"Carry me back," said Ishihara Masami. Her face was deathly pale.
The more powerful the martial arts energy and superpowers within her became, the more violently they repelled each other. She absolutely could not fight with her full strength in this state.
Dealing with Tōan Ritsu and his four subordinates had been as easy as breathing for her. But trying to slay the so-called god from beyond the heavens, who hid in the shadows behind them, had cost her far too much energy. Though she had managed to injure it in their confrontation, she had failed to kill it.
That sneaky presence lurking in the dark clearly harbored deep hostility toward her teacher.
Shin Koharu carried Ishihara Masami into the quiet room and carefully placed her on the bed.
"Sensei, please rest. I’ll go prepare the underground fire medicinal bath right away..." said Shin Koharu. Tears streamed down her face as she turned to leave.
But Ishihara Masami reached out and grabbed her hand.
"There’s no need. It’s already useless." A faint smile appeared on her face as she said, "When I forced myself to fight, the energy within me went completely out of control. I don’t have much time left."
"No, that’s not true..." Shin Koharu’s tears fell like rain.
She was an orphan. Her parents had died in a great plague when she was very young. Yet, her relatives had seized her parents' inheritance, and she had ended up on the streets, fighting stray dogs and wild cats for food.
She had escaped from the orphanage several times, convinced she wouldn’t live past the age of ten. But then her master found her and took her in. She had raised her and passed on knowledge and teachings.
To Shin Koharu, Ishihara Masami was her everything. She was her god. But now... Was she going to lose everything once again? She refused to accept it.
"I have something I need to tell you," Masami said. "After I die, preserve my body and leave it in Silent Lake. Stay here. Don’t go anywhere. One day, if he comes... give my body to him... There are also a few words I want you to pass on to him.
"Tell him that I’m very sorry... I truly am. I gave it my all, but this was the limit of what I could achieve in my cultivation. I couldn’t hold on any longer... I failed to complete the task he entrusted to me. I was a failure of a disciple. Please... ask him not to be angry.
"Tell him... tell him that becoming his disciple was the greatest happiness of my life. I... if there is such a thing as reincarnation, please... ask him to find me again in the next life. Don’t let me be alone again. I still want to be... his disciple..."
With those final words, Ishihara Masami passed away.
The sound of freezing crystals echoed in the air. Cold energy condensed, and crystal-clear ice formed and sealed her body within.
"Master!" Shin Koharu cried out in grief, tears falling like rain.
Her master, whom she had revered as a divine being, had passed away just like that. She was consumed by sorrow. But her master’s final words made her finally understand. The person Masami had been waiting for all along... was the grandmaster.
In the days that followed, Shin Koharu began to rebuild the small island. She carefully preserved her master’s body inside the quiet chamber, barely leaving her side for even a moment.
The other Sword Sect disciples within Silent Lake finally awoke from their slumber. Tōan Ritsu hadn’t intended to kill them; he only wanted to consolidate Jiepeng’s strength. So he had merely placed them into a temporary sleep.
The disciples had no idea what had occurred on the island. They continued to uphold the order of the Sword Sect as they always had.
One day. Shin Koharu suddenly noticed something strange near the entrance of the quiet chamber. In the scorched land that had been tainted by eerie crimson-gold blood, a withered vine had, at some unknown moment, turned green. A single white wildflower bloomed from it, swaying gently in the cold wind.
It isn’t early spring, so why did the vine turn green, and why did the flower bloom? Shin Koharu was filled with confusion.
Just then, she suddenly saw a lone figure appear beside the vine. It was a slightly chubby young man dressed in a white tracksuit.
At first glance, he seemed completely ordinary. But the previous phenomenon, coupled with the fact that this man had silently appeared on the island in the heart of the lake, made Shin Koharu extremely wary.
“Who are you?” she asked cautiously.
Li Xiaofei looked at the dark-skinned, slender Jiepeng girl before him and sensed a sword intent from her that was similar to Ishihara Masami’s.
A suspicion formed in his heart as he asked, “You’re Ishihara’s disciple? I’m her master. Where is she?”
He hadn’t felt any trace of Ishihara Masami’s presence on this island.
“You’re... Grandmaster?” Shin Koharu froze for a moment, but she was already half-believing. But she still asked, “How can you prove that?”
Li Xiaofei had no intention of making things difficult for the young girl. She reminded him of his own younger sister from his past life on Earth. Their temperaments were somewhat alike.
He raised a hand and a single stream of sword light flickered at his fingertip. It was the Six Meridian Divine Sword.
He had once taught Ishihara Masami this very technique. Now, he could sense the corresponding sword qi emanating from the girl before him. It was proof that Ishihara Masami had passed the technique down to her disciple.
As expected, the moment she saw the sword light of the Six Meridian Divine Sword, Shin Koharu’s wariness vanished completely.
She suddenly burst into tears and cried out, “Grandmaster, you’ve finally come... Master, she... she’s already gone...”
Hmm? Li Xiaofei's heart sank with a jolt.
He hurriedly asked what had happened. Shin Koharu recounted everything she knew. Li Xiaofei also fell silent with a heavy heart.
He entered the quiet chamber and saw the block of ice within the sealed room. It had clearly been preserved with great care. The peerless yet lonely Sword Saint of Jiepeng, Ishihara Masami, sat cross-legged inside the crystal-clear ice. Her features were lifelike, as if she were merely deep in meditation.
As Li Xiaofei looked at her, an illusion stirred within him. It felt as though she would suddenly open her eyes in the very next moment, her beautiful gaze filled with the joy and admiration she always showed upon seeing him, and call out in that crisp, sweet voice, "Master."
But now, she was gone. Li Xiaofei told himself that he hadn’t really cared about Ishihara Masami’s life or death. Yet, at that moment, it felt as if something was missing from his heart.
He stood silently before the ice sculpture. As he stared at Ishihara Masami’s face, countless memories surfaced in his mind. Who would’ve thought that a minor figure like Tōan Ritsu had almost stirred up such a storm?
Immortality? That superpower... there was something to it.
When he recalled Shin Koharu’s explanation, the more Li Xiaofei thought about it, the more something felt off. The cause of Ishihara Masami’s death was supposedly due to simultaneously cultivating both martial arts and superpowers. When both forces grew stronger, they became increasingly incompatible, which had ultimately led to her demise through energy rejection.
But even in an extremely weakened state, she had managed to kill a so-called god from beyond the heavens?
When he thought back to the aura of blood he had sensed earlier in the scorched area outside the quiet chamber, Li Xiaofei could now be almost certain that the god from beyond the heavens was actually a cosmic lifeform from either Chongque City or Eden.
Which meant that, before her death, Ishihara Masami had reached the level where she could contend with cosmic beings.
Lost in thought, Li Xiaofei reached out and gently touched the surface of the ice. A look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face. He focused on the information his senses were giving him, and the surprise on his face deepened rapidly. Then his palm surged with power.
The ice shattered. The outer layer fell away, yet it did not harm Ishihara Masami’s body in the slightest. Despite being frozen for such a long time, her delicate body remained supple and there was no sign of stiffness.
But what astonished Li Xiaofei wasn’t the perfect preservation of her corpse. It was the strange energy within Ishihara Masami’s body. It was an energy that was constantly collapsing and endlessly regenerating. It was perpetually destroying itself and yet also continuously being reborn.
"This is..." Li Xiaofei’s eyes widened. A bolt of lightning flashed through his mind. In that instant, he understood.