A Challenge Between Freshmen and Seniors

After Liu Bai's rousing speech, the freshmen's eyes had all turned bloodshot, looking ready to fight anyone to defend their own interests.

As for Li Xuantong, Crane Demon, and the others, they all became more wary of Liu Bai.

In Li Xuantong's heart, Liu Bai was now even more dangerous than Shen Cangsheng. Compared to someone as taciturn as Shen Cangsheng, a fellow who could bewitch a crowd into serving him with just a few words was clearly far more terrifying.

Of course, Li Xuantong did not object to Liu Bai's proposal. He even stepped forward decisively to show his support.

Whether for himself or Xuan Gang, this would bring nothing but benefits. Since someone was willing to take the lead, why would he refuse?

As for retaliation from the senior students... heh, when had Li Xuantong ever feared such things?

After the gathering ended, news that the strongest freshmen of this class had joined forces to dominate the Divine Soul Ranking quickly spread among all the freshmen.

However, most freshmen still feared the powerful senior students, so the majority merely hid in the shadows and watched quietly.

Still, Liu Bai and the others did not disappoint them. The first to act was Li Jing, who had already reached the peak of the Divine Soul Realm.

After completely fusing with the Snow Demon Beast, Li Jing's cultivation had reached the half-step Heaven Fusion Realm. Thus, after the gathering, she did not hesitate to challenge the Divine Soul Ranking, setting an example for those still hesitating.

"Fifth on the Divine Soul Ranking. A reward of ten thousand Spirit Value, and a thousand Spirit Value every day afterward..."

Liu Bai looked at Li Jing's ranking and nodded in satisfaction.

It had to be said that Li Jing truly had not disappointed him.

"With this, you should have enough to exchange for a Divine Soul Pill, right?"

For Li Jing, the Divine Soul Ranking was not her ultimate goal. Her ultimate goal was still to break through to the Heaven Fusion Realm...

Li Jing looked at her Spirit Value Token. "I'm still short eight thousand..."

Liu Bai raised his brows. He had not expected the gap to be so large.

"Eight thousand? Perfect, I have eight thousand Spirit Value left. Go exchange for the pill tomorrow..."

For Liu Bai, a few thousand Spirit Value would not do much for him. It would be better to help Li Jing improve her cultivation first. When they went out to take missions later, he would gain another capable helper. That would also indirectly help himself.

"This... there's no need. I receive a thousand Spirit Value every day now. I only need to wait another eight days..."

Before she could finish, Liu Bai cut her off.

"Eight days is not a short time for you right now. If you have the Divine Soul Pill and enter the Thunder Domain, you can break through in three days at most. You can't afford to waste those eight days."

"Don't worry. I'm lending you these eight thousand. Pay me back whenever you have more Spirit Value. Besides, the stronger you are, the easier it is to earn Spirit Value. At this stage, every second counts for us!"

After hearing Liu Bai's words, Li Jing did not object further.

The reason he had her wait one more day was so she could have another thousand Spirit Value to enter the Thunder Domain. Without the tempering of the Thunder Domain, it would still be difficult for Li Jing to break through in three days.

Thus, when Li Jing went to the Spirit Value Hall on the second day to exchange for a Divine Soul Pill, the matter became known to the various freshman factions. When they heard that she had immediately entered the Thunder Domain to break through afterward, they could no longer restrain themselves. One after another, they began challenging the Divine Soul Ranking.

After all, there were rewards for making the rankings. Even if they were pushed back down afterward, they would still have received the one-time reward...

With that in mind, many people who were not especially confident in their own strength began challenging the rankings first.

For a time, the entire Divine Soul Ranking became lively. It seemed that every passing moment, someone was challenging the list...

Naturally, the senior students within the academy noticed this scene. They had even received rumors that the freshmen intended to dominate the rankings.

However, not everyone was a monster like Liu Bai. There were not many freshmen who could truly compare with Li Jing. Thus, when they saw that most freshmen were merely stirring things up below the thirtieth rank on the Divine Soul Ranking, they did not pay much attention.

But after Xuan Gang, Demon Gate, and the Judgment Group acted in succession, the senior students immediately could not remain calm.

