Blub, blub, blub!
The water pressure on top of Li Luo threatened to crush him. It was not just the weight of the water, but the fact that it was being rapidly compressed from above by Lu Cāng.
The threat of death loomed all around him, but Li Luo was at peace.
Because within his waterlight resonant palace, his resonance seed was jumping rapidly like a heart, coming to life now that it was at its limit.
Badump!
The sound filled his ears and his mind.
Lu Cāng’s staff continued downwards. It was only a dozen meters from him now.
The pebbles on the lake bed were jumping and crackling wildly, like popcorn on a pan. They trembled accordingly as the attack bore down from above, turning the lake water black in its wake.
Crack!
Li Luo heard a distinct cracking sound within him. A solid line gradually grew on his waterlight resonance seed, then it split.
Rain fell within his resonant palace, a golden rain warmed by the light of the sun.
The thin, golden threads fell on his resonant palace, a nouris.h.i.+ng blend of light and water that grew and grew until it was a clear lake within.
This was no ordinary lake. It had a mystical resonant power that Li Luo had painstakingly gathered over the course of his entire Pattern Genesis life.
Those who could see within the lake would see a glowing ball of holy light that blended gracefully into the waters of the lake, brightening it with a yellow glow.
Lost in a trance, Li Luo rejoiced.
He had completed his waterlight resonance’s evolution.
At the merest thought, Li Luo summoned a shower of translucent, navy-blue pearls of power. Each one glimmered with a fey light within.
All of them were made with his waterlight resonant power.
It was on a level way beyond what he had been capable of previously.
Li Luo whooped inwardly as he reveled in his newfound power.
His eyes flared open, and he was back, fully aware of his position and situation at the bottom of the lake. There was a new light in his eyes as they flicked up to the attack bearing down upon him. His two resonant palaces roared defiantly, flus.h.i.+ng him with power.
Dual resonance power!
He cooked it within him, building it up within the furnace of his body. More. More. He poured on the power, heating it to new heights.
This burst of dual resonance power was stronger than anything he had ever made before!
Lu Cāng’s eyes narrowed as he sensed Li Luo’s heightened power. There was a new sheen to his power that had not been there before.
There was nothing he could do at this point. He had committed so hard!
“Li Luo, I’ll end you!!” Lu Cāng roared.
Li Luo reacted with composure. Folding his five fingers into a fist, he attacked without any flashy moves. Just raw dual resonance power, exploding from his wrists as two faint halos of light.
Li Luo himself did not know yet, but the two resonances within him had achieved a new level of perfection in their synergy. BOOM!
The surface of the lake exploded with the fury of the attacks in its depths.
Li Luo’s punch crashed straight into Lu Cāng and his staff.
Bang!
Lake water exploded outwards in a crown shape, in a radius of dozens of meters around Li Luo and Lu Cāng.
Lu Cāng’s face changed.
“F*ck!”
He swore fearfully. Li Luo’s punch had been powerful enough to knock the additional sludge power off his green python staff.
“It can’t be!” He was already in his strongest state. Not even an ordinary Fourth Changing cultivator could defend against his attack. Li Luo had his weapons shattered, and he had been sunk to the bottom of the lake. How had Li Luo suddenly produced power that eclipsed his own?!
Bang! Bang!
Li Luo sent another two power punches flying out, cras.h.i.+ng into the green python staff.
Clang! Clang!
The deafening booms churned the lake waters furiously, as though it were a cup being shaken by a giant hand.
Finally, Lu Cāng’s defenses crumbled. Desperately holding on to his green python staff, his palm split apart from the impact and started bleeding freely, the skin rubbed clean off. His fingers were bleeding and broken too. Li Luo’s resonant power smashed into his body.
Swoos.h.!.+
The green python staff fell from his unfeeling, trembling fingers, carried away by the impact of Li Luo’s punch. It sailed through the air.
Lu Cāng wanted to run, but fear and fatigue numbed his movements.
As if he were trapped in slow motion, he could only watch in horror and disbelief as Li Luo easily caught up to him.
“Sorry, I was using you as a whetting stone… but you’re a good whetting stone.” Li Luo laughed happily, then he let loose another solid punch at Lu Cāng’s chest.
It was like a cannon blast.
Lu Cāng roared and gathered all his remaining energy into one final blast. His Twin Python Maledict fueled him with wicked strength, and he met Li Luo’s punch with one of his own.
BOOM!
The fist-on-fist clash was epic to behold.
The audience held their breath.
Swoos.h.!.+
From the bottom of the lake, a blur of green light shot out, piercing through the trees and smas.h.i.+ng straight into a mountain wall.
The dust cleared, and the audience gasped.
It was the green python staff!
Half buried in the mountain wall, and still vibrating from the impact.
What was going on? Why was Lu Cāng’s weapon here?!
On the Blue Abyss Sage College spectator stands, Zhao Huiyin’s smile was wiped clean off her face. She tried to look into the lake, but the water was too murky to see what had happened.
“What is going on down there?!
“Wasn’t Lu Cāng winning? Why would he let go of the green python staff?”
The situation seemed to have changed.
In any case, the ticket match was about to be decided for good.
In whose favor?
Lu Cāng, surely? They had all witnessed his strength. Li Luo had been completely outcla.s.sed.
The silence wore on.
Finally, one person emerged from the water, stepping up carefully onto the lake surface.
He lifted his head, and smiles broke out all across the spectator stands.
It was… Li Luo!
They saw that he was dragging another person along.
Lu Cāng.
Lu Cāng’s eyes were shut, and he looked like he had fainted.
The result was obvious.
Li Luo tottered on the spot, smiling vaguely, his face pale. He looked up at the crowd, which was speechlessly silent.
It was at this moment that an indignant voice yelled out from the One Star Hall stands.
“Hoi, where the f*ck’s the applause?!!”