When the indignant Li Luo finally arrived at the academy, he noticed that the previously ecstatic atmosphere had lessened significantly. In fact, some of the students even had looks of dismay on their faces.
Evidently, the majority of them were those that had not done well in the previous day.
However, there was no choice. Someone's happiness would come at the cost of someone's sadness. In a qualifying examination like the preliminaries, those who were not strong enough would naturally be eliminated.
"Brother Luo, you're here!" Zhao Kuo exclaimed when he saw Li Luo, immediately rushing up to him. "Of your two battles today, one won't be as easy. You're against the First School's Yu Lang. Do you remember him?"
"Yu Lang?" Li Luo racked his brain before finally nodding in agreement. That fellow had a bit of fame within the First School, and his strength ranked amongst the top 20. It was said that he possessed a sixth-grade wind resonance that provided him with unparalleled speed.
"That guy is at the Seventh Seal Stage and is significantly stronger than Bei Kun." Zhao Kuo's expression became slightly grave at this point.
"Seventh Seal, huh?" Li Luo puckered his lips. This would definitely be a troublesome opponent. However,Yu Lang should be within the threshold of those that he could beat.
Hence, he patted Zhao Kuo on the shoulder and smiled. "Relax, I have faith in myself."
Zhao Kuo did not say anything in response as he knew Li Luo's personality. If Li Luo truly knew he had no chance of victory, he would not be putting up a brave front.
Whilst the two were speaking, a student from Second School came running over. "Brother Luo, there is someone outside looking for you."
Li Luo became a little apprehensive after hearing this but still headed out. Standing in the shade of a tree was an unruly-looking youth with a mane of hair that flapped around him.
Li Luo instantly recognized this youth. It was his next opponent, Yu Lang.
"Are you looking for me?" Li Luo smiled.
Yu Lang swept away the hair covering his eyes before giving a deep look at Li Luo. "Who would have expected that after so long, you would manage to rise again? You truly live up to your previous reputation as the man who once ruled Southwind Academy!"
Li Luo sighed before replying impatiently, "Don't speak such meaningless words."
"How is this meaningless?" Yu Lang replied in dissatisfaction.
In the end, Yu Lang stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point. "Song Yunfeng approached me, and he knew I was your upcoming opponent. He even offered a significant price for me to injure you with all my might."
Li Luo was a little stunned upon hearing this before he laughed. "Are you telling me your secrets? Or do you plan to take advantage of muddled waters?"
"Che! I, Yu Lang, may be unrestrained, but I still have a bottom line. You once guided me in resonance arts, and I owe you for that," Yu Lang disdainfully replied.
"I am here to remind you that if you are not strong enough to be my opponent, then quickly give up for your own good. Of course, if you've hidden your newfound strength so deeply that even I will be beaten silly... if that's the case, then play along with me! Hmm, I suppose you could ‘heavily’ injure me and send me flying out of the stage. This way, I can even take a bit out of Song Yunfeng's compensation pool.... Plus, that bastard is a foolish spendthrift. He's offered a huge sum after all…
“Oh, yes, that bit about compensation is just something extra I tacked on to the agreement with Song Yunfeng. I don't think we will have to go that far though... Li Luo, you might not be aware, but this Yu Lang in front of you is no longer the Yu Lang of the past who tripped over his baggy pants!" Li Luo may have been slightly cunning, but he was almost shocked blind at the audacity of Yu Lang's grand plan. In the end, he could only helplessly reply, "You truly are trouble... so I'm reporting you to the teachers."
This chain of events completely caught Yu Lang by surprise. His jaw dropped while staring at Li Luo. "What kind of bastard are you, Li Luo?! Do you think it’s easy for me to earn a little bit of money? How can you, a young master, know my pitiful troubles in life?! Why would you make life difficult for meeeeeeeeeee!?!?!" he ferociously scolded!
"Scram, scram, scram!" Li Luo frowned as he waved his hand to chase away this nuisance. It had been years since they last spoke, but he was still as strange as ever, with even stranger schemes...
Yu Lang coldly snorted as he ruffled his hair and turned to leave.
