Chapter 1072: Those Former Rivals

The next day, Zong Sha and Jiang Wanyu delivered the information that Li Luo had requested about the participants from the other sage colleges.

Li Luo warmly invited the two into the small building. He was extremely happy with his decision to become good friends with them in the Spiritual Resonance Cave, or else he would've had to spend time trying to find someone to help him out in the Heavenly Origin Ancient College since he was unfamiliar with everything.

"Brother Li Luo, this information covers all the sage colleges. According to past evaluations, the sage colleges are divided into three tiers. There are two available spots in the first tier, which naturally receives the highest share of resources. The second tier has ten available spots, with only half the resources of the first tier. The third tier also has a limited number of spots, but they are given the lowest amount of resources."

Zong Sha removed three sheets from the top of the stack of papers in front of him and placed them in front of Li Luo, saying, "These three are the strongest. In the past, the first tier has been occupied by them nine times out of ten."

Li Luo's gaze swept across the names of the three colleges.

Thunder Sage College.

Lake Sage College.

Lunar Sage College.

Li Luo's gaze paused on the Lake Sage College. The mentor named Chen Yun from yesterday was from here.

"Because the academic evaluation is a team battle, four students will be sent out from each college to make up a team, but the people from the One and Two Star Halls are basically just making up the numbers and don't need to be paid too much attention to. The only students that are considered somewhat capable are those from the Three and Four Star Halls."

Jiang Wanyu's red lips slightly parted as she stared at Li Luo, the corners of her lips curling into a smile. "You might need to pay attention to the Four Star Hall representatives these three colleges in particular."

She helped Li Luo to pull out a piece of paper, which he thanked her for before taking it. It contained the records of the teams of the top three sage colleges, and the students in the One, Two, and Three Star Halls were all skipped by Li Luo.

Thunder Sage College, Gu Jing, upper eighth-grade lightning resonance, Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, Illusory Seal-grade.

Lake Sage College, Gao Xuhan, quasi ninth-grade poison resonance, Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, Illusory Seal-grade.

Lunar Sage College, Tong Yan, upper eighth-grade Five-Colored Divine Ox resonance, Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, Illusory Seal-grade.

Li Luo swept his gaze across and paused for a moment at the three students' strength levels. "Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, Illusory Seal-grade."

"The strength of these students is rather similar to mine right now."

Zong Sha let out a laugh, then the resonant power in his body flowed and moved, condensing in his palm. A shimmering, translucent, golden seal gradually materialized on it.

When Li Luo examined the golden seal, he could feel extremely pure energy pulses coming it. The energy seemed to be primordial in nature.

He knew that the seal he was looking at was the proof that someone was at the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, also known as the Heavenly Resonance Golden Seal.

Upon breaking into the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, one's resonance would resonate with worldly natural energy and then draw out a wisp of source origin energy. The source origin energy would then fuse with the resonant power, transforming into a Heavenly Resonance Golden Seal.

Heavenly Resonance Golden Seals were further divided into two levels, Illusory and True, based on its degree of transparency.

Back in the Spiritual Resonance Cave, Zong Sha, Zhao Yan, and the others had only just completed their breakthroughs and had not yet managed to condense their own Heavenly Resonance Golden Seals. Since Zong Sha had returned to the college and had cultivated for about a month, he had truly stabilized his cultivation and condensed his Golden Seal.

However, the Golden Seal was still rather transparent and obviously still an Illusory Seal-grade.

It was the same as the three people on the information sheet.

Yet the Four Star Hall students of the sage colleges were on the same level as Zong Sha, who was the best among the Four Star Hall students of the ancient college?

This hint of doubt was instantly squashed by Li Luo as he understood the different nuances at play... In addition to the differences between the ranking systems of the sage colleges and the ancient college, the so-called Four Star Hall representatives of the sage colleges might not necessarily be real Four Star Hall students. To be more precise, these people should be referred to as titled students.

They were similar to the Seven Astral Pillars of the Astral Sage College. And the members of the Seven Astral Pillars were not all Four Star Hall students—some of them were alumni from the previous batch. As long as one held the title of a student, one could stay for a year longer to enjoy the benefits of the college's resources.

As these people were still counted as Four Star Hall students, the sage colleges naturally prioritized sending them to participate in the academic evaluation.

