Chapter 348: Encounter Again

The Golden Dragon Qi Guardian Alliance finally set out smoothly.

Although the alliance was rife with scheming and mutual deception, the framework had been cobbled together after a fashion. Among the four squads, Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying were the strongest, both having reached the second Transformation of the Manifestation Stage, while the captains of the other two squads were at the first Transformation of the Manifestation Stage — their strength was considerable as well.

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

So during the first two days, Li Luo's group advanced quite smoothly. They only ran into a few ill-advised small squads here and there, and those squads served no purpose other than adding some Dao Gold to Li Luo and company's harvest.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying and the others were also quite satisfied, because the cornucopia effect brought by Lv Qing'er's Golden Dragon Qi was even better than they had imagined. Along the way, even with everyone taking a share, the final harvest was far richer than what they had previously obtained traveling alone.

This greatly boosted everyone's motivation.

However, as time went on, this smooth sailing gradually began to change. News of the Golden Dragon Qi spread completely throughout this region, and the consequence it triggered was that waves of squads began converging on them as their target, launching all manner of attacks.

Among them were no shortage of top-tier squads with equally formidable strength. They first came to negotiate, trying to join the Guardian Alliance and claim a share of the spoils.

Faced with such negotiations, Li Luo and company hadn't even said anything, but Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying and the others immediately opposed with fierce attitudes, even going head-to-head with those other top squads over it. After all, having tasted the sweetness brought by the Golden Dragon Qi, how could they be willing to share the profits with even more people for free?

Zhao Zhao Jieyang and company's opposition naturally enraged those other squads. This caused their subsequent advance to become somewhat arduous, as more and more squads joined in the encirclement against them, and the many attacks caused this newly-formed Guardian Alliance to suffer quite a bit.

Later on, Zhao Zhao Jieyang and the others reined in their aggression somewhat, no longer advancing so brazenly, but instead avoiding the main routes to avoid being drawn into encirclements by the large forces that were also beginning to gather.

"At our current speed and route, in another five days we should be able to reach the Duobao Pool."

By a stream in a deep mountain, Li Luo's group sat around a bonfire. Zhao Zhao Jieyang used a wooden stick to sketch the terrain on the ground, then said to everyone.

"Five days, huh..."

Everyone pondered slightly. This timeframe was still acceptable.

Gu Ying, meanwhile, was wrapping bandages around the wounds on her wrist; blood was seeping through, and her cheeks bore some fatigue. These past few days of high-intensity combat had never let up for a moment.

Seeing this, Li Luo smiled and said: "Let me heal you up — after all, we're all in the same boat."

Gu Ying hesitated upon hearing this, but finally unwrapped the bandage and extended her hand: "Thanks."

Li Luo shook his head indifferently, channeled healing power to restore Gu Ying's injuries, and said with a smile: "I say it's you guys being too stubborn. Why treat this Golden Dragon Qi as so precious? If some powerful squads want to join, just let them in. Your fierce rejection — isn't that just making enemies for no reason?"

"You're taking it pretty easy, aren't you." Zhao Zhao Jieyang snorted coldly at this, his face full of displeasure.

Originally, it should have been Li Luo and company with the headache — after all, those people were all coming for Lv Qing'er's Golden Dragon Qi. But now the situation was such that Li Luo and company looked utterly nonchalant, while these people on their side were fighting tooth and nail to protect the Golden Dragon Qi.

Although ultimately they were also doing it for their own interests, thinking about it this way was still irritating.

"Hope we can reach the Duobao Pool soon. Once we're there, our alliance will pretty much be ready to disband. At that point, I wish everyone can obtain the treasured artifacts you desire, and then shine brilliantly in the competition for the Golden Dragon Pilgrimage Pass." Li Luo said with a smile.

These words struck a chord with everyone. After all, once they reached the Duobao Pool, earning Dao Gold would basically be at its end, and what would matter next was the competition for the Golden Dragon Pilgrimage Pass. At that point, the effect of the Golden Dragon Qi wouldn't matter much.

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

Hearing this whistle, everyone's expression tightened.

"Another squad is coming."

Li Luo, Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying and the others exchanged glances, quickly extinguished the bonfire, then rose and headed toward the direction the whistle had come from.

The group pushed through the dense forest and quickly arrived at the sentry's position. The latter waved them over and pointed ahead, where three figures could be seen streaking toward them.

"Just one squad?"

Li Luo and company looked over, all somewhat surprised. Recently, quite a few squads had been routed by them, so a single squad daring to intercept them now was quite rare.

"Li Luo, they look a bit familiar." Lv Qing'er watched for a while, then said softly beside Li Luo.

