Chapter 151: Sister Smells So Sweet, Let Me Take a Bite

Leaving the warehouse, Ziwei handed another 10-cubic-meter storage ring to Li Yunfei, asking him to duplicate it.

Subsequently, he led the group on a tour of the factory to inspect various special weapons and ammunition.

These weapons varied in power and type, ranging from firearms to cold weapons, but they shared one common trait: ordinary humans could use them as well.

Li Yunfei asked Ziwei, "Has the artifact-refining team not researched magical treasures in the form of firearms specifically for practitioners?"

Ziwei explained, "No, practitioners rely on spiritual energy or vital breath for offense and defense, employing myriad diverse methods."

"Whatever attack methods thermal weapons can achieve, they can accomplish through various techniques. Why bother reinventing the wheel by researching firearm-style magical treasures?"

"Therefore, firearms are only suitable for equipping ordinary people. The Class-D equipment storage basically houses these sorts of things."

Li Yunfei shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Firearms have their own advantages. Sometimes, magical treasures can achieve what cultivation techniques and secret arts cannot."

"I can only say they haven't found the right direction for research."

Ziwei asked with keen interest, "How so?"

Li Yunfei flipped his hand, and the heavily weathered Shura Gun, shaped like an old-fashioned Mauser C96 pistol, appeared in his palm. He smiled and said, "Does Comrade Ziwei want to experience the power of this gun?"

"A broomhandle pistol? Where did you get such an antique?" Yan Hexiao laughed teasingly.

Ziwei, however, looked thoughtfully at the pistol in Li Yunfei's hand and asked, "What are the characteristics of this gun?"

Li Yunfei countered, "What kind of attack do you think is required to pierce the defensive power of the Sun Golden Wheel?"

Ziwei pondered for a moment and said, "It would take someone at least one major realm higher than me to break the Sun Golden Wheel purely through cultivation."

"Otherwise, unless one possesses a magical treasure of immense power specifically designed for defense-breaking—perhaps your Purple-Gold Hammers might have a chance, though that would require you to output a massive amount of spiritual energy."

Li Yunfei said, "There is another method: concentrating absolute force on a single point to pierce the defense. Do you believe me if I say this old antique of a broken gun can shatter the defense of the Sun Golden Wheel?"

Intrigued, Ziwei nodded and said, "Concentrating force on a single point is indeed a great way to break defenses, but ordinary techniques or treasures find it difficult to condense power to such a high degree. Can your gun really do that?"

Li Yunfei said with a solemn expression, "Indeed. This gun is actually a very peculiar magical treasure. It contains no mechanical parts whatsoever; instead, it houses a special array."

"Its sole purpose is to condense massive amounts of energy into a tiny projectile the size of a bullet, and then fire it using a firearm's mechanical operation, thereby achieving the effect of piercing defense through a single point."

"The gun's primary function is breaking defenses, and injuring people comes second."

"Through the conversion of its internal array, no matter what kind of energy you input into it, it can be transformed into a special attack that harms both the physical body and the soul."

Now Ziwei was truly captivated. Enthusiastically, he said, "Let's go, let's find a place and test it out."

Li Yunfei readily followed him out of the factory and into the open area outside the workshop.

The people operating the machines inside the factory were ordinary humans, but the managers were all members of the Zixiao organization.

Hearing that Ziwei and Elder Chenlong wanted to test a magical firearm, they gathered around in a circle with great interest.

Ziwei stood twenty meters away from Li Yunfei, and without a word, directly channeled the Sun Golden Wheel to erect a spherical defensive barrier around himself. He then nodded to Li Yunfei and said, "Come on!"

Li Yunfei smiled and said, "If I fire this shot, you might not feel its depth clearly enough. I'll let Yingzi take the shot."

With that, he handed the gun to Zhang Ziying and instructed, "Channel one-tenth of your spiritual energy before you fire."

Upon hearing this, Ziwei's eyes brightened even further. Zhang Ziying was only at the late Spirit-Activation realm; let alone deploying the Sun Golden Wheel, even if he casually cast a layer of spiritual defense shield around himself, if she concentrated her entire cultivation into a single attack and unleashed it all at once, it would still be impossible to break his defense.

If she could truly shatter the defense of the Sun Golden Wheel using just one-tenth of her cultivation backed by this gun, then this weapon would possess immense research value.

