Yang Hong, who had fallen to the ground, lost consciousness. The avatar he had formed by using his spiritual power to activate the ancient Tiger spirit could no longer be maintained. The giant beast vanished, leaving only a pale-faced youth in a green robe lying in the deep crater he had created.
In the past month, besides completely refining the Divine Soul Pill and advancing to the late Divine Soul Realm, Mu Chen spent all his remaining cultivation time comprehending the reward given by the bright-eyed man in white from the unknown space after clearing the thirteenth floor of the Trial Tower.
"Soul Suppressing Art" truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier Divine Art. With the enhancement of Nine Nether's power, his soul-targeting special attack directly knocked Yang Hong unconscious.
Then, he used the divine ability "Time Zero" he obtained from Amon to move to the stone platform with the flag and pull out the flag.
These two actions did not consume much of his time; they were completed almost instantly.
Mu Kui and Bing Qing stared blankly at the fallen Yang Hong, as if they had seen a ghost.
What on earth did Mu Chen do?
Yang Hong, whose cultivation was already at the mid Heaven Merging Realm and who had refined such a powerful spirit beast's essence, was defeated silently?
They believed that if they were to face Yang Hong, they wouldn't have much confidence in winning.
Their gazes towards Mu Chen were now filled with apprehension.
Especially since the methods the other party used were incomprehensible to them, and the unknown always instilled greater fear.
Standing high in the sky, looking down, the Elder of All Heavens, with white robes, white hair, and a youthful face, smiled:
"That move just now must have been a soul attack, right? It seems you little fellow have quite the fortuitous encounter."
Hun Miesheng's expression remained unchanged; he understood this in his heart.
The Trial Tower was only accessible to those in the Divine Soul Realm, used to select talents. If one could clear the thirteenth floor, regardless of the method, they could be considered astonishingly talented.
Even that esteemed individual would pay attention, personally meet them, and show goodwill.
…Such Trial Towers were not only found in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, but also existed in Soul Halls of various sizes established throughout the Great Thousand World.
Their importance even rivaled some fundamental facilities within the Soul Hall.
After the incident in the Doupo Plane where they were defeated by Xiao Yan, their Soul Clan highly valued talent!
Especially those bloodlines of great families that were left outside. It was even better if they were once geniuses, suffered a setback, and then re-emerged!
Hun Miesheng recognized the spiritual art Mu Chen used and guessed where he had obtained it.
He glanced down, and after the hundredth student entered the spiritual array on the mountain peak and activated the array, he announced:
"The flag bearer and the top one hundred students who reached the summit have all been decided. I declare this New Student Assembly concluded. The champion is, Mu Chen!"
With a wave of his hand, powerful spiritual energy surged throughout the entire Bei Ling Mountain Range, and an invisible spiritual energy separated all the fighting spirit beasts and students.
"Oh, Brother Mu is awesome!"
Some members of the "Luo God Society" cheered enthusiastically.
Luo Li looked at the youth holding the flag high on the stone platform, her eyes filled with affection.
Bing Qing's expression was calm, but her eyes flickered with a different emotion.
Mu Kui shrugged; he accepted this outcome. Mu Chen's defeat of Yang Hong proved that his championship was well-deserved.
…
In the boundless sea of blood, the blood constantly flowed, forming a huge vortex. The vortex had lasted for several days, but now it continuously shrank, finally settling into calmness.
The next moment, gigantic waves surged on the sea surface, and the turbulent sea of blood churned, as if a giant beast was stirring in the sea.
Hundreds of meters deep beneath the surface of the sea.
A woman with blood-colored eyes, waist-length black hair, and a beautiful face opened her eyes.
"Finally, I've broken through to the Heaven Transformation Realm…" The spiritual energy on Hun Hunsheng's body changed from violent to calm.
Hun Hunsheng flew out of the sea of blood and saw Hun Jin standing in the air. She asked, "Why are you here?"
"To find you, of course. So you were breaking through to the Heaven Transformation Realm, no wonder you didn't participate in the New Student Assembly, what a pity." Hun Jin replied with a tone of regret.
"What's there to regret? Anyway, I don't lack Divine Arts, that little reward doesn't matter… What's the result?"
"The flag bearer is Mu Chen. He used 'Soul Suppressing Seal' to defeat Yang Hong…"
Hun Hunsheng's gaze narrowed: "The first time I saw him, he was already cultivating the 'Blood Emperor Body Tempering Art.' Now he's using our clan's 'Soul Suppressing Seal.' He truly has someone backing him.
"Is he an apprentice taken by some old fellow from the clan, or someone's illegitimate child? Or is he from the Soul Hall?"
"Looking at the Clan Leader, he doesn't seem to know his origin either. The probability of him being from the Soul Hall is higher. But it doesn't matter, the Young Clan Leader doesn't care about that. As long as his aptitude is good enough, he's qualified to move forward with us." Hun Jin replied.
He paused, then changed the subject:
"Our people have found something very interesting near White Dragon City. What the White Dragon Supreme left behind back then is probably on White Dragon Hill."
Hun Hunsheng raised an eyebrow: "Supreme Spiritual Treasure? And it involves the White Dragon Supreme… My father would probably be interested too."
"Not just your father, the Clan Leader also seems to be watching this area."
