Chapter 529: The Two Women Join Forces

Rubble and giant rocks tumbled down continuously, dust filling the air.

Li Luo stared at the long trail of trenches ahead and couldn't help swallowing hard. Jiang Qing'e's strike just now had truly been far too ferocious—the black-armored figure, whose strength was suspected to be at the Evil Palace realm, had barely managed any resistance at all before being crushed and routed in one overwhelming sweep.

While Li Luo was still marveling, the brilliant resonant power surging around Jiang Qing'e faded somewhat. Her golden eyes turned toward him with a trace of worry as she asked, "Are you alright?"

Li Luo smiled and shook his head, still somewhat shaken as he said, "Almost wasn't. That guy was way too insidious, hiding here to ambush me."

Being set up by an Evil Palace realm expert had genuinely startled Li Luo, but fortunately he had kept his cool and hadn't panicked.

"It was our carelessness—we didn't account for the possibility that other people still existed within this city," Jiang Qing'e said, her willow-leaf brows slightly furrowed.

"Still, you did very well. Facing a sneak attack from an Evil Palace realm expert, you were actually able to set up the Purification Boundary."

There was a note of admiration in Jiang Qing'e's voice. In truth, she had been keeping close watch on Li Luo's situation the whole time. Facing that Evil Palace realm expert's ambush, Li Luo's response could only be called exceptionally flawless.

In that situation, he hadn't thought to flee first, but instead met the difficulty head-on. Taking advantage of the opponent's underestimation, he used a Zhang Yan Fa trick to activate the last Purification Spirit Pearl.

Li Luo smiled, then looked toward the ruins, his expression growing much more Solemn: "Actually, what I care about more is—what faction does this guy belong to, and why was he trying to stop me?"

Jiang Qing'e gave a slight nod; this was likewise the point she herself was most concerned about.

Immediately she raised her jade hand, and a surge of mighty light-element resonant power swept out like a flood, directly sweeping away all those massive boulders. Yet as the boulders were cleared, both she and Li Luo's gazes hardened.

Because beneath the boulders, all they saw was half a broken suit of black armor—the black-armored figure himself was nowhere to be found.

"A golden cicada shedding its shell?" Li Luo exclaimed in shock.

Jiang Qing'e's figure appeared amid the ruins. Using her heavy sword, she flipped up the broken half of the black armor. Strange light patterns flowed across its surface, seemingly forming some rather eerie sigils.

"He really did escape. This suit of black armor is inscribed with a special escape resonant technique—he must have used it to slip away in the instant he was buried. But he probably can't have gotten far by now." Her gaze gradually sharpened as she began scanning the surroundings.

"Forget it, no time to tangle with him now—the mission comes first." Li Luo stopped her. The opponent was far too slippery; tangling with him would cost who knows how much time, and what mattered most to them right now was still that Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent.

Hearing this, Jiang Qing'e hesitated slightly, but still nodded. Li Luo wasn't wrong. Although the Purification Boundary could temporarily suppress the anomalies within the city, its duration was quite limited. If they didn't use this window to deal with the most troublesome Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent, once the other anomalies awakened, they would inevitably be drawn over by the serpent—and then the trouble would be theirs.

As for that black-armored figure, although he had escaped earlier, she believed her strike must have gravely wounded him. That guy should be a startled bird right now, not daring to show himself easily.

As for whether that fellow might hide and sabotage the Purification Boundary, there was no need to worry about that for now. The things the Academy Alliance had carefully prepared—if they could be destroyed so easily, that would be far too great an insult to their handiwork.

"Then I'll go help the Princess first. Be careful on your own."

Jiang Qing'e didn't hesitate either. After giving Li Luo that reminder, her figure transformed into a streak of light that shot skyward. Then light blazed across heaven and earth as she, carrying the vast and mighty force of light-element resonant power, plunged straight into the battlefield at the city center where the fighting had reached a fever pitch.

Li Luo leapt up onto the Gao Ta, keeping watch on his surroundings while also observing that battlefield.

After all, a scene of the Princess and Jiang Qing'e joining forces was a rare sight.

These were the two most outstanding girls of this generation at Shengxuan Star Academy.

In the battlefield at the city center, with Jiang Qing'e's arrival, the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent clearly sensed some threat. At once, a savage, twisted expression burst across its eerily beautiful face, and the demonic eye on its brow flickered with a faint, blood-red glow.

"Qing'e, you're here!" The Princess was quite delighted by Jiang Qing'e's arrival.

