Shocking Change, Dispute

"Ji Xuan, go to hell!!"

Mu Chen's figure stalled, abruptly changing direction in mid-air. He swung the primitive battle staff in his hand in a terrifying arc, crashing it down toward the descendant of the Ji Clan with a thunderous boom.

"Damn it, Mu Chen, you forced my hand."

Retreating to the very back, Ji Xuan had never expected Mu Chen to bypass the Twin Kings of the Shi Family and Yang Hong to strike directly at him, leaving him caught off guard.

Deep within his pupils, a blackness grew increasingly rampant. A flash of resolve crossed his eyes, and he gritted his teeth, letting out a low shout. Faintly, it seemed as if the cry of an ancient eagle was woven into the sound.

Buzz, buzz. Countless eerie black threads spread out from his body, clawing and snapping as they condensed into thin, narrow light-shadow tentacles, reaching out to grab the staff swinging down upon him.

Mu Chen's eyes burned with battle intent; he swung the staff down as if he hadn't noticed them at all.

Demon-Subduing Staff Technique, Eighth Form: Boom!

"Stop!!"

Suddenly, a violent shout erupted from the depths of the void.

A tall figure, shrouded in spiritual radiance and crowned by a multicolored ancient mirror covered in countless mysterious, archaic patterns, suddenly leaped out of space.

The plane rules of this world, which forbade spiritual energy, seemed to have no restrictions on him.

With a casual flick, he separated Mu Chen and Ji Xuan just as they were about to collide.

He then threw a punch, unleashing a formidable streak of spiritual energy that completely crushed the nearly exhausted Corrosive Poison Water into the earth's veins, clearing the entire battlefield.

It was a display of power that seemed capable of sweeping across the six directions and swallowing the eight wildernesses!

Time returned to a quarter of an hour ago.

Outside the Spiritual Road Plane, in an ancient hall, light screens were laid out.

Powerful figures of the Great Thousand world, each possessing formidable auras, stood there, staring unblinkingly at the figures flickering across the screens, which displayed the Black Demon Forest.

Those capable of standing within the hall had at least stepped into the Three Heavens Realm.

Among the dozens of shadowy figures, five stood out with the most powerful auras.

Sovereigns! All five were Sovereign-level powerhouses capable of dominating an entire continent!

The Spiritual Road trial was meant to select the new generation of elites and seeds of kings for the spiritual academies.

Each of the Five Great Academies had sent one Sovereign to lead their team, sit at the hub, coordinate relations, and handle emergencies at any time—this was already the peak configuration.

Unless it was the Spiritual Academy Tournament that determined the rankings of the Five Great Academies, or other major celebrations, the masters of the Five Great Spirit Academies, who were like dragons that rarely showed their heads, seldom moved personally.

The scene on the screen happened to show the moment Mu Chen used the Sorrowful Crisp Breeze to take down the group.

"Borrowing a knife to kill, deceiving the heavens to cross the sea, the counter-espionage strategy, the chain strategy..."

"This little fellow has such deep thoughts; Ji Xuan's defeat at his hands is not unjust."

The speaker was a burly man with bare arms.

The black mysterious tortoise emblem tattooed on the chest of his bulging robes clearly indicated his identity: a Sovereign from the Wu Ling Academy.

There was no lack of schadenfreude in the burly man's words.

Ji Xuan, the contemporary prodigy brought from the Southern Border by the Holy Spirit Academy—the head of the Five Great Academies—at the cost of massive resources, the so-called "Number One of the Spiritual Road" they had propped up and a strong contender for the Spiritual Crown, had actually fallen at the hands of an "unknown" kid.

It was truly a case of dying before achieving success!

The remaining four academies were all eager to see their "big brother" make a fool of himself.

Fortunately, his Wu Ling Academy already had the Twin Stars holding the fort, and there was hope of summoning the supreme princess of the Luo God Clan from the Lesser Western Heaven Realm; they were not a bit inferior to their peers.

Thinking this, the burly man felt deeply comforted.

"Hmph."

A man in white, wearing a Holy Dragon Badge on his chest, snorted coldly at these words.

To be honest, he was equally dissatisfied with Ji Xuan's performance.

As the Ji Clan prodigy invited personally by Heavenly Saint to the Southern Border, he had been hyped up beforehand as something miraculous and profound, but this was it? Just this?!

The Sovereign sent by the Ten Thousand Phoenix Spiritual Academy was a graceful young woman.

She was no old monster skilled in maintaining her youth; she had only been cultivating for a few decades.

She had been a senior student at the Ten Thousand Phoenix Spiritual Academy and remained there to cultivate after graduation.

