Chapter 358: First Encounter
For the next few days, Li Luo, Lu Qing’er and Qin Zhulu continued heading towards the Reservoir. This time they moved faster than they had before. The reason was simple: word that the Golden Dragon Qi was broken had spread, and they were no longer an attractive target. The other squads were happy to leave them alone.
Also, they were no longer stopping every few minutes to pick up treasures or sacrifice spirit beasts that ran over to them and committed suicide at their feet.
All of this made their journey much faster.
However, the trio did not take things easy, instead speeding up the pace and cultivating with a new frenzy. They were all preparing as best as they could for the big battle that was surely on the horizon.
Although it was impossible to catch up in such a short amount of time, every little bit helped. Perhaps they could inch up the chances of a miracle happening. The sun set on another day, the evening reds spreading across the warm sky. It was a breathtaking view, but simultaneously, it was a symbolic reminder of the blood resonance user that was just ahead of them.
Li Luo was sitting with his legs dangling over a piece of elevated ground. He was scouting a patch of forest up ahead, where he heard occasional beastly growls and grunts. Trees shook and occasionally fell over, along with stray blasts of resonant power.
Qin Zhulu and Lu Qing’er were teaming up to kill spirit beasts. It would help them earn some dao-gold, and was also a good form of training.
Li Luo noted their efforts over the last few days. Although both had given him their rea.s.surance that they trusted him, they did not intend to just lie down and hand over the burden in entirety to Li Luo.
He might have worked a miracle against the Heavenly Disaster Cla.s.s Other, but it was hard to believe that he could replicate it. They did not know what he was planning, but as teammates, they had a duty to try and share the burden.
Someone as proud as Qin Zhulu would never consent to being a burden, while Lu Qing’er could not bear to see Li Luo suffer when getting the Golden Dragon Qi back.
After a while, Li Luo had seen enough. He stretched, smiling to himself. He had two very reliable teammates. Still, they were like ants chasing a horse. The gap could not be closed so easily.
Since they could not make up the difference with hard work… then perhaps it was time to cheat.
Li Luo again looked at the red cuff on his wrist. The sinister, red light filled him with dread.
“Heavenly Libation Chant…” he muttered to himself. Ever since he acquired that resonance art from Princ.i.p.al Pang, he had been working on it. However, it was a complex piece of work. Even with his apt.i.tude for resonance arts, this one was a real puzzle. It had taken all of his effort and talent to crack open a modest road into its mastery.
But still, he could not bring the full power of the three-tailed heavenly wolf to bear.
According to the Heavenly Libation Chant, one would firstly need to use the secret art to fashion a Heavenly Libation Mark. This step had frustrated Li Luo for the longest time. He had tried all ways and means, but he had yet to successfully create the mark.
Princ.i.p.al Pang’s secret art was no common manual.
Still, just because it was difficult did not mean he was going to give up. This was his strongest ace after all.
Li Luo put all other thoughts aside, then he stretched out his arm and cut a gash with his sword. Immediately, blood flowed down freely in a steady trickle.
Li Luo did not let the blood drip away. Using his will, he concentrated on the life force within, holding and gathering it. Slowly, he formed a rough imprint of a dark-red mark.
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Although creating the mark did not take a great toll on his resonant power, it instead drained his will and spirit. Just a short attempt was enough to leave him drained. And still the mark was not yet complete.
In fact, his will was not even strong enough to form it fully. The half-finished mark started to quiver, his blood starting to fall away as his will over it weakened.
Li Luo was not surprised by this outcome. He had been foiled here many times before. But this time he did not intend to give up. He knew that he had to try and break through his limits. If not, who knew how long he would take to safely pa.s.s this step without risk?
He did not have so much time to waste.
His eyes were hard and his jaw set. With a heroic wrench, he drew even more blood, forcing himself to finish the last part of the mark.
Weng!
When the last stroke was drawn, Li Luo could feel something click in place and thrum through his entire body.
Whoosh!
He saw a line of blood extend out of the dark-red mark… all the way to the bracelet on his wrist!
He stared at it as the connection firmed up between mark and bracelet.
Suddenly, Li Luo’s consciousness lurched.
His surroundings seemed to change. The mountains disappeared, and darkness stretched on endlessly underneath his feet. Growls and chains clanking could be heard in the darkness ahead, as though some imprisoned beast was struggling to get free.
Three tails writhed and lashed out like large serpents.
The three-tailed heavenly wolf!
It had sensed Li Luo’s presence at this moment, and suddenly the red, demonic beast was launching itself at him with all its might, trying to kill Li Luo.
The giant claws rented the air and came to an abrupt, jerking halt a few meters away from Li Luo, held fast by the limits of the chains.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down his face.
At the same time, its blood-red energy came at him, conducted through the chains to extend across the ground.
The three-tailed heavenly wolf suddenly froze, no longer struggling. There was a wily look in its eyes.
The blood-red power came sweeping across the ground, blanketing it and claiming the darkness.
Li Luo sensed that something was not right. It was as though the wild anger of the wolf had suddenly been condensed and focused into one single purpose. Him.
He felt his vision turning red, and an overwhelming urge to destroy and kill welled within him.
The power of the heavenly wolf!
And with it, the will of the three-tailed heavenly wolf.
“What a beast!”
Li Luo had underestimated the influence of its will on him. He was still too weak. Even with the Heavenly Libation Chant to control the wolf’s power, the corruption of its will was more than he could handle.
Acting decisively in his time of peril, Li Luo smashed the Heavenly Libation Mark on his wrist, breaking it. Both the power and terrible will evaporated from him in an instant.
“Bleurgh!”
The rush of energy leaving him made Li Luo puke blood. It moved so quickly that it made a small vacuum of energy upon its exit, turning some of the rocks around him to powder.
Li Luo wiped the blood away, his head hanging limply as he looked at his b.l.o.o.d.y arm. “So that’s a spirit beast that almost made it to Duke level. A tiny shred of its will, and I almost lost control.”
He heard a rustle nearby, and looked up to see Lu Qing’er and Qin Zhulu hurrying over. They had detected the disturbance in energies.
“Li Luo, are you alright?” Both looked at the wreckage around him.
Li Luo smiled and shook his head. There was still some red in his eyes.
Lu Qing’er came up close and stared closely at his eyes. “There’s something off about you. Is it a cultivation bottleneck?”
She suddenly took off the ice-silk glove on her right hand, then hesitated briefly before placing it in Li Luo’s hand, blushing. A wave of icy resonant power joined them.
Li Luo could feel that the icy coolness was stabilizing him. It calmed him and spread like coolant foam over the embers of madness that smoldered within him. Li Luo found that the need to destroy and kill had faded quickly, and now his heart was as cool as ice.
“That…”
“It’s Crystal Heart, which calms your spirit and helps you remain cool and unaffected by external pressures. I trained this to help when I was in the Umbra Cave. You must have been too anxious in your cultivation, and your resonant power overwhelmed you.”
Li Luo was moved to tears. He clutched tightly at Lu Qing’er’s hand with both of his own.
“Qing’er, you’re a real darling.”
She flushed redder than the evening sky, while Qin Zhulu, who had just arrived, took one look at the mushy scene, swore, then turned and stomped away.