Chapter 1081: Group Battle
"Battle platform number nine, group battle match!
"The participants are: Astral Sage College, Sacred Arts Sage College, Heavenly Inferno Sage College, Phantasmal Blade Sage College, and Holy Unity Sage College!"
As the referee's voice resounded like booming thunder, Li Luo grimaced slightly. His first group battle match had a total of five colleges participating.
He was also slightly surprised that there was even a familiar face in the mix. It was Lu Ming from the Heavenly Inferno Sage College.
Li Luo directed his gaze towards where Lu Ming's team was, and he saw that the latter was also looking in his direction, her smooth and supple cheeks similarly filled with the color of surprise.
"I guess my luck isn't that bad." Li Luo smiled to himself.
Considering his relationship with Lu Ming, if the Heavenly Inferno Sage College's team did not mind extending some goodwill, then Li Luo wouldn't mind teaming up with them. After all, the group battle allowed for the coexistence of two winners.
Mentor Chi Chan's voice suddenly wafted over from beside him. "Among the five colleges, you have to be most careful of the Sacred Arts Sage College.
"The Sacred Arts Sage College has also earned three consecutive victories today. Their team leader is named Chen Xuan, and he's an eight-pearl who has managed to defeat an opponent of the same level. He has possibly reached the pinnacle of the Heavenly Pearl Tier and might begin to encroach upon the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier very soon"
Li Luo nodded. He had also been observing the earlier battles, so he had taken note of the Sacred Arts Sage College's Chen Xuan.
The Sacred Arts Sage College was also from the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent, and although its reputation was not as good as the Lake Sage College's, it had managed to secure second tier finishes every time it participated in the academic evaluation. Therefore, it was considered a powerful college.
The only threat in this round was probably the Sacred Arts Sage College.
A booming voice rang out from the heavens. "Teams from each college, enter!"
Li Luo did not tarry for a moment when he heard the announcement. He leaped directly towards the massive platform in the center of the circular stadium.
Along with the emergence of spatial fluctuations, the clamorous roars of the crowd began to subside when Li Luo landed, finding himself in a mountain range.
The mountain range was filled with sky-high ancient trees that obscured his view.
The venue of the group battle was indeed much more vast than the stages of the single battles he had experienced.
Li Luo stood and waited in place for a while, and when a loud bell chimed across the entire area, he knew that the other teams had already entered and the match had officially begun.
He did not hold back, and the dragon sigil in the center of his brow flowed with arcane light.
Nine Scales Sanctified Dragon's Body!
A pair of draconic wings made of energy sprouted out from his shoulder blades, whipping up a tempest and lifting Li Luo up into the air. He also opened his palm, and the Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow materialized on it, looking menacing.
He made a quick scan of his surroundings before flapping his wings with force. His figure transformed into a stream of light that beamed quickly towards the right.
Li Luo acted ostentatiously as he did not have any intention of hiding. After all, he was now the hunter from a normal person's perspective after three consecutive victories. As long as it wasn't one of top colleges like the Lake Sage College, any team who saw Li Luo would logically choose to hide on first instinct.
Unfortunately, hiding was not always an option in the middle of a competition.
Li Luo suddenly drew the Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow, and a majestic arrow of light wrapped in violent wind tore through the sky, hurtling towards a certain location in the forested mountain.
Weng!
The energy thundered onwards, snapping all the towering trees in the area like twigs.
At the same time, a four-member team hidden within the trees was exposed.
It was the squad from the Holy Unity Sage College.
When the team saw that they had been discovered, all the blood drained from their faces and they hurriedly retreated. They all knew of Li Luo's reputation from his preceding three matches, and they didn't think that their team would have any chance of winning against him.
However, fleeing from the Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow's arrow seemed to be of little use.
Li Luo pulled back on the bowstring calmly as the five brilliant Heavenly Pearls erupted with dazzling light behind him, guzzling worldly natural energy. An energy arrow began to coalesce on the drawn bow.
The silhouette of a dragon could be seen winding and coiling around the energy arrow.
Whoosh!
The arrow of light tore through the air, leaving a faint energy trail in its wake.
The Holy Unity Sage College's team leader, who was a titled student, turned a shade of white when he saw this. Seven radiant Heavenly Pearls emerged behind him as he grasped a treasured spear artifact that emanated a stern and steady aura.
He was the only one in the team who could put up some resistance against Li Luo's thunderous attack, so he had to do all he could to prevent his teammates from being eliminated.
Moreover, if he were to allow Li Luo to eliminate his teammates first, he would surely follow suit not long after.
Therefore, he could only steel his resolve and rise up to the challenge. His seven Heavenly Pearls buzzed and vibrated as he shot out a hundred feet with his spear pointing forward, directly colliding with the arrow that was flying towards him.
Bang!
Shockwaves of energy erupted.
The seven-pearl leader of the Holy Unity Sage College shook so violently that the palm holding the lance was sundered open, and blood dripped down its shaft.
His eyes were filled with horror bceause although he had seen Li Luo's battles before, he could only truly understand how strong and overbearing Li Luo's resonant power was after experiencing it firsthand.
Li Luo was merely at the Five Heavenly Pearl Tier, but his resonant power was so dominant that it could overpower a seven-pearl!
In addition, when the two resonant powers had clashed earlier, he could sense that his own resonant power had mysteriously diminished, as if Li Luo's resonant power possessed a mysterious ability to burn and melt his opponent's resonant power!
“Is that an illusion? This guy clearly doesn't have a fire resonance!" The leader was in utter disbelief.
But in the midst of his doubt, Li Luo had already drawn his bow and fired three more arrows in a row. They tore through the sky, whistling fiercely.
