Chapter 222

Jing Hongyi smiled slightly at her, "I think Principal Miao is overthinking it. With the Federation around, how could those people dare to cause trouble at the league level? I reckon they only did this because we weren't on guard, but now that this matter has attracted attention, they definitely won't dare to continue."

Miao Mingzhi was somewhat displeased, but he didn't want to refute Jing Hongyi in front of so many people.

After thinking for a moment, she said nothing more, only lowered her head and remained silent.

Seeing that Miao Mingzhi remained silent, the others did not say anything more.

Finally, Jing Hongyi looked up and decided, "Let's leave it at that for now. I'll have someone continue the investigation, but the league will not be affected. Please go back and remind your students to be careful when going out recently."

After the meeting, Zhuang Silin followed Miao Mingzhi out of the conference room.

She lowered her voice. "Principal, what do you think Commander Jing is thinking? This is clearly a deliberate attack on our five major military academies, yet he insists on continuing to hold the league on time."

Miao Mingzhi pursed her lips, raised her hand to interrupt Zhuang Silin, and said, "Let's talk about it back home."

Zhuang Silin immediately glanced around, and seeing that no one was paying attention to them, nodded, "Mm."

The two did not speak again and walked out of the Federation General Bureau in silence.

Only after boarding their private aircraft did Zhuang Silin continue, "Principal, just now..."

"Jing Hongyi has harbored resentment towards our five military academies for many years, so it's normal for him to act this way," Miao Mingzhi said calmly.

Zhuang Silin was taken aback. "Are you dissatisfied with us?"

"Yes, the power and influence of the five major military academies are growing, and they are showing signs of surpassing the Federation. Naturally, he is dissatisfied."

Over the years, the five military academies have cultivated many outstanding talents, who have successively entered various Federation agencies to work after graduation.

Most people still cherish their alma mater, so to some extent, the influence of the five military academies completely surpasses that of the Federation.

Consequently, the prestige and reputation of the principals of the five major military academies began to rival that of Jing Hongyi.

As the highest-ranking commander-in-chief of the Federation, Jing Hongyi is a leader with absolute authority.

However, the current situation is that he often has to consider and respect the ideas of the five major military academies.

This feeling of being controlled by others is certainly not pleasant.

Zhuang Silin quickly figured out the reasons behind it.

She shook her head and sighed softly, "Jing Hongyi is overthinking things. We have no intention of competing with him for power."

The principals of the five major military academies are all prominent figures at the very top of the pyramid.

For them, power and influence are nothing to cling to; they would actually prefer to spend their time pursuing higher levels of cultivation.

Miao Mingzhi leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. "Jing Hongyi is petty and cunning. The way he acted today clearly shows he's been unhappy with us for a while. From now on, everyone should be more careful in their actions and avoid offending him to prevent any trouble."

"Understood." Zhuang Silin nodded. "But are we not going to try for the league anymore?"

"Let's see how things go first. If the situation gets serious, we'll talk about it then," Miao Mingzhi replied.

"Good."

At the same time, the opening time of the Tongbao Spirit Realm arrives.

Those who possessed the Heaven and Earth Dark-Yellow Token were successively pulled into the spiritual realm.

"As expected of the Tongbao Spirit Realm, the spiritual energy here is purer than outside."

"Phew, luckily I stockpiled tokens beforehand, so I didn't miss this opening."

"I've heard that this spiritual realm is full of treasures and trial challenges; finding even a few won't be a loss."

"The Spirit Realm must have opened ahead of schedule because someone obtained the Heaven and Earth Token, which forced its opening."

"The owner of the Heaven and Earth Token wields considerable power; I wonder who's so lucky."

Xu Jintang, who had just emerged from the treasure map, was walking this way when he heard the murmurs of the crowd.

She continued walking over as if nothing had happened, greeting everyone, "You guys just got in too? So, what did you find?"

Everyone assumed she had just been pulled into the spiritual realm, so they didn't think much of it and naturally shared their experiences with her:

"I knew there should be many treasure spots in this spiritual realm, but we'll need to search slowly. Also, there will definitely be guardian beasts near the treasure spots; they're probably quite powerful. We'd better team up."

"Yeah, that's about all I know. It's fate that we were all teleported here, how about we team up?"

"Sure," everyone agreed.

Xu Jintang nodded in agreement, "Okay."

After finalizing the team formation, everyone began discussing which direction to head in.

Xu Jintang glanced at the map of the Spirit Realm when he had a moment to spare, and there was a treasure spot just a few dozen miles away to the northwest.

