Make It Big!

Li Jing and Guo Xiong looked at Liu Bai, who wore an inexplicable smile, and for a moment, neither could guess what he was thinking.

"What do you say? How about we give Northern Azure Spirit Academy a little Freshman District shock?"

The three people present were instantly dumbfounded. They had no idea what Liu Bai meant by a "Freshman District shock." Could it be that he wanted to lead the freshmen and directly overturn the older students?

"Guo Xiong, go to Xuan Gang, the Judgment Group, and the Demon Gate. Find Li Xuantong, Shen Cangsheng, and Crane Demon, and tell them I'm inviting them to discuss something important!"

Since they were doing this, they might as well make it big.

As long as they secured those three, they would have secured nearly eighty percent of this generation's freshmen. Most of the others simply were not qualified to participate in such a plan.

After understanding Liu Bai's intentions, Guo Xiong's eyes lit up. He immediately left to invite them.

Li Jing and An Ran were somewhat worried. The former said, "Are you sure those three will agree to fool around with you?"

"How can this be called fooling around?" Liu Bai smiled. "On a smaller scale, I'm letting us reclaim with our own hands what should have belonged to us. On a larger scale, I'm fighting to recover the benefits that belong to all freshmen. No matter how you look at it, we won't lose out, right?"

"But do you really think the freshmen alone can stop those older students? Don't forget, the top ten of the Heavenly Ranking are all Heaven Transformation Realm cultivators..."

Liu Bai was naturally well aware of that.

Their target was only the Divine Soul Ranking, but just like Huo Yun, those ranked near the top of the Divine Soul Ranking all had countless ties to the Heavenly Ranking.

Moreover, if the freshmen united to "resist," there would inevitably be some people who could not stand it and stepped in...

Yet Liu Bai was not worried.

"Don't worry. The top ten of the Heavenly Ranking have their own pride. A group of freshmen like us isn't enough to draw their attention. As for the others, hehe, don't treat all freshmen as weaklings. Our generation is quite strong..."

By Liu Bai's estimation, within half a year, at least four or five people from their generation would enter the Heavenly Ranking. Li Xuantong and Shen Cangsheng might even make it into the top fifty, perhaps even the top twenty. In a year, the ones dominating the Heavenly Ranking might very well be people like them.

Guo Xiong moved quickly. Before long, the invitations had been delivered to Li Xuantong and the other two.

"Hehe, discussing something important? He sure talks big!" Crane Demon gave a cold laugh as he watched Guo Xiong's departing figure.

"Boss, that Liu Bai wants to drag all us freshmen into this. We absolutely can't fall for it!" someone immediately said before Crane Demon.

That had been Crane Demon's first thought as well. But after considering it carefully, he felt there was no harm in going to take a look.

After all, if that fellow truly had such intentions, Crane Demon believed neither Li Xuantong nor Shen Cangsheng would agree so easily. Thus, he was not worried that Liu Bai would try any tricks.

Very soon, Xuan Gang and the Judgment Group also received the news. By comparison, Li Xuantong agreed without hesitation, because he was very curious what interesting trouble this suddenly rising freshman would stir up.

Nothing happened that night. Early the next morning, the entire Freshman District became lively.

The freshmen suddenly discovered that several of the top-ranked factions in their generation were all heading toward the Grade C Area.

Xuan Gang, the Demon Gate, the Judgment Group, Zhou Gang...

There were over a hundred factions among the freshmen that could be considered notable, large and small. More than half had joined this operation, and every one of them was a well-known figure. Naturally, this drew the attention of many people.

On Liu Bai's loft, Su Xuan, who had arrived early, watched the scene in the distance. A strange smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she glanced at Liu Bai.

"It seems your reputation, Liu Bai, is quite impressive. You actually managed to bring over half the freshmen's strongest experts here in answer to your invitation..."

Liu Bai curled his lips. "Alright, alright. Didn't everything happen suddenly yesterday? That's why I didn't have time to notify you. Stop being so sarcastic here."

As partners who had once fought together in the Northern Cang Realm, Su Xuan was very dissatisfied that Liu Bai had excluded her from what happened yesterday. That was why she had come to confront him so early this morning.

