Chapter 379: The Difficulty of the Twentieth Floor

When Li Luo and the other two stepped onto the twentieth-floor platform, the pale cyan mist permeating the area immediately began to churn. The mist rapidly converged toward a certain spot, and after about ten breaths, a cyan figure slowly walked out from that patch of mist.

Li Luo and his two companions looked over, their gazes all tightening slightly.

This cyan figure was different from the previous Cyan Spirit Puppets; its body was covered in a layer of cyan wooden armor, with faint light patterns rippling across it. The cyan wooden spear in its hand was wreathed in rings of emerald light, with green energy flowing ceaselessly.

As soon as this high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet appeared, a faint pressure radiated from it; clearly, its strength was far more formidable than the Cyan Spirit Puppets they had encountered before.

"It should be at the strength of the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage."

Li Luo stared at this high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet, sensing the intensity of the energy flowing across its body, and then said.

The expressions of Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng both shifted slightly. Although they had some guesses about this intensity beforehand, now that it was confirmed, they still felt some pressure. After all, they were currently at the third and second patterns of the Pattern Establishment Stage respectively, and the gap between them and the Phase Transformation Stage was truly not small.

"Thankfully, it's not the third transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage."

However, just as they were feeling somewhat nervous, Li Luo let out a sigh of relief, followed by a laugh that caused the two to glance at him.

"Captain, that line of yours was quite the performance," Xin Fu said.

"The Captain always gives people a strong sense of security at critical moments," Bai Mengmeng said, covering her mouth with a light chuckle.

Li Luo modestly waved his hand. This wasn't a performance, but the truth. After all, within the Golden Dragon Dojo, the opponents he faced were basically all at the Phase Transformation Stage. People like Zhao Jiyang and Gu Ying were at the strength of the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage, no weaker than this high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet before them. And at that time, he was only at the third pattern. While he didn't dare to brag that he could defeat Zhao Jiyang and the others, at the very least, he could hold his own slightly and make the other party feel a bit of wariness.

And now, Li Luo was already at the fifth pattern of the Pattern Establishment Stage.

With the increase in his strength, facing the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage again, he no longer felt so constrained.

He was actually quite eager to test what the result would be if he were to cross swords with a second-transformation Phase Transformation Stage opponent now.

Although the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet before him was only a puppet without much intelligence, it was a very good target for practice.

"Captain, if there is only one high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet on this twentieth floor, then it seems we are going to have a feast today," Xin Fu said, feeling somewhat invigorated.

Li Luo was just about to nod—if the three of them joined forces, dealing with one high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet at the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage shouldn't be too difficult—but at this very moment, he suddenly sensed something. His expression shifted slightly as he looked toward the mist area that had not yet fully dispersed, and he saw several figures walking out with heavy footsteps.

The exhilaration on Xin Fu's face instantly froze.

There were six more Cyan Spirit Puppets. Although the leader was not as formidable as the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet at the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage in the front, the energy fluctuations it emitted still reached the first transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage, while the other five Cyan Spirit Puppets were at the strength of the third and fourth patterns of the Pattern Establishment Stage.

"You jinx!" Li Luo shot a fierce glare at Xin Fu.

Xin Fu was also on the verge of tears; who could have expected the difficulty of this twentieth floor to increase so much for no reason? Just one high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet at the second transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage was already hard enough to deal with, and it turned out this guy brought a whole group of lackeys.

While the three of them were all changing color, the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet did not give them more time to consider. It stomped its cyan wooden spear onto the ground, emerald energy surging across its body, and it let out a low roar as its hulking figure shot forward.

Behind it, the Cyan Spirit Puppet at the first transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage also followed with its group of lackeys.

Clang!

Twin blades flashed into Li Luo's hands. He took a deep breath, suppressing all his previous shock, and said in a low voice, "The situation has changed. Act according to the second plan we formulated earlier."

As his voice fell, his figure retreated rapidly toward the right, while Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng moved together to create distance toward the left.

Cyan light flickered in the eyes of the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet. Facing the three who had separated, it did not hesitate to charge straight at Li Luo, because in its perception, Li Luo posed the greatest threat among the three.

Meanwhile, the Cyan Spirit Puppet at the first transformation of the Phase Transformation Stage led the other puppets in pursuit of Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng.

Li Luo, who was retreating rapidly, did not distract himself to focus on Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng. Their strength might be slightly weaker, but by relying on their coordination and displaying the uniqueness of their respective resonances, they should still be able to stall those Cyan Spirit Puppets for some time. What he had to do now was to defeat this high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet as quickly as possible within this timeframe; otherwise, this attempt would end in failure.

Although he could absorb the experience and wait for tomorrow if he failed this time, that would mean losing a day's worth of Cyan Spirit energy.

Who knew, perhaps when the time came to break through to the Phase Transformation Stage, he would really be missing just this little bit?

The path of cultivation is, after all, an accumulation bit by bit.

As Li Luo's thoughts raced, energy fluctuations were already whistling ahead. The high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet pursued him, its wooden spear transforming into a sheet of cyan light. Within the cyan light, it actually condensed into individual cyan birds; the birds spread their wings and dove down.

Clang!

The two resonance palaces within Li Luo's body hummed and vibrated at this moment, and resonance power surged out like two streams. Resonance power condensed upon his twin blades, and then the blade light turned, clashing with the cyan bird spear-tip of the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet as fast as lightning.

Clang, clang, clang!

Sparks flew, the sound of metal clashing rang out, and waves of energy impacts bloomed before Li Luo like fireworks.

In just a few short breaths, the two sides clashed dozens of times.

And in this head-on collision, although Li Luo's body trembled, his feet did not retreat a single step. This caused a smile to gradually appear at the corners of his lips. The strength of this high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet might not compare to the top-tier experts of the second transformation like Zhao Jiyang and the others, but this clash made him understand that the resonance power contained within his two current resonance palaces was already not inferior to some ordinary second-transformation Phase Transformation Stage experts.

"If that's the case, then it's a bit simpler..."

Li Luo gripped the hilts of his twin blades tightly. The next instant, the resonance power bubbles in his resonance palaces, which had increased from four to seven, suddenly shattered. The resonance power contained within them acted like external reinforcements, causing the resonance power fluctuations surging through his body to rise by a notch out of thin air.

Clang!

Blade and spear collided, and two streams of resonance power surged. This time, the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet actually shuddered, and its spear-tip was directly deflected away.

However, Li Luo's figure slid back more than a dozen steps as a result. He locked his gaze on the high-grade Cyan Spirit Puppet, and saw water-like radiance flowing across his blades. He lowered his eyes slightly and said softly, "A resonance art I just mastered; I invite you to taste it."

His blade light slashed down suddenly.

Whoosh!

In that instant, it was as if the sound of flowing water could be heard. As Li Luo slashed down with this blade, a water-radiance blade light of about several feet long whistled out like a crescent moon. Where the water-radiance blade light passed, a piercing sound of tearing through the air rang out.

That blade was brilliant and dazzling; within the blade light, it seemed as if ten thousand water currents were shrieking, and the astonishing flow rate brought with it astonishing lethality.

Even the several Purple-Glory Tutors on the high platform revealed a trace of subtle surprise in their eyes.

"This is... an advancement of the Water Radiance Art, the Thousand-Flow Water Blade Art?"