Chapter 22: The Price of a Sixth-Grade Resonance

Knowledge of Li Luo's fifth-grade water resonance spread throughout the school very quickly. This naturally became the hottest topic of discussion.

"Who would have thought that Li Luo would manage to rise from the ashes! An acquired resonance... this is something I’ve never heard of."

"I heard that it was a treasure left behind by his parents! It's clearly something rarely seen."

"Having great parents truly makes me green with envy! I'm so jealous!"

"Well, it's not that amazing. After all, it's just a fifth-grade water resonance. It's not that exceptional, and the final examination is barely a month away. How can he possibly catch up to those at the top with so little time?"

"Yeah. He may have beaten Bei Kun and his goons, but those three aren't even in the top ten of the First School. I heard the top ten are all at least at the Seventh Seal Stage. Song Yunfeng and Lu Qing'er are the two scariest ones out of the lot—apparently they’re at the Eighth Seal or higher already..."

"Mm. Li Luo has already squandered the most crucial time for growth. I don't think he can catch up in a month."

Whilst everyone was fervently making Li Luo the topic of discussion, the man himself had just finished a round of cultivation and was quickly making his way out the academy.

"Even though I beat Bei Kun today, it was more draining than I expected. If not for borrowing the light resonance power of my resonance to blind Bei Kun at the crucial moment, I might have taken even more time than I wanted..."

Whilst on his carriage back home, Li Luo continued to analyze the day's battles. He wasn't looking relaxed as expected. Instead, a dissatisfied and solemn expression was plastered over his face.

At this rate, his current strength coupled with the waterlight resonance and his expertise at resonance arts would easily allow him to contend with a Sixth Seal Stage cultivator. However, if he were to encounter a Seventh Seal stage expert, his chances of victory would be extremely low.

"This is not enough. This is FAR from enough," he murmured to himself. His aim was to enter the Astral Sage College. The number of hopefuls that were competing with him were too many to count. If he was not at the top, his odds would be too low.

The biggest constraint that everyone had mentioned was his lack of time—barely a month was left before the crucial moment. If he wanted to catch up, he would have to quickly improve his resonant power, and it looked like tempering his waterlight resonance was the only way.

Only then would he have the confidence to face off against Lu Qing'er and those other elites.

The key problem still lay in tempering his waterlight resonance to the sixth grade. This would be no easy matter...

"I guess I need to have a discussion with Elder Sister Cai Wei..." Li Luo's lips were puckered at that very thought. He had this strange feeling that if he were to mention needing huge amounts of fifth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights to Cai Wei, she might very well just devour him alive...

....

The old manor, the administrative office.

Cai Wei was currently sitting at her table, carefully inspecting the book of records. She was dressed in a pale-yellow robe and her egg-shaped face was enthralling as always, possessing an air of grace. 

She had already been at work for quite a while and was getting tired, hence she reached forward and gingerly placed the book down on the table. 

“Hu!”

It was as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she gently heaved a sigh of relief, looking clearly more relaxed.

Weng!

It was at this point that  the door suddenly swung open and Li Luo strode in with gusto. "Elder Sister Cai Wei!"

Bang!

When the door was slammed, Li Luo noticed the relaxed Cai Wei in front of him. Her mind had clearly not registered this sudden intrusion, and her beautiful gaze seemed a little dazed at the sight of Li Luo.

The atmosphere suddenly seemed to freeze at this moment.

Cai Wei immediately snapped to attention, sitting up straight as though she had been electrocuted. Her fair complexion was tinted with the red of embarrassment whilst her gaze stared coquettishly at Li Luo.

"Did no one ever teach you to knock before entering?"

Li Luo was currently dripping with cold sweat as he hastily nodded. "I'm sorry, Elder Sister Cai Wei! I will definitely take note of this in the future!"

Seeing his respectful attitude, Cai Wei no longer felt ashamed but still asked brusquely, "May I know what instruction the Young Lord has?"

Li Luo looked around sheepishly, making sure that no one else was around before carefully closing the door. "I want to let Elder Sister Cai Wei see a certain treasure of mine..." His voice was lowered, but before he could finish his sentence, he was shocked silly. This was because he saw Cai Wei whip out a gleaming bow, a dangerous smile on her beautiful egg-shaped face.

"Young Lord, before you do anything rash, don't forget that I'm also a resonant master."

Frightened, Li Luo hastily waved his hands, bitterly smiling. "Elder Sister Cai Wei, what do you mean? What are you trying to do!?"

A little taken aback as well, Cai Wei's raised her eyebrow slightly as she asked curiously, all the while focused on Li Luo's every move, "Then just what sort of ‘treasure’ of yours are you referring to?"

Li Luo was a little confused at this turn of events... However, he didn't speak anymore and instead willed his resonant power to surge. In a blink, blue resonant power started to shroud his body, blazing upwards. The sight of the resonant power resembled waves of water flowing so much that one could literally imagine hearing it.

He had revealed his fifth-grade water resonance.

Pa!

Cai Wei gradually lowered the bow in her hands as she asked in surprise, "You... you have a resonance?"

Li Luo nodded. "A fifth-grade one too."

Cai Wei was absolutely stupefied at this scene. Only after a good minute had passed did she finally react. "Is this the result of the secret art left behind by the two House Lords?" Li Luo nodded in response.

At this point, she came to her senses. Thinking of her previous actions, her face flushed a bright crimson-red. Li Luo's previous words seemed to have held a deeper meaning, and she wasn't a naive youth...hence she was flustered and even thought that Li Luo was about to do something extremely unsavory... 

