Chapter 565: The Shift in the Right to Speak

The terrifying great battle came faster and more ferocious than anyone had imagined.

The Blood-Tailed Aberration struck out, brimming with chilling killing intent. Eight blood-drenched chains roared like blood dragons, carrying a sky-devouring miasma of malice as they attacked the eight captains: Lan Lan, the Princess, Palace Gong Shenjun, and the others.

Boom!

The eight captains dared not hold back in the slightest. Vast, surging phase power shot skyward, and the resplendent Tian Zhu behind them began spinning wildly at this moment, inhaling and exhaling the energies of heaven and earth.

The next instant, all eight captains unleashed powerful phase arts, and immediately dragon roars kept sounding throughout the heavens and earth.

Streak after streak of shockingly powerful Dragon General arts fell like meteors, each blasting toward the dragon-like chains attacking them.

Yet at the instant of collision, the expressions of all eight involuntarily shifted, because the phase arts they had unleashed were, at this moment, almost effortlessly pierced straight through by those blood-drenched chains. The eerie fresh blood flowing along the chains seemed to possess some extremely terrifying corrosive power.

Their many phase arts were shattered in an instant.

The eight captains were momentarily flustered and hurriedly pulled out one Golden-Eye treasure after another from themselves. Borrowing the power of those treasures, they only just barely managed to block the blood-drenched chains.

"What a terrifying Great Calamity Aberration."

Li Luo and the others watched the eight captains looking somewhat disheveled after just a single exchange, and their expressions all shifted, horror welling up in their eyes.

These eight captains before them were the eight strongest students in this Holy Grail War.

Yet even with eight joining forces, they were suppressed by this Blood-Tailed Aberration for the time being.

From this one could see just how terrifying a Great Calamity Aberration truly was.

"Let's stop gawking too, let's move. While the eight captains keep the Great Calamity Aberration tied down, we must get the purification nodes Bu Zhi Cheng Gong as fast as possible. When the purification light barrier comes down, it'll weaken this Great Calamity's strength as well." Lu Ming took a deep breath and reminded them.

"Now that the seniors and senior sisters all have their own tasks, the placement of the Purification Spirit Pearls can only fall to us."

Li Luo smiled, then his gaze turned to Ao Bai among the eight—the one in white robes, looking dashing and otherworldly—and said: "Senior Ao Bai is at the Void General Stage, the strongest among us, so for the actions ahead, we may still need to rely on you, Senior."

The others nodded one after another as well. Even Jing Jing Taixu, with his proud temperament, was noticeably more polite when looking at Ao Bai—after all, the man was, at the very least, the holder of the Holy Grail War's Two-Star Academy Strongest title.

Although the Void General Stage wasn't truly stepping into the Earth Sha General Rank, it was still a notch stronger than their own Fourth Transformation of the Phase Manifestation Stage.

Hearing this, Ao Bai replied with a modest smile: "Li Luo, you're too kind. This Red Stone City is fraught with danger at every turn; what does my Void General Stage count for? If we want to complete the mission the seniors and senior sisters gave us, we still have to rely on all of us working together."

Ao Bai's manner was, frankly, like a spring breeze. Even the aloof Lu Ming's pretty face showed a trace of a smile, and she cast a couple more glances at this senior who, despite holding the Two-Star Academy Strongest Student title, had always kept a notably low profile.

"Brother Ao Bai truly lives up to being the pillar of our Two-Star Academy. For this placement of the Purification Spirit Pearls, we will surely follow your lead. If you have any orders, just give them." Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan suddenly piped up with a smile at this moment.

As he spoke, his gaze swept past Li Luo without leaving a trace.

Before this, when Ao Bai hadn't been present, Lu Ming and Sun Sun Dasheng on their side had both taken Li Luo as their leader. All along the way here, he felt he'd been somewhat singled out—and what was even more excessive was that Li Luo, this guy, had later actually wrapped him in chains and dragged him along. Sure, he'd been polluted quite a few times, but did he really need to be put through it like that? This guy was clearly targeting him over some past grudge.

So Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan was the most delighted by Ao Bai's appearance. With a Void General expert like Ao Bai here, Li Luo's voice in this team would undoubtedly suffer a massive reduction.

Though Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's words were veiled, Li Luo still keenly picked up on them. He just didn't care, merely smiling faintly. After all, this so-called right to speak in the team was simply too childish, and came with no real benefit—what was there to care about or fight over?

He'd actually be happy if Ao Bai would step forward and lead them to finish placing the remaining Purification Spirit Pearls; that way he could save himself the trouble.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's words did draw agreement from the others. After all, when it came to strength, Ao Bai was not only a senior of the Two-Star Academy, but also the strongest one present.

Faced with everyone's adulation, Ao Bai's face showed helplessness as he smiled: "Let's drop the 'following your lead' stuff. We're all here to complete the mission. From here on out, as long as we push forward together with one heart, that's enough."

His attitude drew nods of approval from the crowd once again.

"Stop dawdling, let's get moving." Sun Sun Dasheng, meanwhile, said impatiently. Up above they were fighting with earth-shaking fury, and here they were still spouting useless nonsense—it was irritating.

