Xu Shanyue stared at Li Luo, a trace of disappointment in his eyes. "Li Luo," he said, "I know the problem with your empty resonance has brought you a lot of pressure, but you shouldn't choose to give up at a time like this."
Li Luo quickly replied, "I haven't given up."
Xu Shanyue said in a deep voice, "Then how do you dare ask for a week off at a critical juncture like this? Everyone else is seizing every second to cultivate bitterly, and you? You actually took a leave to go home and rest?"
Li Luo felt helpless, but he knew Xu Shanyue had his best interests at heart, so he didn't argue further and simply nodded honestly.
After delivering a stern lecture, Xu Shanyue could only let out a soft sigh of frustration in the end. He gave Li Luo a deep look, then turned and walked into the drill ground.
Li Luo hurried in after him. The drill ground was spacious, with a platform several dozen meters wide at the center. Stone steps surrounded it in concentric rings, rising layer upon layer from near to far.
On the stone steps sat individual stone meditation mats.
A young man or woman sat cross-legged on each meditation mat.
Li Luo's entrance inevitably drew the attention of many gazes, which was followed by a wave of whispering.
Li Luo, who had been missing for a week, had evidently become a talking point in Nanfeng Academy once again.
Meeting those gazes quite calmly, Li Luo walked straight to his designated meditation mat. Right next to him was Zhao Kuo, with his tall and robust build. Seeing Li Luo, Zhao Kuo asked with some surprise, "What's going on with your hair?"
Li Luo glanced at him and said casually, "Just dyed it. They seem to call it granny grey. Pretty trendy, right?"
Zhao Kuo: "..."
Suddenly noticing some bruises on Zhao Kuo's face, Li Luo was about to ask when Xu Shanyue's voice rang out from the center of the ground, full of spirit: "Students, the academy grand examination is getting closer and closer. I hope you will all push yourselves hard in these final moments. If you can enter an advanced academy, there will naturally be many benefits for your future."
"Here, I also want to commend Zhao Kuo and Yuan Qiu. Both of their resonance powers have now reached the Sixth Seal Stage. If they push a bit harder, it's quite possible for them to make a run at the Seventh Seal before the grand exam."
A few sighs of admiration rose from the crowd. Li Luo similarly cast a surprised glance at Zhao Kuo beside him; it seemed he wasn't the only one who had made progress over the past week.
After praising Zhao Kuo, Xu Shanyue said no more and began today's lecture.
Li Luo focused his attention entirely on the lesson. Xu Shanyue was teaching three resonance arts—two low-tier and one mid-tier. He tirelessly explained the essential points of each resonance art over and over, showing a great deal of patience.
The grading of resonance arts was actually the same as that of guidance arts, except that introductory guidance arts were replaced by three tiers: low, mid, and high.
Beyond these three tiers came the General, Marquis, and King tiers of resonance arts, which followed the same classification.
Of course, that level of resonance art was still far too distant for beginners like them who were currently at the Tenth Seal Stage. Even if they managed to learn one, it would probably be very difficult to execute with their own meager resonance power.
As for cultivation in resonance arts, Li Luo's comprehension went without saying. If it came to a pure comparison of resonance arts, he was confident that there were hardly any students in Nanfeng Academy who could surpass him.
Therefore, not long after Xu Shanyue finished explaining the three resonance arts, Li Luo had already achieved a preliminary understanding and mastery of them.
"Alright, let's end today's resonance art class here. The afternoon is for resonance power class, so all of you must cultivate properly." Two hours later, Xu Shanyue stopped the lecture, gave the group a few final admonitions, and then announced a break.
Li Luo sat in his original spot and stretched lazily. Zhao Kuo leaned over and grinned, saying, "Little Luo, those three resonance arts just now—can you help me go over them later?"
Zhao Kuo was well aware of Li Luo's comprehension regarding resonance arts. Whenever he encountered resonance arts that were hard to get a grasp on in the past, he would always consult Li Luo about the parts he didn't understand.
Li Luo chuckled and scolded, "Now that you need help, you know to call me Little Luo?"
Zhao Kuo wore a silly grin, but laughing pulled at the bruises on his face, causing him to wince in pain again.
"What happened to you?" Li Luo asked.
Zhao Kuo frowned and said, "It's all because of that guy Bei Kun from the First Academy. He's been losing his mind these past few days, constantly looking for trouble with people from our Second Academy. In the end, I couldn't stand it and fought a few rounds with him."
