Whoosh!
Lian Zhong was not holding back. His Eighth Seal resonant power was fully utilized now. A menacing, yellow blade arced towards Li Luo.
Li Luo had no intention of dodging at all. Instead, he lifted himself up to the balls of his feet and darted forth like an eagle. His two swords were in hand, swirling blue with his water resonance power.
Dang!
When the swords met, resonant power boomed out, the aftershock rippling through the leaves.
Lian Zhong's face whitened. Li Luo was completely unfazed by his Eighth Seal power. He could not suppress Li Luo in a clash!
"Impossible! He should only be a Seventh Seal!" Lian Zhong was alarmed!
"Seems like the Eighth Seal doesn't count for much."
Li Luo let a grin show. With his waterlight resonance at the sixth-grade, plus his resonant power at the Seventh Seal, an Eighth Seal would not trouble him as much as Song Yunfeng had during the preliminaries.
"I'll make you eat those words!" Lian Zhong shouted with a vindictive hysteria. His resonant power again surging forth, he chopped and cleaved in a frenzy.
But Li Luo was faster. His two swords in hand, blue light pulsed out as he twirled them, a continuous attack that pressed Lian Zhong hard.
Fury in his eyes, Lian Zhong had his hands full dealing with it.
Dang! Dang!
The two fought for dozens of rounds. The clashes of metal rang out through the forest.
But as the battle wore on, Lian Zhong felt that the intensity of Li Luo's attacks and resonant power only grew more vigorous.
"The Nine Layered Jade Waves? That's a high-grade water resonance art!" Lian Zhong paled. This water resonance art would gradually accumulate power as the battle wore on. Once it reached peak strength, he would be hard-pressed indeed.
Lian Zhong was a veteran in battle. He immediately called upon all his yellow earth resonant power, imbuing his sword. "High-grade resonance art, Earth Slash!"
He brought his cleaver down and split the earth in a yawning gap. But still Li Luo's blades twirled, and waves of sword light continued to wear away Lian Zhong's attacks.
"Trying to stop my Nine Layered Jade Waves? Seems like you're not strong enough." Li Luo chuckled.
Lian Zhong's face was grim now. He could not understand what was happening. Li Luo was clearly only a Seventh Seal. How could he be this strong and hard to deal with?
In their previous clash, he could clearly sense that there was something odd about Li Luo's resonant power. It could stand up against his earth resonance power surprisingly well.
It seemed like Li Luo's resonance was of a high grade.
But from the information he had, wasn't Li Luo's resonance only a fifth-grade? Why was it so hard to deal with?
While Lian Zhong was flustered, Li Luo only grew sharper as time wore on.
Nine Layered Jade Waves' power was built up now. Time to counterattack.
Li Luo's azure-blue power had reached its peak. The light on his Ripple Blade also glowed bright as it chopped down towards Lian Zhong's chest.
A punishing blow.
Lian Zhong had to be wary of Li Luo's explosive counter. The built-up power of the Nine Layered Jade Waves was not to be taken lightly.
He took a deep breath, summoning up his yellow, earthy resonant power. With a roar, he molded it a shimmering armor of light.
"High-grade resonance art, Earth Armor!"
A faint, yellow armor shimmered into existence around him. It looked reassuringly strong—defense was the specialty of earth resonance users after all. Lian Zhong no longer dared to underestimate Li Luo. He had best bring all that he had to the table.
Weng!
The blue slashing attack landed against the armor of light and caused it to shudder violently. Cracks appeared, and Lian Zhong himself was sent stumbling back a dozen steps, until he crashed heavily against a tree trunk.
He felt a stinging pain in his chest, but also relief. Thanks to his sturdy armor, he had managed to defend against Li Luo's attack.
"What a solid shell."
Li Luo marveled. Earth resonance specialized in defense. Lian Zhong had been contesting offense up till now, setting aside his natural strengths. Switching to defense made him an even tougher opponent.
Lian Zhong was all serious business now. Their clash so far had made him understand THAT Li Luo was indeed a good match for him.
He had even been forced to rely on his advantage of defense to sap Li Luo's stamina.
"Li Luo, you're indeed very strong. A Seventh Seal, but able to push an Eighth Seal like myself. Still, it's impossible for you to win." His dull, yellow power continued to feed into his armor.
Li Luo rubbed his chin as he eyed the impregnable light armor with some irritation. "Good man, you're such a coward! Can't win so you're going to turtle up? Weren't you full of swagger just a moment ago?"
Lian Zhong sniffed and ignored Li Luo's taunts. He said, "Well, come beat me, then!"
Li Luo snorted. "What a pervert...
"But I'll allow it."
"Pfft. All talk." Lian Zhong taunted.
Li Luo smiled slightly. He put away his Flare Blade and wielded his Ripple Blade in a single hand. In the next instant, water resonance power surged up along the length of the blade.
Slowly, the azure power formed a knife shape of its own.
It was like a blade of fast-circulating water.
"High-grade resonance art, Water Edge?"
Lian Zhong recognized it immediately, and he relaxed. The Water Edge Art was one of the more offensive moves available for basic water resonance users. It used rapidly circulating water to bring about a searing effect.
But ultimately, water resonance power was not suited to offense. It was practically impossible for Li Luo to break his armor like that.
Li Luo bent over his water edge and smiled softly to himself. "Perhaps an ordinary Water Edge Art might not work...
"But my Water Edge Art is not ordinary."
As he spoke, a dazzling sparkle of light suddenly shined on the blue edge. Only Li Luo himself knew what was happening.
He had imbued his light resonance power into it as well, creating thin channels through which his water resonance power was funneled.
This meant that the water resonance power was now circulating at a terrifying pace.
Such an unorthodox method would definitely produce a Water Edge Art that was... special.
Li Luo dubbed it... Reinforced Water Edge Art, Version 1!
Lian Zhong was eyeing the water edge apprehensively. Was the color becoming purer? What was going on? He felt a sense of foreboding.
Li Luo did not keep him in suspense for too long. He leaped forth, the Ripple Blade in his hand still pulsing with jade light.
"COME AT ME!" Lian Zhong roared. "I'M NOT AFRAID!"
As he bellowed, the water edge in Li Luo's hand cut past his earthy, yellow armor.
Li Luo landed behind Lian Zhong. He did not turn around, but calmly sheathed the Ripple Blade back at his waist.
Behind him, Lian Zhong's face had frozen. The next instant, his armor shattered.
His body keeled over, raising a cloud of dust as it landed.
No one else had noticed this, but there was a crystal winking as it recorded the entire battle, displaying it on the crystal wall at Whitespirit Mountain.