Chapter 977: Distress Signal

The chaos within the Golden Hall did not last long before someone began to notice that the hall seemed to be gradually fading, becoming illusory—clearly a sign that the Golden Hall was about to disappear.

Li Luo and Li Li Lingjing did not linger either. They exited the Golden Hall and watched as the hall gradually became illusory before their eyes, then vanished completely.

Everyone found this scene quite peculiar, because everything they had encountered within the hall earlier had felt extremely real, yet now it seemed as if it had all been nothing but an illusion.

Li Luo, however, was lost in thought. This so-called "illusion" was likely the work of the "Faceless Holy Sect." The Golden Hall might not actually exist here, but rather had been projected here by the Faceless Holy Sect through some other means.

Yet the "Spirit Phase Golden Dew" obtained from this place was genuinely real. Faced with such a miraculous divine ability, Li Luo could only sigh in admiration that the "Faceless Holy Sect" truly lived up to its reputation as a colossal power that had once dominated an entire era.

In terms of scale and foundation, even a Li Tianwang-level faction like their Li Li Tianwang branch was likely a notch below.

Li Luo withdrew his gaze and said to Li Li Lingjing with a smile: "Let's go. Now that we've gathered enough Spirit Phase Golden Dew, we can head to the Golden Dew Platform."

His voice was full of anticipation, because his entire plan this time hinged on that Golden Dew Platform.

There, he would not only complete his breakthrough this time, but his own resonance might also be elevated as a result.

So this time, if he could achieve his desired breakthrough, the increase in his strength would be tremendous.

Li Li Lingjing naturally responded with a light laugh. She held her Green Bamboo Azure Snake Staff, looking quite relaxed.

Afterward, Li Luo also said a word to Zhu Zhu Dayu and Zhu Zhu nearby, first thanking them for their protection earlier. However, the two parties did not continue traveling together, but each went their own way. Because there were three Golden Dew Platforms, splitting up their targets would save them some unnecessary competition later.

Thus, after parting ways, Li Luo and Li Li Lingjing set off directly into the distance.

The two did not stop at all along the way this time. Even when they occasionally spotted traces of Spirit Phase Golden Dew, they couldn't be bothered to harvest it. After all, they had reaped a bountiful harvest within the Golden Hall—not only enough to qualify them to ascend the Golden Dew Platform, but with plenty to spare.

With no further needs, their journey was naturally smooth and unimpeded.

Until they took a rest, Li Luo took the opportunity to use his Small Faceless Fire to refine some "Spirit Phase Golden Dew" into golden crystals. Then he said to Li Li Lingjing with a beaming smile: "Cousin Li Lingjing, hold out your hand, I'll give you a treasure."

Li Li Lingjing glanced at him in confusion, but she did not refuse. She simply extended her slender, fair little hand with a smile.

"Taking advantage of your older cousin will get you a beating, you know." Li Li Lingjing waved her Green Bamboo Azure Snake Staff with her other hand, saying teasingly.

Li Luo pursed his lips and placed a golden crystal into her hand.

Li Li Lingjing looked at the golden crystal in her hand, curiously holding it up before her eyes. She could sense an extremely pure power surging within it.

That power felt somewhat familiar, seemingly like Spirit Phase Golden Dew, yet even purer than Spirit Phase Golden Dew.

"Try absorbing it," Li Luo said.

If some stranger had handed her some inexplicable thing and told her to absorb it, Li Li Lingjing would probably have just smiled sweetly, pocketed it, then swung her staff at him in return, bashing his brains out.

But since the person in question was Li Luo, Li Li Lingjing felt a measure of trust. So she did as he said, circulating her resonance power to refine and absorb the golden crystal.

A moment later, she opened her eyes, her gaze filled with intense astonishment.

"My resonance seems to have become a bit purer... This thing's effect on enhancing resonance seems no less than that of an eighth-grade Spiritual Water Marvel."

Li Li Lingjing currently possessed a lower ninth-grade Mysterious Snake resonance. At this level of resonance, it was actually very difficult to rely on Spiritual Water Marvels anymore. According to Li Li Lingjing's needs, she would need at the very least the finest among eighth-grade Spiritual Water Marvels to achieve even the slightest, most negligible improvement to her resonance.

As for ninth-grade Spiritual Water Marvels, that was even more unthinkable. Such rare treasures were astronomically expensive. Not to mention she only had the backing of the West Ling Li Shi—even as a direct descendant of the Five Dragon Veins, she would likely struggle to enjoy such a thing.

Precisely because of this, she was surprised when she discovered that the golden crystal Li Luo had handed her possessed such an effect.

Li Luo said with a beaming smile: "Pretty good stuff, right?"

Li Li Lingjing nodded with a light laugh, but she did not ask Li Luo where he had gotten it.

