When the black gourd was sent flying, Lin Suo’s anger was more real than any reaction he had shown before. He immediately rushed over to Lu Qing’er’s side.
“Roar!”
The tiger was up again. Qin Zhulu’s golden tiger-stripes were as bright as ever, and his body was swelling with a blend of resonant power and raw physical strength. It seemed like a dark tiger silhouette of burnished gold was superimposed over his person.
Immediately, his stance grew even more feral and wild.
Qin Zhulu charged, spear in one hand and equally deadly tiger claws flashing on the other. Both were aimed straight at Lin Suo, rending the air with their keen edges.
“Enough!”
Lin Suo had had enough of this tiger, who was more persistent than a fly. A backhand sent a crimson palm print flying out towards Qin Zhulu.
“Blood Print!”
Boom!
The bloody palm print was powerful enough to make Qin Zhulu wince. This attack was far more powerful than what he had used before, because the resonant power had sentience that made it interact in different ways.
This was already a Third Changing level of power!
This was definitely the strongest person they had met since entering the Golden Dragon Dao Fields!
Lin Suo was this powerful?!
Crash!
The simple palm attack wounded Qin Zhulu badly. His heavy spear bent under the pressure of blocking the attack, and it sprung back to send him flying. His golden tiger stripes were wiped out as if by the hand.
“Pfffft!”
A spray of fresh blood spurted from his mouth, and he staggered several steps back.
Lin Suo laughed coldly. He moved again to finish off Qin Zhulu for good.
Swoosh!
A volley of light streaks came whistling at him, aimed at his vitals.
Frowning, Lin Suo turned and brandished his mace, smashing the arrows of flowing light into bits. Li Luo was really irritating. Although the light arrows were not very powerful, they were fast enough that he had to be very careful with intercepting them.
He took two seconds to evaluate, then decided to ignore Li Luo’s irritations. First, he would finish off Qin Zhulu. Without the attacker in his face, Li Luo was just a nimble mouse who could cause little harm.
Just when he decided to ignore the arrows of light and turned away, he saw a fresh volley sail through the air in the corner of his eye.
Something about them gave him pause. He saw that one of them was tinged with a pea-green pulse.
Something was off.
His crimson power twirled around his fingers, and he raised two of them. “Tiger-general resonance art, Finger of Blood and Bone!”
A compressed burst of crimson resonant power shot from his finger, zinging from arrow to arrow. The rest of the volley vanished, leaving behind the greenwood arrow.
There were some strange markings on the shaft of the arrow, and he could see dual resonances mixed in it.
This arrow alone pierced through his blood finger attack, continuing on its way to him.
A slight chill passed through Lin Suo. A mere Third Pattern could penetrate his counterattack?
This was the power of dual resonances? They were truly something special.
Perhaps he had underestimated that kid.
But no matter what, he still believed that sheer power alone was enough to overwhelm Li Luo.
Lin Suo’s finger peeled apart by itself, fingernail cracking backwards and ripping off his flesh like a banana peel. A bone shot out of his finger, also tinged with red power. It flew out towards the greenwood arrow. Ping!
The clash scattered both powers. Where the blood resonance touched, the ground withered. Where the wood resonance touched, the grass flourished.
Finally, the greenwood arrow was spent, snapping in two like a twig. The red and white finger-bone still had energy in it, carrying on its path towards Li Luo.
A mirror of water caught sunlight as it flickered into existence.
At the same time, tendrils wrapped down protectively from the trees to form a wall. With these, the rest of its power was also negated.
In the dim light of the forest, Li Luo saw the finger bone finally come to a rest just mere inches from his body, having penetrated almost all of his defenses. “Evolving Resonance tier, Third Changing, huh…”
Li Luo looked at the finger. This was truly the strongest person in this area. Not even Zhao Ziyang or Zhu Xuan could compete.
Since when had there been such a strong competitor in the Xia Kingdom?
Lin Suo’s resonance was probably only a seventh-grade. How had he reached Third Changing at such a young age?
It seemed impossible that someone from a rich family like Zhu Xuan would have less resources or talent than him.
Plus, Lin Suo had come from the Tiancang branch of the Xia Kingdom’s Golden Dragon Bank. How had he become so powerful? A mere branch of the Golden Dragon Bank should have much more modest resources. It was Lu Qing’er who was the young mistress of the central headquarters. He quelled his rising suspicions, focusing on the matter at hand.
Lin Suo made no further move. He could see that Zhao Ziyang, Gu Ying, and even Zhu Xuan were all returning now.
It seemed unlikely that he could continue extracting Golden Dragon Qi from Lu Qing’er’s body.
He had only managed to extract it halfway.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The others were all returning.
“What’s going on?” Zhao Ziyang demanded, looking furiously around before pausing on the unconscious Lu Qing’er.
Li Luo walked up, looking coldly at Zhu Xuan and Ning Zhao. “Lin Suo extracted half the Golden Dragon Qi from Qing’er. Is this your doing? Have you thought about the consequences?”
Both Zhu Xuan and Ning Zhao scowled at him. “Are you insane? We still plan to go back to the Xia Kingdom after this. What rotten brain would think this is a good idea?”
“And what’s your explanation, Lin Suo?”
He did not really suspect that Zhu Xuan or Ning Zhao had a hand in this, because they were rational enough to see that Yu Hongxi would be after their blood in the very near future. And her wrath was something that neither Ning Zhao’s vice president of a father nor Zhu Xuan’s House Lord of a father could stop.
Zhu Xuan rounded on Lin Suo. “What’s the meaning of this?! I asked you to watch them, not extract Qing’er’s Golden Dragon Qi!”
Lin Suo snickered. “Zhu Xuan, you and I never walked the same path.”
“Forget it, I’m wasting my breath. Well, I’ll be leaving.”
He shook his head and carelessly stretched out his hand, making the black gourd fly obediently to his grasp.
“Leaving?! Did you think we’ll let you?!” Zhao Ziyang shouted.
Lin Suo turned to look him in the eye. Taking a single step forward, he let his blood resonant power flow without any clear direction or intent.
The quality alone was enough to make Zhao Ziyang and Zhu Xuan pale. “Evolving Resonance Tier, Third Changing?” they stammered in disbelief.
“I don’t intend to fight you. You might have the numbers, but if I want to leave, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.
“And now that the Golden Dragon Qi is ruined, there’s no more bounty to be had. Do you really want to fight me over a useless Golden Dragon Qi?” Lin Suo mocked.
Zhao Ziyang and Zhu Xuan stiffened, weighing their options.
“If you want to fight, I’ll see you on Golden Dragon Mountain.”
With a deliberate look at Li Luo, he turned and shifted into a crimson streak of light that was soon out of sight.
Li Luo watched him go, letting the killing intent rise and consume him for an instant before suppressing it again.
This was not the time to act.
But his opponent was going nowhere. They would meet again. And when that time came, Li Luo would be fully prepared to give it a go.
