Chapter 269: 3rd Grade Formation
Xiang Yu momentarily froze when he saw the information floating before his eyes. Gazing through the barrier, he watched the woman hovering beyond the barrier. She radiated such an overwhelming aura that it easily pierced through the formation, pressing down on the entire sect.
At that moment, their eyes met. An evil smile spread across her lips as she stretched her hand toward the barrier. She expected the low-level formation to crumble effortlessly under her power, but her hand suddenly stopped mid-motion. The barrier held firm against her touch.
Her eyes widened in surprise. Such a weak defensive formation should have shattered like glass beneath her strength, yet it completely resisted her power. She wore a confused expression as she gazed at Xiang Yu who had just finished activating the final node of the enhanced barrier.
Their gazes locked once more, but this time, there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, he smiled back at her.
Then, thick fog began gathering around the entire barrier. She waved her hand angrily, trying to disperse the obscuring mist. When the fog finally dispersed, everything was gone, just an endless forest stretched before her, even with her divine sense, she couldn’t detect anything. She couldn’t even smell the phoenix anymore.
She was furious, how could her prey just slip through her grasp like that. She pulled back her fist and launched a punch at the invisible barrier. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, but the formation didn’t even crack. Instead, her knuckles went numb from the recoil, and she felt a sharp sting of pain shoot up her arm.
"Dammit!" she cursed through gritted teeth, shaking her throbbing hand.
She forced herself to calm down. This place was too strange, why did it house a phoenix, two dragons, six spirits, and such advanced formations? She guessed it was probably the same palace that had produced the divine weapon they’d sensed earlier.
"Wait... six spirits?" A memory surfaced in her mind. The sixth spirit had been appointed recently from a human girl. "If I remember correctly, the name was Li Yao..." she murmured to herself.
Her eyes brightened as all the pieces finally clicked into place. The sect master had always been obsessed with tracking down the immortal inheritance of the Li family. Even after yesterday’s battle, they hadn’t discovered any trace of it. But with everything happening in this place, it was safe to assume that this Li Yao girl was the one with the immortal inheritance they’d been looking for.
And with how this small sect had rapidly advanced to nearly match the great families of the Central Continent, it seemed the inheritance was quite powerful.
"I have to inform the sect master immediately," she declared before vanishing into the distance.
Xiang Yu released a long sigh of relief as he watched her disappear beyond the horizon. Still, his expression remained serious as troubling thoughts raced through his mind. This was only a temporary solution at best. She would undoubtedly return with even stronger opponents. He needed to find a more permanent way to protect everyone.
The best solution was obviously for him to grow stronger, but... just thinking about it made him sigh.
"Senior brother..." Li Yao’s voice called out as she approached with Liu Feng, Li Mei, and Wang Jian following closely behind her.
...
"Senior brother, are you okay?" Li Yao spoke as she instantly teleported from the group. Before Xiang Yu could even blink, she was all over him, her hands frantically checking his arms, shoulders, and face for any signs of injury.
"I’m okay, nothing happened," he spoke, pushing her away from him. But Li Yao continued waving her hands frantically, trying to get closer to him.
Xiang Yu thought to himself that this girl really loved to take advantage of the situation. He had already filled them in on what had happened with the other clone inside her spiritual sea, yet she was still behaving like this. And they were in public too.
"Ahem," he coughed nervously, then forced a polite smile as he turned toward their visitors. "I apologize for not coming out to greet you properly, Sect Master Wang, Young Master Liu..."
He paused for a moment, his gaze shifting to Li Mei as he wondered how to address her.
"Sister-in-law," he suddenly blurted out as the pause grew too long and awkward.
"Sister-in-law?" Li Yao’s cheeks instantly flushed a deep crimson, and she quickly ducked behind Xiang Yu, burying her burning face in his robes like a shy child hiding from strangers.
Li Mei studied Xiang Yu curiously, noting his demeanor that didn’t at all match his youthful appearance. "Is that cousin Li Yao’s companion?" she wondered silently. "I can’t feel his cultivation level at all." She remembered how the Azure Cloud Sect disciples had seemed so enthusiastic and excited whenever his name was mentioned.
"Greetings..." she also paused for a moment before adding, "brother-in-law."
Wang Jian cupped his fists respectfully. "Grand Elder, I told you not to be so formal with me. Just call me fellow daoist Jian instead," he said warmly. Internally, he thought to himself that the Grand Elder was as impressive as ever.
Liu Feng, however, trembled nervously. He suddenly dropped into a deep, formal bow that nearly had him touching the ground. "Greetings, Grand Elder! It’s an honor to meet you," he spoke with reverence.
The others looked at him with puzzled expressions, wondering why he was acting so strangely. Even Wang Jian wore a bewildered look as he thought, "This guy isn’t really in love with the Grand Elder, is he?"
Xiang Yu also wondered why this young master was behaving so oddly. Was it because of those books? Well, as long as Liu Feng wasn’t hostile toward the sect, everything else didn’t really matter.
"Grand Elder, can you explain what happened just now?" Wang Jian asked, changing the subject.
"A Soul and Body Integration expert attacked," Xiang Yu said matter-of-factly, causing the others’ expressions to twist in horror and disbelief.
"Luckily, I managed to upgrade our sect-wide formation just in time," Xiang Yu continued calmly.
But the three visitors weren’t really listening to his explanation anymore. A Soul and Body Integration expert?
"Someone at the level of grandpa?" Li Mei thought.
"Was it an elder from one of the ten Holy Lands? I hope it wasn’t someone from the Celestial Ascension Holy Land - I don’t want us to make enemies with the Immortal," Liu Feng thought anxiously, his face growing pale.
Wang Jian stood in a complete daze for several long moments. He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how powerful such an expert would be - two entire major realms above his current cultivation level. But what shocked him even more was how the Grand Elder could create a formation capable of stopping such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.