Northern Spiritual Academy, Spirit Road Selection

Not far from the palace complex, an ancient spirit academy lay silently in wait.

Northern Spiritual Academy, the supreme institution of the Hundred Spirit Continent.

Ever since the King of Hundred Spirits, Mu Feng, had spent these years conquering east and west, moving from the Northern Spiritual Realm to the continent's capital, and taking root in a high-level continent to draw upon its nourishment, it was no longer what it once was.

It was no longer in the embarrassing state of having only a few stray cats and dogs, with Spirit Soul realm martial artists acting as the face of the academy; every senior instructor in the Heaven Tier was a Heavenly Passage Realm martial artist.

The Dean was even suspected of having stepped into the Supreme Realm, possessing extraordinary power.

"Clang, clang, clang."

Accompanied by the tolling of an ancient bell, more and more youths in academy uniforms emerged from the dormitories, surging toward the same direction.

Their faces were young and callow, yet filled with youthful vitality and high spirits.

Tang Qian'er, Hong Ling, Liu Mubai, and Su Ling from the Heaven Tier, along with Jiang Li, Teng Yong, Mo Ling, and Chen Tong from the Earth Tier—the prominent figures of both tiers—all made their appearances.

On the north side of the square, rows of tightly packed seats were laid out.

The three people in the center were the most eye-catching.

An old man with graying hair sat in the middle, smiling benignly, looking completely harmless.

The middle-aged man to his left had a resolute face, with astonishing spiritual energy fluctuations within his body.

The person to his right had a lean, gaunt frame and slightly sunken eyes, yet his aura was not to be underestimated.

"We pay our respects to the Dean and all instructors!"

The students stood in neat rows, bowing in unison.

"Hehe, everyone rise."

"Today is the day the Spirit Road Selection begins. This is a grand event that spans the Great Thousand World; how could we, the teachers and students of the Northern Spiritual Academy, remain on the sidelines?"

"Gentlemen, let us strike the water in the middle of the current; those who ply the oars will advance!"

The gray-haired old man in the center was the current Dean of the Northern Spiritual Academy.

Dean Xiao looked at these vibrant children he had cultivated with his own hands—the spiritual seedlings selected from across the entire continent—and a surge of immense pride welled up in his heart.

Youth is, by nature, an age of surging blood and fiery passion.

The Old Dean's bold words immediately won rounds of cheers.

The high morale made the academy's top brass nod in approval.

"Teacher Mo, why hasn't the Royal Heir arrived yet?"

After sitting down, the Old Dean turned to the middle-aged instructor on his right.

Ever since Mu Feng provided a massive amount of Supreme Spiritual Liquid to help Dean Xiao successfully pass the Three Minor Tribulations of the Supreme and subsequently break through to the Supreme Realm, he had completely leaned toward the royal family.

He knew that only by relying on this ruler of the continent could the Northern Spiritual Academy continue to grow.

With a Supreme expert presiding and a group of Heavenly Passage instructors teaching, the Northern Spiritual Academy had undoubtedly long since broken free from the shackles of a low-level academy, leaping to become a renowned high-level spirit academy.

Once the King of Hundred Spirits stepped into the Earth Sovereign realm in the future, with his strong support, the Northern Spiritual Academy might even be able to challenge for a seat among the Five Great Spirit Academies of the Great Thousand World.

One must know, the positions of the Five Great Academies were not set in stone!

Dean Xiao, who was determined to show his loyalty to the King of Hundred Spirits, was naturally deeply concerned about the Royal Heir, Mu Chen, and was full of eagerness.

And Teacher Mo was the nominal class instructor of Mu Chen.

"Reporting to the Old Dean, I have already sent the student Lie Jiu to invite the Royal Heir."

The middle-aged man known as Teacher Mo hurriedly bowed and replied.

"Mm, that is good."

Dean Xiao was about to nod in approval when his gaze shifted, looking at the two figures sprinting from afar, and he smiled: "No need to rush, the Royal Heir has already arrived."

"Royal Heir! Your Highness! Young Master!"

With Mu Chen's arrival, the lined-up students retreated to both sides, clearing a path for him to pass, their gazes filled with awe and fervor.

