When Li Luo landed on the Stairway to Heaven, the familiar energy blazed forth with a dull roar that made the entire earth tremble.
The air shook and sizzled as the wave energized the very s.p.a.ce it pa.s.sed through.
Li Luo stood on the stairway, watching the incoming attack. It was a little like a diving board—only when you were standing there did you truly feel how scary the endeavor was.
He could feel gooseb.u.mps p.r.i.c.kle as his instincts screamed at him about how dangerous this was.
All across the numerous islands, many students watched intently.
Everyone wanted to know if this new dark-horse addition to the hot favorites was really as strong as the rumors had claimed.
Lu Qing'er, Bai Mengmeng, and the other Astral Sage girls held their breath, clutching each others' hands tightly.
BOOM!
The energy wave was right before Li Luo's face now, and he swept the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade upwards, powered by a tremendous wave of his own resonant power, funneled through his sword arm.
Both his resonant palaces were running at full capacity. He held nothing back.
They merged.
The brilliant power burst forth in resplendent blue and green, backed by a scintillating halo of energy around Li Luo's wrist.
Some of the students gasped.
Even Lu Ming paused to watch with narrowed eyes, her expression now serious. She was all too familiar with that halo. Only a cultivator at the Becoming One stage of dual resonance mastery could use it. Li Luo truly had some skill.
Still, perhaps she should have antic.i.p.ated that. There was no way he could have beaten three commanders otherwise.
Still... Li Luo's power looked odd to her, even as a dual resonance user herself.
There was something off about the flow. It was especially quick.
She had no time to examine it closely. Li Luo had struck out.
His green power flowed into his blue, imbuing it with energy while gracefully yielding its form. Sparkling water hummed in the air.
"Thousand Watery Knives art."
Li Luo's attack swept upwards, a thousand knives of water flas.h.i.+ng out in his own deadly wave.
They tore into the blanket of energy and went wild, shredding it as fast as they could.
Screech!
The two bursts of energy consumed each other with a shrill sound.
Each glittering water knife was like a knight overwhelmed in a horde. They cut the sheet of power into pieces, then further still into shreds. Some of them were broken down completely, allowing pockets of energy to disperse. But the knives eventually fell, and still the wave of energy came on.
It was torn and tattered now, disparate pieces of energy regrouping and was.h.i.+ng over Li Luo, swallowing him whole.
Li Luo did not panic. When he saw Jing Taixu and the others take this, none of them had managed to break the wave completely with their first attack either. The purpose of the attack was merely there to attrite the offense as much as possible.
Another wave of energy from within him, this one forming layers and layers of resonant energy around him in a watery armor.
"Heavy Water Toga."
Ping!
Defenses ready, there was nothing left to do but tense his body. From the first point of impact, Li Luo felt like he had just been charged by a bull. The wave of energy ripped away at the toga, bursting through each layer as it tried to sap as much of the energy as it could.
But the Heavy Water Toga could not completely stop it either. There was still remnant energy remaining that smashed into Li Luo.
He stumbled backwards, struggling to keep his footing.
In a hard clash of resonant power, the Second Changing Li Luo came off worse than Jing Taixu and the other Third Changing students.
Especially Jing Taixu—the final blow had only forced him back a single step, testament to the depth and control he had over his power.
Li Luo took several steps, and only managed to regain his footing on the very edge of the Stairway to Heaven.
Still, he did not celebrate. There was a thoughtful look in his eyes instead.
Everywhere else, the students gasped and shouted, pointing and gesturing excitedly. Ultimately, Li Luo was still standing on the Stairway to Heaven, which meant that he had succeeded. He had activated the fourth anima storm.
Li Luo's strength was no longer in question now. And it was all the more impressive that he was the only Second Changing cultivator to succeed in activating an anima storm.
When Li Luo returned to the Astral Sage College's island, a flurry of schools were rus.h.i.+ng to send representatives forward. He would still need three schools with him to a.s.sist.
Their quiet, little island suddenly grew lively.
Jing Taixu watched the new swarm of people with a small smile on his face.
"Brother Jing, no wonder that Li Luo turned down your goodwill. He wanted to take one storm all for himself. He's very strong, to be able to stop that as a Second Changing," a youth with snow-white eyebrows remarked.
"I'm not surprised he can do it with the Becoming One stage." Jing Taixu agreed with a smile. "It's impressive work, and in terms of raw resonant power, I think even ordinary Third Changing cultivators wouldn't be able to stand up to him."
The white-eyebrowed youth nodded enviously. "Dual resonances means two resonant palaces. It's a natural advantage, not to mention the versatility of resonant combinations. It would take a ninth-grade like yourself to hold him down, Brother Jing."
Jing Taixu gave a soft laugh absent of arrogance. "Like I said, he's stronger than the average Third Changing student, but I'm not the only exception. Lu Ming and Sun Dasheng are right there as well."
"How do you see the Astral Sage College, Brother Jing? Li Luo's rejected your olive branch, and now he's shown strength. Could he be a threat...?"
Jing Taixu waved the remark away.
"It does not matter. He might have withstood the first wave, but it was close. The journey up the Stairway to Heaven will only get harder. He might not be able to hold out till the end.
"In the Hall-level compet.i.tion..." he smirked.
"There's really no one I have to be afraid of."
The white-eyebrowed youth smiled and nodded.
Finally, the noise and bustle died down as the four schools with the anima storm champions finished deciding their partners.
Li Luo's side had chosen very quickly too, although their choosing was rather careless. They had simply gotten all the schools that had come forth to draw lots, and the three lucky ones had been chosen.
The unchosen schools were sad, but they did not leave. As the anima storms were activated, the latent worldly natural energy might wash up some goodies for them, which was better than nothing.
With this, the next phase of the anima storm harvesting was finally ready to begin.