Li Luo was just about to speak when his expression suddenly shifted. He gazed toward the distant sky, where he saw a streak of light bloom on the horizon, vaguely forming into a lifelike giant dragon coiled in the air.

And the dragon's fangs appeared especially glaring.

"Dragon Fang Shadow?"

Li Luo's expression changed slightly at the sight of this light, because this was their Dragon Fang Vein's distress signal. In other words, was someone from the Dragon Fang Vein in danger?

Was it Second Sister or Big Brother?

The energy dragon wings on Li Luo's back instantly unfurled. With a violent flap, they kicked up a gust of wind as he shot skyward.

Li Li Lingjing, meanwhile, stepped through the air, following close behind.

The two pushed their speed to the limit, not daring to pause for even a moment, racing at top speed toward the location where the distress signal had been sent.

After roughly half a good while, they finally neared the signal's location.

It was within a rather secluded mountain valley. Judging by the density of the world's natural energy here, the valley likely produced a considerable amount of "Spirit Phase Golden Dew."

However, Li Luo paid no attention to this, instead casting his gaze into the valley.

At that moment, extremely violent energy fluctuations were emanating from within—clearly an intense clash was underway.

Li Luo's gaze swept across, and he immediately saw that the battle was split into two areas. Within them, he spotted the figures of Li Li Fengyi, Li Li Jingtao, and Deng Deng Fengxian.

These three squads had clearly converged together.

But what surprised Li Luo was that in both battle circles, there was only a single enemy.

The person being attacked by Li Li Fengyi, Li Li Jingtao, and Deng Deng Fengxian together was a girl wearing a pale red dress. The girl was extremely beautiful, and behind her, two resplendent Tian Zhu blazed brilliantly, inhaling and exhaling the world's natural energy.

She wielded a fiery red jade ruler, and an extremely powerful resonance power flowed around her. What surprised Li Luo most was that this resonance power was wind and fire resonance power.

In other words, this girl actually possessed both wind and fire resonances!

Relying on her strength at the Two Star Tian Zhu Jing and these dual wind and fire resonances, although she was alone, her combat power was extremely ferocious. Instead, she had Li Li Fengyi's group of three in quite a sorry state.

Li Li Jingtao's side could withstand her assault, but this girl was also extremely clever. She had clearly suffered losses from Li Li Jingtao's terrifying defense before, so she directed most of her attacks toward Li Li Fengyi's side, clearly intending to break through from there.

Thus, although Li Li Fengyi's group of three had the numerical advantage, they were instead being driven into an increasingly sorry state.

The other battle circle was even more explosive, because this was a battle at the High Star Tian Zhu Jing level.

Li Li Fuling, Lu Ze, and others—a total of three—were simultaneously attacking a man. Although the man's appearance was ordinary, the eight resplendent Tian Zhu revealed behind him displayed his own terrifying strength.

As his sleeves swept, they kicked up towering yellow sand, as if transforming into yellow dragons, entangling Li Li Fuling's group of three so they could not break free.

"A man at the Eight Star Tian Zhu Jing... a girl with dual wind and fire resonances..."

Li Luo watched the battle in the field, some intelligence flashing through his mind, and he immediately guessed the opponents' identities.

These two should be from the Tian Yuan Ancient Academy.

The man was named Senior Zong Sha, the leader of the Tian Yuan Ancient Academy this time, while the younger girl should be named Jiang Jiang Wanyu, who possessed dual wind and fire resonances.

Judging by the situation, the two sides should have clashed over the Spirit Phase Golden Dew produced in the valley, and then gotten into a fight.

"Truly worthy of being top students of Tianyuan Ancient Academy." Li Luo secretly praised in his heart. Even with inferior numbers, these two had instead forced Li Li Fuling, Li Li Fengyi, and the others to send out a distress signal.

Of course, the reason they sent the signal was perhaps more to prevent the other side from also calling people over to help.

"Cousin Li Lingjing, split them apart." Li Luo called out to Li Li Lingjing, then his figure moved, darting toward where Li Li Fengyi and the others were.

And Li Li Lingjing charged toward the battle circle on Li Li Fuling's side.

The moment the two of them moved, it immediately drew the attention of everyone in the valley. When Li Li Fengyi caught sight of Li Luo's figure, she was overjoyed at once: "Little brother, hurry and help us deal with her!"

Jiang Jiang Wanyu, who was currently entangled in combat with them, saw Li Luo darting over. Her willow brows knitted slightly, then her sandalwood lips parted, and crimson fire swept out, while at the same time a gale howled. Wind and fire rolled together, directly forcing Li Li Fengyi's group of three back. At the same time her figure also darted to the top of a large tree, her gaze coldly watching Li Luo as he descended.

"Are the people of your Li Li Tianwang branch all this skilled at ganging up on the few?"