Standing atop Chonggang Town's city wall, Yan Chengju raised his head and looked toward the heavens overhead.
Immortal spiritual energy from the Ancient Immortal Ruins surged skyward, tearing through the Evil Cloud and opening the firmament to reveal the pitch-black Taixu and disordered stars, like a constantly rotating, eerie and sinister eye.
From every direction, Airships and Flying Shuttles tore through the sky like meteors, descending around the city before blossoming into pillars of light—some deep and shadowy, others dazzlingly bright.
Pillars of light pierced the dark clouds one after another. The shortest stood a hundred zhang tall, the tallest roughly three hundred. Their colors burned violet-red, with faint fiery serpents coiling around them, licking at the sky.
"Love showing off, don't they..."
Yan Chengju muttered, yet he did not find it strange.
Inhaling Spiritual Energy, manifesting phenomena—at every Four Cities Grand Competition, the teams from every academy would display their strength and make their names known.
Both reputation and substance mattered. Earning a name through true ability was only natural. Whether it was talented commoners attracting company investment for their futures or scions of great families strengthening their standing within their clans, they all needed these resources. Yan Chengju was no exception.
This was, in truth, his first time experiencing such a grand occasion. Though he was the Chief Disciple of First High School's generation, the Yan Family's foremost heir, with both talent and strength to spare, even he knew that the Yan Family's foundations could not fully bring out his potential. During his student years, it was manageable—but in the future, the heirs of those truly great families and major corporations would all surpass him and leave him behind.
That was why he needed to fight with everything he had now.
Drawing a deep breath, five-colored spiritual light