Third Person P.O.V
Ye Zong had seen many things throughout his life, incredibly powerful demonic beasts, techniques that almost no one else in Glory City could even dream of learning, and he had even encountered the spirit of one of Glory City's founders and the founder of the Snow Wind Family when he ventured into The Heavenly Sacred Border.
So, he could confidently say that very few things would surprise him greatly.
That's why it was even more surprising to everyone when his eyes widened at the sight of Huyan Lanruo, the daughter of one of the few people in this world he could call a friend, floating in front of him.
It was one thing to see Leek do it, a foreigner from a warrior village who used an energy other than soul force, but Huyan Lanruo?
Before the agreement he and Leek made, after the first time the Saiyan came to the City Lord's Mansion, Huyan Lanruo, in the words of her own father, Huyan Xiong, she had been at the 2-Star Silver rank, and now not only could she fly, but she also emitted the strength of a 4-Star Silver rank Spiritualist on the verge of reaching the 5-Sta.
And her physique was also at a very similar level, and all of that didn't even take into account the body enhancement she could now use, something that until now no one had even known was possible.
And all of that she had achieved 20 days after Leek left his mansion.
"That's not all." Leek said as the girl landed beside him, she seemed a little exhausted, and although her flying speed wasn't as fast as the Saiyan's first display, the fact that she could fly was impressive enough.
"I ran some tests yesterday, and I can assure you that even if compared to someone with the exact same amount of soul force, Lanruo's will be more powerful"
Ye Zong felt as if everything he saw and heard was a dream, a trick someone was playing on him.
"Why?" But in the end, he risked asking.
"Well, look at it this way." Leek used one of the storage rings he had found in the dark ruins and was now his own to conjure a glass, a jug of water, and a few balls of dried earth he had collected the night before, each now tied to a string, like tea bags.
He then filled the glass with water until it was completely full. "Imagine this is the soul realm of an average spiritualist, the water is soul force, and of course, there's a limit to how much it can hold, but as a spiritualist cultivates, they not only fill their soul realm with soul force, they also accumulate impurities." He said as he placed the earth balls inside the glass. These raised the water level, causing some of the water to spill out for each earth ball he placed.
"As you see, these impurities take up space, and the longer you cultivate, the more they accumulate. Of course, the stronger you are, the more soul force your soul realm can contain, but that doesn't solve the problem, and if too much time passes." He said, pulling the threads and removing the earth balls from the glass, crushing them in his palm and allowing the earth flakes to fall back into the glass of water, mixing with the liquid, causing it to go from clear and crystalline to brown and turbulent. "This is what will happen to the spiritist's soul force." He said as he raised the glass for everyone to see before dumping its contents, leaving it empty once again.
"This happens because all of you absorb energy from the outside; your body, and I suspect your cultivation technique as well, depending on how refined it is, acts like sieves, preventing most impurities from passing through, so you mostly take only soul force, but some small impurities always pass through. I don't have that problem because ki originates from within me, so technically speaking, my energy should be purer." He explained, picking up the pitcher once more and filling the glass with clean water again.
"That's why, when Lanruo absorbed my energy, my ki acted as a cleanser, expelling the impurities, and leaving only the soul force she had absorbed. But not only that, because now that same soul force was more nourished by mixing with my ki, resulting in Lanruo now having higher-quality energy than other spiritualists." The Saiyan finished explaining.
"So, this satisfies you, City Lord?" Leek said, crossing his arms and looking at Ye Zong with a proud smile, knowing full well how valuable his discovery was.
The City Lord took a few seconds to take a few deep breaths, and when he calmed his surprise, he looked directly at Leek before nodding. "Very well, if you teach us the method, then we will fulfill all the benefits we promised you"
Leek agreed, the title of nobility didn't mean much to him, but he had to admit that it would come with several attractive benefits: his own lands, which he could turn into his base of operations, connections with several other noble families, which could save him some trouble and bring him benefits, such as the Hong Yue family, offering to sell his treasures at their auction house, among other things.
"Then I would like to speak with the City Lord about the request I discussed with Lord Ye Shuo when we left Glory City." Leek quickly moved on to the next point.
Ye Zong nodded before speaking. "Two cultivators of each rank, right? What are the details of these experiments you want to do?"
"It's not complicated at all." Leek waved his hand to allay the man's concerns. "It's just as I told Mr. Ye Shuo, I'll simply have these people absorb a bit of my ki, remember how I said that over time, impurities affect the quality of the spiritualist's energy? I suspect that the higher a person's cultivation, the more impurities they've absorbed over time, and therefore the harder it will be for them to absorb my ki, and the longer it will take to "cleanse" their energy and strengthen it. So, the shorter a person's cultivation, the better the effects. But of course, this is just a guess. To verify it, I need to run tests on each rank of spiritualist"
Ye Zong took a moment to digest all this information and compare it with everything else Leek'd said before, and he had to admit that it seemed to make sense.
