The Gap Between Two Academies

The vines and mist slowly dispersed, leaving only several bodies among the trees, gradually growing cold.

Xiao Peng withdrew the Jingzhe Disk. The patterns on its surface glowed with a lustrous green light after absorbing the essence of the grass and trees, and it was even faintly warm to the touch.

"Not bad. Clean work." Sect Leader Tongtian's voice came from behind a tree.

Sect Leader Tongtian slowly emerged, his gaze sweeping over the traces on the ground. "The trapping array drained their strength, and the killing array took their lives. You handled the rhythm well. But when you used flying branches to intercept them, your Spiritual Power fluctuations were too obvious. A true master of the Array Dao can turn all things between heaven and earth into array cores while hiding himself in Invisibility."

Xiao Peng lowered his head to look at his fingertips. When he had manipulated the branches just now, he had indeed leaked Spiritual Power in his haste to stop them. He cupped his hands and said, "This disciple understands. The highest realm of arrays is making the opponent unable to sense the existence of the one who set the array."

"Exactly." Sect Leader Tongtian nodded, lightly tapping the air with his fingertip. A wind suddenly rose through the forest, making the leaves rustle. "Look at this wind. It passes through the woods and makes a sound, yet no one can see its form. The Array Dao should be the same. Borrow the momentum of heaven and earth, hide yourself within the array, and only then can you remain undefeated."

Xiao Peng gazed at the branches and leaves swaying in the wind, and inspiration suddenly struck him.

He raised his hand and tossed the Jingzhe Disk into the air. His Spiritual Power spread along the wind, stirring the surrounding grass and trees awake once more.

This time, there were no obvious vines or mist. Only the light and shadows in the forest quietly shifted. Amid the intertwining tree shadows, the outline of a new killing array faintly took shape, yet it blended into its surroundings so completely that, without deliberate inspection, no one could detect the slightest trace of it.

"Not bad." Seeing this, Sect Leader Tongtian praised Xiao Peng.

Xiao Peng summoned the Jingzhe Disk back into his palm. The green light on its surface echoed the light and shadows in the forest, as though it had become a pivot linking heaven and earth.

He could clearly sense that the killing array was no longer an externally imposed restraint. It now breathed in sync with the forest.

The wind stirring the leaves was the circulation of Array Patterns. Birdsong and human voices concealed killing intent. Even the mottled specks of sunlight filtering through the branches had become lethal glints ready to erupt at any moment.

"For the next period of time, use arrays to kill the enemies within the space."

"Yes, Teacher."

Hearing Sect Leader Tongtian's words, Xiao Peng indicated that he understood.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year passed. A huge plaza.

At this moment, quite a few young people had gathered in the plaza, desperately squeezing their way inside.

"There are so many people."

Seeing the crowd, Xiao Mei could not help but sigh.

Xiao Yan, beside her, nodded in complete agreement. If they had to line up, who knew how long it would take before it was their turn.

Xiao Peng and Xiao Xun'er stood together, quietly watching. Neither of them cared much about it.

Xiao Xun'er looked at Xiao Peng and asked, "Brother Xiao Peng, you don't seem worried at all?"

Xiao Peng nodded slightly. "Mm. Xun'er, you don't seem worried either."

Xiao Xun'er smiled faintly. "With Brother Xiao Peng here, of course I'm not worried."

Just then, someone came over to Xiao Peng's group.

"Xiao Peng, come with me."

A slender jade hand patted Xiao Peng's shoulder, followed by Xiao Yu's voice.

Hearing Xiao Yu's voice, the four of them turned around and saw Xiao Yu and Xiao Ning.

Seeing the four looking at her, Xiao Yu explained, "The person in charge of recruitment in Wu Tan City this time is my mentor. As her prized student, I naturally have my ways."

She waved her hand, signaling everyone to follow her.

As Xiao Yu prepared to leave, she took Xiao Peng's hand and headed toward the other side of the plaza.

Xiao Peng was pulled forward by Xiao Yu, warmth spreading from where she held his wrist. He instinctively wanted to pull free, but her grip only tightened.

From the corner of his eye, he caught Xiao Xun'er and Xiao Mei behind them pursing their lips, the faint emotions in their eyes practically overflowing.

Xiao Peng helplessly coughed. "Sister Xiao Yu, there's no need to rush so much, is there?"

Without stopping, she led the five of them around to the western side of the plaza and halted.

This was already near the rear of the plaza. Fully armed troops surrounded the area in two or three layers, their coldly gleaming weapons reflecting blinding light beneath the sun.

Xiao Yu walked over, took out an emerald-green wooden plaque, and spoke with an officer for a while before signaling Xiao Peng and the others to follow her.

The six of them arrived at the center of the plaza and saw an open green Great Cloak.

"Yu'er!" As they approached the Great Cloak, a woman's laughter entered Xiao Peng's ears.

A red figure rushed over, then grinningly wrapped her arms around Xiao Yu. Her hand gave Xiao Yu's slender waist a squeeze as she teased, "Let me feel you up and see whether you've gained weight."

"You pervert, get lost." Laughing and scolding, Xiao Yu pushed the woman out of her arms. She then turned to Xiao Peng and the others with a smile and introduced her. "This is my good sister from Jia Nan Academy, Xue Ni. She's a four-star Dou Zhe."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Peng and the others greeted Xue Ni in turn.

Xiao Yu then introduced Xiao Peng's group to Xue Ni.

After the introductions, everyone entered the Great Cloak, where quite a few female students from Jia Nan Academy were standing.

When these female students saw Xiao Yu arrive, they began teasing her one after another. Xiao Yu did not mind at all, having long since grown accustomed to their jokes.

Watching this scene, Xiao Peng felt a little nostalgic for his school days.

Back then, the way he joked around with those good sons of his was pretty much the same as these people.

Just then, a young man walked over.

Xiao Peng glanced at him and secretly thought that he was probably Luo Bu, whom Xue Ni had mentioned.

Xiao Yu linked her arm through Xiao Peng's and exchanged a few polite words with Luo Bu before having Luo Bu test Xiao Peng and the others.

Luo Bu agreed with a smile and began testing Xiao Mei and the others one by one.

This sort of test was nothing to Xiao Peng's group. They all passed with ease.

Thinking of Jia Nan Academy's faculty, Xiao Peng could not help sighing inwardly.

As a renowned institution on the Dou Qi Continent, Jia Nan Academy only required eight stages of Dou Qi to enter and study there.

One had to know that Jia Nan Academy possessed a Half-Saint expert, as well as experts at the Dou Zun and Dou Zong levels.

Jia Nan Academy would have had no problem imposing strict enrollment requirements, but it did not. Instead, it recruited new students from all across the continent.

In contrast, Shrek Academy on the Douluo Continent had not even been a proper academy in the beginning, yet it shamelessly claimed to recruit genius students.

Shrek Academy even swindled Gold Coins from ordinary people. Common folk already had a hard time earning money, yet Shrek Academy charged ten Gold Coins for registration in one lump sum.

It did not state the admission requirements at the beginning, only revealing them after the test and directly eliminating the vast majority of Commoner Spirit Masters.

When the Commoner Spirit Masters wanted their money back, Shrek Academy had powerful people scare them away and pocketed the Commoner Spirit Masters' money.

The contrast between the two was simply like heaven and earth.