When the recording ended, the crowd fell into silence. Judging from their reactions, Li Luo could tell that they had guessed these people's ident.i.ties just like himself.

After all, they were all elites from the various powers, so they would surely have heard of the origins of the Spiritual Resonance Cave.

"Do these people show up whenever the Spiritual Resonance Cave opens?" Li Luo asked curiously.

Qin Yi sighed deeply before shaking her head. "The Spiritual Resonance Cave was only discovered a few dozen years ago, so it has only opened a few times. Unfortunately, we have never heard of any disciples of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect making an appearance. Additionally, they might not be actual humans. I feel like they are some sort of energy projection. The thing is that the Spiritual Resonance Cave is full of mysterious phenomena, and the Sacred Void Resonance Sect is known to have been capable of creating all sorts of miraculous things. It’s not surprising at all that they had the means to produce energy projections capable of maintaining such tyrannical power despite thousands of years going by."

At this point, Chen Ping spoke up. "Actually, the Spiritual Resonance Cave is connected to you, Dragon's Head Li Luo."

"Connected?" Li Luo frowned.

Chen Ping grinned. "The Spiritual Resonance Cave only made its appearance two years after your parents entered the supposed ruins of the Sacred Void Resonance Sect."

These words caused the atmosphere to turn silent, and the gazes of the crowd s.h.i.+fted away from both Li Luo and Qin Yi. It was that very same incident that resulted in Li Taixuan, Tan Tailan, and Qin Lian forming an endless grudge with each other.

The corner of Li Luo's lips twitched slightly. This piece of c.r.a.p just couldn't wait for Qin Yi to break out into a brawl by fanning the flames. It seemed like all of these proud children of the heavens were simply vile and toxic. Thinking back to his time in the Xia Kingdom, House Duze's steel-headed leader was much more adorable compared to them.

Qin Yi's eyes also fluttered briefly, but she did not show any emotion, only changing the subject. "Dragon's Head Li Luo, what you've just seen are just the normal protectors of the gilded hall. What's truly th.o.r.n.y is the second layer of guardians. The squad is composed of eight elite disciples with strength at the seven-pearl tier. And perhaps due to the enhancements provided by the ward that covers them, their battle strength is on the level of an eight-pearl. This is the reason why no one has managed to break in thus far."

"Oh? Eight disciples with eight-pearl strength?" Li Luo was a little taken aback. Not even he would be able to break through such powerful enemies.

However, this also meant that the real reason why Qin Yi sought to work with him was because of Li Lingjing.

When Li Luo reached that conclusion, Qin Yi's beautiful gaze turned towards the silent Li Lingjing. "Might you be Lady Li Lingjing? You should be the Western Region's Li family's prized daughter, and it was said that you had the potential to become the Dragon's Head of your generation. It was a pity that you disappeared without a word due to an accident. However, it looks like your strength is not at all inferior to Li Wuyuan's."

Li Luo was a little surprised. Qin Yi was far more adept at gathering intelligence than he had expected. He never thought that she would be able to determine where Li Lingjing had come from and even recognize that she was on par with Li Wuyuan.

Li Lingjing was similarly shocked, but she flashed Li Luo a smile. "It seems like even the young heroes of the Dragon's Fang Lineage are unable to resist Fairy Qin's charm."

The only way that the other party could receive such in-depth information was if someone within the lineage had leaked it. That being said, this was not at all unexpected. Her enchanting looks could keep pretty much any youth from the Dragon's Fang Lineage under her thumb, easily giving her what she wanted.

Li Luo pouted helplessly.

Qin Yi did not admit to it, only giving a slight smile. "Lady Li Lingjing, if you were to combine forces with Elder Brother Qin Ying, you should be able to deal with quite a number of the elite disciples. With the aid of everyone else here, we should be able to break through the eight disciples’ defensive line."

The black-robed youth behind Qin Yi glared at Li Lingjing with a gaze like daggers as he indifferently said, "I can sense that Lady Li Lingjing has been directing a hint of hostility towards me. You should have your means."

The expressions of the elites from the other powers changed. They now looked at Li Lingjing with an even higher degree of alertness. Even though they were in pairs too, their own protectors were nowhere near her level.

Additionally, the eight-pearl cultivators were this generation's top experts.

Li Lingjing then flashed a shallow smile towards all of the other youths. "If you dare to provoke Li Luo again, be aware that I might just end you here."

The crowd's expressions started to twitch, and they inadvertently took a step backwards. At the same time, their stronger partners began to closely observe her every movement. They weren't sure if they were mistaken, but they seemed to have sensed a hint of murderous intent in her words.

However, this beautiful girl was surely just joking... right? Only Li Luo knew that she wasn't kidding around. Her slender, jade hands had already reaped countless lives in the Spiritual Resonance Cave.

Although his cousin seemed smiley and lovely, she was hiding a heart full of slaughter beneath.

Li Luo didn't have any solution to this either. The experiences that had shaped her had been too defining. She was once the treasured daughter of the Western Region, but over the pa.s.sing of time, her outstanding radiance had morphed into a burden. The heaven-toppling drop in status she had experienced had warped her personality, and this was on top of having half her spirit consumed by the Soul Eater True Devil. The constant erosion and torture of her will would cause even Li Luo to feel a chill just thinking about it.

The only good thing was that Li Luo was the one who had salvaged her situation and pulled her from the depths of the abyss into the light. Thus, she truly treated him well.

"When do we take action, then?" Li Luo quashed the thoughts in his heart and directly questioned Qin Yi. If the defenses were as Qin Yi had said, just relying on Li Lingjing would not be enough to break through.

Qin Yi made her decision. "We won't dawdle any longer. More and more rogue cultivators are making their way here, and the situation will change the longer we take."

Li Luo naturally did not disagree.

When the crowd moved out, their presence was eye-catching. Countless gazes shot towards them, and the most outstanding of the lot were Qin Yi and Li Luo. They were instantly recognizable with their esteemed statuses, and the fact that they were working together elicited much surprise. They were supposed to be blood enemies, yet they were now cooperating.

Of course, such opinions were ignored by the two. They might be working together on the surface, but they kept a fixed distance of ten steps from each other. Both of them inched ever closer to their paired protector.

Clearly, the two didn't trust each other fully, as it should be.

The group then entered the mountainous forest and disappeared into the fog.

The other rogue cultivators nearby also took action, following the group at a distance. They were hoping to fish within the chaos and enter the gilded hall to find treasures.

Amongst the crowd, an emotionless male slowly walked up with squirming, black pupils. His gaze was locked in Li Lingjing's direction.

"Hey! Why are you taking your time here? Scram if you don't want to follow!" An angry shout was directed at the male from an angry rogue cultivator.

The male did not move, completely ignoring the other person.

The rogue cultivator then s became infuriated, so he surged with resonant power and directly punched towards the male, causing a boom to echo throughout the sky.

He struck at the seemingly defenseless back of the male, who seemed completely oblivious to what was happening.

However, the body of the rogue cultivator suddenly tensed up, and he stared at his own fist in absolute terror. A single black worm had tunneled into his skin, and its limbs were extremely strange, looking like countless miniature human hands. Before he knew it, it vanished.

Suddenly, the rogue cultivator's pupils turned stygian black, and a single worm could be seen squirming within one of his eyes.

A moment later, the rogue cultivator began to follow the strange male with stiff steps, disappearing into the clouds.