Chapter 71: Dare Not Jump

At the foot of White Spirit Mountain, when the image on the crystal wall froze on the scene of a streaking arrow piercing Shi Kong's left arm, all the clamor came to a standstill.

Countless people gradually widened their eyes, their faces written full of shock and disbelief.

They could not believe what they were seeing.

The Shi Kong who had held the absolute upper hand just moments ago had suddenly been shot to pieces by a great bow Li Luo had pulled out of who knows where.

This scene was simply a little fantastical.

Inside the pavilion, Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing's moist little mouths also opened little by little at this moment, and finally they closed their eyes and opened them again—eh, the image wasn't wrong, that Shi Kong really had been shot to pieces.

"What's going on?" Cai Wei asked, a little at a loss.

Just moments ago she had still been anxious and worried for Li Luo who kept retreating, yet these few short minutes later, that Shi Kong was lying on the ground screaming in agony.

The before-and-after change was too great; even with Cai Wei's broad-mindedness, she found it a little hard to accept.

Yan Yan Lingqing bit her shell-like teeth into her red lips, deliberating: "If I'm not seeing things, it seems Li Luo actually beat Shi Kong."

Cai Wei leaned gently against the back of her chair, and then a smile bloomed on her charming, moving oval face as she laughed lightly: "In the future, who else would dare say the Young Master is just House Luolan Mansion's mascot?"

Although she had only been in Tian Shu Prefecture for a month, Cai Wei had been dutifully taking care of Li Luo, and Li Luo's temperament was also very much to her liking, so she truly treated him like her own younger brother.

And as House Luolan Mansion's chief steward in Tian Shu Prefecture, Cai Wei was naturally well aware of all the comings and goings in the old residence, and of how painstakingly Li Luo usually cultivated.

Apart from the bad habit of being a bottomless pit when it came to consuming Spiritual Water Wonders, Cai Wei felt Li Luo was a very likable Young Master.

Therefore, upon now witnessing Li Luo display a miracle, she sincerely felt joy and relief.

From now on, certain people in this House Luolan Mansion should no longer be able to overlook Li Luo.

Yan Yan Lingqing nodded slightly. Li Luo's performance today was enough to shock people; clearly, this Young Master had been hiding his true ability all along.

"This Young Master really is quite different in temperament from his parents," Yan Yan Lingqing said.

Those two had once crushed an entire generation of the Great Xia Kingdom—how dazzling and brilliant they were. Compared to those two, Li Luo seemed far too low-key. An outsider who didn't know better might think Jiang Jiang Qinge was the one who inherited their bloodline, and that Li Luo had been picked up off the street.

"The Empty Phase issue still has a great impact on the Young Master, so even after it's resolved, he doesn't really want to completely expose himself under everyone's gaze. That's why he likes to keep a low profile and prepare many trump cards for himself to boost his sense of security. In his own words, it's 'sneakily power-leveling, don't waste.'" Cai Wei said.

"I'm thinking, in this Grand Examination, if it weren't for Shi Kong and Song Song Yunfeng pressing him so aggressively, I reckon the Young Master would only have wanted to grab a spot in the top ten and then stop."

Yan Yan Lingqing tilted her delicate chin slightly. Given Li Luo's temperament, that was indeed possible, because in his view, as long as he could get into the Sacred Mystic Star Academy, that was enough; whether he was first or not really wasn't that important.

"And I think this kind of temperament isn't necessarily a bad thing," Cai Wei commented with a light laugh.

Yan Yan Lingqing shot her a look and said: "You're far too nice to Li Luo."

"Such a handsome Young Master isn't easy to come by," Cai Wei laughed coquettishly.

"Hahaha!"

While Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing were chatting and laughing coquettishly, in the main pavilion, the old dean let out a great laugh. The laughter made the entire main pavilion tremble, drawing gazes from the other pavilions.

"Haha, worthy indeed of being Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan's son! Like father, like son!"

The old dean's face was glowing red; his earlier gloom vanished cleanly as if by a change of mask. Then he slammed the table hard and said to the Inspector General Shi beside him: "See that? This is the foundation of my South Wind Academy!"

Inspector General Shi lowered his head expressionlessly to drink tea, but the eyes reflected in the tea were filled with raging fury.

He had never expected the situation to suddenly turn out like this.

That Li Luo had clearly been about to lose, yet suddenly erupted and defeated Shi Kong with a single arrow.

Thinking of years of scheming shattered by this one arrow, even though Inspector General Shi frantically suppressed his rage, he still couldn't hold it in. He suddenly crushed the teacup in his palm and said in a low voice: "Can't you be a little quieter?"

"Quiet your immortal plank board!"

The old dean's temper was even fiercer; he cursed outright: "Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can control Laozi's mouth?"

