Chapter 302: Stoking the Flames

After a series of ceremonies concluded, the two Violet Light mentors finally departed, and the atmosphere on the plaza, after sagging for a while, gradually began to recover.

After all, apart from newcomers like Li Luo and his group, the students of the other Star Academies had experienced such occasions before, so they still had some adaptability in the end.

A great deal of chatter spread across the plaza as the students exchanged their experiences and gains from this Dark Cave.

As the conversation continued, gradually some murmurs arose, and one could faintly hear the names of Outpost Thirteen, Li Luo, Jiang Jiang Qinge, and so on.

Clearly, the news that Outpost Thirteen had been targeted by a Calamity-grade Other this time had spread.

This caused quite a stir.

After all, every student present knew well how terrifying a Calamity-grade Other was; being targeted by such an existence put the entire outpost in danger of annihilation.

Before Li Luo, Jiang Jiang Qinge, and the others had even left the plaza, they saw a figure pushing through the crowd, hurrying over.

"Li Luo, are you alright?"

Lv Qing'er looked at Li Luo with some concern in her eyes; she seemed to have heard the news too, so she had rushed over to check.

Looking at Lv Qing'er's pretty face tinged with worry, Li Luo smiled and waved his hand: "I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"

Jiang Jiang Qinge, watching this from the side, seemed to smile and said: "Junior Qing'er is very concerned about Li Luo."

Lv Qing'er met Jiang Jiang Qinge's gaze and said: "Just concern for a friend."

Jiang Jiang Qinge nodded and said: "Then I'll thank you on Li Luo's behalf for your concern."

Lv Qing'er smiled: "It's only right."

Li Luo watched the two girls exchange polite words but felt the atmosphere was slightly off; just as he was about to speak, he saw a burly figure radiating a fierce, murderous aura emerge behind Lv Qing'er.

Some students from the surrounding Two Star Academies glanced over.

"Li Luo, your strength has improved a lot!" That figure looked at Li Luo with burning eyes.

It was Qin Qin Zhulu.

Li Luo looked at him, smiled and nodded, saying: "Just a little progress."

His gaze swept over Qin Qin Zhulu, and his eyes slightly hardened as he said: "You... have also reached the third pattern of the Pattern Birth Stage?"

In his perception, the resonance force fluctuations emanating from within Qin Qin Zhulu's body were also far stronger than before; clearly, this Dark Cave had also brought the latter a considerable boost.

Moreover, he felt that this fellow's third pattern had been condensed to the extreme, and he was qualified to attempt a breakthrough to the fourth pattern at any time.

But this wasn't strange; back when he was still at the Upper Heavy Flower Seed, Qin Qin Zhulu had already been at the second pattern of the Pattern Birth Stage. Now, by leveraging his cultivation in the Dark Spirit Pool, he had forcibly pulled up a notch, narrowing the gap between them considerably.

"In the Dark Cave, he went out every day to fight White Erosion-grade Others, and nearly got killed several times." Lv Qing'er explained the reason for Qin Qin Zhulu's improvement.

Li Luo clicked his tongue; this fellow really was a battle-crazy lunatic who wouldn't even let Others off.

"Li Luo, when will you fight me? In the current One Star Academy, only you can be my opponent." Qin Qin Zhulu's eyes were full of fiery eagerness as he looked at Li Luo.

Although Li Luo had been very strong before, there had been a gap in their levels, and he disdained using his level to suppress the other party. But now that both Li Luo and he were at the third pattern, a fight would surely be thoroughly exhilarating.

He had long wanted to experience what it felt like to fight against Dual Resonance power.

Facing the desire and fervor in the eyes of this macho man before him, Li Luo felt slightly uncomfortable and could only perfunctorily reply: "There'll be a chance eventually."

Qin Qin Zhulu still wanted to invite a fight, but at this moment a heart-wrenching wail suddenly rang out from behind: "Li Luo! Li Luo! My good brother!"

Hearing that all-too-familiar voice, Li Luo's face couldn't help but darken, and he immediately looked with unfriendly eyes at Seeing Yu Lang, who was bursting out of the crowd, and said: "Are you mourning someone?"

Seeing Yu Lang, who had squeezed out of the crowd, looked at Li Luo first, walked up quickly, and said with relief: "Good brother, hearing that you guys ran into a Calamity-grade Other really worried me to death."

He patted Li Luo's arm, then turned to Bai Bai Mengmeng beside Li Luo with a soothing smile: "Bai Mengmeng, are you alright? Did you get hurt anywhere? Do you need a checkup?"

Li Luo: "..."

You bastard, is this concern for me?

Bai Bai Mengmeng glanced at Seeing Yu Lang, then said nothing and silently hid behind Li Luo.

Seeing Yu Lang still wanted to show concern, but a cold voice came from behind: "Get out of the way, don't block the road."

He glared over and saw Bai Bai Doudou standing behind, so he immediately shrank his neck, quickly stepped aside, and whispered to Li Luo: "You guys really ran into a Calamity-grade Other?"

Seeing Li Luo nod, he couldn't help but swallow hard and sighed: "You survived this too. Looks like Senior Jiang didn't spare much effort protecting you."