Her thoughts returned to the present moment, and she said, "How about we head that way? I see a lot of mountains and caves over there; maybe there's a treasure spot."

"Alright." The person in charge of organizing the team nodded. "Generally speaking, caves are the easiest places to find treasure. Let's head that way. We might encounter other monsters along the way, so everyone be prepared to fight at any time."

"Yes!"

And so the group set off in a grand and imposing manner.

Xu Jintang blended in without attracting much attention.

As time went by, more and more people were summoned into the spirit realm.

Xu Jintang unexpectedly discovered that she could not only view the entire Spirit Realm map, but also clearly see the total number of people currently in the Spirit Realm.

In such a short time, more than 10,000 people have flooded into the Spirit Realm, and every location on the map is occupied by a large number of people.

"Hey girl, what are you daydreaming about? Be careful, there might be a lot of monsters hiding around here," a teammate nudged Xu Jintang to warn her.

Xu Jintang snapped out of her daze and thanked him with a smile, "Okay."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a Giant-Winged Tiger flew out of the bushes not far ahead.

The white tiger had two huge silver wings on its back, and its thick claws lunged at the crowd, followed by a loud roar.

The sound waves of the tiger's roar spread in all directions, and many of those affected were momentarily disoriented.

"Watch out, everyone! It's a psychological attack!" someone shouted in the group.

With several powerful figures guarding Xu Jintang's spiritual sea of consciousness, it is so stable that it is impossible for it to be affected.

The attack had absolutely no effect on her.

She acted immediately, gathering spiritual power in her palm and swiftly summoning Ice Blade Storm to meet the white tiger.

At the same time, several gleaming throwing knives flew from another direction, accurately piercing the white tiger's abdomen.

Blood splattered in the air.

The once ferocious white tiger instantly collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Xu Jintang stopped and turned to look in the direction from which the flying knife had come.

A man dressed in a long black robe stood not far away, one hand behind his back.

He had a side-swept fringe, a thin face, a well-defined jawline, and an air of arrogant elegance about him.

"Brother, thank you for your help just now." The leader of the group clasped his hands in thanks to the man opposite him.

Liu Zichang raised his hand and retrieved the throwing knife. The two-meter-long knife instantly shrank to a miniature size upon returning to his palm.

He put his hands back behind his back and waved at them, "Just a small favor."

"By the way, you've already teamed up?" Liu Zichang continued to ask.

The person in charge quickly nodded, "Yes, do you want to join us?"

The white tiger was at least at the Fourth Tier of strength, but this man defeated it in a single move, so his strength must be above that.

If he could join the team, it would certainly be a great help to them.

Liu Zichang, chin held high, surveyed the crowd with an air of superiority, finally fixing his gaze on Xu Jintang in the corner. He nodded slightly, "Alright, let's all go together then."

Everyone could feel the arrogance emanating from Liu Zichang.

However, because of their respect for his abilities, everyone simply kept quiet and didn't say anything more.

Chapter 222

With Liu Zichang joining the team, everyone felt more at ease.

With such a powerful fighter, the team's advance will definitely be safer.

After walking for several dozen more miles, they were getting closer and closer to the treasure location, but the group began to have disagreements.

"We've walked quite a distance this way, but haven't found anything. I don't think this direction is reliable. Should we change direction?" Liu Zichang suddenly stopped and suggested.

The others looked hesitant.

"Didn't they say there might be treasure hidden in the cave? We're only a few dozen miles from the mountains. If we change direction now, won't we be giving up halfway?"

Liu Zichang immediately objected, "You yourself said that there's only a possibility of treasure at the cave, but what if there isn't? We've walked for so long; isn't the time and effort we've wasted a cost?"

Xu Jintang, who had been mostly silent, looked up for the first time and interjected, "I have a feeling there's definitely a treasure spot over there in the cave. Should we hold on a little longer?"

The map shows that the treasure location in the mountains is only a dozen miles away, and it's quite large, so there should be a lot of treasure inside.

Luckily, there are many of them; if we go together, we should be able to get it done smoothly.

These words displeased Liu Zichang.

He turned to look at her. "Young lady, what makes you say that? Don't you know everyone's time is precious? Our time in the Spirit Realm is limited. If there are no treasure points over there, wouldn't we have wasted our time?"

The argument between the two made the rest of the team feel somewhat awkward.

The team leader quickly stepped in to smooth things over, "You two don't need to argue. I know you're both looking out for our team. How about I go check out the mountain area first? If there's really nothing there, we can try another route. After all, we've come all this way, it would be a shame to give up halfway."