The two of them left the courtyard one after the other and found an empty place.
"Do you have to win to leave?" Cao Yi smiled and asked as he looked at Yi Xiaochuan.
"Daoist Priest, are you really willing to help me?" Yi Xiaochuan, who was troubled by his inability to defeat Xiang Yu, was overjoyed at this response.
"Indeed," Cao Yi replied with a smile still on his face.
To fulfill the secondary task of changing Xiang Yu's fate, the most direct way was to find someone to constantly defeat him and deflate his ego. Right now, Yi Xiaochuan was a good candidate.
"Thank you, Daoist Priest!" Yi Xiaochuan clasped his hands in gratitude, recalling that Cao Yi was from the modern era, so he switched to a handshake. But before he could grasp Cao Yi's hand, he remembered that Cao Yi was a Daoist and retracted it.
Unable to help himself, Yi Xiaochuan asked, "Daoist Priest, what exactly do you have in mind to help me gain the strength to defeat Brother Yu in a short time?"
"Do you remember that thousand-year-old zombie?"
"A thousand-year-old zombie?" Yi Xiaochuan's expression changed drastically. He wondered if the Daoist Priest planned to turn him into an undead zombie. While this could allow him to defeat Brother Yu, the cost was too high.
"It's not about turning you into a zombie," Cao Yi quickly realized Yi Xiaochuan's concern and couldn't help but smile.
"Then what is it?" Yi Xiaochuan was confused.
"Talismans," Cao Yi replied with two words.
"Talismans?" Yi Xiaochuan's eyes sparkled with a mix of surprise and confusion.
Cao Yi took down the purple-gold-red gourd from his body, opened the lid, and with a thought, yellow paper, cinnabar, and jadeite floated out with a clear aura.
"This..." Yi Xiaochuan was only slightly surprised.
After so many strange occurrences in recent days, he had become numb to it.
Cao Yi organized the tools he needed, picked up a brush, and said, "This talisman I am about to make is called the Lin Character Talisman, similar to the folk practice of summoning deities."
During this period, Cao Yi had learned several talismans from the first volume of the talisman compendium, including this Lin Character Talisman.
Yi Xiaochuan looked enlightened. He had seen the summoning of deities in many movies, whether to borrow the power of a Patriarch or to summon the strength of animals.
"The 'Lin' in Lin Character Talisman is derived from the nine-character mantra 'Lin Bing Dou Zhe Jie Zhen Lian,' which means that in battle, the troops arrayed before you. The original meaning is about summoning, and here it is broken down into individual characters, meaning to descend..."
Cao Yi began to explain talisman knowledge while concentrating.
"Isn't it 'Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lian, Zai, Qian'?" Yi Xiaochuan mumbled.
"What you mentioned is the mistakenly copied version from when it was introduced to Japan, which is a similar case to 'Lin Bing Dou Zhe Jie Shu Qian.'" Cao Yi explained.
Yi Xiaochuan responded with an "Oh," and didn't say more.
Three minutes passed in silence as Cao Yi prepared. Once he was ready, he began writing.
The Lin Character Talisman was different from the previous talismans; it was very simple, with only one character. To his surprise, he failed on his first attempt.
Despite having drawn countless talismans, Cao Yi was slightly taken aback but didn't dwell on it and continued writing.
Another five minutes later, a beautifully crafted red character for "Lin" appeared on the yellow paper.
"Done," Cao Yi put down his brush.
Yi Xiaochuan glanced at the Lin Character Talisman and asked, "How do I use it? Should I just stick it on myself?"
Cao Yi didn't answer but grabbed the purple-gold-red gourd and with a flick, the icy Yelü Zhigu materialized in the room, causing the temperature to drop several degrees.
Yi Xiaochuan instinctively took several steps back.
He still vividly recalled the scene of that formidable zombie battling Brother Yu.
"Don't worry; with the talisman, she won't harm you," Cao Yi said calmly.
Yi Xiaochuan relaxed and stepped closer.
