Chapter 0913: Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body Embryonic Form
Dense energy in the form of mist wrapped around each of the Banner Leaders like a cocoon.
The banner members were watching in envy from outside. They understood that this was a rare opportunity only available to the Banner Leaders. After this metamorphosis, they would possess the foundation for the Sanctified Dragon's Body.
Although the Sanctified Dragon's Body was just a basic body-tempering art in the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages, it was considered top-class for people in the Earth Fiend General Stage like them.
The Banner Leaders would gain a significant boost to both power and speed after this competition. Naturally, it would give them an edge in all of their future fights.
Of course, ordinary banner members had the option to gather sufficient Heavenly Dragon energy in the future to obtain the Sanctified Dragon's Body. However, doing so would not be easy as they would have to make significant contributions to the lineage. In fact, even in the Heavenly Dragon’s Five Guardian Armies, only a select few were able to meet this stringent requirement.
Moreover, they could only reach the Five Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body in the end. It was close to impossible to attain a higher level.
The upper limit for the Sanctified Dragon's Body was predetermined for those who had not participated in the Dragon's Ascent.
Fortunately, if they were able to reach a high enough cultivation level in the future, they could skip this armor completely and cultivate more powerful body-tempering arts instead.
Under all these gazes of envy, the dense smoke of the cocoons lasted for approximately an hour before it started to dissipate.
Once again, figures started to emerge.
The Banner Leaders looked no different from before. However, faint, crisp cracks could be heard in the wind when they started to stretch and move their muscles. Clearly, their physical prowess had been greatly enhanced.
Most evidently, each person had a sigil between their brows when they activated their resonant power.
It was a round sigil that looked like a long dragon biting its own tail. In the center of the circle were dragon scales.
Of course, the number differed between each of them.
Some had four, five, six... All the dragon scales were dark gray in color, seemingly lacking a little in vitality.
This was because what they had obtained was simply the embryonic form of the Sanctified Dragon's Body. The scales in the dragon sigils simply represented the upper limit for each individual’s Sanctified Dragon's Body.
Those with four dragon scales in their dragon sigils could cultivate up to a Four Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body. In other words, they could obtain a maximum of four dragon scales in the Scales Seizure stage before their Sanctified Dragon's Body reached its maximum capacity.
The same logic applied for the other numbers.
As the dense mist retreated, more and more Banner Leaders emerged after their metamorphosis. Among them, Li Fengyi had gotten six dragon scales, while Li Hongli and Deng Fengxian had seven. Li Qingfeng, Li Jingtao, and Lu Qingmei had eight dragon scales each.
Roar!
At this point, a low, draconic roar sounded from the end of the stone staircase. Everyone looked towards it and saw the huge, dense energy mist slowly dissipating.
After a while, Li Luo emerged from the mist.
Between his eyebrows was a mark with nine dragon scales. This immediately caught everyone's attention.
Nine Scales! Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body!
As long as Li Luo was able to obtain nine dragon scales in the Scales Seizure, he would be able to awaken his armor to the highest level straight away.
At this moment, there were a lot of mixed gazes among the crowd. It had been a really long time since the Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body had been seen.
Under all the gazes of envy, Li Luo opened his eyes. He lightly clenched his fists, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
He could sense that his body had strengthened considerably. This boost was not at all inferior to the Three Sonic Pulses Thunderpeal Avatar. Furthermore, this was a natural boost to his physical self—it did not require any activation, unlike the Thunderpeal Avatar.
One of them was a passive boost, whilst the other was an active one.
Moreover, there were the main benefits from the Sanctified Dragon's Body apart from strengthening one’s physical body.
Dragon's wings, Dragonfear, and Dragon's Might.
As Li Luo thought about it, the resonant power in his body gathered around the dragon sigil between his eyebrows. In the next moment, a special energy burst out of it.
Pssht!
The energy took the shape of dragon wings that spanned dozens of meters. They were attached to Li Luo's back, and a gust blew across the air when they flapped lightly.
These wings would enable one to fly. It was an extremely practical ability.
As for the so-called dragonfear, it was a special kind of aura that exerted pressure on others. During battles, a sudden release of dragonfear could catch one's opponent off guard. Additionally, one could combine this dragonfear with the dragon resonance they already possessed to apply an extremely deterring effect on other beasts.
Lastly, there was Dragon's Might. It was something that could only be used once the Sanctified Dragon's Body had been awakened.
This power was similar to the Divine Elephant Power from Li Luo's Onyx-Elephant Blade. It could boost one's strength tremendously in the blink of an eye.
It was said that one scale was equivalent to one dragon. If one had the Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body, one could gain Dragon's Might equivalent to that of nine dragons! This power was said to be even stronger than some Duke Arts.
Nonetheless, Dragon's Might did not represent the strength of a true dragon. Strictly speaking, the strength it could demonstrate was that of a dragon beast, an impure descendant of sorts. No matter what, it was still extremely strong. Li Luo was really satisfied with it. This reward was worth all the hard work that he had gone through to ascend the thirty-thousand feet.
The limit of his Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body was far beyond that of the rest.