She felt incomparably embarrassed at this turn of events. Cai Wei, oh, Cai Wei. What a huge humiliation!

Still, she was someone who had encountered all sorts of experiences and very quickly composed herself, smiling as though nothing had happened. "Congratulations, Young Lord! If Qing'e knew of this, she would be elated."

Li Luo nodded. "There's only a little problem. Perhaps Elder Sister Cai Wei might have already guessed what it is..."

"Do you still require spirit liquids and purifying lights?" Cai Wei frowned slightly after hearing his last sentence.

"Mhm. Unfortunately, I will need fifth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights. This resonance which my parents left behind requires endless amounts of spirit liquids and purifying lights to cultivate. Otherwise, it might very possibly dissipate..." Li Luo did not want to mention the fact that he could endlessly temper his resonance with copious amounts of spirit liquids and purifying lights. If news of this were to spread, the situation would definitely turn grave, and he temporarily did not wish for this to be revealed, at least not until he could protect himself.

"Fifth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights..." The frown on Cai Wei's face deepened to the point that even her two eyebrows were touching.

Fourth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights roughly cost around a thousand pieces of skygold each. Fifth-grade ones would easily cost over five times that.

This was definitely an expensive consumable good.

If Li Luo only required a few, then this would not be a problem. However, from experience, Cai Wei understood that what Li Luo needed was probably in the hundreds... This would not be a small sum.

Cai Wei's expression was constantly changing as she struggled with this though. What was more surprising to Li Luo was that she did not find any reasons to push back and merely nodded. "I understand. I will do my best to carry out your instructions."

She raised her head and saw Li Luo's absolutely flabbergasted expression before breaking out into a smile. "Did you think that I was going to reject you? You are the Young Lord of House Luolan. Everything belongs to you and Sister Qing'e. So long as you're not being coerced into it, whatever you want will become a reality. In any case, now that you have a resonance, you will finally be able to hold some influence within House Luolan. This is incomparable to the physical costs of these spirit liquids and purifying lights. How could I possibly reject your request?"

Extremely touched, Li Luo passionately replied, "Elder Sister Cai Wei! You're truly great at understanding others! In this case, could you please get me several dozen portions immediately?" 

Cai Wei began to massage her temples upon hearing Li Luo's excited follow-up. "Well, this can be done. It's just that if you require a similar amount again, we don't have the funds to purchase more." House Luolan's businesses in the Tianshu Province only brought in around three hundred thousand pieces of skygold a year. The previous request for fourth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights had already cost around a hundred and fifty thousand pieces of skygold. After buying another thirty pieces or so, there would barely be any money left. 

Cai Wei sighed deeply. "Young Lord, I plan to sell off some of the businesses within the Tianshu Province.

"House Luolan does not have much strength within the Tianshu Province. Thus, many businesses can be considered burdens to us as we are unable to properly protect them. In a sense, we are overstaffed here. Combined with the suppression of the three families, if this were to continue, it would only result in a grievous loss to us whilst taking up precious resources. The key reason lies with the three families. The three of them have an alliance in place to deal with House Luolan jointly, as they all have similar goals. If we were to voluntarily offer up some businesses and execute this well, it could very possibly lead them to struggle amongst themselves. Ultimately, this will also breed internal strife when their benefits are compromised, making it harder for them to deal with House Luolan in a united fashion."

Li Luo considered her point of view and nodded in agreement after a while. "Elder Sister Cai Wei is truly decisive. You are making a sacrifice for the greater good. I am honestly unfamiliar with such matters and will leave this in your wise hands. Regardless of what you choose to do, I will support your decision," Li Luo said in praise of her.

"I am truly thankful for your trust." Cai Wei gave a small smile.

Li Luo waved his hands and then a thought suddenly came to mind. "Oh, yes! Does the Tianshu Province have any resonance artificers? If I could craft my own, then it would undoubtedly be cheaper than buying them off the market, yes?" 

"Well, of course we have resonance artificers. House Luolan has businesses in every aspect of the economy. This sort of profession is always in demand as the supply of spirit liquids and purifying lights is never enough. Our House Luolan has plenty of resonance artificers who are able to craft third-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights. However, for those of a higher grade, the number of resonance artificers who are able to do so are a lot less, thus our production capabilities for that are also low. When it comes to fifth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights... I'm afraid there is no one in Tianshu Province who is able to craft them. All of those that can be bought in the market have been imported from Xia City." 

A sudden revelation dawned upon Li Luo. Of course! Someone who could craft fifth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights would be minimally a fifth-grade resonance artificer. Such individuals would only be found in cradles of civilization, the subject of any cultivator's worship. Why would they be hiding in such a desolate area like the Tianshu Province? It was natural that they were rarely seen here as a result.

"Can Elder Sister Cai Wei bring me to where House Luolan crafts their spirit liquids and purifying lights? I have a water resonance and thus would like to gain some knowledge about the path of a resonance artificer." The price of these tempering treasures was exorbitantly high, and he was only talking about fifth-grade ones. In the future, he would even require seventh, eighth, and even ninth-grade spirit liquids and purifying lights! Just how was he going to find them, much less pay for them? He also knew that in the entire Xia Kingdom, there were very few spirit liquids and purifying lights of the 7th-grade and above sold each year.

The only way would be to rely on himself.

Thus, he had to make preparations to progress on the path of a resonance artificer.

Cai Wei did not disagree.

"Alright. I will take you there tomorrow."