Chapter 1229: Terrifying Harvest

One after another, meteoric realm river stars of overwhelming momentum descended from the heavens.

Li Zhihuo struck first. Boundless, violent ice-cold phase power surged skyward from the five marquis platforms behind him, transforming into a colossal dragon of frost.

The frost dragon let loose an earth-shaking dragon's roar, its maw opening wide to spew four streams of bone-piercing cold dragon breath.

The icy dragon breath formed four enormous thousand-zhang cold vortexes, rushing to meet the four realm river stars head-on. His move inevitably drew an uproar from the entire arena, tens of thousands of gazes filled with astonishment.

Plucking four realm river stars in a single go was an exceedingly rare feat. After all, the strain on oneself when star-plucking was immense, and a single mishap could result in injury, so Li Zhihuo had always tried to avoid such extreme situations in the past.

But now, because of the appearance of Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e, the Dragon Fang Guard had suddenly overtaken their Dragon Blood Guard in star pearl output. Although this held no real practical significance, it was still a blow to the Dragon Blood Guard's morale.

Therefore, Li Zhihuo could only make up for this shortcoming through other means.

The massive cold vortexes collided with the four realm river stars. Immediately, the frigid phase power surged forth, coating the surface of the realm river stars with a layer of frost.

The meteors' plunging momentum gradually slowed.

However, the terrifying impact force still continuously shattered the four great cold vortexes. Endless frost rained down from the heavens, causing the temperature between heaven and earth to plummet.

Li Zhihuo felt the pressure transmitted through the void, and his expression grew solemn. He took a deep breath, and his pupils gradually transformed into icy blue.

The frost dragon formed by his phase power continuously spewed forth boundless dragon breath, reinforcing the vortexes, using the power of freezing to dissolve the force of impact.

The sky where Li Zhihuo stood transformed into a field of ice crystals, the cold current piercing to the bone.

But under Li Zhihuo's full effort to neutralize them, the plunging momentum of the four realm river stars was finally completely dissolved. Then the cold vortexes carried them, slowly descending toward the golden lotus platform where the Dragon Blood Guard was stationed.

"The Guard Commander is mighty!"

"The Guard Commander is invincible!"

The members of the Dragon Blood Guard were thrilled and excited. If all four realm river stars were handed to Dragon Blood Envoy Yuan Tianzhao for purification and refinement, they would basically reach a quantity of twenty-eight thousand star pearls.

"Thank goodness we have the Guard Commander." The previously gloomy beautiful face of Li Hongque now bore a smile.

"Hmph."

But just as Li Zhihuo succeeded in plucking four realm river stars, a cold snort came from the distant sky. It was Li Foluo. He cast a hostile glance at Li Zhihuo. This bastard—usually suppressing them by one realm river star was one thing, but now he wanted to suppress them by two. Wasn't this putting pressure on the other Guard Commanders?

Li Foluo stepped out. The horizon behind him instantly turned crimson, and faintly, it seemed as if a massive volcano phantom appeared. The volcano erupted, spewing molten lava skyward, and within the lava, a dragon shadow emerged.

A quasi-ninth-grade dragon phase.

An upper-eighth-grade lava phase.

Under the covering of lava, the dragon shadow seemed clad in crimson scales. Its body was several thousand zhang long, coiled in the void, and between its sharp fangs, scalding lava constantly dripped.

This dragon shadow at this moment was evolved from Li Foluo channeling all the power of the Dragon Fang Formation.

Simultaneously, Li Foluo's hands formed seals at lightning speed, and he finally shouted sharply: "Heaven Refining Dragon Furnace!"

The dragon shadow's massive body coiled, and rapidly evolved into an incomparably enormous crimson furnace. On the surface of the furnace, a dragon pattern slithered as if alive, radiating dragon might.

"That is our Dragon Fang Guard's quasi-Tian Ming grade marquis art, the Heaven Refining Dragon Furnace, and also one of the Guard Commander's strongest techniques. It seems you've provoked him too," Commander-in-Chief Xia Yu chuckled lightly, saying to Li Luo.

Li Luo sighed with emotion: "If you don't push the Guard Commander, he won't even know how much potential he has. He'll thank me for it later."

Xia Yu was speechless. With this guy in the Dragon Fang Guard, she felt that the number of times the Guard Commander got roasted in the future would probably be quite frequent.

As the two spoke, three flames rose within the massive crimson dragon furnace. The flames were a pale gold color, and as they continuously stretched, they formed three dark-gold fire nets.

The fire nets whistled forth, directly meeting the three falling realm river stars.

The two collided, immediately erupting with a thunderous roar. The realm river stars' plunging momentum did not diminish, stretching the fire nets into heart-stopping arcs.

But the fire nets also displayed extreme resilience, never snapping despite the realm river stars' pouring destructive impact.

Of course, judging from Li Foluo's suddenly flushed face and the throbbing veins on his forehead, he was also enduring an extremely terrifying pressure at this moment.

The crimson dragon furnace below roared and trembled, continuously spewing pale gold flames to replenish the fire nets.

As this standoff continued for a moment, the three realm river stars finally became like tamed beasts, gradually reining in their wild force and becoming docile.

