Chapter 163: Cult Leader [PART 1]
The man slowly turned his face toward Li Yao, shock written across his features. Li Yao simply smiled at him, offering a casual wave. "You were saying?"From the Empress’s analysis, she knew he was merely an early-stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator. Through their brief combat, she had finally grasped where she stood. Her combat power appeared to be somewhere in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
It was nice, she supposed, but still insufficient. Besides, this was merely physical combat power. She needed to find a way to deal with souls. While the Empress could attack souls that tried to enter her body, she couldn’t engage a soul outside her spiritual sea.
[I can’t interfere much outside the spiritual sea without being noticed,] the Empress spoke.
Actually, the empress was essentially an intruder. Each world had its own heavenly dao rules. If she randomly started killing high-level experts from this world, the world itself wouldn’t tolerate it. It might even affect Li Yao’s great fortune from the heavenly dao, which she wanted to avoid.
[Actually, you might not even need my help anymore,] the Empress continued.
Li Yao felt confused, but as usual, the Empress offered no explanation and went offline. She was already accustomed to this behavior, so she didn’t bother pursuing it. Instead, she addressed the Nascent Soul expert.
"Sorry, but I’m in a hurry, so I don’t have time to run around with you anymore," she said as she drew her sword. The man couldn’t provide any real challenge, so keeping him around would only waste time.
The man’s face was that of pure shock as Li Yao swung her sword toward him. He wanted to dodge but the sword was simply too fast—he couldn’t move at all. The blade descended from above, piercing directly through the top of his head, then continued downward, splitting him perfectly in two. Even as his body fell from the great height, Li Yao didn’t let down her guard. She remained ready, anticipating any other tricks.
At the Nascent Soul realm and above, if you didn’t kill the soul, they could always escape. Though she lacked a method to deal soul damage, she had to stop him somehow. Yet she continued waiting, and nothing happened. She touched her chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm... that’s weird. How come nothing is happening?" She wondered if not all Nascent Soul experts had souls, but that made no sense. The soul was the entire point of the Nascent Soul realm. It was literally in the name.
"Is this normal?" she asked the Empress.
[Who knows?] came the response.
Li Yao clicked her tongue in irritation. The Empress really liked being cryptic.
"Are you aura farming rn bro?" But before she could voice her frustration, she suddenly sensed an aura approaching from behind. She turned around as the presence arrived.
A man stood there. He wasn’t huge in the traditional sense, but he was definitely jacked. His gaze first fell to the dead Nascent Soul expert below, then rose to meet Li Yao’s eyes.
She felt that the man was definitely strange. He gave her a weird feeling.
[Don’t let your guard down,] the Empress warned.
The Empress’s serious tone reinforced her belief that this opponent shouldn’t be underestimated.
"So you are Li Yao," the man broke the silence.
Li Yao studied him carefully. "Who are you?"
The response came from behind her. "Apologies, I forgot to introduce myself."
Li Yao quickly spun around to face him. He stepped back with a smile, then bowed slightly.
"My name is Gao Aotian." He paused for a moment. Then, seeing her confused expression, he added, "Though I guess you would know me as Cult Leader."
...
"This one is the counterpart to the earlier sixth-grade defensive formation," Xiang Yu spoke, carefully handing the formation disks to his martial aunt.
At this point, Elder Huang wasn’t even surprised anymore. She excitedly accepted the formation disks, her eyes gleaming with anticipation as she examined the intricate patterns etched into their surfaces.
"I’ll go set it up right away," she said eagerly, already turning to leave. Before Xiang Yu could blink, she had launched herself into the air, becoming nothing but a streak.
"Don’t forget about what we talked about earlier," Xiang Yu called after her retreating figure, but she had already flown too far to acknowledge his reminder.
He glanced at his master, suddenly aware that it was just the two of them left in the courtyard.
"Master, about Mei Mei..." Xiang Yu began cautiously.
Elder Guo abruptly stood up, his eyes darting around the area to confirm that Elder Huang had truly departed. Once satisfied with her absence, he turned to face his disciple.
"What Mei Mei? I’m going back to cultivate," he spoke hastily before leaving quickly. As he left, he thought to himself that this kid would really get him in trouble one day.
Xiang Yu watched his master’s retreating figure, wondering if the man was suffering that much. His martial aunt had looked so bright and cheerful in contrast. Well, he could never understand the complex dynamics between those in relationships, so he decided not to dwell on it.
Speaking of relationships, his thoughts naturally drifted to his own situation with his junior sister. The memory of how she had kissed him before departing surfaced in his mind. Though he hoped for her return more than anything, he honestly didn’t know how he would face her when she finally came back. He couldn’t simply act as if the whole thing had never happened.
He was already so deep in this mess that he didn’t know how to untangle himself. Thinking back, he wondered where it had all begun. When had their relationship shifted from simple martial siblings to something so much more complicated?
He released a heavy sigh, deciding to apply the principle of "out of sight, out of mind." There was no point torturing himself with these thoughts now. It was time for his bloodline stimulation ritual.
He quickly cleaned up the dishes from dinner, his movements automatic after countless repetitions. Once everything was in order, he departed for the spirit vein, pushing all thoughts of relationships and complications from his mind.
...
Author’s Corner
I know I owe you guys a Chapter but I’ll get to it after I recover.
You can trust me, I’m not that kind of person