Chapter 1084: Defeating Chen Xuan

The sudden addition of two Heavenly Pearls left the crowd dumbstruck and silent. Chen Xuan had just made a breakthrough to bolster his strength, but where ha Li Luo's sudden burst of power come from?

Was this what the Empyrean Chronicle had recorded? That Li Luo's body contained a great spirit beast's power that he could tap upon at will? Wouldn't this be considered an external source of power, something that was prohibited in the evaluation?

A clamor ensued.

At the highest point, Wu Yu and Qing Man, the two vice principals of Heavenly Origin Ancient College, were closely observing the situation. Their calm gazes swept across the battlefield, focusing upon Li Luo.

With their King Stage strength, they could naturally see that the sudden outburst from Li Luo did not come from an external source. Instead, it came from his own body.

"His resonant power contains a trace of source origin energy. This is something that only those at the Heavenly Resonance Tier should have." Vice Principal Qing Man smiled wryly.

"That little brat has a lot of trump cards indeed."

Vice Principal Wu Yu remained emotionless as he glanced at the stands. His indifferent voice resounded in every individual's ears. "Do not disrupt the competition."

Hearing his voice, the crowd ceased their uproar. If the King who was adjudicating the competition had decided not to penalize Li Luo, it meant that this was not some form of external aid.

Did this mean that he had boosted himself with the aid of a secret art?

This left countless people shocked. It was no wonder he had left his mark upon the Empyrean Chronicle. The amount of secret aces he had up his sleeve was beyond comprehension.

......

As the people watching sighed, Chen Xuan felt incomparably frustrated. To his knowledge, the only reason Li Luo had managed to slay Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier opponents was because he had some form of aid. Since he hadn't used his own strength, he had no right to be so arrogant.

"You can use a secret art to boost yourself to the seven-pearl tier?"

Chen Xuan tightly clutched the halberd in his hand. The fact that the referee had not booted Li Luo from the stage implied that this method had come from himself.

However, with his own breakthrough, his own resonant power was constantly strengthening and so was his own confidence in his own abilities.

So what if the opponent had reached the seven-pearl tier? He was at the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, an entire stage above!

Chen Xuan stood in midair as an azure wind blanketed the world around him. The whistling sounds of the wind raged all around before transforming into numerous blades of wind that circled around him. Thanks to his breakthrough, his affinity with the wind elemental worldly natural energy reached its peak.

Li Luo, on the other hand, didn't seem concerned with Chen Xuan's elevated state. He was sensing the invigorated flow of resonant power in his body with a look of satisfaction.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

After his period of cultivation, the five Primordial Golden Seals within his waterlight resonant palace had refined source origin energy of a higher quality. Fusing with it allowed him to reach a level of power that far surpassed what he wielded in the Fiendish Devil Cave.

Li Luo's body surged with majestic amounts of resonant power thanks to his three resonances. The fusion of all three powers gave off an ethereal and inscrutable sort of feeling.

"Triple resonances..." Lu Ming stared at the scene with a complicated look. Li Luo possessing three resonances was already well known, but it could not be compared to seeing it in the flesh. He only had dual resonances in the Holy Grail Meet, so the third one must have formed afterwards.

It was no wonder he had managed to thrive in the inner divine continent, considering how exceptional he was.

Li Luo did not bother with any more frivolous words as the resonant power in his body roared to life. Two strands of resonant power fused to form dual resonance power whilst the land strand wrapped around it, further bolstering its effectiveness.

He then slashed outwards with the Dragon Elephant Blade.

The void split apart, and the sound of rushing water could be heard from the crack. A moment later, an icy, black river flooded out of the void, forming a gigantic wave as a black dragon surfaced from its depths with a roar.

Grand Perfection Realm, Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner!

The black dragon's eyes were full of ferocity and it seemed almost alive. It sucked in a deep breath, ingesting the entirety of the black river into its stomach. At that moment, its claws and scales turned even duskier than before. The Glamor of Corrosion imbued the already sharp claws, and the black dragon seemed incredibly imposing and mighty.

Thanks to Li Luo's augmented resonant power, the Grand Perfection Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner was multiple times stronger than before.

The black dragon shattered the void as its claws imbued with the Glamor of Corrosion shot out like a black cloud looming over Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan pointed with his finger, and the countless azure wind blades that surrounded him flew towards the black dragon.

However, the azure blades disintegrated the moment they collided with the dragon's claws.

