Chapter 0975: Cooperation

Li Luo, Li Lingjing, and Zhu Dayu flew past numerous halls as they headed towards the center district of the gilded hall.

At this point, the situation in this vast building had begun to turn chaotic.

The strange, black mist continued to spread at a frightening pace with no signs of stopping. Everything seemed to be swallowed up completely as it passed by—even the buildings disappeared without a trace.

Li Luo turned back to look at it from time to time. His gaze had turned solemn. The Soul Eater True Devil had lost its physical body after its fight with Li Lingjing earlier. As a result, it became even more uncontrollable. However, it did not feel as scary as the one they encountered back in the Dark Domain of the Western Region, perhaps due to the restrictive effects of the Spiritual Resonance Cave.

Nonetheless, the situation before them was vastly different. Li Luo had the support of the various banner members back then. With the boost from Harmony, he had the strength to rival foes as strong as Dukes. Now, he did not have allies by his side. He would have to rely solely on his own strength to fend off the Soul Eater True Devil.

This was a truly challenging task. Based on his estimate, the strength of the Soul Eater True Devil must have reached the pinnacle of the Heavenly Pearl Tier even when restricted.

They might not stand a chance against it even if the eight-pearls like Li Lingjing, Qin Ying, and Zhu Zhu worked together.

Li Luo could not help but frown as he thought about all of this. If he had the option, he would rather leave the gilded hall at this very moment. However, that was impossible given that the mist had surrounded the outer regions and completely cut off their escape routes.

At this moment, he turned around to take a look at Li Lingjing, who was following closely behind. Signs of redness had begun to return to her pale face.

Li Luo had utilized numerous recovery resonant arts with his water, wood, and light resonant powers to speed up her recovery.

As he was pondering, Li Luo and the group jumped onto the top of a tall structure. He took a quick glance towards the back and suddenly paused for a moment.

The district behind them had been completely engulfed by the black mist. However, there was a small, untainted region amongst it.

Li Luo could faintly see the outline of a figure in the empty region in the distance.

"Is that... the lantern bearer from before?"

He was surprised. The lantern bearer could be considered the highest ranking and most exceptional character in the entire gilded hall. However, his actions just made him seem like a walking corpse. Even with the black mist engulfing his surroundings, he just stood there without any movement.

While Li Luo tried to come up with a game plan, he sensed movement coming from the front. He looked back up, and a fat figure came rushing towards them.

"Sister Zhu!" Zhu Dayu shouted happily when he saw the incoming person.

It was Zhu Zhu, whom Li Luo had met earlier.

Her body was pretty rotund, which was the signature characteristic of those from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhu. When she landed in front of them, she took a quick look at Zhu Dayu before locking her eyes on Li Luo and Li Lingjing.

"Sister Zhu, they're my friends. We've looked out for each other on our way here," Zhu Dayu said.

Hearing this, Zhu Zhu nodded and revealed a friendly and warm smile towards Li Luo and Li Lingjing. "I would like to thank you for your help, my friends."

Her attention was mainly fixed on Li Lingjing. She had seen her fight outside of the gilded hall earlier, so she was well aware of how strong this lady in front of her truly was.

"Do you know what's happening over there?" Zhu Zhu asked with a serious look on her face. At the same time, her fat fingers pointed towards the black mist in the distance.

She had been collecting Spirit Resonance Golden Dew all this while before she felt the disturbance.

"I think an Other managed to sneak into the Spiritual Resonance Cave," Li Luo explained.

He did not mention anything about the Soul Eater True Devil. After all, this concerned Li Lingjing, and she surely preferred it if others did not know about her history of getting corrupted.

Zhu Zhu was stunned. "How's that possible? There are so many peak experts standing guard outside!" Indeed, the various Heavenly Emperor powers had sent many of their strongest cultivators to stand guard outside the cave. Some of them were even seventh-grade Dukes. They were all the elites within the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent.

Li Luo shrugged in response.

