The audience fell silent for a moment.
Then cheers erupted, even more thunderous than before.
Dean Xiao raised a hand to suppress the commotion and announced the official start of the beast-fighting tournament.
This year's rules were largely the same as those from three years ago, but Dean Xiao added an extra condition before the competition.
The Summoning Department's qualification standard had been raised from one hundred people to two hundred, while the resource reward standard for the entire department had been raised from two hundred people to four hundred.
Once this temporary change was announced, the freshmen from the other departments collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
In their eyes, this meant the Summoning Department would have to endure twice the pressure.
Yet Jiang Yunming, the head of the Summoning Department, still sat smiling on the podium, utterly unruffled.
"Director Jiang, how many promising students does the Summoning Department have this year?"
A department head beside him leaned over and asked.
"Thirteen."
"Four of them are intermediate-level."
As Jiang Yunming said this, he couldn't suppress the upward curve of his lips.
The department head who had asked sharply inhaled.
Freshmen who already possessed intermediate-level cultivation upon enrollment would have been talents fought over by every department in previous years.
Jiang Yunming added another sentence, his tone casual, though his eyes were clearly gleaming.
"And their contracted beasts are all products of the Ten Thousand Miles Trading Company."
Hearing this, Jiang Che turned his gaze toward the arena.
It was a good chance to see his products tested in actual combat.
But he hadn't expected things to be this outrageous...
The first batch of five challengers from the other departments had already taken their positions.
The Summoning Department student who stepped up looked unremarkable, and his stance even seemed somewhat