Chapter 0617: Spirit Deposit
The next day, dawn arrived once again, and Li Luo stirred awake. Forcing his stiff eyelids open, he turned to look at his outstretched palm. On it was the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch that had dimmed in light. If one didn't pay attention, they might not have noticed it in the relatively dingy room.
Li Luo had taken advantage of the spirit deposit ability of the brooch last night, resulting in his current state.
The spirit deposit ability was simply overdrawing the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch's stored energy to catalyze the recovery of one's resonant power. After using it, the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch would naturally require a period of time to restore the lost reserves and would not be able to produce any Violet Spiritliquid. Doing this would also leave some lasting damage on the brooch's abilities, so it was not ideal to keep using this ability. It was almost like slaughtering the goose that laid the golden eggs.
However, Li Luo was unperturbed. Even the best treasures had to be used at the optimal times.
What he had constantly lacked was time, and he could not slowly nourish the newly formed Thunder Dragon resonance. As a result, he had activated the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch's ability to temper the resonance quickly as this was the only way to strengthen himself greatly in a small amount of time.
After which, he clasped his hands. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to enjoy the benefits brought about by the Violet Spiritliquid for quite a while, but the bright side was that the Eternal Oak Armor remained usable as it had a separate function of the brooch.
Unfortunately, the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch had almost turned into a spare piece of junk after very little use.
More importantly, he decided to inspect the growth of his third resonant palace.
Within it was a silver layer of clouds that constantly flowed about, occasionally flashing with traces of lightning and thunder, echoing throughout its interior.
What was most eye-catching was that within the moving thunderclouds hid a shadow. Whenever the clouds parted, the silhouette of a majestic dragon could be seen. The silhouette spanned tens of thousands of zhang and was wreathed in dark-red draconic scales. It occasionally released a low roar that converged with the boom of thunder, causing the entire resonant palace to vibrate.
"A dragon resonance..." Li Luo continued to observe the dark-red dragon silhouette. This was the manifestation of his resonance, and he could feel an ineffable suppression that was rarely seen within beast resonances.
After a few more moments of observation, Li Luo stopped inspecting his resonance with gleeful satisfaction.
"A sixth-grade Thunder Dragon resonance."
With the usage of the spirit deposit, he had tempered the resonance in one go from the fourth-grade to the sixth-grade. A night's worth of time had caused it to rise twice. Such a huge upgrade might have never been seen before.
Well, to be fair, not all those who possessed a Violet Resonant Tree Brooch would benefit as greatly as he did. Although the tempering energy was gentle, using too much in one go would also lead to resistance being built up.
Thus, very few opted to use this ability. For most people, using the Violet Spiritliquid slowly over time was the most effective as it allowed one to obtain the best results.
But Li Luo could not be compared to these individuals. His blank palaces allowed him to unscrupulously abuse such tempering materials to continuously bolster his resonances without fear of side effects due to their special void affinity. Thus, he was able to maximize the usage of the spirit deposit without much waste.
This shortcut saved him two to three months worth of time. Based on experience, the normal tempering of a resonance from the fourth-grade to the sixth-grade would have required copious amounts of both spirit liquids and purifying lights and a significant amount of time. "I wonder... is there anything that can help replenish the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch's energy?" Li Luo lightly sighed. He would be lying if he said he didn't miss the daily tempering effects of the Violet Spiritliquid. It synergised with the spirit liquids and purifying lights he used and allowed him to temper his resonances significantly quicker.
Thus, if the opportunity presented itself, he would do his best to restore the Violet Resonant Tree Brooch's functionalities.
Rolling off the bed, he could still see that his complexion seemed a little pale in the mirror. On the other hand, the weakness he felt the previous night was mostly gone and he could feel boisterous resonant power flowing through him. He had definitely improved once again.
Furthermore, this was before the third resonant palace had been tempered by earth fiend energy. With all three resonances at the Fiend Palace Tier, his body would enjoy nigh limitless amounts of resonant power, perhaps even rivaling Greater Fiend Palace Tier cultivators.
The Fiend Palace Tier was divided into two simple tiers: the Greater and Lesser Fiend Palaces. As this tier was all about strengthening and tempering the fiend palace itself, this was an easy way to differentiate one's progress.
Li Luo was now in the early stage of the Lesser Fiend Palace Tier.
Smug satisfaction was written all over his face. One month's time had allowed his strength to skyrocket. He had entered the Fiend Palace Tier and his resonant palaces were complete. If he could learn a Duke Art, it would be perfect.
Thus, Li Luo proceeded to wash up before walking towards the inner hall with a spring in his step.
Meanwhile, within the hall...
Jiang Qing'e was currently enjoying her breakfast when Ox Biaobiao made his way over, heaping copious amounts of nourishing food onto the table. Her first expression was that of suspicion. What was he doing? It was not until she saw a pale Li Luo teetering along that she finally understood what it was for.
"What now?" Jiang Qing'e put down the pastry in her hand as she interrogated him.
“This brat threw himself into the midst of danger just yesterday, so why is he looking so frail once again? How could anyone feel reassured with his self-destructive tendencies?”
Li Luo heaved a little smile as he stared at the table full of replenishing tonics. "I am sorry for the trouble, Uncle Biao."
As the chef of House Luolan, Ox Biaobiao obviously knew that Li Luo needed such nutritious food, the only question was why.
Ox Biaobiao sized him up and beamed. "Well, it's not as bad this time. You've only suffered a loss of blood essence. After entering the Earth Fiend General Stage, your resonant power should be considered sufficiently dense, and you possess a sturdy foundation. There's no longer any need to offer up your lifespan nor foundation as a price."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qing'e also took the time to scrutinize Li Luo, and what she saw shocked her. She could distinctly feel that the resonant power undulations coming from him were significantly stronger than after his breakthrough just a day ago.
“Just what did this fool do last night? No wonder he hasn't appeared for an entire day.”
"Explain. Truthfully." Jiang Qing'e gently raised her chin as she stared at him with almost a look of disdain.
Li Luo coughed lightly before he slowly enunciated, "Sister Qing'e, you should be more polite towards me from now on."
"Oh? Did you grow some balls after you broke through to the Fiend Palace Tier?" She lightly laughed.
"In the past, I was a mere dual resonance user, and you had a true ninth-grade light resonance. Thus, I was outclassed by several degrees. However, I've bridged this gap!" Li Luo announced victoriously.
She continued to stare at Li Luo wordlessly, trying to imagine what this idiot was trying to do.
Under her watchful supervision, Li Luo signaled for the surrounding servants to take a few steps back. With a thought, he started to emit resonant power that contained an aura of suppression from his body, and the shadow of a coiled dragon materialized behind him.
Even Jiang Qing'e seemed to have lost focus upon this sight.
At this point, Li Luo crowed arrogantly.
"From today onwards, being a dual resonance user is a thing of the crappy past. You may now address me as triple resonance Li Luo!"