Chapter 462

The battle ended faster than expected.

The opposing five teams did not belong to the same academy and were already scheming against each other; they could maintain cohesion when things went smoothly, but as soon as the situation shifted, they instantly disintegrated and scattered in all directions.

Thus, only a dozen minutes passed.

All five teams fled in disarray.

Some among them were directly eliminated.

Notably, in this academy-level competition, there are two ways to be eliminated: one is to suffer injuries so severe that combat becomes impossible, at which point the Spirit Gourd carried by the individual automatically emits energy to whisk the wounded away, removing them from the academy arena.

The second is for the Spirit Gourd itself to be shattered—once broken, it signifies loss of eligibility to continue competing.

Therefore, in this academy-level competition, the Spirit Gourd is not only the sole tool for collecting Spirit Dew, but also the proof of participation.

Among the mountains and forests, after Li Luo's team successfully resolved their confrontation, Qin Qin Zhulu, Bai Bai Doudou, Wang Wang Hejiu, and others swiftly approached from nearby.

When Bai Bai Doudou arrived, she first looked at Seeing Yu Lang and asked, "Are you alright?"

This guy had just been chased by ten opponents—that scene even startled her—but now Seeing Yu Lang was standing here calmly, which made her feel slightly incredulous.

Seeing Yu Lang said with emotion, "Captain, you're so kind, worrying about me like this."

Bai Bai Doudou replied irritably, "What did you even do? Why did they target you so fiercely?"

Seeing Yu Lang was equally baffled and said, "They seemed to think I was a Dual-Phase user."

"You?"

Bai Bai Doudou froze, then her gaze swept over Li Luo, who stood nearby with a solemn expression; for some instinctive reason, she wondered if this might have something to do with him.

"Sister, are you okay?"

As she pondered this, Bai Bai Mengmeng walked up, hugged Bai Bai Doudou's arm, and asked with concern.

Bai Bai Doudou smiled and shook her head, embracing her sister as they began whispering quietly.

Li Luo's expression remained calm, but he sensed that Bai Bai Mengmeng, while speaking to Bai Bai Doudou, had flicked a sidelong glance at him—her eyes held a faint, knowing smile.

Li Luo immediately felt a chill—heavy. Are all these girls this intuitively sharp?

Just as he thought this, he felt Lü Qing'er draw near; the girl's clear, beautiful face bore a smile as she spoke in a voice only he could hear: "This whole thing—you caused it in the Golden Dragon Dojo, didn't you?"

Li Luo's face stiffened slightly—could she really guess that? Was it because that guy came from the Crimson Sand Holy Academy?

These girls are too clever—much harder to fool than Seeing Yu Lang.

Fortunately, Lü Qing'er smiled sweetly and didn't press further; she changed the subject and, seeing Yu Lang, said, "Take us to see that Spirit Gathering Altar now."

Instantly, everyone's eyes turned toward Seeing Yu Lang, filled with intense curiosity and anticipation—they had been in the arena this long and still hadn't seen a single Spirit Gathering Altar.

"Let's go."

Becoming the center of attention, Seeing Yu Lang immediately perked up; he brushed his hair back and waved his hand.

The group swiftly set off through the mountains and forests, following Seeing Yu Lang as he led them winding through the range; even at full speed, it took them about half an hour to reach the place he described.

It was a mountain fissure overgrown with green vines.

The fissure was barely wide enough for one person to pass through, and with the vines concealing it, it was utterly invisible.

"When I first passed by here, I sensed something odd, so I carefully explored and sensed—and finally discovered that behind this mountain fissure lay a Spirit Gathering Altar!" Seeing Yu Lang exclaimed with delight.

Li Luo stepped forward and glanced at the ground before the fissure; the soil still carried traces of urine odor, along with some broken vines—these broken vines were precisely what had revealed the fissure behind them.

"Your strength is quite impressive," Li Luo said, unsure what else to say; Seeing Yu Lang's discovery of the Spirit Gathering Altar clearly hadn't been the result of boldness and meticulousness as he claimed—it was simply that the guy had accidentally urinated here, and the stream had just happened to break the vines.

"Thank you, thank you," Seeing Yu Lang chuckled awkwardly.