Li Luo nodded, gathered phase force in his eyes, and looked carefully for a moment, finally recognizing the three figures: "Is that Ning Zhao, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo?"

"You know them?" Zhao Zhao Jieyang asked, frowning slightly.

In his perception, this incoming squad was not weak — especially one of them, whose strength was in no way inferior to his own.

"They're another squad from our Great Xia Golden Dragon Treasure House." Li Luo said with a peculiar smile.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying exchanged glances, their brows furrowing even more. The composition of this alliance was currently complex, but although they had been forced into some annoyance, from another angle, Lv Qing'er's group of three was also under their surveillance — if the situation changed, they could take control of those three.

But now another top-tier squad from the Great Xia Golden Dragon Treasure House had suddenly arrived, making the situation somewhat harder to control.

This was not particularly good news for them.

While their minds were turning, those three figures had already streaked toward them and finally landed in front of everyone. Indeed, it was Ning Zhao, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo.

The moment the three appeared, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan stepped forward, his gaze sharp as he stared at Li Luo: "Is this how you promised President Yu that you would protect Qing'er well?"

"Being held hostage, unable to act of your own will?"

Faced with Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's sharp words, Li Luo's expression didn't change. He smiled and said: "You're exaggerating. What we have here is a win-win cooperation."

"Deceiving yourself."

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan snorted coldly, then his gaze softened as it turned to Lv Qing'er: "Qing'er, I'm sorry we're late. You haven't suffered any grievances, have you?"

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

At these words, Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying and the others immediately shot glances over carrying a cold glint.

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

Lv Qing'er first glanced at Li Luo, then shook her head: "It's just a trial. No need to take it too seriously. Sightseeing is quite fun too."

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan was momentarily at a loss.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang, Gu Ying and the others glanced at Lv Qing'er in surprise, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ning Zhao also spoke up at this point with a smile: "Since Qing'er, you don't want to leave, that's fine. But for your safety, we still must stick with you. Otherwise if something happens to you, how would we explain it to the President?"

Zhao Zhao Jieyang's eyes turned cold: "To follow along, did we agree to that?"

One more squad meant another share of the Golden Dragon Qi's profits would be split off, which would clearly affect their interests.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's gaze turned to Zhao Zhao Jieyang as he said flatly: "We're all squads from Great Xia. Does traveling together require your approval?"

"Oh?"

A fierce glint flickered in Zhao Zhao Jieyang's eyes, and deep red phase force slowly rose from his body.

"Magma Phase?"

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly, and fiery red phase force likewise rose from his body, the high temperature spreading.

The two sides instantly became confrontational.

At this moment, however, Li Luo stepped forward, smiling. "There's no need for everyone to be at each other's throats like this. There are still enemies lurking out there in the shadows. If we start fighting among ourselves, we'll just be letting someone else pick up the bargain."

Thanks to his mediation, the atmosphere eased somewhat. Zhu Zhu Xuan also cast a glance at Li Luo, then sneered inwardly. It seemed Li Luo had been having a pretty rough time of it here lately — was he trying to use them as outside support to bolster his own voice?

But with other strong teams eyeing them for now, Zhu Zhu Xuan said nothing more and simply led Ning Zhao and Lin Suo over to Lv Qing'er's side.

The atmosphere relaxed, and the group once again headed deeper into the dense forest.

Li Luo walked at the back. His gaze flicked to Zhu Zhu Xuan, then swept over Lin Suo, who had stayed silent the whole time and barely registered a presence.

Although they were all teams from Great Xia, the other side might not be outside support at all. In fact, their danger level might even be higher than Zhao Zhao Jieyang and the others...

"Yu Lang, you never told us before that another team from Great Xia would be joining in." Gu Ying and Zhao Zhao Jieyang walked up beside Li Luo and said flatly.

"I don't want to have to share out any more benefits," Zhao Zhao Jieyang snorted.

Li Luo said with a bitter expression, "Honestly, I don't want to share either. But as you can see, they're the main force. Our team is just here to do the legwork."

"If I refused his request to join, going back later would still bring some trouble. So I couldn't just let you fight it out right in front of me."

Zhao Zhao Jieyang's eyes darkened slightly. "So you're still letting them stay? This is your choice?"

Faced with Zhao Zhao Jieyang's words, which carried a veiled threat, Li Luo seemed somewhat at a loss. He let out a long sigh.

"Their strength is greater than our little squad's. They don't take seriously anything I say, so... if you really want to do something, just don't do it in front of me. I don't know anything."

His expression was conflicted. In the end, he tossed out one line and hurried off.

Zhao Zhao Jieyang and Gu Ying exchanged a glance, and only then did a satisfied smile rise in their eyes.