Chapter 118: Shen Shen Jinxiao

When Li Luo's vision cleared, he found himself on a hillside. Looking out in all directions, he saw towering trees standing in dense rows, as if he were in some primeval wilderness.

From deep within the forest, occasional violent roars of beasts rang out, startling birds into flight.

Li Luo tossed down his backpack, took out a pair of blades, tucked them at his waist, then casually chose a direction and his figure shot away in a blur.

His figure darted through the primeval forest, occasionally encountering other students, but the moment the two sides met they would each scatter off, with no intention of exchanging words.

After hurrying along for several minutes, Li Luo spotted a target — a beast like a tiger or leopard, with sharp fangs and a body entirely dark.

Low-grade spirit beast, Black Tiger Beast.

Among spirit beasts, there were likewise some grade divisions: low-grade spirit beasts were equivalent to the strength of the Ten-Seal Realm, mid-grade spirit beasts were around the first stage of the Divination Master Realm, and high-grade spirit beasts possessed the strength of the second or third stage.

Beyond that, spirit beasts would begin to undergo enormous changes, becoming far more imbued with spirituality, and their power would surge along with it.

Spirit beasts of that level were called General-grade spirit beasts, comparable in strength to the General rank.

Even higher-grade spirit beasts were the legendary Wang Hou grade — each one possessed extremely terrifying power, enough to destroy a city.

On the body of this Black Tiger Beast, Li Luo saw a faint silver light. Looking closely, it was a silver Fu Yin.

"Defeat a low-grade spirit beast, and you can obtain a silver Fu Yin to choose a Silver Radiance mentor?"

Li Luo's gaze flickered. By that logic, it was very likely that the Jin Fu would have to be obtained from a mid-grade spirit beast, and mid-grade spirit beasts possessed the strength of the first stage of the Divination Master Realm — which matched his current strength quite well.

Then what about a Purple Radiance mentor?

Would he have to defeat a high-grade spirit beast? That would require at least the strength of the second stage of the Divination Master Realm — was this forcing those top students to challenge across ranks?

As expected, the requirements of a Purple Radiance mentor are extremely demanding.

Li Luo did not make a move against this Black Tiger Beast. The silver Fu Yin was not what he wanted, and there was no need to waste time here, so his figure moved and once again shot away in a blur.

And while Li Luo was searching for his next target, inside the Judian where the new students had gathered, the once-black mass of people in the plaza had now vanished completely.

On the ring-shaped viewing stands, crystalline light bloomed, reflecting sheets of light screens. Within those screens, figures sped and darted about — precisely the new students who had entered the grounds.

Yan Yan Lingqing raised her pretty face to look at those light screens and said with a smile, "I wonder if Li Luo can win the favor of a Purple Radiance mentor this time?"

Jiang Qing'e smiled faintly and said, "With his ability, he certainly can."

She knew of Li Luo's dual phase palace — such a rare talent was in no way inferior to her own ninth-grade phase by much, so if he relied on his own ability, she was not worried that no Purple Radiance mentor would take a liking to Li Luo.

However...

A trace of gloom flashed through her golden pupils. She was somewhat worried about that Shen Shen Jinxiao — he happened to be one of the five Purple Radiance mentors for this batch of new students.

Toward this person who had once served as her mentor, she had always harbored wariness and vigilance, because this man's scheming was extremely deep. The kind of emotion he held toward her was also concealed and never revealed; if not for her ninth-grade Light Phase being extremely sensitive to the good and evil in people's hearts, even she would have found it hard to detect.

This person harbored a kind of malice toward her.

That was why she had decisively switched mentors earlier. Fortunately, she herself possessed the ninth-grade Light Phase, and her potential was highly valued even by the Holy Mystic Star Academy, so her application to switch was approved.

And now, if this Shen Shen Jinxiao truly intended to play tricks and obstruct Li Luo, that would be rather difficult to deal with.

Because that fellow knew that her weak point was Li Luo.

Clang!

Within the dense forest, an intense battle was erupting.

Li Luo held a blade in each hand. Blue phase power flowed at high speed along the blades, humming and trembling, transforming into water radiance with extremely formidable cutting force. When the blade edges sliced through the air, they even produced faint strange sounds.

At this moment, his twin blades turned into streams of cold, gleaming blade light, raining down without pause upon a mid-grade spirit beast ahead.

Ting-ting!

The blade light struck the mid-grade spirit beast's hard scales, sending sparks flying. The high-speed water radiance, supplemented by Light Phase power to increase its flow speed, brought a lethality that could not be underestimated. So after a moment, the scales on this mid-grade spirit beast's body began to show signs of shattering, and fresh blood flowed out from between them.

Roar!

After being hacked at relentlessly by Li Luo, the mid-grade spirit beast also grew furious. As its beast pupils turned crimson, its tail — covered in spikes and as heavy as a warhammer — suddenly whipped out. Carrying a sharp whistling of breaking wind, it smashed down toward Suo Zai Chong Chong of Li Luo as fast as lightning.

"Water Light Magic Mirror!"

A water mirror suddenly unfolded before Li Luo. Along with his current breakthrough in strength to the Divination Master Realm, the Water Light Magic Mirror he now executed had also become brighter and more dazzling.

Boom!

The heavy warhammer tail slammed into the Water Light Magic Mirror, and the water mirror shattered on the spot. But the rebounding force poured out, directly clashing back against this mid-grade spirit beast's tail.

Ow!

A pained howl rang out. The mid-grade spirit beast's tail was instantly torn open, flesh and skin split wide. It felt fear, and then intended to flee directly.

Whoosh!

But Li Luo did not give it the chance. He flicked his fingers repeatedly, and water-light bullets shot out, exploding right before its eyes. The blinding intense light made this mid-grade spirit beast's wails even more pitiful.

It crashed about wildly and frantically, knocking down the nearby towering trees one after another.

But its wild crashing achieved nothing. Just as it managed to barely open its beast pupils, it saw a flash of blue blade light humming as it sliced down with cunning and vicious precision.

It pierced straight through at the position of its head.

This mid-grade spirit beast's struggles gradually ceased, and it slowly lost its vitality.

Li Luo exhaled, then at the tail of this spirit beast, he took down a Jin Se Fu Yin that had been hung there. With this thing, at the very least he could choose a Gold Radiance mentor.

The baseline was secured. Now he could think of a way to see exactly how to win the favor of a Purple Radiance mentor.

Li Luo walked forward. The dense forest receded, and what appeared before his eyes was a clear, limpid lake. He stepped out from the shade of the trees, and then his footsteps gradually came to a stop.

Because he saw, by the lakeside, a figure holding a handful of leaves. The leaves in that person's hands automatically folded themselves into leaf boats one after another, then slid down from their palm, fell into the lake, and drifted away into the distance.

That figure had its back to Li Luo, so its appearance could not be made out, but the robe it wore gave Li Luo's heart a jolt.

It was a mentor's robe of the Holy Mystic Star Academy, except that on this robe, the stars bloomed with a purple radiance, appearing extraordinarily mysterious.

A Purple Radiance mentor.

At this moment, the unfamiliar Purple Radiance mentor finished folding all the leaves in hand, then turned around, looked at Li Luo, and revealed a gentle smile.

"Li Luo, I've been waiting for you for half a day."

"Let me introduce myself. I am one of the five Purple Radiance mentors this time. My name is... Shen Shen Jinxiao."

(One chapter today.)