Chapter 1033: Escape

The True Devil Other's eyes flickered coldly upon sensing that something was off, immediately shifting its gaze to the turbulent sea of blood below. Following its will, ten gargantuan, crimson pillars emerged from the sea, forming a terrifying ten-fingered blood palm that shot towards Li Luo with massive pressure.

The palm stretched across the sky, leaving only void in its wake.

The True Devil had previously treated the entire situation like a cat playing with mice, believing that nothing could come close to equalling the might of the Duke Stage. Never had it assumed that the situation had veered off the confines of its control.

However, the unexpected had occurred with the arrival of Li Luo.

As such, the Soul Eater True Devil naturally had no interest in dragging the fight out any longer and wanted to wipe out the unforeseen danger as quickly as possible.

Although it did not know how Li Luo could make it feel uneasy, it did not want to dally about and find out.

The sudden action from the True Devil Other alarmed Li Luo, who was still in the midst of battling Li Wuyuan and the others.

"Shoot! I've been discovered!" He grimaced.

The true terror of the Soul Eater True Devil was indeed hard to fathom.

The ten-fingered blood palm hurtled through the air, filling both earth and sky with a dense blood aura. All the space in front of the blood palm appeared to decelerate, with Li Luo beginning to look like a mosquito trapped in a spider's web within.

This move contained unmistakably immeasurable power, too much for Li Luo to even lift a finger against.

"Li Luo!"

Lu Qing'er's and Li Lingjing's comely countenances changed when they saw what was about to happen. They urgently rushed towards Li Luo's location in an effort to provide some aid.

But they were too late. Even though Li Luo had Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier strength thanks to the power of the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf, it was insignificant in the face of a Duke's attack.

At that moment, all they could see was the horrific energy of the blood palm bearing down upon Li Luo, swallowing him whole.

But at the moment when all hope seemed to be lost, Li Luo suddenly sprouted a pair of viridescent wings from his back. With a single flap of the wings, he transformed into an emerald ray of light and moved with unimaginable speed, leaving only a trail of afterimages in the spot where he once was.

The blood palm crashed down, bringing utter destruction to everything below.

But Li Luo reappeared a few thousand feet away in the sky, though he was looking completely disheveled. His clothes were tattered from the shockwave of the blood palm, and his inner qi and blood flow appeared shaken. A thin stream of blood trickled down the side of his lips.

Although he had managed to avoid a fatal blow from a Duke Stage expert, the aftershock of the attack was not easy to bear.

He turned his head to give a quick glance to the pair of green wings behind him. It was the third-grade royal engraving he had received as a reward from the Holy Grail Meet, the Phantasmal Spirit Wing Evasion Art. It had only one purpose, which was to turn its user into a dazzlingly swift beam of light, but it had served this very purpose well. Without it, he would not have been able to escape.

"Oh? A speed attribute Royal Engraving? But how many times can it save you?"

The True Devil Other was a little taken aback when it saw that its move had not hit the mark. Its gaze turned towards Li Luo's other hand. That hand had been hidden by Li Luo's sleeve, but there was nothing left to cover it now that his clothes had been torn.

It was now apparent that Li Luo was holding a slightly oxidized bronze lamp in his left hand. Drops of blood were steadily dripping from Li Luo's fingertips into the lamp while wisps of transparent flames swirled within it.

The lamp constantly emitted a wave that seemed to resonate with the very space they were in. In other words, the Spiritual Resonance Cave itself.

It also seemed as though Li Luo was slowly beginning to resonate with cave as well.

"So that's what's happening."

The Soul Eater True Devil realized that Li Luo was using some sort of mysterious art to activate the bronze lamp, allowing the artifact to synchronize the resonance between himself and the Spiritual Resonance Cave. The more in tune he was with the cave, the less restrictive the suppressive effect on him.

If Li Luo had been allowed to finish what he was doing, he would have been able to break through the limit of the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier and use his power with reckless abandon just like the Other.

But it seemed like the method of activation was not simple, which would explain why Li Luo had been hiding his movements and stalling for time before launching a surprise attack.

"I almost gave you some hope." The True Devil Other coldly chortled behind its cruel gaze. Although it did not think that Li Luo would be able to affect anything by breaking through the restrictions of the Spiritual Resonance Cave, it was not planning to leave anything to chance.

It wanted to see Li Luo and the others wallow in despair.

"Let's see how many more times you can use that Royal Engraving," the Soul Eater True Devil taunted as it waved its hand. Once again, a massive blood palm formed inside the tumultuous sea of blood and rose towards the sky, enveloping the target space in a dense aura. The horrifying energy was so condensed that anyone caught within the area would feel like they were being mired in quicksand.

