After getting the Resonant Bubble Art, Li Luo spent all of his remaining time learning it. Efficiency-wise, it seemed to be his best chance of growing stronger quickly.
Fortunately, cultivating the Resonant Bubble Art was not too difficult, especially with Li Luo’s natural apt.i.tude and intuition for resonance arts. In a mere day of experimentation, he had gotten the basics down.
House Luolan, in a room somewhere in a tower.
Li Luo was sitting in the lotus position. He jerked his palm upwards in a lifting motion, and a sapphire-blue pearl appeared on his palm. This was a water jewel, an essential material for the cultivation of the Resonant Bubble Art.
In just two days, Li Luo had wasted hundreds of pieces of this precious material before he finally got the hang of the Resonant Bubble Art. Fortunately, these water jewels were not particularly expensive.
Boom!
Li Luo clenched his fist, shattering the water jewel into dark-blue dust. He breathed hard, inhaling the crystalline dust.
The cool, icy sediment started to move through his body.
Li Luo used his water resonant power to enclose each piece of crystalline dust, then they started to work their magic within him.
Li Luo had done this step countless times in the last two days, and he was practiced enough to do it in his sleep. He closed his eyes and put his hands together, repeating the process yet again.
As time pa.s.sed, his resonant power began to fuse with the crystalline dust, and finally faint bubbles began to emerge within his body.
These bubbles were curious things. They floated around with a swirl of resonant power on their thin membranes, as though ready to pop at any time.
These were the resonant bubbles that the Resonant Bubble Art made.
Four bubbles was currently Li Luo’s limit. From the scroll’s description, the maximum was 12 resonant bubbles.
Li Luo divided them up, sending two each to his waterlight and woodearth resonant palaces.
When they entered, a connection formed. His resonant palaces began to feed a slow drip of power to the bubbles, filling them up.
The resonant bubbles began to change in nature. Two of them were now glowing with a resplendent blue, while the other two were a dull, deep green.
Waterlight and woodearth resonant powers.
Li Luo smiled to himself. Success.
He considered his current state. Four bubbles would probably allow him to become significantly stronger for a moment, but once they broke, the resonant power would quickly dissipate, and not return to his resonance seeds. He would have to use it up quickly.
The Resonant Bubble Art had many drawbacks—wonky power, a cap to the power storage, and even a time limit.
No wonder few people wanted to cultivate it.
Still, there was one advantage for Li Luo that did not apply to anyone else. He had dual resonances, which were able to best utilize the additional resonant power. It made the Resonant Bubble Art much more powerful for him.
Others might not know what to do with that additional bit of power, but Li Luo knew exactly where to put it.
“Whew.”
Li Luo exhaled deeply, turning to the window to watch the rays of sunlight streaming in. Today, everything was complete. Tomorrow, the Golden Dragon Dao Fields would open.
He was quite excited to take on this legendary place.
…
The next day, Li Luo bade farewell to Jiang Qing’e and headed for the Golden Dragon Bank.
The serving girls led him to the inner sanctum, and finally out again to a large courtyard made of an ashy brown-stone.
Some of the huge rocks had been carved into statues.
In the middle, there were other complicated heaps of stone that formed a raised platform.
By the time Li Luo arrived, Yu Hongxi, Ning Que, and other important people of the Golden Dragon Bank were already waiting.
Lu Qing’er waved to Li Luo, while Qin Zhulu stood petrified by her side.
Not far away were Ning Zhao, Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo.
As he approached, Lin Suo smiled at him.
Li Luo smiled back out of reflex, then moved to stand by Lu Qing’er’s side.
“Everyone’s present now,” Yu Hongxi said. “We will activate the transporter and send you all into the Golden Dragon Dao Fields.”
“Remember that you must hold tight to the Golden Dragon Secret Keys you got earlier. When the Green Alioth comes for you in the Dao Fields, none of you will be able to withstand it. The Golden Dragon Secret Keys will help reduce its power by 90%.”
That threat made Li Luo double check his pocket sphere, closing his fingers over the comforting metal key to rea.s.sure himself.
So it was not just proof of entry, but also a talisman.
“But don’t think that the Golden Dragon Secret Key means you can underestimate the Green Alioth. The remaining 10% is still enough to wipe you all out individually,” Yu Hongxi warned them. “If you want to pa.s.s each wave, your entire squad will need to work together. If you reach your limits, the keys will break and release enough energy to send you back. But you will no longer be allowed to enter.”
They all nodded solemnly.
“That is all I have to say. Prepare to enter,” she commanded.
Everyone moved to prepare, and soon the entire courtyard was humming as a portal of energy opened up before them.
The statues also started to glow, then they shot beams of light towards the center.
They formed a large door of energy.
Yu Hongxi watched it with a critical eye, judging its size. When she was satisfied, she turned to the six youngsters and nodded.
They all moved forward and then jumped into the portal together.
Yu Hongxi watched them go. The portal would remain open until all of them returned.
Whether that was with a writ or without, it was out of her hands. Fate would decide.