Chapter 73: The Grand Examination Concludes

When the bell marking the end of the grand examination echoed through White Spirit Mountain, the atmosphere outside the mountain boiled over as well, countless gazes thick with astonishment fixed on the scoreboard on the crystal wall.

The first-place position clearly read:

Li Luo, South Wind Academy.

This first place was clearly beyond everyone's expectations. When the grand examination began, probably no one would have imagined that the one to seize first place would not be the most popular Lü Qing'er, nor Shi Kong, the only one who could threaten her, but rather Li Luo, who had previously kept a low profile and never revealed any remarkable battle record!

The people of Tian Shu Prefecture were no strangers to this young master of House Luolan Mansion, after all House Luolan Mansion had started from South Wind City and eventually stood tall in Great Xia Country. Those two mansion heads of House Luolan Mansion had once been the bragging topic for many Tian Shu Prefecture people when boasting to outsiders.

And as the son of those two, Li Luo had never lacked attention since childhood. It was only later, because of the so-called empty phase, that countless people sighed inwardly — Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan's wisdom their whole lives, yet the son they produced didn't inherit their talent.

Words like "tiger father, dog son" were probably what Li Luo had heard most over the years.

Some even said that perhaps Jiang Jiang Qinge was the true bloodline of Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan, and that Li Luo wasn't their biological son at all.

Such talk went on and on, in endless variety.

Yet today's scene completely refreshed their perception of that young mansion master. That youth, though he lacked Jiang Jiang Qinge's sweeping, all-conquering sharpness, gave off a sense of gentle, hidden depth — until the very end, you never seemed to know what other trump cards he was hiding.

This seemed rather different from his parents, and from Jiang Jiang Qinge as well.

At the foot of the mountain, Xu Xu Shanyue, who had led the South Wind Academy team, raised his head to stare at the crystal wall, his gaze seemingly nailed to it, unable to shift away. After a long while, he finally stammered: "Did you see that? Li Luo is first place!"

Lin Feng beside him had a stiff expression; at this moment he simply didn't know whether he should feel happy or sad.

Although first place had remained at South Wind Academy, it hadn't stayed at the First Academy under his charge — and most critically, this first place belonged to someone he had strongly advocated demoting to the Second Academy.

Although Li Luo had shown signs of rising before, Lin Feng still hadn't taken it too seriously. After all, in his view, even if Li Luo could catch up now, he couldn't possibly compare to the likes of Lü Qing'er and Song Song Yunfeng — he had fallen behind by quite a bit of time.

But he had never imagined that the one to ultimately become first place in the grand examination would actually be Li Luo.

So at this moment, facing Xu Xu Shanyue, who was so overjoyed his expression was somewhat contorted, Lin Feng felt for the first time an intensely powerful surge of regret in his heart.

He regretted why, when he noticed Li Luo beginning to rise, he hadn't loosened his stance and pulled him back into the First Academy.

And now that Li Luo had become first, one could imagine that in the future he would inevitably receive many strange looks at South Wind Academy — after all, South Wind Academy had never before seen a grand examination first place that wasn't from the First Academy.

He, Lin Feng, would be denounced as short-sighted, while Xu Xu Shanyue would be considered to have the eyes of a hawk.

So at this moment, although South Wind Academy had preserved the golden reputation of Tian Shu Prefecture's top academy, Lin Feng felt an urge to burst into tears.

Xu Xu Shanyue now came back to his senses as well. He glanced at Lin Feng, whose expression was contorted as if he'd just eaten shit, shook his head with some sympathy, and at the same time made sure to express his gratitude.

"Instructor Lin Feng, you're truly a brother. From now on I'll never argue with you again!"

Lin Feng forced a smile uglier than crying, his voice trembling as if air were leaking out.

"Heh, hehehe... we're, we're all brothers here, too, too polite of you."

Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing likewise stared at that first-place name for a good while before finally coming back to themselves from this unexpected surprise.

"What an unexpected result," Cai Wei said with a sigh.

"Tsk tsk, this Li Luo really hid it deep. If this result reaches Jiang Jiang Qinge's ears, even she would probably be astonished," Yan Yan Lingqing said, nodding as well, giving Li Luo's performance in this grand examination an extremely high assessment.

