Chapter 951: Li Luo's Prestige Rises

At a place some distance from the valley, Li Luo and the others came to a halt, their gazes looking toward the valley in the distance. An astonishing surge of energy erupted there, the earth shook and mountains swayed, and cracks kept spreading out like giant pythons, razing patches of forest to the ground.

Clearly, Zhao Yan and the others had also gone all-out, rushing to rescue Zhao Zhao Fengxu, Zhao Zhao Shenjiang, and the rest.

"Should we take this chance to launch a sneak attack?" The one who spoke was Lu Ze, the previous Jin Guang banner leader. Feeling the tremors from the valley, a sinister glint swirled in his eyes.

Li Luo, however, shook his head upon hearing this and said, "If we truly push Zhao Yan into a corner where he fights like a cornered beast, we'll pay a price too. The main reason he was willing to step back this time was the timing. If the Spirit Phase Cave Heaven were about to end, I doubt he'd have come to rescue them. On the contrary, swallowing the Dragon's Blood lineage whole would be a great merit."

Li Li Fuling and the others also nodded. They had already been quite lucky this time; if they kept pressing Zhao Yan, he might truly throw caution to the wind and fight them to the death, which would end up costing more than it gained.

"This time we really have Third Brother to thank. Otherwise, all five of our Sky Dragon lineages would have fallen into a disadvantage. When the time came to face the joint assault of the 'Guardian Spirit,' Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage, and Yanmodian, even if we could escape in the end, we'd still suffer considerable casualties." Li Li Jingtao sighed.

No one could deny this. Even Li Li Fuling, the nominal leader of the Dragon Fang lineage's team, set aside her usual reserve and said to Li Luo with a pleasant expression, "Cousin Li Luo not only saved our Dragon Fang lineage's team this time, the other four lineages owe him the same favor."

Whether the other four lineages acknowledged this favor or not, Li Luo didn't really care—after all, he had only acted out of self-preservation.

"How many drops of 'Spirit Phase Golden Dew' did we collect this time?" Li Luo asked about what concerned him most.

Li Li Fengyi immediately replied, "We collected fifty-two drops of 'Spirit Phase Golden Dew' in total. It could have been more, but some fell inside the valley, and we didn't dare go in to retrieve them."

The others couldn't help but show joy at this—clearly the haul far exceeded their expectations. Originally, they had thought getting twenty drops of 'Spirit Phase Golden Dew' would have been the best possible outcome.

Li Luo also nodded slightly. Fifty-two drops was indeed not few, but for them it was still far from enough. After all, their Dragon Fang lineage had more than ten people on this trip; even if only half of them ultimately got the chance to ascend the 'Golden Dew Platform,' they'd still need over two hundred drops of 'Spirit Phase Golden Dew.'

But there was no rush—after all, the Spirit Phase Cave Heaven had only just begun, and there was plenty of time to gather more later.

"Send the signal, notify the other four lineages to rendezvous with us here. Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's team is still in the area, and if we stay scattered, it's easy for them to pick us off one by one." Li Luo looked at Li Li Fuling again and said.

After the previous upheaval, Li Luo's authority within the team had undoubtedly shot straight up. Even Li Li Fuling had begun to take his suggestions seriously, so upon hearing this she immediately took out a signal, activated it with her essence blood, and sent it out.

A dragon shadow appeared in the sky, winding and drifting—visible clearly for a hundred li.

About ten minutes or so after the signal was sent, the sound of breaking wind rose from the distance one after another. Over a dozen figures flapping energy dragon wings tore through the sky and landed in front of Li Luo and the others.

Li Luo's gaze swept over them and he saw Lu Lu Qingmei among them—clearly the Dragon Scale lineage had arrived first.

"Li Fuling, what on earth happened on your side?" Li Guan, the leader of the Dragon Scale lineage, spoke up the moment he landed, clearly having been itching to ask for a long time.

The rest of the Dragon Scale lineage were also full of astonishment.

"Was it because of Miss Li Lingjing?" Li Guan looked toward Li Li Lingjing. On the Dragon Fang lineage's side, the most unfathomable person was the latter. If it was because of her, that would seem to explain it.

Li Li Lingjing smiled faintly upon hearing this and said, "Although I'd love to take more credit, this matter really has little to do with me. The greatest credit, of course, goes to our handsome little cousin Li Luo."

At these words, Li Guan and the others immediately turned incredulous gazes toward Li Luo. Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage and Yanmodian's setback this time was actually because of Li Luo? How could that be!

Li Li Fuling then spoke up and briefly recounted what had happened.

Then the Dragon Scale lineage's people fell somewhat silent, their eyes full of shock.

"There's no need for surprise, everyone. It was just good luck. The first wave of Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's team that came over happened to be besieged by the 'Guardian Spirit,' so Zhao Yan came to rescue them, only to find the 'Guardian Spirit' was too strong. Worried we'd cause trouble from the side, he could only compromise and retreat." Li Luo said with a smile.

He spoke of it lightly, but the Dragon Scale lineage's people didn't believe a word of it. What do you mean, happened to be besieged by the 'Guardian Spirit,' and the 'Guardian Spirit' was too strong? Behind every one of these "accidents," there had to be something more.

Lu Lu Qingmei's bright eyes gazed toward the distant valley, where the energy ripples were gradually subsiding. The next moment, they all saw figures rising into the air one after another.

The one in the lead was precisely Zhao Yan. But what made Li Guan, Lu Lu Qingmei, and the others' hearts skip a beat was that some of Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's people behind Zhao Yan all bore extremely conspicuous wounds—some had even lost hands or feet, looking utterly wretched.

