Chapter 1097: Rejection
The hottest topic over the past two days in the Heavenly Origin Ancient College was the formation of teams for the mobilization order. According to the rules determined by the college, each team needed to be led by a student of the Heavenly Star Hall and the number of team members could not exceed ten, leading to all the teams from the sage colleges scrambling to find a suitable leader.
Likewise, Li Luo planned to do the same.
After all, the difficulty of the mission was quite high, and even the Heavenly Origin Ancient College with all its strength needed to seek help from the Hallowed Coruscation Ancient College. No one would dare to underestimate the danger since even the teams from the weaker sage colleges had been forcibly mobilized.
Even though Li Luo's battle prowess was enough to rival even some Heavenly Star Hall students whose strength had reached the True Seal-grade, there was still a power gap that could not be ignored between that and the students who possessed higher seats. Those students were truly at the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier, the final realm before the Duke Stage.
Unfortunately, Li Luo did not know any students from the Heavenly Star Hall of the Heavenly Origin Ancient College, so he had to go and seek Zong Sha and Jiang Wanyu again, intending to ask them for help.
"Haha, Junior Li Luo, if you want to meet the Heavenly Star Hall's senior students, then Junior Jiang can help you out. Her connections are much stronger than mine." After witnessing Li Luo's performance at the academy evaluation, Zong Sha became even more deferential towards Li Luo while giving advice.
Jiang Wanyu did not refuse, though she glanced at Li Luo and then at Lu Ming, Jing Taixu, and the others. Hesitantly, she asked, "Have you formed a team already?"
Li Luo nodded and replied, "They are all friends that I have met in the past, I trust them."
Jiang Wanyu didn't reply, because in the eyes of the students from the ancient college, the students of the sage colleges in the outer divine continent were almost filler positions in this kind of mission. The mentors of the sage colleges had no choice but to around offering financial incentives to the students of the Heavenly Star Hall to join their students.
In response to this, the students of the Heavenly Star Hall jokingly referred to it as protection money.
"I do know some seniors in the Heavenly Star Hall. I'll get you guys in touch with them. Li Luo, you would have no problem finding someone yourself. Even the students in the Heavenly Star Hall know what you did in the evaluation, so by all accounts, you're quite a good candidate to form a team with."
Jiang Wanyu chatted softly with Li Luo while they rode atop a flying leaf, going deeper into the Heavenly Origin Ancient College.
The worldly natural energy here was even denser, and it was the place where the Heavenly Star Hall students usually lived and cultivated.
After arriving, Jiang Wanyu took Li Luo and the others to visit some of the Heavenly Star Hall students that she was friends with.
However, the results were slightly out of Jiang Wanyu's expectations.
The Heavenly Star Hall students who were originally enthusiastic began to act a little evasive and came up with a number of reasons to politely decline after hearing that Li Luo wanted to team up with them.
Jiang Wanyu wasn't bothered at first, but after several Heavenly Star Hall students acted the same way, her brows furrowed.
"Something's not right," she muttered to herself quietly. Although Li Luo was representing the Astral Sage College, everyone knew that he was from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, so it didn't make sense that anyone would belittle him based on status. Not to mention the fact that Li Luo had displayed excessive might in the academic evaluation.
In terms of strength, Li Luo was even comparable to some of the ordinary students in the Heavenly Star Hall.
Jiang Wanyu and Zong Sha secretly exchanged glances. Both of them sensed the doubt in each other's eyes, but she didn't give up and continued to take Li Luo to visit more students.
This time, she approached two seniors who carried a lot of weight in the Heavenly Star Hall, both of them holding rather high positions in the Heavenly Star Hall's Upper Hall.
In a stone pavilion near the lake, two rather imposing youths revealed warm smiles to the approaching Jiang Wanyu. While she was only a Three Star Hall student at the moment, she was quite famous within the college for both her looks and natural talent.
"Li Luo, this is Senior Meng Zhou, he is ranked forty-ninth in the Upper Hall of the Heavenly Star Hall." Jiang Wanyu gestured at a short-haired youth while she introduced him.
"This is Senior Zheng Yunfeng, he is ranked fifty-second." She then signaled towards a somewhat arrogant-looking man with long hair.
"Both seniors are extraordinary and are expected to enter the top twenty in the future."
"Hehe, Junior Jiang, you are too kind. The top twenty are all monsters, how can we catch up?" the Heavenly Star Hall student named Meng Zhou replied with a smile.
Zheng Yunfeng remained sitting while looking up at Li Luo, saying, "Are you the Astral Sage College's Li Luo, who became famous for beating a bunch of weakings?"
Witnessing his attitude, Lu Ming, Jing Taixu, and the others frowned slightly. The Heavenly Star Hall students were indeed full of themselves.
