Chapter 177: The Great Battle Begins

Under the gaze of many hidden eyes, the two beams of light representing Li Luo's team and Wang Hejiu's team moved rapidly, and as expected, they approached and collided.

The collision point was at the intersection of two steep mountains, separated by a long mountain stream that formed the only passage.

In the mountain stream, waterfalls cascaded down, and the greenery was lush.

"The environment here is not bad. If you taste your first defeat here, your hearts should feel a bit better, right?"

Wang Hejiu surveyed the surroundings and then looked toward the babbling gravel beach opposite, where Li Luo and Bai Mengmeng were, while Xin Fu had clearly hidden in the surrounding shadows at the very first moment.

"Generally speaking, once a villain starts saying things like that, the probability of capsizing is very high," Li Luo laughed.

"A villain?"

Wang Hejiu smiled: "Do you really think you, Young Manor Master Li Luo, are the protagonist?"

"At least in terms of looks, the captain can still count as one," Bai Mengmeng whispered from the side.

Wang Hejiu felt a bit stifled in his chest. Are all these girls so shallow? A man, what does it matter if he looks good? If he gets punched, won't his nose collapse too?

"Stop talking this nonsense."

Duze Beixuan spoke coldly. He stared at Li Luo with gloomy eyes and said: "This time, you should also pay back the debt from the Teacher Selection Tournament."

He took a step forward, and suddenly a powerful Resonant Power erupted. The strength of that Resonant Power made Li Luo's eyes narrow.

"Life-Pattern Stage?"

This was slightly unexpected. He had originally thought it would take Duze Beixuan some time to step into the Life-Pattern Stage. It seemed the defeat at the Teacher Selection Tournament had made him very angry, so his training had been extremely diligent.

"You exposed yourself too quickly. I wanted you to hide it and ambush him," Wang Hejiu said with a helpless smile as he saw Duze Beixuan impatiently showing off his full strength. Then, dark green Resonant Power rose from his body; its intensity clearly showed he had also stepped into the Life-Pattern Stage.

"Li Luo, we have two First-Pattern Life-Pattern Stage experts here, while the strongest on your side is only Xin Fu at the Upper-Flower-Seed Stage, and you yourself are only at the Lower-Flower-Seed Stage..."

Wang Hejiu smiled with his eyes narrowed into slits and said: "Tell me, in this duel, what possibility do you have?"

"So I suggest you don't waste our time and just hand over the badges; wouldn't that be more straightforward?"

Clang.

Responding to him were the twin blades Li Luo slowly drew from his waist. Water light flowed rapidly over the blades, with light hidden within the darkness, revealing an exceptionally sharp power amidst the humming.

"Mengmeng, step back." His voice sounded much more solemn than usual. Clearly, facing two Life-Pattern Stage opponents like Wang Hejiu and Duze Beixuan, he was under significant pressure.

At this time, Xin Fu could only wait for an opportunity in the dark and could not expose his tracks at will. Bai Mengmeng could even less afford to be exposed in the front; with her strength, she would be instantly killed by Wang Hejiu and Duze Beixuan.

Therefore, Li Luo could only become a wall standing in front of his teammates.

This was also his positioning within this team.

"Captain, be careful!" Bai Mengmeng's small face also appeared exceptionally grave. She understood how much pressure Li Luo would be under right now; if it were anyone else at the Upper-Flower-Seed Stage, they probably wouldn't have the courage to stand opposite two Life-Pattern Stage enemies.

Li Luo nodded, and without further ado, his figure shot out directly. As his soles skimmed the water surface of the gravel beach, ripples spread out.

Facing Li Luo's proactive strike, Wang Hejiu and Duze Beixuan did not say anything like "let me test him alone." As their Resonant Power erupted, they both shot out at the same time.

Three fierce figures collided violently in the center of the mountain stream a few seconds later.

Boom!

The surging Resonant Power blasted the nearby stream water into the sky, turning it into a sky full of water droplets.

At the moment of collision, Wang Hejiu and Duze Beixuan remained motionless, while Li Luo's figure was sent flying backward, his soles sliding across the water surface.

In this first collision, Li Luo was almost crushed.

