Several days passed. Today was the day the Spirit Road opened.
Entering the Spirit Road required only the Mirror of Judgment or a teleportation array. Azure Wood Academy used a teleportation array, but it needed spatial coordinates, which were controlled by the Five Great Academies. Once the appointed time arrived, the array would activate on its own.
Qing Yilun and several academy elders stood there with Yun Mo and Qing He, waiting for the time to come. Yun Mo was still bound, and something had been stuffed into his mouth.
"Mmph... mmph."
Trapped within Qing Yilun's Field, Yun Mo wriggled in midair, trying to attract someone's attention. With his spiritual energy sealed, the only way to escape the chains around him was to have Qing Yilun or Qing He undo them.
But Qing He kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, his eyes only on the teleportation array. Even when he caught Yun Mo's movements out of the corner of his eye, he could only pretend not to see.
It truly wasn't that he didn't want to save him. If he did, there would be two of them trussed up instead. He knew the dean's methods all too well. He had been punished alongside Yun Mo plenty of times for helping him.
After studying Yun Mo for a while, Qing Yilun smiled and dissolved the Spirit Ball in his mouth. "How does it feel? Have you thought things through? Are you going to the Spirit Road or not?"
"Now I understand how you knew what was in my Storage Ring. You secretly looked through it!" Yun Mo had more or less resigned himself to his fate. Wasn't it just going to the Spirit Road to kill people? Who couldn't do that? Still, he stared at Qing Yilun, the old man who had no dignity befitting his age, as he spoke.
Qing Yilun neither blushed nor skipped a heartbeat. Those illustrated texts had been rather good.
He steered clear of that subject. "Looks like you do know which way the wind blows. Don't worry. The Spirit Road is anything but simple. You needn't worry about wasting your time.
"It was originally a small fragment of a shattered continent, broken off during a battle between a mighty expert and the Extraterritorial Evil Clan. The Five Great Academies later took control of it and remodeled it. There are bound to be some unimaginable ruins inside."
Yun Mo curled his lip. There were indeed tremendous opportunities inside. Mu Chen had obtained the foundation for his rise to supremacy there-but just look at who he was.
Yun Mo had no intention of competing with Mu Chen for anything. Who knew whether stealing his opportunities might change the eventual outcome? If Yun Mo caused Mu Chen to lack the strength he needed at the end, wouldn't he cry himself to death?
Just as Yun Mo was about to say something else, the teleportation array began to change.
Streaks of flowing light appeared, bursting with brilliant radiance. At the same time, spiritual energy fluctuated within the array, sending ripples through it. This was the sign that the Spirit Road had opened.
Qing Yilun watched calmly. Without any further nonsense, he grabbed Yun Mo and hurled him straight into the teleportation array.
"Qing He, you should go in too. Once you're inside, there's no need to deliberately look for Yun Mo. Develop on your own. Your paths are different."
The Spirit Road.
Despite its name, the Spirit Road contained no spiritual energy. Moreover, this place had once been a battlefield for Heavenly Sovereigns. Their terrifying power had completely disrupted this shattered continent, causing the Divine Contest Laws to emerge in the sky.
The Divine Contest Laws suppressed the cultivation of everyone within this space. Anyone below the rank of Earthly Sovereign would become an ordinary person.
After the Five Great Academies took control of the Spirit Road, its unique properties made it an excellent training ground, specifically used to select talented youths and guide them into the Five Great Academies to cultivate.
Today was one such occasion, as the peaceful place grew lively once more.
Boom!
Spatial ripples surged. Then hundreds upon thousands of cracks, both large and small, appeared in the sky. Figures crowded within them-the gifted youths participating in this Spirit Road Trial.
Yun Mo was among them.
His arrival was a little different, however. He materialized in midair and, before he could react, plummeted straight to the ground, grimacing in pain.
Without spiritual energy, and with his cultivation sealed, he had truly been knocked all the way back to his grandmother's doorstep in a single step.
"Ugh, what rotten luck. Why was the arrival point up in the sky? Was the academy's teleportation array built out of tofu? It nearly killed me! Those academy elders must have been taking kickbacks!"
Yun Mo rubbed his back, the corner of his mouth twitching. Fortunately, he had practiced some body-tempering techniques, so the fall hadn't injured him outright.
He felt the transparent chains around his body and struggled slightly, snapping them apart.
There was no spiritual energy in the Spirit Road, so naturally, the chains had no further power to sustain their form. Even an ordinary person could tear them apart easily.
"So this is the Spirit Road? Looks like I'm the only one around... no! There's someone else!"
Yun Mo scanned his surroundings and discovered someone lying on the ground not far away. That person seemed to have been just as unlucky as him, falling from the sky as well. Without spiritual energy protecting his body, he was still clutching his arm.
Strike first and seize the advantage! Strike late and suffer disaster!
Without hesitation, Yun Mo picked up a fairly sharp stone and hurled it viciously at the other person.
At the same time, he stamped down hard. His palm sliced through a sharp arc, stirring a gust as he shot toward the figure like an arrow. This palm strike would rob his opponent of the ability to keep fighting.
Since he had resigned himself to coming here, he had to stay sharp. He couldn't let his boat capsize in a gutter.
