In the hall, all three girls stared at Li Luo as if he had gone mad, unsure of what to make of his bizarre proclamation.
Li Luo dropped the theatrics. "Qing'e, you're right," he said, walking over to the half-finished antidotes. "I do intend to awaken these antidotes myself."
Li Luo might have just declared himself a King with fifty resonances, given the reaction of the three girls.
"Don't be foolish. These are all the antidote leads we have... and you know that other healers' resonant powers are imbued within. Your resonant power might well clash with the existing work and destroy the solution. As a resonant artificer yourself, you know this," Jiang Qing'e said gravely.
Cai Wei was worried... for Li Luo's sanity. Had the boy really lost it this time?
Li Luo smiled back at them. "I know it well... but where do you think the secret watersource I provide the Suncreek Villa comes from?"
Jiang Qing'e and Cai Wei looked confused, but Yan Lingqing burst out, "You?! You made it!"
Li Luo nodded, surprised. "Sister Lingqing knows me well, it seems. You guessed my secret."
She looked at him like he was a talking unicorn. "When you helped me refine the spirit liquid, I suspected..."
"But how? How can you do it?"
Li Luo extended a finger, concentrating his resonant power onto it. A single drop of resonant power liquid condensed on the tip, which he showed to them.
The three girls crowded in for a closer look. It was so familiar—the secret watersource that they had seen and handled and used all this time.
The two were completely the same.
"It’s not impossible. Wasn't I a blank palace cultivator before? Later, various reasons allowed me to get resonances, but my resonant power still has a powerful ability to encompass things. I call it void affinity. It allows my resonant power to merge with other resonant powers without rejection," Li Luo explained.
"The secret watersource is made from my own resonant power."
The three girls were reeling from the information. It was the first time they had heard of someone able to create a secret watersource from their own resonant power the moment they unlocked it.
"So the secret watersource is not from the Master and Mistress, but from you..." Jiang Qing'e said in a half-whisper.
"No wonder the Young Lord was always pale and unsteady after handing over a batch of secret watersource. He was squeezing himself dry."
She opened her fan to hide her grin.
Li Luo blushingly scolded them. "You guys gonna keep pestering me? Do you think my body's made of steel or something?"
Yan Lingqing turned and squished Cai Wei in a delighted hug.
Jiang Qing'e could barely contain her smile as well, but seeing Li Luo's embarrassment, she quickly switched the topic. "So you intend to Awaken these half-finished antidotes yourself?"
"Those healers had lower seventh-grade wood resonances at best. I have two resonances with healing power. I'll definitely be stronger. These antidotes are good, they’re just lacking firepower. With my Awakening, they should be a few notches stronger." Li Luo nodded.
"I don't know if it will be effective, but you all saw how the healers were already giving up thanks to Qin Wang. I think I'd make a better attempt. My healing skills might be weaker than Xin Fu's drawing skills, but all I'm doing is putting the finishing touches on an almost-finished product."
Jiang Qing'e nodded. There was no other alternative after all.
Cai Wei smacked Yan Lingqing off her back, and all of them settled down to watch Li Luo try.
Li Luo pulled out one vial of antidote, concentrating his green and blue resonant powers into it, along with a bright shine of light.
The girls could sense the warm powers of life that belonged to the water and wood resonances.
The blue and green mixed into a drop of highly concentrated liquid energy, which he placed in the vial.
As it mixed with the antidote, the entire mixture shone brightly, an effervescence of light and liquid in a harmonious reaction.
And then the antidote settled, becoming purer than ever.
Li Luo's experiment had succeeded.
A perfect melding of his resonant power with the antidote.
Just as he had made the secret watersource.
This was a first for the three girls watching.
It looked like even Li Luo's blank palaces were a gift.
But it wasn't time to celebrate yet. There were no guarantees that Li Luo's reinforced antidote would be strong enough to neutralize the poisons.
Li Luo knew the same, and so he plucked a flask of poisoned blood and poured his antidote in.
Green and black hissed and fought within the mixture, spreading and struggling for dominance.
They watched on with bated breath.
The antidote was swallowed by the blackness and then reemerged, still shining brightly. This process repeated many times. Gradually, it grew resistant to the poison, then it began its counterattack.
Now it was the green light spreading, pushing back the blackness with swiftness.
When the blackness was completely gone, the room was silent. They stared unblinkingly at the vial, waiting for any reemergence.
There was none. Clean blood, completely purified.
All four were shocked by this success, the creator included. Li Luo had not expected things to go this well.
Li Luo heaved a sigh of relief, turning to beam broadly at the others.
"Ladies, thank you for coming to another show of Luo's Miracles."
Slow smiles spread across red lips, then their exultance bubbled over as they whooped and cheered.
Li Luo had done it! He had turned the tables!
With these antidotes, the crisis of the Suncreek Villa was over!
Jiang Qing'e stepped up to him, his bright smile still reflected in her golden eyes.
His eyes widened as she came closer and closer, and then her arms slid around his neck and she melted into his arms.
Her lips came close to his ear.
"Well done. Here's your reward."