Chapter 468: A Single Blade

Within the mountain forest, the fires of war were rising, intense and chaotic.

All three paths leading to the Spirit Gathering Altar were erupting with extremely violent fluctuations of resonant power.

As time passed, teams from other academies finally began to appear in this area. They first cast heated gazes at the sky-filling glow blooming in the depths of the mountain range, then turned their eyes toward the locations where the battles had broken out.

They did not immediately participate in the fighting.

Firstly, they had arrived too hastily and their teams were not yet fully assembled; secondly, intervening at this moment might cause the two sides to stop fighting and turn their hands against them. Therefore, the smart ones were currently holding back, quietly waiting for the situation to develop.

The best outcome would be for both sides to suffer mutual losses, allowing them to pick up the spoils.

More gazes, however, were gathered on that sea of forest, because it was the most conspicuous, and everyone could clearly see that it was the main battlefield, especially the... dual resonance displayed by the chief captain of the Astral Sage College.

This left them secretly shocked; previously, no one knew that the Astral Sage College had actually hidden such a trump card.

Fighting three against one without falling into the slightest disadvantage—such combat power was simply astonishing.

However, as more and more teams from other academies were attracted to the scene, this drawn-out situation was not favorable for the Astral Sage College.

Only by cutting the Gordian knot and revealing power sufficient to shock the heart could they extinguish the greed of the other academy teams.

But, did the Astral Sage College really possess such power?

Above the lush sea of forest, mountain winds swept past, whipping the trees as if forming rolling waves of emerald green.

Four figures stepped on the green waves, wrapped in powerful resonant power. The piercing sound of wind-breaking echoed through the mountain forest like muffled thunder. Every explosion of resonant power directly sheared off the tops of several large trees.

As the battle continued, this vast sea of forest had been carved out with several hollow areas.

"Golden Vine Fist Seal!"

Zhao Xingying's expression was sharp. He threw a punch, and as golden light whistled, streaks of golden vines roared out, rapidly condensing together to form a fist seal several zhang in size, carrying immense force as it smashed toward Li Luo.

Yet, facing Zhao Xingying's attack, Li Luo's expression remained calm. Holding the Profound Elephant Blade, he drew a shimmering blade light and slashed downward.

*Schi-la. *

The Golden Vine Fist Seal was directly split in two, dissipating into a sky full of golden light spots.

Seeing this, Zhao Xingying's mouth twitched slightly. Staring at the somewhat mottled straight blade in Li Luo's hand, his eyes revealed annoyance and wariness.

His Golden Vine resonance possessed the characteristic of being indestructible, yet his repeated offensives had all been shattered by the power of Li Luo's blade. That blade carried some kind of divine power; Li Luo's seemingly light swing still erupted with quite astonishing force.

Clearly, the blade in Li Luo's hand must be a Golden Eye Treasure, and a top-grade one at that!

Li Luo was already troublesome for possessing dual resonances; now, holding such a divine weapon, he was even more of a headache.

The figures of Zheng Fuxing and Ding Chi appeared on the left and right sides of Zhao Xingying. At this moment, their expressions were also filled with gravity. After the previous exchanges, they had deeply experienced the prowess of the Li Luo before them.

Even with the three of them joining forces, they had failed to gain the slightest advantage.

No matter what violent joint offensives they unleashed, they were all neutralized by Li Luo.

Moreover, they could sense that Li Luo was looking for an opportunity to defeat them one by one, because in a one-on-one confrontation, none of them were Li Luo's match. Only by joining forces could they mitigate Li Luo's offensive.

Fortunately, although it was their first time working together, all three possessed rich combat experience, so they quickly formed a preliminary tacit understanding, which prevented Li Luo's plan from ever being realized.

But the three also understood that with their combined strength, they truly might not be able to crush Li Luo.

Zhao Xingying's eyes flickered. He suddenly swept a glance at the surrounding mountain forest, where he could see some teams from other academies watching. He pondered slightly and suddenly shouted: "Friends from other academies, if you are interested in this medium-sized Spirit Gathering Altar, you can choose to cooperate with us now. We can distribute the spoils according to contribution afterward!"

Since the three of them could not defeat Li Luo, then they would stir the situation up even more.

As long as a few more academies joined in now, he believed that even Li Luo would not be able to hold out.

Zhao Xingying's loud shout echoed through the mountain forest, causing some teams to stir slightly. Previously, they had not dared to intervene casually, fearing that these two sides would suddenly turn to deal with them. Now that Zhao Xingying was issuing an invitation, it was a good opportunity.

However, they did not make a decision immediately; clearly, they were still hesitant.

Li Luo also did not expect Zhao Xingying to be so straightforward, and he couldn't help but smile: "Looking for more helpers? You won't be able to share many drops of Heavenly Spirit Dew."

"Better than nothing," Zhao Xingying said indifferently.

"Chief Captain Li Luo, more and more teams are arriving here now, and the situation is already very chaotic. Are you really not going to consider my previous proposal? As long as you are willing to share some of this Spirit Gathering Altar with us, our alliance will naturally be worry-free," he asked.

Li Luo smiled and shook his head.

"It's about time," he suddenly said.

Zhao Xingying looked over with cold eyes: "What is 'about time'?"

"There are enough people now," Li Luo said, pointing at the teams watching the battle.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Xingying said slowly.

Li Luo answered earnestly: "There weren't many people before, and even if I defeated you, word-of-mouth might not be enough to deter others. So I thought that when there are more people, the effect will be better."

Zhao Xingying couldn't help but laugh in anger: "Does Chief Captain Li Luo mean that you were just playing with us earlier?"

"That's not it. You're being too self-deprecating. It's not playing, but you could call it a warm-up," Li Luo explained.

Afterward, he ignored the rising anger in the eyes of the three, his expression instead becoming increasingly calm. His five fingers slowly tightened around the slightly rough hilt of the Profound Elephant Blade.

Within his body, his resonant power bubbles had been cultivated to the realm where he could condense eleven of them, just one short of the highest level.

However, among these eleven resonant power bubbles, two were poison bubbles, which he dared not use casually.

As for the other nine resonant power bubbles, seven of them shattered at this moment.

Rolling resonant power whistled out from within them, and at the same time, powerful resonant power rose within Li Luo's two resonance palaces.

The two streams of resonant power rapidly collided and merged.

The power of dual resonances!

Li Luo's gaze was like water. Suddenly, an extremely powerful resonant power erupted from his body. The resonant power flowed, gradually covering the Profound Elephant Blade in his hand. On the blade, the resonant power flowed like water ripples, yet carried a soaring vitality.

The Golden Jade Profound Elephant Blade emitted a faint humming sound at this moment.

It felt like a kind of faint satisfaction.

And as the blade vibrated, a blue-and-emerald resonant power halo condensed and circled the blade.

"Unity Realm?!"

As soon as this resonant power halo appeared, the expressions of Zhao Xingying and the others changed abruptly; clearly, they had a discerning eye.

"If you can take this blade, what harm is there in giving the Spirit Gathering Altar to you?"

But Li Luo did not give them too much time to be shocked. He spoke plainly, gripped the hilt, and then slashed down.

"Thousand Flowing Water Blade Art."

The calm voice rang out, as if it didn't carry a single ripple.

But as this calm voice fell, ripples bloomed in the heavens and earth. In that instant, it was as if a ray of light emerged from the clouds, blinding and brilliant.

It was a stream of water-like blade light about ten-odd zhang in size.

The blade light swept out, and the sea of forest was instantly leveled.

In this instant, a look of horror rose in the eyes of the many onlookers.