This was the resonance power he had cultivated.
Water resonance power, yet it also contained light resonance power within it.
With the powers of two resonances fused together, it was unquestionably far more refined than a pure water resonance power.
"My resonance power should have reached the level of the Third Seal," Li Luo muttered to himself.
In the past, although Li Luo's accumulation of resonance power had been extremely difficult due to his empty resonance, he could not be said to have had no foundation at all. Therefore, following this period of cultivation, his resonance power had steadily solidified right at the Third Seal.
Going by his current cultivation speed, Li Luo felt confident he could elevate his resonance power to the Fifth Seal Stage within a week.
Perhaps a fourth-grade resonance was not considered particularly high, but Li Luo was, after all, the Young Mansion Master of Luolan Manor. Piled high with massive cultivation resources, he believed his progress would surpass many people within the academy, including some of the elites in the First Academy.
"Still, this isn't enough."
Li Luo murmured under his breath, for next month was the academy's grand examination, and his goal was to enter Saint Xuanxing Academy. The admission requirements for that top-tier academy in the Great Xia Kingdom were exceptionally harsh.
Every year, countless youths who fancied themselves talented were ultimately turned away by the lofty threshold of Saint Xuanxing Academy, leaving them battered and bruised with their heads split open, yet never opening its doors for them.
Therefore, if Li Luo wanted to catch up, his current speed was still not quite enough.
"When it all comes down to it, I still need to raise the grade of my resonance. Fourth-grade is simply too low for me!"
Pondering this inwardly, Li Luo stood up directly and left the cultivation room. As he stepped out of the scripture pavilion, someone who had been waiting there for some time stepped forward and said respectfully, "Young Mansion Master, Steward Cai had me remind you that the items you asked her to prepare have all been delivered to your room."
Hearing this, Li Luo praised inwardly. Steward Cai Wei was truly a capable assistant to Sister Qing'e; her administrative efficiency was quite remarkable. Originally, he had thought it would take at least until tomorrow to get the goods.
He waved a hand to dismiss the messenger, then walked straight back to his room.
As soon as he entered, he spotted a delicate sandalwood box placed on the table. When he opened the box, dozens of crystal-clear crystal vials stood neatly inside.
Curious, Li Luo casually picked up two of the crystal vials. In one, a blue liquid flowed; it possessed an extremely transparent quality, and as it gently swayed, it produced the sound of a flowing stream ringing out.
The other crystal vial was even more peculiar, for it seemed to contain wisps of flowing light. That flowing light was thin like silk and threads, and when viewed at a glance, it also resembled a faint mist.
Although one was a liquid and the other a current of light, both unmistakably radiated a pure, lucid aura.
"Are these Spiritual Water and Strange Light?"
Li Luo clicked his tongue in wonder. These were precisely the items that only Phase Tempering Masters possessing both water and light resonances could refine. Much like medicinal pills, they were hailed as indispensable auxiliary items in the lifelong cultivation of countless resonance masters.
Li Luo twirled the crystal vial and saw a label pasted on it.
"Blue Crystal Spiritual Water, Fourth-grade, Refining Power: fifty-eight percent."
Blue Crystal Spiritual Water was considered a relatively common fourth-grade spiritual water formula. As for this so-called refining power, it was because whenever a portion of Spiritual Water and Strange Light was absorbed, a part of it would be repelled and neutralized by the resonance palace. The other portion that successfully passed through the resonance palace's natural repulsion to enter it and exert its cleansing power was called the refining power within the Spiritual Water and Strange Light.
To put it simply, the purer the Spiritual Water and Strange Light, the higher the refining power, and the better the effect it exerted.
This Blue Crystal Spiritual Water's fifty-eight percent refining power meant that during use, forty-two percent of the spiritual water would be directly repelled, rendering it useless effort.
However, achieving fifty-eight percent was already considered passing. Most fourth-grade Spiritual Water and Strange Light on the market had a refining power hovering around fifty-six percent. Spiritual Water and Strange Light capable of exceeding this amount could be called top-grade, and their price would be even more exorbitant.
After all, for many people, the elevation of a resonance grade always had its limits. Furthermore, the higher the quality of the Spiritual Water and Strange Light, the fewer impurities it contained. Frequently using such high-quality Spiritual Water and Strange Light could delay the eventual closure of their resonance palaces caused by the erosion of impurities.
