The Spiritual Road Plane, Black Demon Forest.
The moment the mysterious man appeared, an ancient, colorful mirror hovering above his head, he seized control of the situation with swift, thunderous force. The entire world fell silent.
All the human geniuses watching from the outskirts of the mountain range knew that once the Five Great Academies, who usually stayed behind the scenes, intervened, there was no chance of the battle continuing.
Mu Chen was truly terrifying.
The Spirit Road Blood Disaster he had single-handedly caused had forced experts from the Five Great Academies to step in during the selection trial and forcibly halt the battle. Such a thing was unprecedented and unparalleled.
"Is that a projection of the divine artifact, the Mirror of Judgment?"
Bing Qing, a prodigy of the Ancient Clan who hailed from the Ice Spirit Clan, spoke up.
Her icy blue hair was dazzling to an extreme, and even her bright eyes held a strange icy-blue hue. Her aura was piercing, as if she were a ten-thousand-year-old glacier.
It was said that the Spiritual Road Plane had been opened by the founding deans of the Five Great Academies—five super experts who were close to the Heavenly Sovereign level—working together. They had forged rules from nothing and rewritten the laws.
Anyone wishing to use spiritual energy freely in the Spiritual Road Plane had to wield the ultimate divine artifact, the Mirror of Judgment, jointly controlled by the Five Great Academies, to resist the plane's restrictions.
"Could that person be a Sovereign from one of the Five Great Academies?"
The concern of Mu Kui, a prodigy of the Wood Spirit Clan with a burly build, lay elsewhere.
Once the spiritual light enveloping the mysterious man faded and everyone saw his face, they all let out quiet cries of surprise. "So it's him."
Wu Tian, one of the three guardians of the Eastern Sanctuary, an elder of Wu Ling Academy, and a Heavenly Passage Realm expert.
During Mu Chen's battle with Chu Qi, he had even secretly praised him.
The furious Sovereign of Holy Spirit Academy ultimately hadn't been able to make a move. The Sovereigns of the other four academies had stopped him, and Wu Ling Academy, which had always maintained a neutral stance, had sent an expert to take control of the situation.
They absolutely couldn't let this precedent be set. The consequences would be disastrous.
"Mu Chen, stop this at once!"
Wu Tian, with the phantom of the divine artifact Mirror of Judgment above his head, suddenly shouted, glaring furiously.
Everyone followed the Heavenly Passage Realm expert's gaze and was utterly dumbfounded.
As it turned out, while everyone's attention had been drawn to the newcomer from the Five Great Academies, Mu Chen had flown into a murderous rage and swung his staff at Ji Xuan's head again, the wind from his blow howling.
"Ahem, please don't misunderstand. I mean no harm."
"I just wanted to see which was harder: the Demon-Subduing Staff or Ji Xuan's skull."
Mu Chen muttered, reluctantly putting away his ancient battle staff.
From the very beginning, he had known that Ji Xuan couldn't be killed in the Spiritual Road.
It wasn't because Ji Xuan was immortal. There were two reasons.
First, the Spiritual Road Plane was jointly controlled by the Five Great Academies and monitored throughout.
It would be extremely difficult for Mu Chen to kill the Holy Spirit Academy's chosen candidate for its next Holy Son, a visitor from the Southern Border whom it had carefully nurtured, under the watchful eyes of so many experts from the Five Great Academies.
The Holy Spirit Academy Sovereign stationed here would never allow such a thing to happen, either.
Among the Five Great Academies, the royal family of Hundred Spirits had allied itself with none of them, so it couldn't call on their support.
Second, with his family's backing, Ji Xuan had successfully formed a symbiotic bond with an adult Ancient Heavenly Dragon Eagle, a former Fourth Grade Sovereign. They shared both glory and ruin.
At the brink of death, Ji Xuan, whose spiritual cultivation was only at the Perception level, could even draw on Sovereign-grade power to heavily wound his enemy—or perish alongside them.
Either Mu Chen could become a Sovereign,
or Mu Chen could subdue the Nine Nether Sparrow ahead of time.
Unfortunately, neither option was realistic. Distant water couldn't put out a nearby fire.
In the Spiritual Road Plane, Ji Xuan had powerful backing and a trump card. He couldn't be killed.
