Chapter 73: They’re All Gonna Die
Xiang Yu continued circulating his qi. He had to admit that the 5th grade spirit food was really overwhelming, providing so much concentrated qi that it was becoming harder to manage. To be honest, most of the qi was being wasted because his medium grade spiritual root simply couldn’t handle it, but still, it wasn’t a loss for him as he could absorb what he could and slowly refine it.
After refining all the qi circulating within his body, he could finally relax. He let out a deep exhale as he opened his eyes, releasing remnants of qi that dissipated into the air around him.
He looked at the sun and realized that it had just reached noon, meaning it was time to practice his techniques. He didn’t waste time and immediately started practicing the five elements palm techniques, his palms letting out slight glows as he alternated between the elements.
Crimson light flickered from his fire palm, followed by the blue shimmer of water, the earthy brown glow, metallic silver and grey shine, and verdant green of wood. He continued this for some time, his movements growing more fluid with each transition until he suddenly stopped.
His qi sense that was covering the entire pavilion detected someone entering. Xiang Yu was instantly on alert. He could sense that the other person was quite strong, probably just as strong as Wang Wei if not stronger. He wondered what such a powerful cultivator was doing here—could it be that the elder had sent another person to finish the job after the other one failed?
This was really bad. It wasn’t that Xiang Yu was afraid of the intruder; from his battle sense, he could tell that he could win. But he was afraid that if this one was also killed, the elder might send an even stronger one. He frantically considered his options.
Just as he was thinking of this, the intruder had already flown to his location. The man floated above Xiang Yu who was still in his meditative posture, "Is this the person?" the man asked, more to himself, "Well, no matter." He raised his sword, which started emitting a soft blue glow that quickly grew violent and crackled like lightning. He then made a downward slash.
A burst of energy left from his sword, coming down towards Xiang Yu who remained in his position, seemingly unaware. The slash landed on his location and dust and debris rose in a violent cloud. The man observed his work for a moment before slowly descending to the ground. When he landed at the location, confusion crossed his face. "Where did he go?" he asked as he noticed that there was no one where he had hit.
In the next second, he felt an incoming attack from behind. He quickly turned around, blocking the attack. Sparks flew from both swords as they met, but he easily lost out in strength, being thrown several meters back across the ground. He stared at Xiang Yu who was approaching him with his sword raised, "You!" he stammered in shock as he tried to rise from the ground, "It was you, you’re the one who killed Wang Wei."
"Wang Wei? Was that his name?" Xiang Yu spoke coldly.
"It really was you," the man’s eyes widened in realization. He then reached to his pocket, but before he could do anything, Xiang Yu instantly appeared before him.
"No you don’t," he spoke as he sliced the man’s head clean off. Xiang Yu thought to himself that there was no way he would let the man use his trump card.
As he observed the man’s body lying on the ground, he reflected that he had been really nervous. He hadn’t expected the man to actually attack him from the air; he had to wait for him to come to the ground so he could attack. This man didn’t seem as overconfident as the other one, as he instantly tried to use his trump card when he realized that he couldn’t win. If he had realized that when he was still in the air, he would’ve flown away and revealed Xiang Yu’s secret.
He then looked at the body as he wondered what to do now. The elder seemed to have a way of knowing if his subordinates were killed so he was probably going to send an even stronger opponent. Xiang Yu just sighed deeply. He hoped his master and junior sister would return soon; otherwise, he didn’t know what would happen to him.
He then searched the man’s body, looking for anything of value. After searching thoroughly, he found a similar talisman like the one he had gotten from Wang Wei and he kept it. He then found some pills—one of them was a foundation building pill and the others were mostly demonic pills which he instantly burned with his void flame, watching as they turned to ash.
He also found some martial arts manuals, but they were mostly demonic techniques which he had no interest in cultivating. After getting rid of the demonic techniques, he was left with a single manual: [High-grade Lightning Strike]. After inspecting it, it seemed to be a sword technique combined with some footwork that used lightning to deal fast and deadly strikes. It appeared to be the technique the man had used to attack him.
...
Outside the heaven testing pagoda,
Elder Mei Zhiyuan’s expression suddenly turned sour, squeezing the glass he was holding until it shattered. He was sweating greatly, his face covered in disbelief and fury. How was that possible? The person he had sent had died. It hadn’t even been that long since he sent him—how did he fall so fast? He wondered if there really was some sort of protective formation guarding the pavilion that he had overlooked.
The other cultivators nearby seemed to notice his strange mood. Their curious glances forced him to straighten himself and calm down, wiping away the cold sweat that had formed on his brow.
"Do you think the elder is jealous of Li Yao?" whispered one disciple to another.
"Who knows," came the noncommittal reply.
"Well, it’s understandable. Li Yao has just reached the eightieth floor while none of his disciples have even entered the rankings."
The elder heard these whispers but he didn’t say anything. He thought to himself that it seemed he would have to abandon the plan of killing Xiang Yu for now; he didn’t want to lose any more of his men.
He then suddenly had a smile creep across his face as he observed Li Yao’s name rise in the rankings. He thought to himself that it didn’t make much difference if he let Xiang Yu live for a few days. After all, once their mission was complete, everyone was going to die anyway...