The viewing platform was held in enthralled silence when the curtains fell on the first battle. The First Princess and Zhong Nan stood in silence for a long moment before the crowd slowly shook off the spell and began to cheer.

They cheered sonorously and equally for both sides, grateful for a magnificent showing.

Although it had ended in a draw, there was no fault to be found in either. They had both done their best preparations, executed their finest moves, and brought the exchange to new heights together.

"Heavenly Dipper General level battles are really something else," Li Luo said, exhaling sharply. The outcome had been more or less predictable, but watching a rollercoaster and riding one were two completely different experiences. Perhaps they might have revealed other trump cards in a battle to the death, but they had been evenly matched in this fight.

Zhong Nan had defended his title as the Blue Abyss Sage College's aegis, while the First Princess had displayed uncommon power as well in testing him, making the Astral Sage College proud.

The crowd slowly quietened, and then suddenly the cheers redoubled loudly. Now the name on their lips was Gong Shenjun.

Li Luo looked up to see Gong Shenjun slowly descending to the scorched battlefield.

He was clad in white today, his usual handsome and charismatic self. The whole Astral Sage College rallied behind the strongest of the Seven Astral Pillars, and many girls were gushing over him. 

Nobility radiated from him. Even the Xia Kingdom elders nodded slightly and smiled in approval.

"Regent, you are really blessed to have such a great son," House Jiyan's Zhu Qinghuo said.

Duze Yan nodded as well. "His Highness Gong Shenjun brings glory and pride. Such an outstanding member of the younger generation will definitely be a great successor to you, Great One."

The Regent smiled at them warmly. "You are too kind, gentlemen," he said with a modest wave. "All of this was thanks to the Astral Sage College's nurturing. If not for them, Shenjun would not be what he is today."

"It is you who are too kind, Your Highness," Vice Principal Su Xin replied with a smile. "Gong Shenjun's talent and hard work are noted by mentors and peers alike. His accolades were not obtained with mere luck."

The little emperor frowned at the exchange. "My sister is excellent as well," he said loudly.

The others were a little surprised, but they nodded as well.

"It is true, Your Majesty. The First Princess' excellence captured all of our hearts but a moment ago. Who could doubt it?"

Below, the Blue Abyss Sage College's Liang Kui had taken to the field.

He was a hulking figure dressed in black, but his juxtaposition to Gong Shenjun's white was not at all an equal one. His features were slightly skewed, an abnormality that didn't mark him fully ugly, but stood out starkly against the heroic handsomeness of his counterpart.

The girls of the Astral Sage College turned their eyes away from him.

Liang Kui was used to such behavior. He ignored them, eyes firmly on his opponent. He showed no signs of wanting to exchange courtesies. With a twist of his hands, he produced a long, black spear.

It thrummed with energy, and there was a golden mark on its shaft that caught one's attention.

This was a gold-eye treasured artifact.

BOOM!

Electricity blasted out of Liang Kui's being in all directions, summoning an electrical storm that crackled and flashed. The dancing electricity forked out, creating a sinister hiss at each object it touched. In the center of it all, six heavenly pearls began to appear.

The distinctive blue-white color of lightning cast strange shadows on his already imperfect face, giving it a demonic cast. The storm demon.

Liang Kui was coming in guns blazing, without any intention of testing the waters. He knew how deep the waters were with this one—probably deeper than he could handle. Anything less than his best, and he would be sunk immediately.

Facing such a feisty start, Gong Shenjun smiled slightly and pulled out his own silver spear.

Like Liang Kui's weapon, his was also a powerful conduit to focus worldly natural energy on. The space around his weapon seemed to distort because of the overwhelming energy.

This was a gold-eye treasured artifact too.

Silvery-white resonant power flowed out of Gong Shenjun in rivers, rising into the air like smoke stacks. From their midst, an enormous, silver scaled-dragon rose in its signature coiling movement up to the sky. [1]

The silver scaled-dragon's beautiful scales took one's breath away... just as the deadly claws below looked capable of taking one's life away.

Li Luo looked at the scaled-dragon with great interest. Clearly, this was Gong Shenjun's resonance.

Upper eighth-grade, silver scaled-dragon resonance.

This was the first time that Li Luo had actually seen one.

Gong Shenjun did not stop there. The energy within his body only continued to grow stronger, and then seven heavenly pearls burst out of his body to float around him, glowing with silvery light.

They were even brighter than the First Princess' pearls.

Li Luo took it all in with a measured eye. Although seven heavenly pearls was already an incredible feat, somehow his gut was telling him that this might not even be Gong Shenjun's full power yet. The foremost student in the Astral Sage College might still be holding back.

And if that were true, he was truly something special—it took immense confidence to hold back against an opponent of Liang Kui's caliber.

While Li Luo was still trying to size up Gong Shenjun, the latter was already responding to his opponent. His spear lined up against Liang Kui, and he still dipped his head slightly as a gesture of respect, even though his opponent had not bothered with the courtesy.

"Astral Sage College, Gong Shenjun. I look forward to learning from our exchange, my Blue Abyss friend."

Liang Kui looked at his stronger opponent, no fear or intimidation on his unflattering features. He slowly lifted his spear and then spoke in a raspy, thrumming voice.

"Onnne move," he hummed, as though his entire body was brimming with electrical energy.

"Hmm?" Gong Shenjun inclined his head.

"Receive onnne move frommm mmme, annnd I surrennnder." [2]

Gong Shenjun laughed. "Risking it all on one shot? Are you trying to get a draw in this fight as well? Is this the battle plan of Blue Abyss—to get more draws?" Liang Kui did not reply, simply waiting for Gong Shenjun's reply.

Gong Shenjun smiled at him, flexing his fingers around his silver shaft. He spoke with a warm and measured pace.

"You are our guests from afar. As the host representing both school and kingdom, I am happy to oblige to your request.

"So, friend... come at me."

1. TN: scaled-dragon = 蛟, or what I usually think of as Chinese dragons. Y'know - the snakey looking ones rather than the fat Charizard/Dragonite types. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaolong ☜

2. Yus, I've emphasised the nasal consonants here, which fit the electricity thing. #linguistics ☜