Chapter 0439: Three Favorites

The next day, Li Luo made his way back to the Astral Sage College after saying farewell to Jiang Qing'e.

There was still roughly half a month's time until the Holy Grail Meet. All of the participants were buckling down and working hard to cultivate and train. He was no different. It was time for the final sprint.

Upon reaching the college, Li Luo made his way to Mentor Chi Chan's residence, finding his favorite mentor sipping tea within the gazebo in the courtyard.

"Your shoes, remove them. Don't sully my mats," Mentor Chi Chan commanded without batting an eye.

Hurriedly removing his footwear, Li Luo immediately mustered the most radiant smile he could as he scrambled into the gazebo, taking a seat in front of the mentor.

"What are you up to now? The way you rushed over gives me a bad feeling." Mentor Chi Chan glanced over at him with a strange look. The usual Li Luo seemed relaxed compared to this uppity, bouncing rabbit in front of her.

"Well, I have something really important that I need your help with!" Li Luo earnestly explained.

Raising a single eyebrow in curiosity combined with a tinge of suspicion, Chi Chan immediately asked, "I hope you're not asking me to fight off House Luolan's secret nemesis, are you? Even if I agree, the college will never accede to this request either."

"Mentor, your love for your students is vast and wide like the ocean... How could I take advantage of that and be so shameless!? I, Li Luo, am certainly not that type of person!" Shaking his head vigorously, he continued, "To be honest, I was just hoping you could assist me with refining a certain object. This requires the assistance of two Dukes working together, and the other cooperator is the Golden Dragon Bank's Yu Hongxi."

"Yu Hongxi?"

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Mentor Chi Chan was slightly taken aback. "The Golden Dragon Bank is very similar to the Astral Sage College. Both are neutral parties, so why would she accept your request?"

Without further prompting, she continued, "Although I don't know exactly what you want to refine that requires so much help, assisting you doesn’t break the Astral Sage College’s rules. Hmm... it should also count as my reward to you for performing so exceptionally during the ticket match."

"Mentor Chi Chan, did you just agree so easily?" Li Luo burst out in surprise.

"You aren't satisfied with this?" She grinned.

"No, no, no... I had never expected you to be so decisive. Much better than that fellow from the Golden Dragon Bank..."

"I can't be compared with her. She is in charge of the entire Golden Dragon Bank, and her every action will inevitably be scrutinized. Since she agreed to help you, I would definitely not have any concerns."

Nodding, he exhaled a sigh of thanks. "Since Mentor Chi Chan has so unwillingly agreed to assist me, then I won't let you act for free."

"Oh? Did you want to bribe me?" An almost entertained smile hung on her lips. "I think you may have misunderstood what it means to be a Duke Stage expert. Although you're supported by House Luolan, that doesn't mean that you have the means to hire one. My assistance is purely based on the fact that you're my student. If we were to look at proper compensation... I don't think anything you can provide would be sufficient." This was the inner pride that all Duke experts possessed.

Grinning in response, Li Luo quietly removed a jade gourd from his pocket and lightly placed it upon the tea table.

When her gaze fell upon the jade gourd, a golden, flowing substance entered her eyes.

The original glimpse of suspicion and confusion was quickly replaced with utter shock.

She finally understood what this was!

The atmosphere seemed to congeal at this very moment as time seemed to freeze.

Ten breaths later, she gingerly reached out and lightly cradled the finger-sized jade gourd.

"Time. Place."

"In 10 days. We will be refining the object in the college. I was hoping you could arrange for a suitable location," Li Luo said candidly.

"Mhm." Mentor Chi Chan nodded in agreement.

Although Chi Chan seemed to be calm on the outside, she was now tightly clutching the jade gourd to the point that even veins could be seen on her fair hands.

When she noticed Li Luo's gaze, she finally let go, and the jade gourd was quickly hidden in her sleeve and put away.

A quick glance revealed a slight blush that could be seen even below her veiled face. Chuckling secretly within, it was evident that this King Quintessence possessed utmost temptation even for these mighty Duke experts. The always-calm Mentor Chi Chan had been completely unsettled by the mere sight of this object.

However, he was smart enough to not poke the bear, just in case Chi Chan got angry.

"Mentor Chi Chan, do you think I have a chance to ascend the podium in the One Star Hall Holy Grail Meet?" Li Luo quickly changed topics to prevent harping on the situation.

Although her mind was full of confused and conflicting thoughts, the unbridled question snapped her out of her stupor. "Yeah, if you're talking about winning the most shameless participant competition, your chances of being in the top few are probably unrivaled."

Hearing that blunt reply, Li Luo was left a little dissatisfied. "What do you mean by that?"

"Do you really think that beating the Blue Abyss Sage College's Lu Cāng qualifies you as one of the strongest One Star Hall students across the divine continent?" she snapped impolitely.

"Do you mean that Lu Cāng isn't even considered to be an average participant?" Li Luo retorted.

"Lu Cāng is a strong opponent. Based on my experience, he should be in the top 10 of the East Divine Continent's One Star Hall students. Beating him puts you in the top tier of competitors. However, if you feel that this is sufficient to ascend to the top of the One Star Hall rankings, you are sorely mistaken. You are underestimating the trump cards of the other top tier colleges."

"Do you have any information on these students?" Li Luo curiously continued to ask.

Yet his query was met with the shake of a head. "This ticket match was slightly different from the ones before. If this was in the past, you would have received detailed information on your opponent before the match. This was the norm for an exchange between colleges. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and you were inevitably faced with a surprise during the match. Now, considering the fact that this was just the friendliest of matches, what do you think will happen for the actual Holy Grail Meet? All of the best colleges will indubitably conceal any and all information on their participants! It's a secret they will bring to the grave. If you want to get in-depth information, then you will have to experience it for yourself during the actual meet." Unsurprisingly, this response was met with a regretful Li Luo.

"Of course, we won't let you go in blind... but our assistance will be limited. We should be able to get some general information on the three strongest. And you don't belong in this group, Li Luo."

"So who are these three champions?"

"The Spear of Enlightened Sage. The Beast of the Sacred Summit. And last but not least, the Infernal Core's Illusory Thunderbolt."