End

Just as Instructor Xi had said, once news of the Six-armed Spirit Ape's appearance spread, all Nine Domains sprang into action.

The following morning, Liu Bai met the Liu Domain's contingent—and it was led personally by his father, Liu Domain Lord Liu Qingtian!

"Greetings, Domain Lord Liu, Mr. Liu Zong." Inside the camp, Instructor Xi and Instructor Mo came forward together to welcome them.

Both were Divine Soul Realm experts. Even with the Northern Spirit Academy behind them, the two Mentors could not afford to disregard the Liu Domain, especially when Liu Qingtian himself had led the group.

"Hahaha, you two are too courteous. My two brats have benefited greatly from the Northern Spirit Academy's guidance. I, Liu Qingtian, should be the one thanking you." Liu Qingtian laughed heartily.

Naturally, Liu Bai stepped forward to meet his father and second uncle.

When they saw Liu Bai, both Liu Qingtian and Liu Zong were startled.

Of course, it was not because their son had become even more handsome and dashing. It was the spiritual energy aura emanating from Liu Bai's body...

The Spirit Wheel Realm!

"You brat, you really never stop surprising your old man..." Liu Qingtian patted his son on the shoulder and could not help sighing.

Yet the delight in his eyes was plain for all to see.

Liu Bai smiled faintly. "You may soon find that you started being surprised too early..."

Liu Qingtian froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Quite a few students in the camp watched this touching scene between father and son, but that was not what they saw.

Looking at the powerful Liu Domain contingent, where even the weakest among them was a Spirit Wheel Realm expert, many secretly envied that handsome figure.

Perhaps within the academy, they could look down on those born "noble" in their hearts, believing they merely relied on external help and that they would surpass them sooner or later...

Unfortunately, when reality stood before them, those naïve and innocent youths would be awakened by its cruelty.

"Dad, did you come here this time because of that Six-armed Spirit Ape?" Liu Bai asked curiously.

After all, he had caused this whole matter, so he felt somewhat guilty.

"Yes, and no..."

Liu Qingtian said calmly, "The Six-armed Spirit Ape ranks 125th on the Earth Ranking and is an incredibly powerful Spirit Beast. Naturally, many people want it. But we all know the chances are slim. My true purpose for coming here is the person who killed the Four-armed Spirit Ape..."

Liu Bai suddenly understood, but then he almost laughed... If his father found out that the man he was looking for was standing right in front of him, his expression would surely be very interesting.

"Oh, right. Is Grandpa well? Has he gone into seclusion again?" Liu Bai asked casually.

To his surprise, Liu Qingtian's expression changed slightly. He then said in a guarded tone, "Your grandfather obtained a relic map some time ago and went to explore it alone. There has been no news from him since..."

The smile on Liu Bai's face slowly vanished. Seeing the genuine worry on his father's face, it seemed this was true...

But according to the original novel, Liu Jingshan should not have encountered any mishap. He would even successfully break through to the Heaven Fusion Realm several years later.

Right!

Liu Bai suddenly recalled that before Liu Jingshan appeared in the original novel, rumors outside had always claimed that he had vanished years ago...

Could it be connected to this incident?

Liu Bai could not be sure, but he planned to find a suitable time to ask about it properly.

"Don't worry. With Grandpa's strength, nothing should happen to him. Maybe he'll even gain something from this trip."

It had to be said that the Liu Domain's present status rested entirely on Old Master Liu Jingshan's silent support. A large portion of the Spiritual Arts that served as the Liu Family's foundation had been personally found by the old man in dangerous places.

Mu Feng from the original novel was a perfect example. He spent half his life working for it and only obtained three Spirit Grade Spiritual Arts... Though he had been lucky enough to marry a good wife!

Thinking about it now, Liu Bai felt that the greatest protagonist of the Great Thousand World should not have been Mu Chen, but his father instead!

Over the following days, Liu Bai met nearly all the Domain Lords of the Nine Great Domains. Since the ones who had fought the Six-armed Spirit Ape were the Northern Spirit Academy's two Mentors, those who had come naturally would not miss the chance to gather information from them.

Yet despite the great commotion, they ultimately found nothing.

Perhaps it knew that many powerful experts had gathered outside to search for it. The cunning Old Ape once again hid deep within the Northern Spirit Plains and refused to show itself, seemingly unwilling even to seek revenge against the person who had killed its son.

