Yanhuang Battlefield

In Vermilion Bird Country, Yanhuang Academy is the most sacred and revered institution for Beast Masters, rumored to be even older than Vermilion Bird Country itself.

Moreover, more often than not, Yanhuang Academy is not just an academy; it's a symbol. At least, Li Tianming knows that, setting aside powers like Thunder Venerable Mansion and Starry Sky Merchant Association, even the Vermilion Bird Royal Family, which controls the nation's lifeline, shows sufficient respect to Yanhuang Academy. Throughout history, countless princes and princesses have studied at Yanhuang Academy.

Li Tianming has even heard that the reason Yanhuang Academy has stood tall and unwavering for a thousand years is due to a background force behind it that surpasses what the people of Vermilion Bird Country can imagine.

For instance, the academy's "Heavenly Mansion" is a mysterious place to Li Tianming, said to be the true core of the academy.

As the holy land of Beast Masters in Vermilion Bird Country, Yanhuang Academy has cultivated countless generations of Beast Masters and holds a lofty status. The entire academy is incredibly vast, occupying nearly half of the northern district of Yandu. The whole Yanhuang Academy is even larger than the Vermilion Bird Royal Family's imperial city.

Today is the day of the academy's Palace Examination, held every four years. Li Tianming arrived early, and needless to say, it was a sea of people.

"Today is just a clearance battle, not a ranking battle, yet there are so many people, more than four years ago."

Of course, the attendees are not just the youths who obtained the Yanhuang Token; many are parents and attendants. Looking around, countless top experts are present, fully showcasing the prosperity and grandeur of Yandu.

The main gate of Yanhuang Academy is not opulent. It's built from simple, massive stones, bearing the marks of time and age. This minimalist yet profound design truly reveals the academy's thousand-year heritage, a place every Beast Master dreams of entering.

Four years ago, Li Tianming, with an excited heart, passed the Palace Examination and became a disciple of the academy. Today, four years later, as he stands at the academy's entrance, his feelings are entirely different.

Because he knows that the two people who destroyed everything for him three years ago are now deep within Yanhuang Academy, enjoying the treatment of top geniuses. They would never imagine that Li Tianming has returned.

The clearance battle is a simple step for Li Tianming, not very difficult. He follows the crowd inside, holding the Yanhuang Token. Once he completes registration, he can step into Yanhuang Academy again and participate in the clearance Palace Examination.

There are five registration points at the academy's entrance, and long queues have formed at each. Those queuing with him are teenagers around fifteen or sixteen, all youthful and radiant, their eyes filled with hope.

They are nervous and excited, just like Li Tianming was four years ago.

Once one turns twenty, they lose the qualification to compete for the Yanhuang Token. Li Tianming is fortunate; he will be overage in just over a month.

Among the five registration points, Li Tianming chooses the registration desk for "Phoenix Hall."

Besides the core "Heavenly Mansion," Yanhuang Academy is divided into five halls: Myriad Beasts Hall, Phoenix Hall, Azure Hall, Spirit Hall, and Tianyi Hall.

These five halls respectively recruit Beast Masters specializing in land beasts, flying beasts, aquatic creatures, insectoid creatures, and special types of Companion Beasts.

Flying beasts are honored by the mythical phoenix, hence the name Phoenix Hall. Phoenix Hall possesses an ancient lineage and, along with Myriad Beasts Hall, is considered the largest hall in Yanhuang Academy, with numerous disciples and outstanding talents.

As he neared the front of the line, Li Tianming was stunned to see that the people responsible for registration at the Phoenix Hall desk today were his "old classmates" from four years ago.

Having lost his Companion Beast three years ago, he was unable to continue cultivating and voluntarily withdrew from Phoenix Hall. His classmates who entered Yanhuang Academy with him that year have likely already been promoted to the "intermediate class."

Yanhuang Academy's five halls are divided by a four-year cycle, with each cycle representing a grade. There are three grades in total: beginner class, intermediate class, and advanced class.