"Clan Leader?" Hun Hunsheng was startled and asked in surprise, "With his realm, why would he turn his attention to a small Supreme Spiritual Treasure?"
"I don't know, perhaps the Young Clan Leader knows something. He asked me to come find you to discuss the Supreme Spiritual Treasure…"
Hun Hunsheng answered without thinking: "What's there to discuss? We just listen to his command; whatever he tells us to do, we do."
Hun Jin shook his head: "Besides that potentially existing item that attracted the Clan Leader's attention, a Supreme Spiritual Treasure is not something the Young Clan Leader cares about. Compared to the spiritual treasure itself, he cares more about the people attracted by the spiritual treasure."
Hun Hunsheng raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"
"The Young Clan Leader has already decided on the path he wants to take… the path of 'Spirit Devouring Life Extinguishing'… He wants to use those people as sacrifices." Hun Jin replied.
Hun Hunsheng's expression changed slightly, and she said anxiously:
"Isn't this overdrawing the future? Using the 'Spirit Devouring Life Extinguishing Array' to increase cultivation, while it allows for the fastest accumulation, will make every subsequent breakthrough to a major realm very troublesome…
"Only clansmen with poor talent who have no hope of reaching Earth Supreme would use such a crooked path, right…
"No, we must go quickly and persuade him. Once it's used once, there's no turning back."
Hun Hunsheng hurriedly left the Sea of Blood Secret Realm.
On a towering mountain peak that reached into the clouds, the white-robed youth gazed at the sun, which seemed almost within reach, his eyes deep.
Faint footsteps sounded behind him.
"I heard you're going to use the 'Spirit Devouring Life Extinguishing Array' to increase your cultivation?"
Hun Yufeng replied softly with a gentle smile on his face: "That's right."
"Young Clan Leader, please reconsider… With your talent, there's no need to do this. Hun Xuzi will not be your opponent, and Hun Jin and I will always stand by your side." Hun Hunsheng persuaded.
Hun Yufeng shook his head and said with a smile:
"Hun Xuzi? I've never considered him a competitor. What I want to do is surpass myself, surpass my father, and surpass that person…
"The shortcomings of the 'Spirit Devouring Life Extinguishing Array' can also be overcome, you know? This is not a dead end. Hasn't that person already proven this point?"
Hun Hunsheng remained silent and did not speak further.
"You go invite Mu Chen. Hmm, tell him it's best to improve his spiritual array cultivation as soon as possible. I'm sure the Blood Calamity Bringer won't mind helping me kill a few more people."
…
The third day after the New Student Assembly ended was the day for distributing rewards.
Mu Chen, Yang Hong, Bing Qing, Mu Kui, and Luo Li, five of them, arrived in front of the Spiritual Value Hall.
The one leading them was still Deputy Dean Hun Miesheng.
In front of the magnificent hall, Mu Chen stood still, his face filled with anticipation.
Although he already possessed two top-tier divine-grade spiritual arts, the "Blood Emperor Body Tempering Art" and the "Soul Suppressing Seal," he still yearned for spiritual arts of this caliber.
In his estimation, he still needed a conventional offensive divine art and a movement-type divine art. As for defensive divine arts, they weren't essential; the mysterious black pagoda condensed by the "Great Floating Pagoda Art" already provided sufficient defense.
"Take out your Spirit Value tokens." Hun Miesheng said in a hoarse voice.
After the five of them took out their Spirit Value tokens, he moved his finger slightly, and a red light appeared on the tokens.
"Alright, with this, you can go inside and choose any spiritual art. Remember, you can only choose one, and once you take it out, you cannot go back on your choice."
The few of them nodded, then flew towards the huge light gate of the Spiritual Value Hall.
Upon entering the Spiritual Value Hall, Mu Chen arrived in a dim space, with no one else around. Above him was a vast galaxy.
Upon closer inspection with his spiritual sense, he realized that this was no galaxy, but rather countless spiritual light clusters, each containing a scroll. The energy fluctuations they emitted varied in strength, and these were his targets for this trip.
Just then, that mysterious black paper suddenly trembled slightly. The black paper had an extraordinary origin; Amon had told him it was a remnant page of an ancient divine scripture.
Since it could cause a treasure of this level to tremble, then the spiritual art deep within the "galaxy" must not be simple either.
You're the one!
Mu Chen didn't hesitate and quickly swept towards the depths.
A huge light cluster emitted a strong power. Mu Chen tried to retrieve it, but found that a strong counter-shock force came from the light cluster, and the spiritual art within it was actually trying to escape!
This should also be a selection mechanism in the Spiritual Value Hall, testing the entrant's luck, temperament, and strength… Mu Chen thought to himself.
He was at a loss for how to deal with this spiritual art for a moment, but it didn't matter; he had a simple method…
"Amon, how should I retrieve this spiritual art?"
In his Qi Sea, the transparent and illusory Amon immediately provided the answer:
"The spiritual energy wrapping these scrolls is like flowing water; it will quickly flow when you approach, pushing itself away.
"In this situation, you can just use 'Time Zero'… When you use 'Time Zero,' the external spiritual energy flow is almost static to you…
"Simply put, you can take advantage of the protective spiritual energy not paying attention, steal the scroll, and leave."
☰