Absolute Resonance

Swoosh!

Four simultaneous attacks from Shen Ya’s squad swept out with choreographed precision, cutting off any retreat from Li Luo on all sides.

Li Luo stood his ground calmly, letting them do as they pleased.

Shoosh!

Their attacks all passed harmlessly through him.

And then he faded away from sight.

“An illusion!”

Shen Ya shouted, panicking.

Was this Bai Mengmeng’s power? My God, it was frustrating.

“Watch out! Don’t get separated!” he barked. As long as they could stay together, even Li Luo would pay a heavy price to take them all down.

Just as he spoke, a light blinded him with a flash, and he raised a hand instinctively.

Li Luo appeared in the next instant, blade chopping down at him.

Panicking, he unleashed his resonant power in a desperate blast to repel Li Luo.

Again, his power passed through, connecting with nothing but air.

“Another damned illusion?!” he seethed.

Suddenly, bursts of light were erupting all around them in the forest. Each spawned a Li Luo that came running at them.

Soon enough, there were a dozen Li Luos charging them.

“Impossible! How can Bai Mengmeng summon so many illusions?” a Governor Squad member cried out.

Shi Huang squinted against the constantly dazzling lights and spotted a puddle of highly reflective water.

The water mirror was strategically reflecting the lights to create more illusions of Li Luo.

“It’s Li Luo’s water resonant power! He set up water mirrors everywhere to multiply Bai Mengmeng’s illusions. We’re… in his trap,” Shi Huang said urgently.

“Be careful! One of these illusions must be real!”

They were more or less expecting that, conserving their resonant power in each attack as they continued to test each illusion.

But the illusions were relentless. More and more “Li Luos” came at them from all directions in the trees.

They were starting to sweat now. Was this Li Luo’s plan? To tire them out with illusions? But they didn’t dare to let the illusions get close. What if the real deal was hiding among them?

They were stuck.

Focused on clearing the Li-llusions, they did not notice that the ground beneath their feet was starting to turn slushy.

“Look out below!” Shen Ya yelled in fright as he suddenly felt a coolness around his feet.

Too late. The ground beneath their feet gave way, becoming a swamp that sucked their feet in.

“Damn it, he softened the ground with his water resonant power!” Shi Huang shouted. But how could Li Luo pull this off so quickly? Ah. Earth resonance power.

Boom!

Combining their powers, they prepared to blast the swamp to bits and escape.

But just at that instant, a green light interrupted their concerted attack, vines snaking out to bind them.

They hurriedly turned their attention to this new threat, but the series of attacks had worn down their response. One member fumbled, and the vines wrapped him up tightly. With a final, choked scream, he was dragged down into the swamp, and not heard from again.

The other three were panicking now, desperately trying to get away.

Which meant that they were starting to spread out.

“Get back! Back away from this place!” Shen Ya commanded them.

Finally, he was starting to understand why Li Luo was so hard to deal with. The combination of two resonance arts opened new possibilities that slipped through their defenses.

Shi Huang and the other remaining members fled without hesitation.

Too late to flee.

A “Li-llusion” raised its hand, sending little pellets of light forth that popped right before the last member’s eyes.

“Argh!”

The guy screamed, clawing frantically at his eyes. His spear ignited with fire resonant power and he swept it out before him in a wild, blind swing.

Useless. Water Edge-reinforced steel met his weapon, sending his spear flying away with a deft twist. At the same time, a sword hilt rapped him sharply on the shoulder.

The guy went down with a heavy grunt of pain.

Boom!

Having finished off another member, Li Luo whirled around as thunder boomed. Shi Huang had his own spear in hand, already charged up with electrical power and writhing like a live dragon.

Li Luo smiled and lifted a palm.

“Dendrical Intervention!”

More vines flew out to lash against Shi Huang’s spear attack. Splinters were sent flying, but the lightning could not penetrate his defense.

Bong!

A flash of leafy-green light connected with Shi Huang, throwing him violently.

Shi Huang was seized with bitter despair. Back at the Tianshu Province, he had lost to Li Luo, but it was because of that one trick arrow that he had not been careful about. But now Li Luo was crushing him at every turn.

There was no use in despairing now. Li Luo had already turned to him again. Surely Li Luo was planning to take him out with his next move, leaving Shen Ya alone.

His electrical energy crackled to life around him as he prepared to pull back.

Behind, Shen Ya could read his intention as well. His own golden resonant power propelled him forward in a blur as he raced to Shi Huang’s rescue.

Shi Huang turned to flee, but he found himself face to face with an ethereal curtain of pollen. A demonic butterfly fluttered in and out of the curtain. Shi Huang’s mind went blank.

Rumble!

His lightning power lapsed with a muted boom, jolting him back to the present. The demonic butterfly was gone.

“Bai Mengmeng!” Shi Huang spotted her smiling sweetly nearby behind a tree.

“She doesn’t deserve your ugly gaze. Our gem of a sister is beyond you louts.”

A voice said in his ear. In his peripheral vision he saw a heavy fist, then he was brained.

Bonk!

He felt a sharp pain on his skull, then his vision faded to black.

Li Luo’s voice came to him as he sank down. “You failed again. It’s alright. Try harder next time.”

Shi Huang down, Li Luo turned to the last man standing, the Governor Squad’s leader, Shen Ya. He grinned.

“I hear you like two-to-one odds.”

Li Luo’s two shortswords dragged against the ground. Behind Shen Ya, Bai Mengmeng had stepped out as well. Li Luo’s grin widened when he saw Shen Ya’s bleak expression.

“I’m afraid I like it too…”