Chapter 1280: Escape with the Pearl!

As soon as Li Luo stepped onto the clam flesh, a deluge of corruption surged towards him. He heard countless strange whispers, trying to fill his heart with negative emotions. Jiang Qing'e's light resonant power had become weaker at the end point of the path, so the corruption began to slowly infiltrate Li Luo's body.

He took in a deep breath before quickly activating the mysterious Auric Halo and Acquired Resonance Flame.

A transparent and wondrous flame arose from the inside of his body. The flame burned strongly, and any corruption that came into contact with it was burned into nothingness at an astonishing speed.

The efficiency of the cleansing was comparable to that of the triple ninth-grade light resonance power coming from Jiang Qing'e. Li Luo couldn't help but marvel in his heart when he saw this. The Acquired Resonance Flame from the Sacred Void Resonance Sect appeared to be specially created to counteract and annihilate corruption.

However, time was tight and he did not have the luxury to think about this any further. Li Luo's eyes locked onto the only spot that was still giving off brilliant light amidst the dense smog. He took out his Dragon Elephant Blade, gathered his resonant power, and hacked downwards fiercely.

Clang!

Sparks flew out and a clang, akin to the clashing of metals, rang out as soon as he struck.

This attack contained Li Luo's full power, but it only left a slight injury on the flesh of the clam. The wound began to close up rapidly as the pitch-black muscles wriggled, quickly restoring any damage that had been left behind.

Li Luo frowned when he saw this. The flesh of the Spirit Clam King was truly durable. Coupled with the overflowing corruption, it only meant that he was in a lot of trouble.

He focused his mind, and the transparent Acquired Resonance Flame surfaced outside his body. It enveloped his Dragon Elephant Blade and he slashed down yet again. This time, things were truly different. With a visibly obvious sign, the pitch-black muscles that were originally wriggling were burnt into oblivion by the flames. The firm and durable flesh of the clam softened up like tofu without the protection of the muscles.

His blade descended in a flash, and in just a short moment, Li Luo had hacked a hole around the source of light.

When revealed to the world, the dazzling light was so blinding that Li Luo had to squint.

However, his hands did not slow down despite the pain in his eyes. He waved his sleeve, and resonant power surged out. It materialized into a giant hand that grabbed onto the brilliant pearl.

Then he pulled it back to him.

A burning heat could be felt in his palm. Li Luo looked closely and saw a round Spirit Pearl in his hand. The Spirit Pearl seemed to be made of gold, emitting scintillating, wondrous light. On its surface were ancient runes that seemed to have formed due to the sheer amount of energy it contained. It even seemed to have a life of its own as it gradually absorbed the worldly natural energy in the surroundings.

It was like a sentient creature.

Li Luo's eyes lit up at this sight. This was a Sovereign Pearl, the treasure that all the upper-grade Dukes outside were fighting for. Not only that, it could be used to forge top-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures!

The World End's River Region was truly a place of bountiful treasures. Although it was dangerous, it was also full of opportunities.

He thus felt much more confident in obtaining a Heavenly Dragon resonance now that he had his hands on this object.

Li Luo put the Sovereign Pearl away. Just as he was about to turn back, he suddenly noticed another bright sparkle in the hole carved out of the clam flesh.

His heart skipped a beat as he stared in disbelief.

“Could there be more than one Sovereign Pearl?!”

Li Luo's heart was thumping as loud as the boom of thunder. He did not hesitate any further and slashed downwards once more. He sliced the flesh apart and saw yet another golden spirit pearl just lying right there.

He grabbed it immediately, filled with exuberance. It was truly another Sovereign Pearl! This Spirit Clam King had actually managed to produce more than one Sovereign Pearl?!

Li Luo quickly stowed it away as he scrutinized the flesh of the clam yet again. A string of greedy thoughts filled his mind. If he continued digging, would he be able to find even more Sovereign Pearls?

However, his body warned him against doing that as a cry originated from within him as soon as he had that thought.

This warning rippled throughout his body, and his avaricious thoughts vanished into thin air immediately. Li Luo broke out in a cold sweat and then regained his calm. The sound earlier had been emitted by the mysterious Auric Halo as a clear warning!

"Too much greed will lead to death..."

