Chapter 383: Li Luo’s Slump
Time flew during special training, and before they knew it, half a month had pa.s.sed.
In these two weeks, news of the upcoming ticket match and the Holy Grail Meet had spread all around the school, and it was all the students could talk about. After all, it concerned the school’s reputation, which was glory for all of them.
All of the students were proud to be members of Astral Sage College. There was a new sense of unity amongst them that had grown in the last month, as they looked forward to the ticket match where they would all be on the same side: Astral Sage College against others, trying to get into the Holy Grail Meet.
As for the ticket match format, that had also been announced, and the seven representatives was also a hotly discussed topic.
While the other students were busy talking each others’ ears off, Li Luo and the others were working their b.u.t.ts off, cultivating furiously within Angelwood Hollow. They charged up the platforms, fighting hordes of absinthe puppets.
In the past two weeks, Li Luo’s Fairness & Justice squad led the way, already reaching the 33rd level.
After the 30th level, the difficulty increased sharply. From 20 to 30, they could still break through multiple levels a day, but once they hit 30, it was strictly one level per day before they ran out of steam, unable to go any further.
After 30, the absinthe puppets grew overwhelming in both quant.i.ty and quality.
They almost lost once as well – if not for a clutch piece of teamwork, they would have wasted an entire day.
And as they faced harder and harder tests, all of them were pushed to their limits. This was normal, and in the history of Angelwood Hollow, all of the One Star Hall students had basically gotten stuck around stage 30 plus.
Still, the last half a month had seen great improvements in the Violet Vibrance squads.
Bai Doudou, w.a.n.g Hejiu, and Duze Beixuan had all managed to push one level up to Fifth Pattern, while Xin Fu had reached Fourth Pattern. Bai Mengmeng had reached Third Pattern, and even Yu Lang managed to reach Second Pattern. Still, the most outrageous of all was Qin Zhulu. Three days prior, he had managed the most difficult breakthrough of them all, completing his Pattern Genesis tier and ascending to the Evolving Resonance tier. With it had come a huge boost in power.
Qin Zhulu was the first in their cohort to reach Evolving Resonance tier!
As news of his breakthrough spread through the school, he immediately catapulted past Li Luo to become the most favored for representing the school. The students even formed friendly factions that supported Li Luo and Qin Zhulu respectively, and many hot debates broke out between them.
“Qin Zhulu has an upper eighth-grade Snarling Golden Demon Tiger resonance. He’s a monster in battle, and now a First Changing monster at that. He’s definitely going to represent One Star Hall against Blue Abyss Sage College. I heard that they have an upper eighth-grade student too.”
“Li Luo’s dual resonances has complexity for days. Do you know how many battles he’s won from a cultivation level deficit in the last half a year?”
“But if he’s not making it to the Evolving Resonance tier, that’s a big handicap.”
“There’re another ten days or so to the ticket match, right? Li Luo’s going to make it for sure. You heard it here first.” “Still, there’s something odd about this. Li Luo was a Fifth Pattern, same as Qin Zhulu, when they went to Angelwood Hollow. I hear that their squad is pushing at a higher level than Qin Zhulu’s, so how is it that Qin Zhulu made the breakthrough first?”
“Who knows? Maybe it’s got something to do with his dual resonances.”
Such thoughts were echoed tirelessly throughout the school. After all, One Star Hall might only be sending one representative compared to two from the other halls, but this one spot was extremely important.
Li Luo’s slump was of great concern to not only the students, but even some of the One Star Hall Violet Vibrance mentors.
“This Li Luo doesn’t seem to be showing signs of breakthrough at all,” Cao Sheng noted, as he watched the students below fight.
Mi Er nodded. Ever since Qin Zhulu’s breakthrough, they had been watching Li Luo closely, but six days later there was still no news from Li Luo.
“Evolving Resonance tier is a completely new tier compared to Pattern Genesis,” Chi Chan said with a worried frown. “At that level, the resonance seeds within the cultivator’s body will begin to evolve according to their resonance affinities. With dual resonances, Li Luo will need to undergo two evolutions while others only need one. And to do a dual evolution simultaneously… it’s more than twice as hard to control.”
“Still,” Chu Zi said,” it means that if he completes it, his ability will rise far more than that of other single-resonance cultivators.”
“The special training will end soon,” Shen Jinxiao said with relish. “And soon the ticket match will begin. His time is running out. A mere Fifth Pattern? I would nominate Qin Zhulu without a doubt.”
“It really doesn’t matter who, as long as they do Astral Sage College One Star Hall proud,” Cao Sheng shrugged. “And anyway Qin Zhulu has been eying Li Luo as his rival. Given his nature, I’m sure he wants to see Li Luo reach the Evolving Resonance tier as well, before they have a formal battle to see who’s stronger.”
Shen Jinxiao shook his head. “It doesn’t matter how unique dual resonances are. I cannot accept a Fifth Pattern representing One Star Hall. On this matter I am purely impartial. I am merely thinking of Astral Sage College’s One Star Hall reputation.”
“Your acceptance or otherwise matters not,” Chi Chan said snappishly. “There will be due process to decide such things.”
“Ah, please don’t get angry, mentor Chi Chan,” Shen Jinxiao said with an oily smile. “I am indeed just expressing my opinion. Of course we will vote accordingly when the time comes. But do not expect many of us to vote for a Fifth Pattern to represent, even if he fights way above his cultivation cla.s.s. Imagine the message that we would be sending to the other sage colleges. Astral Sage College’s strongest One Star Hall student is a Fifth Pattern? How ungainly.” “So what if he’s a Fifth Pattern?” Chi Chan retorted. “Surely you know that Li Luo defeated a Third Changing as a Third Pattern in the Golden Dragon Dao Fields?”
“I have indeed,” Shen Jinxiao replied. “But that was not Li Luo’s work alone. He had the help of Qin Zhulu and Lu Qing’er. Besides, the Third Changing he fought had not earned his cultivation level truly, but was boosted through some unknown arts. He might not be much stronger than a Second Changing with an eighth-grade resonance.”
“Even Bai Doudou, w.a.n.g Hejiu, and Duze Beixuan have reached Fifth Pattern. If Li Luo stalls here, he might soon be left behind.”
Chi Chan shot Shen Jinxiao a filthy look, but did not engage further. Arguments here were useless. She had better spend more time thinking about how to help Li Luo achieve his breakthrough. Although it was an even higher hurdle for his dual resonances, but she believed that he could overcome it.
Besides, even if Li Luo failed to make the breakthrough in time, his unique fighting abilities might still see him triumph over Qin Zhulu.
While Chi Chan and Shen Jinxiao bickered, the topic of their argument was busy doing his best in the fights, oblivious to the politics above.
Actually, he knew the reason for his slump better than anyone else.
Others thought that he was wrestling with two simultaneous evolutions… But actually he had four resonances to worry about…
Water and light resonances.
Wood and earth resonances.
Primary and secondary.
Others just needed a simple, straightforward evolution, while he had to deal with the interaction between four. Of course it was going to be extremely difficult. He sighed to himself. For now, he could only curb his impatience. They had a bigger problem to deal with.
Their squad had reached their limit, and it was hard to go any further…