With the First Princess' deep reserves of power working as a battery, the seal on Li Luo's palm powered up, its energy swelling.
More and more chains of light lashed around the three-tailed beast, biting deep into its flesh until it caught against bone.
“RAWGH!!”
Like never-ending thunder, its howls shook the earth.
No use.
Supported by the First Princess' resonant power, the three-tailed beast was finally caught, and its body began to fly towards Li Luo.
Its ponderous body was rapidly shrinking, and it soon dissolved into a mere stream of light that was sucked up by the seal on Li Luo's palm.
"Seal!" Li Luo shouted, slamming his palm on the ground.
The light rays reversed directions obediently, now splaying out over the ground in a formation that cracked the soil. From underneath, a stone statue of the three-tailed beast emerged.
The statue was trussed up in chains.
Finally, the three-tailed beast had been sealed for good.
At that moment, the ancient seal on Li Luo's palm faded, but in its place he felt a warmth around his wrist.
A dark-red bracelet was forming around his wrist.
He shook his sleeve down over it instinctively, hiding it from view.
Whew.
"All done."
He turned around to see a pair of astonished phoenix eyes regarding him.
The First Princess could not process what had just happened.
She had fought tooth and nail against the three-tailed beast in a harrowing fight, and yet Li Luo had sealed it away so easily?
What sort of sorcery was this?
What had happened in his short time here in the Umbra Cave?
Her mind was still reeling, but her court training allowed her to hold her composure.
"What did you just do?" she asked in a steady voice.
"I used the seal that the principal left behind." Li Luo grinned. "It's a sentient piece of work, so it grasped my plan and transferred itself to my hand. But the seal wasn't strong enough, so I had to weaken the three-tailed beast first."
"The principal's seal…" It had never occurred to her that the seal could be used in such a way.
Her face went dark as realization hit her. "Which means it didn't matter whether I came or not?"
She had charged towards them at full speed for days, not even caring that her hair was a mess. But they actually didn't need her?
She glowered at Li Luo, seized with an urge to clobber his silver head.
Li Luo started and backed away. "Er… don't say that. Without your resonant power, I might not have been able to seal the beast."
She glowered some more. Anyone could be a battery. Plus, they had other strong fighters here like Jiang Qing'e and Duze Honglian. Their powers combined were probably pretty close to her own.
Of course, it was great that they were all safe, but the First Princess still felt somewhat resentful.
Her ample chest heaved with a sigh. "Well, I have to hand it to you, Li Luo." Her tone was neutral, and he had no idea what she was implying.
She turned and walked off towards the purified spot.
Li Luo watched her slender figure go. Women were really hard to please sometimes. Even royalty had their immature moments.
“Was I wrong to seal the three-tailed beast?!
“You couldn't beat it either…”
That was just plain unreasonable.
Li Luo turned back to look at the statue, and he rubbed at the red ring on his wrist. A moment later, he headed back for the purified spot too.
On the high wall, everyone was still entranced by the statue.
The spirit beast had been even more terrifying than the grinning demon, but Li Luo had easily sealed it away… That's right, not the First Princess, but Li Luo!
They had seen clearly that the First Princess had not done anything. Li Luo had handled it all by himself.
It was so preposterous that they started to wonder if they were all in a dream…
Or perhaps the grinning demon's illusion world?
One student slapped himself, and the sound was enough to convince other students.
Yup, it was real. Li Luo had sealed the beast.
"That seal he used… it must have been the one that the principal left at the forbidden zone. Somehow he must have managed to transfer it to himself and then used it when the beast was injured." Jiang Qing'e spoke their thoughts.
"No wonder it looked familiar," Tian Tian confirmed.
"Which means," Qiu Bai added, "that guy already had the way to suppress the beast prepared? Then all that martyr act was bullshit?!"
"Junior Li Luo's seal must not have been a guaranteed win. He was still very courageous." A random senior girl defended him.
"…"
Qiu Bai was speechless. Li Luo's popularity was already taking root. Did it really mean so much to be handsome? The girls had been blown away by him so easily.
Still, none of it really mattered compared to the fact that they had finally overcome the crisis.
Many students were ecstatic, on a high of relief at having survived. They were totally worn out after everything that had happened in the last few days, both physically through fighting and mentally after struggling with their imminent deaths.
Moreover, they had survived completely uninjured.
The First Princess walked among them, reassuring the students that more reinforcements were following soon and that they would soon be safe.
She walked over to Jiang Qing'e and the other third years.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Jiang Qing'e said in greeting.
"Don't mention it. So many days of road dust, all to be a resonant power battery,” the First Princess said dryly. "House Luolan's young lord is a real madman, to take on a Heavenly Dipper General Stage spirit beast as a Resonant Master."
Jiang Qing'e shook her head. "That was not his strength, Your Highness. It was the principal's."
"Still, the beast was even stronger than a Heavenly Disaster Class. The guts on the boy to lure it over from the forbidden zone… House Luolan has a sleeping dragon in its eaves."
In the past, Duze Honglian would have jeered, with no care that it was the First Princess who had said it. But now she held her tongue.
Because if not for Li Luo's plan, the purified spot would have fallen to the grinning demon, and all of them would be dead.
There was nothing that anyone could criticize about Li Luo's contribution.
In the past, she thought that her younger brother was highly talented, that he wouldn't lose to anybody. But having seen Li Luo's performance here, Duze Beixuan started to pale in comparison. "After this, Li Luo's popularity and reputation in school will skyrocket. He'll be the star of his year."
Reputation was a curious thing. Sometimes, strength alone couldn't earn it.
Jiang Qing'e looked at her fiance, who was currently chatting and laughing with his own squad. They were thronged by many grateful students, including many Three Star Hall students.
She smiled. Reputation? As if Li Luo ever cared about such things. The guy only cared about getting 100,000 school points on this trip. Still, at least they were out of danger now.
Even for someone as tough as her, it was a huge relief.