Chapter 30: Yu Lang

When the grief-stricken Li Luo arrived at the academy, he found that today's atmosphere had noticeably cooled compared to yesterday's boiling excitement, and disappointment was clearly written on the faces of some students.

Obviously, most of these were people whose matches had not gone well yesterday.

But there was no helping it—when some are happy, naturally others must be sad. This elimination system was always going to keep sweeping aside those who lacked the ability.

"Luo-ge, you're finally here."

And when Zhao Kuo saw Li Luo, he hurried forward and said, "One of your two matches today isn't going to be easy. It's Yu Lang from the First Courtyard, remember?"

"Yu Lang?" Li Luo thought for a moment, then nodded. That fellow had some fame in the First Courtyard, his strength hovering around the teens, and he was said to possess a sixth-grade Wind Aspect, renowned for his astonishing speed.

"That guy has already advanced into the Seventh Seal now, much stronger than Bei Kun," Zhao Kuo said, his expression somewhat solemn.

"The Seventh Seal, huh…" Li Luo smacked his lips. This was indeed a tougher opponent than yesterday's, but it should still be within his ability to handle.

So he patted Zhao Kuo on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry, I've got this."

Seeing this, Zhao Kuo said no more. After all, he knew Li Luo's character—if Li Luo truly felt he couldn't win, he wouldn't put on a brave front in the slightest.

But while the two were talking, a student from the Second Courtyard suddenly came over and whispered, "Luo-ge, someone's looking for you outside."

Li Luo was a little puzzled at this, but he still walked out, and then beneath the shade of the trees, he saw a youth with shoulder-length hair who looked roguish and unrestrained.

Li Luo recognized him at a glance—it was exactly the opponent he would be facing today, Yu Lang.

"You came looking for me?" Li Luo said with a smile.

Yu Lang brushed aside the bangs hanging in front of his face, looked at Li Luo with deep, solemn eyes, and said, "Li Luo, I never expected that after so long, you'd actually risen again. Worthy of being the man who once dominated Southwind Academy."

Li Luo let out a breath and said irritably, "Don't spout such nonsense."

Yu Lang said, a little displeased, "Where is the nonsense?"

But in the end he still curled his lip and said, "This afternoon you'll run into me. Song Song Yunfeng came to find me and offered me quite a generous price—wants me to do my best to injure you today."

Li Luo was taken aback, then smiled. "Are you here to tip me off? Or planning to play both sides?"

"Tch, although I'm a rogue, I still have my bottom line. You taught me phase arts back in the day, so I suppose I owe you a favor," Yu Lang said disdainfully.

"I'm just here to warn you—if we fight this afternoon and you really aren't my match, then jump off the stage right away. Of course, it's also possible that you freak have hidden your strength too well, and in the end I'm the one who isn't your match. In that case, just play along and let me 'suffer a serious injury' and exit the stage. That way I can still pocket a wave of compensation from Song Song Yunfeng—after all, that guy really is a fat-headed sucker, and the price he offered isn't low."

"Of course, that second option is just something I added for safety, but I don't think it'll be needed. Li Luo, you have no idea—the me of now is no longer that man from back then who would trip over pants that were too long."

Even with Li Luo's fairly decent composure, he was still blinded by Yu Lang's whole routine. In the end he could only say helplessly, "You really are something else."

"So I'm planning to go report you to the teacher."

This time it was Yu Lang's turn to be dumbfounded. He cursed, "Li Luo, are you a beast? Do you think it's easy for me to make a little money? Does a young master like you understand our hardships?"

"Get lost, get lost, get lost."

Li Luo rubbed his brow and waved him off. It had been ages since he'd seen this guy, and the fellow was still a weirdo.

Yu Lang snorted coldly, shook out his shoulder-length hair, and turned to leave with a dashing flourish.

Li Luo watched his retreating back, but still raised his hand and called out, "Although the intel wasn't worth much, thanks anyway."

Yu Lang's footsteps paused, and a cold snort drifted back.

"Young man, take care of yourself."

After Yu Lang left, Li Luo finally furrowed his brow. Song Song Yunfeng's hostility toward him was growing stronger and stronger. The main reason was probably Lü Qing'er, but part of it was also the old grudge between the Song family and the Luo Lan Mansion.

"I've clearly been keeping a very low profile…"

"Why do you still have to come provoke me?"

The morning match had gone too smoothly, so there was naturally nothing worth mentioning, and before long it was afternoon. True to expectations, Li Luo was matched against Yu Lang.

On the battle stage, Yu Lang's flowing hair swayed in the wind. He stared coldly at Li Luo ahead of him and said, "Li Luo, running into me is your misfortune."

Around the battle stage, quite a number of spectators had gathered, and they seemed quite interested in this match—after all, this was the first strong opponent Li Luo had encountered.

Regarding this drama-king Yu Lang, Li Luo was clearly a bit helpless. He didn't want to play along with the other's act, because that would make him look like an idiot.

So he could only silently circulate his phase power. Exceptionally pure blue phase power slowly rose from his body, causing the surrounding air to become noticeably more humid.

And at the referee's command, the green phase power around Yu Lang, who had been showing off, suddenly erupted. In that instant, it was as if the wind howled, and Yu Lang's figure directly transformed into a shadow, pouncing toward Li Luo like lightning.

That kind of speed caused Li Luo's eyes to narrow, and exclamations rose unceasingly from around the battle stage—clearly Yu Lang's speed was extremely ferocious.

Bang!

The fist wind, wrapped in a faint green light, surged like a thunderbolt, rapidly enlarging in Li Luo's pupils.

Clearly, once he made his move, Yu Lang held nothing back.

