Chapter 126: We’re Cooked
"We’re really cooked this time," Xiang Yu thought. If Li Yao left, the sect would be left completely defenseless. It was practically a law of the cultivation world that the protagonist’s home always suffered an attack during their absence—allowing them to dramatically save everyone at the last possible moment, if they managed to save them at all.
His mind raced through various scenarios, each more catastrophic than the last. What could he possibly do to prevent the impending disaster?
"Senior brother?"
A gentle touch on his shoulder pulled him from his spiraling thoughts. He raised his eyes to meet Li Yao’s concerned gaze as she stood behind him, her brows furrowed with worry.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice tinged with genuine concern.
Xiang Yu quickly composed his expression, masking his inner turmoil. "I’m fine, just a little surprised is all," he replied as he rose from his seat.
He busied himself collecting the dishes from the table, the familiar routine helping to calm his mind as he thought of possible solutions. The ceramic plates clinked softly against each other as he stacked them, giving his hands something to do while his thoughts continued to churn.
Once finished with clearing the table, Xiang Yu excused himself and headed straight back to the spirit vein.
Unbeknownst to him, Li Yao appeared at the location moments after he entered, her keen senses having tracked him this far.
"The trail ends here," she declared, staring at the seemingly ordinary rock face before her.
[It’s likely another concealment array,] the Empress observed.
After a brief pause, she added decisively, [Let’s go back.]
"Shouldn’t we look inside?" Li Yao challenged, her curiosity growing. Whatever her senior brother was hiding, she wanted—perhaps even needed—to know.
[Every man has his own secrets,] the Empress countered. [If you don’t respect his privacy, he might come to dislike you.]
"Weren’t you the one who told me to follow him?" Li Yao asked incredulously, her hands finding their way to her hips in a posture of indignation.
[I changed my mind,] the Empress replied simply.
The Empress reflected privately that she had indeed sensed an unusual aura from this location before and had encouraged Li Yao to investigate. But now it seemed clear enough—just a low-level spirit vein that Xiang Yu had recently discovered. From all appearances, he was simply using it to cultivate herbs and refine weapons away from prying eyes. She had initially suspected more sinister motives for his secretive behavior, but it appeared he merely sought solitude. Interfering now would only antagonize him needlessly.
"Okay," Li Yao reluctantly agreed, casting one last longing glance at the concealed entrance before soaring away into the sky.
Inside the spirit vein, Xiang Yu had calmed somewhat, though anxiety still gnawed at the edges of his mind. He reasoned with himself that while such calamitous timing was common in cultivation stories, it wasn’t absolutely certain to happen in this case.
Nevertheless, precautions were essential. Li Yao would remain for two more days—by then, his formation mastery should advance to seventh grade. With that improvement, he should be capable of establishing a sect-wide protective formation strong enough to repel Core Formation cultivators and potentially withstand at least one strike from a Golden Core expert.
He also needed to focus on improving his talisman making to sixth grade. A sixth-grade explosion talisman, if deployed with proper strategy, could critically injure even a Nascent Soul cultivator.
With these preparations in place, the sect might just survive until Li Yao’s return.
Drawing a deep, steadying breath, Xiang Yu steeled his resolve. "Time to get to work," he murmured to himself, pushing aside his fears to focus on the tasks ahead.
...
After breaking through to the seventh grade of talisman making, Xiang Yu had gained insights into existing blueprints and even new ones. While these newfound blueprints had their own unique applications, most seemed tailored for specialized situations. Despite having access to this expanded repertoire, he still favored the straightforward effectiveness of explosion talismans.
The system had already granted him the necessary insights for crafting seventh-grade explosion talismans, so he wasted no time putting this knowledge into practice. Each talisman required a significant investment of spiritual energy, drawing heavily from his spiritual sea. Fortunately, his recent mind level breakthrough had expanded his spiritual sea’s capacity, allowing him to withstand the otherwise exhausting drain.
Golden light flickered at his fingertips as he meticulously drew the complex patterns. Each line had to be executed with perfect precision—a single misplaced stroke could render the entire talisman useless or, worse, dangerously unstable. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he maintained his unwavering concentration.
By the time he completed his two hundredth talisman, fatigue had settled deep into his bones. He carefully sorted the finished products, setting aside ten for Li Yao while keeping the remainder for himself. A slight twinge of guilt touched his conscience as he considered the disparity—perhaps he was being selfish? But the rational part of his mind quickly dismissed this concern. As the weaker cultivator, he needed these protective measures far more than she did. Ten seventh-grade explosion talismans would still provide Li Yao with formidable firepower.
Xiang Yu settled into a comfortable position, allowing his depleted spiritual sea to gradually replenish itself. Formation drawing, like talisman creation, also drew upon the spiritual sea’s energy to etch patterns into the formation disk, making immediate continuation impossible. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing as he waited for his energy to recover.
After what felt like mere moments but was actually closer to half an hour, he sensed his spiritual sea had restored enough capacity to continue working. While not completely replenished, his current energy levels would suffice for drawing eighth-grade formations, which demanded less spiritual power than the seventh-grade talisman.
He retrieved the formation disks and began etching intricate patterns into their receptive surfaces, each disk gradually coming alive with pulsing energy as the formations took shape. Time slipped away as he worked, the pile of completed formation disks steadily growing beside him.
When he finished another batch, he realized it was dinner time. He carefully stored his creations and made his way back to prepare the evening meal.
Dinner proceeded normally, with conversation flowing naturally between the four of them. As the meal concluded and Li Yao prepared to leave, Xiang Yu called her back, retrieving a small package from his spatial ring.
"Since you’re going outside, you might encounter some dangers," he explained, placing the carefully wrapped bundle in her hands. "These are what I made for you after having a breakthrough in my talisman making."
Li Yao unwrapped the package, revealing ten identical talismans, each radiating a subtle but unmistakable power that sent a faint tingle through her fingers.
"It’s a seventh-grade explosion talisman," Xiang Yu continued. "It should be able to critically injure a Golden Core cultivator if used right."
He paused briefly before adding, "And if you’re ambitious, if you use all ten of them, you could theoretically injure a Nascent Soul cultivator."
Li Yao’s eyes widened in surprise at this claim. "Is that true?" she asked the Empress internally.
[You can indeed injure a weaker Nascent Soul cultivator if you use them correctly,] the Empress confirmed.
"Thank you, senior brother," Li Yao said, her smile brightening her entire face. "I’ll definitely use them well." She carefully stored the talismans in her spatial ring.
Xiang Yu then gave the rest of the resources he’d made to Elder Huang. Since they were useless to him, it was better to give them up soon to free up his storage space.
Xiang Yu watched Li Yao and Elder Huang depart, they had said that they wouldn’t be attending meals anymore as they needed to deal with many things before Li Yao’s departure. This was why he had decided to give her the talismans now as it was probably the last time he was going to see her before she left.
As they had disappeared from sight, Xiang Yu hoped that she would be safe out there. As for him, he immediately returned to the spirit vein. The day’s work had been productive, but his cultivation schedule demanded adherence.
Inside the concealed cave, he stripped off his outer robes and slipped into the spirit spring. As the spiritual energy embraced him, he prepared himself mentally for what was to come. It was time for his daily ritual...
...
Author’s Corner:
I’m thinking of doing another time skip, which one do you guys prefer:
Focus on Li Yao and time skip Xiang Yu
Focus on Xiang Yu and time skip Li Yao
Or just focus on both, no time skip just increased pace