Zhang Ziying took the Shura Gun and, following Li Yunfei's instructions, poured a full one-tenth of her spiritual energy into it in one breath.

She felt as though the gun was a bottomless pit; no matter how much spiritual energy she poured in, it seemed impossible to fill.

She then raised the pistol, aimed at Ziwei's arm, and pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

With a crisp gunshot, the spherical defensive barrier around Ziwei shattered instantly.

Pleasantly surprised, Ziwei pushed his left palm forward, outputting spiritual energy to redeploy the Sun Golden Wheel, this time transforming it into a hemispherical defense shield. "Again."

Zhang Ziying looked at Li Yunfei, only to see him smile slightly and flip his hand, bringing out another Shura Gun.

He handed this gun to Zhang Ziying and said, "This time, fire with both hands simultaneously."

Zhang Ziying complied.

*Bang!*

Zhang Ziying pulled the triggers with the index fingers of both hands at the same time. The two gunshots merged into one, and predictably, Ziwei's hemispherical defense shield shattered on impact as well.

If it were just one gun, no matter how fast it fired, it would be impossible to breach the Sun Golden Wheel's defense shield, because the shield's spiritual energy disperses and gathers extremely quickly while operating fully automatically without requiring the master's control.

However, when two guns fired in unison, the spiritual energy of the defense shield became scattered and failed to concentrate on a single defensive point, naturally making it unable to withstand the attack.

"Hahaha... What a fine gun, what a remarkable magical treasure! The Moon Golden Wheel is famed for being indestructible, but under the output of equivalent spiritual energy, even the Moon Golden Wheel cannot breach the defense shield form of the Sun Golden Wheel. This gun is the true definition of invincibility!"

Laughing heartily, Ziwei walked over and held out his hand to Zhang Ziying, who placed one of the Shura Guns into his grasp.

Ziwei turned the gun over and over in his hands with fondness, probing his divine sense into its interior to examine the reality of the internal array.

Regrettably, while he was proficient in combat-oriented arrays, he was not deeply versed in special artifact-refining arrays of this caliber and could not make heads or tails of it.

By this time, a crowd had gathered around them. Some were guards of the special arsenal, while others were members of the nearby patrol teams.

After all, with gunshots ringing out at Zixiao headquarters, it was impossible not to draw attention.

Upon arrival, seeing that Ziwei and Elder Chenlong Li Yunfei were present, they did not speak rashly, instead quietly asking the factory guards about the situation.

Ignoring them for the moment, Ziwei looked curiously at Li Yunfei and asked, "Where did you get this gun? Why is it shaped like a broomhandle pistol?"

Li Yunfei replied, "I got it after taking down that evil Asura. Judging by its attire and styling, that evil Asura must have been a bandit leader from a century ago."

Ziwei understood in a flash and nodded, "No wonder. For a bandit to have a broomhandle pistol, they must have been doing quite well for themselves. To become an evil Asura within a century shows just how ferocious and cruel that bandit leader was. Good riddance."

Li Yunfei said, "The exterior shape of this gun doesn't actually matter. As long as we can replicate the special array inside, the exterior can be molded into any shape."

"Moreover, merely duplicating this gun holds little real meaning; I can directly replicate as many as I want."

"Its true value lies in seeing whether the experts of the artifact-refining team can research a method to substitute spiritual energy or vital breath with other forms of energy as ammunition, so that ordinary soldiers can use them as well."

"Even if it fails to reach the destructive power of using spiritual energy or vital breath as ammunition, it can at least grant ordinary people the ability to deal with fierce beasts or superhuman criminals."

Ziwei said with delight, "What you say is exceptionally true. If we can truly research the functionality you described, the firepower and practicality of this kind of firearm will far surpass weapons like laser guns and ion cannons."

"Spirit-Activation cultivators and True-Essence martial artists can already withstand laser guns, while Core-Formation cultivators and Invincible martial artists can resist ion cannons. But this gun—as long as the energy supply keeps up, even Nascent Soul or even Yang-Spirit grand masters might not be able to defend against it."

"If we can manufacture this kind of firearm that ordinary people can use, the Great Xia military will truly become invincible across the Blue Planet, and by then, you will have rendered yet another monumental service to the nation."

Hearing Ziwei's words, the surrounding Zixiao members were likewise filled with excitement.