The many experts were left helpless and could only depart in disappointment.

Liu Qingtian and the Liu Domain's elite naturally gained nothing as well. Before leaving, Liu Qingtian specifically sought out Liu Bai and warned him to be careful from now on. As for the reward, there was no need to worry about it. Though the Spirit Nurturing Pill was precious, it was not beyond the Liu Domain's means.

"Dad, don't worry. I know what I'm doing..." Liu Bai smiled and reassured his worried father.

Then, he removed the Mustard Seed Bracelet from his wrist and said mysteriously, "Dad, I have something good for you..."

Liu Qingtian looked utterly baffled.

"What good thing could you possibly have?"

"You... This is...?!"

Before he could finish, Liu Qingtian immediately shut his mouth in alarm.

Seeing the fist-sized ball of light in Liu Bai's hand, within which a miniature Four-armed Spirit Ape seemed to be roaring toward the sky, he was instantly stunned.

"You brat, how did you get this? Could that mysterious person who killed the Four-armed Spirit Ape be..."

Liu Bai nodded.

He had originally thought his father would be thrilled by his strength. Instead, Liu Qingtian's expression suddenly changed, and his entire demeanor turned stern.

"You little brat! Are you trying to get yourself killed? The Four-armed Spirit Ape may only be an intermediate Spirit Beast, but its strength is comparable to some at the peak of the Spirit Wheel Realm, or even the Divine Soul Realm Initial Stage. You actually dared provoke it? Are you courting death?!"

After a brief daze, Liu Bai smiled. "You don't need to worry. I was confident in handling it. Still, I was only able to kill the Four-armed Spirit Ape thanks to the Flame Serpent Spirit Breaking Array. When we get back, Dad, find me some more powerful array diagrams."

"The Flame Serpent Spirit Breaking Array?"

Liu Qingtian was immediately surprised.

Of course he knew this array. It was one of the Liu Family's treasured collections.

And precisely because he knew it, he was shocked.

"You brat, haven't you only just started learning spirit arrays? How have you already mastered this First-Grade Spirit Array?"

Although he had heard from Wu Yuan that his son's talent in spirit arrays was "unprecedented," he did not know exactly how extraordinary it was. But now, it seemed to far exceed his expectations.

What Liu Qingtian did not know was that after Wu Yuan had been scared away by Liu Bai's display that day, he had felt rather embarrassed. Thus, when Liu Qingtian questioned him, he had merely spoken vaguely, offered a few words of praise, and hurried off.

Liu Qingtian had initially assumed the man was deliberately exaggerating because of his status. Who would have thought that not only had he not exaggerated, he had even somewhat "understated" his son's talent.

"Good, good. No problem. Once I return, I'll personally search for array diagrams for you. I definitely won't disappoint you!"

Liu Qingtian left, brimming with excitement.

It was not because he had obtained the Four-armed Spirit Ape's core, but because he now knew his son's true strength and heaven-defying talent. It allowed Liu Qingtian to see hope for the Liu Family to reach the summit!

Before the grand ape-hunting operation could even begin, it ended, and the entire Northern Spirit Plains fell silent once more.

Over the next few days, Liu Bai and the others quickly concluded their cultivation.

The academy had originally planned for half a month of cultivation, but the Six-armed Spirit Ape had delayed them for a week, cutting their cultivation time in half.

Liu Bai felt somewhat unsatisfied by this, because watching his experience panel steadily increase was simply too satisfying.

But too much of anything was as bad as too little. Just like grinding monsters in a game, killing too many would naturally attract elite monsters, or even a BOSS.

Moreover, there was not much time left until the Five Great Academies' selection. It was indeed time to return to the academy and sort through what he had gained during this period.

The camp was livelier than usual today. Every student wore an expectant, excited expression, because today was the day their cultivation results would be assessed.

Liu Bai did not squeeze in with the others at the front. Instead, he silently waited to one side.

With nothing else to do, he opened his status panel.