So, after considering his options, he asked. "And will there be any risk to the people you give your energy to?"
"None that I know of, in Lanruo's case, there haven't been any adverse effects. Ki is a part of all living beings, including all of you, what I did with Lanruo is like sharing a flame, lighting the torch that you yourselves have. After that, my Ki acts as fuel to keep that flame alive until it's completely independent. So, taking all that into account, I doubt there'll be a negative reaction. Even so, I can't be 100% sure, but I'd say it would be extremely unlikely, but even if it does happen, given that I'd just be "lighting" your torch, if there are any adverse effects, I can stop the procedure immediately, and my Ki would fade away on its own after a while"
"I understand." The man finally nodded.
"Then will you help me with the test?"
"I will, but I will be present during all the tests to supervise the process." The man agreed with a serious expression.
"I have no problem with that, and as for the volunteers, I suppose it will take some time to find them, right? The whole process will take a few hours, so I would like to limit the number of tests to one or two people at most per day, and I would like Mr. Huyan Xiong to be one of the volunteers." Leek said, raising a hand to the Huyan family patriarch, who was standing a few meters away from them.
"Why?" The city lord asked after glancing at his friend and seeing him shrug.
"I owe him a lot, both to him and his family, so I'd like to help him, and right now this is the most valuable thing I can offer. I think he fits the requirements well; he already knows of my existence, his rank is 2-star Black Gold, and you know him better than I do, so you should know where his loyalties lie, right?"
"Okay, I have no problem with Huyan Xiong being one of the volunteers, but I'd like to be the other." Ye Zong replied.
"Really?" Leek was quite surprised, he hadn't expected the city lord to volunteer himself even after his assurances about the near-zero risks, after all, the Saiyan didn't think Ye Zong completely trusted him yet.
"Yes, aside from my father, it's safe to say I'm the strongest person in Glory City, but due to all my responsibilities, I haven't been able to devote enough time to my cultivation, if your method gives me a boost, I might be able to break through the bottleneck I'm in." He explained with his arms crossed.
"Oh, so if that happens, I guess I'd win his favor, right?" Leek smiled a little sardonically.
"Brat, I'm already giving you preferential treatment, don't be so conceited." Ye Zong rubbed the bridge of his nose as he exhaled.
But if he was completely honest, he couldn't blame Leek for thinking that way, after all, if he really did advance to the next level, he might really owe the young Saiyan.
Though he wasn't going to admit it out loud, in his opinion, if he did that, no one would be able to estimate how much the brat's ego would inflate if he did.
"Okay, okay, that was a joke, all the volunteers were going to benefit anyway, and I'm fine with the benefits I'm already getting, so I don't really have a problem with whoever they choose for this test." The Saiyan waved his hand, dismissing the matter.
"Well, then, I guess that's all, once you have the first volunteer, you can tell me." Leek stretched slightly, ready to leave, but Ye Zong's voice stopped him.
"Actually, I already have the first person I want to go through the process ready"
Leek paused and seemed quite curious, so he spoke to make a point. "I'd like to make it clear that the agreement we made the first time I came to the city, where I agreed to teach ki to four people from the Snow Wind Family, will not change due to this new agreement, this person you mentioned and yourself will occupy two of the four available spots, so if you add more people from your family, then all four spots could be filled"
"I don't think that's fair." The city lord replied, not completely agreeing with this deal. "The number of people who meet the conditions of power and trust of ours to have access to this test are few, and counting only the Huyan family and the Ye family our options are quite limited, besides, you promised to teach four people, what will happen now will be, in your own words, a test to prove your theories, right?"
Leek rubbed his chin a few times, considering Ye Zong's words, until he snapped his fingers and made a proposal. "Very well, how about this? The four people I'll teach about ki can only be chosen from the number of people participating in the test, mainly because the most tedious part of teaching is the first one; in that way, we can save more time, what do you think?"
Ye Zong frowned slightly, he hoped more people would experience what ki was, but in this scenario, trying to force the situation to his advantage could be counterproductive, so he ended up accepting Leek's suggestion.
"Okay." Leek crossed his arms before speaking. "You said you already had someone ready for us to do the first test, right? Do you want to do it now?"
"Yes." Ye Zong replied, turning his gaze to Ye Shuo and nodding, and after thar the man moved, leaving the courtyard where they were and entering the mansion, only for the doors to open a few seconds later and the man to return, accompanied by a young girl with purple hair and lavender eyes, very similar to Ye Zong's own.
