Chapter 978: Jiang Jiang Wanyu

Li Luo's figure descended before Li Li Fengyi and the others. His gaze fixed on the girl in the fiery red dress, whose appearance was strikingly beautiful and alluring, her eyes carrying a hint of cold arrogance, like a thorny fire rose.

He paid no heed to her mockery, first glancing at the three of Li Li Fengyi's group and asking, "Are you all alright?"

Among the three, Li Li Jingtao was completely unscathed, and although Li Li Fengyi had been targeted, she didn't sustain much injury either. It was Deng Deng Fengxian whose body was flowing with resonance power, and the golden armor on her was damaged rather severely.

Li Li Fengyi glanced at Deng Deng Fengxian, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Are you alright? Why did you block for me? I could have handled it myself, I don't need your help."

It turned out that during the earlier clash, when Jiang Jiang Wanyu attempted to use Li Li Fengyi as a breakthrough point, Deng Deng Fengxian had actively stepped forward to share much of the pressure for her, though doing so naturally came at a cost.

She was somewhat grateful for this, but being accustomed to targeting Deng Deng Fengxian in the past, she couldn't bring herself to say thank you at the moment, so her tone could only come out stiffly.

Deng Deng Fengxian, however, didn't mind, saying, "I have the golden armor protecting me, it's fine."

Li Li Fengyi muttered something, but ultimately said nothing more.

"Third Brother, you've arrived just in time. We discovered a batch of Spirit Resonance Golden Dew here earlier, and then they showed up too, so we started fighting." Li Li Jingtao said with a cheerful smile.

Li Luo nodded; this was something he could have guessed.

However, while they were speaking, Jiang Jiang Wanyu's gaze was icy cold. She showed no sign of timidity at Li Luo's arrival; on the contrary, the fiery red long ruler in her hand pointed at Li Luo with a provocative intent.

"If I'm not mistaken, you must be the Li Luo Dragon Head of the Twenty Banners in this generation of Li Li Tianwang's lineage. I wonder if your Dragon Head title truly lives up to its name."

Li Luo smiled and said, "Then what would you like?"

He had no intention of antagonizing the people from the Tianyuan Ancient Academy. After all, he still wanted to use this as an opportunity to see if he could establish ties with them. However, he could tell that the girl before him was also proud and arrogant, and dealing with such a person would likely be more effective if he displayed strength.

"Let me test your caliber!"

Jiang Jiang Wanyu's personality seemed to mirror her resonance attribute—fiery and impulsive. The moment her words fell, her figure shot violently toward Li Luo, the jade ruler in her hand swinging as she suddenly slashed down at the void before her.

The void suddenly cracked at this moment. The next instant, a deafening dragon's roar seemed to thunder through the air, and a fire dragon burning with raging flames burst forth from the void, wrapped in towering flames, charging toward Li Luo with an overwhelmingly domineering posture.

Li Luo, upon seeing the Marquis-grade technique Jiang Jiang Wanyu had unleashed, couldn't help but freeze for a breath, because this technique was far too familiar to him.

Then Li Luo snapped back to his senses, a hint of a smile surfacing at the corner of his mouth.

He formed a seal with one hand, resonance power surging out from within him, and simultaneously slashed down with a blade.

The void split open, and the sound of surging seawater arose. A black dragon, riding atop chilling nether water, also broke through the void to appear, and finally collided directly with the crimson fire dragon.

Boom!

The two collided, instantly filling the air with a sky-covering veil of high-temperature water mist, as two forces of differing attributes eroded and dissolved each other.

Only after quite a long while did the aftershocks gradually subside.

Li Luo sheathed his blade and stood, looking toward Jiang Jiang Wanyu. At this moment, her coldly arrogant pretty face was filled with shock. She stared at Li Luo in disbelief and cried out, "Black Dragon Nether Water Banner?! How do you know our Tianyuan Ancient Academy's Marquis-grade technique!"

As an elite student of the Tianyuan Ancient Academy, Jiang Jiang Wanyu was all too familiar with the Marquis-grade technique Li Luo had displayed, because it came from the same Marquis-grade technique as her own "Crimson Dragon Departing Fire Banner"!

That technique, named the "Three Dragon Heavenly Banner Codex," was Destiny-grade! A Marquis-grade technique of such caliber was top-tier even within their Tianyuan Ancient Academy.

The "Crimson Dragon Departing Fire Banner" that Jiang Jiang Wanyu cultivated was one of it, and the "Black Dragon Nether Water Banner" that Li Luo displayed was also one of it!

Jiang Jiang Wanyu's dream was to cultivate the complete "Three Dragon Heavenly Banner Codex," so she was extremely familiar with all three arts within it, including this "Black Dragon Nether Water Banner"! Hence, the moment Li Luo displayed this technique, she recognized it at a glance.