Ao Bai smiled and nodded, then said no more. He turned and took the lead, dashing toward the next placement point for the Purification Spirit Pearls. Behind him, the rest of the group hurried to keep up.

Li Luo hung at the back of the group, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

Suddenly he sensed a faint fragrance drawing near. He raised his gaze and saw Lu Ming come to his side, whispering with a teasing laugh: "Li Luo, your position's been taken."

Li Luo rolled his eyes at her: "How boring."

Lu Ming chuckled softly: "Don't worry, I'm still on your side, because I feel you're a bit more reliable than that Ao Bai."

"What do I need your support for? We're a bunch of extras here. Our only job is to take advantage of the fact that the other Aberrations are all drawn away right now, get the Purification Spirit Pearls placed, and then we can sit back and watch the show. If those captains can beat the Great Calamity, great; if they can't, then we just crush our Spirit Mirrors and get out of here early." Li Luo pouted and said.

"Well, there's some sense in that." Lu Ming laughed, then her beautiful eyes glanced at the terrifying battle high in the sky. A trace of worry flashed through her pupils as she said: "I wonder if the eight captains can beat this Great Calamity... and, do you still remember that mysterious Red Armor General? Even now, he still hasn't shown himself."

"If he's not in Red Stone City, that's fine. But if he's lurking in the shadows, he might be an even more terrifying threat than a Great Calamity-class Aberration."

Li Luo was silent for a moment. That mysterious Red Armor General—how could he have overlooked him? After all, the mysterious force that man belonged to might very well be the true culprit behind the overthrow of the Black Wind Empire.

"We don't have any spare strength to deal with the Red Armor General right now. Him not showing up is a good thing. Best case, we can drag things out until we've dealt with the Great Calamity... Of course, the best outcome would be that this fellow is afraid of the Academy Alliance and has long since fled, since the Academy Alliance's surprise attack on Red Sand County should have caught him off guard too." Li Luo said.

"Hopefully." Lu Ming sighed softly. If that mysterious Red Armor General had run, it really would be the best news for them. Otherwise, this Mixed-Class Tournament was truly on hell difficulty.

As the two spoke, the group was advancing rapidly. Thanks to the great battle high above, and because Jiang Jiang Qinge leading the Three-Star Academy students had drawn most of the Aberrations' attention, Li Luo's side passed through several streets quite smoothly.

Then they reached a placement point and swiftly set down the Purification Spirit Pearl.

The group didn't stop, continuing on at full speed to the next location.

Over the next dozen or so minutes, Li Luo's side actually reaped fairly rich results. Three Purification Spirit Pearls were successfully placed, and the spreading purification light tore the Huan Jing apart even more severely.

They did run into some trouble during this period, but with the group working together, they got through it without mishap.

Even Li Luo had to admit that with Ao Bai joining them, the speed of their advance had improved considerably.

A Void General Stage practitioner was indeed much stronger than someone at the Fourth Transformation of the Phase Manifestation Stage.

If they could smoothly place all the Purification Spirit Pearls like this, Li Luo would actually be quite willing to sincerely compliment Ao Bai a couple of times, and follow his lead while he was at it—after all, nice words cost nothing.

And while the eight squads each had their assignments, atop a certain tall tower somewhere in the city, that red-armored figure was also constantly spying on the movements within the city.

Most of his attention was still fixed on the battle high above between the Princess, Lan Lan, and the others against the Blood-Tailed Aberration.

"These eight little ones truly live up to being the top elites of their respective academies."

The Red Armor General evaluated with a smile. The eight were clearly only at the Tian Zhu Jing in strength, yet each had impressive talent, and their combat power far exceeded that of ordinary cultivators of the same rank. Such figures, no matter where they were placed, would absolutely be the cream of the crop. Now, with the eight joining forces, although they had looked somewhat disheveled at first, as they gradually began to coordinate, they really had managed to pin down the Blood-Tailed Aberration.

At the very least, they could hold the situation in a stalemate.

And this stalemate was exactly what the Red Armor General was most pleased to see, because what he needed was for both sides to fight until they were utterly spent.

"But these little Phase Master Stage brats are pretty quick with their hands and feet."

Suddenly the Red Armor General's gaze turned to a certain spot in the city, where Purification Spirit Pearls kept rising one after another. These Purification Spirit Pearls had been forged by the Academy Alliance, specifically to counter miasma of malice, and were extremely effective.

Of course he could also tell that once all these Purification Spirit Pearls were placed, they would form a Zuo Huan Jing.

When the time came and the power of purification spread, this Huan Jing would naturally be dispelled, and—And Most Important—the Blood-Tailed Aberration would also be suppressed and weakened.

With the eye of a Red Armor General, he naturally knew that those eight Tian Zhu Jing brats had been waiting for this moment.

When the purification node took shape, it would be the moment for their counterattack.

The gaze beneath the Red Armor General's mask flickered slightly as he murmured softly, "It wasn't easy getting these two sides locked in a bitter struggle, so I can't let you little rats ruin this fine situation."

His gaze seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of Huan Jing, landing on those tiny Xiang Shi Jing cultivators who, in his eyes, were nothing but a pack of little rats; finally, his eyes settled on the white-robed, dashing figure at the very front of the group.