Eighth-grade purity for a secret watersource!

Li Luo's words were met with a sharp collective gasp. Some of the other villas' participants leaped to their feet, thoroughly unsettled.

The Cultivators Hall students might not fully understand the implications of this declaration, but they enjoyed the bizarre reactions of the resonance artificers all the more for it.

"My God!"

Yan Lingqing's pretty, little mouth was currently wide enough to put an entire fist in.

She was wildly delighted when Li Luo revealed the four-star formula. To think that he would also have an eighth-grade secret watersource!

She felt like she was floating on air.

"Cai Wei, quick, bite me! Make sure I'm not in a dream!" Yan Lingqing thrust her hand in front of Cai Wei's face.

Cai Wei gave her a withering look, then one hand shot out to pinch her snow-white cheek like a crab's claw. She gave it a good, hard twist to add some color to Yan Lingqing's complexion.

"Owie!!"

Yan Lingqing's eyes watered from the pain, and she glared at Cai Wei.

Cai Wei giggled. Truth be told, she was in a strange state of mind as well. It felt like it was raining pizzas, and she had wondered if she was in a dream herself. But it was too painful to pinch herself, and since Yan Lingqing had volunteered…

"Qing'e, did you know about this already?" Cai Wei asked the girl who had been sitting there calmly since the beginning.

"How dare you keep it from us! We were wilting away from the anxiety!" Yan Lingqing burst out.

"I only knew he had a four-star formula as well. Not about the secret watersource," Jiang Qing'e said soothingly.

"But Li Luo isn't the reckless type. Since he pushed to get this chance, I guessed that he had something else prepared. That's why I wasn't too worried."

Tang Yun had finally recovered enough to speak. "The Young Lord is a genius. With this four-star formula and an eighth-grade secret watersource, the Suncreek Villa will rise like never before!"

The other resonance artificers cheered as well. An eighth-grade secret watersource should have been far beyond their reach, but now the young lord had delivered it straight to them!

Which meant that they could get a share of it in the future, right? Even one tiny sample would be enough to satisfy them.

At this moment, they were incredibly thankful that they had chosen to join the Suncreek Villa.

Yu Lang nodded with satisfaction. "The guy's got promise. Looks like he managed to learn quite a bit from hanging around me. Budding Butterfly Spirit Liquid, eh... hey! It sounds like your name, Mengmeng!"

Bai Mengmeng gave him an earnest smile. "I made it, so Leader said he would name it after me as thanks."

"Li Luo, you bastard!"

"Eh?" Lu Qing'er's unfriendly interest shifted to their direction as well.

"Friend Yu Lang, I think you should watch your words," Bai Mengmeng said innocently to him. "Or I will tell my sister."

Yu Lang almost choked on his next insult. "Alright, calm down, don't be hasty. We wouldn't want to cause any deaths today, would we?"

Lu Qing'er pursed her lips. She knew that Bai Mengmeng had made the formula and gifted it to Li Luo, but to think that Li Luo would name it after her...

This little girl looked sweet and harmless, but she was clearly not one to hold back either. ...

"Eighth-grade watersource..."

The Duze siblings were completely thrown off by the revelation. This was even more sensational than him acquiring a four-star formula.

"How did he get something that pure?" Duze Beixuan croaked.

Duze Honglian rubbed her brow tiredly. Even she felt like cussing right about now. Was Li Luo some sort of portal to a world of treasures? It sure felt like he could pull them out whenever he wanted. After all their years of effort and mountains of skygold poured into research, the Bigswamp Villa's four-star formulas could be counted on one's fingers. In half a year, Li Luo's Suncreek Villa had already come up with one?

The secret watersource was even worse. His upper seventh-grade secret watersource had always been a threat, and now he had elevated it to an eighth-grade?! 

Did he think he was some sort of cotton-candy seller?  A new variation every day! 

Only the strongest of all the villas, the Skypalace Villa, had an eighth-grade secret watersource. None of the other villas had such a treasure!

That was how rare it was.

And somehow, according to Li Luo, they had made it in half a year?! Bullsh*t!

"No wonder he managed to reach 66%." Duze Honglian sighed. The whole picture was clear now. With the help of a four-star formula and the eighth-grade secret watersource, Li Luo had managed to overcome the disparity between their artificing skills.

"The Bigswamp Villa lost badly this time." It felt almost biblical—Suncreek David taking down Bigswamp Goliath.

Duze Beixuan slapped a chair out of sheer frustration. The Suncreek Villa had always been a centerpiece target in their strategy against their rival, House Luolan. It had been going well so far, although inciting Hanzhi's betrayal had come at a hefty price. They had reasoned it out as a crucial step towards putting the Suncreek Villa in the coffin, but now the necromancer Li Luo had brought them back from the dead.

The bastard had to be possessed by the gods or something! 

"Well?"

The First Princess inclined her head to look at an astounded Gui Xu.

"Well, there's nothing to say," he said with an arrested expression. "Four-star formula, eighth-grade secret watersource... who pulls these things casually out of the air?

"Our own Skypalace secret watersource came at an astronomical price. You know that best, Your Highness."

She nodded. "Li Luo could not have acquired it. I suspect his parents might have left it to him."

The two enigmatic House Lords... it was possible that they had left many treasures to their heir.

Gui Xu nodded. "Regardless, now the Suncreek Villa has all the needed components to be a real powerhouse. They might even become a threat to us."

He lowered his voice. "Should we... do something about that? House Luolan and the Suncreek Villa are plagued by vicious storms at present, and it is always easy to act in troubled times." The Skypalace Villa was backed by the royal court of the Xia Kingdom. If the First Princess so chose, they could crush the Suncreek Villa easily.

"I have my own plans," the First Princess said coolly to him. "Don't act on your own accord."

Gui Xu nodded hastily, chastened.

She was trying to befriend Jiang Qing'e due to her staggering potential, so she would definitely be treating House Luolan well. Furthermore, there was the business of Li Luo treating the emperor's natural illness. That alone would stop her from doing him harm.

There were bigger fish to fry, especially in half a year's time, when everything would change.

It was also the time when the Regent would hand over the rulership back to the emperor. She did not know if her uncle would do so, but she was moving in the shadows to make preparations...

...

The eighth-grade secret watersource was a trump card that blew everyone out of the water.

It had also blown Hanzhi's mind.

He stared at the secret watersource in Li Luo's hand in horrified fascination. He had never seen such a wondrous thing before.

"Was that from the two House Lords?

"WHY! If only they had revealed it earlier, I would have led the Suncreek Villa to become the greatest villa in the Xia Kingdom. Why would I have ever betrayed you?!" Hanzhi howled. 

He had only abandoned the Suncreek Villa because it had no future. If only he had known that Li Luo would pull out an eighth-grade secret watersource! 

Not even the Bigswamp Villa had such a resource!

He stood there, waves of regret and frustration coursing through him.

Li Luo ignored the traitor. He turned to the gathered Resonance Artificers Hall students with a bright and welcoming smile.

"Esteemed senior brothers and sisters. The Suncreek Villa did not choose to participate in this fair for fun.

"As the president of Suncreek Villa, I extend our official invitation to all of you. Although the Suncreek Villa is small and lacks the illustrious history our friends here provide," he said while gesturing around, "we do have one small advantage...

"For example..."

He lifted the secret watersource high up in the air, and they were enthralled by the little vial of liquid diamond. He grinned widely, like the big, bad wolf ready to pounce on Little Red Riding Hood.

"Our secret watersource is in plentiful supply."