"Fine, I'll let you off this time. But I hope there won't be a next time, unless you don't consider me, Su Xuan, a friend!" By the end, Su Xuan's tone had turned serious.

Liu Bai nodded solemnly as well.

Partners and friends...

It would not be bad if he could find a few friends in the Great Thousand World whom he could trust with his life.

"But with such a huge commotion this time, what are you planning to do?" Li Jing finally asked as she looked at the reconciled pair.

Liu Bai shook his head with a smile. "I didn't expect so many people to come either. My little loft clearly can't hold them all. There's a small island in the middle of the lake. It may not be large, but it's a very good place. Why don't we go there this time?"

Su Xuan and the others looked toward the center of the lake. Their eyes immediately brightened.

Amid the emerald waters stood a small island close to the water's surface. There was no towering vegetation on it, only aquatic plants. If it were tidied up and a loft built there for living, it would surely have a unique charm.

Guo Xiong once again stepped forward and led everyone who had come this time onto the small island.

Although Divine Soul Realm cultivators could not yet fly through the sky, walking across water was easy enough, so no one found themselves embarrassed by being unable to reach the island.

After arriving on the island, Liu Bai, as the gathering's initiator, naturally greeted everyone personally. Then, beneath everyone's gaze, he stomped his foot. Dense Earth Element Spiritual Energy flowed from the soles of his feet into the ground. Amid the rumbling of the entire island, the ground beneath everyone's feet turned into grayish-white stone, and rows of long stone benches half a meter high even rose up.

This move immediately seized the initiative, causing the expressions of many powerful freshmen to change.

Although Liu Bai had defeated an older student at the Heaven Fusion Realm yesterday, he had only just broken through. Perhaps his combat strength was formidable, but that was nothing surprising. There were plenty who believed they could do the same.

Yet no one had expected him to possess such precise control over his spiritual energy. To achieve what he had just done also required an extremely high level of control over the natural energy of heaven and earth.

Among the several Heaven Fusion Realm experts currently on the island, not one dared claim they could accomplish such a thing.

"Interesting..." Crane Demon, with his long cyan hair, spoke those three words again. But unlike yesterday, the playful look on his face had vanished, replaced by unprecedented gravity.

"How can his control over spiritual energy be this precise? Even someone at the middle Heaven Fusion Realm would likely struggle to achieve this, right?" Ye Tian looked at Li Xuantong in astonishment and could not help asking.

The latter nodded slightly. In terms of spiritual energy control alone, he truly could not match Liu Bai. Yet Li Xuantong was confident that if the two fought, he definitely would not lose!

Yes, he would not lose.

But likewise, Li Xuantong was not confident that he could win.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Liu Bai secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed his attempt to establish dominance had worked. Otherwise, with so many people here, who knew how much more effort it would have taken to achieve his goal.

As for his technique, Finger to Steel, it was merely a clever trick. Thanks to having cultivated the Mountain God Art to the Solidification Stage, combined with the Three-Headed Stone Flood Dragon's innate ability, he had been able to create that display.

In truth, cultivators who fused with Spirit Beast Cores generally found it difficult to unleash one hundred percent of a Spirit Beast's power. There was an issue called Fusion Degree.

The higher the Fusion Degree, the stronger the power they could wield. Some were even stronger than those who had fused with higher-grade Spirit Beast Cores.

However, reaching that point was not easy.

Spirit Beast Cores were innately incompatible with humans. Even after a Spirit Beast had been slain, its remaining instincts still resisted. Unless they willingly allowed themselves to be refined, the power of their core could not be brought to its fullest potential.

But would wild and proud Spirit Beasts willingly allow themselves to be refined after being killed?

That was impossible!

Why did many people still occasionally use Spirit Beast Core power at the Heaven Fusion Realm, yet almost no one used it after reaching the Heaven Transformation Realm or even the Heaven Piercing Realm?

Ultimately, it was because as a cultivator's own strength and spiritual energy grew stronger, they gradually rejected this foreign power that no longer enhanced them.

But Liu Bai was an exception!

