The divine artifact had gone on strike, throwing all spirits into panic.
"Bzzzz. Whoosh!"
Just then, countless points of starlight shimmered across Mu Chen's body, illuminating his limbs and torso until he looked like a flawless, crystal-clear body of starlight.
Billions of strands of starlight writhed furiously, finally merging into an enormous pillar of light that shot skyward, straight toward the Mirror of Judgment hanging high above the heavens.
Everyone instinctively narrowed their eyes. The starlight was simply too dazzling.
It burst from the crown of the boy's head, pierced through heaven and earth, and plunged into the mirror at the speed of light.
"Clang, clang, clang~~"
High in the sky, the enormous bronze ancient mirror shuddered as it was struck, bathing in a sea of divine light and letting out an ancient, bell-like rumble.
The rumbling was deep and sonorous, lingering without end.
Stirred by the impact, the ancient bronze mirror—which had ground to a halt and gone on strike—gradually calmed. It drew down even more starlight from the depths of the void, hurling it below to envelop that figure.
The astonishment on everyone's faces slowly transformed into deep shock.
By now, how could anyone fail to understand what Mu Chen was trying to do?
He was using his own strength to forcibly connect with the supreme divine artifacts of all Five Great Academies!
The handsome young man slowly rose from the ground, floating in midair.
His eyes were closed, his limbs outstretched, his black hair fluttering.
The corners of his lips lifted slightly in a warm, gentle smile.
Mirror of Judgment, if you won't come to me, I can go to you!
"His essence pierces the morning sun; he bears the standard at the gate, his spirit soaring beyond the heavens."
"Your Highness. His Highness is defying the heavens!"
The white-haired Old Dean trembled slightly, his face flushed with excitement.
A moment later, he plopped back into his seat, limp as a rag. Every pore on his body relaxed, and he felt as refreshed and at ease as if he'd eaten thirty-six ginseng fruits.
It was settled. This time, it was settled!
In a sense, the distance the starlight reached beyond the body directly reflected a living being's aptitude—or, more precisely, their cultivation talent—and determined how far they could go in the future.
Take Liu Yang of the Liu family, for example. His starlight had only extended a dozen or so yards beyond his body.
His older brother, Liu Mubai, once hailed as the greatest cultivator of his generation in the Northern Spiritual Realm and one of the top three in Heaven Tier, had managed just over sixty yards.
But Mu Chen, Heir of the King of Hundred Spirits, had sent billions of strands of starlight bursting from the crown of his head, forming a pillar that soared into the heavens and forcibly pierced the Mirror of Judgment, awakening the divine artifact.
By his estimate, the pillar was at least eight hundred yards tall, nearing a thousand.
Without a doubt, this was a superlative cultivation genius, a peerless monster.
Our academy has not failed the king's trust!
The preliminary selection had ended.
Apart from Mu Chen, the Heir who had been the undisputed star of the entire event, seven or eight others had held on until the very last moment. Bathed in starlight from beginning to end, they had gained immense benefits, having their bones cleansed and their bloodlines purified.
Luo Tong, Lie Jiu, Tang Qian'er, Hong Ling, Liu Mubai.
Nearly all of them were children of the continent's elite, with powerful fathers who ruled over their domains. Only those with virtually unlimited cultivation resources at their disposal could stand out.
"Boom!"
Beneath the gaze of countless onlookers, an ancient bell tolled, its sound resounding through heaven and earth. The surface of the bronze mirror, which nearly covered the entire sky, rippled faintly.
A colossal vertical eye appeared, gazing down impassively.
Below it stood a group of selected human prodigies, shoulder to shoulder.
"In the name of the Mirror of Judgment, I grant you all passage to the Spirit Road!"
The ancient, mysterious voice swept over Northern Spiritual Academy and quickly spread throughout the entire Hundred Spirits Capital, then raced across the continent at astonishing speed.
A mysterious beam of light shot from the Mirror of Judgment and struck the depths of the starry sky.
Vaguely, it linked to a strange half-plane hidden deep within the void. Its gates swung wide, and the Five Great Academies, wielding the power of a Peerless Divine Artifact, forcibly pierced through to it.
There, spiritual power could not be used. Neither battle qi nor Origin Energy worked. It was an extraordinary place.
