Xiang Yu turned around to find his master fixing him with a disapproving look.
"Master! Did you succeed?" Xiang Yu asked, deliberately ignoring Elder Guo's previous question.
"Of course I succeeded. Who do you take for?" Elder Guo replied, his chin lifting with pride despite his weakened state.
"As expected of the master," Xiang Yu said with an exaggerated bow.
"Stop trying to change the topic. I heard—" Elder Guo began, but Xiang Yu swiftly cut him off.
"Master, what do you an? You must be growing old if you're hearing things," Xiang Yu said smoothly, guiding his master to sit down.
"You brat! You think—" Elder Guo's retort was interrupted by the sudden arrival of two figures descending from the sky.
Li Yao and Elder Huang landed gracefully together, their robes fluttering gently in the breeze.
"Hmph, forget it," Elder Guo muttered, his deanor shifting subtly at the sight of Elder Huang.
"Senior brother..." both Elder Huang and Li Yao spoke simultaneously. They exchanged awkward glances.
Xiang Yu couldn't suppress a chuckle at the scene unfolding before him.
"Everyone, co and sit. I've just finished cooking," he invited, gesturing toward the table where steaming dishes awaited.
The two won nodded and joined Elder Guo at the table, settling into their seats.
"Senior brother, did you succeed? I was really worried about you," Elder Huang said, her hand reaching toward Elder Guo's stomach.
Elder Guo caught her hand mid-movent, his reflexes still sharp despite his recent ordeal. "What are you doing?" he asked, his tone gruff but not unkind.
A blush crept across Elder Huang's cheeks. "Checking your cultivation," she explained, not eting his eyes.
"Can't you sense it?" Elder Guo challenged, one eyebrow raised.
"Of course I can," she replied quickly, "but how can I be sure sothing didn't go wrong? Just let check." Her hand pushed forward with gentle insistence.
But Elder Guo wasn't to be taken lightly. Even though he had lost his cultivation, his body refining level still surpassed hers, allowing him to easily deflect her advance.
"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, old man," Elder Huang said, spiritual qi beginning to gather around her hand.
Suddenly aware of the silence, she glanced around and noticed Li Yao and Xiang Yu watching them intently. Embarrassnt flooded her face as she quickly withdrew her hand.
"Well, maybe we should eat first," she spoke, composing herself.
Li Yao observed the interaction thoughtfully. Martial Aunt and Master really had a nice relationship, she reflected. Her gaze drifted to Xiang Yu, wondering if they would share such comfortable familiarity when they grew old together.
Xiang Yu caught her staring and returned a confused expression. "What's this girl up to now?" he thought to himself. "Why is she looking at like that? Did I offend her sohow?"
After finishing the al, Li Yao and Elder Huang prepared to return to their duties when Xiang Yu's voice stopped them.
"Senior brother?" Li Yao turned, hope flickering in her eyes that perhaps Xiang Yu was reluctant to part with her.
"Here, take this," he said, extending a spatial ring toward her.
Her expectant expression crumbled into disappointnt. "Hmph, what did I expect?" she thought bitterly, though her voice remained steady. "What is this?" she asked aloud.
"Well, since Martial Aunt gave too many resources, I felt that I should give back to the sect," Xiang Yu explained. "They're just so stuff I made randomly, so they might not be all that useful," he added modestly.
Internally, his thoughts ran contrary to his humble words. "Randomly? Hmph! If you knew how hard I worked for these..."
When Elder Huang heard this, she quickly snatched the spatial ring from Li Yao's hand. "You made these?" she asked incredulously as she opened the ring, causing its contents to spill out onto the ground. Her eyes widened as she surveyed the items. "This... this is..."
…
Elder Huang and the others stared in stunned silence at the items Xiang Yu had claid to make casually. Their expressions shifted from disbelief to awe as they examined each piece carefully.
"You—you actually made these?" Elder Huang spoke in disbelief.
"Yes, is there a problem?" Xiang Yu asked nervously, wondering if he had done sothing wrong.
"No. This is really good. Extrely good," she said emphatically. She started inspecting each item with growing excitent. Analyzing the items with her appraiser profession.
"Sect Master, with these, the sect should be able to recover, no, surpass our previous combat power," she said, so excited that she unconsciously slipped into formal address.
"Is this true?" Li Yao asked, leaning forward to examine the scattered treasures with interest.
"Very true," Elder Huang nodded vigorously, her fingers dancing over the neatly organized pills. "Qi condensation pills, healing pills, qi circulation, strengthening—there are so many of them!" Her voice rose with each category she identified.
Li Yao nodded thoughtfully. It was indeed true that these resources could restore their sect's strength. What the Azure Cloud Sword Sect lacked most were precisely these kinds of resources.
Without a personal alchemist, they had been forced to rely on external suppliers who, sensing the sect's weakened state after the attack, had begun price-gouging them rcilessly. She had been seriously contemplating whether she would need to resort to robbery to secure what they needed. To think her senior brother had already solved this crisis without her knowledge!
When the Empress caught Li Yao's thoughts about considering robbery, she sighed deeply within the spiritual sea. "What have I gotten myself into?" she lanted to herself.
"And that's not all!" Elder Huang continued excitedly, scooping up another batch of items. This ti she displayed an array of carefully inscribed talismans. "These are eighth-grade talismans, all for combat," she explained. "And these formations as well," she added, demonstrating several formation disks with intricate patterns etched into their surfaces.
Her excitent climbed further as she reached for the weapons portion of Xiang Yu's contribution. "And that's not even the best part yet," she declared, lifting a random sword. "Look at this!"
"What's this?" Li Yao tilted her head. Li Yao was inexperienced and couldn't distinguish the weapon quality at a glance so she was confused.
"Ah, this is..." Elder Guo moved with surprising speed, snatching the sword from Elder Huang's grasp. He examined it carefully, his eyes widening as he recognized its true value. "A mid-level magical weapon," he pronounced, disbelief coloring his voice.
Had once dabbled in blacksmithing as a hobby, hoping to forge weapons for the sect. Yet he had never managed to create anything beyond common gear. The idea that Xiang Yu could forge magical weapons after re days of training seed impossible.
"What, a magical weapon?" Even Li Yao couldn't hide her surprise.
For a low-level sect like the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, even most elders didn't possess more than two magical weapons. The Sect Leader had been the only one who owned a spiritual weapon, and it wasn't even a genuine spiritual weapon but a damaged one. Xiang Yu providing so many magical weapons represented a trendous windfall.
Items could dramatically change the outco of battle—just as Xiang Yu himself, rely at Qi Gathering realm, had managed to kill a Core Formation expert through clever use of talismans. With these magical weapons, they could not only arm their forces against the looming threat of the Wuming Cult, but also trade so to acquire other essential resources.
Li Yao's expression suddenly grew solemn, she straightened her posture, assuming the authority of her position as Sect Master.
"Senior brother..." she began, then paused, her tone shifting to sothing more formal. "No! Xiang Yu, from now on, you are the Grand Elder of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect," she declared.
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