Chapter 180: Emerald Wooden Arrow

The Tree of Phase Force grew beside Li Luo, extending its branches and leaves. Its trunk was crystalline like jadeite, shimmering with strange light, while at its roots, streams formed by water phase force soaked into the rootstalk, continuously surging into the body of the tree.

Ultimately, the powers of the water phase and wood phase condensed at the position of the tree's heart, and under this form, the two forces were highly condensed and compressed together.

The emerald-green color elsewhere on the Tree of Phase Force suddenly began to fade, and after only a few breaths, the entire tree was reduced to a single section of heartwood.

Yet this section of heartwood was crystalline and translucent, as if sap were flowing within it—utterly peculiar.

Moreover, anyone could clearly sense that this section of heartwood contained an extremely formidable power.

It was actually the power of dual phases!

And compared to the blade-light dual-phase power Li Luo had previously displayed, the dual-phase power contained within this heartwood was even more stable.

Li Luo's tightly shut eyes finally slowly opened at this moment. He smiled at Wang Wang Hejiu and the other two not far away, extended his palm, and the section of heartwood landed in his hand. Wood shavings immediately flew about, ultimately forming a rather rough emerald-green wooden arrow.

The twin sabers in Li Luo's hands interlocked, forming a blue-silver greatbow.

The jade-like emerald-green wooden arrow was nocked onto the bowstring. At that instant, Li Luo felt the blue-silver greatbow in his hands begin to tremble violently—the bow body was somewhat unable to bear the power contained within this wooden arrow.

"Looks like the bow needs an upgrade..."

This thought flashed through Li Luo's mind, and then he looked toward the distance, where Wang Wang Hejiu and Duze Duze Beixuan's expressions had also grown extremely unsightly. Clearly, they had both sensed the tremendous power of Li Luo's current attack.

This was likely going to be the move that decided victory and defeat.

"To actually be pushed to this extent..."

Wang Wang Hejiu's expression was somewhat complex. This battle had clearly been several times more difficult than he had imagined. He had originally thought that under the crushing weight of his and Duze Duze Beixuan's strength, Li Luo's team would surely collapse. Yet Li Luo had not only withstood their pressure but had now also completed a minor breakthrough—and most importantly, he had unleashed the power of dual phases.

After today, his position as second among the new students might no longer be secure.

"Let's use the trump card we prepared earlier... Although we're still not very proficient with it, we can only try. It was originally meant for dealing with Qin Qin Zhulu, but if we don't use it now, there probably won't be another chance to use it in this ranking battle." Wang Wang Hejiu looked at Duze Duze Beixuan and Qi Qi Luozi, speaking with a solemn expression.

The two of them nodded upon hearing this—after all, this was all they could do.

Qi Qi Luozi struck first. Dark-green phase force could be seen surging, as if transforming into vines. These vines rapidly wound forward and ultimately formed a vine tube roughly a zhang long and as thick as a bowl-mouth in front of her.

Like a cannon barrel.

Wang Wang Hejiu pressed his palm onto the cannon barrel, his expression solemn, as poison phase force rapidly surged into it.

At the same time, Duze Duze Beixuan also channeled his own phase force into it. Immediately, the vine cannon barrel began to tremble violently, and Qi Qi Luozi exerted all her strength trying to stabilize it.

After a few breaths, she gritted her teeth and said: "Stop channeling in, I can't hold it!"

Wang Wang Hejiu's complexion also turned considerably paler. He nodded, his gaze meeting Duze Duze Beixuan's for an instant, and then his palm suddenly slammed heavily onto the cannon barrel.

"Poison Kun Great Cannon!"

Boom!

The next instant, from within the cannon barrel, as if green sparks had erupted, a pillar of phase force blasted forth. The pillar was dark green in color, shaped like a Kun, and its outer layer was covered in dense poison phase force.

This could already be considered a rather ingenious coordination of phase arts.

Its power was also extraordinarily terrifying.

"Some interesting ideas, indeed..." Li Luo gazed at the Poison Kun Great Cannon, a hint of surprise also flashing through his eyes. At this moment, he had finally managed to stabilize the trembling blue greatbow. His two fingers drew back the bowstring; the string bent like a full moon, and the somewhat rough wooden arrow trembled slightly.