The girl and the man walked to stand next to Ye Zong, in front of Leek, Lanruo, and Huyan Xiong.
"This is my daughter, Ye Ziyun, her cultivation level is quite close to the first Bronze Star, so she meets the conditions to be part of this test." Ye Zong introduced his daughter while Leek focused his ki perception on her, measuring her power level.
This way, he confirmed that Ye Zong's words were true, the young girl was at a roughly similar level to Ning'er when he met her in that clearing at the training grounds, so it would be a good comparison to see if his theory of why Xiao Ning'er absorbed and integrated his energy with hers faster than Lanruo was correct or not.
Besides, it wasn't difficult to see the city lord's intentions, Leek had told him that the sooner a spiritualist came into contact with ki, the easier it would be to strengthen themselves; therefore, in addition to strengthening himself, Ye Zong clearly wanted to strengthen his immediate family.
So, it was very likely that if there were no problems during this test, then this girl, along with her father, would be two of the four people who would learn the most about ki from him.
"Okay." He said before sitting cross-legged on the grass. "Please sit down." He said to the girl, who was slightly startled at being called so suddenly, but after hesitating for a couple of seconds and looking at her father, who nodded at her, she obeyed and sat down opposite Leek. "The others can also sit on the ground or find some chairs to do so. This might take a while, so I recommend getting comfortable."
"We'll start with a brief theoretical overview, but first, tell me, have they told you who I am and what we're going to do here?" Leek asked the girl, not wanting to jump into practice, only to be surprised that she knew nothing about what they were doing in the middle of the process.
"I heard you're from outside of Glory City." She said, and although Ye Ziyun seemed to have a polite and demure attitude, Leek could notice the glimmer of curiosity in his expression.
He had thought about it before, based on the expressions of those who had learned of his situation for the first time, but it really seemed like he was an eccentricity to the people of this city.
"Yes, I wandered these lands for a while, and it was thanks to Mr. Xiong that I ended up in this city, it was a stroke of luck, because I don't know how long I would have lasted out there alone. Now, do you know what we're going to do next?"
"I was told you have a way to improve our cultivation, though I don't know how." The girl replied, a little excitedly.
"That's the idea of this test, to see how much of a boost I can give the people of Glory City. And as for the method itself, well, the first thing you have to understand is that I use a different energy than your soul force. We could define it as life force, but I call it ki. What you'll do is absorb some of my own ki. It'll be as if we both had torches, but mine were lit. You have to take a bit of the fire mine produces to light your own torch, so, is there anything you don't understand so far, or anything you'd like to ask?" The Saiyan asked, and although the girl seemed quite surprised, she managed to respond by shaking her head a couple of times.
"Okay, since you're inexperienced, going straight to the absorption process might be awkward and clumsy, so to familiarize yourself, we'll do a simpler process first. Lanruo, please give me a hand, we'll do the same thing as that time in the clearing." The Saiyan continued speaking, addressing the pink-haired girl in the last part.
She thought for a couple of seconds before understanding, and after letting out an "Oh." She turned at the same time as him, both of them facing each other, stretching out their hands and interlacing their fingers.
"Now I need you to stand behind me, then place your hands on my back and focus on your soul force, try to make it interact with my energy as if it were also soul force. You won't be able to connect them, but you should feel the entire absorption process I'll be doing with Lanruo. I need you to pay as much attention as you can, feel how my energy connects with hers, and how she absorbs it; that way, you'll understand everything a little better, and when you have to absorb my energy, it won't be so difficult for you." Leek applied the same training he did with Lanruo and Ning'er to prepare the pink-haired girl that time.
And when the girl sat behind him and her hands touched his back, he felt her energy trying to "touch" his, but he didn't respond; instead, he spoke.
"Very well, I'll begin now." He said, before looking at the adults surrounding them, all of whom were now sitting on chairs that a servant had brought for them. "And you too, please sharpen your senses, especially you two, Mr. Xiong and City Lord. That way it will be easier when it's your turn"
And with that, Leek closed his eyes before beginning the process.
X-X-X-X-X
Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? First of all, I want to apologize to the people who are still here. During the end of last year, I had some really difficult problems to deal with, and it got to the point where I just threw in the towel on absolutely everything, my studies, work, and hobbies, which included writing.
I'm not writing this to elicit sympathy; I'm doing it because I think you deserve an explanation, even if I'm not very willing to go into too much detail.
Now, while I don't think I can say "I'm fine now," I can assure you that I'm a little better and working on getting back on my feet.
I don't have much more to say on this subject, but I'm about to finish the next chapter, and I should be posting it in three days.
Thank you so much to everyone who continues reading this story.
Besides that, I still owe you a new cover for this story. If anyone has a suggestion for an artist I could contact to create one, I would appreciate the recommendation.