"If the young mansion master can enter Holy Mystic Star Academy, it will also boost his prestige within House Luolan Mansion, and share much of the pressure on Jiang Jiang Qinge," Cai Wei said softly.

Yan Yan Lingqing gave a slight nod. Although House Luolan Mansion currently faced troubles both within and without, there were actually still some so-called Baohuang Sect members, and the so-called "emperor" was actually Li Luo — after all, no matter what, he was the biological bloodline of the two mansion heads, and the inheritance rights he possessed were the most orthodox, even surpassing Jiang Jiang Qinge.

It was just that previously, because of the empty phase issue, his future prospects had seemed dim, so some people could only give up. But if Li Luo could perform better and better in the future, he might well be able to rally hearts again. And with Jiang Jiang Qinge's assistance at that time, he should be able to firmly secure the position of House Luolan Mansion head.

When that day came, House Luolan Mansion would stabilize once more.

And both Cai Wei and Yan Yan Lingqing greatly looked forward to that day.

In the main pavilion, the moment the result appeared, that Inspector General Shi said nothing, but anyone could feel how terrifying the aura emanating from his body was.

But the old dean paid him no heed, and simply rose to his feet, clapping vigorously.

"Good lad, worthy of being Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan's son. Everyone underestimated you, including this old fogey with dimming eyes," the old dean laughed heartily.

Inspector General Shi let out a dark, mirthless laugh, said not a single word, did not bid farewell to the old dean or An Lie, simply rose, then swept his sleeves and departed, dragging a gloomy pressure with him.

Instructor An Lie, seeing this, was also somewhat helpless, and could only smile at the old dean: "Congratulations, Dean Wei Sha. This year South Wind Academy has once again secured the reputation of Tian Shu Prefecture's top academy."

On the current scoreboard, Li Luo and Lü Qing'er had taken first and second. This result was simply the best South Wind Academy had seen in recent years. Those fully twenty-one extra slots would make South Wind Academy the biggest winner in Tian Shu Prefecture.

One could imagine how many families next year would break down doors trying to send their children in. After all, even if they couldn't win a spot on their own merits, they could still lie back and get into Holy Mystic Star Academy through the academy's extra slots.

The old dean grinned so wide his mouth couldn't close.

The fervor below the mountain continued, while the students inside the mountain also began to trickle out one after another. Especially when Li Luo, Lü Qing'er and others appeared, the atmosphere was pushed to a climax, with tidal waves of cheers echoing out.

And Li Luo, who had become the focus of all gazes, wore a troubled expression. His looks had already brought him plenty of trouble in the past — would he now have to be troubled by his talent as well?

This kind of pressure had already exceeded what his age could bear.

"Brother Luo, you're amazing!" Zhao Kuo rushed over, his face wild with joy. Although he had been eliminated in the top ten, Li Luo and Lü Qing'er had achieved excellent results, so with his ranking at South Wind Academy, he would definitely be able to lie back and get into Holy Mystic Star Academy.

The other South Wind Academy students were also all smiles, their gazes toward Li Luo full of admiration. Because of those extra slots, almost every one of them who had participated in this grand examination would receive an admission slot.

Truly, when one person attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

Li Luo smiled at Zhao Kuo, patted his shoulder, then swept his gaze around, searching for Seeing Yu Lang, and spotted his figure outside the crowd.

At that moment, Seeing Yu Lang was holding the little hand of a cute, delicate junior girl, his face solemn as he said: "Do you know why Li Luo was able to defeat Shi Kong? It's because I previously exhausted every scheme to throw Shi Kong's mentality into chaos. So Li Luo being able to win first place — half the credit should be mine. But it doesn't matter, he's my good brother, I never care about such empty fame, and I'm not someone who values these things much anyway."

The innocent junior girl gazed at him with an adoring face.

"That show-off."

Li Luo was speechless, and couldn't be bothered to deal with this guy whose thought process was a bit different from normal people's.

At this moment, Lü Qing'er, who was chatting with a group of Young Ladies, glanced over and said with a light smile: "They say today's a big occasion, so tonight there's a gathering to celebrate. They're asking if you're willing."

Li Luo sighed. This kind of gathering actually wasn't that interesting — it was just that everyone would come to fawn over and admire him again. In the past, these junior girls had liked to take advantage of him at gatherings; today would probably be even worse.

So in the end, he nodded and agreed.

(End of chapter)