Glancing at them, Ziwei smiled slightly and said, "There's nothing much going on here. Elder Chenlong and I were just testing a magical treasure. Everyone, please return to your posts!"

Upon hearing this, the Zixiao members saluted crisply and dispersed in various directions.

With swift and decisive action, Ziwei said, "Let's go, to the artifact-refining team."

Li Yunfei nodded, and the group boarded the sightseeing vehicle once more, heading toward the artifact-refining team.

Liu Bin felt that he had witnessed more today than in the past twenty-plus years combined. The more he learned about Li Yunfei, the more fortunate he felt to be able to call him a friend.

Zhang Ziying felt boundless admiration for Li Yunfei. Watching her man converse with ease alongside Zixiao's supreme leader, held in high regard by all leaders of the supernatural community, while discussing topics that could enable the entire nation to rise—that overwhelming sense of pride was something outsiders could never truly experience.

As for Honghong, she did not have many outward reactions, though a subtle joy, unspeakable to outsiders, lingered in her heart.

Because she was the only one who knew all of Li Yunfei's secrets, and she could be considered the person closest to him.

Her life and destiny were bound together with Li Yunfei's in a true pact of life and death.

Her heart was filled with an inexpressible gratitude. She existed in dependence upon Li Yunfei; without him, her life would be utterly worthless.

Upon arriving at the grand hall where the artifact-refining team was located, Ziwei led Li Yunfei and his party straight to the rear hall.

Living up to its name as the artifact-refining sector, as soon as they entered the rear hall, everyone felt the ambient temperature rise significantly.

During this period, the artifact-refining team had primarily been forging storage rings, with only a fraction of personnel assigned to craft other weapons and treasures custom-ordered by Zixiao members.

The rear hall contained more than a dozen chambers, most of which had their doors tightly shut, with waves of heat surging outward.

Members of the Xuan Squad dressed in dark Han-style robes hurried back and forth, some holding artifact-refining materials in their hands.

Spotting Ziwei, they paused to bow slightly, waiting until the group had passed before resuming their journeys to their destinations.

Ziwei stopped one of them and asked, "Where is Daoist Dinghua?"

The member respectfully replied, "The Daoist was previously forging storage rings in the No. 1 Artifact-Refining Room, but he was just relieved from duty and should be in the lounge."

"Very well, you may go about your business."

Dismissing the member, Ziwei led the group toward the lounge, explaining to Li Yunfei as they walked: "This Daoist Dinghua is an expert of the Shangqing Sect from Mount Zaoge. Although his cultivation is only at the mid-stage Yang-Spirit realm, he is an expert in artifact-refining."

"Before the spiritual Qi recovery, he specialized in making magical instruments and selling them to support his sect. Both your Maosan Sect and the Celestial Masters Sect were his major clients."

"After the spiritual Qi recovery, he became the leader of the artifact-refining team, specializing in researching various artifact-forging techniques. He can be considered the founding pioneer of this era's artifact-refining path."

Admiration flashed in Li Yunfei's eyes. Someone like Daoist Dinghua, akin to scientists who poured their hearts entirely into scientific research, was truly worthy of respect.

The lounge served as the duty room for administrative personnel in the front hall. Upon reaching the lounge, they saw a Daoist with his hair tied in a Daoist bun, graying locks, and a blue Daoist robe, sitting on a sofa and brewing tea.

Seeing Ziwei walk in, he hastily stood up to greet him, saying, "Comrade Ziwei, what brings you here? And who are these?"

Ziwei smiled and said, "You've worked hard, Daoist. Let me introduce you—this is the newly appointed Elder Chenlong I mentioned to you."

Li Yunfei stepped forward proactively, cupping his fists in a Daoist salute and bowing slightly. "Junior Li Yunfei pays respects to the Daoist."

Daoist Dinghua returned the salute. "Elder Chenlong is too polite. This poor Daoist doesn't dare accept such courtesy."

After straightening up, Li Yunfei smiled warmly. "Official titles are official titles, and seniority is seniority. In front of the Daoist, I am merely a junior; the Daoist may simply address me by my name."

Appreciation flashed in Daoist Dinghua's eyes. He invited everyone to be seated and then said to Li Yunfei, "I heard from Comrade Ziwei that you possess a miraculous ability capable of duplicating all things in heaven and earth?"

