The Eight Heads

News that Xiao Chen had thrown down a fortune betting on himself to win first place in the outer institute tournament soon spread throughout the Dao-Seeking Academy.

People could be heard discussing it everywhere, though most of their words were full of ridicule and mockery.

If a cripple could take first place in the outer institute tournament, wouldn't all their cultivation have been for nothing?

In the crowd, Liu Yue'er listened to their mockery but, for once, did not step forward to argue with them.

She murmured to herself, "Eldest senior brother, why would you do something so strange?"

"Hmph."

Tang Feng, standing beside her, snorted coldly. "I think there's something wrong with Senior Brother Xiao's head. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a boast."

That was what he said, but he was already calculating how he could be matched against that cripple Xiao Chen in the first round.

As long as he crushed that trash in the first round, Junior Sister Liu wouldn't keep thinking about him anymore.

Liu Yue'er frowned slightly. "Senior Brother Xiao's affairs are none of your concern."

With that, she hurried away, hoping to find Xiao Chen in the crowd.

Tang Feng watched Liu Yue'er’s receding figure, an inexplicable anger suddenly rising in his heart.

While the disciples of the Dao-Seeking Academy were busy discussing the matter, several figures flew in from the horizon.

The disciples present fell silent the moment they saw the figures and turned their eyes to the sky.

"Look, it's the heads of the institutes."

"I joined the Dao-Seeking Academy two and a half years ago, and I've finally seen the eight heads."

"Brother, why are there eight and not nine?"

"What's there to see about the head of the Miscellaneous Dao Institute? In a real fight, he wouldn't even be a match for me."

"..."

The figures landed together on the raised platform.

The instant they touched down, another figure appeared beside them.

It was Chu Feng. He had not walked up onto the platform, but had leaped up after the others arrived.

However, the disciples below were all focused on the eight big shots, and no one noticed him.

Chu Feng was not familiar with the eight big shots either, so he stood alone at the very edge.

Compared with the eight heads, who radiated powerful presences from head to toe, Chu Feng, a young man with only a few decades of cultivation, was like a husky that had wandered into a pack of wolves.

With the appearance of the eight heads, the disciples below turned toward the platform and bowed.

"We pay our respects to the heads."

"No need for ceremony."

The speaker was the head of the Heavenly Spirit Institute, the Free and Unfettered Sword King King. He was already several hundred years old.

However, as a Life Nirvana Realm expert, his body had undergone a second transformation, so he looked like a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.

The Free and Unfettered Sword King King swept his gaze over the crowd and said calmly, "I hereby declare the Dao Inquiry School's outer sect tournament officially open. Elder Changqing will preside over this tournament."

With that, he sat down in the center of the nine seats.

Chu Feng found his own seat and sat down as well. He did not speak to anyone; for one thing, he was not familiar with them, and for another, the eight heads simply looked down on him.

After bowing to the Free and Unfettered Sword King King, Elder Changqing walked to the front of the platform and addressed the crowd. "You have all been waiting a long time for this outer sect tournament, held once every three years, haven't you?

"Next, I will explain the rules of the tournament. The top ten contestants this time will enter the inner institute directly to cultivate..."

He spoke for a full half hour, much like a school leader giving a speech at the start of a school year in Chu Feng's previous life.

"Now, the drawing of lots begins!"

Only then did Elder Changqing return to his seat.

Meanwhile, the drawing of lots began.

The heads on the platform also began to chat.

"Everyone, who do you favor in this tournament?"

"Do you even need to ask? It has to be Lin Qingyu of my Sword Dao Institute!"

The head of the Sword Dao Institute spoke with a smile.

At that, the other heads around him chimed in.

"Old Jianwu, saying that means you don't think much of the disciples from our institutes!"

"That's right. Lin Qingyu is strong, but if they actually fought, he might not be the strongest of the younger generation."

"..."

Chu Feng listened to them bragging without any intention of joining the conversation. He slowly closed his eyes and lay back lazily in his rattan chair.

How could such behavior escape the notice of the big shots?

They were already dissatisfied with the Miscellaneous Dao Institute.

Wasn't Chu Feng, a junior, only qualified to sit here with them because he had stumbled into a huge stroke of luck?

It was bad enough that he had not bowed to them when they met, but now he was acting completely improper.

If there had not been so many disciples below, they would have wanted to teach this brat a proper lesson themselves.

"Little Feng, could it be that you aren't interested in the tournament?"

At those words, everyone's gaze fell on Chu Feng.

Chu Feng looked toward the voice and saw an old man smiling at him.

He naturally recognized the old man: the head of the Pill Dao Institute, the Profound Fire Pill King, the foremost pill refiner in the Dao-Seeking Academy. Not only was his pill-refining skill first-rate, but he also possessed an exotic flame. He was accomplished in both pills and martial arts.

If the man had taken the initiative to speak to him on an ordinary day, Chu Feng would surely have been overwhelmed with apprehension.

But now, looking at the smile on his face, a thought surfaced in his mind: This old bastard is no good egg.

"Of course I'm interested. It's just that the tournament hasn't started yet, and as a junior, I can't get a word in on the topics you seniors are discussing."

"That's all right."

The Profound Fire Pill King smiled. "We're just chatting to pass the time. Tell us, who do you favor most this time?"

This old fellow wants to draw the flames of war onto me!

Just now, apart from the head of the Heavenly Spirit Institute, none of the heads had been willing to concede to any of the others.

Now, whoever I, Chu Feng, support, I'll definitely get an earful.

But Chu Feng had never been one to fear death.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he smiled. "Naturally, I favor my eldest disciple, Xiao Chen. After all, he was once a prodigy of the Sword Dao Institute, and with my guidance on top of that, it would be hard to justify him not taking first place, wouldn't it?"

At those words, the heads present all froze for a moment, staring at Chu Feng in astonishment.

The Profound Fire Pill King stroked his beard. "You really dare to say that, brat. Even I couldn't heal that boy Xiao Chen's injuries. I'm afraid he doesn't have a shred of cultivation left now.

"He isn't a body cultivator; all he has is a Dao Foundation Realm body. Never mind taking first place, even getting through the first round would be difficult."

The outer institute tournament used a single-elimination format: one loss meant immediate elimination.

Apart from the ten seeded contestants, who had the privilege of advancing directly into the top one hundred, everyone else had to fight from the first elimination round.

None of the heads on the platform spoke. They merely glanced at Chu Feng from the corners of their eyes with disdain, as though saying another word to him would be beneath their dignity.

Chu Feng paid them no heed and simply smiled. "If you don't believe me, Senior Profound Fire, we can make a wager."