The team leader tried to evade, but he suddenly sensed that the three light arrows had shifted targets and had locked onto his three teammates behind him.
Left with no choice, he scowled and let out a shrill cry as he drew upon all the resonant power he could and swung his spear with all his strength to intercept the arrows.
Bang!
The barrage of energy continuously exploded, and the leader of the Holy Unity Sage College was forced to retreat pitifully, his blood staining the ground. No matter how much energy he squeezed out of the seven Heavenly Pearls behind him, he was constantly suppressed by Li Luo's light arrows.
When the last arrow shattered, the leader's sleeves were already torn and tattered.
Li Luo suddenly stopped his onslaught. He looked at the leader and grinned as he said, "Thank you for going easy on me."
"I haven't lost yet!" the leader roared indignantly.
However, just as he shouted, he suddenly felt a blazing heat erupt within his body. Wherever the blazing heat passed through, the resonant power within his body unexpectedly began to burn rapidly, as if it had been ignited.
"Argh!"
The leader screamed out in agony as smoke wafted from his body. His resonant power swiftly diminished and he eventually tumbled from mid-air, falling headfirst towards the ground.
"The Acquired Resonance Flame's Resonant Incineration is quite effective," Li Luo muttered to himself upon witnessing its effects.
Of course, he didn't possess a fire resonance or anything of the sort. He had gained the ability to burn his target's resonant power because of the Acquired Resonance Flame in the mysterious Auric Halo in his body. Li Luo was baptized in the Spiritual Resonance Cave and began to develop some of the functions of the Acquired Resonance Flame, such as assimilating the flame into his resonant power.
Whenever he exchanged blows with an opponent, the incinerating effect of the Acquired Resonance Flame would greatly increase the opponent's resonant power consumption.
Even if the opponent did not notice the effect, it could spread a flaming poison throughout the opponent's body that would combust in the end.
Just like what had happened in this instance.
Li Luo broke into a satisfied smile and then shot three more arrows of light which honed in on the remaining team members of the Holy Unity Sage College, eliminating them with ease.
......
At the same time, in another part of the forested mountain range...
The Heavenly Inferno Sage College's team with Lu Ming had encountered some trouble.
They were originally trying to conceal their movements as well, but they were detected by both the Sacred Arts Sage College and the Phantasmal Blade Sage College.
Fortunately, neither party seemed to have the intention of making any moves to eliminate them.
Lu Ming saw a tall, buff youth who wielded a heavy battleax look in their direction. He called out a loud voice, "Friends of the Heavenly Inferno Sage College, how about we join forces and eliminate Li Luo from the Astral Sage College before we fight each other?"
"That's Chen Xuan from the Sacred Arts Sage College!"
A rotund man with a pudgy silhouette stood beside Lu Ming. His name was Deng Zhu, and he was the titled student and de facto team leader of the Heavenly Inferno Sage College.
He was looking at the youth with the heavy battleax not far away with a look of distress on his face. Deng Zhu cast a worried look at Lu Ming and asked with uncertainty, "Junior Sister Lu Ming, the Sacred Arts Sage College has joined forces with the Phantasmal Blade Sage College, and it looks like they are going to deal with Li Luo first. What should we do?"
Although he was the leader of the team in terms of strength, Deng Zhu had a weak character, so the one who was actually leading the squad was the Three Star Hall student, Lu Ming.
Lu Ming lightly nibbled on her scarlet lips as she said, "They are trying to rope us in to deal with Li Luo."
"Shouldn't we just accept, then? Li Luo is just one person. If he faces a siege from two teams simultaneously, he might not be able to win. If we don't agree, they'll just eliminate us first. We've already lost one match, and if we're eliminated again in this one, the next one will be dangerous," Deng Zhu hesitantly responded.
Lu Ming was silent for a moment before replying, "Leader, do you believe in me?"
"Of course I do!" Deng Zhu responded.
Lu Ming took a deep breath and said dryly, "Then we should just run towards Li Luo and join forces with him!"
Deng Zhu's voice trembled as he said, "Junior Sister Lu Ming, do you think Li Luo can beat those two teams?"
"Li Luo might have some trouble dealing with them alone, but we are not useless. As long as we help out a little, I think the one who will win in the end will be Li Luo. By joining him, we can eke out a win. What would happen if we joined those two? Even if we were to help them to eliminate Li Luo, do you think they would let us have one of the two winning positions?" Lu Ming calmly asked.
"You're completely right!" Deng Zhu said.
As for the other two team members from the One and Two Star Halls, they quietly listened and obeyed as they knew that they were just there to make up the numbers.
At this moment, Chen Xuan and his team approached and asked, "Friends of the Heavenly Inferno Sage College, have you considered our proposition?"
"Alright, alright, we're willing to join you and eliminate Li Luo first!" a loud voice replied.
A smile emerged on Chen Xuan's lips. It seemed like the other team was still rather sensible. Although Li Luo had won three matches in a row and had some momentum built up, he was at a disadvantage in multi-group battles.
"Great, then please join us..."
However, before Chen Xuan's words had even escaped his mouth, the Heavenly Inferno Sage College suddenly darted into the forested mountain and swiftly disappeared into the distance.
He was stunned for a split second before his face morphed into a scowl.
He could not fathom why the other party would take such a foolish action.
Between the two sage college teams and Li Luo, they had chosen the latter?
Their choice was considerably insulting.
"I've forgotten that the Heavenly Inferno Sage College is also from the East Divine Continent. Perhaps they have some sort of relationship with Li Luo."
Chen Xuan's eyes were ice-cold as he waved his hand. In the next instant, both teams shot forth violently, murderously chasing after Lu Ming's team.
"Since you've chosen to stand on the wrong side, we'll just have to eliminate you first."