Chapter 348: Reunion

The protective alliance for the Golden Dragon Qi finally set off successfully.

Although the alliance was rife with internal scheming and mutual deception, the organization was barely cobbled together; among the four teams, Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying were the strongest, both having reached the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage, while the captains of the other two teams were at the first transformation, which was not weak either.

With this configuration, combined together, they still possessed considerable deterrent power in this region.

Therefore, in the first two days, the progress of Li Luo and his group was quite smooth; they only encountered a few blind small teams, but the role these teams played was merely to add some Dao Gold to the harvest of Li Luo and the others.

Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others were also very satisfied, because the treasure-gathering effect brought by Lu Qinger's Golden Dragon Qi was even better than they had imagined; along the way, even with everyone sharing the spoils, the final harvest was far more abundant than when they had traveled alone before.

This greatly boosted everyone's motivation.

However, this smoothness gradually changed as time passed; news of the Golden Dragon Qi began to spread thoroughly throughout this region, and the consequence was that a steady stream of teams began to gather with them as the target, starting to carry out various forms of targeting.

Among them were many top-tier teams with equally formidable strength; they first came to negotiate, attempting to become members of this protective alliance as well to get a share of the pie.

Faced with such negotiations, Li Luo and his group hadn't said anything yet, but Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others directly opposed it with a fierce attitude, even confronting those other top-tier teams for it; after all, having tasted the sweetness brought by the Golden Dragon Qi, how could they be willing to share their profits with more people for nothing?

The opposition from Zhao Jieyang and the others undoubtedly angered those other teams, which led to the subsequent journey becoming somewhat difficult; more and more teams participated in the siege against them, and those numerous targeted attacks caused this newly formed protective alliance to suffer quite a bit.

Later on, Zhao Jieyang and the others restrained their arrogance somewhat, no longer advancing blatantly, but avoiding the main routes to avoid falling into the encirclement of those large groups that were also beginning to assemble.

"According to our current speed and route, we should be able to reach the Multi-Treasure Pool in five more days."

Beside a stream in the deep mountains, Li Luo's group sat around a campfire, and Zhao Jieyang used a wooden stick to outline the terrain on the ground before speaking to everyone.

"Five days..."

Everyone pondered slightly; this duration was still acceptable.

Gu Ying was wrapping bandages around the wounds on her wrists, with blood seeping through, and her cheeks also carried a hint of exhaustion; the high-intensity combat of the past few days had not stopped for even a moment.

Seeing this, Li Luo smiled and said, "Let me help you treat it; after all, we are in the same boat."

Hearing this, Gu Ying hesitated for a moment, but finally unwound the bandage and handed over her hand: "Thanks."

Li Luo shook his head indifferently, channeling his healing power to restore Gu Ying's injuries, while smiling and saying, "I say you are all too stubborn. Why view this Golden Dragon Qi as so precious? Since some powerful teams want to join, just let them join. By refusing so fiercely, aren't you just making enemies for no reason?"

"You certainly are open-minded," Zhao Jieyang snorted upon hearing this, his face full of displeasure.

Originally, it should have been Li Luo and his group who had the headache, since those people were all coming for Lu Qinger's Golden Dragon Qi, but now the situation was that Li Luo and the others were acting indifferent, while they were fighting tooth and nail to protect the Golden Dragon Qi.

Although, at the end of the day, they were doing it for their own interests, it still felt unpleasant to think about it.

"I hope we can reach the Multi-Treasure Pool as soon as possible. Once we get there, our alliance should be about ready to disband. At that time, I wish you all success in obtaining your desired treasure tools and shining brightly in the battle for the Mountain-Visiting Invitation," Li Luo said with a smile.

These words hit home for everyone; after all, once they reached the Multi-Treasure Pool, the earning of Dao Gold would basically come to an end, and what they would need to care about next was the battle for the Golden Dragon Mountain-Visiting Invitation, at which point the effect of the Golden Dragon Qi would no longer be significant.

While everyone was eating grilled fish and resting, a whistle suddenly came from the direction on the right.

Hearing this whistle, everyone's expressions tightened.

"Another team has come."

Li Luo, Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others exchanged glances, quickly extinguished the campfire, and then stood up to rush toward the direction from which the whistle came.

The group passed through the dense forest and soon arrived at the location of the sentry; the latter waved at them and pointed forward, where three figures were seen rapidly approaching.

"Just one team?"

Li Luo and the others looked on, all somewhat surprised; they had defeated many teams recently, so it was quite rare for anyone to dare to intercept them with just one team now.

"Li Luo, they seem a bit familiar," Lu Qinger said softly beside Li Luo after watching for a while.

