The Eastern Academy.
The first batch of slots for advancing to the Eastern Academy had been finalized.
Nie Li, Gu Bei, Lu Piao, Long Yuyin, and a youth named Xue Yu — five people in total.
Jin Yan had been certain he'd secure a spot in the Eastern Academy, but a youth named Xue Yu had suddenly appeared, surpassing him by a wide margin in cultivation level and taking his place. Jin Yan flew into a rage, but the matter was settled, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Nie Li, I heard someone named Xue Yu advanced to the Eastern Academy along with us. Why don't we have any impression of this Xue Yu?" Lu Piao asked, genuinely puzzled. He had no idea there was even such a person in their class.
Even Nie Li had only heard that there was a quiet boy named Xue Yu in class who never spoke to anyone and whose strength didn't seem particularly remarkable. Yet the guy had suddenly shot up past Jin Yan and was advancing to the Eastern Academy alongside them.
"This person is no ordinary character!" Nie Li said after a moment of silence. "Have Li Xingyun look into his background! But try not to make enemies of him!"
"Right." Lu Piao nodded.
Beyond the five of them, several other students had also advanced to the Eastern Academy — people from the previous cohort and the one before that. Among them was Xiao Yu.
The Eastern Academy's martial arena.
The grounds here were incredibly vast, surrounded by layer upon layer of barriers on the outside.
Five or six hundred students had gathered in the martial arena, all of them Eastern Academy students.
A group of instructors sat at the very front, observing the sixty newly admitted students and discussing among themselves in low voices. Huang Yu, Nanmen Tianhai, and others were among them.
"A total of sixty students have newly advanced to the Eastern Academy this year, and some of them are quite promising!"
"I hear the latest cohort brought in five geniuses — Gu Bei and Long Yuyin among them. And there's that Nie Li as well!"
Huang Yu sat in the centermost position, his gaze sweeping over every student as he said with a smile, "Among the new cohort, several possess spiritual roots rated fifth grade or above. And Gu Bei of the Gu family and Long Yuyin of the Dragon Seal family have both fused with divine-grade growth-type dragon blood demon spirits. Truly impressive!"
Possessing a divine-grade growth-type dragon blood demon spirit meant a strong chance of advancing to the Middle Academy.
Nanmen Tianhai tapped the table surface and said with a slight curl of his lip, "According to the rules of the Eastern Academy, all newly admitted students must challenge senior students. This serves to remind them that there is always someone above you. Let the matches begin!"
After arriving at the martial arena, Nie Li and the others had already received word that each batch of newly admitted students advancing to the Eastern Academy would be required to challenge Eastern Academy seniors.
It was essentially an intimidation tactic — meant to temper the newcomers' pride and get them to settle down and train earnestly in the Eastern Academy.
Nie Li's gaze swept over the Eastern Academy students. Li Xingyun was there, and he spotted several other familiar faces, including Murong Yu.
Murong Yu's cold eyes landed on Nie Li and the others. He let out a snort. What small world — to run into Nie Li's group again so quickly.
"The Eastern Academy has a total of over six hundred students, and all six hundred are ranked. We're the newest cohort. The top genius of the previous cohort is Murong Yu, currently ranked around one hundred thirty-second. The top genius of the cohort before that is Li Xingyun, ranked seventy-eighth. The top genius of the cohort before that is Gu Heng, who has already advanced to the Middle Academy. Only a handful — a few dozen at most — make it into the Middle Academy. The rest of the geniuses mostly end up stuck in the Eastern Academy. Once their cultivation reaches the Heavenly Star Realm, they become inner disciples of the Feather God Sect and are sent out on missions across the land. Of course, many will also have other options," Gu Bei gave Nie Li a rough overview of the Eastern Academy's situation.
"Only super geniuses can make it into the Middle Academy. If you want to become the head of one of the great families or the sect master of the Feather God Sect, the one thing you absolutely must do is advance to the Middle Academy! The geniuses who enter the Middle Academy will be personally taught by the five strongest Martial Sovereign-level powerhouses of the Feather God Sect!" Long Yuyin added from the side. She was dressed in a sharp, fitted combat outfit, her fighting spirit practically burning.
Nie Li nodded. In his previous life, he had heard about all this as well.
Only by continuously climbing the rankings and breaking into the top ten would there be a chance of being selected to advance to the Middle Academy.
But the top ten positions were largely held by powerhouses from several cohorts earlier. Even Li Xingyun was only ranked seventy-eighth. Of course, back then Li Xingyun had only fused with an extraordinary-grade growth-type dragon blood demon spirit. Now that he possessed a divine-grade growth-type dragon blood demon spirit, his ranking would likely climb further. But for the time being, Li Xingyun had not publicly revealed his new spirit.
The Eastern Academy students looked at this batch of newcomers, and uncontrollable smirks of malicious amusement crept onto their faces. They remembered all too well — when they had first entered the Eastern Academy, they had been taught a brutal lesson they'd rather forget. Now it was this batch's turn.
"All the Eastern Academy seniors are here. Choose your opponents freely — each of you may issue five challenges! There are no restrictions on the challenges, only that killing is forbidden!" Nanmen Tianhai's voice was not loud, yet it carried across the entire martial arena.
Five challenges each. The new students exchanged glances. They would obviously target the weakest ones. They didn't know the exact rankings of the Eastern Academy seniors, but they could roughly gauge each opponent's strength from their aura.
Soon, several people began selecting their targets.
Nie Li, Gu Bei, and Lu Piao exchanged a look.
"Nie Li, who's going to take on Murong Yu?" Gu Bei and Lu Piao both looked eager to step up.
"I'll handle him. It's time to settle the score from the Ghost Ruins!" Nie Li's gaze locked onto Murong Yu in the distance, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Spotting Nie Li's gaze, Murong Yu let out a contemptuous snort. There was no way he believed Nie Li would dare challenge him. His cultivation had already reached the Sixth Life Realm. He didn't know exactly what level Nie Li's cultivation was at, but compared to himself, Nie Li was surely worlds behind.
"I'll challenge him!" Nie Li said calmly, pointing at Murong Yu.
The surrounding new students exchanged stunned looks, disbelief written all over their faces. Nie Li actually dared to challenge Murong Yu — it was absolutely mind-boggling. Murong Yu was the top genius of the previous cohort, ranked in the top two hundred of the entire Eastern Academy. Someone like that, they would never dare challenge lightly, because the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
As newcomers, picking off the lowest-ranked Eastern Academy seniors was already an ambitious enough goal. For Nie Li to immediately challenge Murong Yu — wasn't that a bit too ignorant of his own standing?
When he heard Nie Li's words, Murong Yu was also somewhat taken aback. Nie Li actually dared to challenge him — that was practically asking to be crushed! He threw his head back and laughed. "Since Junior Brother Nie Li has such a desire, then I'll be happy to give him some pointers!"
A vicious gleam flashed through his eyes. He still regretted letting Nie Li go last time. He'd been itching for a chance to teach Nie Li a lesson, but had never found the opportunity. Now that Nie Li was delivering himself right to his doorstep, he wouldn't hold back! (To be continued...)