"Grand Perfection Duke Art?!" Chen Xuan's gaze turned gloomy. Duke Arts with glamors could only be attained by those who had achieved the realm of Grand Perfection. Li Luo truly possessed some talent.

Chen Xuan formed handseals with a single hand and waved his halberd with the other, summoning up countless azure wind blades.

"Duke Art: Peng's Space Shattering Wing!" Chen Xuan bellowed

One could see the wind blades that previously blanketed the skies condense into a pair of azure wings that were a thousand feet long and seemed to be extraordinarily razor-sharp.

The humongous wings then explosively chopped downwards like two heavenly blades, clashingdirectly with the black dragon.

Whoosh!

The azure wings swept through the void, bringing along majestic gusts and slicing the clouds into clean halves.

It was then that the two horrifyingly potent Duke Arts clashed head-on.

The collision sounded like two hard objects grating against each other. The mountainous forests beneath were turned into ravaged plains and the towering trees splintered into mere twigs.

The group fighting against the Phantasmal Blade Sage College, Lu Ming, and Deng Zhu had to rein in their resonant power to protect themselves against the aftermath of the epic clash amongst titans.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

In the short span of a few breaths, the gigantic black dragon had exchanged hundreds of blows with the azure wings. Each and every skirmish resulted in the manifestations being injured.

The azure wings continued to break down as numerous azure feathers fell and dissipated into motes of light. Similarly, the claws of the black dragon and its scales were being split apart.

Chen Xuan's expression was grave, but then a look of joy surfaced in his eyes. Li Luo's Grand Perfection Duke Art truly was domineering, but Chen Xuan's Duke Art was able to hold on with the aid of his Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier strength. If he could maintain this advantage, he would gain the upper hand.

The breakthrough allowed for his plans to develop flawlessly. Li Luo, on the other hand, was wielding a secret art that couldn't last forever.

Thus, being able to hold on in such a situation would allow him to eventually turn the tables.

Chen Xuan's joy did not go unnoticed by Li Luo's sharp gaze. He couldn't help but smirk at how naive he was.

The next moment, he pointed towards Chen Xuan.

Roar!

The black dragon roared and its maw opened. Icy dragonbreath poured forth towards the wings in a deluge of destruction.

Chen Xuan counterattacked immediately. The azure wings soared upwards and countless azure lights shot out of it, colliding with the dragonbreath.

When the two attacks made contact once again, the dragonbreath easily ripped through the azure lights.

Before Chen Xuan could heave a sigh of relief, he felt the hairs on his back stand on end.

He could sense terrifying energy undulations shrouded by the dragonbreath.

He hurriedly focused his gaze and noticed a hint of blue light in the depths of the dragonbreath. Inside the light was a slightly curved Dragon Fang Sword, silently biding its time. In the next instant, the Dragon Fang Sword slashed outwards together with the dragonbreath.

Whoosh!

The draconic growl of the dragon fused with the hymns of the ringing sword, resulting in a sound that filled the heavens and the earth.

The Dragon Fang Sword was simply too swift, and Chen Xuan could feel a chill in his heart. He willed the azure wings to intercept it, then a massive gust of wind wrapped around his legs, bolstering his speed and hastening his retreat.

A blue sword arced across the skies, leaving a beautiful trail of blue light.

The azure wings were cleaved into two when they attempted to obstruct it, and an unfathomable chasm opened up in the ground in the wake of that slash.

Chen Xuan, in the midst of hastily retreating, was caught by the sword. He felt death loom over him, and he could not fathom how tyrannical the sword energy was.

His eyes were only filled with the light left behind by the sword's energy, which seemed capable of ignoring the distance between them. That was when horror flooded his heart.

Was this sword Li Luo's true killing ace?

It was absolutely terrifying. As his mind spun, Chen Xuan was unable to put up any defenses. The sword energy penetrated all his defenses, passing through him like a hot knife through butter.

A mountaintop behind him began to shift, then it collapsed in the wake of that strike. He felt like he had been struck hard as blood burst out of every orifice on his body. Afterwards, he fell from the sky like a bird with clipped wings.

He landed exactly where the other squads were currently battling.

Crash!

When they saw the bloody Chen Xuan collapse before them, both sides stopped fighting. Their gazes turned towards him.

The Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier Chen Xuan had actually... lost?

At the same time, the crowd's gazes began to change.