Chapter 990: The Difficulty of the Nine Stars

The moment Li Luo activated the "Small Formless Divine Forging Art," a change immediately occurred.

The Golden Dew Terrace standing atop the mountain peak suddenly rippled with streaks of mysterious golden light, and this sudden movement caused expressions of astonishment to appear on the faces of the many people present.

Immediately after, they saw those streaks of golden light shoot into the sky, forming a massive, strange golden array above the mountain.

The strange golden array emitted an ancient and vast aura, and at its center, it looked like a golden eye filled with majesty.

From within the eye, golden light projected out, seemingly scanning the crowd on the Golden Dew Terrace.

Keen observers discovered that the golden light was permeated with the same miraculous golden mist from earlier that could enhance their resonant affinities, and the concentration was far thicker than before.

"Is this an extra gift from the Golden Dew Terrace?!" someone exclaimed in pleasant surprise, their voice filled with intense greed.

Some people couldn't even help but drool, because only those who had experienced the magical golden mist knew of its temptation; if that kind of golden mist were taken outside, there was no telling how many people would fight over it.

But the golden mist was clearly not easy to condense; even on this Golden Dew Terrace, everyone only received a limited amount. Now that the golden light had suddenly appeared with such thick golden mist, how could it not incite covetousness?

Some tried to forcibly plunder it, but their attacks vanished into thin air the moment they touched the golden light. Thus, they could only unwillingly abandon the idea of using force and began to watch the golden beam of light sweep back and forth, hoping that this massive windfall would fall upon them.

Amidst countless greedy gazes, the golden light swept continuously, finally converging on a golden lotus seat.

On the lotus seat, a figure sat cross-legged.

Countless gazes were cast over in anger; that lucky person, it wasn't them?!

"Li Luo?!"

Zhao Shenjiang looked at the figure with closed eyes on the golden lotus seat, and his expression immediately turned gloomy, for that was exactly where Li Luo was.

"How can this be! What virtue or ability does that brat have?!" Beside him, Zhao Jingyu also shouted in anger, the jealousy in his eyes almost spilling out in tangible form.

In the distance, where the students of the Heavenly Origin Ancient Academy were gathered, Jiang Wanyu also looked at Li Luo's figure, which was enveloped in golden light, with some surprise.

"This guy has good luck, to actually have such an encounter?" Jiang Wanyu muttered.

"But with so many people here, for him to monopolize this opportunity alone, I'm afraid it will invite much covetousness and sabotage."

In this world, there are many with malicious intent, especially on an occasion like this where everyone harbors greed for that golden mist. Yet, Li Luo had become the lucky one, and the others would inevitably feel unwilling.

"Sister Jiang, what should we do? I wonder if breaking that golden light would cause the golden mist to leak out?" Just as Jiang Wanyu was thinking this, a student quietly asked with ill intent.

Jiang Wanyu glanced at the speaker indifferently; this kind of thought was perhaps what many malicious people present were thinking at this moment.

"Li Luo has a bit of a connection with our Heavenly Origin Ancient Academy. You all saw the 'Black Dragon Underworld Water Banner' he used earlier. Although this isn't enough to make our academy help him, there's no need to kick a man when he's down," Jiang Wanyu said calmly.

"Li Luo possesses three resonances and has extraordinary talent; there's no need to make an enemy of him. Besides, breaking the golden light might not necessarily cause the golden mist to dissipate."

Hearing Jiang Wanyu say this, the person who spoke earlier could only nod sullenly.

And while they were talking, the many people from the Li Tianwang lineage who had finished their baptism also noticed the malicious gazes directed at Li Luo.

Thus, Li Fuling, Li Fengyi, Li Jingtao, and others hurriedly dashed out, appearing around Li Luo's golden lotus seat. They erupted with powerful resonant power, guarding Li Luo on all sides, meeting those covetous gazes with cold eyes.

"Everyone, opportunities are determined by heaven. Do not ruin yourselves; my Li Tianwang lineage is not to be trifled with," Li Fuling said coldly, issuing a warning.

Some commotion broke out in the surroundings. The prestige of the Li Tianwang lineage was still extremely strong; after all, it was a genuine Heavenly King-level force, and there were not many forces on this Heavenly Origin Shenzhou that dared to provoke them.

Seeing this, Zhao Shenjiang secretly sneered, while Zhao Jingyu said viciously, "Big Brother, should we incite people to take action and ruin Li Luo's opportunity?"

Zhao Shenjiang said, "No rush. Let's wait for Clan Brother Zhao Yan to finish his baptism first. He has prepared for this breakthrough for a long time. If he succeeds, he can break through to the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl stage. If he doesn't, he will follow the trend and charge at the Heavenly Resonance stage. We'll see if we can ruin Li Luo's opportunity then."

As he spoke, his gaze turned to the golden lotus seat not far away. At this moment, Zhao Yan sat cross-legged upon it, and a massive, powerful wave of resonant power erupted from his body.

Behind him, eight Heavenly Pearls were as bright as stars, crazily devouring the energy of heaven and earth.

And behind the eight Heavenly Pearls, a point of light was compressing and condensing.

