When Lu Cāng shut his eyes, Li Luo did not sense any disturbance or change. And yet his gut was telling him that something was very wrong about the whole situation.

He decided it was best to find out, via taking a nice, big swing with his swords at Lu Cāng's neck.

He wasn't about to hang around waiting politely for his opponent to finish his grand transformation. Attacking was the only reasonable option.

But when his sword was half a meter away from Lu Cāng, it bounced off an invisible barrier, leaving a red scorch mark behind.

Lu Cāng was not stupid enough to leave himself defenseless.

But neither was he attacking right now. A barrier was still ultimately a punching bag. It wasn't hitting him back. He rained down slashes on it, moving speedily to cut through it. With each blow he landed, the resonant power barrier shook and wavered. A few moments later, he cut through it with a well-placed double slash from both sides.

Lu Cāng was open. A blade flashed towards his face.

BOOM!

His eyes flew open and he punched Li Luo's sword with a powerful uppercut, so it flew harmlessly above his head.

Lu Cāng's fist was unharmed.

Li Luo's eyes widened. Lu Cāng's hair was growing longer right before his eyes, and half of it turned white. The mix of black and white hair was bizarre. The transformation did not stop at the hair. Lu Cāng started to vibrate with resonant power.

It far exceeded the First Changing level that he had just demonstrated.

The sheer volume of resonant power was enough to stir up the lake water around him, gravitating around him in a conical, upward twist.

Li Luo was frowning so hard that his eyebrows almost touched. It was uncanny that Lu Cāng's resonant power would grow so much all of a sudden. Even his own Resonant Bubble art only increased his resonant power by a portion of his actual strength. Lu Cāng's resonant power had grown exponentially!

The current Lu Cāng was definitely a Second Changing in strength, and perhaps at peak strength within the Second Changing.

As ridiculous as this boost was, there was more to come. Ordinary Evolving Resonance Tier cultivators could not compare to geniuses who could wield their powers more skillfully than others. Li Luo was not the only one who could beat opponents above his level.

If his calculations were right, this current version of Lu Cāng surpassed Ye Qiuding and Zhu Xuan.

A horrific improvement.

Li Luo noticed that Lu Cāng's eyes were different now. One was red, the other black. The only thing that had not changed was the animalistic ferocity reflected in them.

At the spectator stands, many of them had noticed the change as well. Lu Cāng had become even more dangerous than ever.

"How did his resonant power increase so much?" Lu Qing'er bit her lip as she clenched the rail tightly.

"Something's not right," Qin Zhulu growled. He had an upper eighth-grade beast resonance too, but he could not fathom how Lu Cāng had suddenly increased his own strength twofold.

"It's not just a simple increase in strength. There's a... shifting in the resonant power within him. Another element. He has a Solaris Python resonance, but now a darker one has arisen within him..." Jiang Qing'e said quietly.

She looked at the Blue Abyss Sage College spectator stands, at the youth called Lu Cáng.[1]

"I wonder if it belongs to Lu Cáng, who has a Lunaris Python resonance."

Lu Qing'er, Qin Zhulu, and the others all stared at her, aghast. "You mean he transferred his resonant power to Lu Cāng?"

Jiang Qing'e inclined her head. "Lu Cáng is in some sort of semi-comatose state. The resonant power aura around him has completely vanished. This must be the Blue Abyss Sage College's ultimate move. The twins have a miraculous link between them.

"Which means that Lu Cāng is now also a dual resonance user? And it seems like his resonances have an even higher grade than Li Luo's."

Bai Mengmeng frowned. "Leader is in danger!"

Dual resonances had brought Li Luo to fame, and his opponent having the same advantage was not good news.

"They're not the same," Jiang Qing'e said, shaking her head. "Each of Li Luo's dual resonances has a resonant palace. The affinity between resonant palaces allows him to bring out the best of both powers in what we see as dual resonances. Although Lu Cāng might have transferred the resonance and resonant power of his twin, the resonance does not have a resonant palace home within Lu Cāng's body. He cannot bring forth true multiplication of power, but only an addition of two distinct powers.

"Besides, without a resonant palace to anchor the power, the borrowed power will not be stable. It will weaken before too long, and even vanish completely.

"Of course, Lu Cāng is currently very strong. Perhaps not even Third Changing cultivators could beat him right now. No wonder the Blue Abyss Sage College believes that he can turn the battle for them. This level of power could trump most other sage colleges in the East Divine Continent easily, let alone take a ticket match. The twins are a walking miracle.

"If Li Luo wants to win this, he'd better have a whole storehouse of ability hidden."

Jiang Qing'e's analysis had put worried frowns on all of their faces. This battle was going to be incredibly difficult. They did not know if Li Luo could pull through. 

All across the other spectator stands, the Astral Sage College students had noticed the change, and panic was spreading through the crowd.

Li Luo's slight edge had vanished with this devastating doubling of his opponent's power.

Only now did they realize that the initial advantage had been an illusion—the two fighters had been merely testing each other.

Lu Cāng stretched out his neck, and a curious clacking sound could be heard from his spine. He turned his red and black eyes on Li Luo with a chilling smile.

"Well, Li Luo? I take it your boredom has vanissshed?" he said with a hissing laugh.

Li Luo nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes. In fact, my boredom has vanished so completely that I wish some of it would come back. I didn't know you brothers could do that."

"The world is vast, and all miracles are possible. You have dual resonances. Other miracles might happen."

"That makes sense." Li Luo agreed affably.

Lu Cāng swept up his green python staff and twirled it lazily. "Well, if you have no other hidden trump cards, I think the outcome of this match is decided, Li Luo. You might as well give up."

Li Luo was just about to reply, but he stopped himself.

Lu Cāng had not expected a response anyway, preferring to follow up with a deadly attack. He thundered forward, footsteps smashing into the surface of the lake, raising a humongous splash that rained down on the entire arena.

Within the splashing rain, black and red resonant power grew steadily larger before it shot forth as a pair of pythons, coiling and twisting around each other.

Li Luo reacted without hesitation, his twin shortswords chopping downwards.

Clang!

A direct clash.

This time it was Li Luo who almost lost his grip on his swords. The overwhelming resonant power tore into his defenses with ease. He felt his breath whoosh out of him, and a searing pain burned his chest as he was sent flying backwards.

The tables had turned.

The crowd gasped.

Lu Cāng laughed long and loud, sweeping his green python staff back and forth exultantly.

"Tell me, Li Luo, is this the first time you’ve felt outclassed by someone at your cultivation level?" he asked eagerly.

"How does it feel?"

1. TN: Cáng = hidden ☜