Absolute Resonance

he would not follow her instructions.

He stepped to the right without hesitation.

BOOM!

A vicious arc of lightning jolted up his leg, and he felt his body jerk and travel through space.
His ears were ringing from the impact.

A ball of fire greeted his wild eyes.

Jing Taixu paled.

A fire tornado howled before him.

A very familiar fire tornado…

The very one that he had made himself.

Jing Taixu whirled around to see Li Luo and the others staring at him in surprise.

The rest of the Enlightened Sage College students were behind him.

All of them paled when they saw the fire tornado.
They knew what it meant.

“Lu Ming!”

Jing Taixu screamed to the skies in frustration.
He had chosen wrong!

Lu Ming had given him the correct instructions after all!

The cunning woman!

“Keh.
Oh, Jing Taixu, what a clever boy you are.
The clever ones are always done in by their hubris.
I threw you a rope, and you saw a hangman's noose.
You deserve your own ending.” Lu Ming's voice echoed around him tauntingly.

“You were acting!” Jing Taixu snarled.
She had faked the anxiety to stoke the paranoia within him.

This woman…
perhaps he had been trapped from the moment he had gone to her.

He wanted to finish off Li Luo.
Why wouldn't Lu Ming finish off both him and Li Luo?

But Jing Taixu curbed his anger swiftly.
It was not useful in this situation.
And he was not completely helpless even after being trapped by Lu Ming.

However…

Jing Taixu turned around.
“Li Luo, I have a way to leave her illusion formation.
Truce?”

Li Luo looked at him oddly.
“Jing Taixu, I swear, you…
just what is it you spend your days and nights doing?”

Jing Taixu grimaced.
He knew how foolish, how desperate he looked at this moment.
But there was no choice.
Lu Ming's trap had put him in a dangerous situation.

“You go first,” Li Luo said tersely.
He wanted to leave the illusion formation too.
Otherwise, they would sit here and be cooked.

Get out first.
Settle the score with Jing Taixu later.

Jing Taixu felt relief rush through him.
He knew that Li Luo was smart enough not to fight him now as well.
Get out first.
Settle the score with Lu Ming later.

Jing Taixu waved to his teammates.

They nodded and then all put their palms together.
Each created a condensed ball of energy, pulsing with light.

Boom!

They flew out, streaking forth like a flight of birds, and then they punched a hole in the side of the illusion formation.

They continued to weave in and out of the wall of the illusion formation, tearing a rift wider and wider.

“Looks like you didn't trust me much from the start, Jing Taixu.” Lu Ming's voice again.

“Oh, I'm sure the sentiment goes both ways, my dear,” Jing Taixu replied coolly.
With this gap, he could escape, but so could Li Luo.

“Hmph,” Lu Ming replied.
“Jing Taixu, since you came to find me, how could I let you leave empty-handed?”

Boom!

A sizzling, crackling sphere of lightning flew through the gap, flashing past both Jing Taixu and Li Luo.
It was aimed straight at the fire tornado.

“GET OUT!” Jing Taixu screamed.
“SHE'S GONNA BLOW IT ALL!” 

Li Luo and his team fled for their lives.

Boom!

The lightning was too quick.
With a terrible explosion, the fire tornado exploded, and fire rained down on them thick and heavy.

All of them were blanketed underneath it.