Chapter 301: The Ceremony

When Li Luo once again bathed in the warm sunlight and stood within the Saintly Xuanxing Academy, he gazed at the enormous phase force tree, and a feeling of it being a lifetime ago washed over him.

Only after experiencing the gloom, the oppression, and the deadly peril at every step within the Dark Cave could one understand how precious this peaceful atmosphere truly was.

It wasn't only Li Luo who felt this way; many of the students around him who had also emerged from the Dark Cave were standing with their eyes closed, savoring the soothing, tranquil atmosphere.

"Everyone of the human race living on this land of the Great Xia should actually be grateful to the Saintly Xuanxing Academy." Li Luo turned his head and said to Jiang Jiang Qinge beside him.

In the past, he had no idea that the Saintly Xuanxing Academy was actually suppressing this Dark Cave, and every year they paid the price of many fresh lives to purge those aberrations.

In a certain sense, the Saintly Xuanxing Academy could be considered the guardian of Great Xia, while the Great Xia royal court was more like merely its ruler.

So Li Luo felt that the Saintly Xuanxing Academy deserved the lofty status it enjoyed within Great Xia.

Jiang Jiang Qinge was quite agreeable on this point. Regardless of whether the Saintly Xuanxing Academy had other reasons for doing this, at the very least, they were willing to expend such enormous resources and so many outstanding students and even mentors to suppress the Dark Cave, to prevent those twisted, terrifying aberrations from breaking into their world. That alone was enough for the people of Great Xia to remember them by.

As the two spoke, students kept emerging one after another from an open wooden door around them, among them many who were not from the same outpost as Li Luo and the others.

Clearly, the students from those other outposts had also gradually completed their purification missions and begun to withdraw from the Dark Cave.

The plaza, once bustling, suddenly became lively.

However, for now no one was leaving. On the contrary, many mentors were nearby maintaining order, forbidding the students from departing. This was because every time they left the Dark Cave, all students would undergo an inspection.

Contamination inspection.

Some students might, during prolonged battles against aberrations within the Dark Cave, unknowingly become infected by malice. If this were not detected early, the malice would exert an even deeper influence on them, ultimately bringing about some severe consequences.

Therefore, every time they left the Dark Cave, a contamination inspection was an indispensable step.

And as the bodies of two Purple-Glory mentors rose into the air, the next instant, it was as if resplendent light erupted in midair, transforming into a skyful of energy beams that shone down.

When these energy beams fell upon their bodies, there was a cool, refreshing sensation, and at the same time they seemed to possess a mind-calming effect, which caused the taut nerves of many students to gradually ease at this moment.

And it was precisely under this relaxation of body and mind that some hidden things came forth.

Ah!

A scream rang out. Some gazes looked over, only to see a student there with a struggling expression, a faint black aura surfacing on his face, causing his features to gradually twist and turn ferocious.

This was being polluted by malice.

However, the moment this incident appeared, a mentor's figure shot out like lightning, swiftly restraining that student, then forcibly escorting him away from the plaza.

This kind of contamination was generally not too severe, but purification would take some time. Presumably, that student would have to spend the next half month in the purification chamber.

And after the first contaminated person appeared, several more students were discovered one after another, but none caused any disturbance; all were swiftly quelled.

Until finally the two Purple-Glory mentors descended from the sky and dispersed the energy beams, this inspection was considered concluded.

Many students breathed out in relief.

Li Luo also let out a sigh of relief, but then he noticed that Jiang Jiang Qinge's expression seemed to have grown solemn at this moment, so he immediately asked, "It's not over yet?"

Jiang Jiang Qinge was briefly silent, then said, "Just watch."

And under Li Luo's somewhat puzzled gaze, the two Purple-Glory mentors looked across the entire plaza, their expressions also turning solemn, and said in deep voices, "This purification mission has been hard on everyone."

"We are relieved that you were able to return safely, but... not everyone has returned. There are still some students who have been forever buried within the Dark Cave."

The clamor in the plaza vanished entirely at this moment. The young, tender faces of all the students grew heavy, and some among them even showed sorrow, because among those vanished students were people they knew.

Perhaps, a month ago, they had still been drinking and chatting together, dreaming of the future.

But now, those faces could never be seen again.

From within the plaza, low sounds of weeping arose.

The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.

The voices of the two Purple-Glory mentors rose once more, and this time, they called out name after name—the names of the students who had perished in the Dark Cave.

"Two-Star Court, Chen Zhen."

"Two-Star Court, Liu Ming'er."

"Three-Star Court, Meng Qi."

"..."

Every time a name was called, a point of faint light would fly out from the sleeves of the two Purple-Glory mentors. It was a verdant leaf, as wide as a palm, and upon closer inspection, a person's name was inscribed upon it—the very students who had perished in the Dark Cave.

Leaf after leaf flew out, finally drifting toward the phase force tree. From the phase force tree, branches reached out, and these leaves settled upon them, clinging firmly, swaying gently in the wind.

And only now did Li Luo understand that that exceptionally verdant band of leaves on the tree represented the students the Saintly Xuanxing Academy had lost in purifying the Dark Cave, one by one...

One could imagine just how great a price the Saintly Xuanxing Academy had paid over the years to suppress the Dark Cave.

As the last leaf flew up onto the phase force tree, the two Purple-Glory mentors slightly lowered their heads, and a calm, low voice rang out.

"My heart knows no fear."

"Our kind endure forever."

Many tender faces also grew far more solemn at this moment, and voices rose one after another.

"My heart knows no fear!"

"Our kind endure forever!"

Li Luo looked up at that exceptionally verdant band of leaves on the phase force tree, was silent for a while, then asked Jiang Jiang Qinge, "Why doesn't the academy invite other powerful experts from Great Xia to suppress the Dark Cave? If they did that, it should be able to reduce some of the losses, right?"

Jiang Jiang Qinge calmly said, "First of all, the students who can enter the Saintly Xuanxing Academy are the most outstanding of Great Xia's younger generation. Their strength and potential are not necessarily matched by people elsewhere in Great Xia."

"Moreover, although these students are young, their dispositions are relatively purer. While one can't say they are entirely free of malice, compared to those outside experts who have gone through deceit and slaughter, the probability of them being polluted within the Dark Cave is somewhat lower."

"A mentor told me privately that in the past, the Saintly Xuanxing Academy did, at some critical moments, issue calls for aid and invited some outside experts. But although these experts were indeed somewhat stronger than the students, when encountering aberrations, their malice was instead more easily triggered, and deeply seeded malice was planted within them, ultimately causing even greater trouble."

"Therefore, the academy has always maintained a cautious attitude toward inviting outside experts to help."

Li Luo frowned. So there was such a secret. No wonder the academy would rather pay the price every year to purify the Dark Cave than seek outside assistance.

Of course, the most important thing was that the situation should still be within the academy's control, so there was no need.

As for casualties... although it was somewhat cruel, they were ultimately unavoidable.

Li Luo gazed at some of the sorrowful-looking students and let out a soft sigh.

"Suddenly, I rather hope the Saintly Xuanxing Academy gets that 'Dragon Bone Holy Cup.'"

With the Holy Grail, at least for the next four years, the Holy Radiant Star Academy would no longer have to suffer student casualties. Although in a certain sense, the academy that had lost the Holy Grail would face a situation of student casualties, but Li Luo was after all not a saint, and he didn't have the ability to manage so much. What he wanted was simply to make the atmosphere of this Holy Radiant Star Academy a little better.