Chapter 0400: Seven Heavenly Pearls

"Seven heavenly pearls... First Princess has both talent and foundation, for sure."

Everyone, including Li Luo, was very impressed with her display of power.

The Heavenly Dipper General stage was divided into two sub-stages.

Heavenly Pearl stage.

Heavenly Resonance stage.

It was called the Heavenly Pearl stage because one's resonant power would begin to naturally condense into these pearl-shaped forms at the Heavenly Dipper General stage. They were called heavenly pearls because of their magical properties; when resonant power formed these pearls, they became even stronger.

Because heavenly pearls were condensed energy bodies, they reacted crisply to the worldly natural energy around them. In battle, they made one even stronger.

It was said that the Heavenly Pearl stage had nine pearls. This meant that one could technically max out with nine heavenly pearls. However, those that reached that stage were rare. Creating each heavenly pearl not only severely tested one's talent and potential, but also required a ridiculous amount of cultivation resources. That was why most of the Heavenly Pearl stage cultivators chose to aim for the breakthrough to the Heavenly Resonance stage once they reached about five pearls. Only the truly brave would choose the longer path of condensing more heavenly pearls, maximizing their capacity before they chose to make the breakthrough.

Of course, their eventual breakthrough would pay off with both a deeper foundation and power ceiling compared to those who made the breakthrough at five heavenly pearls.

The Heavenly Pearl stage was basically a preparatory stage.

This was also why it was impressive that First Princess had seven heavenly pearls. It was testament to her ambition and drive to go for more.

From the moment she revealed her seven pearls, it signaled the beginning of the battle in earnest.

BOOM!

Worldly energy started to gather naturally around her heavenly pearls, forming a cyclone of worldly natural energy powered by the seven pearls.

The pearls hummed as they gravitated towards each other slowly, until they were touching. The ring of pearls was vibrating with such energy that it were warping the space around it.

First Princess' face was tense with concentration as she bent her fingers slightly, then extended them with a decisive point towards Zhong Nan.

Behind her, the seven heavenly pearls roared forwards, re-entering her body and flowing to her fingertip.

Her fingertip glittered with brilliant green light.

"Luan's Wingstorm."

The scream of the luan filled the skies as a thin thread of green power shot forth. The power of typhoons were contained within that thin thread of power.

Evidently, First Princess had prepared a special move to take down the defensive specialist Zhong Nan.

First Princess' move was enough to put a look of concern on Zhong Nan's face. He took a deep breath and dug deep into his own reserves of resonant power. Behind him, pearls of light began to form as well. There were seven of them as well!

However, the seventh heavenly pearl he produced was noticeably dimmer in brilliance compared to the other six.

He stomped the ground heavily. "Nine-layered Heavenly Stone Barricade!"

Rumble!

The earth opened up obediently with craters, hissing a grayish resonant power upwards like geysers. They formed layer after layer of stonework in front of Zhong Nan, interlocking and reinforcing each other. They were further linked by threads of glowing white power. It made one despair just looking upon it. Whoosh!

The green light lasered the doors, and the overflowing power leveled the trees nearby.

Three stone barricades fell in an instant.

Which left six more.

Still, it was just the beginning. By the time the dust and debris cloud from the first impact dissipated, three more laser beams had flown out to take down a barricade each. With a tremendous rumbling, the last remaining barricades fell soon after, and still there was one last laser beam that punched clear through, zipping towards Zhong Nan's body.

As the green light flashed towards him, Zhong Nan took one heavy step back, his foot smashing into the ground with the weight of a mountain.

He crossed his arms before him, and they glowed with ashy gray power, hardening into ancient rock.

Ping!

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The green light flowed around his arms, pushing him further and further backwards. His legs strained to anchor him, but he was carried away hundreds of meters backwards as they left two narrow furrows in the ground.

Finally Zhong Nan managed to hold his ground. He still showed no signs of panic, and a crack appeared on his forearms, but was quickly patched by his white resonant power.

Gasp!

On the viewing platform, everyone inhaled sharply. To think that Zhong Nan was so sick that he could defend against First Princess' best attack and emerge unharmed.

The great shield of Blue Abyss Sage College was nobody to mess with.

Everyone could tell that Zhong Nan had not made a single offensive move yet. All of his skill was concentrated in defense, and his goal was clear - not to secure a win, but to endure until time was up.

The students' eyes flicked frequently to the brass pot on the viewing platform, in which a half-meter long joss stick was planted firmly. When the joss stick was completely burned, then a draw would be declared.

First Princess did not seem to share the same fears as the spectators. Her eyes were just as steady. She had expected as much - especially because her sources of information extended far beyond what Astral Sage College could provide. When she studied his battle records, she had seen such defensive abilities well recorded.

Still, she had come prepared as well; prepared to test who had the greater endurance.

She was not one to surrender easily.

Eyelids fluttering down in concentration, the green luan figure appeared beneath her feet again, as did the seven heavenly pearls behind her. The pearls entered the green luan figure.

Whish!

The ethereal figure grew more and more solid with each heavenly pearl that entered it, until now it looked like a real green luan ready to take flight.

Overwhelming power threatened.

First Princess stood precisely on the head of the figurine, and then her cherry-red lips moved.

"Secret green luan technique: Luan's Conflagration!"