The once-empty Martial Arts Arena was packed with people again.
Everyone stood ramrod straight. The ease they usually wore after training was gone, replaced by barely concealed tension and a fierce hunger for battle burning deep in their eyes.
Over the past three years, they had struggled and fought their way through the Worship Hall's Training Camp, enduring intense cultivation and combat every day. They had long since come to regard one another as rivals.
And their hearts were as clear as mirrors. Even without any official announcement, they could piece together the broad picture from the Elders' occasional remarks and the rumors circulating through the Training Camp.
The Worship Hall had poured so much effort into nurturing them for far more than simply producing a few geniuses.
Behind it all lay a struggle for power between the Worship Hall and the Papal Hall. As for them, they were the pieces on that chessboard.
In the past, assemblies had meant either training or assessments. Everyone had grown accustomed to them.
But today was different.
The assembly horn had sounded with unusual urgency. The atmosphere over the entire Martial Arts Arena weighed on them like a stone, making it hard to breathe.
Yang Chang'an stood among the crowd, scanning his surroundings. He soon spotted Qingyu, Shi Hao, and the others nearby.
Over three years, these companions who had joined alongside him had undergone earth-shaking changes in strength.
Qingyu's Azure Luan Martial Soul had grown increasingly condensed, faint azure currents swirling around him, his bearing cool and sharp. Shi Hao, meanwhile, radiated a fearless ferocity. His muscles were more solidly defined than three years ago, and his gaze was sharper and more aggressive.
More importantly, their auras revealed that they had already reached rank twenty-four. In just one year, they had climbed