Chapter 64: Hostage

In White Spirit Ruins, chaos now reigned.

Because the students still remaining here had all received the news spread by Shi Kong and the others, namely that Lu Qing'er of Nanfeng Academy had been severely injured and was now hiding.

Once this news came out, it immediately stirred restless hearts, for everyone knew that Lu Qing'er was currently first on the scoreboard. If someone could luckily find her, wouldn't they leap straight to first place?

They had previously been wary of Lu Qing'er because of her overwhelming strength, but now that she was seriously injured, what was there still to fear?

Thus, some students with greedy hearts could not resist beginning to search everywhere, looking as if they would dig three feet into the ground to find the person.

On a broken wall, Shi Kong stared expressionlessly at the chaos and commotion throughout White Spirit Ruins. They had already been searching for an hour, but Li Luo seemed to have vanished along with Lu Qing'er — 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 tilted his head and said with a frown to Xiang Liang and the others beside him.

Zong Fu said, "No need to be impatient. Under this inch-by-inch search, they can't hide for long."

Shi Kong exhaled. He also knew that being anxious was useless, but that inexplicable feeling in his heart made him extremely uncomfortable.

Suddenly he heard some sounds. Turning his head, he saw Song Song Yunfeng walking out from the nearby ruins, and in his hand, he seemed to be gripping a human figure.

"What I have here should help you force Li Luo out." Song Song Yunfeng said with a faint smile.

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

"Li Luo noticed your movements — most likely Seeing Yu Lang spotted you, then 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 Qing'er, I slipped over. This Zhao Kuo was caught by me, but Seeing Yu Lang was a bit slippery and managed to escape."

Zhao Kuo's hands and feet were bound, his mouth even gagged, and he stared at Song Song Yunfeng with fury blazing in his eyes.

Earlier, when Song Song Yunfeng had discovered them, they had actually sensed something too, but toward people from the same academy, they were ultimately less wary — after all, they couldn't rob each other of points, which removed the biggest competitive drive.

But neither he nor Seeing Yu Lang had expected that Song Song Yunfeng would suddenly attack them.

At that critical moment, Zhao Kuo deliberately crashed into Song Song Yunfeng, buying Seeing Yu Lang a little time to escape, but he himself was captured.

Song Song Yunfeng paid no heed to Zhao Kuo's furious gaze and said, "Although we can't take lives during the grand examination, we can hang this guy up and toy with him. I believe Li Luo will notice, and then we'll see whether he's willing to show himself to save his good friend."

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

Then he turned his head to Chi Su and said, "Hang this Zhao Kuo somewhere conspicuous. I want to see whether Li Luo will protect his brother or protect Lu Qing'er."

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

Shi Kong waved his hand and said lightly, "If Li Luo didn't poke his nose into other people's business, none of this would have happened. It's all because of him."

Chi Su heard this and nodded in agreement. With a raise of his hand, green vines extended out and wrapped around Zhao Kuo.

In the tree hollow.

Li Luo opened his slightly closed eyes, then looked at Lu Qing'er before him. He noticed her pretty face was flushed red and her body trembling slightly, so he immediately asked in confusion, "Are you alright?"

Lu Qing'er bit her red lip tightly with pearly teeth, shook her head gently, then said in a faint voice, "Is it done?"

Li Luo smiled and nodded, then released the hand that had been holding Lu Qing'er's small hand. The latter clearly felt as if a great weight had been lifted, and her taut delicate body relaxed considerably.

The blush on Lu Qing'er's pretty face faded. She sensed her internal injuries and couldn't help but say in some shock, "My injuries are nearly eighty percent healed."

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

Is this guy's healing effect really that strong?

"Li Luo, you're amazing!" Lu Qing'er said joyfully.

Li Luo modestly waved his hand and said, "You should seize the time to recover your phase force first."

Lu Qing'er nodded her lovely head slightly, then slowly closed her beautiful eyes, circulating her own energy guidance technique, beginning to recover her depleted phase force.

Li Luo, meanwhile, stood up, walked to the front of the tree hollow, and gazed out over the ruins. Then his eyes suddenly hardened, and he looked toward a certain direction with a somewhat gloomy expression.

He turned his head to glance at Lu Qing'er, who was recovering, circulated his water phase power, and cast the "Water Shadow Art" to cover himself. Once his figure had faded considerably, he quickly slipped down from the tree hollow.

Li Luo's faint figure leaped through the ruins. After a dozen or so minutes, he stopped at a concealed spot, his eyes coldly fixed on the open ground ahead.

On a broken high-rise there, a human figure was hanging — it was Zhao Kuo.

Shi Kong and the others stood around, their gazes sharply scanning the surroundings.

"Li Luo, I know you can see this place. I won't waste words with you. Hand over Lu Qing'er, and I'll release your friend." Shi Kong's resonant voice spread out.

Yet the surroundings were utterly silent.

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

But at this moment, Zhao Kuo's freed mouth clenched its teeth tightly, not making the slightest sound, because he knew the other side was deliberately trying to make him cry out and force Li Luo to appear.

"Tough mouth, aren't you."

Shi Kong smiled faintly and flicked his fingers repeatedly. Piece after piece of gravel, wrapped in Lei Xiang's power, continuously struck around Zhao Kuo's body, producing dull thuds.

The latter's body thrashed violently, like a gravely wounded fish.

Whoosh!

Just then, the sound of breaking wind suddenly rang out. A streak of green light flashed into view, cursing loudly: "Shi Kong, you gutless wretch — don't fall into this young master's hands, or this young master will dunk you upside-down into a cesspit!"

Shi Kong glanced expressionlessly at the figure that had appeared. Song Song Yunfeng beside him said, "That's Seeing Yu Lang."

"Zhao Kuo, I've come to rescue you!"

Seeing Yu Lang let out a strange cry, his figure shot forth, heading straight for the hanging Zhao Kuo.

Song Song Yunfeng snorted coldly, flashed forward, and struck out with a palm at Seeing Yu Lang. The latter seemed to make no defense, letting the palm slam into his body.

Seeing Yu Lang's body shuddered, fresh blood appearing at the corner of his mouth, but his figure drifted like a leaf in the wind, eerily gliding forth and rapidly approaching Zhao Kuo.

Shi Kong frowned and was about to make a move.

But at this moment Seeing Yu Lang opened his mouth and spat, a streak of green light shooting out, striking directly at Zhao Kuo's chest, then shattering the crystal tablet.

Seeing Yu Lang's figure landed leisurely. He looked at Song Song Yunfeng, who was pouncing again like a hungry tiger, but unhurriedly removed the crystal tablet from his own chest, then crushed it in front of them.

"Haha, this young master has no crystal tablet left, this young master is eliminated. Come hit Laozi then."

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

Shi Kong, Song Song Yunfeng, and the others all stopped in stunned disbelief. They had thought Seeing Yu Lang had come to rescue Zhao Kuo, but this guy had no such intention at all — instead, he had taken the initiative to get both himself and Zhao Kuo eliminated.

But in this way, they could no longer do anything to the eliminated people, because doing so would violate the rules.

For a moment, the expressions of Shi Kong and Song Song Yunfeng both turned rather unsightly.