Chapter 470: Medium Anima Cumulonimbus
The battle was over much quicker than expected.
The five gathered squads were all from different schools and therefore not particularly united. At the first sign of stormy weather, they scattered quickly.
Several minutes later, they were all fleeing in different directions.
Some of them had even been eliminated.
There were two ways of being eliminated in the hall-level competition. Incapacitation-level injuries would trigger a burst of energy from one’s anima gourd that would carry the person out of the arena.
The other was if one’s anima gourd was smashed. That meant that the person no longer had the qualifications to continue.
The anima gourd was not just a simple instrument for carrying anima dew, it was also proof of one’s identity as a participant.
Not long after Li Luo’s side had cleaned up, Qin Zhulu, Bai Doudou, and Wang Hejiu joined back up with them.
Bai Doudou looked for Yu Lang. “Are you alright?”
Even she had been shocked when he had been jumped by ten different people. She was surprised that he was still standing.
“Leader, so you do care about me after all,” Yu Lang sobbed.
“What the hell happened back there?” she demanded.
“They thought I was a dual resonance user,” Yu Lang whined.
Bai Doudou was stunned. She looked over at Li Luo. Did this have something to do with him?
“Sis, are you okay?” Bai Mengmeng rushed up and clung to her arm.
Bai Doudou smiled and hugged her back, and the two sisters left for their own conversation.
Li Luo could sense Bai Doudou’s lingering gaze on him even as she walked away with her younger sister.
Was this what they called a woman’s instinct?
While pondering, another girl came up to him.
“It was all because of what you did in the Golden Dragon Dao Fields, right?” Lu Qing’er asked.
Li Luo winced. How was she so sharp? Because the guy was from the Iron Sands Sage College? These girls were all too smart for him. They were much harder to lead around than Yu Lang.
His wince was all the confirmation that Lu Qing’er needed. She smiled, then she turned to Yu Lang. “Quick, bring us to the anima cumulonimbus.”
Hearing her words, they all turned to the green-haired boy with anticipation. None of them had seen an anima cumulonimbus yet.
“Let’s go, then.” Yu Lang dusted himself off and led the way.
He brought them through the mountain range swiftly, but even with a guide and moving at their fastest pace, they took half an hour to arrive.
It was a hill-like structure covered in crawler vines.
The gap was so narrow that they had to pass through in a single file line. The bugs made the already-tight gap even harder to push past.
“I thought this place was suspiciously inaccessible, so I thought I’d check it out. The road less traveled has an anima cumulonimbus. Hehe!” Yu Lang grinned.
Li Luo stepped forward and spotted a damp patch of soil with a strong, rancorous odor.
“You… You’re good.” Li Luo didn’t know what to say. Yu Lang had found the place because he was looking for a more discreet place to piss. He had pushed past the vines and… the rest was history.
“Don’t thank me, thank my bladder,” Yu Lang said modestly.
Li Luo snorted, then he led the way down the narrow crevice. A few dozen meters later, he reached a wider area. His eyes lit up.
Emerging from the crevice, he now stood in a lush valley. There was a waterfall in the middle, crystal-clear water falling amidst some light mist. There were many strange white flowers on the lake at the bottom, their petals opened in a spiral that drew in the mist from above.
The mist was being condensed into dew on the soft, white petals.
Once the energy mist reached a critical amount, it would coalesce into anima dew.
“Wow!”
Bai Mengmeng, Lu Qing’er, and the others had emerged from the crack as well, and they gasped at the picturesque scene before them.
“It’s beautiful.”
“What dense worldly natural energy.”
Bai Doudou began to count. “There are 23 of them,” she said in wonder. “This is a medium anima cumulonimbus.”
These flowers were anima dew vessels that would be consumed in the process of making the dew. Which meant that the yield here would be 23 drops of anima dew, and no more.
Anima cumulonimbuses were divided into small, medium, and large ones, referring to their yield of anima dew.
23 drops was considered medium-sized.
Qin Zhulu, Wang Hejiu, Yi Lisha, and the others whooped. So far, their fruitless searches had sufficiently impressed upon them regarding the rarity. They had only found a combined three drops so far.
“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Li Luo was smiling from ear to ear as well. “You’ve done really well this time,” he said to Yu Lang.
A medium anima cumulonimbus was a rare find.
Yu Lang waved it away piously. “We all have a duty to uphold the school’s honor.”
Li Luo laughed again. He looked up at the top of the valley, where a thin film of energy had condensed, forming a screen that protected the mist from escaping further. This meant that even if someone were to scan it from the air or a high place, they would still have difficulty spotting it.
“But now the issue is,” Lu Qing’er said, “we need to trigger it to get the dew. It will take the whole night, which means if we trigger it now, we’ll only be able to collect the dew tomorrow morning.
“And triggering it will announce its location. Other teams will swarm us. There’ll be a big fight for sure.”
They fell silent.
“Well.” Li Luo shrugged. “That’s the whole point of the hall-level competition. Anima cumulonimbuses act as bait to catalyze the whole process. We shouldn’t expect any free passes. Anyway, anima dew is very hard to find. If we want to send more people to Dragonbone Island, we are going to need anima cumulonimbuses. We’ve finally found one now, and there’s no reason to give up on it. Neither am I planning to work with other schools and split the gains.
“I want all 23 drops for us,” he stated with quiet resolve and power.
“I agree!” Qin Zhulu was the first to shout in approval. Of course they should take it all for themselves. Share it?? The only thing he would be sharing with other schools was his fists!
“You’re the boss, you decide,” Bai Doudou said with a nonchalant nod.
Yi Lisha smiled and nodded.
Wang Hejiu remained silent, which was consent for him.
Consensus achieved, Li Luo clapped his hands together.
“Good! In that case, you should prepare yourselves. We’ll be in for a good, long defensive fight. I hope we can show them the power of the Astral Sage College!”