Chapter 179: All Women Are The Same
[That is...] the Empress gasped as she observed the talisman.
"Is something wrong?" Li Yao asked internally as she reached for the talisman. It was the first time she had witnessed the empress appear so genuinely shocked.
The Empress composed herself. [No, quite the opposite actually,] she responded, her tone shifting from surprise to appreciation. [This is really good stuff.]
"Really?" Li Yao’s excitement was palpable as she examined the talisman more closely. As always, her senior brother never failed to impress her with his creations. Each gift seemed more extraordinary than the last.
[If you use it correctly, you might not necessarily lose out to that Soul Formation cultivator,] the Empress explained.
"That good?" Li Yao’s eyes widened at the Empress’s assessment, a mixture of pride and amazement washing over her.
[Yes,] the empress confirmed. [You should thank him properly later. This must have been quite difficult to create.]
Within Li Yao’s spiritual sea, the Empress thought that she could now be almost ninety percent certain that Xiang Yu was not an enemy. Although others might remain oblivious to the talisman’s true nature, she could not be fooled. The soul energy emanating from the talisman was unmistakable to her.
She was initially shocked after detecting soul energy in the talisman, but upon closer examination, she realized it was remarkably thin soul energy. Though concentrated in impressive quantities, at its root, it was quite undeveloped—even below the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator. If she had to guess, it probably originated from a soul infant.
Soul infants themselves were rare occurrences, typically appearing when a cultivator hadn’t made sufficient accumulation in the Golden Core stage to breakthrough to Nascent Soul. Yet for Xiang Yu, she was certain he wasn’t a Golden Core cultivator.
Even if he possessed some strange method to conceal his cultivation, he couldn’t hide the absence of a core from her penetrating spiritual perception. After scanning his body multiple times, she had detected no golden core—in fact, he hadn’t even established the proper foundation. At best, he remained at the Qi Gathering realm.
If she had to speculate, Xiang Yu was not some ancient expert in disguise but rather a fortunate youth who had stumbled upon a powerful inheritance, likely within that low-grade spirit vein he frequented. Her confidence that he wasn’t an ancient expert stemmed primarily from the talisman itself.
For such a high-grade talisman to be crafted using only infant-level soul energy, the creator would need to strain the infant to dangerous levels—potentially life-threatening. Any experienced expert would recognize this risk and would never attempt it. But Xiang Yu, lacking this knowledge, had created the talisman regardless—evidence that he truly worried about Li Yao’s safety.
The Empress sighed contemplatively. For him to possess a soul, even if merely an infant, could be considered extraordinary fortune indeed. She had lived long enough to know the rarity of relationships between two genuine geniuses ending well. Still, she had grown fond of these young cultivators and wished them success where so many before them had failed. At least now she could relax somewhat, having confirmed he posed no threat.
Yet even after this reassurance, the memory of what had happened earlier caused her to sigh once more. She hoped that she was merely overthinking it. If it truly was what she suspected... then not even she could hope to survive what might come.
...
Looking at Xiang Yu, analyzing his movements, Li Yao could tell he indeed seemed fatigued. The subtle shadows beneath his eyes and the slight slump in his normally perfect posture betrayed the effort he must have exerted to create such a powerful talisman.
"Senior brother," she spoke softly as she embraced him, her arms wrapping around his torso with familiarity. "You gave me such a valuable gift," she continued, her tone suddenly shifting to one of unexpected seriousness that caught Xiang Yu off guard. "I can only pay you back with my body."
The statement nearly caused Xiang Yu to choke on his own saliva. He coughed several times, trying to regain his composure while his mind raced. ’I thought it was something truly serious from how you voiced it. Turns out you just want to take advantage of me,’ he thought with exasperation, though he kept these observations to himself.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat deliberately, attempting to push her away with one hand. She resisted, trying to maintain their closeness. "Let’s discuss such things after the battle," he suggested, glancing meaningfully toward the door. "There are still people around," he added.
When she heard this, Li Yao finally relented, releasing her grip on him. A small smile played at the corners of her mouth as she thought to herself that her senior brother hadn’t actually refused—merely postponed. This was progress.
Xiang Yu mentally congratulated himself on successfully changing the topic, at least temporarily. He knew he should probably make his exit before she circled back to this. Internally, he clicked his tongue in disapproval. Here he had given her such a valuable talisman—one that had pushed his abilities to their limits, yet she seemed only interested in his body, not even offering a proper cultivation resource in return. ’All women are the same,’ he thought as he turned around, eager to make his escape.
"Senior brother, wait!" Li Yao called out, her fingers catching the sleeve of his robe.
"What now?" he wondered silently, though he kept his expression neutral. "Is there something else?" he asked with forced patience as he turned back toward her.
In that instant, he felt a soft sensation against his lips. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized what was happening. Had she truly decided to take him by force after his polite refusal? But before he could formulate a proper response, their lips parted, and she retreated slightly, a delicate blush coloring her face.
"That’s the gift I brought for senior brother," she explained.
"Gift? What gift?" he wondered in confusion. Wasn’t she merely taking advantage of him again? Yet as these thoughts raced through his mind, he suddenly felt something spreading through his body from his tongue. It was a distinct energy signature of a pill. It was only then that he realized the true purpose of the kiss, she was transferring the pill directly. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why she used such a method.
He felt hot energy radiating throughout his meridians and all over his body. Whatever this pill was, it was certainly no common item.
"Go back and refine the pill. It’s good for you," she instructed with the faintest trace of smugness in her voice.
Xiang Yu departed without further comment.
Once he had left, the Empress spoke, [Did you have to give it like that?] she questioned.
"Am I not supposed to receive benefits for the pill?" Li Yao countered innocently.
The Empress sighed deeply. [Didn’t you already receive benefits?] she pointed out, referring to the soul shock talisman.
"Well, I want more benefits," Li Yao replied matter-of-factly. "What’s wrong with that?"
The empress sighed once more, recognizing she couldn’t reason with this kid.
[Did you forget that your senior brother is an alchemist? It would have been better for him if you had given him the pill physically so he could research it. Do you understand how such an item could have helped his alchemy? The Rebirth Pill is a second-grade pill—if he could study it...] Her explanation trailed off into another resigned sigh.
"Ah, I forgot about that," Li Yao admitted, though without much genuine remorse. "I’ll just find another one for him."
"Do you know any more tombs I can explore?" she asked abruptly.
[Do you think Tribulation experts grow on trees?] the Empress replied sarcastically.
"Well, do you know?" Li Yao persisted, ignoring her tone.
The Empress finally surrendered. [Well, yes. But—] she began, only to be interrupted.
"All good then," Li Yao declared triumphantly, already formulating plans for their next adventure—assuming, of course, they survived the coming confrontation with the cult leader.
...
Author’s Corner
Okay this one here is my fault. If she had given Xiang Yu the pill, he wouldn’t have consumed it and would have kept it for research which would’ve taken so long for his spirit root to improve again.
I still think this is within Li Yao’s character. What do you guys think?