Chapter 237: Finally Stronger? [PART 1]
Looking at his stats, Xiang Yu felt deeply impressed by the transformation. Though he experienced a slight twinge of disappointment regarding the body refining increase. Just two body refining realms?
He would have expected more dramatic gains from the Transcendent Dao Body. But thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t as bad as he had initially thought. As his cultivation advanced, each breakthrough became exponentially more difficult to achieve.
Besides, the physique had increased his base strength by quite a significant margin, which was actually far more important than the raw body refining numbers. Base strength determined how much more powerful each body refining realm would make him.
Feeling the need to test out his actual combat strength against an opponent, he decided to enter the battle simulation to witness firsthand just how much he had truly progressed. This time, he didn’t choose the Nascent Soul version of Li Yao. Instead, he went directly for the original version—he wanted to test whether he could finally defeat her in her terrifying limit break form.
When the simulation environment materialized around him, she spawned in her base form, which didn’t interest him much. As she charged toward him with her usual aggressive opening, he didn’t even bother waiting for his precognition ability to activate. Just by looking at her approach, it was as if she was moving through in slow motion.
He instantly materialized directly in front of her, his movement so swift her eyes couldn’t even track it. Without hesitation, he delivered a solid, measured punch to her abdomen. The impact sent her flying backward several meters, her body tumbling through the air before she managed to regain her footing.
She immediately switched to her elemental form, then quickly escalated to her spirit form, both of which he made quick work of. As he dismantled each transformation, he found himself wondering whether the battle simulation function could be upgraded to allow him to load a save file, this way, he could directly skip to her more powerful forms without wasting time on these preliminary stages. Well, he supposed it wasn’t truly wasted time since all the moments spent within the simulation translated to mere seconds in the real world, but the principle still bothered him.
His idle thoughts were suddenly interrupted as his precognition ability activated for the first time since the simulation started. In his mind’s eye, he saw the incoming fist directed precisely at his chest. A smile spread across his face as the vision ended and everything returned to normal flow.
His precognition had actually evolved significantly—he could now see a full three seconds into the future rather than just one. At his current combat level, three seconds into the future was practically equivalent to having days to prepare and respond.
He didn’t make any conscious effort to evade the incoming attack. As her fist closed the distance toward him, he casually raised a single finger, effortlessly catching and holding back her full-power strike with just his index finger.
"I think this pretty much sums it up," he said emotionlessly.
With a flick of his finger, he completely destroyed her, ending the simulation.
As his consciousness returned to the physical world, Xiang Yu wore a broad smile of genuine satisfaction. He had suspected he could finally achieve victory, but he hadn’t expected the confrontation to be quite so one-sided. He was so overwhelmingly stronger now that even calling it a "fight" would be a stretch.
The fact that his battle instinct had unlocked even more of its hidden potential was an added bonus. His smile widened further as he considered the implications. Did this mean he was now genuinely stronger than Li Yao?
As this thought crystallized in his mind, his smile gradually receded. Well, he was certainly stronger than her current self, but what about after her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm? How would the power dynamic shift then?
He decided to test this scenario immediately, diving back into the simulation environment. This time, he selected the Nascent Soul version of Li Yao for his opponent.
If the previous limit break version had possessed early Soul Formation combat power, then this base Nascent Soul Li Yao was at approximately half-step Soul Formation strength.
Xiang Yu made quick work of her base form.
Moving on to her second transformation—the elemental form—he thought it was quite interesting. This version now matched the strength of her previous limit break form. Xiang Yu found himself genuinely intrigued by the concept of multiple transformation forms, wondering when he might develop his own similar abilities.
He had casually asked Li Yao about the limit break technique in passing, but apparently, it consumed lifespan to activate, which he had absolutely no interest in offering just for this little boost. Although he could technically access his own elemental form, his base strength was so huge that his elemental form was just for show, only serving to boost his affinity with specific elements rather than providing any meaningful combat enhancement.
After defeating the elemental form, the spirit form materialized before him. This version proved somewhat stronger than its predecessor, and he estimated its power level to be roughly equivalent to mid-stage Soul Formation realm. Still, it didn’t require much effort from him to defeat.
However, the next transformation that appeared caught him completely off guard—it wasn’t the limit break form he had been expecting, it was a completely new form he hadn’t seen before.
The new form that materialized before him seemed somewhat similar to her lightning transformation, though she preserved the distinctive spirit form features like her mature physical appearance. However, her expression wasn’t the mature, otherworldly look of the spirit form—instead, it carried her usual base form’s childlike demeanor.
He wondered if she would develop yet another form after completing her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. Was this even fair? How many forms could one person have?
Well, no matter...
He thought as he prepared his fist for the incoming confrontation.
Without warning, a brilliant lightning bolt struck the ground directly behind him. In the same instant, she teleported to that exact location, materializing from the lightning as she attempted to launch a surprise attack from his blind spot.
Xiang Yu turned around with an amused smile, he had witnessed this entire sequence through his precognition ability. With ease, he caught her attacking hand mid-strike, using her own momentum to swing her over his shoulder. He prepared to slam her forcefully into the ground, but just before her body could make contact with the earth, she vanished completely and reappeared in her original starting position.
"Well, that’s annoying"
...
A/N: Is teleported a word? I use it all the time and auto correct seems to think its not.
I’m experimenting with a new upload rate (temporarily). Tell me if you think the quality has decreased with the frequent upload