Chapter 31

The chaos below the stage lasted for a moment, finally subsiding as Yu Lang was quickly carried away. However, the gazes cast toward Li Luo from the surrounding crowd carried a hint of shock and fear.

Clearly, they were frightened by Li Luo's excessive force.

Seeing this, Li Luo was speechless, inwardly cursing Yu Lang for being a bastard, who had inadvertently tarnished his reputation.

He stood on the stage, his gaze sweeping around before finally settling on a spot.

There, Song Yunfeng was laughing and chatting amidst a group of people. Sensing Li Luo's gaze, he lifted his head, glanced at him indifferently, and then turned away.

Li Luo had no intention of going over to say anything and directly turned to leave the stage.

"Brother Luo, you're really fierce, actually taking down Yu Lang." Below the stage, Zhao Kuo approached, clicking his tongue in admiration.

"That guy was a bit careless." Li Luo assessed their strength, and if the fight had continued, he could have defeated Yu Lang, but it would have taken longer.

From this, it seemed his current combat strength was among the best of the seven-seal practitioners. With such strength, making it into the top twenty should not be a problem.

Now, he just had to wait for the two matches tomorrow. If he could win both, his ranking would definitely enter the top twenty, and then he could take a break.

It was said that after the top twenty were determined, one could choose whether to continue competing for a higher rank. Li Luo had little interest in this, as the top twenty all had the qualification to participate in the academy's major exams, so there was no need to engage in these meaningless battles.

With this time, he might as well refine the Spirit Water Radiance.

After finishing today's two matches, Li Luo did not immediately leave the academy, as the final two match-ups for tomorrow would be released today.

He wanted to see his opponents for tomorrow.

His wait was not long. An hour later, a chime sounded in the square, and Li Luo and Zhao Kuo walked to a stone wall.

The stone wall was surrounded by many students. Li Luo's gaze swept over the flowing text on the wall and quickly found his two opponents for tomorrow.

The first opponent was a seven-seal practitioner from the First Academy, who should be weaker than Yu Lang, so it shouldn't be a problem.

However, when Li Luo saw his final opponent, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Brother Luo, you, you're facing Song Yunfeng in the last match!" Zhao Kuo, who had also noticed this, exclaimed in surprise.

Indeed, Li Luo's final match was against Song Yunfeng, the second-ranked practitioner in the First Academy!

Some sympathetic gazes were cast from the surrounding crowd.

Although Li Luo's rise had been rapid, especially with today's victory over Yu Lang, his journey was about to end because he was facing Song Yunfeng.

"Song Yunfeng is now an eight-seal practitioner; this is really bad luck." Zhao Kuo sighed, feeling sorry for Li Luo.

Li Luo was not too surprised: "Those who have made it this far are not weak. Running into him is not impossible."

"But don't worry, even if you lose one match tomorrow, entering the top twenty is still a sure thing." Zhao Kuo consoled him.

Li Luo nodded with a smile, his eyes deep, lost in thought.

On the other side of the square, Song Yunfeng also saw the match-ups for tomorrow on the stone wall. He stared at Li Luo's name for a while, then a smile appeared on his lips.

"You've been looking unhappy since just now, why are you suddenly better?" A puzzled girl's voice came from beside him, it was Tifa Qing.

"Because I'm facing a pleasant opponent tomorrow. I really didn't expect such a fortunate turn of events." Song Yunfeng smiled.

Tifa Qing's beautiful eyes widened in surprise: "Meeting Li Luo is normal, since you both have perfect records. The probability of meeting is indeed high."

"But his luck is really bad. It seems his impressive record will end here."

Tifa Qing knew very well how strong Song Yunfeng was. In the entire Nanfeng Academy, only Lu Qing'er could surpass him. Although Li Luo had shown rapid progress recently, the gap between him and Song Yunfeng was still insurmountable.

She could already imagine that tomorrow's battle would be a crushing victory.

Moreover, she knew that Song Yunfeng harbored resentment toward Li Luo, both personally and due to the enmity between the Song and Luo families. So once Song Yunfeng took action tomorrow, he would likely use his most powerful means and crush Li Luo mercilessly.

For a moment, even Tifa Qing felt some sympathy for Li Luo. How would this end tomorrow?

But Li Luo really should have known better. Knowing that Song Yunfeng was infatuated with Lu Qing'er, he still got so close to her. A man consumed by jealousy is not very rational.

On the other side, after learning his opponents for tomorrow, Li Luo parted ways with Zhao Kuo amid some sympathetic gazes and left the academy.

On the carriage ride home, Li Luo closed his eyes in deep thought.

Tomorrow's battle against Song Yunfeng was indeed very difficult. Not only was Song Yunfeng an eight-seal practitioner, but his own Phase Power was already more substantial. Moreover, Song Yunfeng possessed a seventh-grade Red Hawk Phase.

Phase qualities were divided into nine grades, with seventh to ninth grades being high. Therefore, a seventh-grade Phase could be called a high-grade Phase.

Do not underestimate the term "high-grade." This is not just a simple change in name but because once a Phase quality reaches the seventh grade, the Phase Power cultivated from it becomes somewhat unique. In simple terms, the Phase Power cultivated from a high-grade Phase is more imbued with spirituality compared to lower and middle-grade Phases.

Spirituality is hard to describe, but its subtleties are only known by those who face it in battle.

Therefore, the seventh-grade Phase is a watershed. Crossing this barrier means reaching a high-grade Phase.

Even within high-grade Phases, there are further divisions into upper and lower grades, a distinction not present in first to sixth-grade Phases, highlighting the gap between them.

Song Yunfeng's Red Hawk Phase was a lower seventh-grade Phase.

Thus, whether in terms of Phase Power or Phase quality, Li Luo was comprehensively inferior to Song Yunfeng. This battle was almost unbalanced.

No one was optimistic about Li Luo's match against Song Yunfeng, including Li Luo himself, to some extent.

"Indeed, it's very troublesome."

Li Luo muttered to himself. His "Water Radiance Phase" was unique, but no matter how unique, it was still a fifth-grade Phase. Although the Water Radiance Phase's effectiveness in refining Spirit Water Radiance was not inferior to a seventh-grade Phase, in direct combat, it might not have a significant advantage over a seventh-grade Phase.

If he could upgrade his "Water Radiance Phase" to a sixth-grade Phase, his pressure would be much less, but unfortunately, even though Li Luo had been using fifth-grade Spirit Water Radiance for some time, it still needed more time to evolve to the sixth grade. This distant water could not quench the immediate fire.

"Should I just concede?"

Li Luo scratched his head. This option could be a backup, as it was the most normal choice from any perspective. After all, anyone with clear eyes could see the significant gap between the two. Knowing the outcome would be a crushing defeat, why force it, unless one was a masochist?

Li Luo thought about it and decided not to go to Xi Yang House today but to return directly to the old residence. Even with a backup plan, he felt he still needed to make some preparations for any eventuality.