Chapter 277: Enhancing The Void Sword
Li Yao sat comfortably on Xiang Yu’s lap, her arms wrapped loosely around his neck affectionately.
"Senior brother, you really don’t want to go?" she spoke disappointedly.
"Yeah, I have to remain here and take care of the sect," he said.
"Even if I ask really nicely?" she spoke with a pleading expression.
Xiang Yu shook his head firmly.
"What if I ask not so nicely?" she spoke, still maintaining her sweet tone though the spiritual aura around her hands increased noticeably as her grip around his neck tightened.
Xiang Yu smiled at her confidently. "Wanna try?" he asked.
She just sighed in defeat, letting go of him. She then put on an exaggerated pout like a wronged child. "Senior brother, you are bullying me," she said.
"I used to take care of you, and this is how you treat me?" she continued, folding her arms across her chest.
"Alright, speak up, what do you want?" Xiang Yu sighed. This girl really liked to take advantage of his good heart.
Her face brightened instantly. "Of course I want senior brother," she said, placing her hands on his robes. "You also want me too, right?" she asked, looking directly into his eyes.
"Yes...I also..." as he spoke, he suddenly paused mid-sentence, his expression shifting to one of realization.
"You dare to use this technique against your senior brother?" Xiang Yu spoke.
Instantly she tensed. "Dammit! I was scammed. It didn’t work at all," she thought with frustration.
"You said it was 10/10 guaranteed to work! This is false marketing. I need a refund!" she spoke to the empress.
[I said that? I don’t seem to recall,] the empress replied innocently.
Li Yao turned to look at Xiang Yu with a pleading expression, immediately switching tactics. "Senior brother, I was wrong," she spoke.
But Xiang Yu slowly reached out toward her. "Senior brother, you have to believe me! This is a setup. I’m also a victim here!" she pleaded desperately, backing away slightly.
"Don’t make excuses," he said. He then lifted her effortlessly and placed her lying on her belly across his lap.
"Senior brother, I was wrong! I won’t do it again!" she said in panic. But suddenly, "Wait, this position..." she thought in realization.
Suddenly, her face flushed bright red as Xiang Yu delivered a firm spank.
A while later... Li Yao was caught between tears and something else entirely. The last time she had received her senior brother’s punishment was back in Chapter 28 when he was still weak, so it hadn’t hurt much. But now it hurt so much more.
"Not that I hate it or anything,"
[-_-]
"Senior brother, stop! I’ll do anything!" she pleaded breathlessly.
"Do you promise not to do that again?" he asked seriously.
Her face hardened with sudden determination. "Senior brother, a man can be killed but not humiliated," she said with unwavering conviction.
"I accept my fate," she declared.
Xiang Yu met her determined gaze and let out a small sigh. He had never met such a warrior. She was truly worthy of his respect.
He reached into his spatial ring and retrieved something. Li Yao wondered what he was doing, her eyes widening when she saw what emerged - it was a whip.
"I respect your love for the game. That’s why I won’t look down on you and will use my full power," he said with serious respect.
"Wait, wait, listen, listen! Let me tell you something...Let me tell you something" she began frantically.
"No need. I understand. You want me not to hold back, right?" he spoke with approval. "You don’t have to worry about that," he said as he raised the whip.
Before he could strike, Li Yao spoke once again, but this time she sounded completely different. "Senior brother? What game is that? Yao Yao wants to play too," she said.
Xiang Yu immediately understood what was happening. After all that conviction and bravery, she had eventually run away.
"No, this one is for adults," he said as he stored his whip back in his ring.
...
The metal clone Xiang Yu first started by creating a scabbard for the void sword while the light clone researched what would be the best rune improvements for the weapon. With his now upgraded tools, Xiang Yu’s work efficiency had more than doubled compared to before.
Within just two hours, he was done with the scabbard.
The runesmith clone then took over and started engraving the runes. At the second grade level of runesmithing, he had access to quite a few space-related runes. He carefully picked the most appropriate ones and began engraving them on the scabbard.
Since the void sword was a space-type treasure, it couldn’t be stored in normal spatial storage devices. It also couldn’t use a normal scabbard because of its incredible sharpness - it would simply slice through any ordinary material like air. But now, the scabbard he had built was also a divine treasure of its own. Although not quite as powerful as the void sword itself, it could safely contain the blade and also help unleash even stronger strikes when drawn.
For the sword itself, Xiang Yu upgraded the existing runes and also added several new ones that would boost the weapon’s overall strength.
He also added another specialized rune after thinking about it for some time, a soul binding restriction rune. By using Li Yao’s own soul energy as a base, he engraved into the sword a binding contract that meant only Li Yao could wield the weapon.
Xiang Yu thought to himself that since she was going out into dangerous territory and might face stronger enemies, it would be really unfortunate if someone managed to steal such a powerful sword from her. With this soul binding, she could even summon and control the sword from a distance, calling it back to her hand if it was ever lost or taken.
Even though he had made these huge improvements to the weapon, Xiang Yu was still a little disappointed. The sword still remained at the low divine rank and didn’t enter the mid-stage despite all his enhancements.
Well, this was probably the limit of the original materials used in its construction. For it to breakthrough to the next tier, he would need access to much higher level materials. He was already preparing advanced alloys for his future builds, but it was going to take quite a while to develop them properly. Since Li Yao was in a hurry to depart, this was simply the best he could do with the time and resources available.
Still, despite it not reaching the mid-level like he had originally wanted, the weapon was now at the absolute peak of low-level divine weapons. It would be extremely hard to find a stronger low-level divine weapon.
He observed both the blade and its newly crafted scabbard with satisfaction. They both looked elegantly dark with no light reflecting off their surfaces, giving them an otherworldly appearance. Though he had added some tiny white sparks scattered across the scabbard’s surface to imitate space filled with distant stars. This would make it easier to spot and also looked absolutely stunning.
...
A/N: Last chap: "So many senior brother, so many senior brothers" idk which one is which. Even if the one I used is wrong, I feel Li Yao would say that lol.