Li Luo continued to stare at him, making sure he was leaving before waving goodbye. "Although this information wasn't that important, thank you nonetheless!"
Yu Lang paused upon hearing his comment, coldly snorting before leaving.
"Young people should always strive to do their best instead of resorting to these means!"
After Yu Lang left, Li Luo frowned slightly. Song Yunfeng's desire to fight had been getting more intense. All of this was due to his infatuation with Lu Qing'er, but also partly to do with the enmity between their families.
"I've been keeping a low-profile, why are you still targeting me!?"
....
The first round in the morning went by with no complications and there was nothing much to say. Before he knew it, it was already afternoon and time for Li Luo's match with Yu Lang.
On the battle stage, Yu Lang's unruly mane floated with the wind as he coldly stared at Li Luo. "Li Luo! It's your misfortune to be facing me!"
Meanwhile, the battle stage was surrounded by numerous audience members. Everyone was extremely interested in this particular fight as it was the first time Li Luo would have to face off against a strong opponent.
Facing Yu Lang's theatrics directly, and in front of such a large crowd, caused Li Luo to feel a little embarrassed. He definitely did not want to get sucked into Yu Lang's circus show, as it would demonstrate he was no different from this fool…
Thus, he quietly activated his resonant power, a pure-blue aura gradually emitting from his entire body, flickering towards the sky. Even the audience nearby could literally feel the air becoming more humid with his presence.
Following the administrator's order to begin, Yu Lang, who had been posing, immediately surged with explosive, green resonant power. One could hear the wind whistling and howling by as this resonant power was emitted. Suddenly, he flashed towards Li Luo like a bolt of lightning, so fast that even the onlookers could only catch a trace of his shadow.
His burst of speed caused Li Luo's eyes to focus intently. Meanwhile, the audience was cheering endlessly as this was a sight to behold! Yu Lang's speed was clearly ferociously swift!
Peng!
In the blink of an eye, a fist shrouded in wind and wrapped with a green light struck at Li Luo like a bolt from the blue. Li Luo could only see a fist speedily increasing in size right in front of his eyes, almost completely blocking his vision!
Yu Lang was clearly not going to hold back during this fight.
Stumbling slightly, he responded with a calm, open palm instead, with blue resonant power gushing out directly, forming a massive, impenetrable wall of water!
The wind-infused green fist struck squarely, and the impact caused the water wall to ripple intensely.
"Waowu!" A weird cry echoed out. Yang Lu's body flickered in response, and numerous afterimages appeared as his speed increased. These afterimages surrounded Li Luo, and each and every one of those fists and legs were wreathed with green light, howling with piercing wind as they attempted to drown Li Luo in a flurry of blows!
This was a savage direct assault!
Facing these berserk blows, Li Luo quickly adopted a defensive position as the layers of water around him deformed slightly due to the physical strikes, constantly warding off attacks towards his vitals.
To the ones watching this battle, they all understood that Li Luo was planning to drag this into a battle of attrition. This was not surprising as water resonances tended to be more enduring and were better suited for it. The more the fight delayed, the clearer Li Luo's advantage would be.
"Li Luo is once again demonstrating his mastery of the Nine Layered Jade Waves," some of the more astute students commented.
The Nine Layered Jade Waves had once been demonstrated by Li Luo on Bei Kun, and it was perfectly designed for drawn-out battles. One would constantly accumulate greater amounts of power, building up towards a devastating blow that would frighten anyone!
However, Yu Lang was significantly stronger than Bei Kun, so it would not be such an easy task to ward off his tempestuous blows.
"Waowu!" Yu Lang exclaimed strangely once again. His index and middle fingers bent into a hook-like shape and suddenly pierced out with green light condensing on those fingertips. The green light was incomparably radiant, constantly pulsing with energy.
"Wind Finger!" This finger attack that swept towards Li Luo like a tornado directly perforated the water wall that surrounded him and stabbed towards his chest like a bolt of lightning!