Various honorifics were used, one after another.

Those who could study at the Northern Spiritual Academy, the supreme institution of the Hundred Spirit Continent, were either the offspring of the elite or talented commoner students carefully selected from all over the continent.

Toward Mu Chen, the future ruler of the continent, they naturally felt both a desire to be close and a sense of awe.

Among the crowd, the two brothers Liu Mubai and Liu Yang were the most fanatical in their calls.

Their father, Liu Qingtian, had often opposed Mu Feng while serving as the Lord of Liu Territory.

After Mu Feng became King, he had put aside past grievances and pardoned him as one of the Eight Great Commanders.

The Liu family, now part of the continent's elite, had undergone a massive transformation and were more supportive of the rule than anyone else.

Mu Chen walked in the lead, nodding from time to time, and arrived beside his two close female friends: "Senior Sister Qian'er, Senior Sister Hong Ling."

"Hurry and go, everyone is waiting for you; the Spirit Road is about to open."

A tall girl in black robes with a high ponytail shoved the junior, pushing him to the very front of the crowd, the most conspicuous spot: the Heaven Tier head position.

With the arrival of Royal Heir Mu Chen, the Spirit Road Selection officially began.

Spirit Road, a super trial ground.

It is a strange demi-plane forcibly opened by the Five Great Academies using the artifact Mirror of Judgment, opening once every three years to select true spiritual seedlings from across the entire continent.

Each opening lasts for two years, unchanging for ten thousand years.

Those who can be chosen by the Mirror of Judgment are all super geniuses without exception.

Within the plane, living beings cannot use any energy, including spiritual power, battle qi, origin power, etc., and can only participate in the life-and-death trial using pure physical strength and wit.

Once the trial is passed, one can enter the Five Great Academies and even participate in the Spirit Road empowerment, leaping from a Sensing Realm martial artist to a Spirit Wheel or even a Spirit Soul realm martial artist.

When the scorching Great Sun climbed to the zenith, one of the instructors murmured, "It's here."

The originally clear blue sky suddenly darkened, as if a disaster were descending.

"Boom!"

The space above the Northern Spiritual Academy was suddenly torn apart, with cracks spreading rapidly like a spiderweb, eventually expanding into a dark rift nearly a thousand zhang long.

It seemed to suck away all the light and heat between heaven and earth.

Suddenly, a brilliant Great Sun rose from the depths of the darkness, lighting up the world once more.

No, that was actually an incomparably huge ancient bronze mirror, propping up the heavens and the earth.

It was at least several thousand zhang tall, with an archaic design and a desolate aura.

Its surface was covered with countless ancient and profound patterns that made one dizzy just by looking at them.

An indescribably terrifying fluctuation rippled outward, a vast spiritual pressure shrouding the world, and its massive shadow projected onto the ground, pressing down on all living beings until they could barely breathe.

Vicissitudinous, majestic, ancient, silent, as if eternal.

Mirror of Judgment!

The super artifact jointly held by the Five Great Academies, it is also the key to every Spirit Road Selection, responsible for selecting super geniuses, piercing through the Spirit Road, and deploying living beings.

And this was merely a spiritual projection cast by the Mirror of Judgment from hundreds of millions of miles away, yet it was enough to shroud most of the Northern Spiritual Academy.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Weak students of the academy, unable to withstand the vast pressure, kept choosing to sit cross-legged on the ground, hunched over in submission.

Even the heaven-reaching instructors sitting in their seats could not avoid it.

The only one on the field who could barely maintain his composure was likely the inscrutable Old Dean, who whispered, "Five Great Academies, what deep foundations."

The Great Thousand World, as the ancestor of thousands of lower planes, has an incomparably thick origin.

In lower planes, it is impossible for living beings to shatter space at will.

Only an Eighth Grade Sovereign can initially control space.

It possesses power comparable to an Eighth Grade Sovereign.

And this is just a projection of the Mirror of Judgment!

ps: Currently in the new book period, the editor suggests two updates a day, about 4000 words, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

I am stockpiling drafts during the free period, and once it goes live, Old Li will increase the updates.