The veins on Li Foluo's forehead gradually smoothed. Feeling the faint stinging pain within his body, he couldn't help cursing inwardly: "That bastard Li Zhihuo really does have some skill."

He was enduring the impact of three realm river stars here and already felt stinging pain within his body, yet Li Zhihuo had grabbed four. This level of strength was indeed much greater than his own.

The Dragon Fang Guard members also cheered. Although Li Foluo had only grabbed three, fewer than Li Zhihuo, with the intervention of Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e, the final harvest from the three realm river stars would definitely surpass the Dragon Blood Guard's four.

Li Foluo waved his large hand, and the three realm river stars fell toward the Dragon Fang Guard's side. At the same time, his gaze shot fiercely toward Li Luo: "I've caught the realm river stars for you. The rest depends on you!"

Li Luo nodded and smiled: "The Guard Commander is mighty. We will do our utmost to purify and refine them."

Li Foluo snorted, but still added: "Each starfall lasts for seven rounds. This is only the second round now, and there are still a full five rounds after. If it's only left to you two to purify and refine, can you hold out until the end?"

Purifying and refining realm river stars was actually not that easy a task. It not only required the support of massive power, but also caused immense wear on the mind and spirit of the purifier and refiner. Therefore, the five guards generally had two envoys purify and refine together to share the pressure. And now, on the Dragon Fang Guard's side, because Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo's coordination was simply too ferocious, Luo Jiang had temporarily stepped back. This arduous responsibility had completely fallen upon Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo's shoulders.

Upon hearing this, Li Luo exchanged a glance with Jiang Qing'e. The latter's exquisitely beautiful face remained quite calm: "Let's try it first."

Li Foluo was silent for a moment, then said: "If you really can't hold on, hand it over to Luo Jiang. Our Dragon Fang Guard's harvest this time has greatly exceeded expectations. There's no need to engage in an extreme contest with the Dragon Blood Guard. After all, time is on our side, and there will be many more opportunities in the future."

Li Luo nodded.

And Jiang Qing'e directly activated her light phase power. Instantly, light blazed brilliantly between heaven and earth, and that astonishing purifying power once again enveloped a realm river star.

The massive meteor continued to visibly condense and shrink at a speed discernible to the naked eye.

On the Dragon Blood Guard's side, the pleased expressions that Li Hongque and the others had shown because of plucking four realm river stars this round vanished at this moment.

"Sigh, the Dragon Fang Guard plucked three realm river stars. Like this, not only has our gap not narrowed, it's been widened instead," someone in the Dragon Blood Guard said unwillingly.

"Yeah, this Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo are too monstrous. In all these years, I've never seen anyone who could purify and refine realm river stars to this extent."

Hearing the discussions among the Dragon Blood Guard members, Li Hongque's face darkened, and she said: "All of you shut up. Don't boost the enemy's morale. Purifying and refining realm river stars extremely drains the mind and power. No matter how extraordinary Jiang Qing'e is, she's ultimately just a first-grade marquis. And Li Luo is even worse—a Da Tian Xiang Jing. How many rounds can they last?"

"According to my estimation, they'll hold on for at most four rounds. After four rounds, they'll have to hand it over to Luo Jiang for purification and refinement. When the time comes, won't we still catch up?"

Hearing Li Hongque's words, the Dragon Blood Guard members also suddenly understood. Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo's level of purification and refinement was indeed monstrous, but could they possibly endure through all seven rounds?

Thus, the Dragon Blood Guard's emotions gradually calmed down.

For the next period of time, the five guards fell into their respective busyness.

However, the Dragon Fang Guard's side still occasionally drew sidelong glances. That was because Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo's coordination continued to extremely stably purify and refine one thirty-zhang "realm river star" after another.

This steady output also made everyone understand that the first time was not the two's luck, but that the two truly possessed a special method.

Thus, as several hours passed, the falling of the realm river stars had reached the fourth round.

After four rounds, every guard had reaped a considerable harvest.

And on the Dragon Fang Guard's side, they had obtained a terrifying haul of over one hundred and thirty-nine thousand Star Beads. One had to remember that in last month's "Falling Star Platform," the Dragon Fang Guard had only managed to gather fifty or sixty thousand Star Beads over seven rounds, yet now, in just the fourth round, they had more than doubled that figure!

This improvement was simply terrifying.

This terrifying harvest directly silenced the other four guards; even the Dragon Blood Guard was wrapped in a stifling, deathly hush.

Li Hongque's five fingers clenched tight, her face exceedingly dark.

However, this gloom soon met with a turn, for she noticed that Jiang Jiang Qinge's resplendent Light Marquis Platform had begun to dim somewhat at this moment.

And Li Luo's time resting with closed eyes was growing longer and longer.

This was clearly a sign of heart-spirit and strength being excessively depleted.

This finally brought a smile to the corner of Li Hongque's mouth, and she said coldly, "Finally can't hold on anymore. I thought you two were made of iron."

Yet her smile lasted only a few seconds before abruptly freezing.

At the same time, Li Hongque's icy, trembling gaze turned toward the Dragon Fang Guard, for she saw Li Hongyou step into the air at this moment, appearing before the many watching eyes.

At this instant, Li Hongque recalled Li Hongyou's resonance.

Immediately, fury surged up within Li Hongque's heart.

This wretched slave—how dare she?!!