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Wheel Realm Initial Stage

Class: Spirit Array Master (Level 1 Spirit Array Master)

Spirit Veins: One Spirit Vein (12/50)

Physique: Spirit Muscle Jade Bone

Cultivation Method: Blazing Sun Art (Fifth Layer 0/2700); Hundred Scrolls of Array Dao: Upper Volume (Initiation · Heart Array Beginner 0/1200); Low Grade Body Tempering Divine Art · Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art (Initiation 0/2000)

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Great Accomplishment); Mortal Grade High Rank Senluo Death Seal (Great Accomplishment); Spirit Grade Low Rank Star Shattering Fist (Initiation 0/100); Spirit Grade Low Rank Blazing Step (Great Accomplishment 0/1500); Spirit-grade High-tier Great Sun Sea Burning Palm (Minor Accomplishment 0/1200)

Arrays:

Flame Serpent Spirit Breaking Array (Great Accomplishment)

Experience Points: 5025

Beast Soul Points: 68

After the Four-armed Spirit Ape, Liu Bai had killed nearly forty Spirit Beasts of varying levels, four of which were intermediate Spirit Beasts. The rest were only low-level ones.

It was not that Liu Bai did not want to hunt more powerful prey. He simply feared the Six-armed Spirit Ape and did not dare venture too deeply, so there truly were not many intermediate Spirit Beasts he could encounter.

After breaking through to the Spirit Wheel Realm, Liu Bai discovered that the spiritual energy he gained from killing low-level Spirit Beasts had noticeably decreased. Intermediate Spirit Beasts had also returned to normal, completely lacking the enormous value he had received when he first killed the Crimson Flame Wolf King. This allowed him to understand some of the system's restrictions and rules regarding experience gains.

In short, Level-Skipping kills provided an experience bonus, and a substantial one at that. But killing monsters below his own level directly cut his experience in half, or even reduced it to one-third, one-quarter, or one-fifth.

Even so, Liu Bai had accumulated over five thousand experience points. Combined with the 10% experience reduction he gained from consuming Jade Bone Grass, he had enough to easily raise his cultivation to the middle stage of the Spirit Wheel Realm, with plenty left over to strengthen his combat abilities.

The only thing Liu Bai found regrettable was that no one had come looking for trouble during this time. That meant he had no chance to make another move and gain more Spirit Vein points. At this rate, it seemed it would take quite some time before he could upgrade his Spirit Veins again.

As for directly carrying out some sort of massacre, Liu Bai could only say that while he was not exactly a good person, he was still at least human. He had to have some basic moral boundaries. Otherwise, had he been reborn merely to become a bloodthirsty fiend, an inhuman beast?

While Liu Bai remained silent, the score calculations were already in full swing.

"Landong Squad: one low-level mid-stage Spirit Beast Core, six low-level initial-stage Spirit Beast Cores..."

"Yubi Squad: two low-level mid-stage Spirit Beast Cores, eight low-level initial-stage Spirit Beast Cores..."

Clearly, these were the results normal students could achieve.

Even people like Zhang Jie and Shi Lin, who had always been highly regarded, had at most obtained a few low-level late-stage Spirit Beast Cores. As for intermediate Spirit Beast Cores, they had not obtained a single one.

Obviously, Liu Bai's class was indeed much weaker than Liu Mubai and Mu Chen's class in the original novel.

After all, that class alone had several children of the Nine Great Domains' Domain Lords, and they had all happened to gather together. In terms of strength, they were undoubtedly far above ordinary people.

"Liu Bai, your turn."

Instructor Xi's voice carried from afar.

Liu Bai silently walked over, then took out one small ball of light after another from his Mustard Seed Bracelet.

"Twenty low-level late-stage Spirit Beast Cores..." The recorder could not help pausing, shock appearing in his eyes.

Many student squads did not even dare provoke low-level late-stage Spirit Beasts. Whenever they encountered one, they would go around it.

Even squads led by Spirit Movement Realm late-stage students like Zhang Jie and Shi Lin would find hunting Spirit Beasts of that level extremely difficult. A moment of carelessness could result in injury, so they would not easily provoke such prey either.

Yet Liu Bai had been alone and had directly killed twenty of them... Even the academy recorder found it somewhat unbelievable.

But the shock was not over. When Liu Bai took out the intermediate mid-stage Crimson Flame Wolf King's Spirit Beast Core, even Instructor Xi and Instructor Mo, who knew Liu Bai's cultivation level, could not help glancing over.

Liu Bai had not taken out all the Spirit Beast Cores he had obtained, because there was no need. His score was already unquestionably first place, and there was no reason to further crush these people. Otherwise, the little ones might truly be unable to take it.

Sure enough, even though Liu Bai had held back so much, someone still could not accept it. After hearing the recorder's announcements one after another, he directly jumped out!