But this was normal. Even though Li Luo possessed dual resonances, the two people before him were no pushovers. Now that their Resonant Power levels were higher than Li Luo's, combined with their joint strength, it was undoubtedly as difficult as ascending to heaven for Li Luo to contend with them under normal circumstances.

Having gained the upper hand, Wang Hejiu and Duze Beixuan did not stop, their figures chasing closely as waves of fierce attacks enveloped Li Luo.

Li Luo held his twin blades, executing the "Twin-Fish Spirit Blade," his spirit extremely focused, pouring all his strength into the fierce clash with the two. The battle entered a white-hot stage almost instantly.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal echoed in the mountain stream.

Clang!

Li Luo's blade caught the long spear thrust by Duze Beixuan. As the two Resonant Powers vibrated, a folding fan thrust out from his right side, the dark green Resonant Power surging upon it carrying a pungent, fishy stench.

It came fiercely and cunningly.

However, just at this moment, the shadow behind Wang Hejiu suddenly moved. A flash of black light shot out, and a short blade flowing with shadow Resonant Power stabbed directly at the back of Wang Hejiu's head with extreme ruthlessness.

The sudden attack made Wang Hejiu raise an eyebrow, but he did not feel surprised; after all, Xin Fu, hidden in the dark, had always been someone he and Duze Beixuan were wary of.

He suddenly retracted the folding fan in his hand, the fan surface acting like a barrier, colliding with the stabbing black-light short blade.

Resonant Power erupted, dark green Resonant Power surging and rolling, continuously eroding the shadow Resonant Power, and finally counter-attacking toward Xin Fu's body.

However, Xin Fu twisted his figure, turning into black light to continue diving into the shadows, disappearing from sight.

"How annoying."

Wang Hejiu felt a bit helpless. Although Xin Fu could not pose a major threat, he would strike from time to time, keeping one's mind constantly tense and unable to relax for a second, while also interrupting prepared attacks—it was truly extremely annoying.

But he couldn't think too much about it now; Wang Hejiu immediately withdrew to assist Duze Beixuan in attacking Li Luo.

Now all the pressure from the opponent was on Li Luo. As long as he and Duze Beixuan joined forces to quickly break through Li Luo, the battle could end immediately.

While they were in a fierce battle here, Qi Luozi, with dark cyan Resonant Power flowing over her body, watched the field. She suddenly brought her hands together, and the dark cyan Resonant Power slipped into the gravel beach, turning into vines and sneaking forward rapidly.

However, at this moment, fluorescent Resonant Power suddenly swept across the front, and the battlefield Qi Luozi was watching suddenly became somewhat blurred. Overlapping shadows made her unable to distinguish the location of the battle.

"Bai Mengmeng..."

This change made Qi Luozi frown. She looked to the side and saw Bai Mengmeng there, holding a slender long sword, the tip pointing at her.

"The captain is already under a lot of pressure, so don't go and add to his trouble," Bai Mengmeng said softly.

Qi Luozi laughed: "You want to stop me? But you are only at the Upper-White-Seed Stage, while I am at the Lower-Flower-Seed Stage."

Bai Mengmeng met her gaze and revealed a pure and moving smile: "It's okay, if you hit me, I'll have my sister hit you back later."

Qi Luozi: "......"

"In that case..."

Qi Luozi sighed, then her eyes turned cold. Suddenly, dark cyan Resonant Power shot out from the gravel beach beneath Bai Mengmeng's feet, directly entangling her ankles.

"Then I'd like to try."

However, just as her voice fell, the figure of Bai Mengmeng, who had been entangled by the dark cyan Resonant Power, gradually became illusory and finally disappeared into thin air.

"An illusion?" Qi Luozi frowned.

"Although I might not be able to beat you, being able to hold you back counts as completing the mission."

Bai Mengmeng's ethereal voice seemed to come from all directions.

Qi Luozi sneered and said: "Then let's see if you can drag it out longer, or if Li Luo can hold on longer."

"The captain once said that his advantage is his stamina."

Hearing this, Qi Luozi was stunned, then her cheeks flushed red. She gritted her teeth, and a curse came out.

"Li Luo, you hooligan!"

Bai Mengmeng, hidden within the illusion, had confusion and astonishment rising in her large eyes.