Li Yunfei nodded. "This junior indeed possesses the ability of replication, but to say it can duplicate all things in heaven and earth is somewhat of an exaggeration."

"It still depends on one's own cultivation level and the quality of the item being duplicated. If it exceeds the limit of what my cultivation can replicate, I am powerless as well."

Daoist Dinghua rolled his eyes, glanced at the empty tea canister on the coffee table, and smiled. "To be honest, such an ability is truly unfathomable; it practically touches upon the realm of 'creation'."

"This poor Daoist has always harbored doubts about it. Why not have Yunfei help me duplicate some of this Dahongpao spiritual tea, so this poor Daoist can open his eyes?"

"Hahaha..."

Hearing Daoist Dinghua's words, Ziwei laughed out loud, pointing a finger teasingly at him. "Daoist, oh Daoist! If you wanted spiritual tea, you could have just asked. Why resort to such petty tricks?"

"I only gave you half a catty a month ago, and you've finished it already?"

Li Yunfei also smiled and shook his head, while Daoist Dinghua put on a bitter expression. "Comrade Ziwei, you must understand me!"

"The artifact-refining team works day and night in six shifts to forge storage rings. Our cultivation is inferior to those in the Heaven Squad, and we don't have as much time to cultivate. If we don't have some external resources to supplement and improve our cultivation, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep up with Zixiao's development."

"Out of that half catty of spiritual tea you gave me, after everyone took their share, how much could I possibly have left?"

Hearing Daoist Dinghua's words, Li Yunfei was deeply moved. He said solemnly, "In the past, Zixiao lacked a deep foundation, and precious resources like spiritual tea were far too scarce. You and the comrades of the Xuan Squad have worked hard."

With a wave of his hand, a full ten jujube-red ceramic tea canisters materialized out of thin air on the coffee table—all of them standard one-catty containers of Dahongpao spiritual tea, meaning this was ten catties of spiritual tea in total.

"These spiritual teas are some surplus stock I replicated when I had spare time recently. Consider it a token of this junior's appreciation! In the future, I will carve out more time to replicate such spiritual items and try to ensure a steady supply for the comrades of the Xuan Squad."

Daoist Dinghua looked in shock at the pile of tea canisters on the table. Opening even one canister revealed surging spiritual Qi.

Tea leaves could be faked, but spiritual Qi could never be forged. These were all genuine Dahongpao spiritual tea.

Daoist Dinghua stood up, cupped his fists in a bow to Li Yunfei, and said with emotion, "On behalf of everyone, I thank Elder Chenlong for your consideration."

Li Yunfei hurried forward to help Daoist Dinghua up, saying sincerely, "The Daoist need not be so polite; this is only what Yunfei ought to do."

"Starting today, we no longer need to forge storage rings. For other items that require mass production, we only need to forge a single sample."

"In the future, aside from custom-made, one-of-a-kind magical treasures requested by comrades personally, leave the rest to Yunfei."

Daoist Dinghua asked hesitantly, "Will this not affect your cultivation?"

Li Yunfei replied, "Rest assured, Daoist. As my primordial spirit grows stronger, I am now able to multitask—cultivating and replicating simultaneously. While meditating, I can effortlessly duplicate items on the side."

With that, Li Yunfei looked at Ziwei and smiled. "Besides, Comrade Ziwei is well aware that my cultivation does not rely on sitting in meditation to absorb Qi."

Hearing this, Ziwei was overjoyed. "That's wonderful! I've always worried that assigning you too many tasks would affect your and Ziying's cultivation. With this solved, I can finally set my mind at ease."

In truth, he wasn't worried about affecting Li Yunfei's cultivation. Just as he said, Li Yunfei's cultivation growth didn't rely on absorbing heaven and earth spiritual Qi through meditation, but rather on slaughtering enemies.

His primary concern was affecting Zhang Ziying's cultivation and wasting her Grade-A superior aptitude.

Given the cultivation environment and personal conditions available to Zhang Ziying, Zixiao could definitely produce another Core-Formation grand master in the shortest possible time.

The value of a Core-Formation grand master far exceeded that of external objects, which was why he had always been careful to limit his requests for Li Yunfei to duplicate items so as not to hinder Zhang Ziying's progress.

Since Li Yunfei could duplicate items while cultivating, this problem naturally ceased to exist.

After everyone resettled, Ziwei placed the Shura Gun before Daoist Dinghua and explained the research direction they hoped to pursue.