Li Luo nodded, focused his Phase power into his eyes, and after looking carefully for a moment, finally recognized the three figures: "Is it Ning Zhao, Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo?"

"You know them?" Zhao Jieyang asked with a slight frown.

In his perception, this arriving team was not weak, especially one of them, whose strength was completely on par with his own.

"They are another team from our Great Xia Long Baoxing," Li Luo said with an unreadable smile.

Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying exchanged glances, their brows furrowing even tighter; the current alliance was complex in composition, but although they had been feeling annoyed by being pressured, from another perspective, Lu Qinger and the two others were under their surveillance, and once the situation changed, they could control the three of them.

But now, another top-tier team from Great Xia Long Baoxing had suddenly arrived, and the situation was becoming somewhat difficult to manage.

For them, this was not very good news.

While their minds were racing, the three figures had already swept toward them and landed in front of the group; it was indeed Ning Zhao, Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo.

As soon as the three appeared, Zhu Xuan stepped forward, staring sharply at Li Luo, and said, "Is this how you promised President Yu that you would protect Qinger well?"

"Being held hostage, unable to act on your own?"

Faced with Zhu Xuan's sharp words, Li Luo's expression remained unchanged as he smiled: "You are exaggerating too much; this is a win-win cooperation."

"Self-deception."

Zhu Xuan sneered, then turned his gaze softly toward Lu Qinger and said, "Qinger, sorry, we are late. You haven't suffered any grievances, have you?"

"Qinger, if you don't want to stay here, just tell me. No matter how great the difficulty, we will take you away."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others immediately cast cold glares at them.

This guy actually dared to try and poach the Golden Dragon Qi right in front of them?

Lu Qinger first glanced at Li Luo, then shook her head and said, "It's just an experience; there's no need to take it too seriously. Sightseeing and playing around is also quite fun."

Zhu Xuan faltered.

Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying, and the others looked at Lu Qinger in surprise, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ning Zhao also spoke up at this time with a smile: "Since Qinger, you don't want to leave, that's fine. But for your safety, we must follow you; otherwise, if something happens to you, how will we answer to the President?"

Zhao Jieyang's eyes turned cold: "Did we agree to let you follow?"

With one more team, another ten percent of the Golden Dragon Qi's profits would be taken away, which would obviously affect their interests.

Zhu Xuan cast his gaze toward Zhao Jieyang and said indifferently, "We are both teams from Great Xia; do we need your permission to travel together?"

"Oh?"

Fierce light flickered in Zhao Jieyang's eyes, and deep red Phase power slowly rose from his body.

"Magma Phase?"

Zhu Xuan narrowed his eyes, and fire-red Phase power rose from his body as well, with high heat permeating the air.

Both sides instantly became tense and ready to fight.

However, at this moment, Li Luo stepped out and smiled: "There is no need for everyone to be so confrontational. There are still external enemies lurking in the dark; if we fight like this, we will only let others pick up the bargain."

Under his mediation, the atmosphere eased slightly. Zhu Xuan also glanced at Li Luo and then secretly sneered; it seemed that Li Luo had been having a rough time here, and he wanted to use them as external reinforcements to increase his own leverage?

However, since other strong teams were eyeing them covetously, Zhu Xuan didn't say anything more and instead walked with Ning Zhao and Lin Suo toward Lu Qinger's side.

The atmosphere calmed down, and the group headed toward the depths of the dense forest again.

Li Luo walked at the back, his gaze sweeping over Zhu Xuan and then at Lin Suo, who had remained silent and had a low presence.

Although they were also a team from Great Xia, they might not necessarily be reinforcements; in fact, they might even be more dangerous than Zhao Jieyang and the others...

"Yu Lang, you didn't tell us before that another Great Xia team would be joining," Gu Ying and Zhao Jieyang walked to Li Luo's side and said indifferently.

"I don't want to share any more profits," Zhao Jieyang snorted coldly.

Li Luo said with a bitter expression, "Actually, I don't want to share either, but as you can see, they are the main force, and our team is just there to help."

"If I don't agree to their request to join, it will eventually lead to some trouble when we go back, so I couldn't let you fight in front of me."

Zhao Jieyang's eyes were somewhat gloomy: "So you are still going to let them stay? Is this your choice?"

Faced with Zhao Jieyang's words, which contained a hidden threat, Li Luo seemed somewhat troubled and let out a long sigh.

"Their strength is greater than our small team, and they don't take what I say seriously, so... if you really want to do something, just don't do it in front of me. I don't know anything."

With a struggling expression, he finally dropped this sentence and walked away quickly.

Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying exchanged glances, and a satisfied smile finally appeared in their eyes.