Chapter 1284: Two Thousand Guardians. Fourth-grade!

The faces of Zhao Zhuoyan and Zhao Zhu changed upon seeing Lu Shuanglu's sudden intervention. They could easily guess her identity from her clothing.

She was from the Golden Dragon Bank.

Clearly, her authority was exceptional, considering how many she had under her command.

"My friend from the Golden Dragon Bank, are you planning to help the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li?" Zhao Zhuoyan asked.

Lu Shuanglu chuckled. "Don't put words in my mouth. I am not interfering with your affairs. However, many of these rogue cultivators owe the Golden Dragon Bank quite a bit, and I would like to keep them here to clear their debt with us. How's that considered helping the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li?"

Zhao Zhuoyan frowned when he heard this. She was clearly playing with her words here. Besides, he could sense faint but formidable undulations coming from Lu Shuanglu. She possessed both might in quality and numbers, so it would not be wise to make an enemy out of her right now.

Lu Shuanglu did not stop the two of them from attempting to snatch the Sovereign Pearl from Li Luo. Clearly, she wasn't planning to fall out with the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao.

Either way, it was fine. Zhao Zhu and him would be enough to handle Li Luo. After all, Xia Yu had fallen prey to his Hundred Flame Poison and had weakened significantly.

No matter how talented he was, Li Luo was only at the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier. What could he possibly do in front of an overwhelming power advantage?

As such, Zhao Zhuoyan did not bother with Lu Shuanglu any longer. His sharp gaze turned towards Li Luo. "Li Luo, the outcome is clear. You will not be able to get past Black Soul Peak. If you hand over the Sovereign Pearl without any trickery, we can end this peacefully. There is no need to escalate the situation any further. Otherwise... it's often said that swords have no eyes, and you'll only be asking for it if you end up gravely injured."

Li Luo could not be bothered coming up with a reply. He was only concerned about Xia Yu's injuries.

Xia Yu gritted her teeth. "I will hold Zhao Zhuoyan back. Can you handle Zhao Zhu?"

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

A vicious look filled her eyes. "Otherwise, you can pass control of your thousand Guardians to me. I will hold both of them back at all costs. You can make use of this chance and escape!"

They were now in a thorny predicament. She was the only one who could stand up against Zhao Zhuoyan in a normal fight. Unfortunately, she was ultimately weaker than him and had ended up seriously injured in the first clash. In her current state, she wouldn't be able to hold up against Zhao Zhuoyan for long.

Li Luo's eyes flickered. "Without the thousand Guardians, I am afraid I won't be able to make it much further even if I reached Black Soul Peak. I am merely at the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier after all."

Xia Yu pondered for a moment. "But we can't give up just like this," she said bitterly.

Li Luo thought about it for another moment and told her gently, "Grand Commander Xia Yu, why don't you give me control of your thousand Guardians? I'll try to fight them instead."

Xia Yu was startled to hear this. "You want to lead two thousand Guardians? At the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier... This is a different case from the time back in the World's End River Falling Star Terrace. In a battle formation, the power surging through you will be immense! It'll be extremely challenging to control it!"

With the combined strength of two thousand Guardians, he would reach the level of a fourth-grade Duke. It would be an immense amount of resonant power to wield, especially for him. It was like a young child trying to ride on top of a vicious tiger. If he wasn't careful, he would sustain serious injuries.

"We've got to give it a try," Li Luo answered seriously.

The strength of a fourth-grade Duke would truly be the highest amount of resonant power he had controlled to date. This was something that anyone else at his level wouldn’t even think about. However, Li Luo was confident that he would be able to pull it off.

After all, he had controlled the power of the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf when he was at the Earth Fiend Tier. He was familiar with the process and its risks.

Looking at their situation, it was unwise to separate the might of the Thousand Guardians. If Xia Yu forced herself to fight Zhao Zhuoyan now, she would end up gravely injured. The Thousand Guardians under her command would suffer as well. At that time, they would be significantly weaker if they decided to combine their strengths later.

She took a look at Li Luo's serious expression and hesitated for a few moments before she gritted her teeth and replied, "Let's give it a try!"

She gave a light cough and continued, "All Guardians heed my command. You will now be under the command of Fourth Grand Commander Li Luo!"

The thousand Guardians looked at each other in surprise. However, all the years of training had taught them to obey without question. They got into formation, and an enormous amount of resonant power condensed in the air, causing the void to tremble from sheer pressure.

Even Xia Yu had activated her own resonant power to further fuel the formation.

Li Luo firmly held the Grand Commander plaque. A seemingly endless amount of energy rushed into him, and he felt as if an overbearing pressure had descended upon his entire body. His muscles were under so much stress that his veins were bulging.

Without a doubt, this pressure was much more intense than what he had experienced back in the World's End River Falling Star Terrace.

Zhao Zhuoyan and Zhao Zhu were also startled when they saw this. Then they could not help but to laugh at him mockingly.

"What an arrogant fellow. You dare to take in the power of two thousand Guardians while you’re at the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier? Aren't you afraid of your body exploding from the ridiculous amount of energy pervading your body?"

This was out of their expectations, and it seemed that Li Luo was prepared to risk it all, including his life.

On top of the mountain, Lu Shuanglu raised her eyebrows when she saw this scene. With the way Li Luo was messing around, Zhao Zhuoyan and his army wouldn't even need to lift a finger. Li Luo would cause his own downfall when his body failed to support the power coursing through him.

If that happened, everyone would be critically injured by the backflow of energy.

Everyone stared at Li Luo in surprise. Li Luo took a deep breath and activated the True Dragon Pill immediately.

True Dragon Pill: Dragonification!

At the next moment, his body expanded with a loud roar, steadily growing taller and more muscular. At the same time, dragon scales began to surface on his skin and his hands and legs turned into dragon claws.

His grayish-white hair grew and extended behind his back, dancing along with the breeze.

When he entered his dragonoid form, his muscles strengthened considerably. The looming sensation that his body was about to explode subsided rapidly. He had managed to withstand the immense pressure, but Li Luo still felt like the immense power was challenging to control.

The energy felt incredibly heavy and full of inertia, and that it was something he could barely even rouse with his Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier strength. Fortunately, he had come prepared. He focused his mind, and a humming trill could be heard from the mysterious Auric Halo deep within his body. It began to rotate extremely slowly.

An unknown force suddenly appeared and channeled all the energy in Li Luo's body into the Auric Halo.

Then the energy was processed and circulated outwards again.

For some reason, the energy that came out appeared to be much more tame. It was gentle and flowed so smoothly that Li Luo could command it as he wished.

Li Luo's eyes lit up.

It seemed like no matter how unruly any energy was, it would become obedient as long as he processed it by the mysterious Auric Halo.

Based on his estimates, the amount of resonant power provided by the two thousand Guardians was not even worth mentioning. If he could, he would like to experience wielding the full power of the entire Dragon's Fang Guardians and see if the Auric Halo was capable of replicating this feat.

If it could, wouldn't that mean he would be able to experience wielding the power of the Guardian General in advance?

Li Foluo... it was almost time for him to step down!

The smile on Li Luo's face grew wider, and he brandished the Dragon Elephant Blade lightly. The void trembled from the shocking pressure, and an immense force shot out from Li Luo's body.

It was a power that engulfed everything within thousands of miles the moment it appeared.

His strength could rival that of a fourth-grade Duke!

In the same instant, the mocking expressions on Zhao Zhuoyan and Zhao Zhu's faces froze.

Lu Shuanglu's eyes lit up and she watched in disbelief.

Was Li Luo, a Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier cultivator, really handling the power of two thousand Guardians?

This brat was more capable than she had expected.