"That’s right," Xiang Yu responded.
He glanced to the side where his battle simulation function displayed the stats:
[Name: Li Yao (Sage of Causality)]
[Realm: Body: Martial Peak; Spirit: Five Path Sage; Mind: Sage; Soul: Eternal]
[Species: Human God (Original)]
[Spiritual Root: Dao-Grade Yin-Yang]
[Physique: Thousand Bodies Dao Body]
[Bloodline: Human God (Progenitor)]
[Enlightenment: Dao]
[Professions: Destiny Weaver]
[Techniques: ...]
[Scriptures: The Path To Heaven]
[Laws: Causality (Transcendence), Yin-Yang (Manifestation), Heavenly Way (Manifestation)]
The Empress thought to herself that it wasn’t strange for Xiang Yu to be able to do such a thing.
He always had those strange abilities after all.
[So you’re saying she’s the one that’s making her act up?] the Empress asked, looking at Li Yao to the side who was eating cake.
"Probably," Xiang Yu said.
[Where exactly is she?] the Empress asked.
"Just outside the mortal world," Xiang Yu said.
Hearing this, the Empress’s expression froze. She had thought it was some far away location where they could practice for a long time before finally going to settle their beef with her, but to think that she was actually right at their doorstep.
This was too fast, she thought. She wasn’t even anywhere near the eternal level - there was no way they could confront the Sage at the moment.
She wondered what was wrong with the Sage all of a sudden.
She didn’t seem like this kind of person before. She looked more like the meticulous scheming type and not the kind to interfere openly like this.
As she thought of this, her expression suddenly froze.
"No way..." she thought.
"Do you have something in mind?" Xiang Yu asked.
"Ah well..." she began.
Xiang Yu paid attention. He thought to himself that it was probably serious since even the Empress lost her composure.
"A few days ago, when you guys tied the fate string, something weird began happening," she said. She then explained to Li Yao the incident with the red string appearing on her ankle and later memories that weren’t hers beginning to transfer to her.
Xiang Yu was deep in thought. "How is that possible?" he wondered.
"Maybe because we are the same person?" Li Yao suddenly spoke.
"What?" both Xiang Yu and the Empress asked at the same time.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I am the new Human Empress and she was also the Human Empress. Senior Brother wants me to conquer the world for him, the world belongs to the Human Empress, the Human Empress belongs to Senior Brother. See?" she said, looking smugly.
They looked at her for some time before the Empress turned to meet Xiang Yu’s gaze. "So anyway... I think it’s because our souls are connected," she began.
Xiang Yu held his chin in thought. According to the string of fate, they’d always remember each other no matter what. If the Empress and Li Yao have a soul connection, then this would mean that the portion of Li Yao inside the Empress would awaken these memories, causing them to flow into the Empress.
"When I received the memories, I didn’t think about them much. Although the intense emotions sometimes interfered with my thinking, it was generally fine," she began.
"Intense emotions?" he asked.
"It’s not important," she said. "Anyway, since I’ve always been with Li Yao, I understand her and I’ve pretty much seen it all so it didn’t corrupt me," she explained. "But what if there was someone else who didn’t understand?" she began.
"You mean..."
...
"That’s right, the Sage," the Empress said.
Xiang Yu thought it was possible. After all, looking at the Sage’s stats, she had the name Li Yao so it was hard to dismiss the possibility of them having a connection.
"The Sage seems to also have some soul connection with the two of us. If that’s the case, then the memories and emotions probably also flowed into her. With Li Yao’s extreme nature and emotions, she probably didn’t even stand a chance," the Empress said.
Xiang Yu nodded. With Li Yao’s nature, he doubted even someone like the Original Flame could withstand it.
"So the Sage is done for?" he asked.
"Yeah, but now we have a copy of Li Yao with Sage level power," the Empress spoke with a serious expression.
Xiang Yu’s expression also stiffened. "This is really bad," he thought. He remembered the scene he had seen from the future. "Is this really the end?" he wondered aloud.
The Empress glanced to the side at the clueless Li Yao playing with her food.
She wondered how such a harmless looking kid could be so dangerous. Even she was just barely managing to resist being taken over. She felt the thoughts she received from Li Yao - she had such insane thoughts at such a young age.
Currently, she was just being contained by her weakness. In reality, she was just a walking nuke. But now, there was a copy of that nuke with the power to act on said thoughts.
"Maybe not yet," she spoke up.
"Did you think of something?" Xiang Yu asked excitedly.
"You said she’s outside the world right?" the Empress asked.
Xiang Yu nodded.
"Then why isn’t she coming in yet?" she asked.
"Ah, the Heavenly Dao restriction," Xiang Yu realized. He thought to himself that according to the Beast God, the stronger the person, the stronger the resistance from the Heavenly Dao. Maybe this could protect them.
As he thought of this, he remembered something. "Actually, it might not work," he said.
"What? How so?" she asked, thinking to herself that the law of Heavenly Way was absolute.
"She has the law of Heavenly Way," Xiang Yu said.
The Empress froze. "Ah. I see. Well, GG," she said.
"It was a good run," Xiang Yu said, sighing in resignation.
He summoned a glass and poured himself some wine.
But just as they were about to give up on the run, the Empress remembered something. "Wait, even if she has the law of Heavenly Way, she still can’t open it so easily."
The Empress turned towards Li Yao. She held her hand, instantly causing her to enter her Heavenly Dao form. Li Yao was surprised by this, looking at herself.
The Empress then looked at her with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "You create this mess so you solve it," she said. "Try accessing the Heavenly Dao protection from inside and tell us how long it’ll last."