Chapter 0615: Fiend Palace Tier!
Li Luo could feel the massive amount of earth fiend energy pouring right into his body. Yet the only thought that ran through his mind was that of despair.
Damn it, there were so many things left to do, and he had to go out with a bang?!
The unfathomable amount of energy was not something he could refine in his current state!
Once the earth fiend energy ran out of control, the result would only be carnage... within his body.
His mind focused on the cyclone created by the blood-red energy. He was feeling a little frustrated. Wasn't this stuff just messing with him?
Still, emotions were of no use in this situation. Li Luo could only blankly stare at the tide of energy surging towards him. The moment it entered his body, he felt an agonizing pain lance throughout every inch of his being. Wherever the stream of energy passed, it would leave behind tattered flesh and blood.
The only good thing was that this energy did not diffuse in every direction, only being led on a noose right towards the cyclone.
Of course, this little fact did nothing to console Li Luo. The wildness and savagery of the earth fiend energy would inevitably explode outwards in every direction once the cyclone failed to contain it. This was the prelude to the end.
Thus, he could only blankly stare at the blood-red vortex, making plans for the worst case scenario.
Finally, the countless strands of earth fiend energy arrived at the blood-red vortex, where a mysterious, violet light was churning within. An uneasy feeling overcame Li Luo, but with the passage of time, this once again transformed into shock.
He realized that the earth fiend energy that was entering the blood-red energy vortex did not exhibit any signs of going rampant. It was as though it was being tamed into adorable, little earthworms. All of the raging influence was being refined out of the earth fiend energy at breakneck speed.
This was a little unbelievable.
How could it be refined so easily?
One had to know that even a single strand of earth fiend energy required copious amounts of resonant power. However, this crappy energy vortex would just rotate a couple of times and then the earth fiend energy would be cleansed like zooming through a car wash??
Its efficiency was frightening.
"What in the world..."
A fat meat pie had fallen from the sky, leaving Li Luo flabbergasted not once, not twice, but a third time in a row. After a few moments of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and made his decision. The blood-red vortex might be a strange existence, but he could feel an undeniable sense of intimacy with it. There could be no way this thing would want to harm him... right?
Thus, he decided to go all in, and all of the quickly refined earth fiend energy was thrusted towards his waterlight resonant palace.
With the torrential flood of earth fiend energy surging into his resonant palace, the entire structure started to emit rumbling vibrations as it greedily slurped up every last bit of energy. Endless ripples of red spread throughout the resonant palace, tempering it to its limits.
As it was a part of Li Luo, he was able to clearly sense how massive changes were occuring throughout it.
After a while, he realized that the waterlight resonant palace could no longer absorb any more, and he understood that it had been fully tempered.
The metamorphosis was completed.
Inspecting the interior of the resonant palace, he was able to discover the heaven-shaking changes that had occurred. The palace had been vastly expanded and the walls were circulating with a myriad of inscrutable lights, seeming to form some sort of esoteric design that flowed with vitality and life.
If the previous resonant palace was akin to a mud hut, the fiend palace was like a radiant and majestic palace in comparison.
At the same time, incandescent light spilled forth from the palace, forming a rain made of light that landed upon the manifestation of the waterlight resonance, the pool of spirit liquid.
Upon a mere touch, one could see that the dried-up creek had been revitalized. The source was spilling outwards with magnificent amounts of new resonant power, overflowing with magically materialized liquid. The pool continued to expand as the rain fell, also demonstrating the quick recovery of Li Luo's resonant power.
No, it was not mere recovery. In fact, the pool continued to expand in size.
Upon reaching its previous limit, the expansion did not stop. The pool continued to grow as the resonant power it symbolized increased in spades. In a mere ten breaths, the pool had turned into a lake!
Within the lake also sat a small, lustrous sun, making the spirit liquid look even more pristine and unblemished.
Li Luo's waterlight resonant power had increased by several times as a result.
This was the benefit brought about by refining a fiend palace.
Li Luo had truly stepped into the ranks of the Fiend Palace Tier.
He couldn't contain the excitement within him when he felt the surging resonant power. He had succeeded after taking such a huge gamble.
"Since I still have some leftover earth fiend energy..."
There were still around ten strands of earth fiend energy left, and thus, he willed all of it towards his woodearth resonant palace. The former surpassed the latter monstrously in terms of both quality and quantity.
"...it's time to temper the woodearth resonant palace too."
The remainder was a pleasant surprise, and his original aim was just to temper the waterlight resonant palace. However, the power of the blood-red vortex far surpassed his imagination, bringing him a surprise that allowed him to strengthen himself a little more.
If he could temper the second resonant palace completely, that would be the second wonderful windfall he'd receive today. The increase in woodearth resonant power would lead to an exponential growth in his strength.
At this point, the benefits of the dual resonances could be seen. Others might benefit once from reaching the Fiend Palace Tier, but he would receive twice the benefits! He would definitely be head and shoulders above any other cultivator at the same stage.
With all this in mind, he controlled the remaining amounts of earth fiend energy into the woodearth resonant palace, beginning the tempering process.
After all of it had been consumed by the resonant palace, the only thing that led Li Luo to feel a sense of pity was that he could not complete the tempering process! It was only around 70% complete.
"Forget it, 70% is still good enough."
There was a pang of regret, but he was satisfied. Now that he had broken through, refining earth fiend energy would become a lot easier, and so the complete tempering of the second resonant palace was only a matter of time.
He had stepped into the Fiend Palace Tier and was stronger than Ao Bai by a significant margin now.
Just as he shifted his focus out of his resonant palaces, he noticed that the vortex had disappeared without him noticing. Searching his body several times, he was unable to locate any trace of this mysterious power. After thinking about it for a while, he gave up on trying to find it. His best guess was this was some sort of bloodline power he possessed.
Perhaps this was the supposed Veins of Heavenly Emperor Li that Principal Pang had mentioned.
Yes. It seemed he had pretty high-quality blood vessels. Maybe he was considered special even among those from the inner continent.
Li Luo couldn't resist smirking. He had felt the satisfaction of living a fictional story come to life, a pauper discovering that he was actually the heir to some sort of massive fortune...
"Old man, oh, old man... you had such a wonderful lineage, so why did you run all the way to this godforsaken continent? Is this the legendary eloping with the bride sort of adventure?" Li Luo mused to himself.
Now that everything was completed, his eyes blazed open.
Yet the first thing he saw was the beautiful visage right before him. Her enchanting, golden eyes that were clear like a lake were focused intently on him. Most importantly, Li Luo could see traces of worry in her gaze.
Taking his time to enjoy the breathtaking sight of her face, he gave a wry smile.
"Sister Qing'e, I've succeeded."
In a flash, the gorgeous girl in front of him gave the sunniest smile she ever could muster before taking a step forward and hugging the bloody Li Luo with outstretched arms.
Her warm embrace nestled into his bosom, but Li Luo's heart was calm, focused only on the moment.
Only the warmth that flowed between them mattered.