Chapter 258: Pluck a Handful

Birth Mark Stage, Third Mark!

Li Luo felt the surging phase force flowing within his body, a hint of excitement in his eyes. In just a short moment, his phase force had undoubtedly grown far stronger than before entering the Dark Spirit Pool.

And the level of the third mark of the Birth Mark Stage, even placed within the Two Star Court, would absolutely rank among the top thirty.

The fact that Li Luo could achieve such a feat in less than half a year since entering the One Star Court might not be entirely unique, but he could absolutely be counted among the very fastest batch of students since the founding of the Sacred Void Star Academy.

Li Luo was in a pleasant mood, because this was the greatest leap in strength he had experienced since he began cultivating.

It was truly not in vain, the expectations he had placed upon this Dark Spirit Pool.

With such gains, what did the previous hardships matter? After all, to advance from the first mark to the third mark, even for him, if he were to cultivate diligently within the academy, it would probably take at least two months.

And for other students, they might not reach this level even by the time their time in the One Star Court ended.

From this, one could see how rare the opportunity brought by the Dark Spirit Pool was. Indeed, to keep climbing higher in this world, both talent and opportunity were indispensable.

After this, within the One Star Court, the only one who could still compare with Li Luo in terms of strength was probably Qin Qin Zhulu.

As for Wang Wang Hejiu, Bai Bai Doudou and the others, they would all be completely surpassed by him in terms of level.

And one must know, when Li Luo had just entered the Sacred Void Star Academy, although his combat power thanks to his dual phases was not inferior to theirs, in terms of phase force level, he had ultimately been at a disadvantage.

In his pleasant mood, Li Luo did not immediately leave the thirty-eighth step. After all, there was still ambient world energy surging in, and absorbing a bit more would be good.

And during his leisure, Li Luo's gaze also looked toward the deeper parts of the Dark Spirit Pool.

This thirty-eighth step was already considered the deep part of the Dark Spirit Pool, but below it was still a dark, bottomless abyss, with no knowing where it led.

Li Luo thought for a moment, then suddenly condensed a water-light orb at his fingertip and tossed it down.

Boom!

The water-light orb quickly burst, brilliant light cascading outward.

However, the light lasted only an instant, as if suppressed by the world energy here. Yet with the help of that momentary flash, Li Luo still saw a great black tree growing on a stone wall below.

On the great tree, some black leaves drifted, swaying with each surge of the energy tide.

Dark Spirit Tree and Dark Spirit Leaves.

And Li Luo also noticed that only the Dark Spirit Leaves on the uppermost branch seemed to be washed by the energy tide; some Dark Spirit Leaves were on the side of the stone wall, just out of reach of the energy tide.

No wonder only two or three leaves were blown out each time.

Li Luo suddenly understood, then his heart stirred and he muttered to himself, "I wonder if I could pluck a handful?"

These Dark Spirit Leaves were tied to whether one could enter the Dark Spirit Pool to cultivate. The students outside flocked to them, each contest fought to the point of bloodshed.

If Li Luo could pluck a handful here and then let those students outside trade with Other-Phase Remnants, this way, the other party could enter the Dark Spirit Pool to cultivate as they wished, and he could use these Other-Phase Remnants to trade for academy points, filling that huge deficit of his hundred thousand points...

Wouldn't that be each getting what they need?

Li Luo's eyes gradually brightened, and he couldn't help praising himself as quite the clever little imp!

Then he no longer hesitated, took out his twin sabers to form a great bow, and a light arrow violently shot forth.

However, imagination was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

The light arrow flew only a dozen meters before being forcibly blocked by the world energy pervading the place, finally dissipating into specks of light.

Li Luo frowned at the sight. The energy pressure here was far too dense; ordinary phase force could not possibly pierce through it.

If this energy pressure were likened to a wall, their ordinary phase force might be just a wooden spear. No matter how great the force, it would be very difficult to use a wooden spear to pierce through a wall.

To achieve this goal, one would have to change the level of one's own phase force.

No wonder, although more than one person had managed to reach the thirty-eighth step, no one had ever thought to pluck the Dark Spirit Leaves below...

Li Luo pondered slightly. Change the level of one's own phase force...

In fact, dual-phase force was exactly this kind of change. The fusion of two phase forces formed a higher-level power.

So if others couldn't do it, he might not necessarily fail.

But earlier, in order to withstand the energy pressure during his breakthrough, his dual-phase force had already been heavily consumed. If he struck again now, there should only be one last shot left...

After this one strike, he would have to leave immediately, otherwise he could no longer withstand that energy pressure.

Thinking of this, Li Luo no longer hesitated. He drew the bow again, his face turning solemn, and two streams of phase force flowed out from within his body, finally converging upon the bowstring.

A light arrow condensed with dual-phase force emerged. This light arrow was extremely slender, like a single ray of light.

Yet this seemingly thin light arrow possessed penetration and killing power far stronger than any phase art Li Luo had ever executed.

Hum!

The bowstring suddenly trembled, and the light arrow, flowing with blue and green radiance, violently shot forth. When the light arrow collided with the omnipresent energy pressure, flickering lights flashed upon the arrow.

Fortunately, this time the light arrow was not suppressed by the energy pressure. Its speed undiminished, it shot downward under Li Luo's expectant gaze, finally and with perfect precision piercing through the connection points between some black leaves and branches on the side of the Dark Spirit Tree.

Snap!

With a faint sound, black leaves detached and fell, one after another, as wished.

Whoosh!

Then these black Dark Spirit Leaves, swept up by the energy tide, flew straight upward.

Li Luo seized the moment to act. Tough silk threads, covered in phase force, shot forth violently, wrapping up all these Dark Spirit Leaves, then dragging them back into his hand.

Li Luo made a rough count, and there were actually eight Dark Spirit Leaves!

Li Luo was overjoyed. However, just as he was delighting in this harvest, the smile on his face suddenly stiffened the next moment, and cold sweat instantly broke out from his back.

He stared downward with a look of dread.

Because at that instant, he sensed what seemed to be an extremely vicious perception surging up from the deepest part of the Dark Spirit Pool, sweeping across his body.

That single sweep nearly made Li Luo's scalp explode.

An indescribable sense of crisis welled up in his heart. At this moment, Li Luo dared not hesitate any longer. Gripping the Dark Spirit Leaves, he scrambled upward in a panic, using the sweep of the energy tide to escape the Dark Spirit Pool.

Although he was not entirely certain what that vicious perception was, it was absolutely not something he could contend against!

And just as Li Luo was frightened by that mysterious, vicious perception into a panicked escape from the Dark Spirit Pool, he was unaware that, in the depths of this forbidden mountain range...

In a certain dark cavern.

Suddenly, a pair of blood-red beast pupils opened, and it let out a violent, low growl, the beast pupils looking toward the direction of the Dark Spirit Pool.

The underground of the Dark Spirit Pool was crisscrossed with passages, and there was a narrow passage connecting to the dark-red pool where it stayed, which was also its usual place of cultivation.

And earlier, it had sensed an energy fluctuation that made its heart palpitate.

Was that... Dual-Phase Power?

Had another Marquis-ranked powerhouse come here?

No, earlier in its perception, that seemed to be a human boy at the Diviner Phase... but how could a Diviner Phase unleash Dual-Phase Power?

A human-like contemplation flashed through the blood-red beast pupils.

The next moment, as if it had thought of something, its massive body suddenly stood up from the pool.

Was it born with Dual-Phase?!

That human boy possessed Dual-Phase...

So if it ate him, would it allow it to comprehend Marquis-level power ahead of time?

In the blood-red beast pupils, thick greed and fierce viciousness surged forth.