"Sister Zhu, let's move together. This Other is really troublesome. It'll be a headache for anyone to face it alone," Zhu Dayu suggested.

Zhu Zhu hesitated for a moment before she nodded in agreement.

"Let's move towards the main hall for now. We can look for others and work together to deal with it," Li Luo stated as he pointed towards the great hall that was not too far away from them. It was the most majestic looking one that they had come across so far.

The others had no objection, so they made their way towards that direction. At this point, the black mist had caught even more people by surprise. They were all shocked by this strange development. With nowhere else to escape, everyone ended up heading towards the same great hall.

After a few moments, Li Luo and the group arrived.

They noticed that other people had arrived before them, Qin Yi being one of them.

She was the center of attention as usual. With her cute smile and charm, she caught the passionate gazes of everyone in the surroundings. Close by her side was Qin Ying protecting her.

"You guys got here really quickly," Li Luo commented with a smile towards Qin Yi.

Qin Yi responded with a faint smile. She then took a quick look at Li Luo before turning towards Li Lingjing. After taking a quick look, she asked, "Is Lady Li Lingjing injured?"

A smile appeared on Li Lingjing's face as soon as she heard the question. "I had a fight with that Other earlier," she replied.

She chose not to hide everything from Qin Yi. Given Qin Yi's exceptional intelligence, doing so would only raise her suspicion even more. In fact, she had chosen to reveal that the enemy was an Other straight away to draw Qin Yi's attention away from her injuries.

As expected, everyone was shocked as soon as they heard her, even Qin Yi. Ignoring Li Lingjing's weak breath for now, she continued, "Is that really an Other?"

Li Lingjing explained, "It is extremely strong, and even with the restrictions from the Spiritual Resonance Cave, it's not something that we can handle. I fought against it earlier and ended up with these injuries, as you can see."

Qin Ying frowned as he listened. His strength was similar to Li Lingjing's. If Li Lingjing had come out with such bad injuries, he would surely have a tough time against it as well.

"Everyone, we'll need to cooperate if we want to fight against that Other. That way, we may be able to carve a path out of this place even if we cannot eliminate it. Once we make it outside and get word to the experts outside, we'll be able to surround it and kill it," Li Luo told the others.

"Due to the restrictions in the Spiritual Resonance Cave, the Other has been unable to display power above the Heavenly Resonance Tier even though its actual strength is unfathomable.

"However, what's most troublesome now is not the Other. There are also many individuals who have been corrupted by it. If the Other makes use of the corrupted to deplete our stamina, we'll end up in a really precarious situation. Hence, our only choice now is to cooperate and work together."

"Brother Li Luo is right. If we remain divided now, there will be more and more corrupted individuals. If that happens, none of us will be getting out of this alive," Zhu Dayu added.

Qin Yi hesitated for a moment before she replied decisively, "That's right. Cooperating is the most rational choice."

She was well respected and admired by many within the group. As soon as she agreed, the others naturally followed suit.

"Dragon's Head Li Luo."

Qin Yi’s beautiful eyes turned towards Li Luo, then her slender, jade finger pointed towards the golden great hall in the distance. "There are numerous protective wards and runes in that hall. It should be set up for protection. If we're somehow able to enter it, we should be able to get some shelter for the moment."

Hearing this, Li Luo immediately looked over. Indeed, there were many runes glowing around the outside of that great hall.

That was the main hall of the gilded hall. Who knew what secret treasures were hidden over here?

"However, we've been unable to make any progress because of the runic protection. We spent half a day attacking, but were still unable to make our way in. I suggest we focus our efforts, work together, and make an opening in the ward first, so that we can go in to take shelter," Qin Yi suggested. Li Luo took a step forward and carefully placed his hand on the heavy doors of the main hall. As soon as his palm came into contact with it, an enormous force appeared and pushed him away.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Runes glowed on the doors. For a moment, it seemed like they formed the shape of a flame.

As he stared at the flame shape, his eyes narrowed. This looks like... the Acquired Resonance Flame.