Chapter 0918: Obtaining the Dragon's Head
The atmosphere instantly became awkward.
Li Qingfeng hadn’t moved at all as his blood pooled on the floor. It was an extremely shocking sight.
Everyone watched silently as no one knew how to respond to this.
Li Qingfeng was so confident in himself when he revealed the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art. It had caught everyone by surprise, and they all thought that he would obtain an absolute advantage with it. Yet... who could have imagined that he would end up being the loser of this literal bloodbath?
Moreover, Li Luo had not moved a single step from his spot since their exchange of punches to test out each other's strength earlier.
Li Qingfeng had been severely injured before Li Luo had moved a muscle.
This was an extremely bad spot for someone from the Dragon's Blood Lineage to be in. Losing half of their blood was an even greater loss than breaking a bone or tearing a ligament.
This was the caveat of using the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art. If it failed, the user would be struck by harsh backlash.
Li Luo looked at Li Qingfeng helplessly as he said, "Banner Leader Li Qingfeng, why don't we end it here?"
If he had relied on the second Heavenly Pearl created from his blood, this would have been an uphill battle for Li Luo.
However, Li Qingfeng had ended up gravely injured. He had no chance of winning anymore.
One could even say that his overwhelming advantage had been completely shattered by his hotblooded decision to use the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art.
Everyone knew that Li Qingfeng simply wanted to show off with this art. However, who would have expected it to backfire on him?
At this point, Li Qingfeng's face was pale and expressionless. Perhaps he would give himself two good slaps across the face if he allowed his emotions to show right now.
"I will not admit defeat," Li Qingfeng replied with a hoa.r.s.e voice. He continued to maintain the air of arrogance around himself.
In fact, there was no other choice left for him. If he admitted defeat here, his reputation in the Dragon's Blood Lineage would be completely shattered.
Hearing this, Li Luo nodded. He signaled with his hand for his opponent to make his next move.
Li Qingfeng summoned up all his strength to contain his injuries at this moment. His blood-red pearl had completely disappeared along with his loss of blood. In addition, the bright Heavenly Pearl that he had cultivated himself was also getting dimmer.
Nonetheless, he tried his best to keep up.
Along with it, his resonant power surged up once again.
In the blink of an eye, Li Qingfeng exploded like a storm. All the resonant power in his body had been used for this last move. Like a falling meteorite at the end of its trajectory, he launched towards Li Luo with his final strike.
His momentum was not weak, but the sight was tragic.
Regardless, Li Luo did not underestimate him. He gripped his blade tightly and took a step forward.
Thunder rumbled from his body.
"Thunderpeal Avatar, Three Sonic Pulse!
"Divine Elephant Power, Level Three!
"Dual resonant power, third realm!"
His resonant power surged up like a giant tide as he formed hand seals rapidly with his fingertips. Following this, he slashed down decisively and shouted, "Duke Art: Underworld River's Black Dragon Banner!"
The blade sliced apart the void, leaving a trail of light behind and instantly producing a tear. Sounds of rushing water rang in the air just before a black dragon emerged from the tear, along with the eerily cold Underworld River. For a moment, the air seemed to have frozen.
Roar!
As everyone watched without batting an eyelid, the black dragon clashed with Li Qingfeng directly.
BOOM!
A berserk storm of energy swept across the battlefield. Piercing sounds of explosions reverberated in the air, and the ground cracked apart incessantly.
The single Heavenly Pearl behind Li Qingfeng vibrated violently as it took in all the worldly natural energy from the surroundings to boost his resonant power. He fought against the roaring, black dragon with all his might, his palms screaming in pain as he tried to hold his ground.
Li Luo's strike was strong, but not strong enough to be a threat to Li Qingfeng if he were at full power. However, things were clearly different now. Li Qingfeng could sense that his resonant power was rapidly being eroded as the black dragon got closer and closer.
Moreover, he had started this engagement with very little resonant power in the first place.
Excruciating pain called out from his body.
Li Qingfeng refused to give up—he gritted his teeth and resisted with all his might. This went on for dozens of breaths. Finally, his resonant power ran out completely. The energy of the Underworld River's Black Dragon depleted at the same time, and it turned into a glow of light in the air.
However, it was not time for Li Qingfeng to heave a sigh of relief yet. As the glow of light gradually faded off in the air, a blade of light flew at him like a lightning strike.
It quickly grew bigger in his field of view as it closed in.
Weng!
The blade of light paused right in front of Li Qingfeng. Its sharp aura had sliced off a single strand of hair on his forehead.
This conclusion was surprising to no one, considering how badly Li Qingfeng was injured.
