Chapter 31: Encountering a Strong Foe

The commotion below the stage continued for a moment before finally subsiding as Seeing Yu Lang was swiftly carried away, though the gazes directed at Li Luo from all around carried a hint of fear.

Clearly they had been startled by Li Luo's excessively heavy hand.

Li Luo was also a bit speechless at the sight, cursing inwardly at Seeing Yu Lang, that bastard, for needlessly dragging his reputation down with him.

He stood on the stage, his gaze sweeping across the four directions, finally stopping at one spot.

There, he saw Song Song Yunfeng chatting and laughing amid a group of people. As if sensing Li Luo's gaze, he raised his head, glanced at him with an indifferent expression, then withdrew his eyes.

Li Luo had no intention of going over to say anything, and directly turned and stepped down from the battle stage.

"Brother Luo, you're pretty fierce, you actually took care of Seeing Yu Lang too." Below the stage, Zhao Kuo came up to greet him, clicking his tongue in admiration.

"That guy was a bit careless." Li Luo estimated the strength of both sides. If the fight had continued, he could have beaten Seeing Yu Lang, but it would have taken a bit longer.

Judging from this, his current combat power should count as outstanding among those of the seventh seal, and with this kind of strength, getting into the top twenty shouldn't be any problem.

Now he just had to wait for tomorrow's two matches. If he could win both, his ranking would surely make it into the top twenty, and when that time came, he could finally rest a little.

It was said that once the top twenty appeared, one could choose on their own whether to continue competing for rankings. Li Luo didn't have much interest in that. After all, the top twenty all qualified for the academy grand examination, so there was no need to engage in these pointless battles here.

With this time, he might as well refine some Spirit Water Odd Light.

After finishing today's two matches, Li Luo didn't immediately leave the academy, because tomorrow's final two matchups would be released early today.

He wanted to see who his opponents would be tomorrow.

His wait didn't last too long. An hour later, a golden bell rang out across the plaza, and Li Luo and Zhao Kuo walked toward a stone wall.

The stone wall was surrounded by many students. Li Luo's gaze swept over the text streaming down the stone wall like flowing water, and he quickly found his two opponents for tomorrow.

The first opponent was a seventh-seal strength student from the First Courtyard, probably a bit weaker than Seeing Yu Lang, so no big problem there.

But when Li Luo saw the last opponent he was about to face, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Brother Luo, y-you got Song Song Yunfeng in your last match!" Zhao Kuo beside him also noticed this result and immediately cried out.

That's right, Li Luo's final match was directly against Song Song Yunfeng, ranked second in the First Courtyard!

Some gazes from around carried a look of sympathy.

Although Li Luo had risen rapidly recently, especially having defeated Seeing Yu Lang today, his journey really did seem to end here, because he had run into Song Song Yunfeng.

"Song Song Yunfeng is at eighth-seal strength now, that's just too unlucky." Zhao Kuo also sighed, feeling it was a pity for Li Luo.

Li Luo wasn't too surprised: "Anyone who has made it this far is no weakling. Running into him isn't impossible."

"But it doesn't matter, even if you lose one match tomorrow, getting into the top twenty is still a sure thing." Zhao Kuo comforted him.

Li Luo heard this and just smiled and nodded, his gaze deep and unfathomable, no telling what he was thinking.

And in another direction of the plaza, Song Song Yunfeng also saw tomorrow's matchup list on the stone wall. He stared at Li Luo's name for quite a while, then a smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.

"You've had a bad look on your face since just now, why the sudden change for the better?" A puzzled girl's voice came from beside him—it was Ti Ti Faqing.

"Because tomorrow I met an opponent who brings me joy. I really didn't expect there would be such a heaven-sent good thing." Song Song Yunfeng said with a smile.

Ti Ti Faqing's beautiful eyes looked over, also stunned for a moment, and said: "Running into Li Luo is normal enough, you're both undefeated, the probability of meeting really isn't small."

"But his luck really is bad, it seems that pretty record of his is going to end here."

Ti Ti Faqing knew best just how strong Song Song Yunfeng was. Looking across the entire South Wind Academy, only Lv Qing'er could keep him suppressed. Don't be fooled by Li Luo's recent signs of soaring skyward—when compared to Song Song Yunfeng, there was still an insurmountable gap.

She could already imagine that tomorrow's battle would surely be an overwhelming rout.

Moreover, she also knew that Song Song Yunfeng held a grudge against Li Luo in his heart, whether for personal reasons or the enmity between the Song family and the Luo Lan Mansion. So once Song Song Yunfeng made his move tomorrow, he would probably employ the most thunderous methods, then stomp Li Luo viciously back into the mud.

For a moment, even Ti Ti Faqing felt a bit of sympathy for Li Luo. Tomorrow's situation—how was it going to end?

But this Li Luo really—knowing full well that Song Song Yunfeng has his heart set on Lv Qing'er, he still insists on getting so close to her. You have to know, when the fire of jealousy burns in a man, there's not much rationality left.

On the other side, after learning of tomorrow's opponent, Li Luo parted ways with Zhao Kuo amid some sympathetic gazes, then left the academy directly.

On the carriage home, Li Luo closed his eyes in thought.

Tomorrow's battle with Song Song Yunfeng—truth be told, it really was extremely difficult. The other party was not only at the Eight-Seal Realm, his own phase force was inherently more abundant than his, and moreover, Song Song Yunfeng also possessed a seventh-rank Red Eagle phase.

Affinity Ninth Rank—seventh to ninth rank are high, so a phase that reaches seventh rank can be called a high-grade phase.

But don't underestimate those two words "high grade," because this isn't just a simple change in name. It's because once affinity reaches seventh rank, the phase force cultivated from it will likewise become somewhat different as a result. Simply put, the phase force cultivated from a high-grade phase is more imbued with spirituality than those of low or mid-grade phases.

Spirituality is hard to describe in detail, but its wonders can only be known by those who face it as an enemy.

Therefore, seventh-rank phase is a watershed—once you cross this barrier, you have a high-grade phase.

Even within high-grade phases, there is a further subdivision into upper and lower tiers, a treatment that first to sixth rank phases do not enjoy. From this one can also see the gap between them.

The Red Eagle phase that Song Song Yunfeng possessed was lower seventh rank.

Therefore, whether in the abundance of phase force or the grade of affinity, Li Luo was comprehensively behind Song Song Yunfeng. This kind of battle was almost an uneven match.

No one was optimistic about Li Luo in this match against Song Song Yunfeng—in a certain sense, that even included Li Luo himself.

"Indeed very troublesome."

Li Luo muttered to himself. His "Water Light Phase," though peculiar, was still ultimately only a fifth-rank phase. Although this Water Light Phase displayed miraculous effects in refining Spirit Water Odd Light that were in no way inferior to a seventh-rank phase, when used in combat, it might not really gain much advantage in a direct clash against a seventh-rank phase.

If he could elevate his "Water Light Phase" to sixth rank, his pressure would be much less. But unfortunately, even though Li Luo had been continuously using fifth-rank Spirit Water Odd Light during this period, evolving to sixth rank still required some time. This distant water clearly could not put out the nearby fire.

"How about just conceding?"

Li Luo scratched his head. Actually, this option could serve as a backup, because no matter from what angle, this choice was actually the most normal one. After all, anyone with eyes could see the huge gap between the two sides, and knowing the outcome would be crushing, yet still forcing oneself forward—wasn't that just being a masochist?

Li Luo thought it over. Today he had no plans to go to Xiyang House, and went straight back to the old residence instead, because even with a backup plan, he still felt he needed to make some preparations just in case.

(End of this chapter)