Chapter 170: Reunion

The two Purple Radiance squads faced each other across the stream, and the atmosphere instantly froze.

After a moment, Li Luo slowly stood up, a smile surfacing on his face: "Three classmates, what a coincidence."

The hand behind his back swayed gently.

Not far away, Student Xin Fu's figure directly transformed into a shadow and vanished.

Bai Bai Mengmeng also retreated two steps, standing behind Li Luo, her phase force gradually circulating, in a state of alert.

Outside the woods, Beside Yi Yi Lisha and the other two also stared at Li Luo for a moment, then Yi Yi Lisha, as the captain, forced a smile onto his face: "I didn't expect to run into you, classmate Li Luo, here. What a coincidence."

The two sides' gazes met, both showing friendly smiles.

However, after the smiles faded, there was another awkward silence.

Yi Yi Lisha couldn't help but rub his face and said: "If I say we were really just passing through, I wonder if you'd believe me?"

His words subtly indicated that they hadn't come for them, but had truly just happened to bump into them here.

Li Luo stared at Yi Yi Lisha for several breaths, then smiled: "Understood, then shall we part ways here for now?"

"That would be best!"

Yi Yi Lisha quietly let out a sigh of relief. Regarding Li Luo's squad, he actually harbored great wariness. After all, in that Master Selection Competition, Li Luo had once defeated Duze Duze Beixuan. Possessing dual phases, he was absolutely a formidable foe.

At this moment, it was the stage for hunting down Gold Radiance and Silver Radiance squads to farm points. If they directly clashed head-on with Li Luo's Purple Radiance squad here, losing would be one thing—not only would they be eliminated, they'd have to hand over a third of their loot points. And even if they won, by Yi Yi Lisha's estimate, it would likely be a bitter victory. If other Gold Radiance squads then swooped in for the bargain, there'd truly be nowhere to cry.

So right now was absolutely not the best time to start a war with the Purple Radiance squad.

He believed Li Luo most likely thought the same, since there was no prior grudge between them, and there was no need for a hard fight at this point.

As the two captains each subtly conveyed their thoughts, their expressions also eased somewhat.

Li Luo's gaze lingered for a moment on Si Si Qiuying beside Yi Yi Lisha. Since appearing, the latter's eyes had never left him.

Li Luo met her gaze, gave her a friendly smile, then his figure slowly retreated. Only after stepping out of each other's attack range did he turn and leave.

With Li Luo's squad departing, Yi Yi Lisha finally let out a complete sigh of relief and said: "That was really close. We almost kicked off a decisive battle right here."

"Actually, clashing with them wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm quite curious just how powerful Li Luo's dual phases really are." Beside Yi Yi Lisha, a youth named Qian Ye showed some fighting spirit.

"Once we clash, we won't be able to hold back. Do you want points, or do you want a moment of thrill?" Yi Yi Lisha sighed and said.

Qian Ye thought for a moment, then smiled: "Of course points are more important."

"There'll be chances in the future, but clearly not now." Yi Yi Lisha smiled.

As they spoke, Si Si Qiuying hadn't said a word. Her gaze was fixed on the direction Li Luo had left. In truth, she knew her captain's strength very well. Although on that mysterious Freshman Power Ranking, Yi Yi Lisha was ranked slightly below Duze Duze Beixuan, she, who was familiar with both, knew that Yi Yi Lisha's strength was in no way inferior to Duze Duze Beixuan's.

And as the Young Lady of House House Jinque, Si Si Qiuying had seen plenty of geniuses, but even she acknowledged Yi Yi Lisha's talent—this showed that this captain was no ordinary person.

Yet today, this captain she acknowledged had revealed considerable wariness when facing the squad led by Li Luo. Although the timing being wrong was part of it, it was enough to demonstrate Li Luo's current strength.

This left Si Si Qiuying somewhat dazed. A few months ago, when Li Luo had just arrived at Daxia City, she had never imagined that the young House Master from that small Nanfeng City could stand out among the gathered young prodigies of the Sacred Mystic Star Academy.

And on that day, Jiang Jiang Qinge had said that Li Luo might just become the number one freshman of the Sacred Mystic Star Academy.

At the time, Si Si Qiuying had scoffed at that, assuming Jiang Jiang Qinge was just being polite to Li Luo. But now... Si Si Qiuying wasn't so sure anymore.

"Si Qiuying, let's go."

As Si Si Qiuying's thoughts churned, Yi Yi Lisha's voice reached her. She came back to herself and saw that her two teammates had already turned and started walking in the exact opposite direction from where Li Luo and the others had gone.

