The Flight

Once everyone was ready, Xiao Ling spoke to Vice Principal Hu Gan. "Vice Principal, I can ride our Rayquaza, right?"

Hu Gan could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth. "Of course you can, as long as you don't cause any trouble."

He had originally wanted to show off his ability to form wings from Dou Qi in front of these students, but the kid had stolen all the attention. Shaking his head, he stopped dwelling on such nonsense.

Hu Gan and the few old men beside him swept their gazes over the clearing. Once they saw that everyone had mounted the Griffins, they exchanged glances and nodded slightly. With a wave of his hand, Hu Gan and the three old men moved, flashing into the air. Their shoulders trembled, and four pairs of dazzling Dou Qi Wings extended from their backs. With a slight flutter of their wings, they hovered motionlessly in the air amid the envious gazes of everyone in the clearing.

Being able to condense Dou Qi Wings and fly freely had always been the dream of countless cultivators.

"We will personally escort you along the way." Looking down at the clearing below, Hu Gan smiled and waved his hand. The Griffin riders below let out sharp whistles, and the Griffins immediately beat their wings fiercely, their enormous bodies slowly rising into the air as the shadows they cast upon the ground grew smaller and smaller.

Xiao Ling patted Rayquaza on the back. Linked to him in spirit, Rayquaza let out a long cry and followed behind the group.

As they flew higher and higher, the figures below grew smaller and smaller until they were almost like ants. From such a height, they could look down over Jia Nan Academy and take in nearly every part of it.

High in the azure sky, ten enormous Griffins flapped their wings as they sped toward the academy's Back Mountain, which stretched onward as though it had no end. Beyond the Griffins, Hu Gan and the three old men formed a square formation around the entire flock. Dense Dou Qi surfaced around their bodies, and no matter how fiercely the wind raged, it could not move them in the slightest. Behind them, a majestic Rayquaza followed closely, its body agile as it soared among the clouds like the ruler of the skies.

The vast sea of forest was filled with all kinds of magical beasts. Every so often, magical beasts radiating savage auras would burst out from the woods and roar at the Griffin formation in the sky. Occasionally, some Flying Magical Beasts would give chase, but whenever they came within a hundred meters of the formation, they would be frightened into retreat by the powerful aura emanating from Hu Gan and the other three.

Of course, this was not always the case. The endless mountain range was packed with magical beasts, and naturally, some possessed terrifying strength. Thus, after the flying formation had entered Jia Nan Academy's Back Mountain for half an hour, powerful magical beasts began ignoring the pressure from Hu Gan and the others as they forcefully charged at the Griffins. At that moment, Hu Gan and the three old men displayed their shocking strength. With every wave of a hand, vast streams of energy streaked across the sky like lightning. Then, all they heard was a dull boom as those massive magical beasts exploded into blood that rained down from the sky.

All along the way, vicious magical beasts of every kind surged forward one after another, yet not a single one managed to break through the blockade of Hu Gan and the other three.

Xiao Ling also intended to build up Rayquaza's combat experience. He had it fire several energy blasts, directly reducing some low-tier magical beasts to dust.

His Soul Perception spread outward, and Xiao Ling clearly sensed the auras of fifth-tier magical beasts below, hidden within the dense forest—magical beasts at the level of a Dou Wang. However, magical beasts of that level already possessed intelligence no weaker than that of humans. Naturally, they could tell how strong Hu Gan and the others were. Therefore, unlike the weaker magical beasts, they did not recklessly attack the Griffin formation at the cost of their lives. Fortunately, these high-tier magical beasts knew caution. Otherwise, even with four Dou Emperor powerhouses like Hu Gan escorting them, this Griffin formation likely would not have reached its destination unscathed.

They flew onward amid a trail of blood mist. Hu Gan and the other three were like sharp awls, forcibly tearing open a path through the overwhelming horde of magical beasts. The strength of Dou Emperor powerhouses was terrifying indeed.

After this nearly barbaric charge continued for almost an hour, Hu Gan led everyone down onto an endless grassland. While the others were still pondering the reason for this, Xiao Ling had already guessed that the Space Gate into the Inner Academy was about to open.

Hu Gan first had everyone land on the ground. Then, under their watchful gazes, he slowly walked a dozen or so steps forward and stopped. With a wave of his palm, a stream of energy shot out and struck the space before him. An eerie sight immediately appeared. As the energy passed through a seemingly empty patch of space, it created ripples like those on water. The ripples fluctuated rapidly, and at last, a pale silver gate seven or eight zhang tall appeared out of thin air!

Everyone was startled as they stared at the strangely appearing silver gate. Clearly, none of them had expected such an ordinary-looking place to conceal such a mystery.

Under everyone's gaze, the silver gate slowly opened with a crisp sound. Beyond it lay the same dense forest as ever, seemingly no different from the woods before them.

"Follow me." Hu Gan waved his hand and took the lead into the silver gate. Behind him, dozens of students followed closely, their faces full of curiosity.

Those who entered the silver gate seemed to step into another space, vanishing into thin air.

After canceling Rayquaza's Mega Evolution and storing it within his sleeve, Xiao Ling also stepped toward the silver gate. Once he entered, he felt as though he had arrived in a new world. The sensation was rather wondrous.

After everyone, including the ten Griffins, had entered the silver gate, it slowly closed. A ring of silver energy rippled outward, and the gate gradually faded away until it vanished completely. At that moment, the area had once again become an utterly ordinary forest entrance.

Xiao Ling swept his gaze forward and found that the scene before him was still the same as the forest from before.

However, two old men and several middle-aged men had appeared at the forest entrance at some point. Behind them stood nearly forty young people. Xiao Ling's gaze swept over them and found that each wore a badge on their chest engraved with a tower-like pattern.

One of the old men spoke. "Old Hu, you're always this punctual. How are this year's new students?"

Pointing toward where Xiao Ling stood, Hu Gan stroked his beard and said with great satisfaction, "This year's batch has the highest talent I've ever seen. Not only are there several High-level Great Dou Masters, but this kid Xiao Ling has already reached the Four-star Great Dou Master level. His nine-year-old cousin has already become a five-star Dou Master. Compared to Xiao Ling's talent at her age, she is no less gifted."

Hearing this, the two elders swept their somewhat astonished gazes over the group before nodding slightly. "We never expected there to be so many geniuses this year besides Xiao Ling. The Inner Academy is going to become interesting."

Seeing the two elders look their way, Xiao Ling stepped forward, bowed, and greeted them. "Elder Su, Elder Qing, please take good care of this junior once I enter the Inner Academy!"

At this, the two elders both stroked their beards and smiled kindly, but they did not respond. They would certainly take care of the academy's key talents, but they could not say so openly. Even if everyone could see it, putting it out in the open would change the nature of things.

Xiao Ling was tactful enough not to pursue the topic. He returned to Xiao Xun'er and the others, then said quietly, "Get yourselves into peak condition. Those old students ahead are our targets later. They aren't very strong—we can handle them however we like."

Everyone nodded in turn and began sitting cross-legged to adjust their condition.