Chapter 1459: First Among the Outer Shenzhou

When Li Luo's consciousness fully recovered, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was Li Hongyou's beautiful face. At this moment, her slender, fair hands were channeling a stream of exotic, fragrant energy into his body, and wherever this energy passed, the intense pain within Li Luo's body was gradually fading.

This was the restorative effect of Li Hongyou's "Dragon Apothecary Jade Phase."

Sensing Li Luo's wakefulness, Li Hongyou raised her eyes to glance at him and gave a warning: "You should use this Nightmare Art sparingly against seventh-grade Marquis-level experts. The backlash is too severe. If your physical body weren't strong enough, you probably wouldn't have been able to endure it."

Li Luo nodded sheepishly. The backlash was indeed somewhat beyond imagination. If he hadn't relied on his mid-ninth-grade Heavenly Dragon Phase to enhance his physical body, he would likely have paid an extremely heavy price this time.

Moreover, that Fang Xingyun was only a lower seventh-grade Marquis. If it had been an upper seventh-grade Marquis or even an eighth-grade Marquis, how terrifying would the backlash have been?

Li Hongyou withdrew her fair hand that had been channeling the exotic, fragrant energy, and her gaze suddenly glanced to the side.

Li Luo could feel a gaze fall upon his face—a gaze like a ray of sunlight piercing through icy mist, gentle yet flowing with a chill.

He turned his head and saw Lv Qing'er.

The pretty girl knelt beside him, her slender legs wrapped in white silk stockings, making them appear even longer and more delicate, but even so, beneath her ice-snow-like skin, they were faintly dim.

Their gazes met. Lv Qing'er's eyes shimmered, then gradually drew back once more, and a layer of frost once again covered her pretty cheeks.

Li Luo glanced at Lv Qing'er's slender neck, where there were faint traces of toxic blood—accidentally dripped by him earlier. The toxic blood had now been frozen and expelled by the cold energy within Lv Qing'er's body, but perhaps because her skin was simply too fair and delicate, even the faint marks left behind were strikingly visible.

"Sorry about that," Li Luo said awkwardly.

Lv Qing'er shook her head slightly, her slender hands clasped together, and said softly, "Are you alright now? Hongyou-Zhong Jie is right—try to use that Nightmare Art less in the future."

Li Luo sighed and said, "It's still a matter of insufficient strength. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been in such a sorry state."

"Instructor Li Luo saying this makes us feel ashamed to death."

Laughter rang out at this moment. Guo Guo Jiufeng, Wang Xu, and many other vice-principals of the various Holy Academies arrived with their people. Their conditions were all extremely poor at this moment, their bodies covered in battle scars. Wang Xu was the worst off—a sword wound extended down from his chest, nearly splitting him in two.

The others were also severely injured, their own phase force fluctuations utterly listless. Clearly, this great battle had pushed the Holy Academies of the Eastern Region Shenzhou to the brink of total exhaustion.

This was on the premise that Li Luo had defeated Fang Xingyun and then rescued Guo Guo Jiufeng. Otherwise, their Eastern Region Shenzhou would surely have been swept aside.

At this moment, the teams from the various Holy Academies all looked at the young man before them with a hint of awe in their eyes. Even Wang Xu, the arrogant vice-principal, now held a trace of respect in his expression.

Li Luo's defeat of Fang Xingyun had brought them too great a shock.

A second-grade defeating a seventh-grade—such a brilliant feat was simply too outrageous for them.

Yet this had truly happened right before their eyes, leaving no room for doubt. So at this moment, they could no longer regard Li Luo as merely an instructor, but as a genuine, top-grade Marquis.

"After this round ends, our Eastern Region Shenzhou should be firmly seated in first place. This achievement is a height our Eastern Region Shenzhou has never reached before."

"When we return this time, I'm afraid all the major Holy Academies will be in an uproar." Vice-Principal Chenshi of the Skyfire Holy Academy was currently sporting a bruised and swollen face, but he couldn't hide the excitement on his face, because this achievement was truly too unexpected.

The others also nodded excitedly. They had defeated the Thunder Fire Shenzhou and the Cangming Shenzhou. The final round only required facing the Ten Thousand Wind Shenzhou, which was almost pressure-free, so the first-place result was already well-deserved.

"Instructor Li Luo deserves the greatest credit. He is a hero of all the major Holy Academies of our Eastern Region Shenzhou. When this news spreads back, every major Holy Academy will spread your illustrious name."

"The fact that our Eastern Region Shenzhou's Holy Academies could produce an unrivaled prodigy like Instructor Li Luo is truly our pride."

