Banner Carrier, Spirit Path Blood Calamity Maker, Spirit Path Kings!

Within Northern Cang Hall,

an old man in white robes sat before a towering Spiritual Energy Light Screen.

On the screen

stood a youth in white, his body as straight as a spear. Behind him stood a grim Soul Banner, making him look like a demonic lord of the abyss.

"Is it interesting?"

"It's far too interesting..."

As the voices echoed from the screen,

the old man, one of the Inspectors for the Northern Cang Realm trial, could not help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Just scaring them..."

"You call that just scaring them? If this old man had been any slower, those people would all have died!"

Despite his complaints, a trace of gratification appeared on the old man's face.

"This batch of new students has produced quite an extraordinary little fellow!"

"I just wonder, compared to that one from the Sacred Spirit Academy, who is stronger..."

Over the years,

Northern Cang Academy's standing among the Five Great Academies had become increasingly precarious.

They needed a powerful youth to restore Northern Cang Academy's reputation...

"Perhaps I can give him some preferential treatment!"

the old man muttered. He could tell that the Soul Banner behind the youth called Qing Luo was terrifying.

It seemed capable of absorbing Spirit Beast Spirit Bodies for battle.

Although Northern Spirit Academy had explicitly decreed that Inspectors were forbidden from interfering with the trial,

over the years,

some truly formidable beings had indeed emerged among the Spirit Beasts of the Northern Cang Realm.

They were somewhat beyond the students' level...

He would merely give the other party clues about those Heaven Grade Spirit Beasts whose strength exceeded the limit. If he had the ability, he could deal with all of them.

Not only would that eliminate hidden dangers within the Northern Cang Realm, but it would also improve his own strength.

If he lacked the ability,

then with his methods, he would not die at the hands of those Spirit Beasts anyway.

In that case...

it should not count as interfering with the trial, right?

Northern Cang Realm.

Just as Qing Luo was about to leave, ripples suddenly spread through the space before him.

As the ripples expanded,

a rolled-up parchment appeared before Qing Luo.

"This is..."

Qing Luo took the parchment and spread it open. As he looked at the marked mountain terrain, information on various Spirit Beasts, and their gathering areas...

a glint flashed in his eyes.

"Thank you!"

Qing Luo murmured softly,

then put away the parchment.

What it marked was the terrain of the Northern Cang Realm and the distribution of its Spirit Beasts.

To others, this map might not have been worth much, but Qing Luo was different...

With this information, he could hunt the Spirit Beasts of the Northern Cang Realm in the fastest and most efficient manner possible, increasing his own strength.

After putting away the parchment,

Qing Luo did not linger any longer. He stepped through the air toward the nearest Spirit Beast gathering point recorded on the map.

According to the map, a Heaven Grade Spirit Beast comparable to the Heaven Transformation Realm seemed to be entrenched there...

Meanwhile,

somewhere in the Northern Cang Realm,

Mu Chen had just slaughtered a Spirit Beast at the Spirit Wheel Realm Late Stage when he saw three figures standing atop the branches of an ancient tree, sizing him up with mocking expressions.

Noticing that Mu Chen had spotted them,

coldness appeared on their faces. They leaped down from the ancient tree and surrounded Mu Chen.

What gave Mu Chen the greatest headache was

that all three youths had the character "three" on their foreheads. In other words, he was facing three students with Seed Quotas.

"What do you want?"

Mu Chen asked.

"Nothing much. We found this Spirit Beast first."

"Yet you killed it."

"Our demands aren't high. Hand over the Spiritual Energy from that Spirit Beast, and you can get lost!"

The three spoke one after another, looking at Mu Chen with amusement.

Mu Chen's expression immediately turned grave.

Having gone through the Spirit Road trials, he knew full well that their target was not the Spirit Beast he had just killed.

The beast's Spiritual Energy had already been absorbed by his mark.

How could he hand it over to them?

"I absorbed the Spiritual Energy. I can't give it to you."

Mu Chen said.

"Good!"

"Very good!"

"Excellent!"

