Chapter 1333: Insufficient Fuel

The group settled down in a little valley which was sparsely dotted with corruption.

This was the quiet spot which Li Luo and the rest had decided upon. He immediately took out the quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights which he had obtained from the Heavenly Dragon Treasury for 30,000 dragon essences.

This particular glass bottle emitted a dense spiritual light and Li Luo couldn't help but to sigh upon seeing it. This was the first time he would utilize such a grade of spirit liquids and purifying lights in order to temper his resonance. Furthermore it was such a small one and yet the price was capable of even causing a Duke to reconsider buying it.

"If this bottle of quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights is unable to evolve my Woodearth resonance, I'll have to look for Lu Shuanglu." Li Luo pursed his lips. This resonance was now in the upper eighth-grade and could already be considered to be out of reach for most people. However, to Li Luo, it was the one holding him back. He could sense that his three resonant palaces were relatively filled up and bulging and thus he knew he was approaching the limit of which he could bear.

This also meant that he was about to break into the Duke stage as well.

Before that, he had to succeed in evolving his Woodearth resonance. Only then could he have absolute confidence in forging a Ten-Pillar Duke Bergfried and embarking on the Path of Ascension.

There was no other choice. This was too important. If he were to miss out on this opportunity, he would be on the same path as everyone else.

Although the alternative also allowed him to climb to the peak, he was not willing to be left behind by Jiang Qing'e.

After all there would be a day where he would have to establish himself as the head!

This was his hope and ambitions!

With this in mind, he directly opened up the bottle of quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights, imbibing it through his mouth. The dense spiritual light immediately spread throughout his body.

"Quasi ninth-grade but the taste is only average." Li Luo smacked his lips after tasting the spirit liquids and purifying lights. He then quickly closed his eyes and began to refine and absorb the massive amount of spiritual energy that was coursing through his body.

This tempering process took over 6 hours.

When Li Luo opened his eyes, a look of regret could be seen on his face.

As expected, a single bottle of quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights was completely insufficient to evolve his eighth-grade Woodearth resonance to the quasi ninth-grade. However he wasn't disappointed by this fact as he had already expected this in the beginning. Otherwise he wouldn't have stashed this bottle away for so long. He had taken it out now only because the Treasure Domain was becoming increasingly dangerous and he had to speed up his rate of improvement.

That said it wasn't as though he hadn't benefited in any way.

When he had evolved into the Heavenly Dragon resonance, the mysterious Auric Halo had released a burst of pure spiritual energy at the most critical moment. At that point in time, Li Luo had wondered where this energy had been sourced from and had guessed it was the remnant traces and energy of the spirit liquids and purifying lights he had often absorbed. This was then taken in by the Auric Halo and processed, stored away for the right opportunity.

It would gradually purify and also become easier to absorb.

He had finally sensed this happening when absorbing the quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights.

A portion of the unabsorbed energy was directly sucked into the Auric Halo.

He felt happy upon confirming this fact. The spiritual energy purified by the Auric Halo possessed was of a high grade and would serve as the final impetus at a crucial point of resonance evolution.

In fact, Li Luo quickly gathered the remaining spirit liquids and purifying lights that had yet to be absorbed within his body and pushed it towards the Auric Halo. If it could all be purified, then that timely boost would be even more effective.

However it was a pity that what he hoped for did not manifest.

The spiritual energy that could still be absorbed by Li Luo's body was not touched by the Auric Halo.

"What's wrong, why don't you want to eat the good stuff? Why'd you only pick up the scraps and the bits thrown out? That's too pretentious of you..." Li Luo mumbled to his Auric Halo as a hint of dissatisfaction arose within him. That said there was no other choice. This thing was too mysterious and he had no idea how to get it to work. Perhaps he would only be able to start unraveling its mysteries when he reached the Duke stage.

That said, the fact that it could recycle remnant spiritual energy was still a wonderful thing.

Furthermore, in addition to discovering this special effect of the Auric Halo, Li Luo could also sense that his resonant power had improved yet again. Based on his estimations, his Heavenly Resonance Diagram had reached a size of 99,480 feet.

It was another 200 feet of progress but the difficulty of doing so was even greater than increasing it by 20,000 feet in the past.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He then recomposed himself as he stood up, noticing a beautiful figure appearing before him. It was none other than Jiang Qing'e.

"You didn't succeed?" Jiang Qing'e asked.

"Just missed it by a bit. I'm afraid I'd really have to get those two bottles of quasi ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights from Lu Shuanglu." Li Luo helplessly replied.

Jiang Qing'e sighed, "We now have three high-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures. Once we get one more, we can look for her to exchange it."

Although the high-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures were meant to be divided amongst the squad, Li Luo had a greater need for it. Li Foluo probably wouldn't reject him either. At most they would just obtain a few more high-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures later and Li Luo would give up his share.

Li Luo nodded his head.

"Although your resonance hasnt evolved, your resonant power has taken a step forward and has advanced yet again." Jiang Qing'e smiled as she consoled Li Luo.

"I think my resonant power is greater than yours at the Greater Heavenly Resonance stage." Li Luo spoke proudly.

Seeing the pride on his face upon making this comparison, Jiang Qing'e couldn't help but to smirk slightly. That said it was the truth. She had not reached the same peaks which Li Luo had at this point. She had borrowed the aid of the Nine Marks Sacred Heart Lotus and the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm's powers to reach the perfect Heavenly Resonance Diagram and breakthrough into the Duke stage at the same time.

Thus it wasn't wrong to say that Li Luo was stronger than her at a similar point. "We have to take advantage of this opportunity and purify these Foundational Spirit Treasures. If we cannot cleanse the hidden dangers from it, I wouldn't dare to use it." Jiang Qing'e stretched out her slender fingers as the three high-grade Foundational Spirit Treasures could be seen floating above her palm, isolated by her light resonant power.

Li Luo attentively nodded his head.

He then stretched a finger out as he lightly stroked the scarlet bracelet on his wrist with a smile. "Brother Wolf, I've got to trouble you yet again."

If he wanted to properly purify the Foundational Spirit Treasures, he would need the Six-tailed Heavenly Wolf's help.

An annoyed growl sounded out from within the bracelet. Regardless, the dense but ferocious energy surged out like a torrent, entering Li Luo's body.

The two then sat facing each other and began to purify it as they did with the World's End River Meteor.

As they started, Li Foluo, Li Tingyue and the rest watched on curiously.

"Do you really think that there is something wrong with these Foundational Spirit Treasures? Ever since we've started, we've come into contact with quite a few of them but i've never sensed anything strange." Li Tingyue asked.

Li Luo had already explained the situation before this but Li Tingyue remained suspicious.

Li Foluo hesitated briefly as he had not detected anything either. Furthermore Li Tingyue's group had not found any abnormalities after coming into direct contact with these Foundational Spirit Treasures and thus he could not make up his mind.

"Regardless if there is a problem or not, we'll wait for them to purify it and we will soon know the answer. It's always better to be careful."

Li Foluo explained.

Li Tingyue didn't agree immediately but she didn't say anything either, only quietly watching the duo at work. If nothing happened, then they could put these unwarranted worries to rest.

Thus everyone's notice was focused upon the duo who were beginning the process of purification.

Alas as a result, no one noticed that the eyes of the First Grand Commander of the Dragon's Scale Guardians, Wen Xuan, had started turning pitch black.