"If you don't like the Astral Sage College, you can refer to me as someone from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, first grandson of the chief of the Dragon's Fang Lineage, acting Hall Master of the Green Nether Hall, Dragon's Head of the Twenty Banners, and the Fiendish Devil Cave record holder, Li Luo." Li Luo revealed a gentle smile. He just loved dealing with arrogant people.
In response to the long string of self-aggrandizing titles from Li Luo, the corner of Zheng Yunfeng's mouth twitched slightly.
Damn, was having a strong background such a big deal? Busting out the the name of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li to pressure others at the drop of a hat—lineage members who did this were the most annoying. Couldn't they rely on themselves? Were they even worth anything if they had to rely on their background?
Although Zheng Yunfeng was upset, a Heavenly Emperor's lineage had to be respected. After all, even Wu Yu had to give Li Luo some of his time when faced with the Dragon Fang Lineage's greeting letter, let alone him, a Great Heavenly Resonance Tier student.
"Hmph, what a long title," Zheng Yunfeng grunted quietly with an unpleasant expression.
He didn't dare belittle Li Luo's titles, lest he incur even greater wrath in the future. As a student of the Heavenly Star Hall, he enjoyed special treatment in the Heavenly Origin Ancient College. Out in the real world, however, the Heavenly Emperor's lineages were behemoths that were difficult to fathom.
Beside him, the young man named Meng Zhou laughed. ''Is Junior Li Luo here to form a team with us? I must apologize, we already have teams."
Although he looked much more polite than Zheng Yunfeng, he was direct with his words and didn't even wait for Jiang Wanyu to speak.
Even Li Luo's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard his answer. The sheer amount of rejections seemed a bit abnormal.
In terms of strength, he was definitely considered a good teammate even though Lu Ming and the rest were relatively weak. Even then, they were stronger than other people on the same level. And despite all that, they were not considered the main force but just some reinforcements with minor roles to play in the mission.
Jiang Wanyu's expression was also a little dark as she stared at Meng Zhou and asked directly, "Senior Meng Zhou, why is this happening?"
Faced with her question, Meng Zhou was a bit stunned and hesitated for a moment before replying, "Junior Jiang, why don't you take him to Brother Wu and ask?"
Jiang Wanyu was stunned and asked, "Senior Wu Changkong?"
The only person in the entire Heavenly Star Hall who could make Meng Zhou refer to them as "Brother Wu" was the chief of the Upper Hall.
Meng Zhou nodded and said no more, pulling Zheng Yunfeng along as he left.
Jiang Wanyu stared at their backs as they departed, her pretty visage visibly vexed as she looked towards Zong Sha, who was also frowning.
"Li Luo, do you have any beef with Hall Chief Wu Changkong?" Jiang Wanyu asked.
So this was the root of the problem. No wonder all the Heavenly Star Hall students were unwilling to team up with Li Luo—it was all masterminded by Wu Changkong!
"I don't know him." Li Luo shook his head with a calm expression, then he remembered something and asked, "This Wu Changkong guy, what is his relationship with Vice Principal Wu Yu?"
"Vice Principal Wu Yu is his great grandfather," Zong Sha replied.
Li Luo suddenly realized that Jiang Wanyu did not know that he had made a private bet with Vice Principal Wu Yu and won. It was considered a bit of a slap in the face for the vice principal. Since it was improper for a vice principal to intervene personally, had he told Wu Changkong to knock him down a few pegs on his behalf?
Vice Principal Wu Yu was oddly petty.
Then was Wu Changkong trying to force Li Luo to take the initiative to find him first so he could settle his great grandfather's grievances?
Li Luo faintly chuckled. He'd rather let the old bag Wu Yu burst a vein from pettiness.
"Senior Wanyu, Senior Zong Sha, if you can't find anyone from the Heavenly Star Hall, then forget it. It doesn't matter if I lead the team myself," Li Luo said with a laugh.
After experiencing all this, he couldn't be bothered to look for someone. Although not having a teammate from the Heavenly Star Hall would result in the team's strength being lowered by a large amount, which in turn would affect the final rewards, he was entering the Fifth Minor Earthly Branch Realm for the purpose of meeting Jiang Qing'e more than anything else. When he met Jiang Qing'e, all the bullshit of the Heavenly Star Hall would be tasteless compared to the plump white goose of Luolan mansion.
Jiang Wanyu's willowy brows furrowed, but she was not willing to give up, so she thought for a moment before saying, "If it really is Chief Wu Changkong obstructing you, I think there is another person we can go to. She has never given face to Wu Changkong."
"Who?"
"Senior Feng Lingyuan, rank two in the Heavenly Star Hall's Upper Hall."