Li Luo thought to himself as he took a glance at the ever-present corruption.

It seemed that those notions of greed had been the result of the influence of corruption. Although it was indeed possible that he could locate more Sovereign Pearls, it was even more likely that he would die for overstaying his welcome if he continued to dig away for more treasures.

As such, he took a deep breath and charged outwards with his sword in hand.

He quickly followed along the pathway of light created by Jiang Qing'e and retreated as fast as he could.

As Li Luo was leaving, the Spirit Clam King that appeared to be dying began to shake violently. It let out a sharp cry, and enormous amounts of energy leaked out of its flesh.

Boom!

Suddenly, the Spirit Clam King exploded.

A terrifying wave of energy swept across the field. Li Luo was already retreating at full speed, but he was caught in the aftermath of the blast. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but thanks to this final push, he was flung back towards Jiang Qing'e and the rest.

Deep in his heart, he was really glad that he hadn't stayed there any longer. Otherwise, he would definitely have been caught up in the Spirit Clam King's self-destruction and likely left as a corpse...

The explosion blew away the dense mist of corruption briefly, causing many eyes to turn towards it.

As a result, what they all saw was Li Luo escaping from the Spirit Clam King itself!

"He's taken the Sovereign Pearl!" someone yelled. Although Li Luo had managed to sneak his way over under the cover of corruption earlier, many people were observing the situation carefully. As a result, someone had noticed him.

"What?!"

Zhao Jiyun looked over with cold, frustrated eyes. He couldn't believe it. He had personally experienced how oppressive the corruption was. Even with the support of his three thousand Guardians, he was unable to reach the Spirit Clam King in the end. How had Li Luo done it?

Meanwhile, Li Luo was back at Jiang Qing'e's side in a flash. He did not hesitate to shout, "Let's go!"

With the Sovereign Pearl in their hands now, there was no reason to hang around here any longer. They would only be surrounded and attacked.

Jiang Qing'e reached out and grabbed Li Luo's wrist. Radiant light resonant power burst out and transformed into a pair of light resonant wings. Then a curtain of light wrapped around them and they shot away.

Li Hongyou and the rest followed them in a hurry.

"Where are you going?!"

Li Luo's actions had caught the attention of many others. Even Zhao Jiao, who was attacking the eighth-grade True Devil, looked at him with eyes full of anger. The others might not have noticed, but he had witnessed everything. The Sovereign Pearl had been taken by Li Luo. Alas, he had been bogged down with dealing with the True Devil and was thus unable to take any action.

He wanted to leave this fight and chase after Li Luo immediately.

However, a beam of sharp, fiendish energy shooting through the air halted him in his tracks. A brutal knife chopped downwards and forcefully stopped his pursuit.

Zhao Jiao turned his head and saw Ox Biaobiao wielding his butchering knife. Ox Biaobiao was glaring at him fiercely, his knife filled to the brim with resonant power.

"You damned animal, we have our own games to play. Why're you going after the younglings? Come on, let's see if my knife is sharp enough for you!" Zhao Jiao had no choice but to face Ox Biaobiao head-on.

However, before he was bogged down once again, he shouted, "Zhao Jiyun, chase after Li Luo. He has taken the Sovereign Pearl, so slow him down until our reinforcements arrive!"

The valley devolved into complete chaos as his voice shook the entire area.

"Chase after them!" Zhao Jiyun shouted with a pale face. Then he burst forward and gave chase with his Divine Tiger Guardians.

All the other powers and rogue cultivators also hurried after them.

For a moment, everything was turned upside down.

In a distant corner, the girl named Lu Shuanglu had cupped her hands around her eyes like a pair of binoculars, watching the entertaining events unfold. She couldn't help but laugh as she watched the group miserably escape.

The Sovereign Pearl was a valuable treasure, and many people had set their eyes on it. It would take two whole days before they would be able to reach the region protected by the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li. If Li Luo was planning to charge back like this without a plan, it would be challenging for him to succeed.

Besides, if news of this got out, people from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin and Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhu would probably interfere as well.

It was really hard to tell if Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e would be able to protect the Sovereign Pearl till the very end.

"Li Luo is pretty good at this... Let's see how he wraps things up from here."

She laughed as if gloating at his predicament.