Chapter 294: Dark Red Bracelet

About half a day after the Eldest Princess arrived at the outpost, the large contingent of reinforcements, just as she had said, arrived one after another.

The appearance of the reinforcements further boosted the morale within the outpost, and cheers rang out unceasingly.

The leader of this batch of reinforcements was Gong Gong Shenjun. He brought a group of people to the outside of the outpost, and his gaze was immediately drawn to that stone-carved seal of the three-tailed giant beast.

They were all somewhat surprised and doubtful.

"Weren't we told this place was ambushed by a Great Calamity-class Other? How did it turn into a Spirit Beast?"

"This seal is extremely complex. Did the Eldest Princess make it?"

"Impressive."

"Looks like we came for nothing. The Eldest Princess alone has already resolved the crisis here."

The group of Four Star Academy senior students sighed in admiration one after another. Although they could not discern the mysteries of this seal formation, that did not prevent them from sensing its profound depth.

Gong Gong Shenjun was likewise somewhat lost for a moment, then shook his head and said, "This shouldn't be Luan Yu's handiwork. The power lingering on it isn't hers."

But the doubts in his heart only grew. Within this outpost, besides the Eldest Princess, who else could have resolved this crisis?

And who had created this seal?

Amid these doubts, the rescue team poured into the outpost amid the many cheers.

Inside the outpost, many students gave them a warm welcome, and at the back of the crowd, the Eldest Princess, Duze Duze Honglian, and others also came forward to greet them.

"Luan Yu, I didn't expect you to still beat me to it," Gong Gong Shenjun said with a gentle smile on his face.

Only the depths of his gaze as he looked at the Eldest Princess carried a trace of strangeness, because the Eldest Princess had rushed over far too quickly this time. By distance, her position should have been much farther than his.

Yet she had ultimately arrived faster than him, which meant her rescue this time had simply exhausted her own strength.

Although rescue was an obligation — for instance, he had also rushed over swiftly after receiving the notification — if you were to say it was the kind of extremely draining, limit-pushing travel, that wasn't quite the case either.

After all, in his previous assessment, if Outpost Number Thirteen had truly been targeted by a Great Calamity-class Other, the odds were overwhelmingly against it. At their speed, even rushing over would just be a wasted trip.

With that mindset, how could he have arrived at the first moment?

Yet the Eldest Princess seemed to have been in too much of a hurry.

This made Gong Gong Shenjun feel somewhat puzzled and strange, because he understood the Eldest Princess's character very well. On the surface she seemed approachable, but inwardly she was not truly so gentle. As members of the royal house, they had seen too much scheming and betrayal, so perhaps from a very young age, they would put on certain masks for themselves.

The Eldest Princess had one, and so did he.

Precisely because he knew the Eldest Princess's character, Gong Gong Shenjun felt slightly surprised and doubtful about her limit-pushing rescue this time.

"Is it because Jiang Qing'e is also at this outpost? Putting on such a show to win her over?" Gong Gong Shenjun's gaze flickered as he thought to himself.

After all, he also knew that recently the Eldest Princess had been trying to build a good relationship with Jiang Qing'e, since the latter indeed had the potential worth her investment.

A faint smile appeared on the Eldest Princess's breathtakingly beautiful face as she said, "After all, such a huge crisis here — if I had arrived late, I don't know how many students would have suffered. So I could only go all out on the road, hoping to arrive in time."

The surrounding students, hearing this, all showed moved expressions, and their gazes toward the Eldest Princess gained a touch more gratitude.

Although it seemed that in the end it was Li Luo who had dealt with that three-tailed giant beast, the Eldest Princess being able to rush over at the fastest speed still demonstrated her concern and goodwill toward the other students.

Gong Gong Shenjun gave a slight smile. How could he not know this was the Eldest Princess winning people's hearts? But she had indeed been the first to arrive as support, so even he couldn't say anything. He could only say, "It seems the top merit for this rescue will fall to you."

Upon hearing this, the Eldest Princess's expression inevitably faltered for a moment, then she revealed a radiant smile and said, "Does Your Imperial Brother really think I could handle a great Spirit Beast that was beginning to touch the Marquis-rank?"

Gong Gong Shenjun was stunned. "A great Spirit Beast beginning to touch the Marquis-rank?"

His gaze sharpened slightly. A great Spirit Beast of that level, even he would have difficulty dealing with — after all, he himself was only at the peak of the Heavenly Gang General rank and had not yet begun to touch the Marquis-rank.