An expert is an expert. After examining the array inside the gun for a while, Daoist Dinghua told the two of them, "Hmm, I haven't seen this array before, but I can roughly understand the principle. After studying it and thoroughly grasping it for a few days, I'll be able to start forging it."

"The likelihood of realizing your idea is quite high. However, judging by the conditions you described, to unleash the full power of this gun, the required energy is massive."

"The most suitable spiritual material for ammunition supply is spiritual-stone essence, or millennial spiritual jade. We can fashion millennial spiritual jade into magazines to supply energy to the firearms, which can then be recharged by cultivators once depleted."

"The only problem is that spiritual jade is far too scarce. The spiritual jade we currently possess has basically already been forged into magical treasures by several venerable elders, and what little inventory remains isn't enough to make a few magazines."

"Even if ordinary people held this gun, they couldn't deal with high-tier cultivators, and furthermore, out of safety considerations, it is unsuitable for ordinary people to wield such weaponry. Therefore, there's no need to use millennial spiritual jade for magazines."

Li Yunfei and Ziwei nodded in agreement. Indeed, ordinary people mastering weapons capable of threatening Core-Formation grand masters was not a good thing for Zixiao.

Daoist Dinghua continued, "Then we can settle for second best and use standard spiritual stones to make magazines. The power will be much weaker, but it will be more than sufficient to equip ordinary armies."

Li Yunfei said with satisfaction, "This was precisely my original intention in bringing out this gun. I wonder what kind of power can be achieved if spiritual stones are used as ammunition?"

Daoist Dinghua calculated inwardly for a moment and said, "Based on the spiritual Qi contained in a spiritual stone the size of an assault rifle magazine, it would be no problem to shatter the spiritual defense shield of a Yang-Spirit cultivator or the protective aura of a True-Intent martial artist in a single strike."

"When we manufacture this type of firearm, we can add a feature allowing the user to adjust the output power. To break the defenses of a Yang-Spirit or True-Intent cultivator, the spiritual Qi contained in a magazine-sized spiritual stone would only suffice for a single shot."

"However, if used to break the defenses of Spirit-Activation or True-Qi realms, it could fire dozens of shots. To break the defenses of Enlightenment or Soul-Refining realms, it could fire hundreds, or even thousands of shots, with a destructive power comparable to rune bullets."

Having heard Daoist Dinghua's explanation, both Li Yunfei and Ziwei were satisfied; this state had already met their psychological expectations.

The Qi- 引气期 and Qi-refinement 练气境 stages didn't even need mentioning, as they corresponded to post-natal martial artists in wuxia worlds who couldn't even project their internal energy outward; ordinary firearms could kill them, rendering magical firearms unnecessary.

The Enlightenment 开光期 and Soul-Refining 炼神境 stages were equivalent to congenital martial artists, who could project their internal energy outward.

Although inferior to protective Qi armor, they could still form a protective layer that ordinary bullets could not penetrate without a certain level of firepower.

Yet, just for its effectiveness against the Enlightenment and Soul-Refining stages, the magical firearm was already superior to regular firearms using rune bullets.

Because an assault rifle magazine could only hold 30 rune bullets, the spiritual Qi contained in a spiritual stone of the equivalent volume was equivalent to two to three hundred rune bullets, meaning a single assault rifle's ammunition capacity would reach two to three hundred rounds.

With Daoist Dinghua guaranteeing results within two months, Ziwei and Li Yunfei departed happily.

They made another trip to the Class-A spiritual item warehouse, where Li Yunfei produced fifty catties of spiritual tea and twenty liters of spiritual morning dew to serve as Zixiao's high-grade spiritual reserve.

Li Yunfei spread his hands and laughed at Ziwei, "With this, the personal savings I've accumulated over this period have basically been completely emptied out. I didn't hold anything back at all."

Ziwei smiled faintly, patted him heavily on the shoulder, and exclaimed, "With just this single trip you made to headquarters, Zixiao's foundation has expanded at least tenfold. The things you've brought out are items Zixiao might not have managed to accumulate even in ten years."

Here he paused, his gaze suddenly turning exceptionally gentle and his voice exceptionally warm, "Let me speak from the bottom of my heart with you."

"With your abilities, you alone are enough to support an entire organization. If you wanted to build your own faction, it probably wouldn't take many years before a super organization appeared in this world. If your ambition were slightly larger, the emergence of a super superpower wouldn't be out of the question."