Sinister expressions appeared on the three men's faces in succession.

Great Compassion Hand!

Heavy Prison Fist!

Heaven Burning Divine Fire!

In an instant, the surrounding Spiritual Energy boiled, and three great Spiritual Arts roared toward Mu Chen.

Mu Chen had long guessed their intentions.

The instant he sensed the Spiritual Energy erupt, his body moved like a ghost, widening the distance between them.

Immediately after,

Mu Chen's fingertips danced, tracing elegant arcs as one Spirit Seal after another emerged from them.

Almost instantly,

dozens of Spirit Seals followed a special trajectory and gathered into a towering Spirit Array!

Golden Wheel Spirit Splitting Array!

This was a Second Grade Spirit Array.

His father, Mu Feng, had collected it for him back when he was still alive and Mu Chen was still in the Northern Spirit Territory.

The moment the Spirit Array formed,

a golden spirit wheel condensed from Spiritual Energy appeared before the three.

"A Spirit Array Master..."

"And a Second Grade Spirit Array Master?!"

"This opponent is too tough. Run!"

The three men's faces turned incomparably ugly. Before they could make a move,

the golden spirit wheel tore toward one of them. The terrifying Spirit Array crushed down upon him, and one of them instantly lost his ability to fight.

Spirit Emperor Finger!

As he controlled the Spirit Array, Mu Chen used Spirit Shadow Step to rapidly close in on another.

Dense Spiritual Energy burst from his fingertip as he domineeringly pressed it toward the man's forehead.

Boom—

Almost instantly, two of the three Seed Students lost their ability to fight.

Seeing his companions severely injured,

the remaining one immediately lost all will to fight. Before Mu Chen could make a move, he fled the area at high speed.

Watching his retreating figure, Mu Chen's eyes grew somewhat dazed.

After losing to Qing Luo at Northern Spirit Academy,

Mu Chen had always thought that he was simply too weak, that he was unworthy of a Seed Quota.

But...

That was it?!

It turned out that Seed Quotas were not powerful. Qing Luo was!

As the Northern Cang Realm trial began,

scenes of slaughter and struggle could be seen almost everywhere across the vast Northern Cang Realm.

As time passed,

explosive pieces of news swept through the Northern Cang Realm.

Banner Carrier!

This was a ruthless figure who had only recently begun circulating through the Northern Cang Realm.

His most distinctive trait was the pitch-black banner several zhang long that he carried on his shoulder. He specifically targeted areas where Spirit Beasts gathered.

By himself,

he had slaughtered nearly half the Spirit Beasts in the entire Northern Cang Realm, including quite a few Spirit Beasts of the Three Heavens Realm.

It was said that the Banner Carrier's strength had likely reached the Three Heavens Realm.

He was a terrifyingly powerful figure who had only recently risen in the Northern Cang Realm.

Whether in strength or prestige, he was close to those kings who had emerged from the Spirit Road, showing faint signs of becoming the foremost figure in the Northern Cang Realm trial.

Besides that,

another piece of news caused no small commotion.

This commotion spread only among the geniuses who had emerged from the Spirit Road.

Spirit Path Blood Calamity Maker!

The youth who had caused a bloody calamity on the Spirit Road and been expelled from it had returned, appearing in the Northern Cang Realm.

As news spread from all sides,

the entire Northern Cang Realm seemed to have become a massive killing ground.

Countless geniuses raced through the Northern Cang Realm, searching for news of the Banner Carrier and the Spirit Path Blood Calamity Maker.

They wanted to find the former

and defeat him to prove that they were the number one person in the Northern Cang Realm.

As for the latter,

they sought him because of the many grudges from the Spirit Road, wishing to avenge those grievances and wash away their humiliation!

No matter what,

the Banner Carrier and the Spirit Path Blood Calamity Maker had become the absolute center of this killing ground.

All the students were guessing:

the Banner Carrier, the Spirit Path Blood Calamity Maker, and the Spirit Path Kings.

Who was stronger, and who was the strongest in the Northern Cang Realm?!