"This Lin Character Talisman summons her power," Cao Yi said as he moved forward to grasp Yelü Zhigu's hand and affixed the talisman to it.
Yi Xiaochuan approached to take a closer look but was suddenly caught by Cao Yi.
In the next moment, their hands pressed together.
"Help, help..." Yi Xiaochuan shivered from the cold, his delicate brows immediately coated with frost.
"Endure it," Cao Yi pressed Yi Xiaochuan's hand firmly.
Moments later, the Lin Character Talisman exploded with brilliant light, engulfing the entire room.
...
In the courtyard, Xiang Yu was pacing impatiently. He was not a patient person.
When he was young, Xiang Liang taught him to read, but he would stop learning after a while; then Xiang Liang would teach him swordsmanship, but again he would lose interest.
Xiang Liang would get angry and say, "At this rate, you won't amount to anything in the future."
Xiang Yu retorted, "Reading only helps you remember names; learning swordsmanship only helps you deal with one person. If I'm going to learn, I want to learn how to deal with thousands!"
Then Xiang Liang started teaching him military strategy, and Xiang Yu was very happy, but after a while, he stopped again.
"It's been over a quarter of an hour; where is he?"
"Could it be that Yi Xiaochuan is too scared to come?"
"I can't believe I secretly liked him; turns out he's a coward..."
...
Discontented voices erupted from the onlookers.
"Everyone, be quiet!" Xiang Yu shouted, his fierce gaze sweeping over them.
The crowd immediately fell silent.
A few more minutes passed, and Yi Xiaochuan still hadn't arrived.
Xiang Yu began to doubt whether Yi Xiaochuan was too scared to show up.
Suddenly, a loud screech came from a room in the courtyard.
Xiang Yu placed his hand on the sword at his waist, his face filled with confusion.
With a loud crash, a door panel flew toward the ground, scraping violently as it came.
Xiang Yu was the first to react, drawing his treasured sword with a shout, and cleaving the door panel in half.
"Brother Yu!"
With a completely different aura, Yi Xiaochuan swung a massive axe down from above.
"Well done!"
Instead of being surprised, Xiang Yu was delighted, meeting the blow with his sword, which sliced through the air with a sharp whoosh.
With a deafening clash of metal, both retreated; Xiang Yu stepped back six paces, leaving deep footprints of five inches, while Yi Xiaochuan retreated three paces, leaving three to four-inch deep imprints, clearly showcasing the difference in their strengths.
"Xiaochuan, what happened to your strength?"
Xiang Yu, feeling numbness in his arms, was astonished. In just a short while, Xiaochuan had gained such incredible strength; it was unfathomable.
"Brother Yu, my apologies!"
With thoughts of going home filling his mind, Yi Xiaochuan swung the massive axe and charged again, leaving deep impressions in the ground wherever he passed, highlighting the weight of the axe.
"Use everything you've got!"
Xiang Yu, who hadn't had a proper fight last time, charged forward with excitement.
In less than a breath, the two engaged again. Unlike the speed duels of sword masters, their attacks were pure displays of raw strength. Luckily, both of their weapons were forged from meteorites; otherwise, they would have been destroyed long ago.
As time passed, one deep pit after another formed on the ground.
As for the onlookers, they had long since fled.
"Brother Yu, I need to speed up!"
Suddenly, Yi Xiaochuan accelerated. Although his body had been temporarily enhanced by Yelü Zhigu's power, he couldn't withstand prolonged strength contests. He needed to end this quickly.
Xiang Yu immediately felt the pressure mount. After several exchanges, the wounds on his tiger mouth from yesterday's battle with Yelü Zhigu split open, causing him intense pain and slowing his movements.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yi Xiaochuan pressed forward, achieving victory.
"You won," Xiang Yu said in a low voice. This was the first time in his life he had been defeated (excluding zombies).
"Can I go home now?"
As soon as Yi Xiaochuan spoke, darkness enveloped him, and he fainted.