Now that Li Luo had reached the Resonant Master Stage and also tempered his second acquired resonance, he spent his next few days feebly throwing his sick body into what resonance arts research he could.
Ordinarily, talented individuals who reached the Resonant Master Stage could start to access General Stage resonance arts. These were far better than the entry-level resonance arts.
There was a saying that Generals were divided into heaven and earth, but also dragons and tigers.
Heaven and earth, because Generals were divided into Heavenly Dipper and Earth Fiend Generals. As for tigers and dragons, they referred to the class of resonance arts.
Dragon-tier resonance arts were stronger, while tiger-tier resonance arts were weaker.
They were often abbreviated to dragon-general resonance arts and tiger-general resonance arts.
In the entry Resonant Master Stage, one would normally work with tiger-general resonance arts, while dragon-general resonance arts were usually used when one had fully entered the General Stage.
By Li Luo's estimation, the Dewlight Skystream Arrow that he had used to defeat Shi Huang had a penetrative power that roughly matched the average tiger-general resonance art.
Plus, his Dewlight Skystream Arrow had the unique advantage of being a combination of two entry-level resonance arts. This meant that it would cost less resonant power to use than tiger-general resonance arts.
Still, Li Luo knew that his fusion of entry-level resonance arts would ramp up in resonant power cost as well, if he were to deliver something effective against stronger opponents. It was time to advance to tiger-general resonance arts.
Back at House Luolan's headquarters, there were many resonance arts, manuals, and archives stocked.
Li Luo sat near the window, enjoying the warm sunlight. He sipped a steaming ginseng tea that perked him up.
The ginseng tea was made for him by Ox Biaobiao, and it would also nourish him.
"Sheesh. What kind of youngster am I..." Li Luo sighed at his cup. Ginseng tea and sun? It felt like he was living a retiree's life.
Li Luo soon turned to the tiger-general resonance arts displayed before him. These were all water and wood resonance arts. Although he had four resonances to play with now, water and wood were his main resonances, while light and earth were supports. For now, they could only augment his main strengths.
For example, Li Luo might be able to use some water or wood tiger-general resonance arts, but a light or earth tiger-general resonance art would be far more than he could handle.
Besides, although he had filled his second resonant palace and now had a woodearth resonance, he was still far from reaching complete mastery over all four to the point where he could meld them at will.
Forget four, he couldn't even meld three of them together.
In fact, he was only scratching the surface of melding two resonances. Usually, only those at the Duke Stage would begin to truly use double resonance powers.
The reason for that was simple: 99 percent of people would only fill their second resonant palace at the Duke Stage.
As for a true blend of three resonances, that was usually the mark of a King Stage expert.
Of course, at that time it would be the combined strength of three King-level resonances. Perhaps Li Luo could give it a try once he filled his third blank palace.
He pored over one tiger-general resonance art after another, getting more and more immersed in his research.
These tiger-general resonance arts were far more complex than the entry-level resonance arts that he had been working with so far. They were more intricate and complicated by tenfold at least.
He could already tell that they would demand a lot of time and energy to cultivate successfully.
Their individual complexity meant that it would be even harder for Li Luo to merge two of them—the difficulty would be compounded.
However, Li Luo had a natural advantage in resonance arts over his peers. Besides, he had done much prior preparation and homework. These tiger-general resonance arts were difficult, but he wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark.
Although they would still require a lot of time and experimentation, it was not a hopeless process.
"Combining two tiger-general resonance arts is something I must work up to slowly. I wonder if I can use a tiger-general resonance art as the anchor and then augment it with an entry-level resonance art. That's more manageable," he mused. Finally, he made his choices and began working on his master plan.
......
Time passed, and the Astral Sage College's opening drew nearer.
Before school opened, Li Luo received a message sent by Lu Qing'er. Apparently, Yu Lang, Zhao Kuo, and the others had arrived at Xia City, and they were inviting him out to hang.
Li Luo snorted. Those louts had finally dawdled their way to the city. Still, it would be nice to see them after so long.
He sent his agreement.
The next day, they met at an inn alongside Kaijiang Street in the city. Li Luo was surprised to see that Yu Lang and Zhao Kuo were not alone. With them were Zong Fu, Chi Su, and Xiang Liang.
"Hello, Brother Luo!" The three immediately leaped to their feet.
Li Luo nodded at them. "They are...?" he asked while looking at Lu Qing'er.
"Forgiven. We'll be peers from now on as well. I won't hold it against them," she said cheerfully.
"Besides, we're all from the Tianshu Province. We have the same home!"
"Yes, yes! Sister Qing is so kind!"
Zong Fu hurriedly nodded. "Brother Luo, we were too full of ourselves before. We will take on any favor that Brother Luo asks of us in the future."
Xiang Liang chimed in very honestly. "We just want to follow Brother Luo to greatness."
Li Luo found this funny, but in truth he bore no ill feelings against the three of them. Otherwise, he would not have let them pass the exams so easily.
"Let bygones be bygones. We're all students from the same homeland. Let's look out for each other," he said, sitting down.
All three looked extremely relieved.
"Brother Luo, a few days ago the Tianshu Province's governor, Shi Qing, was transferred to the Nanman Province. He must have pulled some strings, but Shi Huang got an entrance slot to the Astral Sage College there," Zong Fu reported very earnestly.
"Governor Shi is truly a capable man." Li Luo smiled, but he did not mind it too much. Shi Huang was competent. With a powerful father, it was not too hard to get him admitted.
He had expected something of the sort to happen. Still, he didn't feared him before, and there was nothing to fear now either.
He quickly pushed Shi Huang from his mind, exchanging wine and tales with Yu Lang, Zhao Kuo, and the others.
A few cups in, Yu Lang's face was flushed like a beetroot. "Actually, I arrived in Xia City long ago, but I only met Zhao Kuo a few days ago. I've been up to plenty in Xia City," he said smugly.
"What now?" Li Luo asked, amused.
"I'll show you something good," Yu Lang said proudly in a dreamy tone. "I'm sure you could use the information."
He pulled out a book, which he handed over to Li Luo.
Li Luo looked at it. "The Astral Sage College, Newcomers' Ranking!"
He was amazed. "You researched the new students at the Astral Sage College? How did you get their information?"
The others looked awed as well. After all, these newcomers had come to Xia City from all over the kingdom. Information did not flow easily over such great distances. Compiling all their information was a feat that not just anyone could accomplish.
Yu Lang waved a modest hand. "There's a student administration in the Xia Kingdom, right? They deal specifically in such matters."
"That's confidential information though, right?" Lu Qing'er asked.
Yu Lang nodded. "I eyed this administrator. The man likes to inn-hop in his free time, so I made friends with him. I asked him to help me get the information."
Li Luo stared at him. "Is he mad? He gave you confidential information so easily?"
"Going out on a limb for friends is natural, isn't it?" Yu Lang said piously.
"More like crippling him by stealing his limbs." Zhao Kuo snorted.
"Tell the truth," Li Luo demanded.
Looking at them, Yu Lang confessed sheepishly, "All I did was record him when he went upstairs with a wench. And then I told him that my good conscience demanded I tell his wife. And... then he gave me a copy of the Astral Sage College newcomers' information."
The table was silent for a long time, then Li Luo sighed.
"Yu Lang, you're a dirty bastard."