"Yet you chose to serve the country without a shred of selfishness. This fills me with admiration, even reverence. If you weren't so young and lacking in experience, I'd be tempted to hand the position of Ziwei over to you right now."

Upon hearing these words from Ziwei, Li Yunfei took two steps back, waved his hands frantically, and said, "No, no, absolutely not! If you actually did that, I'd probably run far away and find some deserted island in the Pacific Ocean to live in seclusion."

Li Yunfei's intense reaction caught Ziwei completely off guard. For a moment, he was stunned, not knowing what to say, and only recovered after a long pause.

"Wait, what kind of reaction is that? I actually wanted to groom you properly and make you my successor as Ziwei!"

Li Yunfei jumped and protested, "Don't! I became this Elder Chenlong simply out of the sentiment of 'when well-off, help the world,' wanting to do my bit for the country. Otherwise, I never intended to join Zixiao in the first place. Why on earth would I want to be Ziwei?"

Liu Bin, standing nearby, rubbed his nose and rasped, "Dafei, you're sounding a bit too humble here!"

Li Yunfei argued anxiously, "I'm really not putting on an act! I... why is this so hard to explain?"

Honghong suddenly spoke up, "Let me explain for big brother!"

With a faint smile at the corners of her mouth, she looked at Ziwei and said, "Actually, in a sense, big brother's personality is no different from A-Bao's."

"Uh..."

Li Yunfei was speechless. If you want to describe me as detached from fame and wealth, couldn't you find a better comparison?

Looking thoughtfully at Honghong, Ziwei asked, "How so?"

Honghong continued, "Actually, what big brother has always yearned for is a carefree life of wandering the four seas. The reason he joined Zixiao is, first, as he said, out of a desire to help the world when able."

"Because this is his nature: when he lives well, he hopes everyone around him lives well; when everyone around him lives well, he hopes even more people can live well."

"The only way to let more people live well is to make the country strong, which is why he chose to join Zixiao."

Saying this, she looked at Zhang Ziying and added, "Secondly, it's also for Sister Ziying. I won't state the reasons; everyone understands."

Finally, she looked back at Ziwei and concluded, "So, if you let him hold an idle elder position, he is quite happy. If you make him a leader in charge of actual, practical affairs, he'll either loaf on the job or become a hands-off manager."

"Making him Ziwei is truly not a good idea, let alone building his own faction to reign as king. I've finished my piece; you can decide how to choose!"

After listening to Honghong's words, Ziwei remained silent for a moment before looking at Li Yunfei, who was gazing at Honghong with admiring eyes. "Is this your true thought?"

"Uh..." Li Yunfei scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly, "Pretty much! Except for the comparison to A-Bao which I don't acknowledge, the rest is pretty spot on. That's indeed what I think."

"Heh..."

Unable to help themselves, the others smiled. Ziwei shook his head with a chuckle and said, "You rascal, and here I held such high hopes for you. Honghong really wasn't wrong; no wonder A-Bao gets along so well with you—you two really aren't that different."

Sighing lightly, Ziwei continued, "Very well, since you aren't willing, I won't force it, nor will I use national righteousness or the country's future to coerce you. Just continue doing what you're willing to do."

Li Yunfei rejoiced, "Awesome! Rest assured, whatever is my duty, I won't shirk; and whatever I can't handle, don't even open your mouth to ask, saving us both from discomfort."

Ziwei nodded, turned to walk away, and said, "Let's go! We've wandered enough; let's head back and properly prepare for this afternoon's meeting."

As the rest fell in step behind him, none of them saw the faint, imperceptible smile that curved the corners of his mouth.

In reality, this conversation of "speaking from the bottom of his heart" was a test—a test of Li Yunfei's mindset to see how he envisioned his future and which direction he intended to develop.

And Li Yunfei had given the answer that satisfied him the most.

Possessing supreme cultivation, alongside the ability to single-handedly form an army or even a nation, yet lacking lust for power and ambition, his actions were driven purely by the desire to make the country strong and allow more people to live better lives.

Such a person was nearly impossible to find with a lantern nowadays.

Great Xia possessed one, and that was truly a blessing.

Ziwei didn't doubt Honghong's words; he had no reason to doubt them, because everything Li Yunfei had done thus far corroborated what she said.

