Chapter 64: Hostage

Within the White Spirit Ruins, there is now chaos.

Because the students who remain here have all received the news spread by Shi Kong and the others, which is that Lu Qinger of the Southwind Academy has been severely injured and is now in hiding.

Once this news came out, it immediately stirred people's hearts; after all, everyone knows that Lu Qinger is currently first on the points leaderboard. If someone were lucky enough to find her, wouldn't they be able to leap to first place in one go?

They were wary of Lu Qinger before because of her formidable strength, but now that she is severely injured, what is there to fear?

Consequently, some greedy students could not help but start searching everywhere, with the attitude that they would dig three feet into the ground to find her.

On a broken wall, Shi Kong looked expressionlessly at the chaos and commotion throughout the White Spirit Ruins. They had already been searching for an hour, but it was as if Li Luo had taken Lu Qinger and vanished; not even half a shadow could be found.

"I don't know what's going on, but I keep feeling a bit uneasy." Shi Kong turned his head and frowned at Xiang Liang and the others to his side.

Zong Fu said, "No need to be impatient. With this kind of inch-by-inch search, they won't be able to hide for long."

Shi Kong let out a breath. He knew that being anxious was useless, but that inexplicable feeling in his heart made him extremely uncomfortable.

Suddenly, he heard some sounds. He turned his head and saw Song Yunfeng walking out from some ruins not far away, and in his hand, he seemed to be clutching a figure.

"I think I can help you force Li Luo out from here," Song Yunfeng said with a faint smile.

He pointed to the figure bound tightly in his hand and said, "This person is called Zhao Kuo, a good friend of Li Luo's at the academy. He and Yu Lang have been following Li Luo."

"Li Luo likely noticed your actions because Yu Lang discovered them and notified Li Luo, but when he was secretly observing you earlier, he didn't notice that I was also watching him from the shadows."

"When you were fighting Lu Qinger, I snuck over. I caught this Zhao Kuo, but that Yu Lang is a bit slippery and managed to run away."

Zhao Kuo’s hands and feet were bound, and his mouth was even gagged. He stared at Song Yunfeng with eyes spitting fire.

When Song Yunfeng discovered them earlier, they had actually sensed it, but they were ultimately less vigilant toward people from the same academy; after all, they couldn't steal points from each other, which removed the biggest incentive for competition.

But what neither he nor Yu Lang expected was that Song Yunfeng would suddenly attack them.

At that critical moment, Zhao Kuo had intentionally collided with Song Yunfeng to buy a little time for Yu Lang to escape, but he himself had been captured.

Song Yunfeng ignored Zhao Kuo's fiery gaze and said, "Although we cannot take lives during the grand exam, we can hang this guy up and toy with him. I believe Li Luo will find out. When that happens, it will depend on whether he is willing to show himself to save his good friend."

"Haha, Yunfeng, you really are a timely rain!" Shi Kong’s figure swooped down, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Then he turned to Chi Su and said, "Hang this Zhao Kuo in a conspicuous place. I want to see whether Li Luo chooses to protect his brother or Lu Qinger."

Zong Fu frowned and said, "Isn't that going too far?"

Shi Kong waved his hand and said indifferently, "If Li Luo didn't meddle in other people's business, none of this would have happened. Everything started because of him."

Upon hearing this, Chi Su nodded in agreement. With a lift of his hand, green vines extended out and bound Zhao Kuo.

Inside the tree hollow.

Li Luo opened his slightly closed eyes and looked at Lu Qinger in front of him. He noticed her pretty face was flushed red and her body was trembling slightly, so he asked curiously, "Are you alright?"

Lu Qinger bit her red lips with her pearly teeth, shook her head gently, and said in a faint voice, "Is it done?"

Li Luo smiled and nodded, then released the hand he was holding Lu Qinger's small hand with. The latter was clearly relieved, and her tense, delicate body relaxed significantly.

The flush on Lu Qinger's pretty face began to fade. She sensed the injuries within her body and said with some shock, "My injuries have healed by nearly eighty percent."

It had been less than an hour, and her injuries had actually recovered to this extent under Li Luo's hands.

Is this guy's healing effect this strong?

"Li Luo, you are too amazing!" Lu Qinger said happily.

Li Luo waved his hand modestly and said, "You should hurry up and recover your resonant power."

Lu Qinger nodded her head, then slowly closed her beautiful eyes and began to circulate her energy-guiding technique to recover her depleted resonant power.

Li Luo stood up and came to the front of the tree hollow. He looked out at the ruins, and suddenly his eyes narrowed, his expression turning somewhat gloomy as he looked in a certain direction.

He turned his head to glance at the recovering Lu Qinger, circulated his water resonance power, and cast "Water Shadow Art" to cover himself. After his figure became much fainter, he quickly slipped down from the tree hollow.

Li Luo's faint figure leaped and moved through the ruins. Ten minutes later, he stopped in a hidden spot, his eyes cold as he looked at the open space ahead.

On a dilapidated high-rise building there, a figure was hung up—it was actually Zhao Kuo.

Shi Kong and the others stood around, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes.

"Li Luo, I know you can see this. I won't waste words with you; hand over Lu Qinger, and I will release your friend," Shi Kong's powerful voice spread out.

However, the surroundings remained silent.

"If you don't come out, then don't blame me for making your friend lose face today." Shi Kong sneered. He picked up a stone, crushed it directly, and then flicked his finger. A piece of gravel struck Zhao Kuo, the sharp pain causing cold sweat to immediately break out on the latter's forehead.

However, his mouth, which had been ungagged, was tightly clenched, not making a single sound, because he knew the other party was intentionally trying to force him to make a sound to lure Li Luo out.

"You've got a hard mouth."

Shi Kong smiled faintly and flicked his fingers repeatedly. Stones, wrapped in lightning resonance power, continuously struck Zhao Kuo's body, producing dull thuds.

The latter's body twitched violently, like a severely injured fish.

*Whoosh!*

Just at this moment, a sound of wind breaking suddenly rang out. A green light shadow flashed out, cursing loudly: "Shi Kong, you ball-less piece of trash, don't let me catch you, or I'll hang you upside down in a dung pit!"

Shi Kong looked at the figure that appeared with an expressionless face. Song Yunfeng, who was to the side, said, "That is Yu Lang."

"Zhao Kuo, I'm here to save you!"

Yu Lang let out a strange cry, his figure shooting out toward the hung Zhao Kuo.

Song Yunfeng snorted coldly, flashed out, and slapped his palm toward Yu Lang. The latter seemed not to defend at all, letting the palm strike his body.

Yu Lang's body shook, and blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, but his figure was like a leaf in the wind, drifting out strangely and quickly approaching Zhao Kuo.

Shi Kong frowned and was about to make a move.

But at this moment, Yu Lang opened his mouth and spat out a green light, which shot directly onto Zhao Kuo's chest and shattered the crystal badge.

Yu Lang's figure landed leisurely. He looked at Song Yunfeng, who was pouncing over again like a hungry tiger, but he unhurriedly took off the crystal badge from his own chest and crushed it right in front of them.

"Haha, I don't have a crystal badge anymore, I'm eliminated. Come and hit me now."

Yu Lang puffed out his chest and said with a grin to Shi Kong, Song Yunfeng, and the others.

Shi Kong, Song Yunfeng, and the others all stopped in astonishment. They thought Yu Lang had come to save Zhao Kuo, but this guy had no such intention at all; instead, he had actively come to get both himself and Zhao Kuo eliminated.

But with things this way, they could no longer do anything to the eliminated people, because that would be against the rules.

For a moment, the expressions of Shi Kong and Song Yunfeng both became quite ugly.