"Such heavy injuries? Just how large a 'Guardian Spirit' did they run into?" The Dragon Scale lineage's people's brows were all twitching. At this moment, they seemed to understand what Li Luo meant by the 'Guardian Spirit' being too strong.

Zhao Yan's cold, killing-intent-filled gaze also shot over from afar. Of course, that gaze landed almost entirely on Li Luo—it was obvious he hated Li Luo to the extreme.

"The Dragon Scale lineage's people have arrived."

But then Zhao Yan also saw the Dragon Scale lineage's people, and his face grew even darker. He had originally wanted to see if there was a chance to settle the score with Li Luo first, but the Dragon Scale lineage's arrival completely killed that idea—after all, Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's people had already withdrawn from the mountain forest.

"Let's go!"

A single word burst from between Zhao Yan's teeth. Then, his face contorted savagely, he turned and channeled his phase power, tearing through the sky toward the outside of the mountain forest.

Zhao Zhao Jingyu's eyes were bloodshot, and he stared fiercely at Li Luo like a vicious wolf, looking as though he wanted to fight him to the death. After all, he was truly bitter at heart—last time he'd given Li Luo five dragon fangs, and this time it was even more outrageous: the "Nether Thunder Talisman Arrows" he'd just bought hadn't even been in his possession for a day before they went straight into Li Luo's pockets.

He wasn't usually this generous even when showing filial piety to his own father!

"Let's go. The things are over there. If there's a chance later, I'll help you take them back from his corpse." Zhao Zhao Shenjiang didn't look at Li Luo, only said this to Zhao Zhao Jingyu, then followed after Zhao Yan.

However, Zhao Zhao Jingyu, who knew Zhao Zhao Shenjiang well, knew that the latter also hated Li Luo to the extreme this time.

So he took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and followed Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's team, retreating quickly.

And not long after all of Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage's people had withdrawn, the Dragon Blood, Dragon Bone, and Dragon Horn lineages' teams also came streaking in from various parts of the mountain forest, finally rendezvousing at the place where Li Luo and the others were.

"Where are Zhao Yan and the others?" Li Li Wuyuan asked, murderous aura surging.

Li Luo pointed in a direction and said, "They left first. If you go chase them now, you can still catch up."

Li Li Wuyuan's mouth twitched. Then he looked at Li Li Lingjing, just about to speak, but the latter had already sighed and said, "Don't ask anymore, it has nothing to do with me. The greatest credit for your being able to escape this time goes to Li Luo."

Li Li Fengyi, looking rather pleased with herself, picked up the conversation and repeated the story again. Then she deliberately looked at Li Li Hongli and said, "If it weren't for Li Luo, your Dragon Blood lineage would definitely have suffered casualties this time. Who knows, you might not even be here."

Li Li Hongli's face went pale. She wanted to retort, but realized this scenario was indeed possible. After all, in the Dragon Blood lineage's team, her strength was only mid-tier, so if a truly major upheaval had occurred, she might not have been able to protect herself.

So in the end she could only swallow the words in her mouth and silently stand where she was.

The others also fell silent. No one could deny Li Luo's contributions this time. If not for him turning the tide, even if they could ultimately retreat, they would definitely have paid a considerable price.

In the end, the Dragon Bone and Dragon Horn lineages' people all cupped their fists toward Li Luo in thanks. On the Dragon Blood lineage's side, Li Li Wuyuan also took a deep breath and said, "Dragon Head Li Luo is truly extraordinary—to be able to turn around such a dire situation. Our Dragon Blood lineage also offers thanks this time."

Li Li Fuling snorted coldly and said, "Our Dragon Fang lineage would never do something like using and scheming against our companions."

Her words carried a hint of anger, clearly referring to the Dragon Blood lineage's earlier act of using a strange formation to divert the 'Guardian Spirit' to other areas, secretly borrowing the other lineages' strength to share the pressure for them.

Faced with Li Li Fuling's words, Li Li Wuyuan's expression flickered between dark and light, and he could only brace himself and say, "We weren't aware of this matter either. It must have been because of the strange formation—when we arrived, no one told us about this either."

In front of the other lineages, Li Li Wuyuan didn't dare admit to it—after all, the situation on the other lineages' side wasn't as obvious as on the Dragon Fang lineage's side.

The Dragon Scale, Dragon Bone, and Dragon Horn lineages' people also glanced at Li Li Wuyuan without speaking. In fact, they had also vaguely noticed something about the 'Guardian Spirit' being diverted, but since the number diverted to their side wasn't excessive, they didn't want to make trouble with the Dragon Blood lineage over it.

However, even so, the other three lineages inevitably had some grudge in their hearts. This would invisibly affect Li Li Wuyuan's prestige. From now on, if Li Li Wuyuan wanted to mobilize the other three lineages' strength again, it might not be as easy as at the start.

But Li Li Wuyuan had no choice. If everything had gone smoothly this time, even if the other lineages had learned of these tricks, they could only swallow it—after all, they had also benefited from it. But no one had expected it to end up like this.

So Li Li Wuyuan could only brace himself and ignore the gazes from the other three lineages.

Li Luo smiled faintly and didn't say much more on this, instead saying, "Since everyone's gathered, let's set off together and leave. We don't want Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage and Yanmodian's teams to join up and make trouble for us again."

The other lineages also agreed upon hearing this. With Zhao Li Tianwang's lineage watching covetously, they still couldn't afford to be too scattered for now.

"Let's go."

As the words fell, Li Luo had already flapped his energy dragon wings first, heading out of the mountain forest.

Behind him, the teams of the various branches immediately followed; only the Dragon Bloodline group felt slightly unaccustomed to this, after all, in the past, the various branches had always followed them.

Li Li Wuyuan's expression shifted restlessly; in the end, he could only spit out a breath of pent-up frustration and lead his group to follow.