Chapter 0972 – Luring the monsters
Wild resonant power erupted outside the hall.
The dozens of emotionless individuals who were previously chasing after Zhu Dayu charged towards the group. Although most of them were rogue cultivators and not too strong, the two leaders of the group were three-pearls.
The remaining people weren't too weak either. Coupled with their advantage in numbers, they posed a real threat to Li Luo and his group.
Li Luo went up directly against a rogue cultivator who had reached the three-pearl tier. It was only at this moment that he truly felt how strong his own resonant power was. Although his opponent was way ahead of him in cultivation level, the pressure during their clash was far weaker than what he had felt from Qin Yi earlier.
He was finally comparing himself to someone normal.
After all, Qin Yi possessed a ninth-grade water resonance. On top of that, she was naturally gifted and could win against opponents at higher tiers. With her domineering strength, she could probably fend off a four-pearl opponent, let alone a three-pearl one.
This was evident when she clashed with another three-pearl tier rogue cultivator not far away. Her control of the battle was even better than that of Li Luo.
"Ah! Brother Li Luo, help me quickly!"
At this moment, a loud cry from Zhu Dayu came from the other side. Due to the large number of opponents, Zhu Dayu had to hold off all the others while Li Luo and Qin Yi focused on the two strongest ones.
He had tried to drag out the fight with the strange rogue cultivators using all the tricks up his sleeve, coupled with speed.
However, no matter how talented and quick he was, there were bound to be attacks that landed on him from time to time. After a short while, there were terrible injuries all over that fat body of his. Fortunately, Zhu Dayu's recovery capability was truly unfathomable. While he dodged around pathetically, he took out cooked pieces of meat and stuffed them into his mouth gluttonously.
As he consumed them, the terrible injuries all over his body began to recuperate with surprising speed.
He might be able to recover from these injuries, but the pain inflicted was unavoidable. As a result, his terrible, loud cries echoed in the air across the whole battlefield.
Li Luo and Qin Yi felt a little angry about the entire situation as well. After all, these cultivators had been lured over by him.
"Fairy Qin, we can't continue this forever. These people are really strange, and they feel similar to Others. Could they have been corrupted by Others?" Li Luo shouted out. Qin Yi nodded slightly. Her captivating eyes continued to focus on her foe, who had not spoken a single word since their clash started and simply continued going after her life with a blank stare that lacked any sign of spirit and vitality.
Most importantly, the rogue cultivator was not showing any signs of pain no matter how many attacks landed on him.
Although the opponent wasn't too strong in terms of battle prowess, it was clear that Qin Yi would not get out of this unscathed if she dragged things on for too long.
Moreover, it would become increasingly dangerous for Zhu Dayu. If they got surrounded by more of these strange rogue cultivators later, she would probably have to sneak away on her own first.
"How could the Other corruption extend to the Spiritual Resonance Cave?" Qin Yi asked with a frown.
Li Luo shook his head and responded, "Our utmost priority now is to finish them off. If we get caught up with them now, there will be no way for us to collect any more Spirit Resonance Golden Dew."
Qin Yi understood this as well. There were more and more people flooding into the gilded hall. The longer they took, the fewer the rewards left behind for them later.
However... It was not an easy feat to get rid of all these rogue cultivators in a short amount of time.
"I've got an idea. Fairy Qin, if you trust me, please help me hold off this rogue cultivator over here," Li Luo suddenly told her.
Qin Yi's eyes flickered for a moment as she pondered over it in silence. Afterwards, she raised her jade hands, and a veil of water resonance power emerged from the ground. It formed a wall of geysers, trapping the three-pearl rogue cultivator that Li Luo was holding off previously.
"There are two three-pearl foes. I will not be able to hold them down for long. If you take too long, I am afraid I'll have to go for another option," Qin Yi replied calmly.
Li Luo simply smiled in response as he turned around and headed off into the hall.
Seeing this, Zhu Dayu hurriedly shouted at him, "Brother Li, surely you aren't thinking of collecting the Spirit Resonance Golden Dew inside and making an escape, right?"
"Who knows? That's indeed possible," Li Luo replied playfully as he pushed open the doors and went into the hall.
In the same moment, Qin Yi's eyes lit up as if she had figured out his plan. "He's thinking of luring the guardian spirits that guard the Spirit Resonance Golden Dew here. He plans to use them to fight against these rogue cultivators. Since both are lacking in sentience and awareness, it's perfect for them to fight against each other."
Zhu Dayu's eyes lit up after hearing this. "Brother Li, what a brilliant plan!" he praised.
However, Qin Yi continued, "The guardian spirits will attack whoever is in range as soon as they spawn. In other words, Dragon's Head Li Luo's plan is pretty risky. If the guardian spirits decide to focus on him first, what will be coming from our back will not be reinforcements, but another dangerous tiger."
