Chapter 45: White Spirit Garden

The White Spirit Garden was situated on the outskirts of South Wind City, backed by White Spirit Mountain, and it had served as the venue for the Academy Grand Examination on multiple occasions.

On the second day, Li Luo and the others, led by instructors Lin Feng and Xu Xu Shanyue, set out fully prepared for White Spirit Garden.

Yet when they arrived at White Spirit Garden, they found the area outside the estate already swarming with people; all manner of vendors had formed a long street that stretched out in every direction, bustling with extraordinary liveliness.

This was hardly surprising, though — the Academy Grand Examination was a grand event for every prefecture. Although only the top students from each academy participated, that very fact made the examination all the fiercer. Everyone wanted to see which young prodigy would emerge from the crowd to become the new number one of this generation in Tianshu Prefecture.

It was the highest honor a young man could attain.

The group entered White Spirit Garden, and the atmosphere felt even more heated; countless clamoring voices came from all directions, and their arrival immediately drew much attention — after all, the name of South Wind Academy still carried great weight in Tianshu Prefecture.

"So these are the top twenty of South Wind Academy this session?"

"Wow, that pretty long-haired young lady is Lu Qing'er, right? I heard she's the number one of South Wind Academy."

"In this year's Academy Grand Examination, she just might take first place."

"Not necessarily — Shi Kong of East Abyss Academy is also terrifyingly strong; he's not necessarily weaker than Lu Qing'er."

"Which one is Li Luo of South Wind Academy? I heard Jiang Qing is his fiancée? How despicable — how dare he sully my goddess."

"There, the best-looking one — that's Li Luo of South Wind Academy."

"Hmph, handsome he certainly is, but what else does he have?"

"Money and power too — after all, he's the young master of House Luolan House."

"Hmph, relying on family background doesn't count as real ability; we should be self-reliant."

"I heard he forced a draw against Song Song Yunfeng, who was ranked second, at South Wind Academy's preliminary exam."

"Damn it, you're so annoying — can you shut up?"

"."

Along the way, countless discussions poured into the ears of the South Wind Academy group, and clearly the two most talked-about among them were Lu Qing'er and Li Luo — the former because of her strength, the latter because of his particular notoriety.

Not far away, on a high stone pavilion, three figures also stood there, their gazes locked on the South Wind Academy team entering White Spirit Garden.

Two youths and one young lady.

One youth had a tall, sturdy build, his fiery red hair dazzlingly bright under the sunlight; the other youth had a refined, scholarly face and looked rather thin and frail.

The last, a young lady in green, had a petite, lovely figure, and her features were quite pretty as well. Most distinctive of all were the vine-like green tattoos that seemed to mark the backs of both her hands.

These three were no nobodies. The red-haired youth was named Xiang Liang, from Dawn Academy of Tianshu Prefecture, and he was the number one of this session — immensely powerful.

The scholarly, frail youth was named Zong Fu, the number one of Zhongyang Academy.

The petite young lady in green was named Chi Su, the number one of Dusk Light Academy.

All three were strong contenders for the top ten of this Academy Grand Examination.

"So that's Lu Qing'er? She looks like a formidable opponent." Xiang Liang's voice was resonant, his eyes filled with burning fighting spirit as they fixed on Lu Qing'er.

"From her, I sense a dangerous aura." Zong Fu frowned slightly and said softly.

"The number one of South Wind Academy has never been simple, okay? But you should count yourselves lucky — at least we're not in Jiang Jiang Qinge's session, or we could just go straight to bed." Chi Su said with a charming laugh.

Xiang Liang and Zong Fu nodded in heartfelt agreement, sighing: "That Jiang Jiang Qinge was simply terrifying — a Nine Grade Light Phase, enough to scare a person to death. Anyone in her session is truly pitiable."

"Still, in this session of South Wind Academy, only Lu Qing'er and Song Song Yunfeng are worth being wary of; the others are nothing to fear." Xiang Liang said confidently.

Although the academy he belonged to could not compare to South Wind Academy, precisely because of that, his academy was able to pile a great deal of resources onto him.