On the current Divine Soul Ranking, aside from Liu Bai's unshaken first place, more than half of the top ten had been replaced by freshmen.

Third place on the Divine Soul Ranking was occupied by Ye Tian. Although this king from the Spirit Road had not broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm, his strength definitely ranked among the top ten freshmen. In addition, Li Xuantong had gathered the strength of Xuan Gang to exchange a Divine Soul Pill for him. As he broke through to the Heaven Fusion Realm, he charged into third place on the Divine Soul Ranking in one stroke!

Fourth place belonged to Mo Feng, the deputy leader of the Judgment Group. Though he was not a king from the Spirit Road, he was still a Quasi-King with considerable strength.

Li Jing remained in fifth place, followed by Ling Yu of Demon Gate in seventh, Xu Huang in eighth, and Jiang Tai in tenth.

This directly shook the entire Divine Soul Ranking!

Since when had freshmen occupied more than half of the top ten spots on the Divine Soul Ranking? This had never happened before.

"Looks like this year's freshmen aren't the obedient sort. Now this will be interesting."

Quite a few senior students had long disliked those who deliberately monopolized the Divine Soul Ranking. Seeing such an exciting development, they eagerly began watching the show.

As for the senior students who had been pushed out, they were naturally furious. They prepared to have a talk with those freshmen and teach them what it meant to respect their seniors.

However, before they could act, the freshmen released word first...

Liu Bai directly challenged the senior students who had been pushed out of the top ten. Three days later, they would hold a match in the square of the Freshman District. Each side would send out five people, and the first to win three matches would be the victor.

The latter half of the terms was extremely unfavorable to the senior students. After all, these freshmen were poor as dirt. How much Spirit Value could they possibly have?

But the senior students did not care about Spirit Value. What they wanted was their pride, so the first half of the terms was what they valued most.

As for losing... honestly, in a best-of-five match, if senior students like them still lost, then they were truly worthless. Even if they lost all their possessions, they would have no one to blame but themselves.

This challenge caused quite a commotion in Northern Azure Spirit Academy. Many Mentors heard about it, and it eventually reached Dean Taicang's ears.

In the face of proposals from many Mentors to ban the match and even punish freshmen like Liu Bai, who had started the trouble, Dean Taicang merely smiled and refused.

"They're all hot-blooded youngsters. If they want to make a fuss, let them. This may not be a bad thing for the academy..."

The academy's attitude pushed this match straight into the spotlight. Soon, word came from the senior students that they had accepted the challenge. The five senior students responding were all people who had previously been in the top ten of the Divine Soul Ranking before being pushed out.

The strongest among them was naturally Huo Yun, who had once held first place on the Divine Soul Ranking and had now successfully broken through to the late Heaven Fusion Realm!

Three days passed in a flash. Today, the largest square in the freshman residential district was already packed with people early in the morning.

Countless freshmen had surrounded the place so tightly that not even water could pass through, all to watch the upcoming strongest confrontation between freshmen and senior students!

Naturally, quite a few senior students had come as well. Some people had even recognized that many Heavenly Ranking experts had personally come to watch the battle.

Clearly, they too were curious just how capable these newcomers were, daring to confront the senior students directly!

Finally, amid the eager anticipation of the crowd, all ten participants arrived.

The senior side was naturally led by Huo Yun, alongside four others who had once ranked in the top ten of the Divine Soul Ranking. Every one of them possessed mid-stage Heaven Fusion Realm cultivation, while Huo Yun had already broken through to the late Heaven Fusion Realm.

As for the five freshmen, Liu Bai was naturally among them. The other four were Su Xuan, Shen Cangsheng, Li Xuantong, and Crane Demon...

The five of them represented the strongest five freshmen of this class. Whether it was Zhou Fan, who had broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm back in the Northern Cang Realm, or Li Jing, Ye Tian, and the others who had only recently broken through, they were all still a step below these five.

Even so, all five freshmen were merely at the early Heaven Fusion Realm. In terms of raw cultivation, they were greatly inferior to the five senior students.

"Oh, so you're the strongest freshmen of this class? You're indeed not bad, but isn't it a little too early for you to overturn the table?"

