Mu Chen pursed his lips in a smile and looked up at the azure sky.
Mu Yuan curled his lips. This guy had learned to put on a profound act now.
"Let me guess."
"What you're thinking about now has something to do with that guy called Ji Xuan, right?"
Hearing Mu Yuan's words, Mu Chen imagined himself talking in his sleep and immediately felt embarrassed.
"Brother Yuan, did I talk in my sleep again?"
When would he ever get rid of this habit of talking in his sleep?
"..."
After fooling Mu Chen once, Mu Yuan realized that he had gained a new skill: automatically filling in the blanks.
Was I reading a fake version of The Great Ruler?
Or had Mu Chen started getting led astray by me?
It was not a matter of starting. He had already been led astray.
From then on, Mu Chen went farther and farther down the road of self-invented fantasies, becoming the Great Thousand World's greatest imagination warrior.
Taking a deep breath, Mu Yuan nodded and continued.
"The foremost principle of Mu Mansion is to be people of unyielding integrity and do things with unyielding integrity!"
The foremost principle of Mu Mansion?
Brother Yuan, when did Mu Mansion gain such a foremost principle?
Mu Chen looked utterly bewildered.
And what did it mean to be a person of unyielding integrity? What did it mean to do things with unyielding integrity?
After a brief pause, Mu Yuan said, "Share honor and disgrace, advance and retreat together, walk upright, and sit straight!"
"Mm-hmm."
Mu Chen nodded, then looked seriously at Mu Yuan.
"If Liu Mu Bai comes looking for trouble, I'll advance and retreat together with Brother Yuan."
Mu Yuan froze. This guy's thoughts jumped around too much. Shouldn't he be asking him for help?
"No need. You should focus on improving your strength. Don't hold me back."
Mu Yuan shook his head.
"Huh? But wasn't Mu Mansion's foremost principle to be people of unyielding integrity and do things with unyielding integrity?"
"I forgot one more thing: I alone have the right to interpret that principle."
In truth, Mu Yuan was thinking that if he had no opponents in the Northern Spiritual Territory, life would be far too boring.
Once he left the Northern Spiritual Territory for the Five Great Academies, Liu Mu Bai would not have many chances to appear. As a tool, he naturally had to be put to full use.
Mu Chen: "..."
Suddenly, Mu Yuan raised a brow and looked at Hong Ling as she walked over, speaking calmly.
"Do you need something?"
Hong Ling gritted her teeth. Her beautiful eyes stared at Mu Yuan, hesitation flickering within them. In the end, she still parted her pearly teeth and spoke.
"I didn't know anything about those rumors in the academy."
She did not know why she still wanted to explain herself. Perhaps she was clinging to one last shred of hope.
"But you didn't stop them either, did you?"
Mu Yuan gave a soft laugh.
Hong Ling's lovely face stiffened.
By not stopping them, she had already believed in her heart that Mu Yuan was not worthy of her.
"We aren't children anymore. We should keep some distance, so people won't misunderstand again."
Mu Yuan still smiled faintly.
Yet those words made Hong Ling's heart tremble, as did that smile without the slightest resentment. It was calm and natural, like a smile exchanged between strangers.
But that smile made Hong Ling feel even worse.
Mu Yuan used to smile as he joked with her, but this time, that was gone. She understood that it was estrangement. In Mu Yuan's eyes now, she was little different from a stranger.
The friendship they had missed and lost would never return.
As the Academy Trial came to an end, the crowd gradually dispersed, and the arena returned to its usual tranquility.
Yet the lingering heat generated by the Academy Trial still enveloped the Northern Spiritual Academy. For several days, the entire academy discussed that intense battle.
Mu Yuan had been far too dazzling in this Academy Trial.
Previously, although he possessed a decent background, he had been far too mediocre in cultivation and was regarded by everyone as a legendary good-for-nothing.
But that was how unexpected events happened—right beneath their eyes.