"Then... what's the deal with the seal statue outside?"

The others were also somewhat surprised. If it wasn't the Eldest Princess who had acted, then who exactly had resolved this crisis at the outpost?

"Actually, I also count as having come for nothing. I imagine even if I hadn't come, this outpost wouldn't have had any major trouble," the Eldest Princess said frankly, without any intention of claiming the credit — that would simply be too crude.

"What exactly happened? A great Spirit Beast of that level — besides you, who else here could have put up any resistance?" Gong Gong Shenjun frowned and asked.

Jiang Qing'e? But even with her potential, she was still only at the Earth Sha General rank right now. If she had stepped into the Heavenly Gang General rank, perhaps Gong Gong Shenjun could have considered it slightly possible.

"It was Li Luo who did it." A faintly complicated expression crossed the Eldest Princess's radiant features.

At these words, not only did those Four Star Academy students suddenly freeze, even Gong Gong Shenjun's mouth gaped open slightly as he stared at the Eldest Princess, somewhat losing his composure.

After a moment, he gradually recovered and said, "You mean... Li Luo dealt with that great Spirit Beast?"

The other Four Star Academy seniors couldn't help wanting to snort in disbelief — how could that be possible? But in the end they swallowed their words, because they saw that the Eldest Princess's expression was very serious, with no hint of joking. Moreover, the surrounding students, upon hearing this, offered not the slightest objection, instead nodding in agreement.

This left them exchanging glances, unable to understand what had actually happened. Li Luo, a freshman from the One Star Academy, here in the Dark Cave for the first time not to farm experience — how could he possibly have resolved a massive crisis that even the Eldest Princess and Gong Gong Shenjun alone could not have handled?

"It really was Li Luo who did it."

Beside the Eldest Princess, Duze Duze Honglian also spoke up, her expression somewhat complicated. She hadn't expected that there would come a day when she would help clear Li Luo's name — but this was simply the truth.

Then she briefly recounted Li Luo's plan and the final process of him deploying the Dean's Seal to imprison that great Spirit Beast.

As Duze Duze Honglian narrated, Gong Gong Shenjun's expression inevitably grew much more solemn, his gaze faintly deep.

The other Four Star Academy seniors likewise wore expressions of shock and disbelief. At this moment, their view of Li Luo had clearly undergone a tremendous change.

A freshman, in that kind of desperate situation, had actually managed to do this?

Such courage and character — truly remarkable.

Gong Gong Shenjun gradually came back to himself. His gaze swept forward, but he didn't see Li Luo or Jiang Qing'e, and said, "Junior Li Luo truly performs miracle after miracle."

No one had expected he could come up with such an inconceivable method to defuse the crisis. While there was certainly an element of luck involved, in many things in this world luck is only an auxiliary. The fact that Li Luo could conceive such a plan and still have the courage to carry it out speaks enough of his exceptional qualities.

Gong Gong Shenjun's gaze flickered slightly. In truth, regarding Li Luo, he had never looked down on him like the others from the very beginning, because he did not believe that Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan, such outstanding people, could truly have produced a useless son.

Only, at this moment he still felt that he seemed to have once again underestimated this previously unremarkable young master of House Luolan Mansion...

"This dark-red bracelet — it appeared suddenly after you sealed that three-tailed giant beast?"

And when Gong Gong Shenjun and the others arrived at the outpost, inside a stone tower room within the outpost, Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo were huddled together. At this moment, one of her slender hands very naturally held Li Luo's hand, her golden eyes thoughtful as she gazed at the dark-red bracelet on Li Luo's wrist.

During the earlier rest, Li Luo had taken the initiative to tell Jiang Qing'e about the dark-red bracelet. After all, the relationship between the two was too intimate, and he held few secrets back in front of her.

Li Luo gazed at Jiang Qing'e's exquisitely beautiful face before him, her snow-like skin so delicate it stirred the impulse to caress it. Their hands were clasped tightly, as if holding a piece of cool, smooth jade, which made Li Luo unable to resist tracing a small circle in her palm.

"Stop fooling around."

Jiang Qing'e shot him a glance, and the charm in that glance nearly sent Li Luo's soul flying.

Jiang Jiang Qinge released her hand and pondered, "A power exists within this dark red bracelet that prevents my Xiang power from penetrating. That power is too vast; I cannot reach it at all. It should not originate from the Three-Tailed Giant Beast."

She thought for a moment, her golden eyes fixed on Li Luo as she spoke slowly.

"This is likely the Dean's handiwork..."

"It is something he left for you."