Chapter 53: Qin Lian's Weight

The instant Li Luo's shout reached his ears, countless thoughts flashed through Seeing Yu Lang's mind. After all, given the current situation, closing his eyes would undoubtedly give the opponent an even greater opening. However, based on his understanding of Li Luo's style of doing things, he ultimately gritted his teeth and shut his eyes.

So, the moment that dazzling burst of light erupted, Seeing Yu Lang avoided the glare, and relying on the route he had memorized earlier, he reached out and grabbed the Ghost Face Fruit.

On the other hand, the figure who had launched the sneak attack was startled by the sudden burst of light. His eyes stung, and the speed of his body involuntarily slowed somewhat.

The intense light flashed and quickly vanished.

Yet Seeing Yu Lang had already seized the Ghost Face Fruit. Immediately his expression turned cold and fierce. A slender sword shot out from his sleeve, azure phase force surging, carrying the sound of cutting wind, and he thrust mercilessly toward the figure right before him.

"Hmph."

The ambusher now understood his strike had failed. He gave a cold snort and threw a punch. Yellow phase force howled out, carrying a heavy force, and collided head-on with Seeing Yu Lang.

Phase force exploded outward. The ambusher's body merely swayed, but Seeing Yu Lang, by contrast, was sent shooting backward and landed on the ground not far away.

The instant Seeing Yu Lang succeeded, Li Luo and Zhao Kuo swiftly broke away from the Ghost Face Demon Vine Tree's attack range, then hurried to Seeing Yu Lang's side, their gazes coldly fixed on the figure ahead.

"Heh, what fast reactions. Didn't manage to snatch it even like this." Facing the three icy stares, that figure chuckled.

He now revealed himself — a tall, burly youth with short hair, a muscular body brimming with a brute force that gave off a visually oppressive aura.

"Someone from East Abyss Academy?" Zhao Kuo spotted the crystal badge on the other's chest at a glance. The school crest there belonged to East Abyss Academy.

"It's Qin Lian's Weight from East Abyss Academy. He's ranked second in East Abyss Academy, a sixth-grade earth phase, eight-seal strength." Seeing Yu Lang laid bare the other's identity and information in a single sentence. True to his reputation as the one who had compiled the Great Examination materials, he knew the top students of every major academy inside out.

Li Luo's expression was calm as he said, "People from East Abyss Academy like snatching things that much? Your teaching philosophy has quite the problem."

"The Great Examination rules never said you can't snatch, you know." That Qin Lian's Weight said with a smile.

"Snatching things is fine, but the key is hiding around like a ground rat for half a day and still failing to snatch it — that's a bit annoying." Li Luo said with a smile.

The smile on Qin Lian's Weight's face faded somewhat. This sneak attack had been long-planned. He had originally thought it would be a sure thing, and afterward he could have mocked them. He hadn't expected Li Luo's reaction to be so fast — he'd been countered directly, causing the attempt to fail.

"Li Luo, I really did underestimate you."

Qin Lian's Weight's gaze locked onto Li Luo, then he said with a faint smile, "But this is just a little appetizer. No need to get cocky."

"From the sound of it, you've still got your eye on me?"

"Can't be helped. The boss gave the word — he's too busy to deal with you himself, so he told us to give you some fun." Qin Lian's Weight said with what seemed like a helpless laugh.

"Shi Kong?" Li Luo murmured thoughtfully.

"There's no point fighting you here right now. After all, you can't snatch points here yet. Once we pass this stage and the elimination rounds begin, I'll come find you." Qin Lian's Weight said.

Then his gaze swept over Zhao Kuo and Seeing Yu Lang. "You two — if you're smart enough, split off from him early. The boss gave the word: everyone from East Abyss Academy will be targeting him. Sticking with him only means bringing trouble on yourselves."

"Bullshit."

Zhao Kuo's eyes went wide as he cursed, "Laozi would love nothing more than for you East Abyss Academy dogs to come over and hand us points."

Seeing Yu Lang shook the slender sword in his hand and said with a thoughtful look, "Li Luo and I are brothers bonded by life and death, our affection deeper than the sea. If you want me to leave him, you'd better add some money to the deal."

"Ungrateful fools. Suit yourselves then." Qin Lian's Weight shook his head, too lazy to say more. His figure moved and he shot toward the depths of the Dark Forest.

"Whatever the price, you should at least give a number! If it doesn't work, we can still haggle!" Seeing Yu Lang hurriedly called out.

