Chapter 166: The Ranking Battle Begins

The end-of-month ranking battle, anticipated by all students of the Astral Sage College, finally arrived, carried along by a surging, clamorous atmosphere.

The resounding beat of drums echoed through every corner of the college from early morning, adding more fuel to the already heated atmosphere.

As freshmen, the location for Li Luo and his team's ranking battle was to the west of the Astral Sage College, where rolling mountains and complex terrain made for a fine place to do battle.

Thousands of freshmen were dispersed toward several different entrances, waiting for the competition to begin.

Li Luo stood in the crowd, gazing at the teams around him; on the chest of every team leader was pinned a badge—gold badges for Gold Radiance teams, silver badges for Silver Radiance teams.

Once the ranking battle began, as long as the badge on a team leader's chest was seized, it meant that team had been eliminated.

Purple badges were worth five hundred college points, gold badges were worth one hundred college points, and silver badges were worth twenty college points.

Most importantly, defeating an opposing team also granted one-fifth of that team's spoils as an additional reward.

Simply put, if a defeated team had previously captured five badges, one of those five would count as an additional reward and could be taken directly.

So, in Li Luo's eyes, these students were no longer classmates, but walking points; if he could plunder this entire area, he would possess tens of thousands of points!

By then, he could buy two bottles of Emperor Flowing Nectar directly—one to refine into medicine, and one just to taste!

And as for energy liquid? Three hundred points? A mere trifle.

"Captain, could you please stop drooling while looking at others?" Beside him, Bai Mengmeng suggested kindly, her face slightly flushed.

Xin Fu also looked at Li Luo with a strange expression; the latter was currently looking at the others as if a starving ghost were staring at a field full of roast chickens.

The surrounding teams, under the gaze of Li Luo, all felt uncomfortable and retreated a distance away.

Li Luo finally came to his senses, an awkward smile appearing on his face.

"Hehe, actually, I was just missing the food at home," Li Luo explained.

"Hmph, Li Luo, does the food at your house look like people?"

Someone snorted coldly. Li Luo looked over; the speaker was a youth with somewhat grayish-white skin. He stared at the latter, hesitated for a moment, and said, "You look a bit familiar. Oh, I remember, you're that stone-phase... what was your name again... the one who tried to mess with me during the Teacher Selection?"

Previously, during the Teacher Selection, Li Luo had been intercepted by two people, and one of them was this stone-phase youth.

And what Li Luo did not know was that after this person's interception failed, he had run into Zhao Beixuan and, because of the other's bad attitude, had spitefully pointed him in the wrong direction.

"Hmph, remember my name, I am Ye Hua."

"I will definitely become a Purple Radiance student in the future!" the stone-phase youth declared passionately.

Li Luo nodded in agreement: "I see you have a prominent brow; you will surely get your wish."

Having said that, he didn't really want to bother with this Ye Hua anymore, because he felt the other party didn't seem very bright.

Li Luo's gaze turned to the right of this area, where there was a high platform with seats. At the highest point were the five Purple Radiance mentors, including Mentor Xi Chan and Shen Jinxiao, and below them were some senior Gold Radiance mentors.

Clearly, they were the hosts for this freshman ranking battle.

"The ranking battles for the other grades start today as well... I wonder how things are going for Sister Qing'e?" Li Luo looked toward other parts of the Astral Sage College. The college was too large, and its grounds were extremely vast, fully capable of hosting large-scale competitions for several grades simultaneously.

As for Jiang Qing'e, he actually had nothing to worry about, because in the Three-Star Hall, Jiang Qing'e had reigned supreme for a long time; perhaps this monthly ranking battle was just a channel for her to harvest college points.

Truly enviable.

I also want to harvest leeks without restraint.

While Li Luo was sighing in his heart, a powerful voice from a Purple Radiance mentor descended from the high platform: "All students, prepare. This ranking battle ends at sunset. During this time, you may fight to your heart's content. As long as your badge has not been snatched, you must fight without rest!"

"When the bells and drums sound, the Silver Radiance teams will enter first. Ten minutes later, the Gold Radiance teams will enter, and the Purple Radiance teams will enter last."

Hearing this, Li Luo felt a bit helpless. This was a protective mechanism for the relatively weaker teams, to prevent them from all rushing in at once and having the majority of the Silver Radiance teams wiped out immediately.

After all, in this kind of ranking battle, it was almost always big fish eating small fish, and small fish eating shrimp.

And their Purple Radiance teams were undoubtedly at the top of the freshman food chain.

Just as Li Luo was thinking this, the first sound of the bells and drums suddenly rang out.

A roar of noise erupted instantly.

Hundreds of Silver Radiance teams rushed out like a flood, charging from the passageways into the competition grounds, and then scattered away as if having a grand time.

Li Luo watched those Silver Radiance teams disappearing from his field of vision with an inexplicable sense of reluctance; it was the feeling of points growing legs and running away.

Dong!

