Chapter 1784: Battle

Li Luo's expression sank as he stood in the sky above Xia City. He could hear the tortured and frightened wails of countless living creatures across the East Divine Continent. This was the might of a Divine Fruit Grand Devil King—with a single action, all of the living creatures were akin to playthings in the palm of its hand.

Nine Snakes had the power to instill terror in all living creatures. It was no wonder the Heavenly Emperors had opted to fight the Shadow World's Grand Devil Kings in the Nobles' Battlefield. If these fearsome beings were to descend on the divine continents, the ensuing slaughter and devastation would be horrifying.

Li Luo focused fully on the seated Grand Devil King. He had not directly taken action, as he could sense that his foe was in some sort of strange state, hovering between reality and illusion. Even if he made a move now, he wouldn't be able to break the Nine Snakes Curse. Their methods of battling were completely different from each other. Since he could not resolve the curse, Nine Snakes clearly had the advantage in this confrontation.

If the living creatures of the East Divine Continent continued to die, the Immemorial World Divine Devil Trapping Formation core in this location would also collapse, which would affect the overall war. Thus, Li Luo's top priority was to break the curse.

His gaze swept across the land like a radiant sun. A moment later, the Absolute Resonance Halo rumbled and dazzling, sacred light rushed out—Light Authority!

Every corner of the entire East Divine Continent was illuminated by the descending light. It possessed incredible purification powers and enveloped all of the living creatures affected by the curse. It cleansed the living, and the eerie blood snakes were forced to emerge from the people's flesh.

The blood snakes began to melt, but after a few short moments, new ones formed within the bodies of the living. Moreover, they had gained some form of resistance towards the Light Authority, so its purification effects were very quickly nullified. The curse's incredible potential to adapt left Zhen Linshuang at a loss as chills ran down her spine. The Nine Snakes Curse was simply too frightening.

"Did you truly believe that a bit of Light Authority would be sufficient to deal with my Divine Fruit Authority?" asked Nine Snakes, smirking.

Li Luo was expressionless as he flicked his finger. Greater Void Resonance Flames poured out of the cauldron in the middle of his Absolute Resonance Halo. The flames fell from the sky and wrapped themselves around all of the living creatures like coats. Since he couldn't purify the curse, he would attempt to baptize and cleanse it with flames!

As Li Luo was now a Heavenly Emperor, the Greater Void Resonance Flame had reached a terrifying level. For a moment, the entire East Divine Continent seemed to have been engulfed in flames. Looking from the sky, one could see countless flames lighting up the entire continent.

The Greater Void Resonance Flame enveloped each and every blood snake and began to incinerate them. As the snakes screamed in pain, they immediately dove back into the flesh of their hosts. If the Greater Void Resonance Flame wished to destroy them, they would also have to kill the living creatures along with them!

When Li Luo saw this, his only choice was to abandon this method. He couldn't possibly reduce all of the living creatures who had been affected by the curse to ashes. Otherwise, what was the difference between that and leaving them to die from the curse?

"Hehe... if you don't hurry up, the curse will soon mature," Nine Snakes reminded him, smirking. "Oh look, some of the hosts have started to die."

It pointed outwards, where several blood blisters had appeared across the land. Within the blisters were the countless cursed individuals, wailing in utter agony and despair. Blood snakes could be seen writhing around them as they were slowly consumed. However, once the ninth snake emerged from each individual, their cries immediately ceased.

These hosts, regardless of whether they were humans or beasts, seemed to have had all of their life force drained. Their pupils had turned crimson, and after a while, even more blood snakes emerged from their eyes, scattering in every direction. They had turned into spawning hives for the blood snakes.

"How despicable!" exclaimed Zhen Linshuang, her expression steely green. She tightly gripped her halberd and could no longer hold herself back from swinging it at the enemy.

The roar of a Heavenly Dragon filled the East Divine Continent, and the sky fractured under her might. Overbearing Heavenly Dragon Authority shattered the void before smashing towards Nine Snakes.

Alas, the Heavenly Dragon Authority seemed to have struck thin air, passing right through Nine Snakes without hurting it in the slightest.

Nine Snakes completely ignored her as it guffawed, "Li Luo, it looks like you won't be able to protect this continent."

"Li Luo, what are you going to do?" asked Zhen Linshuang, anxious upon seeing that her attack had completely failed. She had no idea that the Grand Devil Kings would be so fearsome. It had effortlessly made all of the living creatures of the East Divine Continent suffer.

Li Luo did not answer. The countless living creatures afflicted by the Nine Snakes Curse were reflected in his eyes. He could see each and everyone of them being consumed by the spawned snakes, which continued to multiply. The snakes were all produced by Nine Snakes' Divine Fruit Authority.

All living creatures' flesh and blood were sources of nutrients for the snakes, and there was no way to defend against them or get rid of them. No, there was one alternative. Li Luo formed a single handed seal, and the Absolute Resonance Halo's twelve resonances began to rumble. As the wheel spun, the resonances began to fuse yet again. This time, he made a different supreme ninth-grade resonance—the death resonance!

It represented the Death Authority. The Authority swept outwards, transforming into black motes of light that pierced through space, scattering across the land like flying insects. They then landed on the countless hosts' bodies, tunneling into them as well.

A moment later, the hosts were all shocked to find that their flesh was starting to wither up. They could even sense an aura of death within their bodies. After a while, their flesh decayed and died. Death was merely moments away.

When their life force was severed, the blood snakes no longer possessed the nutrients they required to reproduce, so they withered up and turned into wisps of smoke that disappeared into thin air.

This was indeed a drastic method, but the Nine Snakes Curse had been resolved. The smile on Nine Snakes' face froze slightly, as it was utterly stunned. It had never expected Li Luo to possess such a mysterious resonance. The Death Authority was capable of instilling the host bodies with death energy, effectively causing their flesh and blood to die. As a result, the curse could no longer propagate.

After coming to terms with this, Nine Snakes mocked, "Even though you've resolved the Nine Snakes Curse, how do you plan to deal with the death energy within the hosts? Death has already taken hold of them, and it's irreversible. Even if you dispel it now, they will die. It looks like your actions were even more vicious than mine."

As Nine Snakes laughed, Li Luo remained silent. At this moment, he activated the Absolute Resonance Halo again, fusing his resonances into the life resonance. With a flick of a finger, life-restoring rain started to fall on the world. Wherever it fell, the death energy within the living would dissipate. Then their withered flesh and blood would regrow with new life, filled with energy.

The living creatures below wept with joy and kneeled in worship. Li Luo's control over life and death was akin to a supreme deity's power over life itself.

Nine Snakes's smile vanished completely as its crimson, serpentine eyes flickered maliciously. "You used the power of death to sever the hosts' life force. This caused the curse to lose its sustenance and collapse. After which, you used the power of life to restore everyone's life force. Life and death... that is a resonance that has never been seen before. How interesting. It is no wonder you dare to challenge me."

Li Luo's expression was also icy. It was fortunate he possessed the lifedeath resonance; otherwise, he would have been forced to helplessly watch the creatures of the East Divine Continent be toyed with by Nine Snakes.

Now that the curse had been nullified, it was time to return the favor. The Absolute Resonance Halo began to spin yet again. Large amounts of Greater Void Resonance Flame poured out of the cauldron, and he stretched his hand out, reaching towards it.

A thunderous rumble echoed across the earth at that moment, then a blade emerged from the mouth of the cauldron and floated into Li Luo's outstretched hand.