Jiang Qing'e gave a slight nod and said, "Your Highness, I'll help suppress it somewhat, but the main force still has to come from you."

Hearing this, the Princess's phoenix eyes immediately lit up, and she praised, "Qing'e, you really are impressive."

One had to know that Jiang Qing'e's current strength was, after all, still only at the Earth Evil General rank. In terms of level, this was considerably weaker than both the Princess and the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent, yet she could still declare that she would suppress the latter to some degree. Such a feat—if one didn't know Jiang Qing'e's character and her disdain for lying—even the Princess herself would have found it a bit hard to believe.

Jiang Qing'e smiled, said no more, and her slender jade hands rapidly formed hand seals.

"Guang Yao Zhi Zhong Jie!"

One saw the very same crowd-control resonant technique that had earlier suppressed the entire city being deployed by her once more. Only this time, the Guang Yao Zhi Zhong Jie she unleashed did not spread outward, but instead rapidly contracted.

In the span of barely a dozen breaths, it shrank from a range of several hundred zhang down to just over ten zhang.

Seen from afar, it looked like a halo descending from the heavens.

And at the center of that halo was the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent.

Within this halo, the light-element resonant power was so dense it reached an extreme—even beginning to condense into liquid light, like a holy rain of radiance pouring down, purifying all impurity from the world.

And the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent, caught within this domain, immediately let out a piercing shriek. As the rain of light fell, the malevolent energy churning across its body violently roiled—like a basin of cold water splashed into a hot wok.

"What a fine 'Guang Yao Zhi Zhong Jie.'"

Li Luo, watching from afar, couldn't help exclaiming in admiration.

Guang Yao Zhi Zhong Jie—a powerful Dragon General Art, mid-grade yet comparable to high-grade.

Li Luo recalled that this had been what his father had sought out for Sister Qing'e back then, and it had cost no small price. After all, the value of a Dragon General Art was already considerable, let alone a resonant technique comparable to a high-grade Dragon General Art—even within the House Luolan Mansion's library, it counted as top-tier, with extremely few copies in existence.

All these years, Jiang Qing'e had painstakingly cultivated this art, and truly could be said to have brought it to a remarkably profound level.

Add to that the amplification from her own "Ninth-Grade Light Spirit Envoy," and the power was all the more breathtaking.

No wonder she dared, with the strength of the Extreme Evil realm, to suppress and weaken that Minor Calamity-grade Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent. Although part of it was due to light-element resonant power's natural countering of the creature, it was still more than enough to demonstrate the astonishing nature of her methods.

Li Luo wasn't the only one full of admiration. The Princess at this moment likewise had delight blooming in her phoenix eyes—Jiang Qing'e's suppression was even more effective than she had imagined, which made her affection and appreciation for Jiang Qing'e grow all the stronger.

"Qing'e, thank you. From here on, leave it to me."

The Princess let out a charming laugh. Her strength had never been inferior to the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent to begin with, and now that the latter had been weakened by Jiang Qing'e, it was time for her to take the stage.

The Princess gripped her jade-green scepter. Behind her, seven dazzling Heavenly Pearls slowly rotated, and the energy of heaven and earth seemed to howl in like a flood, being wholly drawn in by the seven Heavenly Pearls, then transformed into vast resonant power and poured entirely into the Princess's body.

An incomparably astonishing wave of energy radiated outward from within her.

The entire town of Zhenjiang seemed to tremble at this moment.

After witnessing Jiang Qing'e's performance, the Princess clearly had no intention of holding back either.

With one hand forming seals and the other gripping her jade-green scepter, she seemed to use the scepter as a brush, tracing stroke after stroke of resonant-power marks across the void. These marks resembled certain sigils, inscribed into empty space out of nothing.

Vast resonant power then poured into them.

The next instant, azure light bloomed, illuminating the horizon.

One saw those sigils seem to come alive, intertwining with one another, and finally forming two azure light-jiaos. The tails of the light-jiaos crossed, becoming a single enormous Azure Jiao Light-Shear.

A deafening dragon's roar rang out in response.

Rising at the same time was the Princess's clear, ringing cry.

"High-grade Dragon General Art—Azure Jiao Shear!"

The Azure Jiao Light-Shear hummed and quivered, howling downward. As the void shattered, it had already enveloped the Four-Armed Demon-Eye Serpent, then, carrying overwhelming killing intent, sheared down with a thunderous crash.