Chapter 97: Rapid Breakthroughs

After confirming the food was working for Elder Guo, everyone finally allowed themselves to indulge. The tension that had gripped them dissolved, replaced by the simple pleasure of enjoying an extraordinary meal.

Elder Huang eagerly scooped up a generous spoonful, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed this,” she declared. “It’s been exactly one hundred hours, fifty minutes, and twenty seconds since I last had Xiang Yu’s cooking. If not for my high mind level, I would have gone into withdrawal and suffered qi deviation.”

When the first morsel touched her tongue, she froze. She had expected improvement, certainly, but this? This was an entirely different realm of culinary mastery. The flavors cascaded through her senses like a waterfall of pure spiritual energy. She wanted to ask how he had achieved such profound advancement in his cooking, but her hand moved with a will of its own, continuously delivering more food to her eager mouth.

A warm sensation spread throughout her body as the spiritual energy permeated her meridians. This wasn’t the gentle enhancement she had experienced before—this was a substantial, powerful surge. Her core swelled with qi, expanding noticeably as it filled to capacity and then pushed beyond its former boundaries. In one breathtaking moment, she broke through to the third layer of Core Formation realm.

But Elder Huang didn’t pause to savor this achievement. The food before her demanded her complete attention, and she continued eating with single-minded focus.

Elder Guo ate in contemplative silence. He could feel his cultivation advancing rapidly—he had already reached the fifth layer of Qi Gathering and stood on the precipice of another breakthrough. His disciple’s cooking was truly remarkable, far exceeding his expectations. He wondered if he had possessed this resource earlier, could he have saved the Sect Master?

Li Yao and the Empress were experiencing their own joyful revelations. Unlike the others, Li Yao’s Heavenly-grade spiritual root, coupled with the Empress’s guidance, allowed her to absorb one hundred percent of the meal’s properties. She had already broken through to the sixth layer of Core Formation, and her core continued to fill rapidly.

[This is good stuff,] the Empress remarked appreciatively within Li Yao’s consciousness. [I’m starting to think that I should have chosen your senior brother instead of you,] she added teasingly.

“Hmph! Do you think you would ever have met him if not for me?” Li Yao retorted as she continued to savor each bite.

For Xiang Yu himself, the experience was less dramatic. He consumed his food, pausing periodically to circulate the absorbed energy before resuming his meal. While the others experienced breakthrough after breakthrough, he simply accumulated power steadily, his medium-grade spiritual root limiting the rate at which he could process the spiritual energy.

When everyone had finally finished eating, Xiang Yu extended his qi sense discreetly, assessing the results of his culinary efforts. Elder Huang had advanced from the second layer of Core Formation to the fourth—an astounding leap that made him a little envious.

This was the stark difference that superior spiritual roots made: she could advance multiple layers in a higher realm while he struggled to reach the halfway point in a much lower realm.

Shifting his attention to his master, Xiang Yu noted with satisfaction that Elder Guo had progressed from a mortal state to the seventh layer of Qi Gathering. It seemed the rumors of his exceptional talent were true—with just a few more quality meals, he would likely rebuild his Foundation, perhaps even today since it was still morning. Xiang Yu still had lunch and dinner to prepare, though perhaps not in such lavish quantities.

Finally, he turned his qi sense toward Li Yao, detecting no cultivation whatsoever. “Hmph, like I would believe that,” he thought skeptically. Just as this thought crossed his mind, their eyes met, and she smiled knowingly at him. Xiang Yu returned the smile, inwardly acknowledging her perceptiveness. “A genius is really different,” he thought. “She felt my qi sense instantly.”

“Martial nephew,” Elder Huang broke the comfortable silence, her gaze sharp with curiosity. “I noticed you circulating your energy earlier. Can you cultivate now?” she asked directly.

“Here it comes,” Xiang Yu thought, but he had already prepared for this inevitable question.

…

“I actually wanted to talk to martial aunt about this,” Xiang Yu spoke.

Li Yao’s eyes widened with shock. “Senior brother can cultivate?” Disbelief colored her voice as she instantly materialized beside him, her movement so swift it appeared like teleportation. Without hesitation, she placed her hand against his chest, brows furrowed in concentration.

She hadn’t sensed any cultivation from him earlier, but perhaps she hadn’t been paying proper attention. Determined to confirm her suspicions, she decided to inject a thin stream of qi into his body to trace its path through his meridians.

[I wouldn’t recommend that,] the Empress cautioned within her mind, but the warning came too late. Li Yao had already sent a pulse of energy into Xiang Yu’s body.

Her expression shifted suddenly from curiosity to confusion. “That’s strange, I can’t sense the qi I sent in anymore,” she murmured, perplexed by the unusual phenomenon. Undeterred, she attempted a second injection of energy, only to gasp in pain as her own qi rebounded forcefully. “Ouch!” she yelped, snatching her hand away as though burned.

Xiang Yu immediately reached for her withdrawn hand, concern etched across his features. “Is everything okay?” he asked, genuine worry in his voice.

“Umm, yeah,” she replied uncertainly, still nursing her tingling fingers. “What was that?” she asked.

[Hey, I told you to stop, but you didn’t listen,] the Empress chided within her consciousness. A resigned sigh followed. [It’s some sort of high-level concealment technique.]

Li Yao’s surprise intensified at this revelation. [Don’t ask me about it because I don’t know either,] the Empress added, catching Li Yao completely off guard.

This unprecedented confession from the Empress—who typically maintained an air of omniscience—left Li Yao deeply unsettled. Usually, the empress would tell her that she couldn’t answer at the moment, never admitting outright that she didn’t know. What could possibly make even the Empress acknowledge that she didn’t know?

“Actually, I managed to cultivate the twenty techniques you gave me and unlock the physique you were talking about,” Xiang Yu continued.

The room fell utterly silent as everyone processed his statement. Elder Huang rose swiftly from her position, excitement overtaking her as she grasped Xiang Yu’s hands in her own.

“Is it true? Is it true?” she asked breathlessly, her eyes shining with fervor. “Show me, show me!” Her voice trembled with barely contained enthusiasm.

Xiang Yu gently extracted his hands from her eager grip, his expression turning serious. “Actually, this is what I wanted to talk to you about,” he began cautiously. “The physique doesn’t seem to be as we had expected.”

Elder Huang’s enthusiasm dimmed slightly, replaced by confusion. “What? It’s not?”

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