Ten minutes after the Silver Radiance teams entered, the second sound of bells and drums rang out, and the Gold Radiance teams began to enter as well.

Compared to the Silver Radiance teams, the momentum of the Gold Radiance teams was much sharper. After all, those who made up these Gold Radiance teams were considered top-tier talent among the freshmen, and some were even more formidable than members of the five Purple Radiance teams.

It was just that, for various reasons, they hadn't managed to become Purple Radiance students.

When the Gold Radiance teams entered, only Li Luo's team remained in this area, and the once-boiling grounds suddenly became quiet.

Li Luo looked at the empty surroundings and said, "Do you have a feeling of drawing your sword and looking around, only to find no one left to fight?"

Bai Mengmeng said softly, "Captain, don't get carried away."

Xin Fu also said, "Keep a low profile."

Li Luo sighed. Actually, he had always kept a low profile in the past, but ever since he met Bai Mengmeng and Xin Fu, he realized that there were levels to keeping a low profile.

Dong!

At this moment, the third sound of the bells and drums rang out.

Li Luo waved his hand and said, "Let's go, Captain will lead you to start a slaughterous feast!"

He took the lead and charged through the passageway into the competition grounds.

Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng quickly followed. The three passed through the tunnel, and their field of vision suddenly opened up, but as far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single team present.

"They ran away quite cleanly."

Li Luo shook his head helplessly. Their next task was to catch as many Gold and Silver Radiance teams as possible, at the very least to start accumulating points.

"Let's go, time to harvest leeks!"

Li Luo picked a direction and moved at high speed. Those Gold and Silver Radiance teams had already left ahead of time; he had to catch up to find anyone.

Li Luo and the others sped in one direction for a long while until a forest appeared ahead. He then raised an eyebrow as he saw a four-person Gold Radiance team lingering at the edge of the forest.

"Eh, it's you? Stone-kid!"

As they approached, Li Luo was somewhat surprised, because the leader of that team was none other than that stone-phase youth with the prominent brow.

"Who are you calling Stone-kid!" Ye Hua said angrily.

"You wouldn't happen to be waiting here to deliver warmth, would you?" Li Luo laughed.

"Li Luo, I just don't accept your status as a Purple Radiance student, so today I must take you down! If you have the guts, come over and eat our team!" Ye Hua said through gritted teeth.

Li Luo's smile deepened. Just as he was about to speak, the shadow under his feet suddenly rippled, and Xin Fu's figure appeared behind him.

"Captain, something's wrong. There are quite a few people inside this forest!" Xin Fu, having appeared, warned urgently.

Li Luo narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed: "As expected. Stone-kid, I didn't expect that someone with such thick eyebrows and big eyes would be such a bad egg. I wasn't even targeting you, yet you were thinking of a snake swallowing an elephant? I really underestimated you."

Hearing this, the expression on Ye Hua's face immediately tightened. He frowned and glanced at Xin Fu; a scheme had actually been detected in advance by this guy.

"Since the ambush failed, we'll just have to do this the hard way!" Ye Hua snorted. He clapped his hands, and the forest behind him began to shake as one figure after another walked out.

A rough count showed no fewer than ten Gold Radiance teams.

"Li Luo, you Purple Radiance teams have the strongest strength. If we let you do as you please, we Gold Radiance teams will be eaten by you one by one sooner or later. Instead of that, it's better to gather our strength from the start and take down the strongest of you first!"

"It's a pity that people with such insight are in the minority, otherwise I could have pulled in even more people," Ye Hua said with some regret.

Li Luo looked at the dozens of figures eyeing them covetously and couldn't help but sigh. This Ye Hua was truly a talent. Other Gold Radiance teams usually avoided Purple Radiance teams, but this guy did the exact opposite—not only did he not avoid them, he actually wanted to strike at them.

And his thinking was actually not wrong at all, because this was indeed the wisest and most courageous decision. To these Gold Radiance teams, the Purple Radiance teams were the greatest threat. Right now, the competition had just begun, the momentum of the Purple Radiance teams hadn't been established, and the awe other teams felt toward them wasn't very strong, so it was easiest to recruit people.

Once time passed and the momentum of the Purple Radiance teams began to accumulate through repeated victories, other teams would inevitably feel fear, and trying to recruit people to surround and annihilate the Purple Radiance teams would become much more difficult.

So this Ye Hua had truly grasped the timing perfectly.

Among the Gold Radiance students, there were truly quite a few with sharp minds.

If one looked down on them just because one was a Purple Radiance student, one would likely capsize in the gutter sooner or later.

"Do it! Let us see just how strong a Purple Radiance team really is!"

At this moment, Ye Hua roared and was the first to circulate his phase power, charging forward.

Behind him, dozens of Gold Radiance students also charged over with fierce momentum.

"Captain, what do we do?" Seeing this formation, Xin Fu's expression became grave, and Bai Mengmeng gripped her hands tightly.

"What else can we do?"

Li Luo's expression was solemn.

"Of course, we run!"

(One chapter today)