Chapter 0416: Li Luo's Goal

The crash of the wave was still ringing in their ears, and the quiet drip of lake water off the platforms and trees was barely heard in the stunned silence.

No one had imagined that Lu Cāng would be capable of so much. He had sent Li Luo to the bottom of the lake in one single terrifying attack.

Even the Fourth Changing students were looking amazed.

Clearly, Lu Cāng had been hoping to finish the battle before the joss stick timer ran out.

"The moment Lu Cāng pulled out his Twin Python Malediction, the battle was over one way or another," Zhao Huiyin and the other Blue Abyss students whispered among themselves.

The Twin Python Malediction burned both energy sources within Lu Cāng's body to produce an overwhelming but ephemeral strength. Once Lu Cāng entered that state, the battle had to end.

No opponent at Lu Cāng's level could possibly deal with it.

"Li Luo's dual resonances are superb. He's unlucky he had to fight against the Lu Cang brothers. Their unique birth, their transferrable resonant powers, resonance affinity... one might consider them dual resonances as well. Although the combination is short-lived due to the lack of a resonant palace, it definitely trumps Li Luo's in terms of raw power," Zhao Huiyin said with a satisfied smile.

"The ticket match belongs to the Blue Abyss Sage College for sure." The other Blue Abyss Sage College representatives laughed with relief. Although they had been steamrolled for the most part in the first half, they had made a heroic comeback. Now the smell of victory was in the air.

If they could win here, the reputation of the Blue Abyss Sage College would skyrocket. And with a better reputation would come better students, and the building of a stronger foundation.

Even the top students from Astral Sage like the First Princess and Gong Shenjun showed their surprise. With their powerful sight, they could see just how powerful the attack had been from the penetration depth into the lake.

If even they were shocked by the strength, what about Li Luo, who had to take the hit?

Even the First Princess, with her rock-solid confidence in Li Luo, started to doubt.

All of them had underestimated Lu Cāng.

"Leader!" Bai Mengmeng screamed, her hand flying to her mouth. Her doe-like eyes were wide open in horror.

"F*ck, these Blue Abyss dogs hid their sh*t real deep in the blue abyss!" Yu Lang swore colorfully.

"What strength! If that were me, I'd be completely incapacitated already," Qin Zhulu muttered begrudgingly.

Lu Qing'er remained silent, her hands gripping each other tightly as if in prayer.

She looked over at Jiang Qing'e, whose elegant face was as cool as jade. She was not at all panicked, and this gave Lu Qing'er some comfort. "Senior Jiang," she asked hesitantly, "will Li Luo be fine?"

"Lu Cāng is very strong," Jiang Qing'e said, watching the waves subside. "In any school in the East Divine Continent, he would be considered one of the best. The Blue Abyss Sage College has done well to raise such a freak."

She turned to look at Lu Qing'er. "But strength does not always equate to victory. I do not know what else Li Luo is hiding, but I can sense that he did not try to dodge Lu Cāng's attack. On the contrary, he seemed to welcome the attack..."

Lu Qing'er's jaw dropped. "What are you saying?"

"Just a hunch." Jiang Qing'e shrugged and turned back to the front.

Lu Qing'er was a little irritated, but she did not press. In any case, Jiang Qing'e's words had put her mind at ease somewhat. And all those who knew Li Luo held an irrational belief in him, Jiang Qing'e most of all.

Lu Cāng was strong, but those who had worked with Li Luo before knew that he had a curious tendency to overcome impossible circumstances.

Lu Cāng might have exceeded everyone's expectations, but who was to say that Li Luo had nothing else left in the bag?

...

At the bottom of the lake.

Li Luo relaxed, inert, feeling the weight of the water above him. His arms were hurting like crazy, fresh blood flowing freely out into the water and forming murky, maroon clouds around his shoulders. A foreign resonant power continued to eat away within him.

Lu Cāng's resonant power.

The blow from before had severely injured Li Luo.

His body was in a woeful state, but his expression was surprisingly calm. There was no fear, no panic, and strangely, it was lit with triumph.

He had not had an opponent like this in a long time now.

Lu Cāng was a worthy opponent for him to show his best against.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

He looked up through the sparkling water to see the shadow of Lu Cāng above, homed in on him.

Their eyes met.

Lu Cāng's expression darkened, and he gripped his green python staff tightly. He saw a look of challenge in Li Luo's eyes, as if to say "Come on! Do your best! What else have you got?"

It infuriated him. This guy had been completely pummeled and was still trying to act tough?

There was no coming back from this!

“If you don't want to surrender, I'll beat you until you surrender!”

BOOM!

Again, red and black power flowed out of Lu Cāng, this time with a stickiness to it. It crawled along his body to his hand, finally reaching the green python staff.

The red and black sludge continued to meld with the green python staff. The lake water turned black around it, as though it were being poisoned.

Lu Cāng stomped.

Splash! Roar!

The lake waters parted under his foot, and thick jets of black and red resonant power burrowed downwards, twin pythons of power coiling around his staff.

They were headed straight for Li Luo.

The entire lake was boiling from the power of his attack.

Everyone held their breath, and even the Violet Vibrance mentors were prepared to step in and halt the battle. This attack was way too powerful. If they misjudged the situation, Li Luo might not even survive.

At the bottom of the lake, Li Luo watched the spear-like staff-thrust parting the waters above him, drilling its way down. Under him, the silt bed shook with the impact.

If it hit him, he'd probably die.

This was way stronger than when he faced Lin Suo back at the Golden Dragon Dao Fields!

The prickly fear of imminent death quietened the world around him, heightening his senses in wave after wave of adrenaline-fueled clarity. Clearer and clearer—he had never felt water this cool before, seen it this beautiful before...

And then he was pushed over the tipping point, and all of his senses vanished.

He no longer felt the currents pushing gently against him.

He no longer heard the dull roar of resonant power bearing down on him from above.

Only the steady, dull thump of his heartbeat, telling him he was still alive.

Li Luo smiled to himself. “Yes. This is it.

“The zone.”

He closed his eyes.

He was with his waterlight resonant palace.

Here, his waterlight resonance seed was shining, already saturated with lines of power.

Back during the special training period at Angelwood Hollow, Li Luo had managed to complete the evolution of his woodearth resonance, formally reaching the Evolving Resonance tier. However, it was only a partial evolution. His waterlight resonance had not yet reached that state.

Through his experimentations, Li Luo had finally hit upon a likely theory - his waterlight resonance was far higher in grade compared to his woodearth resonance. That was why it was harder to evolve, and needed a lot more grinding.

Li Luo had thought so at first, but now perhaps there was a way to skip that.

This was Li Luo's true goal.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He wanted to use the pressure from fighting Lu Cāng to complete his waterlight resonance!