At this point, he could not help but sigh. Once again, he couldn’t help but be impressed by what these Heavenly Emperor powers were capable of. Such a foundation was extremely rare in the outer divine continent. In fact, even the Thunderpeal Avatar was only available to the royal family of the Blackwind Empire. Meanwhile, they had body-tempering arts like the Sanctified Dragon's Body here, which was leagues above the Thunderpeal Avatar.
Besides, his Thunderpeal Avatar had an upper limit of five sonic pulses. This paled in comparison to the Sanctified Dragon's Body, which had a complete line of evolutions.
Regardless, the Thunderpeal Avatar was still useful to Li Luo at the moment.
While everyone was still taking in the Sanctified Dragon's Body's abilities, a majestic voice sounded off in the sky above them.
"We will now conclude the Dragon's Ascent. Please prepare yourself for the last stage of the Battle of the Dragon's Head: Scales Seizure."
Everyone's faces froze for a moment after hearing these words before the fire of competitiveness lit up in their eyes.
The Dragon's Ascent was considered a passive competition, while the Scales Seizure would be an active clash. One would need to defeat an opponent in order to obtain scales.
The Dragon's Head would also be decided with this.
Simply put, the one who was able to obtain the most scales would be the Dragon's Head. Li Qingfeng sighed lightly and then turned his gaze towards Li Luo. He had been completely outshined by Li Luo in the Dragon's Ascent. However, this would not decide the Dragon's Head in the end.
Although Li Luo was able to obtain the embryonic form of the Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body, this was simply the first step. As long as he could stop Li Luo from obtaining nine dragon scales in the Scales Seizure, his Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body would be nothing but an empty shell.
He might have lost the Dragon's Ascent, but he would definitely not lose the position of the Dragon's Head. Just as Li Qingfeng was thinking about this, everyone started to notice a thick mist appearing once again. Soon, the mist engulfed the group.
They could no longer see their surroundings, but the space around them started to warp.
This lasted for dozens of breaths before the mist retreated again.
Li Luo and the rest noticed that the stone dragon they had been standing on was now gone. Now, they were standing on a huge, round platform above the clouds.
There were dozens of stone platforms hovering in the air above them.
Far in the distance behind the round platform was a stone dragon mountain entrenched in the void, with its maw facing the round platform.
That was the stone dragon where the Dragon's Ascent had taken place.
The majestic sound echoed in the air once again. "The battles for the Scales Seizure will be decided by drawing lots. Each individual will fight a total of eight battles, with the winner getting one dragon scale."
The twenty Banner Leaders remained calm after hearing this, as they had all learned about this beforehand.
Hearing this, Li Luo's eyes moved a little. He was not too worried about battles being decided by drawing lots. After his breakthrough into the Fiend Finisher Tier earlier, his cultivation level was not any lower than most of the ordinary Banner Leaders anymore. As such, the ones who would pose a threat to him would mainly be Li Qingfeng and Lu Qingmei. Oh, there was also Li Jingtao, the metal-shell tortoise that would give anyone here a headache.
However, Banner Leaders from the same lineage would usually not meet each other to prevent any match fixing.
If he could secure all eight victories, he would be able to get eight dragon scales. This would allow him to awaken his Sanctified Dragon's Body to eight scales.
However, this was not enough.
There was still the ninth scale.
It had been said that obtaining the ninth dragon scale was the most challenging part of the Battle of the Dragon's Head. Its difficulty was said to be leagues above the infernal baptism from the flames of Nine Becoming One during the Dragon's Ascent.
However, the challenge for the ninth scale was particularly special. One was only eligible for it after securing all eight victories in the Scales Seizure. Hence, there was no need to worry about it for now. Li Luo lightly touched the dragon sigil between his eyebrows. It had not been easy for him to get it. Naturally, he would love to make full use of this chance to perfect his Sanctified Dragon's Body. Otherwise, he would have to expend a huge amount of energy and resources to obtain dragon scales in the future.
As long as he had the chance to get the ninth Scale, he would definitely try his hardest.
While he pondered over this, light beams fell from the sky in front of each Banner Leader.
Li Luo reached into the beam. The light condensed upon contact, and a jade tablet appeared.
When Li Luo grabbed the tablet, it lit up and his body was shrouded in its glow. In the blink of an eye, he shot into the sky onto one of the stone platforms hovering above.
Just as Li Luo landed on the platform, another figure landed in front of him. This was one of the Banner Leaders from the Dragon's Bone Lineage.
When he noticed that his first opponent was Li Luo, he could not help but show a look of helplessness.
Li Luo simply smiled and clenched his fists. The Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade appeared in his hand.
When the battle bell rang, Li Luo's resonant power surged up and he charged ahead like a flash of lightning.
The battle concluded faster than anyone had expected.
This went on for a while, and Li Luo won his first four battles easily. With that, he had four dragon scales secured. However, he would not be able to use these dragon scales until the Battle of the Dragon's Head ended.
In his fifth battle, a tall and slender figure appeared in front of him.
At this point, Li Luo focused.
His next opponent was none other than Lu Qingmei.
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