Absolute Resonance

filled with wind resonant energy.
He was gone a moment later.

Gone like the wind.

The Astral Sage students watched with a sick feeling in their stomachs.

With that sort of speed, it was indeed possible that he might make it to Dragonbone Island before the anima dew membrane evaporated completely.

“Damn it all!” Bai Doudou screamed in frustration.

Jing Taixu had dragged them all into the mud and then escaped by himself, leaving them doomed for a slow, unsatisfying elimination.

Li Luo watched Jing Taixu go with a blank look on his face.

“Li Luo, you should go too.
Our anima dew membranes are too thin, but yours is a little better.
If you hurry, you might make it,” Bai Doudou said dully.

Qin Zhulu and Yi Lisha nodded as well.
“Better one lives than none.”

“It's no use,” Wang Hejiu said with little hope.
“There's no way Li Luo can match Jing Taixu's speed.”

There was no comeback to this.
Jing Taixu was a quasi ninth-grade wind resonance user at the Third Changing.

“We can't just give up like this!” Bai Doudou snarled.

Li Luo waved his hand tiredly to cease the quarrel.
Wang Hejiu's words were depressing but true.
There was no way to match Jing Taixu's speed, normally.
But if he had no other choice, he wasn't completely out of options…

His hand drifted towards the red bracelet on his other hand.
With the power of the three-tailed heavenly wolf, his speed and resonant power would probably get him there in time.

But…

What a waste of energy.

It was his ultimate ace.

He didn't even want to use it in the Hall-level competition.

But in these circumstances, it seemed like he had no other choice.
Otherwise, he could not guarantee that he would reach Dragonbone Island.

“Whew.”

Li Luo made his decision.

He began to recite the Heavenly Libation Chant that would release the wolf's power.

“Maybe there's a way,” a voice called from beside him. 

Everyone turned around in surprise, even Li Luo.
It was Lu Qing'er.

She hesitated for a moment.
“Li Luo, do you trust me?”

He smiled at her.
“Of course,” he said simply.

She smiled back gratefully.
“I have a resonance art that can sheath you in ice armor.
It can slow the burn of the anima dew membrane for you.”

Everyone stared at her in surprise.

“Qing'er…
you must be joking,” Bai Doudou spluttered.
“You should know how strong the fire here in the Dragon's Belly is.
How can our little bit of resonant power possibly make a difference?”

Lu Qing'er was the weakest out of all of them.
Although her ice resonance was a lower eighth-grade, the rest of them were on the same level!

“Can't hurt to try,” Li Luo said with a curious smile.
Resonance grade was one thing, but after working with her in the Golden Dragon Dao Fields, he had developed a healthy respect for the riches and powers that backed her.

It made sense to him that she would have options the rest of them did not.

“Give me your hand,” she said.

Li Luo did so.

Removing her ice silk gloves, she hesitated for only a moment before taking hold of his hand with barely a blush.

Immediately, a trickle of cool energy seeped into Li Luo's hands.
In the sweltering heat, he was seized with a sudden thought that it would feel so good to hug a cool thing…
such as the owner of these hands.

Lu Qing'er was still a little uncomfortable at having her hand touched, but she pressed on.
She bit her own finger, letting blood flow freely from the tip, then pressed it into Li Luo's palm with a curious chant.

The chant turned her blood into an icy-blue color.

Lu Qing'er's eyes closed, and she spoke a few words.

“Bloodline resonance art, Eternal Night Ice Armor.”