Back at Daoist Dinghua's place, from his consideration for the Xuan Squad's members to pulling ten catties of spiritual tea out in one breath because of a single remark from the Daoist, Ziwei had essentially seen right through Li Yunfei's character.

Placing such a person in a high position gave Ziwei peace of mind—absolute peace of mind.

...

After leaving the warehouse area, Ziwei instructed Yan Hexiao to take Li Yunfei and the others to the apartment complex and arrange rooms for them, while he took Guo Qilin back to the main administrative building.

Less than half an hour later, Li Yunfei received a text message notification: five hundred million had been added to his account.

Li Yunfei and Zhang Ziying were sitting and chatting in the living room sofa. Seeing the text message, he smiled at Zhang Ziying beside him and said, "It seems Ziwei still knows how things work."

Zhang Ziying shrugged. "With the kind of things you brought out, ten years of Great Xia's tax revenue might not even buy them. If you know how things work, of course others will too."

He put his arm around Zhang Ziying's shoulder and asked, "Do you think your man lacks grand ambitions?"

Zhang Ziying leaned naturally against his shoulder and smiled, "Lacking grand ambitions is pretty good too! Having too much power isn't necessarily a good thing; the greater the power, the heavier the burden to carry."

"Cultivation, after all, seeks freedom and detachment. If one is constantly bobbing in the sea of officialdom, how can one talk of detachment?"

Li Yunfei said happily, "A partner's understanding is a man's greatest happiness. Once the country completely stands firm in the new era and rises to the pinnacle of the world, we won't care about anything else. By then, we'll ride the wind on flying swords and tour the world together."

Zhang Ziying smiled. "The Blue Planet is only so big; we'll traverse it sooner or later. By then, won't we just get bored?"

Li Yunfei replied, "How could we get bored? By that time, we'll probably have both become immortals. Once we get tired of playing on the Blue Planet, we'll go to the Moon, Mars, or even wander the Milky Way."

"If we happen to stumble upon a primitive life-bearing planet, who knows, we might even get to play the role of Dao ancestors!"

Zhang Ziying chuckled lightly. "You've been reading too much fiction! This isn't quite sci-fi, nor is it quite xianxia..."

Before she finished speaking, a commotion suddenly drifted in from the balcony.

The apartment building had five floors, with higher positions corresponding to higher residential floors, so naturally they lived on the top floor.

At this moment, however, chaotic noises drifted up from the garden downstairs, and a clear female voice screamed, "No, go away! Don't come near me, help..."

"Sister smells so good, don't run! Let me take a bite, just one bite..."

Li Yunfei and Zhang Ziying exchanged bewildered glances. "That's Honghong's voice. What is she trying to bite?"

"Let's go take a look."

The two hurried toward the balcony. The apartments here were structured in parallel rows—rows of them aligned horizontally, eight rows in total, each row forming a building with sixteen units, five floors per unit, and four households per floor.

Running onto the balcony, the two were left speechless to find that the residents of their building were standing out on their balconies, while those in the building opposite were leaning out of their windows, watching the spectacle.

However, these were mostly people living on the third floor and below; very few people lived on the fourth and fifth floors, numbering only a handful, and Liu Bin happened to live right downstairs from them.

Down in the garden below, a group of people had gathered, men and women alike, some wearing black-and-white uniforms while others wore casual clothes.

In Zixiao headquarters, people in casual clothes were exclusively of one kind: shapeshifted demon-clan members who had joined Zixiao, known as honorary elders.

A mature, beautiful woman wearing a glamorous, low-cut long dress with expansive swathes of fair skin visible at her chest was running around in panic amidst the crowd, using the onlookers as cover.

Meanwhile, Honghong was acting as if she were playfully teasing her, repeatedly executing the Shrinking-Ground-Inch technique to suddenly appear behind the woman or materialize right beside her.

Showing a mouthful of teeth so white they gleamed with a chilling light, a mischievous grin plastered across her face, she chanted phrases like "Let me take a bite."

Clearly a plump, mature adult, the woman was chased into a frantic, chaotic scramble by the little loli, screaming in terror with her beauty drained of color.

Yet Honghong wasn't actually doing anything to harm her; the scene felt both inexplicable and oddly comical.

Li Yunfei and Zhang Ziying looked at each other in blank dismay. What on earth was going on here?