And people like him, though not common in the various academies of Tianshu Prefecture, were not unique to him alone — for in order to recruit these gifted students, every academy was willing to spend a great deal.

"What about that Li Luo? I heard he fought Song Song Yunfeng to a draw at the preliminary exam." Chi Su said.

Xiang Liang heard this, gave a snort of contemptuous laughter, and said: "That's because he relied on some special method to drag out the match until time ran out, and in the end his phase force was completely exhausted. If Song Song Yunfeng had been given one more second, that Li Luo would have been sent packing in disgrace."

"That's just opportunism — it won't work in the Grand Examination."

Chi Su heard this and finally understood, saying with some regret: "What a waste of such a handsome face."

The scholarly Zong Fu beside them, however, said softly: "Underestimating the enemy is a great taboo. The fact that Li Luo was able to force a draw with Song Song Yunfeng is enough to show there's something strange about him. So for the sake of completeness, it's necessary to probe out his true ability — only then can all unstable factors be eliminated."

"As for that, you can leave it to me — I'll find a way."

Xiang Liang curled his lips and said: "Suit yourself."

Chi Su's eyes shifted, and she said: "You've all received Shi Kong's message, right? He wants us to meet up tonight to discuss some matters."

Xiang Liang nodded. Facing the son of the Governor — and the only one who could truly stand against South Wind Academy's Lu Qing'er head-on — he too was filled with wariness.

"His face, we still have to give some."

Zong Fu also nodded lightly and said: "His target should be aimed at South Wind Academy, which happens to align with our own intentions. After all, South Wind Academy has held the title of Tianshu Prefecture's number one academy for far too long, and every time it gets the most enrollment slots. If we can suppress it, it'll benefit each of our academies."

Chi Su laughed and said: "And without him as a heavyweight figure, we probably wouldn't have been able to join forces."

Although the various academies would target South Wind Academy, they were after all also in competition with one another, so without a powerful figure to bring them together, an alliance would basically be very hard to form.

So the fact that Shi Kong was willing to step forward this time was exactly what they were happy to see.

Led by Lin Feng and Xu Xu Shanyue, Li Luo's group checked into the dormitory rooms in White Spirit Garden, and Li Luo happened to be paired with Zhao Kuo.

As the two were tidying up the dormitory, there was suddenly a knock at the door. When Li Luo opened it, a very roguish face appeared, along with the corner of a page of a book peeking out from his embrace.

"Brother, want to buy some material?"

The moment those words reached his ears, Li Luo was immediately reminded of those furtive, sleazy peddlers who used to secretly sell all kinds of unhealthy books at the gates of South Wind Academy.

"Seeing Yu Lang, when did you switch careers?" Li Luo asked with a smile.

The person before him was none other than Seeing Yu Lang, who had previously fought Li Luo and then lost with an exaggerated amount of blood-spitting.

Seeing Yu Lang said indignantly: "This is first-hand material — intelligence on the top students of every major academy, and from it I've extrapolated the top ten of the Grand Examination."

"Oh?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow. This guy really did have some brains — he actually knew to peddle this kind of material, and from the look of it he seemed to have been preparing for quite a while.

"Your money-making skills aren't bad at all."

Li Luo praised him, then bought a copy of the material to show his support.

"Naturally — all this material was painstakingly put together by me. I guarantee it's worth every penny." Seeing Yu Lang declared with great conviction.

Li Luo casually flipped open a page, and then the smile at the corner of his mouth stiffened, because he saw his own name right away.

Li Luo, Southern Wind Academy, Junior Lord of House Luolan Prefecture, once a waste, a rising genius, suspected of having a Level Five Water Phase; traits: extremely handsome, but looks grant no advantage in securing a slot; final estimate places his probability of ranking in the top ten of the Grand Exam at extremely low.

Li Luo laughed in anger, raised his head to curse—when Seeing Yu Lang swept past like a gust of wind, and a voice echoed from afar.

"I'm doing this to protect your information!"

Li Luo clenched his teeth. I believe your bullshit, you rogue—don't let me catch you again.

(End of Chapter)