of your seventh brain region. That’s because the seventh brain region is a very special existence, not to mention the fact that the damage you sustained there is extremely severe.
“This mutated Blood Demon Claw is different; it’s medicinal strength will increase by a fold every time it repeats the process of growth and maturity. That’s to say that a mutated Blood Demon Claw that has gone through this cycle thrice will have triple the dose! Naturally, it means that the better the medicinal effect, the easier it will be for you to repair your seventh brain region!”
Xia Fei was nodding his head vigorously. “A powerful medicinal effect is of course great, but time awaits no man; the time for my meeting with Yujiang and Yuhua nears.”
Phantom lowered his head and mulled over this fact before saying gravely, “According to the law of energy, the powerful White Heart of Spirit is able to aggravate the Blood Demon Claw’s mutation. You’ve been using the waters from the Southern Four Lakes to water it, which promotes the growth of the mutation. The only solution is to increase its energy supply and make the Blood Demon Claw take in even more energy to force it to mature rapidly.”
“Will that work? The energy from the White Heart of Spirit is overly pure, and organisms that absorb too much of it all end up in a bad way.” Xia Fei fretted.
“It’s fine. Your Blood Demon Claw has already reverted twice and is no longer that weak; it should be able to withstand a greater energy input.” Phantom nodded. “Come, our first step is to subdue that White Heart of Spirit in the lake and take it for our own use!”
Nightfall. Avril was in deep sleep, looking completely content and satisfied.
Xia Fei went out to the shore of the Southern Four Lakes alone, pushing the button on his combat suit to extend its air conversion device. He bit onto the mouthpiece and tried breathing through it.
“I’m ready,” Xia Fei said.
“I learned from the Sentinel Goddess some techniques on how to take hold of the Blood Demon Claw. As third-grade Cosmic Origin Energy, the energy inside a White Heart of Spirit is pure but hard to control.”
“Tonight, we’ll be taking this Origin Energy ore to make your mutated Blood Demon Claw mature and bloom, or else this trip to the Law Realm will become exceptionally difficult.”
Xia Fei nodded solemnly, his two legs pushing hard against the ground as he leaped high in the air, somersaulting right into the lake water.
His two arms rapidly pushed the waters, surging his way toward the center of the lake like a torpedo.
The lake was very deep, roughly a thousand meters. The color of Xia Fei’s protective goggles kept changing so that Xia Fei could have a better vision the deeper he went.
Far ahead, Xia Fei saw an abandoned and old industrial ship lying on its side in the sand. In order to keep the precious White Heart of Spirit look as inconspicuous as possible, Xia Fei had intentionally left it inside a disused old ship, which he sank down into the depths of this central lake. This way, the flickering glow from the White Heart of Spirit would not be visible at night.
He used a key to open the locked door of the ship and swam inside.
That White Heart of Spirit was the only thing floating in the empty cargo hold, and Xia Fei made his way near it.
The White Heart of Spirit rejected anyone from getting near it, haughtily stopping Xia Fei from coming close. He had to waste plenty of energy before he could get about five meters away from it.
“The next part will be the hardest; the energy inside the White Heart of Spirit will attack your meridians and make you feel great agony. The only solution is to grab hold of it with two hands, let the energy circulate with your meridians, flowing in from your right hand before returning to the White Heart of Spirit through your left hand.
“Remember: This ore holds immense power, so don’t even think of saving some of this energy for your own use. Your body is still unable to master Cosmic Origin Energy, and the slightest mistake will result in your body getting torn apart!” Phantom warned Xia Fei.
Xia Fei had the sudden realization that the crux of subduing this great power lay in turning his body into a conductor so that no harm would befall him when the energy flew through him. He had not thought of this before and had even tried to utilize the White Heart of Spirit directly once. Had it not been for Peacock Blue being attached to him, he might have made a costly blunder! It seemed that Phantom had greatly improved after learning much during these two years he stayed with the Sentinel Goddess.
“Alright, let me give it a shot.”
Widening his two arms, Xia Fei removed his gloves and directly tapped into the energy surrounding the White Heart of Spirit.
*Fwoosh!*
A hot burning sensation instantly entered from Xia Fei’s fingers to his body, circulating once before returning to the White Heart of Spirit via his left hand.
As Xia Fei’s palms shifted forward, the energy became even more intense, as if a turbulent tide of water was gushing right into his body.
Xia Fei carefully directed out the energy inside him, less of a control and merely leading it. Any attempts to control this potent power would result in a catastrophe!
Xia Fei thought that having this much energy flow through his body would be an excruciating experience, but reality proved otherwise. His body very quickly adapted to the huge amount of energy that was flowing through. Not only did he feel no pain, he instead felt more and more comfortable as it continued, a tingling sensation akin to the warmth from a bonfire burning during winter.
“Very good! Your body is slowly adapting to the flow of this Cosmic Origin Energy, living up to the warrior bloodline coursing through your veins,” Phantom excitedly commented.
Very soon, Xia Fei’s palms were not even a meter away from the White Heart of Spirit!
Every centimeter he advanced, the energy flowing increased!
If the energy flowing through Xia Fei earlier could be described as a river, then what he was now feeling was akin to an ocean of energy—a galaxy of energy even!
Eighty centimeters. Seventy… Fifty centimeters!
Xia Fei’s fingers were practically about to make contact with the very body of the White Heart of Spirit!
His entire body turned red!
Xia Fei was like a piece of heated steel! Energy was overflowing in his body!
The moment when the tip of fingers connected with the body of the White Heart of Spirit, Xia Fei’s entire person shuddered greatly!
It was too powerful!
This sensation was so mighty that no words could describe it!
If he could take such a powerful energy for his own, Xia Fei felt that he would be able to destroy an entire planet in a single punch!
“DANGER!” Phantom suddenly blurted out.
Though the energy source of the White Heart of Spirit was powerful, it was highly unstable. It would flicker periodically, having less energy when dimmed and surging wildly when bright!
Xia Fei had touched the White Heart of Spirit the instant it went dim, so the energy output was not particularly fierce then, but that changed when it brightened in the next second. Unbridled energy then burst forth!
“Quick, let go!” Phantom exclaimed desperately.
There was no way sound would travel faster than light, and a great amount of power had already rushed into Xia Fei’s body!
“LET GO!”
Who would have thought that, at this critical moment, Xia Fei would actually resonate with the Cosmic Origin Energy!
The hair all over his body stood upright!
Just as the energy was about to tear Xia Fei’s body apart, for his pores had all promptly opened, the energy was actually released, instead!
No one thought Xia Fei how to do this, and he had done this purely out of instinct!
Several breaths later, the White Heart of Spirit was already safely secured in Xia Fei’s two hands.
“I wish to learn how to control it,” Xia Fei said somberly.