Upon emerging from seclusion, she broke through to the Sovereign realm and was promoted to an elder of the academy.

As a newly ascended Sovereign, her spiritual cultivation and seniority were not as deep as the seniors present, so she merely pursed her lips and smiled, not expressing an opinion easily.

The scene changed rapidly, soon arriving at the moment Qiu Beihai took the initiative to strike, snatching the mysterious porcelain bottle suspected to be the antidote, only to accidentally release the incredibly dangerous Corrosive Poison Water.

Not only did he die a miserable death himself, but he also implicated over a hundred members of the alliance.

"Corrosive Poison Water taken from the Dark River? Is he not afraid of the backlash?"

"Heh, this kid has ruthless methods."

Within the hall, ordinary elders of the Heaven-Connecting Realm whispered to one another from time to time.

The five Sovereigns frowned slightly, yet they did not speak.

The Spiritual Road Plane trial was inherently cruel, harsh, and incredibly bloody.

In fact, there had never been any talk of specific rules.

To survive through endless slaughter using every possible means, and to be the last one standing—that was the winner.

Although Mu Chen's methods were somewhat bloody, they were not out of line.

However, as the situation progressed, people soon could no longer sit still.

Just as Ji Xuan had previously stated, the group of subordinates he had recruited, along with the various reinforcements persuaded by pure profit, had mostly been pre-selected by the Five Great Academies.

Level 5 and Level 6 Spirit Bodies were everywhere, and there was no shortage of powerful quasi-kings; talent emerged in succession.

There were even several peak kings who possessed a Level 8 Spirit Body.

These human geniuses, pre-selected by the Five Great Academies, cultivated with vast resources, and sent into the Spiritual Road Plane for further tempering, had all been slaughtered.

It was equivalent to the Five Great Academies' massive investment yielding no return—a total loss.

When doing business, losing even the capital would make anyone unhappy.

Qiu Beihai, pre-selected by the Qingtian Spiritual Academy, was dead; Flower King, favored by the Ten Thousand Phoenix Spiritual Academy, was dead; Chen King, recruited by the Wu Ling Academy, was also dead.

Even the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, which had the thinnest foundation among the Five Great Academies, had a king-seed they had selected in advance fall, his skull smashed in by a single strike from Mu Chen's staff.

Not to mention the Level 7 quasi-kings, of whom over twenty had been killed or injured.

"Is it possible to terminate this battle?"

The Holy Spirit Academy, which had suffered the heaviest losses, was the first to lose its composure.

More than half of Ji Xuan's subordinates were elites pre-selected by the Holy Spirit Academy.

They had intended for these prospective students to build rapport and connections with their future Holy Son in advance, but who would have thought they would suffer such an unprovoked disaster.

"Why should it be terminated?"

"The Spiritual Road selection is essentially raising gu; it is incredibly cruel and relies on one's own means. I cannot think of any reason why this battle must be terminated."

The one who spoke was a slender figure in a white robe.

Although this person had a head of white hair, he showed no signs of aging; his skin was fair and smooth, and his face was as handsome as an ordinary youth, always smiling.

He looked exceptionally kind.

Zhu Tian, a Heaven-rank Elder of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, a First-Grade Sovereign.

As a newly promoted super academy in recent years, Northern Heavens had taken advantage of the weakness of a former member to stage a comeback against the wind, officially joining the ranks of the Five Great Academies.

However, this had angered the Holy Spirit Academy, the head of the Five Great Academies.

The ambitious Holy Spirit Academy had intended to support a high-level academy close to them to rise to the top, step by step gaining a voice and completely controlling the Five Great Academies.

Unexpectedly, Northern Heavens had emerged halfway to take the lead and seize the fruits of victory.

Therefore, in all matters concerning the Five Great Academies, the Holy Spirit Academy had been openly and secretly suppressing the weakest Northern Heavens—though, of course, the latter was not one to be outdone.

As a Heaven-rank Elder of Northern Heavens, whatever the Holy Spirit Academy supported, Zhu Tian would inevitably oppose.

"Old Ghost Zhu Tian, this Seat does not wish to waste words with you. Not good,"

"You scoundrel, how dare you!!"

Just as the man in white was about to flare up, he caught sight of the moment Mu Chen suddenly launched a surprise attack on Ji Xuan. He was so furious his eyes were about to split, and surging spiritual energy erupted, sweeping through the entire hall.

With a loud boom, the impatient Sovereign of the Holy Spirit Academy immediately took action.

No matter how poor Ji Xuan was, he was still the Holy Son-level figure designated by their academy; he absolutely could not be allowed to fall!