Noticing that the opponent's move was blitzing towards him with incomparable might, Li Luo understood that he had nowhere to hide, so he took a deep breath of the moist air around him.
"Gentle Water Fist!" Li Luo pushed a palm out that was shrouded with blue resonant power. Just as the two attacks were about to collide, his five fingers stretched outwards in a flicking motion, directly creating numerous waves within the sea of water resonant power that surrounded him. This created a huge water vortex in the space before him as a result.
On the other hand, Yu Lang's Wind Finger's green light was gradually stripped away by the devastating grinding power of the water vortex, eventually getting completely entangled by this move.
By the time the Wind Finger passed through the water vortex, the attack had been stripped of its fangs!
Peng!
The fist and finger then collided. Their resonant power clashing instantly, sending shockwaves rippling around the stage. Both Li Luo and Yu Lang had been struck directly by the aftershocks, and the two quickly retreated away from each other.
Hua!
Everyone burst into an uproar at this very sight. Shocked glances were directed towards Li Luo.
He had actually managed to weaken Yu Lang's strongest offensive move into a generally harmless strike?
Yu Lang was at the Seventh Seal Stage!
This was also wind resonance power, which was supposed to have an offensive edge over water resonance power!
"Li Luo's usage of his resonance art was just too mystical. He was able to utilize the Gentle Water Fist to its greatest effect, dispelling Yu Lang's brute-force move. How impressive! The Gentle Water Fist is merely a middle-grade resonance art, yet it can perfectly counter Yu Lang's high-grade Wind Finger," said a member of the audience as he sighed in appreciation.
"Li Luo's resonant power is only at the Sixth Seal, which is definitely weaker than Yu Lang's. Yet he is able to persist in the fight for so long..."
"The title of Southwind Academy's resonance art expert is not for show!"
"..." Whilst the people were cheering, Yu Lang's mouth changed into a grin as he focused on Li Luo. This brat truly had hidden his strength deeply! He had not gained any advantage in their previous clashes, which went completely against his own expectations.
"This brat is truly quite abnormal." Yu Lang had even wanted to take things a little easy, but he had no right to do so!
However, this was great! Only a fight like this would hold meaning!
Yu Lang's eyes blazed with excitement as he proceeded to launch his next round of attacks. Green resonant power once again billowed out of him and he shot out like a bullet, taking his speed to the extreme.
Just as he reached his maximum sprint, he suddenly realized that he had lost his sense of balance, and he mysteriously lost his footing and slipped.
Yu Lang's expression was changing constantly from that of excitement, to surprise, to shock when he looked at his feet in the midst of falling. It seemed that at some point, his legs had been entangled by Li Luo's blue resonant power.
This resonant power was like a water snake, coiling around both his legs. When he reached his peak speed, it caused him to lose his sense of balance.
"This is..." Yu Lang's pupils tightened when he realized what had happened.
Li Luo, watching him lose his balance, let out a smile. "Low-grade resonance art, Water Snake.
"You're too careless, Yu Lang. Haha." As Li Luo spoke, he took a step forward and chained that move with a double-palmed follow up. Water resonance power cascaded out of him, a sight that reminded the audience of the waves of the sea.
"Although you’re no longer tripping due to your baggy pants, things haven't changed. You're still going to fall, and it's because of my water snake!" Finishing off his banter, he directly slammed his palms into Yu Lang's flying chest.
"F*ck me! Li Luo! You tricked me!" Yu Lang screamed as he was sent flying away!
Bang!
Whilst he cursed, he was blasted away, eventually colliding with a wall outside the stage, causing a loud bang.
At the moment he landed, a fountain of fresh blood spurted out of Yu Lang's mouth, almost ten meters high! At the same time, copious amounts of fresh blood oozed out of every crevice on his robes, instantly causing him to turn into a bloody figure, a sight that truly horrified the audience.
Li Luo, on the other hand, stood there in a slight daze, his lips twitching slightly. This was clearly going too far! Did the human body even have that much blood?! A completely nonsensical sight! He hadn't even hit him that hard... Was this genius trying to swindle Song Yunfeng out of such a large sum that he could retire in peace?