The first light of dawn outlined the Northern Spiritual Academy's rustic buildings in a gentle glow.
The Training Ground.
The spacious grounds, normally used for cultivating spiritual energy and sparring, were now packed with layer upon layer of people, a dark sea of heads leaving not a gap.
Nearly every student still studying at the Northern Spiritual Academy had gathered there. Their burning gazes, mingled with undisguised envy and longing, all converged on the center of the grounds.
Five teleportation arrays, each roughly thirty feet across, hovered quietly there.
These were the Teleportation Spirit Arrays that led to the legendary Five Great Academies.
Through them, they could leave the familiar lands of the Northern Spiritual Realm and travel to the sacred cultivation grounds where countless geniuses from the Great Thousand World gathered.
That was the pinnacle countless youths of the Northern Spiritual Realm had struggled toward for years, the destination of their dreams.
At least, it was the highest pinnacle they could imagine at this stage.
Several figures already stood quietly in the grounds.
Tang Qian'er wore a sleek black training outfit, her ponytail tied high. Her pretty face was slightly tense as she waited so eagerly for someone that her eyes nearly wore through the distance.
"Mu Chen's here!"
A restrained stir suddenly rose near the entrance to the Training Ground, and scattered murmurs spread like a tide.
The tightly packed crowd parted of its own accord, opening a passage.
Countless gazes instantly swung toward him, burning even hotter.
"Academy Head, Mr. Hao." Mu Chen walked into the grounds and nodded slightly in greeting to Academy Head Xiao, who had been waiting there, and Mr. Hao, who was overseeing the teleportation.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mu Chen said no more and walked over to stand beside Tang Qian'er.
The grayish-brown sparrow on his shoulder gave an impatient little chirp and pecked at his collar, earning a gentle flick on its tiny head from Mu Chen's bent index finger.
The sparrow turned its head away in displeasure. Its black, beanlike eyes glanced at Tang Qian'er beside him before it simply buried its head beneath its wing and pretended to sleep.
"Everyone's here." Mr. Hao's voice drew everyone's attention back.
He surveyed the young men and women before him, who represented the highest standard of the Northern Spiritual Academy's current class. His expression grew solemn as he said gravely, "Before I activate the teleportation arrays, there are a few things you must listen to carefully and remember."
At his words, Tang Qian'er, Hong Ling, and the others immediately straightened their backs, their expressions serious as they focused on Mr. Hao.
"As I told you before," Mr. Hao began slowly, his voice reaching every ear clearly.
"Although you passed the Northern Spiritual Academy's test and earned your places, that only means you've qualified to participate in the Five Great Academies' entrance trials. You are not yet their official students."
"If you fail, you will most likely be assigned to continue your studies at one of the other large Spirit Academies under their jurisdiction. Those academies are far better than the Northern Spiritual Academy, but they fall far short of the actual Five Great Academies!"
"So, if you want to truly become a member of the Five Great Academies, you must give everything you have at every step from here on. There can be no slacking off or hoping to scrape through on luck!"
"Give it your all!"
"Yes!" Tang Qian'er, Hong Ling, Mo Ling, and the others answered in unison, their hearts steeled. Their voices echoed across the open Training Ground.
An even fiercer flame of fighting spirit blazed in everyone's eyes.
Mu Chen listened quietly, his expression unchanged.
To him, the Five Great Academies' trials were merely a formality.
Seeing that everyone had taken his words to heart, Mr. Hao said no more and instructed them to enter the arrays corresponding to their chosen academies.
"Steady your minds, everyone. Teleportation is about to begin!"
With a low shout, Mr. Hao swept his sleeve, sending several glowing seals shooting into the Teleportation Spirit Arrays.
Brilliant light then blossomed over the Spirit Arrays, gradually enveloping the figures within.
"Dad, wait for me." Mu Chen said goodbye to Mu Feng, who had come to see him off.
The pillars of light dispersed.
Solid ground met his feet. The bluestone platform beneath him was firm, and the spiritual energy was much denser than in the Northern Spiritual Realm.
Mu Chen opened his eyes.
What greeted him was a world so vast and boundless that it made his heart tremble.
In the distance stretched an ancient forest with no end in sight.
The trees were absurdly tall.
Towering trees ten thousand feet high stood like dark green mountain peaks, their overlapping crowns sealing off the world below.
Farther away, Spirit Beasts as large as mountains circled above the forest, their piercing cries tearing through the clouds and echoing between heaven and earth.
Occasionally, violent spiritual energy fluctuations erupted at the edge of his vision as two colossal creatures fought to the death. Their roars shook the heavens, and even from that immense distance, their heart-rattling might could still be felt.
This world seemed to remain in an untamed, primordial age, brimming with the rawest, most majestic vitality!
"So this is the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's testing ground." Mu Chen withdrew his gaze and turned toward the girl beside him, who was still a little dazed. A hint of teasing entered his voice. "Qian'er, are you nervous?"
Tang Qian'er drew a deep breath.
Her chest rose and fell slightly beneath her black training outfit as her clear eyes swept their surroundings.
The bluestone platform floating in midair was enormous, roughly ten thousand feet across by her estimate, and it was already packed with people!
Pillars of light continued to appear out of thin air. Each time one faded, several more figures emerged.
Most of those figures were young, yet none had weak auras.
Tang Qian'er could clearly sense that even the weakest among them were at the early stage of the Spirit Wheel Realm, just like her!
"A little..." she admitted honestly, her fingers curling unconsciously.
So this was what the Five Great Academies were like?
Even a mere gathering point for an entrance trial drew geniuses whom places like the Northern Spiritual Realm could only look up to.
She, a Heaven Class student who had attracted so much attention at the Northern Spiritual Academy, seemed to be just another ordinary face here...
Mu Chen smiled and said no more.
His calm gaze swept over the platform.
[Detected that the master has entered the Northern Cang Realm.] [Notice: Check-in is available in the current area. Check in?]
Something stirred in Mu Chen's heart, further confirming his suspicions.
Without any hesitation, he said silently, Check in.
[Check-in location: Northern Cang Realm] [Check-in successful!] [Reward obtained: Divine ability · False World, True Realm: Future-Taking Body] [The false realm becomes true; causes are rewritten and outcomes altered. Seize every initiative, and the true body shall never perish.]
The instant the stream of information flooded in, Mu Chen's pupils contracted slightly.
This divine ability was extraordinary. It was the innate divine ability of Gao Haoguang, the Demon Lord of the Lawless Ultimate Arts in Sun and Moon in Disarray!
Simply put, it could create a false world and switch the states of truth and falsehood to claim the future in advance and evade harm!
It was hailed as the strongest offensive causality-based divine ability!
Replacing truth with falsehood!
Its power was beyond question!
Dong!
Just as Mu Chen was digesting the information about that heaven-defying divine ability, a deep resonance like an ancient bell suddenly rang out from the center of the platform.
At the very center of the platform, the White Stone Stele erupted with dazzling light!
A somewhat illusory figure of an old man took shape.
He was one of the examiners at the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's testing ground, and he explained the trial to everyone.
Its format differed little from the Spirit Road's, except that they could use their cultivation. The tokens had also been replaced with Spirit Seals, ranked from level one to level nine.
To enter the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, their Spirit Seals had to reach level four!
Everyone present was assigned a level. Most held level-one ordinary places, very few held level-three seed quotas, and Mu Chen alone held a level-five core place.
"Everyone, all of you who received seed quotas, hand over your seals!"
Mu Chen smiled, single-handedly surrounding the entire bluestone platform!
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