Every four years, a new beginner class is recruited. Disciples within the beginner class who meet the cultivation requirements and standards are promoted to the intermediate class. As for the disciples in the highest advanced class, they have been cultivating at Yanhuang Academy for ten to twelve years and are permitted to graduate.

Of course, if their cultivation and achievements are exceptionally high, the academy may invite them to become teachers. Teachers at Yanhuang Academy hold very high status, definitely top-tier. Therefore, graduates of the advanced class strive exceptionally hard to compete for teaching positions.

Three years ago, Li Tianming dropped out of the beginner class at Phoenix Hall. His classmates from the same cohort have made significant progress through three years of dedicated cultivation, becoming at least Spirit Origin Realm Beast Masters.

Being promoted to the intermediate class signifies that their cultivation has passed the assessment and met the standards for the intermediate class. Failure to do so results in being forced to repeat the year in the beginner class for another four years.

At Yanhuang Academy, repeating a year is an extremely disgraceful matter. Not only does it waste four years of youth, but it also makes one a target of ridicule. Even more painful is that each person only gets one chance to repeat. If they fail to meet the standard a second time, they will be stripped of their Yanhuang Academy disciple status and expelled directly.

The two people before him, with whom Li Tianming studied together for a year, must have already been promoted to the intermediate class and become senior disciples. Otherwise, they wouldn't be qualified to undertake such an important task here, registering thousands of youths who obtained the Yanhuang Token.

Among the five halls, Phoenix Hall recruits five hundred disciples annually. However, the number of young people who obtained the Yanhuang Token and wish to enter Phoenix Hall is estimated to be over fifteen hundred. The pass rate for the Palace Examination is one-third.

These two old classmates, a man and a woman, the man named Fang Zhao and the woman named Lin Qingyu. Li Tianming still recognizes them, but he's unsure if they recognize him.

After queuing for about an hour, it was finally Li Tianming's turn. He took out his Yanhuang Token and wrote his origin and name on the list.

Fang Zhao and Lin Qingyu were both looking down as they processed the registrations, one verifying, the other collecting the Yanhuang Tokens.

"Lihuo City, Li Tianming." The man in the black robe, Fang Zhao, picked up the list. He froze for a moment upon seeing the name, then looked up. When he saw Li Tianming, his expression was particularly remarkable.

"Li Tianming, why is it you?" Lin Qingyu, dressed in an orange dress, her skin glistening slightly with sweat under the scorching sun.

"Fang Zhao, Lin Qingyu, it's been a while. I've obtained the Yanhuang Token again and am ready to make a comeback." Reunited with his old classmates, Li Tianming recalled when he first entered Phoenix Hall four years ago. They were all newcomers from remote areas, helping each other and growing together. Those days were youthful yet touching. He remembered that Fang Zhao was timid back then and not as strong. Li Tianming had even stood up for him when he was bullied.

However, their expressions now are far from pleasant. Seeing Li Tianming, there's no surprise of reunion, only shock.

Lin Qingyu probably recalled the embarrassing incident involving Li Tianming three years ago and tentatively asked, "Tianming, are you serious?"

"Of course. I haven't exceeded the age limit yet, and I earned the Yanhuang Token for our Lihuo City through hard work. After all, the academy didn't stipulate that I couldn't participate in the Palace Examination a second time," Li Tianming said with a smile.

"But your Companion Beast is already dead!" Fang Zhao looked up, his face somewhat grim. He continued, "Tianming, it's been over three years. Three years ago, because of your incident, our entire class was ridiculed for a long time. Please don't cause trouble here. If you really intend to disrupt things, I'll have to drive you away."

"That's not necessary. I've followed all the procedures; you just need to register," Li Tianming said calmly. He wasn't surprised by Fang Zhao's hostility; he had long since stopped being emotional about the changes in people and circumstances, as it was commonplace.