Zhu Dayu let out another cry, and he could immediately feel his heart pounding. If they were caught in a pincer attack by these strange rogue cultivators and the guardian spirits, they would really have to fight for their own lives and escape pitifully.
Nonetheless, Li Luo had already entered the hall. He looked around and noticed the stone cup in the center. This stone cup was not small, and gold light flowed within it. Like little sprites filled with sentience, there were multiple Spirit Resonance Golden Dew drops dancing around in it.
Li Luo did not hesitate to move towards the cup. As he got closer, it shot out rays of golden light. In the blink of an eye, the light transformed into guardian spirits who surrounded him in all directions. They were all wearing the familiar robes of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect.
As soon as they appeared, their eyes locked onto Li Luo and a wild storm of energy swept up.
Like a flash of lightning, the disciples of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect charged towards him.
His response was to lift his hand as quickly as possible, the Acquired Resonance Flame materializing on his palm. The guardian spirits that were charging towards him paused as soon as they noticed it, and the wild storm of energy dissipated. At the same time, they bowed down towards Li Luo politely.
Witnessing this familiar scene, Li Luo extinguished the Acquired Resonance Flame in satisfaction and reached for the stone cup. He took it, turned around, and started walking out of the hall.
When the stone cup began to move, the guardian spirits followed it obediently.
Outside the hall, Qin Yi was holding down both of the three-pearl rogue cultivators single-handedly. At the same time, she kept looking into the hall to keep an eye on what was happening. The berserk undulations of energy which erupted in an instant earlier was a clear sign that Li Luo had activated the guardian spirits. However, how would he avoid being the focus of the guardian spirits now? Would he simply cause a mess and lure the attacking guardian spirits towards them?
Qin Yi kept her vigilance up as her eyes glanced over from time to time. As soon as she noticed Li Luo's plan failing, she would escape by herself without any hesitation.
Just as Qin Yi was thinking about it, Li Luo emerged from the hall. He came running towards her straight with a fearsome force of guardian spirits following closely behind.
Qin Yi retreated immediately when she saw them coming, keeping a close watch on the guardian spirits at the same time.
She was completely astonished by this scene. Although the guardian spirits were chasing Li Luo, they were showing no signs of attacking him. Li Luo approached, and the two three-pearl rogue cultivators were soon in attacking range of the guardian spirits.
Bang!
The next moment, the disciples of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect started attacking the two rogue cultivators with full force. Although the two tried to defend against their attacks, they were soon overwhelmed.
"Brother Li, come over here and help me! Quickly!" Zhu Dayu screamed from across the field, delighted at the sight he had just witnessed.
Li Luo grinned and directly threw the stone cup towards him.
However, Zhu Dayu's face changed completely. He dodged it, avoiding the cup as if it was a poisonous scorpion. When it landed, the huge group of Sacred Void Resonance Sect disciples followed along.
Zhu Dayu quickly used his arts and escaped in a hurry.
However, the strange rogue cultivators were unable to escape in time. When the Sacred Void Resonance Sect disciples arrived, the two groups clashed with one another.
A crossfire of savage energy flew across the sky as the two sides threw everything they had at each other.
Li Luo, Qin Yi, and Zhu Dayu made full use of this chance to make their escape, not wanting to get caught in the middle.
"Brother Li, that was impressive! You managed to lure the guardian spirits over and not get trapped yourself," Zhu Dayu praised.
Li Luo looked over to him and said, "Remember, you owe me a favor."
Zhu Dayu froze for a moment and replied, "That was considered worthy of a favor?"
Li Luo responded confidently, "They were after your life, and I saved you. Is this not considered a favor? Are the people from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhu so unreasonable?"
Zhu Dayu grumbled something to himself.
Li Luo looked around as blood was shed on the battlefield. He frowned a moment later. "These rogue cultivators have lost their senses. They act just like puppets with an eerie air around them... I don't recall them being like this earlier."
Qin Yi agreed with him. "I recognize one of them. He spoke to me before we entered the gilded hall. He is acting like a completely different person now. I think something strange happened when he entered the gilded hall."
Li Luo thought about it carefully and replied, "It seems like there's something really dangerous in this place."
Changing so many rogue cultivators into puppets would indicate that the mastermind was extraordinary.
Bang!
As Li Luo was waiting for the clash between the rogue cultivators and Sacred Void Resonance Sect's disciples to conclude, an enormous torrent of energy shot into the air a distance away in the gilded hall.
This was a truly shocking clash that shook the entire area.
Even Li Luo and the group could clearly sense the waves despite being far away from its origin.
Lifting her beautiful face, Qin Yi looked over and exclaimed, "Based on the energy undulations, it must be a confrontation with an eight-pearl at the very least!"
On the other hand, Li Luo's expression changed completely at that moment. He was very familiar with the energy that had shot into the sky.
It was none other than Li Lingjing's!
What is going on over there?!