Mu Yuan had leaped into the ranks of geniuses. He even possessed a spiritual vein and had successfully advanced to the Heaven Grade with the strength of the mid-stage Spiritual Movement Realm.
Of course, aside from Mu Yuan, Mu Chen had also made everyone truly realize just how monstrous he was.
Mu Chen was usually not flamboyant. If not for the matter of the Spiritual Road, perhaps not many students would have paid attention to him.
With cultivation at the mid-stage Spiritual Movement Realm, he was the strongest among the Earth Grade students in this Academy Trial.
Only then did they feel that Mu Chen obtaining the Northern Spiritual Territory's sole qualification for the Spiritual Road was not so unbelievable after all.
The Mu Domain had produced two outstanding talents. Everyone knew that with their mid-stage Spiritual Movement Realm strength, they could achieve respectable rankings even within the Northern Spiritual Academy's Heaven Grade.
On the other hand, Liu Yang, once first in the Earth Grade, had been decisively defeated by Mu Yuan and had nothing particularly outstanding before them.
The Heaven Grade was where all the Northern Spiritual Academy's outstanding students gathered.
To advance into the Heaven Grade, one hard requirement was possessing cultivation in the Spiritual Movement Realm.
Even if you were a legendary genius capable of challenging above your level and defeated someone in the Spiritual Movement Realm with cultivation in the Sensing Realm, it still would not count.
Cultivation level was the foundation.
Therefore, even the weakest Heaven Grade students possessed early-stage Spiritual Movement Realm strength.
And once one entered the Heaven Grade, one gained the qualifications to compete for slots in the Five Great Academies.
The Five Great Academies' selection process was extremely harsh. Their primary hard requirement was similar to advancing into the Northern Spiritual Academy's Heaven Grade: they looked only at cultivation, not combat strength.
Students had to reach the Spirit Wheel Realm before turning eighteen. Only then would their strength determine who received the slots.
That condition alone was enough to make countless youths shrink back.
Among the Northern Spiritual Academy's Heaven Grade students, probably no more than five could currently meet that requirement.
This showed just how terrifying the Five Great Academies' admission requirements truly were.
Geniuses?
Sorry, the Five Great Academies never lacked geniuses.
It could be said that every youth qualified to compete for a Five Great Academies slot was a genius.
Only the most exceptional geniuses could step through the gates of the Five Great Academies.
Yet despite the harsh requirements, countless gifted young geniuses still charged toward them like moths to a flame.
Because the might of the Five Great Academies had long been ingrained in the heart of every person in the Northern Spiritual Territory.
Take the Northern Spiritual Territory, for example. Divine Spirit Realm experts were already renowned figures, standing above tens of thousands and capable of dominating a region within the Northern Spiritual Territory.
Yet if such strength were placed within the Five Great Academies, even an ordinary instructor could likely surpass it.
In the eyes of the Five Great Academies, the Northern Spiritual Territory was no different from an ant.
After all, the Five Great Academies possessed true Sovereign-level experts. Those were the truly supreme figures, capable of overturning heaven and earth with a gesture.
A true Sovereign could be considered an expert even when looking across the entire Great Thousand World.
However, the road to becoming a Sovereign was no exaggeration in saying it was harder than ascending to heaven.
Gifted youths like Mu Chen might innately possess the qualifications to become Sovereigns.
But if they cultivated alone without proper guidance, they would still struggle to achieve greatness and stand out in the Great Thousand World, where countless geniuses and monsters emerged. Becoming a true Sovereign would be even more impossible.
After all, even the finest uncut jade required a master's meticulous carving before it could shine.
And only powers that had produced true Sovereigns could provide such high-level guided cultivation.
Therefore, the Five Great Academies were a pass to the road of becoming strong.
PS: Thanks to reader Buddha Speaks Without Taboo for the 100 book coin reward, and reader Annoying Life for the 100 book coin reward!
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