Chapter 246: Slight Problem [PART 1]
Li Yao stared at the acidic blood crater for a long time. The wheels in her mind turned as pieces clicked together.
She thought to herself that the Demon God was clearly targeting her. A mischievous smile slowly spread across her face. "Should I pay them a visit? Maybe they want to play with me," she spoke aloud.
[Why don’t we return to the sect first?] the Empress spoke.
But Li Yao dismissed her words with a casual wave of her hand. "Nah, imma do my own thing," she said as she prepared to launch herself after the flying blood bags. Even though they had disappeared far away and she couldn’t sense them anymore, she could tell their general direction from the lingering scent in the air.
"This is troublesome," the Empress thought. It seemed this new form was interfering with Li Yao’s personality. The childish playfulness combined with the power she had was simply a disaster waiting to happen.
[Do you really want to go?] the Empress asked.
"Of course! Can’t you see they’re inviting me to play? It’s going to be so much fun!" Li Yao said, bouncing on her toes with excitement.
The Empress sighed audibly.
"What is it?" Li Yao asked, tilting her head curiously.
The Empress sighed again, deeper this time. [Never mind, it’s okay,] she said reluctantly.
"What, what? Tell me, tell me!" Li Yao started jumping around impatiently, her earlier bloodthirsty intentions momentarily forgotten in favor of satisfying her curiosity.
Li Mei glanced at her cousin’s erratic behavior, wondering what was wrong with her. Either way, this definitely didn’t seem like the Li Yao she remembered from their childhood. "It seems I have the wrong person," she whispered under her breath, "Now if you’ll excuse me..." she started slowly crawling away, being careful not to make even the slightest sound that might draw attention to her escape attempt.
"Tell me, tell me please!" Li Yao continued nagging the Empress.
[It’s fine, you’re busy anyway,] the Empress spoke with resignation.
"Busy? Me? I’m always free!" Li Yao protested, spreading her arms wide as if to demonstrate her complete lack of obligations.
[But you said you want to play with those Demon God people,] the Empress said with another theatrical sigh.
"I won’t play with them anymore, they’re not fun anyway. So, what is it? Tell me!" Li Yao spoke cheerfully.
The Empress wore a satisfied smile. [Don’t you want to show off your new form to your senior brother?] she asked.
Li Yao seemed lost in thought for a moment, her expression shifting as she considered this.
[You can even play together,] the Empress added.
Li Yao’s eyes lit up and she began jumping excitedly. "That’s right! Playing with senior brother is much more fun than anyone else!" she spoke with genuine enthusiasm.
The Empress internally apologized to Xiang Yu. If he was lucky, this form might be unstable and Li Yao might revert to her base personality. If he wasn’t lucky... well, sucks to suck, skill issue ig.
Meanwhile, Li Mei had almost reached the edge of the mountain, crawling slowly and carefully. A relieved smile appeared on her face as freedom seemed within reach. "Yes, this is it. If I just jump off and use my remaining qi to cushion the fall..." she thought to herself.
But as she was planning her escape, a small foot suddenly appeared before her. She slowly turned her gaze upward, meeting Li Yao’s bright, innocent eyes staring down at her.
"That was close! You almost fell," Li Yao spoke with genuine concern, reaching down and picking Li Mei up by her clothes like she was handling a wayward kitten.
"If you fall, you’ll break, and I won’t be able to show you off to senior brother," Li Yao explained, holding her cousin at eye level.
Li Yao thought to herself with sudden inspiration that if she introduced Li Mei to her senior brother as a relative, it would be kind of like meeting the parents. That would practically make them married! She was so clever - not even the Empress could have come up with such a brilliant plan.
[-_-]
...
Li Yao soared above the clouds at maximum speed, her body cutting through the air like a streak of lightning. The wind whipped around her as she flew on her back in a relaxed position, as if she were lounging on an invisible couch thousands of feet above the ground.
[What are you doing? Stop that!] the Empress spoke with frustration.
"No," Li Yao responded cheerfully, completely ignoring her advice.
Li Yao was holding Li Mei in her hands like a toy, and by Li Mei’s expression, one could tell that she was completely traumatized. Her face had gone pale white, her eyes were wide with terror, and her soul looked like it was just about to leave her body.
Li Yao suddenly frowned, looking down at Li Mei with disappointment. "Aww, it’s tails again," she said in a dissatisfied tone.
"One more try!" Li Yao said excitedly, her face lighting up as she threw Li Mei high up into the air above them.
Li Mei’s scream pierced through the sky as she flipped through the air at terrifying speeds, her arms and legs flailing helplessly as she tumbled like a rag doll before dropping once again toward Li Yao’s waiting hands. This time, her head landed squarely in Li Yao’s palm instead of her feet.
Li Yao smiled. "I’m so good at this!" she spoke excitedly. "Is this a sign I should gamble?" she wondered aloud, placing her free hand thoughtfully on her chin while still dangling her traumatized cousin.
[...]
Just as Li Yao was about to make another throw, her head suddenly collided against something invisible with a solid thunk.
"Ouch!" she winced, turning around to see what she had hit. To her surprise, she didn’t see anything strange in the empty sky around them. "Huh, I definitely hit something," she spoke with confusion as she stretched out her hand. When her fingers made contact with the invisible surface, she felt the solid barrier beneath her touch. "I knew it!" she spoke triumphantly.
"But why can’t I see it?" she wondered, running her hands along the invisible wall with curiosity.
Internally, the Empress had a disappointed expression. "Just how hard is that head of yours?" she thought with exasperation. She had sensed the new cloaking formation around the sect and decided not to warn Li Yao, hoping the collision might knock Li Yao out of this unstable form, but it clearly hadn’t worked.
"Hmm, I can smell senior brother inside, so this is definitely the sect," Li Yao began, placing her hand thoughtfully below her chin while the barely conscious Li Mei continued dangling limply from her other hand.
She suddenly made an ’o’ face, her eyes widening as if finally figuring out what was happening. "Senior brother wants to play hide and seek with me!" she smiled with delight.
Without any warning or consideration, she casually threw Li Mei away. Her cousin landed on the barrier’s surface with a heavy thud, her body rolling slightly before coming to rest.
Vital status: Unknown
Li Yao pressed her face against where she could feel the barrier, trying to peer through the invisible wall. But she could only see the extending forest below, as if the sect didn’t exist at all. She then tried extending her divine sense instead, but she could only detect more trees and wildlife. "This is not fair!" she pouted. "I know where senior brother is, but this stupid barrier is blocking me!"
Suddenly, her nose twitched as she caught a familiar scent. She glanced at another spot on the barrier, and her face immediately brightened with joy. "Senior brother!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she rushed toward that location with explosive speed.
Meanwhile, as Xiang Yu opened up the barrier, Li Yao came flying in like a missile and crashed into him, wrapping her arms around him in an extremely tight hug.
Xiang Yu hugged her back instinctively, but he thought to himself that if it weren’t for his strong body after all his recent breakthroughs, he would’ve been crushed to death just now. He really needed to keep cultivating to survive, otherwise, he wouldn’t die by an enemy but by a hug from his junior sister.
As he embraced her, his eyes drifted past her shoulder and noticed someone lying motionless on the ground near the barrier’s edge. "Did she bring a corpse?"
...
A/N: What do you guys think of this form
A/N: For the name, idk if to use thunder god or second heaven (but second heaven is the domain so...)