Although this point of light was dim, the fluctuations it emitted were several times more powerful than any of the previous eight Heavenly Pearls.

Many astonished gazes looked at this scene; this was the condensation of the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl!

There were many Heavenly Pearl stage experts present, so they knew even better just how massive an accumulation and foundation were required to condense the ninth Heavenly Pearl. For many rogue cultivators, this step was almost unimaginable.

Not to mention rogue cultivators, even among those Heavenly King-level forces, not every generation of geniuses had someone who could reach this step.

The ninth Heavenly Pearl is a display of foundation and potential.

It is said that a genius who can cultivate to the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl stage will have a probability of breaking through to the Marquis stage in the future that is several tens of percent higher than those at the Eight-Star Heavenly Pearl stage.

Therefore, the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl is generally known as the "Marquis Seed."

And the Marquis stage is the stage with the greatest degree of transformation in resonant power cultivation. Once one crosses this stage, they are a true expert in the world. Even if they go to a Heavenly King-level force, they are a pillar of strength, and no one dares to underestimate them.

So, seeing Zhao Yan begin to condense the ninth Heavenly Pearl, everyone was envious and sighed.

However, just as everyone was sighing, Zhao Yan's resonant power fluctuations, which had been climbing steadily, suddenly showed signs of stagnation, as if they had reached a bottleneck at this moment.

Zhao Yan's expression also changed drastically at this time. He hurriedly took out some pills from his spatial sphere, stuffed them into his mouth, and quickly refined them.

With the support of the pills, his resonant power fluctuations stabilized, but that ninth Heavenly Pearl still remained difficult to condense into reality.

Seeing this scene, those with a keen eye couldn't help but sigh. This Zhao Yan could be considered a rare genius, and he had the background of a Heavenly King-level force, but even so, he was still one step short of condensing the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl.

It was a pity.

In the distance, Jiang Wanyu was also watching. She shook her head slightly and said, "The Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl is indeed difficult. This ultimate state is far harder than the ultimate state of the Extreme Evil stage. Senior Zong Sha and that Zhao Yan are both unable to do it."

As she said this, she was also looking at Zong Sha's position. Zong Sha also held the same idea as Zhao Yan, wanting to use this opportunity to charge at the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl stage, but unfortunately, he also lacked a bit of heat.

The ambition of these two for the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl was both curbed by reality.

"Clan Brother Zhao Yan failed to condense the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl," Zhao Shenjiang also said in a deep voice at this time.

Zhao Jingyu was a bit disappointed and said, "It seems that among the geniuses of our Zhao Heavenly King lineage for these two generations, only you, Big Brother, have the best hope of achieving the Nine Stars."

Zhao Shenjiang did not deny this. With his talent of a Lower Ninth-Grade resonance, in terms of foundation and potential, he was indeed several points stronger than Zhao Yan.

"It doesn't matter if Clan Brother Zhao Yan failed to condense it. He prepared a 'Resonance Transformation Pill'; he can just take advantage of this remaining momentum to charge directly at the Heavenly Resonance stage. Although this Spirit Resonance Cave Heaven has rule suppression, he will still be able to greatly increase his strength, far surpassing other Heavenly Pearl stage experts."

"By then, perhaps we can even take the opportunity to kill off some of the people from the Li Tianwang lineage." By the end of his sentence, a ruthless look had already appeared in his eyes.

At this time, Zhao Yan also opened his eyes with an extremely gloomy expression. Feeling the resonant power fluctuations in his body that were difficult to climb, he knew that he had reached his limit.

The Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl stage, in the end, was still not achieved.

This hurdle was truly difficult.

Zhao Yan's eyes flickered, and then he raised his palm. A jade bottle appeared in his hand. He tilted the bottle and poured out a round pill that presented a pale silver color.

The pill was quite miraculous, with pill mist faintly emerging and evolving into strange phenomena.

This was the "Resonance Transformation Pill," which was of great value. Zhao Yan had paid a huge price for this pill to be able to exchange for it from within the clan, and the purpose was for today.

Although he failed to charge at the Nine-Star Heavenly Pearl stage, with this pill, he could use it to charge at the Heavenly Resonance stage.

By then, with the help of his greatly increased power, wiping out some of the people from the Li Tianwang lineage would count as a meritorious service, and he would receive rewards upon returning to the clan.

And just as Zhao Yan was thinking this, suddenly, an extremely astonishing and massive resonant power fluctuation erupted in the distance, triggering phenomena in heaven and earth.

Zhao Yan was startled and hurriedly looked in that direction, and then his expression changed abruptly.

He saw that over there, on a golden lotus seat, Li Lingjing sat quietly. The energy of heaven and earth gathered above her, and then fell like a pouring Heavenly River.

Behind Li Lingjing, eight Heavenly Pearls rotated slowly, and at this moment, behind the eighth Heavenly Pearl, another Heavenly Pearl was becoming solid, bit by bit, in a slow and firm posture.

Whoosh!

On the Golden Dew Terrace, a heaven-shaking uproar erupted.

The gazes cast toward Li Lingjing were filled with shock.

After Zhao Yan and Zong Sha both failed, this Li Lingjing... had actually succeeded in condensing the ninth Heavenly Pearl!