Inspector General Shi's face turned iron-blue. Terrifying phase power suddenly erupted from within him, and faintly, a great azure python seemed to appear and disappear, radiating ferocious might.

That was a lower seventh-grade Azure Python Phase!

"Hah, you want to make a move on Laozi too? I've put up with you for a long time!" Yet upon seeing this, the old dean smiled instead of getting angry. Crimson phase power rose up, and within the glow of phase power, a crimson beast appeared, its four hooves seemingly treading magma fire.

Lower seventh-grade, Flame-Swallowing Ape.

Two Tiangang General-rank experts going all out, their formidable phase power surging—this stone pavilion began to groan under the strain, cracks appearing.

Instructor An Lie beside them hurriedly spoke up to intervene: "The two of you, the Grand Examination is still ongoing. If you cause trouble here, next year the Sacred Mystic Star Academy may reduce the admission quota given to Tian Shu Prefecture!"

At these words, the old dean immediately backed down, withdrawing all his phase power, and gave a cold snort.

Seeing this, Inspector General Shi could only retract his phase power as well and sat back down with a dark expression.

Instructor An Lie shook his head, no longer involving himself in their affairs, and instead turned his gaze to the image on the crystal wall. There, Shi Kong had been pierced through the left arm by an arrow, clearly gravely wounded, and would lose all fighting power from here on.

It could be said the outcome was decided.

Yet no one had anticipated this result beforehand.

"They all say the Young Master of House Luolan Mansion is a person with no potential. Looking at it now, rumors truly are harmful."

In the ruins.

Shi Kong was still collapsed on the ground wailing, blood gushing from his arm like a fountain. Gaze after gaze from the shadows stared at this scene, secretly sucking in cold air as if trying to suck all the chill from the surroundings.

Because without doing so, they couldn't express the shock in their hearts.

And not far away, Song Song Yunfeng, pinned to the wall by his broken spear, also stared blankly at this scene, endlessly muttering "impossible, impossible."

He couldn't believe Li Luo had actually defeated Shi Kong!

This completely defied logic. One had to know Shi Kong possessed nine-seal phase power and an upper seventh-grade Thunder Phase! His combat power was terrifyingly fierce; looking across Tian Shu Prefecture, only Lv Qing'er could pose a threat to him.

Yet now, he had been shot to pieces by Li Luo.

At this moment, Song Song Yunfeng felt a thick wave of malice. If it weren't for Shi Kong's status, he would have even cursed outright: Are you fucking taking money to throw the match?!

Because he wasn't a participant, he truly couldn't understand why that seemingly simple arrow from Li Luo could have destroyed Shi Kong to such an extent.

Yet no matter how much he didn't understand, it had no effect whatsoever on reality.

Li Luo stood atop the vine-covered stone pillar, his expression calm as he gazed at Shi Kong lying in a pool of blood. He made no other movements, as if admiring Shi Kong's miserable state.

He even lazily sat down on top of the stone pillar, one hand gripping the Blue Silver Great Bow, the other hanging down, his gaze coldly fixed on Shi Kong.

This demon-king-like aura made the other students spying from the shadows feel a chill in their hearts, not even daring to make a sound to draw Li Luo's attention.

In this entire region, everyone was holding their breath.

Until over ten minutes later, a whistling wind broke the eerie silence, as Lü Qing'er was seen rushing over. She was pulling a rope, and behind the rope were three extremely wretched figures tied up — precisely Xiang Liang, Zong Fu, and Chi Su.

Clearly, she had defeated them.

And when Lü Qing'er hurried to this place, the very first thing she saw was Song Song Yunfeng nailed to the broken wall, and her heart immediately jolted.

She continued forward, passing through the ruined, dilapidated alley, and then her footsteps gradually slowed down.

Because ahead, a pool of blood had appeared. Within the pool of blood, Shi Kong was clutching his arm, looking as though his breath was a gossamer thread, as if about to die at any moment.

A look of shock gradually surfaced on Lü Qing'er's pretty face.

The three people behind her — Xiang Liang, Chi Su, and Zong Fu — were even more stunned, their gazes blank.

Lü Qing'er raised her head and looked toward Li Luo, who was sitting atop the stone pillar up ahead. At this moment, the latter's expression was cold and indifferent, his aura so overwhelmingly powerful that even she felt a trace of heart-palpitating dread.

She slowly came to the base of the stone pillar, looked up at that figure, just as she had once looked up at Li Luo back when she had first entered Southwind Academy.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

Li Luo slowly lowered his head, looking at Lü Qing'er, and then the latter saw his entire body seemingly relax, while a relieved voice came from him.

"You finally came."

"Quick, get me down. My phaseforce is empty. I don't dare jump."

Lü Qing'er was dumbfounded.

Then, caught between anger and amusement — so all that posturing up there for so long was just because your phaseforce was empty?

(End of chapter)