Li Luo stared at Zong Sha's Golden Seal for a few moments before he realized that it was decorated with an ancient mark that looked familiar.

The mark was faintly engraved on the side of the Golden Seal, lending an air of mystery to it.

"That mark..."

Li Luo's heart raced slightly as he realized that he had seen similar marks in his resonant palace. Not just one, but five full ones! And each of them was clearer and more archaic than this one that Zong Sha had.

Zong Sha detected Li Luo's gaze and explained with a smile, "Hehe, this mark is the Primordial Golden Seal, which can normally only be condensed at the Greater Heavenly Resonance Tier. But I was able to condense it thanks to the Enlightenment Core that you gave me, Junior Brother Li Luo.

"Thanks to the Primordial Golden Seal, my Golden Seal can absorb source origin energy a bit more efficiently, allowing it to become a True Seal-grade more quickly."

Li Luo waved his hand while he quietly thought to himself that the Primordial Golden Seal was more useful than he imagined. Unfortunately, he had not yet reached the Heavenly Resonance Tier and there was no way for him to condense a Heavenly Resonance Golden Seal. Thus, he could not utilize the effect of his Primordial Golden Seals to their fullest extent.

However, that didn't matter as the water pearls containing source origin energy had already given him quite a pleasant surprise.

Collecting his thoughts, Li Luo looked through the information of the teams from the other sage colleges. Apart from the three who had entered the Illusory Seal-grade of the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Tier, there was no lack of seven-pearl and eight-pearl students. He did not spot any nine-pearls though.

Li Luo was quickly flipping through the information when he suddenly paused. He stared at a page and softly exclaimed when he saw an unexpectedly familiar name, "Huh?"

Enlightened Sage College, Three Star Hall student, Jing Taixu, quasi ninth-grade wind resonance, Fiend Finisher.

Recognizing this name, Li Luo was hit by a wave of nostalgia and let out a laugh. Jing Taixu was his arch-enemy back at the Holy Grail Meet. He never expected to meet him here.

The representative of the Enlightened Sage College's Four Star Hall was Lu Jinci, a seven-pearl. Li Luo also had a deep impression of this person as he had competed with Jiang Qing'e for the title of the strongest Three Star Hall student at the Holy Grail Meet.

Looking at the two names, Li Luo thought for a moment before he continued to flip through the pages. Very quickly, he found two other familiar names.

Heavenly Inferno Sage College, Lu Ming, seventh-grade illusion and lightning dual resonances, Fiend Finisher.

Sacred Summit Sage College, Sun Dasheng, upper eighth-grade Stone Ape resonance, Fiend Finisher.

Li Luo couldn't help but feel a little emotional upon thinking back to the Holy Grail Meet. After more than a year, the former rivals once again had the opportunity to meet each other.

Only this time, things would not be the same.

Li Luo smiled at Zong Sha and Jiang Wanyu as he said, "These other sage colleges are not weak at all. You are just outstandingly monstrous."

Jiang Wanyu said, "An external force was the main reaosn you were able to kill Tian Miao and heavily injure Zhao Yan in the Spiritual Resonance Cave, right? I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to utilize any external aid in the academic evaluation, because that is a violation of the rules. The Astral Sage College has only you as a representative. Not only do you have no advantage in terms of cultivation level, you are also disadvantaged in numbers. So, are you really sure that you want to represent the Astral Sage College?"

Li Luo nodded and replied, "It will indeed be somewhat challenging."

Zong Sha then commented, "Actually, with Junior Brother Li Luo's strength, as long as he avoids the top sage colleges and isn't targeted, it shouldn't be too difficult to achieve a second tier placement."

There were ten places in the second tier, and the intensity of competition was not that fierce.

If Li Luo could single-handedly place in the second tier, it would be considered a good achievement. As far as he knew, the second tier was as high as the Astral Sage College had placed in the past.

Li Luo smiled, his eyes fixated on the information on the three strongest sage colleges. The second tier placement was indeed considered decent, and he would've had no issue settiling for it under normal circumstances. However, now that the Astral Sage College was in such dire need of resources, Li Luo wanted to be a bit greedy.

So, he would not settle for a second tier placement as his target.

"Those two first tier spots... I wonder who's going to move out of the way for me?"