He wanted to chase after him, but Li Luo held him back. "No point wasting time here. And fighting here really is pointless — we can't snatch his points."

"Dammit, what an arrogant bastard." Seeing Yu Lang cursed, clearly still furious — though whether he was angry at Qin Lian's Weight's attempted ambush or at the other's refusal to even name a price was unclear.

Zhao Kuo looked at Li Luo and frowned. "Luo-ge, if those East Abyss Academy people really do target you later, let's find some others and counter them."

If they didn't recruit people, the opposition clearly had superior numbers.

"No rush. Let's see how things go first."

Li Luo remained fairly composed. That Shi Kong clearly hadn't taken him too seriously, leaving the task of dealing with him to Qin Lian's Weight and the others. But if they really intended to go through with it, then he wouldn't mind showing them exactly what it meant to throw a meat bun at a dog — it goes and never comes back.

Huh, wait, that's not right. I'm not a dog.

"Here, this is the haul from this round." At this moment Seeing Yu Lang handed over the Ghost Face Fruit in his hand.

"Give it to Zhao Kuo first. He took the worst of it." Li Luo said with a smile.

At this point, Zhao Kuo's body still bore streak after streak of bloody welts, looking rather pitiful. But these were only superficial wounds — given his defense, he'd recover quickly.

Hearing this, Zhao Kuo didn't say much. He reached out and took the Ghost Face Fruit. After all, later he'd be helping Li Luo and Seeing Yu Lang snatch another one.

He gripped the Ghost Face Fruit, then crushed it, took out the seed inside, squeezed hard, and finally extracted a drop of green juice, which dripped onto the crystal badge on his chest and merged into it.

Then the points on that crystal badge jumped straight to one hundred.

"Let's go. Time to grab the second one." Li Luo said, and the three of them continued deeper in.

Over the next hour, the three found two more Ghost Face Demon Vine Trees and repeated the same method. This time there were no further interruptions, so the two Ghost Face Fruits were secured smoothly. Li Luo's and Seeing Yu Lang's base points also reached one hundred.

Once the base score hit one hundred, continuing to take Ghost Face Fruits had no effect. So the three no longer lingered and immediately began moving at full speed toward the location of the third-tier elimination rounds.

At the foot of White Spirit Mountain, on the enormous crystal wall, the points kept shifting and jumping.

Countless gazes were focused on it, making for quite a lively scene.

On the points board, the front rows were still occupied by a sea of perfect scores — a full two hundred base points — and among these, Lü Qing'er, Shi Kong, and others led the pack.

And the most eye-catching part was at the top of the crystal wall, where two mirror surfaces projected images — quite the visual impact.

The first was Lü Qing'er. She stood prettily atop a Ghost Face Demon Vine Tree, and at this moment, all those maddening vines of the demon vine tree had been frozen solid by ice crystals. Her long hair fluttered, her figure slender, and combined with her beautiful, captivating features — in that instant, countless people appreciated the charm of South Wind Academy's number one.

The second image was Shi Kong. He held a Ghost Face Fruit in his hand, a smile on his face. Behind him was a demon vine tree billowing black smoke, with occasional flashes of Lei Guang crackling across it.

Both of them had defeated the demon vine tree and seized the Ghost Face Fruit through their own strength alone.

Their impressive feats also won them even louder cheers. Everyone understood that this year's Great Examination's first place would most likely come down to these two.

Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing didn't pay too much attention to those images. Their gazes were locked on the points board. When they saw Li Luo's score finally change from zero to one hundred, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this assessment stage was only meant to earn base points, if Li Luo had really gone in with two zeros, that would have been a bit too bizarre.

And as more and more students obtained Ghost Face Fruits through various means, the atmosphere here began to grow increasingly fervent. Because everyone knew the two assessment stages were merely a prelude — meant to provide each person with some base points for the upcoming elimination rounds.

So when the elimination rounds began, this Great Examination would truly be officially underway.

Within White Spirit Mountain.

Li Luo, Seeing Yu Lang, and Zhao Kuo walked out of the Dark Forest. A stream appeared before them. On the far bank lay a stretch of complex, rolling hills dotted with trees and massive boulders.

The three exchanged glances, understanding in their hearts — once they crossed the stream, that would be the elimination round grounds.

However, they did not hesitate much. As their Xiang power surged, their figures flashed, sweeping across the river several zhang wide, stepping onto the opposite bank, and beginning the elimination rounds of the Grand Examination.

(End of this chapter)