Chapter 0651: Li Luo's Climatic Battle with Pei Hao

The golden eagle made of golden sword energy covered half the sky, and formidable might descended upon the individuals below, causing the people of House Luolan to turn pale with fright.

Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage!

No one had expected that Pei Hao's abilities would rise to such a degree.

Although everyone knew that this was temporary power lent to Pei Hao, such semantics no longer mattered during this critical situation.

Pei Hao's expression was apathetic and frosty. Now that he had revealed his card, there was no need to hesitate any longer. He pointed forward, and the eagle manifestation shrieked. All of the energy around it rushed towards Li Luo's position like a tsunami of death.

Wherever the sword energy moved past, the void around it seemed to be sliced apart, leaving behind countless ripples that would gradually dissipate.

Li Luo's expression became grave at this sight. He could feel the overbearing might of the sword energy as it approached him rapidly. It was going to crash right into him in a flash.

The speedy assault caused the audience to feel a sense of tension within their hearts.

Cai Wei couldn't help but to shout, "Young Lord, be careful!"

Bang!

The rumble of thunder could be heard just as the torrent of sword energy was about to collide with Li Luo, potentially turning him into a porcupine, but his body turned slightly illusory. In a blink, he moved tens of meters away!

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The low grade dragon-general resonance art, Thunderbolt Art.

"Ah?" Pei Hao seemed a little surprised, and his expression changed. Had Li Luo just demonstrated a thunder resonant art?

The agility he had demonstrated was greater than that of his sword energy!

However, Pei Hao did not think too much about it. He immediately formed a hand seal and executed a sword chant!

"Middle grade dragon-general resonance art, Soul Extinguishing Sword Energy!"

With a thought, the golden resonant power within Pei Hao soared into the sky before quickly coalescing into a several-meter-long grayish sword right atop his head.

This sword energy didn't look very impressive, being dull in color, but all who set their eyes upon it could instinctively feel the danger it possessed on a spiritual level.

This was because it could not harm the flesh, but one's mind would immediately be obliterated upon being struck. It was a particularly tyrannical art.

Clearly, Pei Hao was no longer holding anything back, bringing to bear all his means to directly extinguish Li Luo's little life.

Weng!

The Soul Extinguishing Sword Energy trembled and vanished into thin air.

Li Luo, on the other hand, could feel the precarious situation he was in as a threatening aura locked onto him. As the sense of peril reached a crescendo, he could feel the hairs on his body standing on end. That was how frightening Pei Hao's attack was.

This caused him to sigh helplessly.

He had originally thought that the Lesser Heavenly Resonance mode would have been sufficient to dispose of Pei Hao, but it seemed that things had once again exceeded his own expectations.

Since that was the case, he couldn't hold back anything in reserve either.

The fact was that the Lesser Heavenly Resonance mode was something he could endure safely. If he were to activate the Greater Heavenly Resonance mode, his body and spirit would undoubtedly be corroded by the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf's demonic strength. If not for Jiang Qing'e's timely intervention during the Holy Grail Meet, he might very possibly have been left unconscious for an indeterminate amount of time after using it!

Now that he had entered the Fiend Palace Tier and had roped in the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf's willing cooperation, the aftereffects would likely be more mild.

His mind raced through countless thoughts before he sighed deeply. He also brought his full strength to bear as he willed the Heavenly Libation Chant within his heart.

"Greater Heavenly Resonance Mode!" With a thought, the scarlet bracelet on his wrist began to resonate with blood-red light, and even greater amounts of majestic and violent energy surged into Li Luo's body. At this moment, he could distinctly feel the pain of his body being unable to bear this energy, slowly tearing apart both flesh and blood.

On the surface, traces of blood began to appear as the vessel himself was unable to accomodate the power that had rushed into him.

Li Luo's eyes had similarly turned scarlet-red and his expression turned sinister.

Tightly grasping the Onyx-Elephant Blade, he hacked down savagely.

Similarly, water resonant power flooded out like a tide, forming a rapidly moving barrier around the blade itself, improving its cutting abilities.

"Thousand Watery Knives Wheel!" The appearance of the wheel caused a shrill, ear-piercing sound to echo through the square. Li Luo lashed out towards the void on his right, and at that very moment, the gray sword energy was knocked out of the void, directly colliding against his strike.

BANG!

Copious amounts of rampaging resonant power burst out from the point of impact, and the bluestone tile square continued to fragment further. The entire audience started to churn in their seats upon seeing this clash, some hurriedly struggling to bolster their own resonant power defenses to stave off the aftermath.

The most startling thing to them was actually Li Luo's conspicuous figure.

Everyone suddenly seemed to realize that the resonant power undulations given off by him had also reached the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage!