As Li Luo stared at Li Qingfeng, who was now in a daze, he could not help but sigh helplessly again. "Banner Leader Li Qingfeng, there was no need to use the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art."
Everyone had been looking forward to this showdown for the Dragon's Head. However, Li Qingfeng got himself badly injured thanks to that unnecessarily flashy move. In the end, he could not even take one blow from Li Luo.
With such an ending... even Li Luo wanted to ask Li Qingfeng what exactly he was trying to do here.
Couldn't he have just fought properly? Why did he have to pull such tricks?
His advantage had been completely nullified. Li Qingfeng did not respond to him. His resonant power had been completely used up now. Slowly, his body fell backwards and he fainted on the field.
Seeing this, Li Luo smiled. He did not care if he had really fainted or if he was simply faking it so he wouldn’t have to deal with this embarra.s.sing situation. Regardless, it was clear that he had completely given up on fighting for the Dragon's Head.
Li Luo raised his head and looked at the dragon scale hovering in the sky above. This scale was much brighter than the others, evidently filled with an extremely condensed form of Heavenly Dragon energy.
Clearly, there was a huge difference between this scale and the others.
At this moment, the dragon scale gently landed on Li Luo's palm along with the fall of Li Qingfeng.
He stored the dragon scale safely with a look of composure.
With the eighth dragon scale in his hands, he had become the person who had obtained the most scales. Since Li Qingfeng was out of the compet.i.tion, there was no one else who could catch up to him at this point.
In other words, Li Luo had become the Dragon's Head, leader of this generation of the Twenty Banners.
The surroundings fell silent as everyone was in a daze. The much antic.i.p.ated battle for the Dragon's Head did not happen. However, the Dragon's Head had been decided nonetheless.
To be honest, this conclusion was kind of ridiculous.
It could be the first time in history that the Battle of the Dragon's Head concluded in such a strange way.
But who could they blame?
Even Li Fengyi and Li Jingtao looked at the stage strangely. There was a surreal feeling to this scene in front of them. Had Li Luo truly become this generation's Dragon's Head... so easily?
There was no ultimate showdown like what they had all expected. It was just Li Qingfeng losing half his blood and falling flat.
The two of them glanced at each other. Perhaps this generation's Battle of the Dragon's Head would go down in history too. Li Luo could go down in history as the Dragon's Head who faced the least opposition.
"Did Li Qingfeng do this on purpose? Perhaps he knew that he could not win against Little Brother and wanted to make a mockery out of this battle?" Li Fengyi muttered.
Although her voice was soft, some of the other Banner Leaders nearby heard it and their faces turned stiff immediately.
Li Hongli's face changed completely and she stared angrily at Li Fengyi.
Seeing this, Li Fengyi pouted and said, "What would you like to say now? Are you going to insist that Li Luo did not obtain the Dragon's Head properly? I wonder who should be blamed this time. Who asked your side to not fight it out properly and mess around with the Dragon's Blood Judgment Art?"
Li Hongli nearly flipped when she heard these sharp words. However, she could not think of any reb.u.t.tal for them. After all, everyone had seen for themselves that it was Li Qingfeng who had destroyed his own chances.
It was not an exaggeration at all to say that he was the mastermind behind his own downfall.
"So this is how the Battle of the Dragon's Head ends?" The other Banner Leaders smiled bitterly and sighed. There seemed to be something lacking.
Lu Qingmei stared at Li Luo in the middle of the stage and shook her head lightly. "It's not the end yet. Li Luo may have gotten eight dragon scales, but don't forget... there can be a ninth battle."
Everyone was taken aback when they heard her words. She was right. The Scales Seizure had up to nine battles. It was just that ordinarily, there was little chance of the ninth battle happening. The difficulty of the ninth battle was said to be beyond anyone's imagination.
Moreover, the Dragon's Head was usually decided by the eighth battle. Hence, a lot of people would not choose to go for the ninth battle from there.
With that, the once silent atmosphere started to be filled with whispers once again.
"The victor of the eighth battle of the Scales Seizure is Li Luo. He has obtained eight dragon scales, the highest among all compet.i.tors. According to the rules, he will be the Dragon's Head for this generation of the Twenty Banners."
Surprisingly, there was not much commotion among the crowd when the news came. After all, they had already digested this piece of information earlier.
However, their attention was drawn back once again when the voice echoed in the air.
"Although Li Luo has already become the Dragon's Head, there are nine battles in the Scales Seizure. In line with the rules and regulations, we would like to ask if you would like to partic.i.p.ate in the ninth battle."
As soon as the speaker finished his sentence, Li Luo narrowed his eyes a little.
"The ninth battle of the Scales Seizure..."