Li Luo sneered and pushed ahead into the fissure, walking along the narrow path; after about a hundred steps, he emerged from the fissure—and the sight before him made his eyes suddenly brighten.

Beyond the fissure lay a valley, lush with greenery; at its center was a water pool roughly ten zhang wide, crystal clear, with faint mist rising from it, and within the pool grew numerous white exotic flowers, emitting a delicate fragrance.

The faint mist rising from the pool gathered along these exotic flowers, finally condensing into moisture on their petals.

When this energy-laden moisture accumulated, Spirit Dew was formed.

"Wow!"

At this moment, Bai Bai Mengmeng, Lü Qing'er, and others squeezed in, gazing at the scene before them and exclaiming in delight.

"So beautiful."

"Such dense heavenly energy."

Bai Bai Doudou counted the exotic flowers in the pool, then exclaimed, "There are twenty-three Spirit Dew carriers—this Spirit Gathering Altar must be a medium-sized one."

The term "Spirit Dew carrier" refers to these exotic flowers, for only through their transformation can Spirit Dew be condensed; thus they are called Spirit Dew carriers. With twenty-three carriers here, it means twenty-three drops of Spirit Dew will ultimately form.

Spirit Gathering Altars are also classified into three simple tiers: small, medium, and large—the higher the tier, the more Spirit Dew they naturally produce.

A yield of twenty-three drops of Spirit Dew has already reached the medium tier.

Qin Qin Zhulu, Wang Wang Hejiu, Beside Yi Yi Lisha, and others also wore expressions of delight; on their journey so far, they had learned how difficult Spirit Dew was to find—after hours of effort, their entire team had only gathered three drops, yet here, within this Spirit Gathering Altar, they could harvest twenty-three—clearly demonstrating its richness.

"Excellent, excellent."

Li Luo also praised endlessly, giving Seeing Yu Lang a thumbs-up: "You've done a great deed."

A medium-sized Spirit Gathering Altar is undoubtedly hard to find.

Seeing Yu Lang modestly waved his hand: "Defending the honor of our academy is an irreplaceable duty of our generation."

Li Luo smiled broadly—his joy was unmistakable. He looked up, where faint energy mist had condensed above the valley, forming an invisible film that made it nearly impossible to detect any anomaly even when viewing from above.

No wonder it was so hard to find.

"But there's still one problem."

Lü Qing'er suddenly frowned slightly and said, "The Spirit Gathering Altar must be activated by injecting energy before it begins to accelerate the formation of Spirit Dew; this process lasts an entire night, so even if we activate it now, we won't be able to harvest the Spirit Dew until tomorrow morning."

"And once activated, the Spirit Gathering Altar will emit strange light, exposing this location."

Lü Qing'er fixed her gaze on Li Luo and said, "I don't know how many academy teams will be drawn here, but regardless, a major battle is inevitable."

The others' expressions gradually grew solemn.

"Isn't this exactly the academy-level competition's mechanism… using the Spirit Gathering Altar as bait to lure teams from different academies into battle?"

Li Luo's expression remained calm, clearly having anticipated this outcome; he looked at the others and smiled: "Finding Heavenly Spirit Dew is far too difficult. If we wish to send more people into Dragon Bone Island, we must rely on the Spirit Gathering Altar. Now that we've finally found one, there's no reason to abandon it—and I have no intention of cooperating with other academies to share it."

"I intend to claim all twenty-three drops of Heavenly Spirit Dew here."

His calm voice carried a hint of dominance.

"I agree!" Qin Qin Zhulu grinned widely; he fully supported the Sacred Mystic Star Academy monopolizing this place. As for sharing with others? Let them first test whether his fists are hard enough!

"You're the team leader—you decide," Bai Bai Doudou nodded.

Beside Yi Yi Lisha smiled and nodded.

Wang Wang Hejiu's face was expressionless; though he said nothing, he clearly acquiesced.

Seeing the group reach consensus, Li Luo's smile grew even brighter as he clapped his hands.

"If that's settled… then everyone, prepare yourselves. Let's begin the first Spirit Gathering Altar defense battle."

"May this battle establish the prestige of the Sacred Mystic Star Academy!"