So Si Si Qiuying gathered her emotions, took one more look in the direction Li Luo had left, then turned and followed her teammates.

As for whether Li Luo truly had the qualifications to become the number one freshman of the Sacred Mystic Star Academy—perhaps this Ranking Battle would reveal some clues.

After parting peacefully with Yi Yi Lisha's squad, Li Luo and his two companions hurried on without stopping.

Along the way, they had the good fortune to run into two Gold Radiance squads and three Silver Radiance squads, dealt with them casually, and harvested another wave of points.

It was also at this time that Li Luo noticed some unique marks—the signals he had previously arranged with Zhao Kuo and the others.

As long as they followed the route indicated by these marks, they would be able to link up with Zhao Kuo and the others.

And according to the earlier plan, Zhao Kuo and the others would find a way to tail the "Governor's Squad," which meant they weren't far from the Governor's Squad now.

This Governor's Squad was no pushover, and they harbored hostile intentions toward him. If Li Luo ultimately needed to face the "Golden Gate Squad" in a decisive battle, then this hidden threat had to be eliminated in advance.

Thinking of these things, Li Luo's squad began to speed up.

In a dense forest.

Several figures sat or stood, with someone keeping watch—eight in total, clearly two Gold Radiance squads.

It was Zhao Kuo, Zong Fu, and the others, while the other four-person squad was the help they had recruited.

"Zhao Kuo, is that squad of Li Luo's really willing to help us? Did you exaggerate your relationship with them?" The captain of that four-person squad had clearly been waiting for some time and couldn't help but ask.

His teammates also looked somewhat doubtful. Although Zhao Kuo was also from Nanfeng Academy, his strength could only be described as average. He had sworn up and down earlier that Li Luo would definitely help.

But that was, after all, only Zhao Kuo's word, and they couldn't be sure.

"And you, Zong Fu and the others, say something too." That captain also looked toward Zong Fu's trio.

Regarding Zhao Kuo, Zong Fu, and the other three, to be honest, this captain couldn't quite make sense of them. Among the four, Zhao Kuo's strength should be the weakest. In fact, in his view, for someone of Zhao Kuo's talent and strength to even become a Gold Radiance student was somewhat surprising. Yet in this four-person squad, the one who had become captain and taken charge was, ironically, this Zhao Kuo.

Because of all these reasons, this squad's attitude toward Zhao Kuo couldn't be called disdainful, but it did carry a hint of condescension.

However, Zhao Kuo's expression remained affable, as if he hadn't noticed their attitude, and he smiled: "Don't rush. Wait a little longer. They're a Purple Radiance squad—they'll definitely be harvesting a lot of points along the way, so some delay is inevitable. If they've spotted the marks, they'll definitely come."

Zong Fu also smiled at this point: "Mm, that's right. Captain Xu Ge, don't worry."

The captain called Xu Ge heard this and said: "Can't help being anxious. We're currently tailing the 'Governor's Squad' and the 'Heavenly Blade Squad.' If they notice something's off, it'll be hard to even run."

"I'm just saying—if you can't be sure Li Luo and the others will come, just tell me straight. That way we can be mentally prepared."

Regarding the doubts in the other's words, Zhao Kuo was also a bit displeased, but he still patiently explained.

However, just at this moment, he suddenly saw Zong Fu stand up. His heart stirred immediately, and he turned his head to see three figures suddenly appear outside the woods, then walk in.

Who else could the leader be but Li Luo?

"We ran into a few squads along the way and were delayed a bit taking them out." Li Luo walked into the woods, smiling at everyone.

He first patted Zhao Kuo's shoulder and complained: "Your marks are really ugly to draw. They're practically on par with Student Xin Fu's artwork."

Then he smiled and greeted Zong Fu's trio.

Only then did he look toward Xu Ge and the others, smiling. "My apologies, I'm late."

The captain of the Golden Radiance Squad, Xu Ge, hurriedly plastered a smile across his face. He could keenly sense that when Li Luo spoke with Zhao Kuo, their relationship was clearly much closer, which surprised him somewhat. It seemed what Zong Fu had told him before was true — among them, the only one who could move Li Luo was Zhao Kuo.

He also vaguely understood why Zong Fu and the other two had been willing to let Zhao Kuo be captain. It wasn't only because he handled matters steadily; perhaps more importantly, there was that relationship with Li Luo.

"Greetings, Brother Luo. It's not late either — the timing is just right. Brother Zhao has everything arranged over here," Xu Ge said quickly with a smile.

Li Luo nodded, briefly got a sense of the situation, then said nothing more.

"Since everyone's here, let's get ready to move."