Chapter 0995: Strength Boosted
As the golden smoke circulated around the Golden Dew Platform, things turned so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
Those fortunate enough to obtain a seat quietly absorbed the golden smoke as they experienced their resonances improving.
In the blink of an eye, half a day had gone by.
The ones who awoke first were those on the greenstone mats. The amount of golden smoke they had received was also the least and thus they finished it the most quickly.
But the resonant power fluctuations coming from them had undergone a transformation that allowed them to shed their original resonance grades.
However, none of them had high-grade resonances in the first place—the majority only had sixth or seventh-grades. Perhaps most of them were already at the cusp of evolving their resonances, and thus the Golden Dew Platform was the last push required to cross that chasm, allowing their grades to rise.
The difficulty of taking that last step was not to be underestimated, however. Without a fateful opportunity, evolving or transforming one’s resonances required a large amount of both spirit liquids and purifying lights, and time. Only with all of those ingredients could one succeed.
The surrounding gazes turned towards them, all filled with envy. That being said, the first group were not disappointed at their gains, including those that had not evolved their resonances. They could feel that the baptism had allowed them to save half a year's worth of tempering their resonances. It was not only time saved, but also the sheer cost of procuring spirit liquids and purifying lights. It was not a sum to be scoffed at. To rogue cultivators and even those from large powers, this could not be ignored.
Even Li Luo from the Dragon's Fang Lineage was struggling to find enough resources to support his eighth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights expenditure! Whilst others could only absorb these goods in a controlled manner for fear of impurities, Li Luo had a special constitution. He could gorge himself silly on tempering items, but that also made him a true skygold-swallowing beast.
Even thousands of violet-eye treasured artifacts were just a couple of days of spending on his endless consumption of spirit liquids and purifying lights.
When the baptism of the greenstone mats ended, Li Luo could feel one of his resonances evolving.
It was the lower seventh-grade Thunder Dragon resonance.
After obtaining his third resonance, he had invested a lot of time and effort into improving it. As a result, it was no surprise that it was the quickest to evolve. With the opportunity provided by the Golden Dew Platform, it brought forward the time needed.
Li Luo's mental state was submerged into the third resonant palace, and he could see the thunderclouds continuously expand and cover the skies, lightning flashing within. In the middle of all this he could see a lone dragon with an aura that was gradually increasing in intensity and grandeur. Occasionally, it let out a roar in tandem with the booming thunder, which combined to form an awe-inspiring but wild sight.
This happened for quite some time before the berserk thunderclaps began to recede. Li Luo could see that the dragon in the clouds had expanded in size. It had grown from a hundred feet long to over three hundred feet. All of its scales were flowing with lightning currents, making it look mystical.
Thunder Dragon resonance, Upper seventh-grade.
A sense of joy arose within Li Luo's heart. Although it was just a small upgrade from the lower to the upper tier, he felt incomparable happiness.
More importantly, the baptism had not concluded.
After this, he wanted to borrow the aid of the Golden Dew Platform to boost his upper seventh-grade Woodearth resonance to the eighth-grade! This was his most important aim as once that was accomplished, he would have two eighth-grade resonances.
However, there was a qualitative gap between the upper seventh-grade and the lower eighth-grade. The difficulty was far greater than raising a resonance from the lower seventh-grade to the upper seventh-grade by countless times. Thus, Li Luo was not sure if the Golden Dew Platform would be able to assist him with this. Even if it couldn't, he would at least make significant progress.
With this in mind, Li Luo focused all of the remaining golden smoke into the Woodearth resonance.
Time continued to pass, and the golden smoke began to recede.
An hour after the greenstone mats’ baptism had ended, the jade praying mats’ time came to a stop.
Those who were able to evolve their resonance to the next grade were few as most of the people who had obtained a jade praying mat were elites amongst the large powers. Their resonance grades were not low and thus it was difficult to increase them.
Li Fengyi, Li Jingtao, Lu Qingmei, Deng Fengxian, and the rest were all unable to achieve any breakthroughs. However, they gained other benefits, which was that their own cultivation levels had improved.
Li Fengyi and Deng Fengxian were originally at the late stage of the Fiend Finisher Tier. Their Fiend Dipper Energy had already reached their limit, and even though it wasn't at nine hundred and ninety feet, they had built strong foundations for themselves.
After the Golden Dew Platform's baptism, their resonances had become more pure and their resonant power had taken a leap forward.
A single radiant Heavenly Pearl formed behind each of them, demonstrating their ascent into the next stage. Li Jingtao was already at the pseudo-Heavenly Pearl Tier before the Battle of the Dragon's Head, so he had made that breakthrough long ago. With the aid of the baptism, his strength increased and he was now a two-pearl.
Lu Qingmei was originally a one-pearl and similarly rose to the two-pearl tier as well. Looking at how brilliant her second Heavenly Pearl was, she had already caught up to Zhao Shenjiang before he had undergone his own baptism.
All of those in the second group were exuberant. Their resonances had not evolved, but a rise in their resonant power was worth celebrating as well. This opportunity had been hard to obtain, and it had saved them half a year's worth of bitter cultivation.
As they cheered, the crowd then turned towards the innermost area with the lotus thrones. Their gazes were full of curiosity and envy. If the jade praying mats could provide such great benefits, how much better were the golden lotus thrones?
Under everyone's curious looks, the thick, golden smoke curled around each and every individual in the innermost area. As time passed, they began to open their eyes, demonstrating that their baptism had come to an end.
.
Those who had just awoken could sense the resonant power within their bodies rise steadily, and the degree of improvement was greater than those who had used jade praying mats.
Jiang Wanyu and Zhao Shenjiang were the two with the most prominent gains.
They were both at the two-pearl tier before and had directly stepped into the four-pearl tier after the baptism. Of course, their resonances were already of a high grade, especially Zhao Shenjiang, with his lower ninth-grade strength resonance. Advancing a step higher was unimaginably difficult. He would literally require a sea of spirit liquids and purifying lights to temper the resonance, which was simply impractical even with the Golden Dew Platform. However, his resonance had become more pure, which was still an excellent outcome.
This was something the two had already expected and thus neither was disappointed. On the contrary, they were elated at the increase in Heavenly Pearls.
Zhao Shenjiang had reattached his arm with the aid of the spirit medicines, and although his combat power had been slightly affected, it was still a better result compared to Zhao Jingyu. He immediately turned towards Li Luo with a dark and brooding expression.
At this point in time, he was itching for a fight and wanted to find an opportunity to reverse the previous outcome. Li Luo, on the other hand, had no time to bother with Zhao Shenjiang. He was gradually approaching the end of his baptism, and to his disappointment, even directing all of the remaining golden smoke into his woodearth resonance would not be sufficient to elevate it to the lower eighth-grade. He needed a bit more fuel for the fire. He was not satisfied with this result, but the golden smoke was already receding, so what else could he do?
It was then that he remembered the words from the Lantern Bearer.
"Golden Dew Platform's ritual..."
Li Luo's heart trembled. At this point, he had not even encountered even a hint of this so-called ritual. Could it be that he had missed out on something?
As he bitterly thought over it, what could he possibly be lacking to prove his identity as a disciple of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect?
A few moments later, his eyes flickered.
He was lacking proof of his identity. So how could he gain acknowledgement in this regard?
It wasn't too hard to guess what he had to do. With a thought, the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art was circulated within his body.