Hearing this, Li Luo merely smiled faintly, not answering directly. Instead, he cast his gaze toward another battle circle, where Senior Zong Sha of the Tianyuan Ancient Academy was single-handedly contending against Li Li Fuling, Lu Ze, and the third person. Yet Zong Sha, leveraging his superior cultivation at the Eight-Star Tian Zhu Jing, had instead gained a subtle upper hand over the three.

However, this situation was completely reversed with the arrival of Li Li Lingjing.

Li Li Lingjing had no intention of being polite. Her figure darted over swiftly, and as the Green Bamboo Green Snake Staff in her hand swung, a beam of majestic toxic light imbued with astonishing resonance power smashed down directly onto Zong Sha's head.

Boom!

The toxic light swept past, causing the void to tremble violently. The sheer force of it made Li Li Fuling and the others' expressions change.

Zong Sha was even more startled. Li Li Lingjing's attack gave him a strong sense of threat, so he dared not be careless. He immediately opened his mouth and sprayed out countless grains of golden sand, which were quite mystical, seemingly transformed from some kind of treasure.

The golden sand landed on Zong Sha's fists, transforming into golden sand gauntlets. As he punched out, golden light blazed forth, like a blazing sun rising.

Boom!

The golden fist light collided violently with the toxic light, and a violent energy shockwave instantly swept outward, blasting Li Li Fuling and the other two stumbling backward repeatedly, their qi and blood churning.

Zong Sha's body also shuddered, his figure shooting backward. His gaze grew solemn. Was this woman also a prodigy of this generation from Li Li Tianwang's lineage? But why was there no intelligence on her? In the information he knew, the strongest from Li Li Tianwang's lineage to enter the Spirit Resonance Cave Heaven this time should have been Li Li Wuyuan, yet clearly, the woman before him was not Li Li Wuyuan.

As he retreated, Li Li Lingjing had no intention of letting him go. Her slender figure flickered, pursuing closely. The Green Bamboo Green Snake Staff in her hand swung, and the sky-covering staff shadows seemed to transform into endless green snakes, whistling straight down toward Zong Sha.

"Marquis-grade technique, Golden Sand Storm!"

Seeing this, Zong Sha dared not be careless. With a long howl, he formed seals with both hands, and at the same time, endless golden sand flew out from his sleeves, transforming into a storm that collided with the countless staff shadows.

Boom boom!

Astonishing energy fluctuations continuously erupted in the void.

This clash did not last long before the sky-filling golden sand gradually ran dry. Zong Sha withdrew and retreated, landing beside Jiang Jiang Wanyu, his eyes filled with wariness as he stared at Li Li Lingjing. He said at the same time, "The situation looks bad. The enemy has strong reinforcements. Let's prepare to retreat."

Jiang Jiang Wanyu ignored him, however, and continued to press Li Luo, "Why can you cultivate the 'Black Dragon Nether Water Banner'?"

"Black Dragon Nether Water Banner?"

Hearing this, Zong Sha was also shocked. He looked at Li Luo with suspicion and said, "This Black Dragon Nether Water Banner is a secret art of our Academy Alliance. You're a person of Li Li Tianwang's lineage—where did you learn this technique?"

Li Luo cupped his hands in a smile and said, "My two friends from the Tianyuan Ancient Academy, the previous misunderstanding was unfortunate. Might we pause for a moment to talk?"

"First explain the 'Black Dragon Nether Water Banner.' Our Tianyuan Ancient Academy has an Inspection Team. If you don't have a legitimate reason for this, even if you're from Li Li Tianwang's lineage, the Academy will send people to investigate." Zong Sha said.

Li Luo smiled and said, "Before coming to the Dragon Fang Vein, I studied at the Shengxuan Star Academy in the Outer Shenzhou, and the 'Black Dragon Nether Water Banner' was naturally also cultivated there."

"So strictly speaking, I can also be considered a member of the Academy Alliance."

"Outer Shenzhou? Shengxuan Star Academy?"

Zong Sha and Jiang Jiang Wanyu exchanged a glance. They did know that some Holy Academies would indeed obtain incomplete Marquis-grade techniques from various Ancient Academies, so Li Luo's words carried some credibility. After all, whether he had truly been at a Holy Academy in the past could be verified with a simple check—it couldn't be faked.

Thus, the expressions of both softened, and the wariness and hostility in their gazes toward Li Luo also diminished.

After all, as Li Luo had said, although he was only from a Holy Academy, that still counted as part of the Academy Alliance, belonging to the same faction as them.

Thus, after a brief hesitation, the two finally slowly descended and landed.