Li Yao was humming a cheerful lody to herself as she waited patiently outside the spirit vein’s entrance.
Suddenly, the shimring wall of energy that had been blocking her path began to fade away. When the formation dissolved completely, Li Yao’s face lit up as she eagerly dove forward into the spirit vein.
However, the mont she stepped inside, Li Yao ca to an abrupt halt. Her eyes widened in confusion as she took in the unexpected sight before her. Standing before her was not one, but two identical figures—both looking exactly like her senior brother in every possible detail.
"Senior brother?" she spoke uncertainly, her gaze drifting back and forth between the two identical n. She blinked several tis, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Before she could process what was happening further, both versions of Xiang Yu suddenly raised their arms and pointed directly at each other.
"Junior sister, quick, get him! He’s an imposter!" they both shouted simultaneously.
"Quickly, get him!" they repeated again, both maintaining their accusatory pointing while trying to convince her that the other was fake.
But to both Xiang Yus’ complete surprise, Li Yao didn’t hesitate or show any signs of confusion about which one to choose. Instead, she imdiately jumped forward and wrapped her arms around the hand of the original Xiang Yu. She then turned to look at the clone with sparkling eyes full of excitent.
"Senior brother, you can use cloning techniques! Quick, teach how to do it too!" she spoke with enthusiasm.
Xiang Yu wore a confused expression as he stared down at his junior sister. "Huh? How did you know which one was the real ?" he asked, he had sowhat expected her to be able to tell them apart but he was completely taken aback by how easily she had identified him despite the clone being a perfect physical duplicate.
"Hehe," Li Yao smiled proudly. "Although he kinda slls like senior brother, he still can’t fool ," she said confidently, puffing her chest out with pride.
Xiang Yu’s lips twitched slightly. What sll? The clone lifted its hand and sniffed at itself with a puzzled expression, unable to detect whatever Li Yao had noticed.
"Hehe, aren’t I smart?" Li Yao spoke again, looking up at Xiang Yu with expectant eyes, hoping for praise.
"Umm...well...yeah, very smart," Xiang Yu spoke, gently patting her hair. He had planned to prank her but it seed his junior sister wasn’t easily fooled.
[You...what happened to your soul?] The Empress’s voice suddenly rang out as she materialized between the two. She looked at Xiang Yu with a shocked expression.
As expected of the Empress, she imdiately noticed, Xiang Yu thought to himself.
Xiang Yu’s main soul materialized from his body... He then explained to the Empress what he had done. (rging with the fla)
[You...you are just as crazy as your junior sister,] the Empress spoke after hearing his full explanation.
"So...did I cook, or am I cooked?" Xiang Yu asked.
The Empress held her chin thoughtfully. [Well, it’s hard to say. The creature you saw was probably the original void fla. No need to worry about him—he wouldn’t spare a glance even if the entire world went up in flas, so there’s no need to be scared,] she spoke with a dismissive wave.
Hearing this, Xiang Yu’s expression brightened considerably. Internally, he felt genuinely grateful to the original fla for being so chill and allowing this ignorant junior to live a few more years. When he grew stronger in the future, he would definitely find a way to properly thank the fla.
[But...there are still other problems,] the Empress continued, her tone becoming more serious.
"Other problems?" Xiang Yu asked.
[That’s right. There were people who were interested in the fla before you rged with it. Now that you’ve completed the fusion, they will definitely sense that sothing significant has happened and co to cause trouble,] the Empress explained.
Hearing this, Xiang Yu’s expression hardened.
Noticing the change in his expression, Li Yao, who had been sitting on the shoulders of the elental clone and playing with its hair suddenly jumped down to the ground. "Don’t worry, senior brother! When they co, I will protect you!" she declared firmly, placing her hand over her chest.
Xiang Yu smiled warmly at her declaration. Well, no matter...Even before rging with the fla, he had already heard from the Empress about there being people pursuing it. But he had still chosen to proceed with the fusion despite knowing the risks involved.
If it had been his earlier, more cautious self from when he first arrived in this world, he probably would have been terrified after learning that soone was actively hunting the fla. He likely would have given it up imdiately to avoid any potential conflict. But surprisingly, even knowing the full extent of the risks, he had still chosen to rge with it anyway.
The fla had always helped him deal with ntal demons and resist intimidation. It seed that its influence had been slowly rubbing off on him over ti. Now that he had completely rged with it, that effect had beco even stronger and more pronounced.
Behind his sweet smile, Xiang Yu thought to himself: let them co. He would prepare thoroughly for whatever challenges awaited him.
...
Author’s Corner
"they will definitely sense that sothing significant has happened" not like sensing his location and stuff, just like before when they sensed that it had been refined, now they’ll sense that sothing has happened to it and maybe speed up their plans. I felt the story was slowing down and decided to speed things up a bit.
As for Xiang Yu, no, this doesn’t an that his cautious personality has changed. He’s still extrely cautious, probably even more than before. It’s just that he isn’t as timid as before. I feel like this is the character dev he needed and I’ve been slowly leading up to this. Hope it didn’t co off as abrupt.
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