Li Luo shifted his footing, changed fist to palm, and unhurriedly spread it open before him. As blue phase power surged, it was as if a layer of airtight water curtain had formed.

The green fist wind slammed into the water curtain, sending up ripples one after another.

"Waaah!"

A strange cry rang out. Yu Lang's figure seemed to split into afterimages, which appeared all around Li Luo. In that instant, fists and kicks wrapped in green light, carrying the sound of breaking wind, as if they were about to engulf Li Luo's entire body.

The offensive was exceptionally ferocious.

And facing Yu Lang's violent assault, Li Luo remained entirely on the defensive. Layer upon layer of water curtain shifted with the changes of his palms and fists, continuously guarding his vital points.

Around the spectator stands, the crowd understood at a glance that Li Luo was planning to drag the fight out, but this wasn't strange—after all, Li Luo had the Water Aspect, and the characteristic of Water Aspect power was its enduring, far-reaching nature. The longer the fight went on, the more advantageous it was for him.

"Li Luo is using that high-grade phase art of his again—Nine-Layer Emerald Wave." A sharp-eyed student spoke up.

This Nine-Layer Emerald Wave had been used before when Li Luo fought Bei Kun. It was extremely suited to drawn-out battles; as its power stacked up, the eventual counterattack would become especially astonishing.

However, Yu Lang's strength was far greater than Bei Kun's, and defending against his storm-like assault probably wouldn't be so easy.

"Waaah!"

Sure enough, accompanied by Yu Lang's strange cry, he pressed his two fingers together and thrust them out sharply. Green light gathered at his fingertips, as if transforming into a green gleam, flickering in and out.

"Wind Finger!"

The fingertip, seemingly wrapped in biting gale, directly pierced through the water curtain defense around Li Luo, then descended toward his chest as fast as lightning.

Sensing the force and speed contained in the opponent's fingertip, Li Luo understood he could no longer dodge, and immediately drew in a deep breath of humid air.

"Water Soft Palm."

Li Luo struck out with a palm, blue phase force surging over his hand, and at the instant before contact, his five fingers suddenly spread, fingertips flicking to stir the water-phase power, forming layer upon layer of water whirls.

The sharp emerald light contained in Seeing Yu Lang's fingertip was rapidly eroded and stripped away under the layer-upon-layer winding of those water whirls.

By the time the Wind Finger pierced through the many layers of water whirls and finally collided with Li Luo's palm force, a portion of its power had been neutralized with extreme finesse.

Bang!

Fist met finger, phase forces clashed, waves of air rolling outward as they spread, and both Li Luo and Seeing Yu Lang's figures jolted, their bodies sliding back.

Whoosh!

Around the battle platform, an uproar rose, gaze after gaze of astonishment turning toward Li Luo.

He had actually neutralized Seeing Yu Lang's strongest attack head-on?!

Seeing Yu Lang is a Seven-Seal practitioner!

And he was using wind-phase power, which is inherently more domineering than water-phase power in terms of attack.

"It's Li Luo's phase-art application that's too exquisite—he used the Water-Soft Fist at just the right moment to neutralize Seeing Yu Lang's attack. Impressive. The Water-Soft Palm is clearly only a mid-grade phase art, yet it made Seeing Yu Lang's high-grade phase art, the Wind Finger, return empty-handed," an outstanding practitioner explained and praised.

"Li Luo's phase force should be at the Six-Seal Realm. By every measure, he should be weaker than Seeing Yu Lang, yet he's been able to drag this out for so long."

"The number-one phase-art practitioner of South Wind Academy—well-deserved reputation."

"."

Amid the many exclamations, Seeing Yu Lang on the platform also curled his lips, his gaze fixed on Li Luo growing much more solemn. In their earlier exchange, he had gained no advantage at all—clearly nothing like what he had imagined.

"This guy really is a freak after all."

Seeing Yu Lang had originally intended to go easy, but once they actually fought, he realized he had no right to go easy at all.

But then again, a Li Luo like this is far more interesting!

Excitement surged into Seeing Yu Lang's eyes. The next instant, emerald phase force erupted violently, and his figure shot out like the wind, his speed exploding to its absolute peak in that moment.

But the instant his speed exploded, he suddenly felt his body lose its sense of balance, and for no apparent reason his whole person lifted off the ground.

Seeing Yu Lang's face changed drastically as he looked down, and saw that, at some unknown moment, a faint strand of blue phase force had wound around his ankles.

That blue phase force, like a water serpent, bound his two feet together—and precisely because of this, when his speed exploded, his body lost its balance.

"This is…"

Seeing Yu Lang's pupils contracted sharply.

Li Luo, standing before him, watched the unbalanced Seeing Yu Lang flying toward him and smiled: "Low-grade phase art, Water Serpent."

"Seeing Yu Lang, you got careless."

As he spoke, Li Luo stepped forward, both palms thrusting out horizontally; as water-phase power surged, it seemed to summon the sound of waves.

"You may not trip over your pants being too long anymore, but you will be tripped by my Water Serpent."

Amid Li Luo's voice, those twin palms landed squarely on Seeing Yu Lang's chest.

"Holy shit, Li Luo, you cheated!" Seeing Yu Lang cursed loudly.

Boom!

Mid-curse, his body was sent flying backward, finally crashing heavily outside the arena.

And at the instant of his fall, a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed three zhang high from Seeing Yu Lang's mouth; a great quantity of blood surged out from beneath his clothes, and in an instant it turned him into a blood-soaked figure, drawing alarmed cries from all around.

Li Luo on the platform was also stunned for a moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched—that amount of bleeding was way too much. Was this weirdo trying to swindle a huge sum out of Song Song Yunfeng and then drop out of school?

(End of chapter)