Chapter 1126: Auric Halo Stirs
Chapter 1126: Auric Halo Stirs
Two large squads slowly made their way over the black swamp shrouded in thick mist, their lanterns emitting divine light around them. Everywhere the light shone upon, the chilly, white mist retreated and the dark water underneath turned clearer.
Nonetheless, no one in the two squads dared to relax for even a single moment. They could tell that they were surrounded by eerie, cold gazes watching them from the shadows.
White figures floated around just outside the range of the lanterns, and strange whispers continued to echo in the surroundings.
As time passed, more and more white figures gathered. Everyone could see that these creatures resembled fish with totally white bodies.
The fish looked robust and well built. Upon closer inspection, they did not have any scales. Instead, they were covered in pale skin. Their eyes were surprisingly large, just like those of humans. When they opened their mouths, they revealed their black, razor-sharp teeth. Their smooth bellies wriggled, embedded with grieving faces whose mouths were wide open as if screaming in despair despite making no noise.
From time to time, the fish tried to approach the light from the lanterns. However, their skin started to burn whenever they came within a certain range, turning them into white flames that fell back into the water.
The lanterns were clearly very effective against these rogue Others.
However, more and more fish started to gather. Soon, they formed a thick physical barrier right outside the range of the two squads' light sources, which was an unsettling sight.
The strange fish-like Others weren't all that strong, but there were a lot of them. If they managed to break through the protection afforded by the light, they would be a headache to deal with.
Especially in this unknown swamp. Who knew what other scary Others were lying in wait in the shadows?
Therefore, the two squads quickened their pace and tried to make their way across the water as soon as possible. Once they entered the city in the depths of the swamp, they could destroy the Devil Heart Pillar and complete their rescue mission.
As time passed, the Others began to get impatient. They tried to charge into the lit area in waves. Clearly, they could not wait any longer.
Many of the fish-like Others were reduced to ashes when they attempted to rush forward. However, the divine light protection from the lanterns began to weaken under their incessant attempts.
Things were better at the Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College's side. Yue Zhiyu took on the burden from most of the hits herself. She had a solid foundation and a ninth-grade light resonance, and she put on a truly tyrannical display. Her divine light erased all the fish-like Others as soon as they attempted to break in.
However, it was much worse for Li Luo's side. Zhou Yao's face was visibly turning paler and the light from her lantern was rapidly getting dimmer.
"Replenish her energy!" Feng Lingyuan ordered as soon as she saw this.
One of the Three Star Hall students hurried forward. He supported Zhou Yao's waist with his hands. The Ancient Spirit Leaf mark on his hand lit up and resonant power flowed out of his body. After transforming, it went to Zhou Yao and replenished her strength rapidly.
Li Hongyou stretched out her slender fingers. Her fingertips quickly softened up like ripe fruits, emanating a faint fragrance. Everyone who got a whiff felt their resonant power recover at a rapid pace. At the same time, the irritating and frightening weird whispers in the surroundings gradually calmed down.
Duan Mu looked at the layers of fish-like Others at the edge of the light. He frowned and asked, "Should we finish them off?"
Li Hongyou replied calmly, "We do not know how many Greater Evil Spirits are in the city. It's best for our best fighters to keep themselves in peak condition before then."
Feng Lingyuan nodded in agreement. The most important thing for the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier cultivators like them was to deal with the Greater Evil Spirits. It would not be wise to exhaust their power here.
Li Hongyou turned around. Li Luo was at the back with a lantern in his hand.
"Are you okay?"
Li Luo nodded. Although there were plenty of fish-like Others near him, their numbers were far less than in the front, where Zhou Yao was.
He stared at the wavering lantern flame in Zhou Yao's hands. Would she last until they made it into the city?
A huge amount of Others would swarm them the moment the protection from the lanterns vanished. Calling the environment unfavorable was an understatement. In such a situation, even Feng Lingyuan and the other Upper Hall students would not be able to protect everyone; there would surely be some casualties.
Li Luo turned his attention back to the lantern in his hand. Light resonant energy continuously flowed out of his body, but it was akin to a trickle. His light resonance was just a secondary resonance, and he usually used it for support. Now that he had to use it as the main energy source, it was evidently lackluster.
If he fused both light and water resonance energy into dual resonance power, it would primarily be water resonance energy. As a result, its holy and cleansing effects would be significantly inferior.