"..."

The teams from all the major Holy Academies were unstinting in their words of praise, so intensely that even Li Luo's thick skin couldn't quite handle it for a moment.

Xi Chan, seeing this, couldn't help but chuckle, then sighed, "When this news spreads back to the Saintly Mystic Star Academy, I wonder what a sensation it will cause."

"Vice-Principal Suxin probably won't be able to sleep from joy," Instructor Cao Sheng said with a smile.

"Vice-Principal Suxin has managed the Saintly Mystic Star Academy for so many years, and finally an unrivaled prodigy has emerged. This is worth her happiness," Instructor Mi'er laughed.

"Alright, everyone, the great battle is over. Let's prepare to exit the Crossing Space. You all have injuries, so recover well first, and don't leave any aftereffects," Guo Guo Jiufeng soothed the excited crowd.

Only then did the crowd cease their chatter.

Then pillars of light descended from the heavens, enveloping their figures. When the space shifted and they came to their senses once more, they had already appeared on the Eastern Region Shenzhou platform.

The moment they appeared, they distinctly felt countless gazes cast their way, making them the focus of the entire venue.

Of course, the majority of those gazes lingered on Li Luo.

Anyone could tell that the Eastern Region Shenzhou's victory over the Thunder Fire Shenzhou in this clash was entirely due to Li Luo's presence; otherwise, the final outcome would surely have been completely different.

A second-grade defeating a seventh-grade—no one could afford to ignore such a feat.

Even the seeded contestants within those Ancient Academies couldn't help but gaze at the exceptionally handsome-faced, upright-as-a-green-pine young man with a hint of solemnity in their eyes.

Although Li Luo had employed a Nightmare Art to drag Fang Xingyun down from seventh-grade before defeating him, sometimes the process didn't matter—the result was what counted.

For them, since Li Luo possessed the means to threaten seventh-grade Marquis-level experts, he deserved a measure of their serious attention.

But Li Luo paid no heed to those gazes. He merely gazed into the distance toward the Ancient Academy's area, and faintly saw a familiar gaze cast upon him—it was Jiang Qing'e.

Even across such a great distance, he could still clearly feel the praise and encouragement contained within Jiang Qing'e's gaze.

Yet it was precisely this simple gaze that brought a greater sense of satisfaction than all the excited flattery from the vice-principals of the Eastern Region Shenzhou's Holy Academies earlier.

Li Luo returned a brilliant smile, then sat cross-legged on the ground to recover his condition.

This platform emanated a surge of vibrant, immense energy that could rapidly restore consumed phase force and heal internal injuries.

They still needed to prepare for the final battle against the Ten Thousand Wind Shenzhou. If they won, the Eastern Region Shenzhou would achieve the result of being first among the six Outer Shenzhou in this Sky Mirror Tower trial.

And this step could almost be said to be a foregone conclusion.

After all, even the two Shenzhou that had placed first and second in the previous session had already been defeated. The weaker Ten Thousand Wind Shenzhou naturally couldn't possibly produce any variables.

This point was evident from the long faces on the Ten Thousand Wind Shenzhou's platform in the distance. Their Holy Academies barely ranked third among the six Outer Shenzhou, but now that the first and second had been eliminated, how could they possibly fight the Eastern Region Shenzhou?

But at a time like this, there was no avoiding it. So after the Eastern Region Shenzhou finished their rest, on the towering golden platform, Wang Xuanjin waved his hand, and the Holy Academy teams of the Eastern Region Shenzhou and the Ten Thousand Wind Shenzhou were once again cast into the Crossing Space.

The battle lasted several hours.

When Li Luo led the Eastern Region Shenzhou's team back onto the platform, Wang Xuanjin's resonant and dignified voice boomed forth.

"The Outer Shenzhou trial results are out."

"First place goes to the Eastern Region Shenzhou, with three victories, earning three layers of Heavenly Domain."

As Wang Xuanjin swept his sleeve, the heavens above the Sky Mirror Tower violently trembled, as if boundless radiance was spreading. Then, under those scorching gazes, brilliant stars descended from the sky one after another.

Those stars were dazzlingly radiant, and as they appeared, the energy throughout the entire world became extremely restless and seething.

Because those stars were exactly what they had been dreaming of...

Sky Mirror Sand!

A surge of excitement surfaced in Li Luo's eyes as he watched the falling stars. Moments later, those stars continuously shrank, finally hovering above the platform of the Eastern Region's Outer Shenzhou.

Li Luo's gaze swept across, his eyes growing increasingly fervent.

Celestial Mirror Sand!

Sixty grains!