Chapter 0647: Beat to the Punch

House Luolan's Headquarters, great square.

Under the watchful eyes of the audience, Li Luo lithely vaulted into the middle of the square like a spirited monkey, directly facing off against Pei Hao.

The frenzied beating of drums rang out once again with his arrival.

Yuan Qing, Cai Wei, Lei Zhang, Yan Lingqing, and all those on the side of Li Luo had their expressions turn heavy. They felt worried for him. There was a significant disparity in strength and cultivation between the two.

Although Li Luo's progress had been swift, the chasm between the two was not so easily bridged. Even though Li Luo had entered the Fiend Palace Tier, that was a stage that Pei Hao had reached many years ago!

This battle was not one that was fair to begin with.

However, they knew that this was not a time to quibble over such things. This was a life and death struggle for the position of House Lord, so no one would be concerned about decorum or impartiality at this point in time. These were childish thoughts reserved for the weak.

The good thing, of course, was that Jiang Qing'e could step in.

Even if Li Luo lost to Pei Hao, Jiang Qing'e could still turn the tide. As a result, they all felt that Li Luo's actions were just the start of a show, which restored some degree of relief.

It might be a loss of face if Jiang Qing'e stepped in, but it was still better than letting Pei Hao have the last laugh.

"Young Lord, I'm surprised to see such bravery coming from you." Pei Hao leered at Li Luo, his cocky smile appearing once again.

"You think you've already got the cat in the bag, huh?" Li Luo retorted.

“You have managed to enter the Fiend Palace Tier in the short span of a year, Young Lord. Your cultivation speed truly leaves me in the dust. If you had another two years of time, I would have undoubtedly been surpassed by you. Alas, that is a huge if." Pei Hao shook his head.

Li Luo smiled.

"What? You don't believe me?" Pei Hao's grin became larger. "Li Luo, do you truly think that my strength has stagnated all these years? That I have not made any progress? Since you know how to hide and bide your strength, can I not do the same?" After he finished speaking, Pei Hao executed a single hand seal. His resonant power flooded out from him, causing a tempestuous wind to sweep across all in the square. His resonant power was golden in color and possessed an incomparable sharpness to it. It was as if it was a peerless sword, capable of rending the skies and the earth with but a single swing.

Furthermore, what surprised the audience the most was that they could see two heavenly pearls condensing behind him, frantically sucking in the worldly natural energy around him like a vortex.

Forceful resonant power swept forth from him that caused everyone to feel a sense of pressure.

"Two-Pearl Stage?" Yuan Qing stood up with a steely, green expression. "Pei Hao has already broken into the Heavenly Pearl Stage?" Cai Wei and Yan Lingqing glanced at each other, ugly expressions forming on their faces.

Li Luo and Pei Hao originally had a huge difference in power to begin with. Now the gap had widened considerably, to a point where it was basically impossible to bridge the difference.

The atmosphere around Li Luo's faction had turned somber.

Whereas Pei Hao's side was full of smiles.

When Jiang Qing'e saw this, her clear, golden eyes rippled slightly, but no change of expression could be seen on her fair cheeks. Pei Hao having hid his power wasn't really surprising...

In any case, whether Pei Hao was at the Fiend Finisher Tier or the Heavenly Pearl Stage made not much difference to Li Luo.

During the Holy Grail Meet, Li Luo had managed to crush a Greater Heavenly Disaster Class Other. This demonstrated that his trump card clearly far surpassed the power of the Heavenly Pearl Stage.

On the square, Li Luo looked as though he was taken aback by Pei Hao's sudden explosion of strength. He nodded and said in praise, "Not bad. I actually believed that you hadn't made any progress. That would have been too humiliating for House Luolan, and tongues might’ve waggled. How could someone with such pathetic talent have the right to become the House Lord? Would House Luolan have any future left in that case?"

Pei Hao remained expressionless and did not bicker with Li Luo. He waved his palm, and the golden sword that hung on his ear flew into his grasp. A windstorm formed around it and then it transformed into a longsword that he firmly wielded.

"Time to act, Li Luo. Don't waste my time," he said grimly.

"Well, in this case..."

Li Luo's palm brushed over the scarlet-red bracelet as he said within his heart, "Little Three, carry out the Lesser Heavenly Resonance technique."

A roar of dissatisfaction could be heard from the depths of the bracelet. It was completely annoyed with that nickname.

Regardless of its discontent, a ferocious amount of violent resonant power poured forth. With the usage of the Heavenly Libation Chant, it transformed into a power that Li Luo could control.

On the surface, red runes seemed to have appeared on his body, and his pupils gradually turned scarlet.

After he had broken into the Fiend Palace Tier, the amount of energy his body could contain had also significantly increased. Although the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf's energy still possessed a corrupting effect on his mind, his situation felt much better than the time at the Holy Grail Meet.

"Well then. I won't be courteous."

As he uttered that sentence, he lifted a foot before stepping down.

Bang!

The earth trembled and then Li Luo barrelled out like a crimson light, causing the space around him to shatter from sheer speed. A frightening pressure exuded from his body as he no longer bothered to conceal the extent of his power, which erupted from him and stirred the skies.

This startling development caused everyone's expressions to change!

Including Pei Hao's!

The strength that Li Luo had just demonstrated far exceeded the Heavenly Pearl Stage!

"So it turns out that this was Li Luo's trump card?!" Pei Hao screamed within his heart. Rumble!

As the space around him was torn apart, Li Luo approached Pei Hao like a ghostly figure, too fast and too ephemeral to see. He formed a fist that was shrouded with majestic amounts of blood-red energy, looking like an ancient, feral wolf come to life, snarling with fangs and claws outstretched.

Pei Hao did not hesitate either. With his golden sword in hand, sword light and energy coalesced upon his weapon, eventually condensing into a single lethal sword edge that he hacked down with.

The azurestone tiling of the square was suddenly cut into two.

Bang!

The sword light was extremely tyrannical, possessing a berserk spirit that even seemed to surpass the blood-red energy. The two individuals clashed directly, sword light struggling against blood-red energy. The roles had been reversed as with the help of the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf, Li Luo now possessed Lesser Heavenly Resonance Stage power!

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Pei Hao with his two-pearl Heavenly Pearl Stage cultivation simply could not compare!

BANG!

In just two breaths of time, the golden sword light was forcibly shattered into tens of thousands of fragments, creating countless holes in the ground where they landed.

Pei Hao's expression changed and he attempted to retreat.

However, the blood-red fist manifestation created by Li Luo had not dissipated! It mercilessly crashed onto Pei Hao!

Bang!

Low gasps resounded throughout the square with countless shocked gazes falling upon Pei Hao, who had been sent flying by a single strike. He miserably crashed into the ground, leaving behind a long furrow along the ground before finally being stopped upon a massive collision against a gigantic, stone pillar. The pillar exploded into pieces, burying him in debris.

The entire square fell silent.

Cai Wei, Yan Lingqing, Yuan Qing, and the rest watched with jaws agape, staring at Li Luo.

Was the Housemeet’s final battle over just like this?

……

Just as House Luolan's battle started.

Golden Dragon Bank, Discussion Hall.

Yu Hongxi was currently seated with Lu Qing'er by her side.

As Yu Hongxi surveyed the room calmly, her gaze swept across the table from Ning Que on the right, passing by each figure one after another. After a moment, she lightly tapped the table before her as she coldly questioned, "Where is Elder Han Long?"