His Three-Headed Stone Flood Dragon had been upgraded using his own Beast Soul Points. Perhaps when he had fused with the Earth Spirit Stone Python, he had shared the same weakness as ordinary people. But after the fusion upgrade, the current Three-Headed Stone Flood Dragon had completely merged with Liu Bai, greatly strengthening his control over Earth Element Spiritual Energy.

Seeing that his purpose had been achieved, Liu Bai stopped wasting words and said directly, "Everyone, I invited you here for only one matter: the Divine Soul Ranking!"

The moment those words were spoken, everyone's hearts stirred, though it was all within their expectations.

However, after witnessing the earlier display, the few who had intended to say something all shut their mouths and no longer dared stir up trouble.

Seeing this, Liu Bai smiled inwardly and continued, "The Divine Soul Ranking is the lowest ranking in Northern Azure Spirit Academy. It should have been a place for us freshmen to shine, yet everyone has seen the kind of people occupying it now..."

"As for why they are doing this, I think everyone knows. It's just for Spirit Value."

"Perhaps everyone still doesn't understand the Spirit Value rewards of the Divine Soul Ranking. Then let me tell you now..."

"Whoever reaches first place on the Divine Soul Ranking immediately receives fifty thousand Spirit Value. After that, they receive two thousand Spirit Value every day..."

Whoosh!

In an instant, everyone was stunned.

They knew that first place on the Divine Soul Ranking would definitely offer generous rewards, but they had never imagined they would be this generous!

Leaving aside the fifty thousand Spirit Value, the reward of two thousand Spirit Value per day alone was enough for them to live in the A-grade Area indefinitely. Who would not want such a good thing?

"Second place gets thirty thousand, plus one thousand five hundred Spirit Value per day. Third place gets twenty thousand, plus one thousand Spirit Value per day..."

Liu Bai had not known this at first either, since it had not been mentioned in the original story. But after he reached first place on the Divine Soul Ranking, he had specifically looked into it. Only then did he learn just how tempting the ranking's rewards were to the current freshmen.

This was also one reason he was confident he could win these people over.

"I think everyone understands what this Spirit Value means to us, who are currently penniless. After all, it is something we can obtain without paying anything at all—pure profit. Are you really willing to let those older students take what should belong to you?"

At that moment, everyone was moved. Some were even breathing heavily, their eyes wide as bells, as though thousands or tens of thousands of Spirit Value had truly been stolen from them.

"And there's one more point..." Liu Bai swept his gaze over the crowd. Seeing their reactions, he added more fuel to the fire.

"Everyone knows that in Northern Azure Spirit Academy, completing missions is an important way for us to gain Spirit Value..."

"But as freshmen, there are many missions we cannot access. Even the lowest Human Grade Missions can only be accepted by those on the Divine Soul Ranking. This is no different from directly cutting off one of our major ways of obtaining Spirit Value!"

This was a reality that every freshman had to face.

The Mission Hall of Northern Azure Spirit Academy divided missions into three major grades: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Each grade was further divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper levels.

Freshmen could only accept Lower Human Grade Missions after reaching the Divine Soul Realm. These were the lowest-level missions, each rewarding roughly one thousand Spirit Value.

Only those who reached the Divine Soul Ranking could accept Middle Human Grade Missions, while the top ten of the Divine Soul Ranking or Heaven Fusion Realm cultivators could accept Upper Human Grade Missions.

Their rewards ranged from ten thousand to several tens of thousands of Spirit Value. At their current stage, this was the most profitable method available for earning Spirit Value.

Although their generation of freshmen was considered the Strongest Generation in a hundred years, how many had broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm? If the rest did not enter the Divine Soul Ranking, they could not even earn Spirit Value through missions. This would have a tremendous impact on their growth.

The two points Liu Bai had raised were already enough to ignite the anger of the freshmen present toward the older students occupying the Divine Soul Ranking. Therefore, it became very easy for everyone to accept what he wanted to propose next.

By this point, people like Li Xuantong and Crane Demon had already understood Liu Bai's objective.

Yet they were still somewhat shocked...

Shocked that Liu Bai intended to make such a huge matter out of this... If they truly drove all the older students monopolizing the Divine Soul Ranking off it, then without even thinking about it, one could foresee that the relationship between the freshmen and older students would be completely inflamed!