House Luolan's strongest ancestor, Xu Tianling, also gloomily stared at Li Luo's silhouette. He had reached a similar stage, but there was an undeniable sense of danger being exuded from him.

He had originally thought the most troublesome factor would be Jiang Qing'e. Alas, who would have expected that thie originally harmless Li Luo would turn out to be the biggest block to their plan.

On the square, Pei Hao grasped his longsword as he stared daggers at Li Luo, his eyes twitching slightly.

"It looks like you're shocked." Li Luo commented. "You might have realized that your vaunted trump card and backer might not provide you the devastating victory you so wished."

Pei Hao darkly retorted in turn, "Your strength is indeed unanticipated. However, you're merely at the Fiend Palace Tier whilst possessing Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage strength. As per your own words, the price you paid must have been significant, no? However, I'm different. I'm already in the Heavenly Pearl Stage, and my body has undergone strenuous tempering in the Fiend Body Tier. Thus, I can resist for a much longer time. But you? Are you capable?"

Li Luo grinned but did not bother to deny it. After all, his own fleshly body was beginning to split apart at its seams, and his situation was a lot worse than Pei Hao's on the surface. Simply put, his body could not withstand the might of the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage as of now.

On the bright side, since he had the Three-tailed Heavenly Wolf's agreement, it had restrained the fiendish energy within the power it lent. Thus, when Li Luo borrowed its power, the savagery and corruption that afflicted him was lessened.

With the addition of his Thunderpeal Avatar, he could improve his body's durability for a short span of time, further compensating for the stress his body was placed under.

"Thunderpeal Avatar!" Li Luo willed within his heart. The lightning forge crackled to life inside him, releasing thunderous booms throughout his body. Wherever the thunder passed over, the resilience of his body would skyrocket.

Li Luo's face blazed with crimson light as a sinister look appeared in his eyes. He took a step forward, his body vanishing as he moved with extreme speed like a lightning bolt. He was heading straight towards Pei Hao.

Pei Hao's expression was frosty as the resonant power within him fluctuated intensely too. He slashed out with his sword, and tens of thousands of illusory golden swords formed, blanketing out the sky before diving towards Li Luo in a concerted strike.

The frightening display of sword energy sucked the breath out of the pavilion masters as they watched this clash of titans, their faces full of horror.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Li Luo, on the other hand, retaliated with the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade in hand, a deadly flourish of blade light left behind in a flurry of attacks, completely shattering the deluge of golden sword energy.

The duo continued to exchange blows like two bolts of lightning colliding. Violent explosions of resonant power were seen with every clash, resulting in deafening booms. In a short span of time, both parties had struck several hundred times, each attack vicious and aimed to kill.

This cruel and brutal fight left the audience dumbstruck, the tense atmosphere leaving all breathless.

No one had ever expected such an intense battle during the Housemeet.

……

In a pavilion outside House Luolan's Headquarters…

A man with a head of fiery red hair, Zhu Qinghuo, was currently watching the battle rage on expressionlessly. After which, he turned to observe several other locations within Xia City which had frightening amounts of resonant power.

The sheer fluctuations of power and the pressure that were emitted had surpassed that of Li Luo and Pei Hao's battle by countless times.

"Duze Yan actually took action to restrict Si Qing..." Zhu Qinghuo's gaze wavered slightly. This was surprising to him as House Duze hated House Luolan as much as House Jiyan.

However, he didn't really care. Those two being tied down would not change the grand scheme of things.

Right now, he just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

Turning to face House Luolan's Headquarters once again, he lightly rapped the table before him. "Shen Jinxiao... this should be enough, right?"

……

In a secret basement room…

Shen Jinxiao was staring indifferently at the half-heart floating above the altar before him. With the aid of a special connection, he was able to observe the critical battle within House Luolan.

"Li Luo truly surprises people. It's no wonder he was able to create so many miracles."

Shen Jinxiao's gaze flickered. Although he was able to use the half-heart as a catalyst to lend power to Pei Hao, the limit was the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage. On the other hand, Li Luo had managed to ascend to the same stage with his own methods, forcing the battle into a stalemate.

In order to disrupt the situation, he would have to deal an even more vicious hand.

At this point, he lightly swiped across the half-heart with his thumb.

The half-heart was cleanly sliced into two, a quarter-heart dropping down into his palm. Shen Jinxiao rubbed the palm of his hand, then the quarter of the heart liquified into a black substance. With the black liquid staining his fingers, he casually swiped, and a new rune was created from it, directly landing upon the remaining quarter of the floating heart.

"It's such a pity, Li Luo. Your enthralling show is about to come to an end. Personally killing a young, prized genius does leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth though..."

In the dark, dank environment, Shen Jinxiao revealed a devious grin.