Starlight rained down everywhere, forming a Starry Sky Gate that propped up heaven and earth. Dazzling, ancient, and mysterious, it rumbled open beneath the countless watching eyes.
Beyond the gate, at the far end of the void passage, what kind of world awaited them?
"Ah, the Spirit Road. It is destined to be a glorious road, riddled with thorns and deadly traps. Advance, and live; retreat, and die. Only the brave can press forward with a triumphant song."
A sentimental Spirit Academy instructor sighed wistfully.
"Let's go!"
Mu Chen remained composed and, without hesitation, took the lead at the very front of the line.
At his command, the human prodigies followed the Royal Heir in a steady stream, plunging into the vortex of the Starry Sky Gate and disappearing from this world.
There were no farewells, no parting sorrow, and certainly no grief. Instead, they felt an unusual sense of freedom.
The sons and daughters of the Great Thousand World were bold and passionate. Why would they waste time on so much tender sentiment?
The window to enter the Starry Sky Gate lasted only a few short breaths.
Those who failed to enter would be deemed to have voluntarily forfeited this extraordinarily precious opportunity.
The next moment, the supreme divine artifact of the Five Great Academies, the Mirror of Judgment, vanished as well.
It shrank into a tiny mote of void, fled into the depths of the starry sky, and disappeared as the rift closed behind it.
The crowd that had surged through Northern Spiritual Academy gradually dispersed.
"A-Jing, our son has finally taken the first step on his expedition across the Great Thousand World."
Within the Hundred Spirits Palace, a lonely king withdrew his gaze and said those words.
The feast was over.
The stars shifted; streams of light flashed by.
Mu Chen had no idea how long he had spent in a haze of consciousness inside the void passage. Perhaps only a few breaths had passed, or perhaps several days and nights. He felt his body sink, then fall.
The solid ground beneath his feet and the earthy fragrance drifting into his nose assured him he had reached his destination and was standing on land.
He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the light.
Before him stretched a boundless forest of towering ancient trees, a sea of green without end, scattered with strange stones and craggy rocks. Beastly roars echoed from afar, wild and ancient.
"So this is the Spiritual Road Plane."
A glimmer of understanding surfaced in Mu Chen's mind. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, assessing the situation.
He was in a primeval forest, and he had no idea how many spirit beasts lived there.
The sun had just risen on the horizon to his right, so he was roughly facing north.
There was no one beside him, which meant the Mirror of Judgment had sent each person to a random location.
"Right, my spiritual energy..."
Mu Chen instinctively circulated the Ancient God Canon, only to discover that the rumors were true: he could not sense the spiritual energy in the world at all, as if it had vanished into thin air.
Even when he used his naturally powerful soul force to peer within himself, the sea of energy in his abdomen was just as empty. Even the mysterious light tower he had formed out of thin air with Pagoda Divine Power was nowhere to be seen.
The light tower had always been illusory and on the verge of collapsing. It could never have withstood the rules of the plane.
An omnipresent force of law permeated this world, suppressing the spiritual energy and domains of all living beings. Neither humans nor spirit beasts could use their energy.
All they could rely on was strength and wisdom.
Mu Chen's gaze flickered as he carefully weighed the pros and cons.
In the Great Thousand World, spiritual energy was the foundation. Countless professions had flourished to their peak, ushering in unprecedented prosperity: Spirit Array Masters, Spirit Insect Masters, Spirit Alchemists, and Spirit Artifact Masters.
Martial artists who fought with spiritual energy were simply the most mainstream profession.
The Spiritual Road Plane sealed away spiritual energy, cutting off every path at its source.
That meant Mu Chen's status as a first-level Spirit Array Master was equally useless.
When his mother had left, she had given him a treasure trove belonging to a Grandmaster of Spirit Arrays, helping him begin his path as a Spirit Array Master.
P.S. Yuan Zun has ended. What a loss for my youth.
Let me spoil it for you: the ending connects with The Great Ruler. They share the same world.
The main villain, the Son of the Saint God, is the Heavenly Evil God who escaped.
The Heavenly Source World and the Great Thousand World are in the same universe. The Heavenly Source God level is equivalent to the Great Thousand Ruler level.
In other words, Zhou Yuan attained the Dao tens of thousands of years before the Flame Emperor, Martial Ancestor, and Mu Chen, making him their senior.
And once again, there's only one female lead! Damn it, what kind of real man flirts but never marries?!
Before you continue