Layer seventy-one of the Fiendish Devil Cave.
Majestic and terrifying energy fluctuations swept out from the mountains like tsunamis. Mountain peaks constantly crumbled and huge cracks spread out in all directions along mountain faces.
Smoke and dust blanketed the sky.
A huge silhouette loomed within the curtain of smoke and dust. After it gradually cleared, a huge figure hundreds of feet tall stood between heaven and earth was revealed.
It was a six-armed Fiendish Devil Leader with countless ancient and mysterious runes inscribed on its body, each one emitting a strange light.
The Fiendish Devil Leader was extremely powerful. Energy storms were conjured between each of its breaths, wreaking havoc and destruction within the mountain range.
It was a giant beast of destruction.
In the distance, the Green Nether Banner's eight thousand members looked at the Fiendish Devil Leader with solemn faces. After the recent period of intense tempering, the Green Nether Banner's strength had increased greatly. At the same time, their spiritual energies were condensed to the extreme, a powerful testament to their victories that had acc.u.mulated one after another.
Moreover, they had progressed to the seventy-first layer of the Fiendish Devil Cave under Li Luo's leaders.h.i.+p, an achievement they could surely be proud of.
At this moment, every single person was proud of being a member of the Green Nether Banner, so they were naturally doing everything they could to uphold this pride.
This was the third time that Li Luo had returned to the Dragon's Fang Mountain Range to enter the Fiendish Devil Cave.
During these twenty days or so, the Green Nether Banner had had a very hard time undergoing one bitter battle after another. They had started at layer sixty-three and cruised straight up to layer seventy-two!
Their speed not only shocked the members of the other banners, even many seniors of the five lineages were astonished at their progress.
When Li Luo first made the bold statement of setting a new record for the Fiendish Devil Cave, not too many people were optimistic about his chances. After all, the current record holder was Li Taixuan.
Although Li Luo had repeatedly achieved amazing feats over the past year, the prestige that Li Taixuan had garnered was acc.u.mulated over many years. Compared to that, Li Luo was ultimately a little green.
However, the Green Nether Banner pierced through the Fiendish Devil Cave step by step and eventually arrived at layer seventy-one around twenty days later. All doubts and scrutiny disappeared at this juncture.
Their accomplishment not only erased the doubts of outsiders, the members of the Green Nether Banner also began to see the hope and possibility of breaking the record.
Therefore, although they were originally motivated by the rewards promised by Li Luo, they were now pus.h.i.+ng themselves to bring home the glory of breaking the record.
This was because they wanted to carve out their legacy in the history of the Twenty Banners, so that every future member would remember the Green Nether Banner of this generation!
Achieving that result would also be greatly beneficial to their future prospects.
In the future, when they left the Twenty Banners and went to serve in the huge territory of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, n.o.body would dare to slack off in their presence as long as they mentioned that they were from the record-breaking Green Nether Banner.
The Fiendish Devil Leader in front of them was the guardian of layer seventy-one.
As long as they defeated him, they would be able to move on to challenge the last layer!
The record was in sight.
Li Luo floated in midair. His eyes had become sharper due to the battles he had experienced in the past few weeks, which had been a few notches more intense than those within the Spiritual Resonance Cave.
Although Harmony was not his own power, it made him as strong as a Duke Stage expert.
Right then, Li Luo's gaze focused as he stared at the huge body of the Fiendish Devil Leader that was guarding the exit of layer seventy-one in the distance. He whispered softly to himself, "Upper third-grade Duke Stage."
Indeed, the Fiendish Devil Leader before him was clearly equivalent to an upper third-grade Duke!
Li Luo guessed that he would have been destroyed by its mere breath if he didn't have the support of Harmony.
Fortunately, he was not alone.
He exhaled deeply, and in the next instant, resonant power rose from his body. Four bright Heavenly Pearls appeared appeared behind him, swallowing all the surrounding worldly natural energy.
Four-pearl tier!
A week ago, Li Luo had officially completed a breakthrough and successfully condensed his fourth Heavenly Pearl.
It was not only his banner members that had progressed during these harsh battles, Li Luo himself had likewise benefited greatly.
"Harmony," Li Luo softly said.
Behind him, the banner members responded in unison. At the next moment, the breaths of eight thousand people merged into one, rising up boundlessly before culminating within Li Luo's body.
Li Luo stood in the air as majestic and vast sheets of energy swept out like monstrous waves lapping at the sky, shattering the empty s.p.a.ce nearby.
"Lower third-grade."
Li Luo could feel that thanks to the improvements in strength of the Green Nether Banner members, coupled with the fact that he himself had broken through, the power of their Harmony had also begun to reach the level of the lower third-grade Duke Stage.
He was slightly weaker than the Fiendish Devil Leader in front of him, but it gave Li Luo a great deal of confidence.
Li Luo stared at his distant foe. Flexing his grip, a huge bow that emitted a savagely brutal aura materialized in his hand. It was the Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow.