Li Luo deployed the Phantasmal Spirit Wing Evasion Art without hesitation and turned into a radiant, emerald beam, instantly appearing thousands of feet away. He grasped the bronze lamp tightly despite how deep his wounds were. After all, even though he could speed his way out of the main brunt of the attack, he could not avoid the shockwaves resulting from the bloody aura.

It was truly a strike by a Duke Stage expert, where a light graze would injure and a touch would be fatal.

"Eternal Oak Armor!"

A verdant suit of war armor wrapped around Li Luo's torso. It radiated strong life force, gradually repairing his injuries.

Li Luo's brows furrowed as he stared at the bronze lamp in his hand. This sacrificial method of activating the lamp had been divulged to him by Senior White Ape. However, the method was cumbersome, so he had originally planned to take his time to activate it in secret while he hid amidst his allies. He wanted to fully activate the artifact before dealing with the True Devil other, but he did not expect the enemy to be so quick on the uptake and leave him without sufficient preparation time.

When the Soul Eater True Devil had turned Li Luo's companions into murder puppets for its own entertainment, Li Luo had recognized the blessing in disguise despite his personal feelings, as it would at least allow him to stall for time. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the Soul Eater True Devil's sharpness.

It had actually managed to detect that he was up to something.

"As expected, all are ants in front of Dukes."

Li Luo sighed. If not for the speed of the Phantasmal Spirit Wing Evasion Art, he would already have lost his life to the True Devil other's two blood palms.

"Ouch!"

The crimson bracelet started to vibrate, and a faint wolf cry filled with murderous energy came out. This was the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf acting up.

It could sense the threat of the Soul Eater True Devil and understood the peril that Li Luo was in.

And if Li Luo were to meet his end here, it would not be far behind.

Therefore the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf was on high alert, and a steady stream of violent energy started to pour out of the bracelet. However, the energy could not be utilized by Li Luo whatsoever due to the suppressing effect of the Spiritual Resonance Cave.

"Calm down, wait a little longer!" Li Luo said to the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf in an attempt to pacify it upon sensing its energy leaking out.

Just as he managed to quell the wolf, another wave of destructive energy swept towards Li Luo. Once again, he employed the Phantasmal Spirit Wing Evasion Art to escape the attack, but the royal engraving did not have unlimited uses; he feared that it would soon run out of energy and disappear.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Li Luo had not experienced being in such a pitiful position in a long time, left with no option but to desperately run away.

But there was no helping it against the might of a Duke Stage expert—he simply did not have any means of fighting back, save for maybe the Kingmark on the Gilded Onyx-Elephant Blade. Nonetheless, that was his final trump card, something he could not play without fully understanding the full extent of the True Devil Other's power. If it had a technique to save itself when the Kingmark was used, then it would be game over. While Li Luo was busy evading fatal blows, Li Lingjing, Lu Qing'er, and Qin Yi were aghast. They had not expected the True Devil to attack Li Luo after idling on the sidelines for so long.

Qin Yi's voice traveled to Li Lingjing's and Lu Qing'er's ears. "Li Luo must have some means to deal with the True Devil if it's decided to interfere directly."

"We have to help him!" declared Lu Qing'er.

Li Lingjing's eyes turned a shade darker as her slender fingers tightly grasped her staff. The hostility in her heart bubbled over, and she began to fill with killing intent.

She wanted to aid Li Luo, but she was not a threat to the True Devil at her current level.

She needed to become stronger!

As Li Lingjing glanced over at Qin Yi and Lu Qing'er, her pupils flashed a deep crimson for a moment and a mysterious voice spoke from within the recesses of her mind.

"Eat them and gain more power!"

The color of Li Lingjing's eyes shifted a few times before she took a deep breath, suppressing the unholy emotions from within. At the same time, she clasped a hand over her bosom, in which nestled a jade bottle that sealed the No. 2 Variant Other.

While Li Lingjing was in tumult, Lu Qing'er carefully observed the sea of blood below before saying, "The True Devil Other has been floating above the sea of blood the whole time, never leaving even while it was attacking Li Luo. I'm guessing that its power is somehow tied to it."

"Perhaps the sea of blood is what allows it to ignore the suppression of the Spiritual Resonance Cave."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yi's and Li Lingjing's expressions changed. This inference made a lot of sense.

Qin Yi kept silent for a few breaths before replying, "Even though we know that the sea of blood is the key, we can't do anything about it"

Although each of them had employed different means to greatly increase their strength, they had not exceeded the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier. At this level, it was highly unlikely that any of them had the power to affect the oceanic sea of blood. Lu Qing'er's eyes, which glittered like a frozen lake, were trained on the roiling sea of blood. After a moment, she focused her gaze on Li Luo, who was dashing to and fro for his life. At that moment, she made her decision, and a voice that seemed calm yet contained a raging blizzard rang from behind her clenched teeth. "I'll freeze the sea of blood over!"