He pointed to the bruises on his face and said with a hint of smugness, "That guy hits pretty hard, but I didn't let him get the upper hand either. I almost beat that pretty boy's face to a pulp."
At this point, several other people from the Second Academy had gathered around, chiming in with righteous indignation: "That Bei Kun is simply despicable! We clearly didn't provoke him, yet he always comes over to pick fights."
"Good thing we have Zhao Kuo; otherwise, no one would really be able to keep him in check."
Zhao Kuo waved his hands, shooing those people away, and then lowered his voice to ask, "Did you offend Bei Kun recently? It looks like he's coming after you."
Hearing this, Li Luo suddenly remembered that before he left the academy, Bei Kun seemed to have sent him a message through Difa Qing, inviting him to a banquet at the Qingfeng Restaurant. Of course, he had just taken that remark as a joke—could that idiot really have waited at Qingfeng Restaurant for a whole day?
And since he hadn't come to the academy all week, Bei Kun must have vented his anger on the people from the Second Academy, coming over to cause trouble because of that?
Li Luo smiled, patted Zhao Kuo on the shoulder, and said, "It actually might be. Looks like you took a few beatings on my behalf."
"I don't really mind. If I hadn't fought those few rounds with him, I might not have been able to break through to the Sixth Seal."
Zhao Kuo shrugged, then added, "Still, now that you've come to the academy, he'll probably come looking for you during this afternoon's resonance power class."
He thought for a moment, patted his chest, and said, "When the time comes, just let me handle it. Let's see if fighting him a few more times can push me straight through to the Seventh Seal!"
Li Luo smiled. Zhao Kuo was straightforward and loyal, truly a rare and valuable friend. However, letting a friend take the blame for him while he hid in the back wasn't his style either.
So he simply smiled and said, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
In the afternoon, resonance power class.
To the north of Nanfeng Academy lay a vast expanse of dense forest. The forest was lush and green, and when a breeze blew through, it stirred up layer upon layer of emerald waves.
Right in the center of the dense forest stood a towering giant tree. The tree was yellowish-brown in color, about two hundred meters tall, and its dense branches stretched outward like an immensely huge web of wood.
The branches of the giant tree were thick and sturdy, and the strangest thing was that every single leaf on them was about two meters wide and a foot thick, resembling a platform.
This was the Resonance Power Tree.
The Resonance Power Tree did not grow naturally; rather, it was crafted from numerous exotic materials, being neither quite metal nor wood.
Inside the Resonance Power Tree existed an energy core capable of absorbing and storing an extremely massive amount of heaven and earth energy.
And the broad leaves of the Resonance Power Tree functioned like individual cultivation platforms, with each leaf capable of supplying one student with energy for cultivation.
This kind of Resonance Power Tree was an essential fixture of every academy, differing only in scale and potency.
In a sense, these leaves were just like the golden rooms in Li Luo's ancestral home. Of course, in terms of sheer single-effect potency, the golden rooms at the ancestral home were definitely superior, but after all, not every student had access to that kind of cultivation condition.
On the Resonance Power Tree, the leaves were divided into three tiers, distinguished as golden leaves, silver leaves, and copper leaves.
Looking at it from a distance, one would discover that over sixty percent of the Resonance Power Tree's canopy was covered in the color of copper leaves. Among the remaining forty percent, silver leaves accounted for thirty percent, while golden leaves made up only about ten percent.
The golden leaves were all concentrated near the very top of the Resonance Power Tree, and their numbers were scarce.
Naturally, one didn't even need to think to know that cultivating on the golden leaves yielded far better results than the other two types of leaves.
However, the vast majority of the golden leaves were occupied by the First Academy. This was only natural, as the First Academy was the pride and facade of Nanfeng Academy.
Out of the several hundred people in the entire Second Academy, the number of golden leaves allotted to them was a mere ten. As for the Third and Fourth Academies further down, they had even less qualification to enjoy them. From this, one could see just how rare those golden leaves were.
The Resonance Power Tree was only open for half a day each day. When the giant bell at the tree top chimed, it was time for the tree to open, and this moment was the one all students looked forward to the most.
At this moment, amidst the echoing bell tolls, numerous students flooded into the dense forest with faces full of excitement, then climbed the giant tree along the winding, python-like wooden ladders.