A smile hung on Li Luo's face as he gazed at these crystal-clear little darlings before him. In truth, it was only at this moment that his innate empty resonance could be said to have reached its most useful point. While others had to be cautious and meticulous when using Spiritual Water and Strange Light out of fear that using too much all at once or in a short period would lead to the accumulation of impurities eroding their resonance palaces and thereby accelerating their closure, he was completely free of this trouble.
The void nature of his innate empty resonance allowed him to use them recklessly.
So right now, he would just give it a try. If he absorbed all fifty bottles of this Spiritual Water and Strange Light, just how much improvement would his fourth-grade resonance achieve?
At this thought, even Li Luo's heartbeat began to accelerate.
(My stockpiled chapters are dwindling day by day, how heartbreaking.)
With an excited heart, Li Luo spent the entire night awake.
Early in the morning, up in the loft of his room, Li Luo rubbed his heavy eyelids, yet his gaze looked toward the sandalwood box before him with a hint of regret.
Nearly half of the Spiritual Water and Strange Light remained unused within it.
Li Luo discovered that he had still overlooked one thing: although his innate empty resonance meant he didn't have to worry about the erosion of impurities from Spiritual Water and Strange Light, absorbing a bottle of Spiritual Water and Strange Light still took time. Moreover, it was impossible for him to mix dozens of bottles of Spiritual Water and Strange Light together and use them directly, as they would interfere with one another and instead cause the Spiritual Water and Strange Light to lose efficacy.
Therefore, after a whole night, he had only absorbed twenty-seven bottles of Spiritual Water and Strange Light.
Naturally, if outsiders were to learn of this, they would likely conclude that Li Luo had gone completely mad, because they had never heard of anyone daring to pull such a stunt.
Absorbing twenty-seven bottles of Spiritual Water and Strange Light in a single night—the impurities accumulated from that would likely cause their resonance palace to close before long.
Generally speaking, only those driven to desperate straits would choose such a burned-bridge, nearly insane course of action.
It truly was a matter of make-or-break.
"Still, the effects are quite good."
The regret in Li Luo's eyes lingered for a moment before dissipating, replaced by a brightening gaze. For within his perception, the light of his very first resonance palace was already far more lucid than yesterday; this even carried over to the resonance power flowing within it, which had become a fraction more formidable and refined.
Going by this pace, Li Luo made a brief calculation. If he wanted to elevate his "Water-Light Resonance" to the fifth grade, he would probably need nearly a hundred more bottles of fourth-grade Spiritual Water and Strange Light.
Calculated this way, elevating his resonance from fourth to fifth grade would consume roughly nearly two hundred thousand heavenly gold coins.
This amount was actually acceptable to Li Luo, but when he extrapolated this to subsequent promotions, the whole thing started to feel a bit nauseating.
Because after reaching the fifth-grade resonance, the prices of those fifth-grade spiritual waters would increase exponentially, and the promotion of resonance grades would become even more difficult.
Wouldn't that mean going from fifth to sixth grade would consume nearly a million heavenly gold coins?
From sixth to seventh grade would be several million?
And what about beyond that?
For a moment, Li Luo felt a sudden suffocation. Although he didn't manage affairs much, he still knew that the total annual income from all the chambers of commerce and industries of the entire Luolan Manor was only around a few million heavenly gold coins.
If he were to devour and dismember Luolan Manor alive, it would probably still be very difficult to provide the heavenly gold coins required for him to advance to the eighth grade!
This so-called acquired resonance was simply a bottomless pit!
Li Luo rubbed the space between his eyebrows. The Luolan Manor left to him by his mom and dad would probably genuinely be unable to afford to raise a spendthrift like him in the future.
"However, if I can refine Spiritual Water and Strange Light myself in the future, I can save quite a bit."
Li Luo thought of his Water-Light Resonance. In a sense, this was an advantage that belonged solely to him. If he could make good use of this point, the Spiritual Water and Strange Light he refined in the future would probably be one-of-a-kind on the market. Viewed from this perspective, learning the Phase Tempering Master craft also needed to be put on his agenda.
"It seems Mom and Dad thought of this as well, which is why they had me become a Phase Tempering Master, to prevent Luolan Manor from being eaten into bankruptcy by me when the time comes." Li Luo sighed, once again marveling at the deep foresight of his mom and dad.
In the end, Li Luo didn't dare to continue pondering this issue. At least below the sixth grade, he should still be able to barely sustain himself; as for the situation afterwards, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
So he shook his head, walked straight back to his bedroom, and flopped down to rest.
