Chapter 0389: Feather in the Cap

Swoosh!

The piercing arrow from the Lambent Hawkeye torpedoed through the air towards the advanced absinthe puppet.

It was too fast for the eye to track, and even from above, the Violet Vibrance mentors only saw a streak of light. The absinthe puppet fared even worse—the attack had already connected by the time it reacted.

The arrow punched into its right hip.

The defensive vortexes were not fast enough.

An overwhelming injection of light energy sheared its way through the vortexes and armor.

This time, the attack sent the absinthe puppet flying. Its armor was badly damaged now, but it was not completely broken yet.

Green energy held the parts of the armor together like sinew, an organic, reactive defense that would not break.

Li Luo frowned when he saw this. Its defense was frustratingly resilient. Even his full-powered arrow had not managed to penetrate it cleanly.

"One more..." he muttered to himself.

Putting away his bow, he pulled out his shortswords to finish the job. Resonant power surging forth, he sprinted forward.

His blades gleamed.

Lifting them high, he brought them down in a powerful, diagonal slash.

"Thousand Watery Knives Art!"

His attack wobbled out through the air, a graceful arc of water that looked soft and elegant but actually packing deadly power.

The Violet Vibrance mentors shook their heads. It was a powerful attack, beautifully executed, but still not enough to take down the absinthe puppet's armor. And if his best attack could not take it down, the armor would eventually heal itself. Li Luo would run out of firepower.

"Pity, he was so close..." Cao Sheng sighed.

"Hey..." Mi Er suddenly said. "This Thousand Watery Knives Art is much stronger than before."

The Violet Vibrance mentors looked closer. True enough, the water resonant power flowed much faster this time. The speed of the resonant power's flow determined the damage this attack could cause. It was the core of the attack.

With a flow this fast, it was definitely much stronger than before.

Bringing the Thousand Watery Knives Art to this level not only demanded a high level of resonant power, it also required a deep mastery and understanding of the nature of the move. And Li Luo had mastered this move not too long ago!

While the Violet Vibrance mentors were still puzzling it out, Li Luo was sure of himself. His Thousand Watery Knives Art had been strengthened with his light resonant energy, drawing out the best of his waterlight resonance.

This was another advantage of his dual resonances. Any resonance art could be easily modified to become much stronger thanks to his additional elements. Li Luo had not spent the last month of special training idly—he had experimented tirelessly to refine his Thousand Watery Knives Art.

This one should be enough.

Weng!

The attack cut through the advanced absinthe puppet's hip, devastating energy burrowing its way into the gash on the armor.

Li Luo stood easily on the spot, watching the absinthe puppet take step after step towards him.

A few steps later, its halberd slid from its unfeeling fingers, and its entire torso flopped over at the hip, separated cleanly into two.

The absinthe puppet's demise was met with much consternation from all around.

Qin Zhulu could not believe his own eyes. He himself was locked in a tough fight, but Li Luo had already finished up his? Who was the real Evolving Resonance Tier cultivator here?

He stared so hard that his own puppet almost got a free swing through his neck. He hastily turned back to his own fight. He had thought that reaching the Evolving Resonance Tier ahead of Li Luo meant that the gap was closed... but now it looked like a naive thought.

Slightly further away, Xin Fu, Lu Qing'er, Bai Mengmeng, and Yin Yue cheered. Li Luo had broken the fight clean apart, and now things were in their favor.

On the other platform, Wang Hejiu was the first to notice this development, because he had been watching Li Luo closely all this time. He almost tripped over his own feet in surprise, and barely avoided taking an ax to the face.

"Wang Hejiu, what the hell are you doing?!" Duze Beixuan yelled at him. Even though they had the numbers advantage, the absinthe puppet was a deadly foe. There was no room for carelessness.

"Li Luo's beaten an absinthe puppet!" Wang Hejiu shouted back.

Duze Beixuan's dismay was clear on his face. He could not resist looking over. Indeed, one absinthe puppet lay fallen at Li Luo's feet.

"Impossible! He's a Fifth Pattern just like us!" Duze Beixuan snarled. The three of them together could barely hold their own, but Li Luo had beaten one alone?!

That was even faster than Ye Qiuding!

Were dual resonances really that powerful?! Could he really sneer at the usual concepts of cultivation levels and resonance grades?!

"Leader Ye, please hurry it up! Li Luo's already taken the lead!" Wang Hejiu shouted over desperately.

Ye Qiuding was locked in a harrowing battle with the absinthe puppet. He was gaining an advantage, slowly but steadily. With a little more time, his victory was assured.

Wang Hejiu's shout made him anxious, but he was an experienced enough fighter not to make careless, panicky mistakes. He gritted his teeth and did his best to fight faster but with equal prudence.

Still, he could not completely eradicate his nerves. Li Luo's faster win had severely affected his state of mind.

On the other hand, Li Luo did not care about what was happening on their end. After taking down his absinthe puppet, he reassessed the situation and moved towards Qin Zhulu.

Although Qin Zhulu was on the back foot, with Li Luo joining the fight, they should be able to secure a win in record time.

Qin Zhulu heaved a huge sigh of relief when he saw Li Luo hurrying to his rescue.

"Chop chop, no time to waste," Li Luo called out as a reminder. His dual resonances had a time limit to them. In a long fight, he would run out of firepower.

Qin Zhulu answered with a terse nod, ramping up his own resonant power to the maximum. With a tiger's roar, he pounced forward to rip into the absinthe puppet.

The battle was a race against time.

Li Luo and Qin Zhulu's teamwork had been honed in the Golden Dragon Dao Fields. They fell into a familiar rhythm and broke their second absinthe puppet's defenses shortly after Ye Qiuding had taken down his own.

A few minutes later, their second absinthe puppet was down.

They turned to their teammates immediately, before the second body had even hit the floor. Bai Mengmeng and Yin Yue were already injured, and only Xin Fu and Lu Qing'er were still holding on desperately.

They had endured enough. Rescue was here.

Li Luo and Qin Zhulu charged straight in, and immediately the pressure was all but gone. The situation became a lot safer for all of them.

The five Violet Vibrance mentors watched the turn of events with amazement. The outcome seemed pretty clear at this point... Despite the best efforts of Ye Qiuding and Wang Hejiu's squad, they were a step behind.

Shen Jinxiao's wine-sipping had already stopped. He was now watching intently, his wine cup held aloft but forgotten. Cao Sheng and the other Violet Vibrance mentors were watching with surprise but also some amusement. It was indeed an unexpected outcome.

Wang Hejiu had called a Two Star Hall squad to his rescue... and still lost. Once word of this got out... it would be a real feather in the cap for the One Star Hall students.

Li Luo was really a mysterious, little rascal.

The other mentors were a little more reserved, but Chi Chan was openly laughing. One could just imagine how widely she was smiling behind her veil. When the third absinthe puppet on Li Luo's platform fell, she rose to her feet slowly and stretched lazily.

"Mentor Shen Jinxiao, you've really helped out the reputation of the One Star Hall with this brilliant maneuver. Allow me to thank you on behalf of all the One Star Hall students."

Shen Jinxiao's face was like stone, but in his hand, the wine began to bubble and evaporate.