Li Luo also followed the stream of people up onto the Resonance Power Tree. He looked up at the ten golden leaves at the top and felt a bit awkward for a moment. Among those ten golden leaves belonging to the Second Academy, one used to belong to him, after all—ranked by strength, he was second only to Zhao Kuo in the Second Academy.
It was just that later, because of his empty resonance, he had voluntarily yielded his golden leaf to someone else. This resulted in his current situation where he seemingly had no spot left, as he certainly couldn't bring himself to ask for the previously surrendered golden leaf back.
"Whatever, I'll just make do for now."
Thinking this, Li Luo walked toward a silver leaf belonging to the Second Academy.
As Li Luo walked toward the silver leaf, various gazes carrying different emotions landed on him from the upper sections of the Resonance Power Tree.
Near the top of the Resonance Power Tree, thick branches intertwined to form a wooden platform. At this moment, several people on the platform were looking down from above, gazing at Li Luo's location.
"So this Li Luo has finally come to the academy after disappearing for a week."
Difa Qing crossed her arms, her form-fitting school uniform hugging her well-developed, petite figure. Combined with her pretty face carrying a hint of flirtatious charm and her fair, tender skin, her presence drew the occasional wandering gaze from many nearby boys.
Staring at Li Luo's figure, she lightly curled her lips and said, "Is he afraid of being tracked down and troubled by Bei Kun? Is that why he's using this method to hide?"
"It really is a waste of such a handsome face," a group of her girlfriends commented and sighed nearby.
"Heehee, little girl, I remember back when Li Luo was still in the First Academy, you were his little fan girl," teased a companion.
The teased girl's face immediately flushed red. She stamped her foot and retorted, "As if you girls weren't the same!"
The girls giggled, a trace of pity flashing in their eyes. Back then, when Li Luo first arrived at the First Academy, he was simply an unmatched, rising star. Not only was he handsome, but the comprehension he displayed was also peerless. Most importantly, Luolan Manor was at the zenith of its power back then, an illustrious house with dual marquises.
A handsome youth with talent and a deep background—which girl wouldn't like such a person?
Yet unfortunately, as time passed, the halo around Li Luo began to be stripped away. First was the disappearance of his parents, which directly led to a massive drop in Luolan Manor's status and strength. Following that, the revelation that Li Luo was born with an empty resonance plunged him even deeper into the abyss.
Thus, the once-celebrated star of the First Academy was "banished" to the Second Academy.
At this point, harboring admiration for him was clearly no longer appropriate.
Hearing her girlfriends chattering away, Difa Qing rolled her eyes in mild exasperation and said, "A bunch of shallow fangirls."
Just as Li Luo sat down cross-legged on a silver leaf and heard a commotion stirring around him, he raised his gaze to see Bei Kun, surrounded by a group of sycophants, leaping down from the leaves above.
Bei Kun had a somewhat tall and robust build with a fair complexion, but the gloomy look in his eyes gave his entire person a sinister aura.
"Li Luo, I thought you weren't coming to the academy anymore," Bei Kun said, staring at Li Luo with a fake smile.
Li Luo glanced at him, truly too lazy to bother.
This attitude of Li Luo's instantly made Bei Kun burn with fury. Back when Luolan Manor was powerful, he had fawned over Li Luo in every possible way, yet the latter had always maintained this same aloof indifference. Back then, he hadn't dared to say anything, but did Li Luo think he was still the same person as before?
"Li Luo, you made me wait a whole day for nothing at Qingfeng Restaurant. How are we going to settle this?" Bei Kun said through clenched teeth.
Li Luo retorted impatiently, "Can you stop pinning your own stupidity on me?"
"What kind of IQ makes you think I'd actually go to Qingfeng Restaurant to treat you?"
With a gloomy look in his eyes, Bei Kun said, "Li Luo, apologize to me face-to-face right now, and I'll let this matter go. Otherwise..."
Li Luo smiled. "Otherwise you're going to wait at Qingfeng Restaurant for another day?"
Some snickers broke out from the surrounding crowd. Bei Kun was somewhat of a bully in Nanfeng Academy and frequently pushed people around on ordinary days, but it was clear that Li Luo didn't care about his threats at all.
Glares of sullen malice fixed on Li Luo as Bei Kun said, "Got a tough mouth, do you? You dare come down here and play with me?"
Li Luo shook his head. "Not interested."
This Bei Kun was simply too low-tier. He hadn't wanted to deal with him in the past, and he cared about him even less now. If he had to comply every time the other person wanted to play, wouldn't that make him just as low-tier as the other guy?