His expression was calm despite knowing that many eyes throughout the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages were staring directly at him at this moment.
Because after overcoming the obstacle before him, the Green Nether Banner would truly reach the final layer.
That would be the end of the Fiendish Devil Cave.
Li Luo lifted his huge bow. A bright Dragon Sigil erupted on his brow while a draconic roar resounded.
"Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body!"
Li Luo's flesh and blood heated up to the point that he felt like magma was about to burst out of his pores as he slowly drew the bowstring with all five fingers.
With the support of Harmony, the unruly Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow became exceptionally well-behaved and nestled in Li Luo's hands, putting up no resistance. The unwieldy situations of the past would not be repeated again.
When the bowstring was pulled back, a large amount of energy immediately gathered, forming an arrow that caused even the void to tremble violently.
Li Luo's fingers loosened, and the energy arrow shot forth with a bellowing roar. Wherever it pa.s.sed, the void was torn asunder.
A huge, black dragon suddenly roared within the torn void, and inky, icy nether liquid roiled and flowed before being swallowed by the black dragon in one gulp.
Grand Perfection Realm, Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner!
The black dragon grasped the arrow with its claws before it appeared in front of the equally huge Fiendish Devil Leader. The dragon then proceeded to ruthlessly thrust at the latter like the arrow was a sharp sword.
Bang!
The void was constantly being split apart.
However, in the face of the black dragon's sudden attack, the gigantic Fiendish Devil Leader did not retreat, instead erupting into a violent roar. Its six arms reached out at the same time like six giant pythons wrapped in a destructive force, directly clas.h.i.+ng with the black dragon's claws.
The void collapsed and countless shards of world s.p.a.ce spilled out as a result of their confrontation.
The black dragon's claws had been blasted into nothingness by the terrifying force. It seemed like the Fiendish Devil Leader's upper third-grade Duke-level strength possessed a crus.h.i.+ng effect.
All eight thousand banner members could feel chills run up their spines as they witnessed this scene. The Fiendish Devil Leader's strength was overwhelming!
However, Li Luo's expression didn't change. Instead, he formed a different handseal.
Roar!
The black dragon roared as its fanged maw opened wide. A noxious, black dragonbreath imbued with a corrosive effect sprayed towards the Fiendish Devil Leader.
The Fiendish Devil Leader screeched shrilly as two columns of arcane light shot out of its gigantic eyes. The arcane light was so hot that even the void became distorted as a result.
The two terrifying forces collided, causing the void to shatter even more.
But it was the Fiendish Devil Leader who gained the upper hand in the end. The arcane light made the dragon's breath dissipate.
Some sighs rang out from within the void. The spectators were the higher-ups of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, and they had been paying close attention to this battle,
It seemed like the upper third-grade Duke Fiendish Devil Leader was a difficult roadblock.
If Li Luo was unable to surpa.s.s this obstacle, the final floor would be out of reach.
However, just as they were lamenting over the situation, they suddenly started to hear a low sword chant.
The sword hymns rose with the wind and quickly became loud and clear.
Countless surprised looks were cast, and they realized that that sword chant was coming from the black dragon's breath.
The breath dissipated at this moment, leaving behind a sword light.
When the sword light appeared, the heavens and earth were filled with extremely sharp sword qi that even eroded and sliced the worldly natural energy.
The faces of numerous Dukes who were spectating suddenly changed color.
It was because they sensed that that sword light was particularly terrifying!
"Dual Resonance Dragon Fang, Void Obliteration Sword Phantasm," Li Luo said in a soft voice
The sword light was the true killer move hidden in the Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner.
Dazzling sword light slashed through the heavens and earth.
The mighty Fiendish Devil Leader sensed the incoming crisis, and its six arms punched a barrage of terrifying fist shadows in an attempt to block it.
However, everything that the sword light pa.s.sed by instantaneously froze in place.
A few breaths later, Li Luo deeply exhaled a cloud of white vapor. In the reflection of his pupils, the distant Fiendish Devil Leader that was emitting monstrous pressure...
Had all six arms broken.
A sword scar as deep as an abyss had been carved on the rolling mountain range behind it.
The eight thousand banner members were silent.
The spectating Dukes were also at a loss for words.
The towering Fiendish Devil Leader crashed down on its back. Upon hitting the ground, it exploded into countless...o...b.. of brilliant light that swept throughout the air, forming a violent shower of energy that rained down.
Li Luo stood in the air, quietly absorbing and refining the rain of energy that washed down upon him, eyes closed.
This was a boon of his victory.
Bolstered by the ma.s.sive influx of energy, a tiny ball of light gradually condensed below the four Heavenly Pearls behind him.
After a long while, Li Luo opened his eyes, and a smile appeared at the corners of his lips as he felt the undulating resonant power surge within his body.
Then he raised his head and gazed into the void, as if addressing those prying eyes, and said, "The Green Nether Banner will challenge layer seventy-two in seven days."