Golden Dragon Mountain, fourth peak.
Lin Suo faced the trio, who were still panting from their close shave with the wasps and the energy barrier.
“You really came…” his voice trailed off on a note of amused disbelief.
“Lin Suo, are you that eager to get the writ? Why not come back to the Xia Kingdom’s Golden Dragon Bank for a holiday with us?” Li Luo invited him warmly.
Lin Suo laughed and shook his head. “Why would I do something suicidal? Do you think I’m as dumb as the three of you? Three Pattern Genesis Tier cultivators chasing me? In the outside world, you would have been dead today.”
“Perhaps not,” Li Luo argued. “What if we made a plea so impa.s.sioned that it touched you and you decided to come back to the Xia Kingdom with us?”
Lin Suo snorted. He clenched his fist, summoning crimson power that burst forth with a wet, rusty smell. “No chance, Li Luo. Not even if your tongue were as silver as your hair. You cannot get the Golden Dragon Qi back from me. And I will get the writ without trouble and fly on to higher stages. Not even Yu Hongxi can do anything to me.
“As for you, you promised Yu Hongxi you’d take good care of Qing’er, but now you’ve dragged her around in the mud. You think you’ll be seen as anything else besides a loud-mouthed sc.u.mbag?”
“You’re the sc.u.m! Drooling down the jaw of a trash-loving mongrel!” Qin Zhulu snapped back at him with surprising eloquence. He was not comfortable with verbal sparring. Sweeping up his heavy, black spear, he sent powerful thrusts of energy torpedoing through the air.
Lin Suo looked at the energy blasts with disinterest. His own blood resonant power adhered to his body with coagulated stickiness. He sent out a few b.l.o.o.d.y palm prints that knocked Qin Zhulu’s attack aside easily.
The difference in resonant power.
Lin Suo was at the Evolving Resonance Tier. Not only was there a difference in resonant power quant.i.ty compared to the Pattern Genesis Tier, there was also a qualitative difference. Evolving Resonance meant that the resonance was even more aligned with the user. For example, Lin Suo’s blood resonance was no longer just raw power, it emulated the special properties of blood, becoming even more corrosive and permeating.
As he continued to grow stronger, his resonance would evolve alongside him. If Qin Zhulu could reach the General Stage with his Snarling Golden Demon Tiger resonance, it would probably take on a more tangible beast shape.
BOOM!
The b.l.o.o.d.y palm prints blasted past his spear torpedos, continuing on towards Qin Zhulu. With a low roar of despair, he prepared to tank them.
But before he did, Lu Qing’er had made her move as well, her palms rapidly icing over to form a sphere of frost that crashed into the palm prints.
Cras.h.!.+
The ice sphere shattered, but it reduced the resonant power of the attack significantly.
Qin Zhulu carefully aimed his spear and skewered the b.l.o.o.d.y-palm attack.
It was like taking on a rhinoceros’ charge. The impact blew Qin Zhulu off his feet, and his entire body was shaken up badly. Luckily, the Blacklight Panoply released a ring of black light that negated the rest of the resonant power.
While Qin Zhulu and Lu Qing’er were dealing with the attack, Li Luo had attacked from the right side as well, his twin swords slas.h.i.+ng out.
Ding!
Lin Suo’s blood resonant power seemed to harden around him, blocking the swords easily. “You cannot even begin to imagine the difference between us.” He laughed loudly.
And then he counterattacked, sending wave after wave of b.l.o.o.d.y energy at Li Luo.
Li Luo scrambled back desperately. The tables were flipped on him now, from attacker to defender. He had to block each wave of energy with all his strength, and still it shook him from head to toe.
Just like Lin Suo had said—an unimaginable difference.
Li Luo took cover behind a cl.u.s.ter of large trees. Charging his palm with leafy-green power, he sank it into one of the trees.
Rustle!
The trees seemed to spring to life, sending snake-like vines twisting out towards Lin Suo. He did not seem concerned in the slightest, his blood resonance leaping to meet them and rotting them all away to nothing.
Swis.h.!.+
With a flash of red light, he appeared before Li Luo, and his truncheon came cras.h.i.+ng down.
It moved through the air with a dull whistle, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
Clang!
Li Luo blocked it with both his shortswords, but this time the impact was too much to take. His shortswords had finally reached their limit and both broke with a disheartening crack.
But at the same moment, Lin Suo’s eyes widened slightly. The ground under his feet had become extraordinarily soft, almost swampy. He sank in rapidly.
Underneath Li Luo’s feet, water resonant power kept him afloat. He quickly circulated some energy through his numbed arms to get them back up and working again.
“Qing’er!”
Ignoring his wounds, he shouted loudly to her.
She slammed her hands to the ground, charging it with ice resonant power. Instantly, the swamp froze over.
Lin Suo was encased in frozen mud, flash frozen and incapacitated for the moment.
Li Luo did not relent. Using his wood resonant power, he sent more vines out to bind Lin Suo’s arms.
“Qin Zhulu, get him!” he shouted.
Boom!
The ground shook as Qin Zhulu lowered his spear like a lance, gathering resonant power as he charged forward. He was like a knight, except he was not borne by a herbivorous steed. His spear was on track to ram direcctly into Lin Suo’s skull.
Their teamwork was excellent.
Lin Suo was looking fearful now. Li Luo’s well-executed plan had caught him off guard.
“Get… off me!”
His eyes widening as he watched the spear approach, Lin Suo screamed and lashed out madly. The blood seemed to create a boiling layer over his skin that melted the frozen swamp and rotted away the vines. He spat out mouthfuls of blood that bloomed into vortexes of energy between himself and Qin Zhulu.
Pss.h.!.+
Each time Qin Zhulu pa.s.sed through a vortex, his speed reduced significantly, and he felt his body become heavier.
When the spear tip was a few centimeters away from Lin Suo, he could no longer budge.
No matter how hard Qin Zhulu strained, he was completely unable to move forward.
“F*ck!”
Qin Zhulu’s neck muscles strained under the exertion. Finally, he cast his spear aside and leaped on Lin Suo’s face like a wild animal.
Cras.h.!.+
A ferocious fling from Lin Suo sent Qin Zhulu flying. He was on the floor a dozen meters away, covered in wounds.
Lin Suo was also dazed. Qin Zhulu had done his best to tear Lin Suo’s face off, leaving his face b.l.o.o.d.y and teeth loose. He looked equally woeful.
But Lin Suo was angrier than ever now.
He had not imagined that three Pattern Genesis fleas could ever deal such damage to a mighty Third Changing like himself.
Screaming, his resonant power came forth again.
He rose into the air and landed on a tree. Layer after layer of crimson resonant power formed rings around his body, pulsing out with an erratic wildness.
His anger had consumed him, and he was holding nothing back anymore.
Li Luo looked at the enraged Lin Suo charging up with everything he had, and he reached into his own pocket sphere and pulled out the great, white bow made to resemble a hawk with its wings outstretched.
Everything depended on this now…
“Let’s see who will be left standing!”