"Without a Companion Beast, if I let you in, wouldn't that be even more embarrassing? Li Tianming, this isn't three years ago. We've already been promoted to the intermediate class. If you truly want to cause trouble, don't blame us old classmates for disregarding our past relationship," Fang Zhao sneered, a malicious look on his face.

"Oh, so you're already senior disciples in the intermediate class. Impressive," Li Tianming gave him a thumbs-up.

"One last question: are you leaving?" Fang Zhao asked with a dark expression.

"Qingyu, are you also gloating like him?" Li Tianming turned his head to look at the girl beside him.

Lin Qingyu gritted her teeth and shook her head. "Forget it, I don't want to get involved either. Let's handle this by the book. You meet the criteria and obtained the Yanhuang Token. I can also verify your information about obtaining the Yanhuang Token. You can go in."

"Qingyu, don't let him go in and embarrass himself..." Fang Zhao said anxiously.

"Why the rush? If I'm going to be embarrassed, it'll be my own, what's it to you?" Li Tianming retorted.

"Li Tianming, how dare you speak to me like that? Don't forget the difference in our status right now!" Fang Zhao suddenly stood up.

After three years of hard cultivation and promotion to the intermediate class, his strength had already improved significantly compared to back then.

"Amazing, impressive. If there's a chance in the future, let me witness it." Li Tianming, not wanting to argue further, turned and stepped into Yanhuang Academy after receiving permission.

"I have an important task today. I'll let you have a good look another day, after I've cultivated for three years and crushed you, you worthless piece of trash." Fang Zhao couldn't chase after him because there were still thousands of people in line ahead of him.

Li Tianming didn't look back at his taunts. He wasn't afraid of guys like him, who put on a brave front but were inwardly weak, no matter how high their cultivation or strong their combat power.

He just sighed, remembering how everyone wasn't like this when they were young and naive.

Back then, they came from all over the place and entered the same introductory class. Everything was so new then. Those nights they sat on the ground and talked all night were now just memories to be sealed away.

He just wondered if the other classmates from back then were all as bad as this Fang Zhao.

Perhaps he would find out soon.

He followed the crowd into Yanhuang Academy. After stepping through the main gate, what appeared before his eyes was the academy's legendary place – the Yanhuang Battlefield!

This was the place where academy disciples sparred and underwent trials, as well as where major competitions were held. The famous ranking battles of Yanhuang Academy took place here.

Before him lay a vast, flat expanse with hundreds of colossal arenas. Each arena was made of ancient giant stones, bearing countless traces of battles.

The entire vast plain was surrounded by a ring-shaped building with tens of thousands of seats for spectators. The trials at Yanhuang Academy were open to the public. Many influential people from Yandu could come and watch. Ordinary people could also pay to catch a glimpse of the academy disciples' prowess.

In addition to these tens of thousands of open-air seats, there were also hundreds of private rooms. The people within these private rooms were the true elites of Vermilion Bird Country. The private rooms offered a better vantage point, allowing a view of all the arenas.

These arenas, along with the elevated spectator seats, formed the academy's renowned Yanhuang Battlefield. Over thousands of years, countless young geniuses had made their names and proven themselves here. This was a place that made the academy disciples' blood boil with excitement.

Today's clearance battle, and the even more important ranking battle that would follow, would both take place here.

When Li Tianming entered, quite a few people were already seated in the spectator stands. Many were elders, able to clearly observe the performances of their children and descendants. Some distinguished figures were likely already present in the hundreds of private rooms.

For true geniuses, the clearance battle wasn't very difficult, so it definitely wouldn't be as lively today as it would be on the day of the ranking battle.

However, Li Tianming could never have imagined that among the spectators were two people he knew very well.

These two, a man and a woman, were seated together. Although the man was middle-aged, he still looked quite young. A long beard flowed, exuding great authority. His mere presence made one feel a sense of awe.

The woman beside him was much younger, perhaps in her twenties. Her beauty was captivating, her figure outstanding, with exquisite curves. Every smile and glance drew the attention of many onlookers; she was truly a stunner.

They were Li Yanfeng and Liu Qing.