He would never underestimate anyone in this world. That was the experience he had gained from living two lives.
Besides, everyone started out as an ordinary person on the Spirit Road. That meant anyone could threaten anyone else, even if Yun Mo's cultivation had been quite good before.
"Ugh, what rotten luck. Not the best arrival point."
Mu Chen grimaced as he lay on the ground, rubbing his slightly numb arm with a glum expression. Fortunately, he wasn't injured. He only needed a little time to recover.
But just as he was about to get up, a sudden whistle cut through the air beside his ear, making his heart tighten.
"A hidden weapon!"
Mu Chen tilted his head, dodging the heavy blow from the projectile by a hair's breadth.
"Who's there?!" Mu Chen's scalp prickled. Someone was throwing hidden weapons at him the moment he arrived? Was this the so-called Spirit Road?
Yet just as he tried to locate his attacker, another gust from a palm strike hurtled straight at his face. Its sharp force lashed his cheeks painfully.
The surprise projectile, followed immediately by the palm strike, cost Mu Chen the initiative. Helpless, he could only retreat to avoid the brunt of the attack for the moment.
Yun Mo, however, did not give up his chance to press the attack. Although somewhat surprised by his opponent's quick reactions, he closed in again and unleashed a close-range strike, intending to use the force of his shoulder and elbow
to knock him flat.
This concentrated the strength of his entire body into a single explosive point. If his opponent failed to react and took the impact head-on, the outcome would be truly miserable.
Mu Chen's teeth ached slightly. Why did he have to fight to the death the moment he entered the Spirit Road? Moreover, his opponent's strength was proving extremely troublesome. He was in a dangerous position and could only respond as best he could.
His thoughts raced. He could only angle his body slightly, spreading his hands high and low before turning them into palms braced before his chest. He tried to use the subtle strength of softness overcoming hardness to deflect that terrifying force.
Bang!
The tremendous force slammed into him with a dull thud. Ultimately, because he had been ambushed, Mu Chen could not muster his full strength. He failed to withstand the terrifying impact and was sent flying.
Fortunately, his perfectly chosen response spared him any serious injury.
He twisted in midair at an odd angle, rolling to dissipate the force before landing firmly on the ground.
Mu Chen shook his nearly insensate hands and looked at his opponent, only to find him standing there with no intention of charging again.
He pressed his lips together, taking this opportunity to restore his condition as much as possible.
His father had been right. There were almost no friends on the Spirit Road, only enemies. Especially when he knew no one here, he needed to be even more careful. The one who survived to the end was the winner.
But did it have to be this ridiculous? Someone had ambushed him as soon as he arrived and nearly broken through his defenses.
Yun Mo, meanwhile, frowned slightly. He realized that his opponent was no soft persimmon waiting to be squeezed. With only an ordinary person's strength, he would need at least a hundred exchanges before he had a chance of taking him down.
And that was with the advantage of his shameless surprise attack.
"Tch, if I'd known I would run into someone this troublesome, I wouldn't have attacked first. I should've just run. I got too excited.
"Now he's bound to hate me. Settling this peacefully is probably going to be difficult.
"Do I have to fight him to the death? But then I can't guarantee I'll come out unscathed." Yun Mo felt rather depressed. He had wanted to get a look at the characters from the story, yet the very first person he encountered was this difficult to handle.
It was all this youthful body's fault. The hot blood within him always seemed to brim with inexhaustible energy.
As he thought it over, Yun Mo shook his head. Since the fight had already started, there was no reason to stop.
He narrowed his eyes and saw that his opponent had already assumed a fighting stance.
"Heh, hey, you're pretty good. My name's Yun Mo. What's yours? You dodged my three opening tricks so easily. Can we talk this over? How about we stop fighting?"
Yun Mo spoke first. At the same time, he bent down and picked up another stone, ready to look for an opening.
His words, coupled with the act of picking up a stone, made Mu Chen's eye twitch, dark lines gathering across his forehead.
He had never seen anyone so shameless. The fellow talked about negotiating, yet his hands showed no intention of stopping-and he was doing it so openly.
Mu Chen's gaze sharpened. He wouldn't sit there waiting to die. He picked up a stone as well, his eyes calm and cold. "Yun Mo, is it? My name is Mu Chen.
"I don't think there's anything for us to discuss. You ambushed me first, and now you want to call it quits? Surely there's no deal that sweet in this world?"
Was this guy trying to take advantage of him? Did he even know who he was dealing with?
Wait! What did he say his name was? Mu Chen?
The casual expression on Yun Mo's face abruptly froze. His movement, just as he was about to attack, stopped as well. His voice began to tremble as he asked in disbelief, "Say that again. Your name is... what?"
Mu Chen looked at him in confusion. Why had all his fighting spirit suddenly drained away? If Mu Chen charged now, he would most likely gain the upper hand.
"Mu Chen!"
"Heh, hehehe... so I didn't hear wrong."
Yun Mo was on the verge of despair. His face crumpled, and he wanted nothing more than to slap himself. Why had he suddenly become so aggressive?
Why had he picked a fight with someone? And why did that someone have to be the chosen one?!
Before you continue