The speaker was a somewhat lazy-looking young man. His long hair draped casually behind his back, and an ancient-looking longsword even hung from his waist.

There were plenty of people who used swords as weapons, but everyone kept their weapons in Mustard Seed Bracelets. Liu Bai had never seen anyone else who simply wore a sword at his waist.

This man had originally ranked third on the Divine Soul Ranking. His name was Xiao Jian, and his position had later been taken by Ye Tian.

Yet judging from his expression, he did not seem as angry and embarrassed as the others who had been pushed down. Instead, he appeared quite interested in these freshmen.

"Whether it's too early or not, we'll only know after we overturn it." Liu Bai smiled faintly.

"Haha, exactly! How would we know whether we can overturn the table without trying? In that case, why don't I test this junior brother's strength myself?"

Xiao Jian clapped and laughed without a care for anyone else, then immediately challenged Liu Bai.

"Hehe, I naturally wish to exchange pointers with Senior Xiao Jian as well. But I believe someone here wants to fight me even more, so I can only regretfully decline."

As he spoke, Liu Bai turned his gaze toward Huo Yun.

Ever since he had pushed the other man off the Divine Soul Ranking, a battle between them had become unavoidable.

Upon hearing this, Li Xuantong stepped out from the freshman side. Looking at Xiao Jian, he said, "In that case, I'll be Senior Xiao Jian's opponent. That should be fitting enough."

After all, Ye Tian was Li Xuantong's subordinate. At a time like this, it was only natural for him, as the boss, to stand up for his subordinate.

Shen Cangsheng, Crane Demon, and Su Xuan then each found their own opponents as well.

There was naturally nothing more to say after that. The five pairs split into five battlefields and began fighting at once!

Leaving the other battlefields aside for now, let us speak only of Liu Bai's.

Perhaps knowing that Liu Bai was not only strong in cultivation but also a third-grade Spirit Array Master, Huo Yun did not underestimate him. He struck first, throwing a punch at Liu Bai.

Boom!

Spiritual energy surged within Huo Yun's fist like a raging storm. Carrying a fierce and tyrannical gale, it blasted mercilessly toward Liu Bai.

Liu Bai was not surprised. The three Spirit Wheels in his body spun rapidly, and dark spiritual energy surged out like a tide. He then threw a punch, forming four Senluo Death Seals. They exploded at once, black waves overlapping as they collided fiercely with Huo Yun's punch.

Bang!

Visible waves of air swept through the field before spreading outward, shaking the air and producing deep rumbles like thunder.

As the airwaves gradually dispersed, the two figures appeared beneath countless watching eyes.

That exchange had actually ended in a draw!

"Oh, so this was the move you used to defeat Fang Xu back then? You truly have some skill!"

Huo Yun sensed the terrifying power of the four black Spirit Seals. Remembering how his subordinate had been defeated in a single move by this freshman, he immediately understood.

"Hehe, now that I've displayed my skill, shouldn't Senior Huo Yun show this freshman what a senior is capable of?" Liu Bai's expression remained calm, but his voice carried an inexplicable faint smile.

The moment those words fell, the air between them became even more murderous.

Two vast currents of spiritual energy surged through the sky, intertwining and clashing like thunder colliding within storm clouds. Deep booms erupted, and the tense atmosphere made even the air seem to stop flowing.

Countless gazes converged upon the two of them. Everyone held their breath, staring without blinking, as though even the sound of their own breathing might ignite the earth-shattering battle between them.

Amid the dead silence, a violent wind suddenly swept forth. The forests swayed, raising green waves around the square that rolled into the distance.

At the instant the gale blew past, a chilling glint flashed through Liu Bai and Huo Yun's eyes at the same time. Then they charged toward each other simultaneously, like two bolts of lightning streaking through the void. Carrying surging torrents of spiritual energy, they collided with a thunderous crash!

Boom!

Like a clap of thunder exploding across the heavens, terrifying soundwaves swept outward first. Soon after, the violent winds created by the collision of the two currents of spiritual energy raged madly. The sturdy ground of the square was instantly shattered into powder by the impact, then swept away with the shockwave...