Perhaps only at the final battleground of the Academy Tournament—the Relic Continent—would there be a chance to erase Ji Xuan from this world once and for all.
The Relic Continent was largely made up of fragments of supercontinents shattered during an ancient cataclysm in the Great Thousand World. It held countless opportunities, but also innumerable dangers and layers upon layers of seals.
Even the Five Great Academies couldn't reach into that place. Their influence simply couldn't stretch that far.
Of course, knowing full well that Ji Xuan couldn't die didn't stop Mu Chen from testing the waters.
If Ji Xuan showed even the slightest weakness, or if the Holy Spirit Academy experts hesitated out of caution, Mu Chen wouldn't mind turning the threat into reality and killing the bastard right there.
Though he hadn't killed Ji Xuan this time, he had still managed to strike fear into the others.
Under the gaze of countless onlookers, the next Holy Son whom Holy Spirit Academy had painstakingly raised had been trampled like a dead dog by Mu Chen. He wondered how Ji Xuan could still have the nerve to call himself the number-one person on the Spiritual Road.
Luo Li and the others stepped forward to stand beside Mu Chen, silently making their stance clear through their actions: they would stand with Prince of Hundred Spirits through thick and thin.
Mu Chen clasped the silver-haired girl's cool hand and gave a slight nod. Meeting her worried gaze, he smiled to reassure her that she needn't worry.
"Mu Chen, don't be reckless. Things aren't as simple as you think."
Wu Tian descended from the sky. He had always thought highly of Mu Chen, and pretended not to notice his earlier antics as he spoke meaningfully.
Whether it was Wu Ling Academy, which stood behind him; Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, which had always been at odds with Holy Spirit Academy; or the two academies that kept their distance, Qingtian Academy and Wanhuang Academy, it was rare for them to reach a consensus on major matters. There were deeper interests at play.
"Your Excellency Wu Tian, Mu Chen dared to draw his weapon and provoke others even with experts from the Five Great Academies present. This clearly shows that he has no regard for the Five Great Academies."
"I urge you to take action and kill this fool who doesn't know his place!"
Ji Xuan and Yang Hong helped one another to their feet and retreated behind Wu Tian.
The Sorrowful Crisp Breeze that the chief spiritual medicine master of Hundred Spirits had given Mu Chen was a diluted version designed to control the dosage. Even without an antidote, those affected would regain their freedom once enough time had passed.
At the sound of that, a fierce glint immediately filled Mu Chen's eyes. Gripping his ancient battle staff, he stared at the white-robed youth, eager to strike. "Ji Xuan, you really think I wouldn't dare to kill you?!"
Ji Xuan had already been scared out of his wits. When Mu Chen fixed him with that icy stare, he didn't dare meet his gaze and quickly lowered his head, his expression growing uglier by the moment.
Threatening someone right in front of a law enforcer—who else would have the nerve?
Meanwhile, Wu Tian continued smiling as if he hadn't seen a thing.
If you asked him, Ji Xuan had no sense of his own worth.
I'm here to clean up your mess, not to be your father.
If you weren't so utterly useless, would I have had to show up and sort this out? And now all the Five Great Academies' experts stationed here have to get involved, too.
Do they look like they're happy about it?
And you want me to kill Mu Chen? Ask yourself—or ask everyone here—which of you they think is worth more: Ji Xuan or Mu Chen?
Ji Xuan seemed to have understood something as well, and fell silent.
This man was an elder of Wu Ling Academy, not Holy Spirit Academy.
Meanwhile, outside the Spiritual Road Plane, the argument in the ancient hall continued.
"This Mu Chen is cruel, wicked, and blind to the will of Heaven. He has wantonly violated the rules of the Spiritual Road and slaughtered the innocent, arousing the wrath of gods and men alike. On top of that, he has shown contempt for the Five Great Academies."
"I propose that Mu Chen be executed as a warning to others!"
An icy voice rang through the hall.
P.S. In the original work, the Spirit Road Trial lasted two years, but Mu Chen was kicked out after taking part for only one year—in other words, he only participated in half of it.
Old Li's version here has a month remaining before the Spiritual Road ends, which differs slightly from the original setting. Please take note.
Also, in the original work, Luo Li hunted Mu Chen for more than half a year. I changed that, too.
Before you continue