Li Luo couldn't be bothered with him.

"I heard people say you extorted a lot of 'Emperor's Marrow' from people? Are you really short on that stuff? Want me to lend you a bottle? But let's agree you'll pay it back later; earning points isn't easy for me either." Seeing Yu Lang thought of something and continued asking.

Li Luo was taken aback. He had indeed collected some IOUs for Emperor's Marrow back at the Dark Spirit Pool, so how did it turn into extortion now? These rumors had gotten quite absurd. Still, he didn't pay much attention, just smiled and shook his head.

"Keep it for yourself; I've already gathered enough of what I need." Although this kid Seeing Yu Lang was a slacker, he was still very loyal. A bottle of Emperor's Marrow cost five thousand points; for the current Li Luo, that wasn't much, but for Seeing Yu Lang, it was probably the result of pouring out most of his efforts over the past half year.

The purification towers activated at Outpost Thirteen, although ultimately re-polluted due to the arrival of that Calamity-grade Other, the academy did not actually treat it as an activation failure. Instead, following the map records from before the re-pollution, they awarded points accordingly. So even without counting the reward points the academy might give, Li Luo had reaped a bountiful harvest this time.

While the two were talking, Bai Bai Doudou had already nervously taken Bai Bai Mengmeng's little hand, fussing over her and asking if she was hurt. Earlier, when she heard the news that Outpost Thirteen had encountered a Calamity-grade Other, her face had gone white with fright, because Bai Bai Mengmeng was at Outpost Thirteen.

"Senior Jiang, thank you so much this time." Bai Bai Doudou looked at Jiang Jiang Qinge gratefully as well. In her view, the reason Bai Bai Mengmeng and the others had ultimately survived this crisis safely was most likely because of Jiang Jiang Qinge's protection.

Bai Bai Mengmeng gave a sneaky laugh and said: "Sister, Senior Jiang did indeed provide a lot of help in this crisis, but actually the greatest credit goes to our captain. In the end, even that General-grade Greater Spirit Beast in the forbidden zone was sealed by him."

Bai Bai Doudou and Seeing Yu Lang were both stunned, and even Lv Qing'er and Qin Qin Zhulu looked over in surprise.

Then Bai Bai Mengmeng proudly recounted Li Luo's performance in detail.

As expected, she received shocked looks from the surrounding crowd.

No one had expected that the crisis at Outpost Thirteen had actually been resolved by Li Luo...

Li Luo modestly waved his hand and said: "Actually, this is all what I should do. Although I risked my life for it, for the sake of my classmates' lives, I am willing to pay such a price."

"And I also believe that my efforts will be seen by the academy."

After saying that, he forcefully patted Seeing Yu Lang's shoulder and said: "You get it?"

Seeing Yu Lang understood instantly: "For Brother Luo's spirit like this, the academy must give commendation, and give an extremely generous point reward to encourage students. If the academy's reward is unsatisfactory, even a passerby like me can't stand it, and will definitely call on the students to protest."

"I think, at the very least, reward thirty thousand points?"

Li Luo coughed lightly and said: "Young people can have bigger ambitions."

"Then... fifty thousand?"

Li Luo glanced at him: "Too conservative."

Seeing Yu Lang was a little shocked. Such a huge appetite? Trying to extort the academy — aren't you afraid of being expelled?

"A hundred thousand?"

Li Luo nodded in satisfaction, at the same time giving Seeing Yu Lang an approving look, signaling that this matter was being handed over to him. Right now he still didn't know whether the headmaster had actually passed along the message, so for the sake of those hundred thousand points, he could only fan the flames himself and give the academy's higher-ups a heads-up.

But this kind of thing was obviously not something he could show his face for, and Seeing Yu Lang was a perfect target to stir things up.

Good brother, it's you then. Once it's done, I won't treat you poorly.

After quietly discussing some details with Seeing Yu Lang, Li Luo suddenly heard a shout. He looked up and saw a graceful figure at the edge of the square waving at them.

It was Yan Yan Lingqing.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's gaze swept toward him and she said, "Let's go find Yan Lingqing first. There are some things."

"What things?" Li Luo asked, puzzled.

"Haven't you been fretting over how to expand the Sundry Yang House? Over at the Material Refinement Institute, some of the high-star Material Refiners are about to graduate this year..." Jiang Jiang Qinge said with a smile.

Hearing this, Li Luo's eyes brightened, and a surge of excitement welled up in his heart.

The Material Refinement Institute of the Sacred Mystic Star Academy possessed the finest Material Refiners in the entire Great Xia Kingdom, and every year these soon-to-depart refiners became objects of fierce competition among the major Spirit Water Odd Light Houses. He had long been eyeing this resource, unable to hold back.

If he could really gather a batch of high-quality Material Refiners, the rise of the Sundry Yang House would truly be unstoppable.

And the growth of the Sundry Yang House would in turn drive the rise of the Luo Lan Mansion. Most importantly, it would strengthen the "momentum" of that strange formation at the Luo Lan Mansion headquarters... which was undoubtedly essential for coping with the great upheaval the Luo Lan Mansion would face half a year from now.

So such an opportunity absolutely could not be missed.