Hum!

The next instant, his fingers released, and a piercing sound of breaking wind rang out as a streak of jade-green light shot forth.

This streak of wooden arrow light did not carry an imposing presence—in fact, it couldn't even compare to the light arrows Li Luo had launched in the past. Yet precisely beneath this ordinary appearance lurked an extremely astonishing power.

That was the embodiment of Li Luo's dual-phase power!

Whoosh!

In only a few short breaths, the imposing Poison Kun Great Cannon collided with the unadorned wooden arrow light at the center of the mountain stream.

However, the collision produced no thunderous sound nor any violent eruption of phase force. The emerald-green wooden arrow was seen piercing directly into the Poison Kun's light, and wherever it passed, the poisonous miasma dispersed and the rippling light retreated.

Fine cracks appeared on the rough surface of the emerald-green wooden arrow.

Whoosh!

In the end, when the emerald-green wooden arrow pierced out from the Poison Kun, the Poison Kun completely dissipated, and the arrow body was also covered in cracks.

Wang Wang Hejiu and the other two wore expressions of horror. They had not expected that even this trump card had failed to neutralize the offensive of Li Luo's arrow.

Is the power of dual phases really this monstrous?!

The crack-covered emerald-green wooden arrow, when still ten zhang away from Wang Wang Hejiu and the other two, began to fail under the strain and shattered apart, but a powerful blast of phase force still erupted and swept outward.

The three of them, bearing the brunt of it, were directly sent flying backward, crashing in a sorry state against the cliff wall, each spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood—clearly suffering no light injuries.

Li Luo, seeing this scene, shook his head with some regret, and then he plopped down onto a rock, drained of strength, without even the energy to move a finger.

That arrow had drained every last drop of phase force from his body.

Wang Wang Hejiu, Duze Duze Beixuan, and the third person struggled to their feet. They glanced at Li Luo, who sat motionless on the rock, and immediately understood that he was nearly drained of strength at this moment.

"Let's go. While he's exhausted, we leave first!" Wang Wang Hejiu gritted his teeth and said.

The three of them were also in extremely poor condition at this moment, no better off than Li Luo by much, and he no longer thought about finishing off Li Luo's team. Retreating to preserve their points was the most important thing.

Li Luo now probably didn't have the strength to pursue, right?

As long as they preserved their points, this battle could only be counted as a draw—barely salvaging some face.

Supporting one another, the three of them turned to leave quickly.

Li Luo, seeing their movements, couldn't help but smile. Although both he and Student Xin Fu had lost their fighting ability, had they forgotten that their team also had three members?

While Li Luo was smiling, the expressions of Wang Wang Hejiu and the other two, who had turned to leave, also darkened, because they saw behind them Bai Bai Mengmeng, holding a slender sword like butterfly wings, her big dewy eyes looking at them.

Wang Wang Hejiu looked at Bai Bai Mengmeng and practically felt his temple throbbing, an indescribable sense of frustration welling up within him.

He had almost forgotten that on the opposing side there was still Bai Bai Mengmeng, who had barely engaged in direct combat.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have given Bai Bai Mengmeng a second glance, but now all three of them had completely lost their combat ability, nearly crippled. At this moment, Bai Bai Mengmeng was, to them, undoubtedly an invincible existence.

Facing the three with stiffened expressions, Bai Bai Mengmeng bit her lip and said softly: "Hand over your badges... My hands shake when I hit people. What if I accidentally stab a vital spot by mistake? That wouldn't be good."

And so, the expressions of the three grew even uglier.

In the end, Wang Wang Hejiu, his face dark and sullen, tore the badge from his chest and tossed it out, while also throwing all the badges they had collected this time toward Bai Bai Mengmeng. One-third of these badges would become the opponent's spoils of war.

Bai Bai Mengmeng pressed her small hands together and said gratefully, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."

However, faced with such a polite Bai Bai Mengmeng, the three of Wang Wang Hejiu gained not the slightest comfort; instead their faces were overcast, because they knew that losing to Li Luo's team meant they would surely be rebuked by Shen Shen Jinxiao, and the days ahead would likely be bitter.

(First update.)