Over the next two days, Li Luo initiated a grueling grind mode. By day, he cultivated the "Canglan Meditation Diagram" until he reached his limit, then practiced resonance arts for two hours, and finally began consuming Spiritual Water and Strange Light to elevate his resonance grade.
This all-out cultivation produced decent results: his resonance power rank rapidly rose to the Fourth Seal, and his own fourth-grade Water-Light Resonance grew increasingly refined.
At this time, Li Luo felt as though nothing could stop his progress.
Until the Spiritual Water and Strange Light ran out.
In the old residence, inside an accounting room.
Cai Wei sat before a desk in a long dress, her figure slender and graceful, the curves of her chest quite turbulent. At this moment, however, her beautiful oval face wore a slight frown of knitted brows as she looked over some account books before her.
"Manager Gu, this year's income for Luolan Manor in Tianshu Prefecture seems to have dropped rather severely." Cai Wei raised her gaze from the ledgers to look at the several managers standing before her.
The middle-aged man addressed as Manager Gu smiled bitterly and nodded. "The Grand Steward is right. Luolan Manor has a total of nine chambers of commerce and eighteen mineral and herbal production sites in Tianshu Prefecture. Simply due to the changes within the manor, those three families in Tianshu Prefecture have been encroaching upon us rather tightly over this past year, with the Song Clan being the worst among them. Of the nine chambers of commerce, two were broken up by the Song Clan through various means this year and eventually swallowed up by them."
Cai Wei's pretty eyes turned somewhat chilling. Luolan Manor had started out from Fengnan City in Tianshu Prefecture, and had subsequently risen at an astonishing speed to become one of the four great manors of the Great Xia Kingdom.
However, within Tianshu Prefecture, apart from Luolan Manor, there also existed the Three Great Clans. Although these three families could not compare to the complete Luolan Manor in terms of overall scale, within Tianshu Prefecture itself, they were considered established factions with deeply entrenched roots and a profound foundation.
Back when the two family heads were still around, Luolan Manor was at the zenith of its power, and these three clans were exceptionally well-behaved, every single one of them completely obedient. Yet who could have expected that now, with the two family heads missing, they would seize the opportunity of Luolan Manor's internal and external troubles to start acting up.
Cai Wei had previously heard Jiang Qing'e mention that behind these three families, there were likely instructions from other top-tier powers, and it was nothing more than continuously probing the current true strength of Luolan Manor.
The three clans of Tianshu Prefecture were the Song Clan, the Bei Clan, and the Tifa Clan. Among them, the Song Clan possessed the strongest strength, and over the past two years, they had also been the most active, continuously using various means to reach out, suppress, and annex the chambers of commerce and industries of Luolan Manor in Tianshu Prefecture.
And one had to know that the head of this Song Clan had, in previous years, personally brought New Year gifts to pay visits every single year.
This reversal from before to after truly felt like watching a theatrical play.
However, having experienced a great deal, Cai Wei was naturally not naive. The mere existence of Luolan Manor already squeezed the interests of the Three Great Clans; now that the other party saw Luolan Manor facing troubles both internally and externally and wanted to find a way to step on them a few times, one couldn't exactly say the other party lacked morality—it was simply a matter of differing stances, making it natural to view the other party as a sworn enemy.
Yet right now, Luolan Manor genuinely could not spare any extra force to come to Tianshu Prefecture to put out fires. After all, reinforcements were needed everywhere else, and coupled with the existence of Pei Hao, it only added frost to snow for Luolan Manor.
Cai Wei was silent for a moment before finally deciding decisively, "For those chambers of commerce that cannot reverse their profits and losses, temporarily shut them down directly. There is no need to entangle with the other party."
Temporary forbearance was a must; as long as they waited for Luolan Manor to stabilize, by then, however much those three clans had swallowed, they would have to spit it all back out obediently.
Hearing her make this decision, the several managers below also acknowledged it, for they too understood that Luolan Manor's current situation in Tianshu Prefecture was indeed somewhat stretched.
Tap, tap.
At this moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door. Cai Wei called out for them to enter, and the door was pushed open to reveal Li Luo walking in.
Upon seeing this, those managers immediately bowed in greeting.
Li Luo waved a hand, while Cai Wei signaled for them to withdraw first. Her beautiful eyes landed on him as she asked, "Does the Young Mansion Master have something the matter?"
Li Luo gave a light cough and smiled. "Indeed, I have a small matter to trouble Sister Cai Wei with."
Sister Cai Wei's slender and slightly alluring beautiful eyes blinked, faintly sensing a trace of unease, yet she still asked, "What is it?"