Yet the human skin lantern needed light resonant energy in order to create a circle of light that kept Others away.
"If only I could transform other types of resonance energy into light resonant energy," Li Luo whispered to himself. He fell into deep thought. From what he understood, Dukes were able to transform resonance energy from one type to another freely. However, this was too tough for a Heavenly Pearl cultivator like him.
Li Luo pondered over it, and it was then that he suddenly sensed a faint ringing sound within his body.
This startled him. He followed the sound into the depths of his heart, where he discovered that the source was the mysterious Auric Halo.
There were three slots on the auric halo, each with an illusory phantom of his three resonant palaces. In the center sat the Acquired Resonance Flame.
The mysterious Auric Halo had always remained motionless. Why had it begun to stir?
"What's happening?" Li Luo asked in surprise.
The Auric Halo had never moved before regardless of what he tried. Why was it suddenly showing a reaction?
Was it due to his thoughts?
Could this item transform resonant power for him?
Li Luo's heart trembled a little. The Auric Halo was something he had gotten from the Golden Dew Platform's baptism back in the Spiritual Resonance Cave. His acquired resonances originated from the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art, which came from the ancient Sacred Void Resonance Sect. Surely there was some mysterious connection between the two.
With that in mind, he tried to send some resonant power towards the Auric Halo.
As Li Luo was experimenting, the crowd noticed that the fish-like Others in the surrounding area had begun to act up.
Countless white fish stacked on top of one another, letting out a sharp, eerie cries. As they wriggled about, they began to attack the Others in the surrounding area.
The fish-like Others were killing one another.
As the mutual killing intensified, everyone's faces turned ugly. Moments later, stronger Others were created from the slaughter.
They were extremely large and looked like a white crabs with countless limbs. The limbs possessed unsightly fingers that left one unsettled. On the back of their shells were many strange faces that writhed and spewed out powerful corruption.
As soon as the Crab Others were created, they charged straight into the light. The light full of divine energy caused their shells to disintegrate; however, they were able to move quite a bit into the lit area before they were completely eradicated.
As a result, the light from the lanterns quickly turned dim.
The situation was slightly better for the Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College students. Over at the Heavenly Origin Ancient College's side, however, the four lanterns began swaying and their light grew dimmer and dimmer. The lit area was getting smaller as well.
Everyone's faces changed completely.
Zhou Yao, who stood at the front of the squad, was having the hardest time. Light resonant energy gushed out of her body like a torrent. It flowed into the lantern continuously as she tried to keep the flame strong, annihilating the fearless Others.
She continued to sweat as she endured the immense drain of her energy.
"Senior Feng, I can't hold on much longer!" she shouted through gritted teeth.
Feng Lingyuan sighed helplessly as she evaluated the situation. A huge amount of resonant power surged up. If their defenses broke down, she would have to lead the team and fight their way out.
Not too far from them, the squad from the Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College had noticed the situation.
"Should we help them?" Wang Kong asked with a frown. Although he was ranked higher than Yue Zhiyu and Wei Chonglou, he kept a low profile. He was stronger than them for sure, but he had no background. His strength was a result of his hard work, and he could not compare with elites like Yue Zhiyu and Wei Chonglou, who had powerful families backing them.
Yue Zhiyu hesitated for a moment.
However, Wei Chonglou replied emotionlessly, "Let's take care of ourselves first. No one knows if there are more Others lurking in the shadows. If we split up our lantern light, we may suffer a breakthrough from the Others as well. Things may get risky on their end, but Feng Lingyuan and the rest have not made a move yet. There's no need to worry about them."
The students close to Wei Chonglou agreed immediately. Although both sides were cooperating, their own survival was paramount. Besides, things had not descended into complete disarray just yet.
Looking at the situation, Wang Kong did not comment any further.
During this short conversation, more and more Crab Others were created. They seemed to be aware that the Heavenly Origin Ancient College's side was easier to deal with. More and more Crab Others charged, and the lit area continued to shrink under their incessant attacks.
The lantern flame in Zhou Yao's hands grew weaker and weaker. Even if she summoned all her strength and poured all her resonant energy into it, she could only watch the lantern flame flicker out in the end.
She sighed helplessly.
At the next moment, what they had been dreading occurred. The lantern in her hands snuffed out completely.