After Liu Bai's inflammatory speech, the freshmen were all bloodshot-eyed, looking as if they were ready to fight anyone at any time to defend their own interests.
As for Li Xuantong, He Yao and the others, they had all secretly become wary of Liu Bai.
In Li Xuantong's heart, Liu Bai was even more dangerous than Shen Cangsheng. After all, compared to a silent person like Shen Cangsheng, someone who could easily incite a crowd with just a few words was undoubtedly more terrifying.
Of course, Li Xuantong did not object to Liu Bai's proposal. In fact, he decisively stepped forward and expressed his support.
Because this matter held nothing but benefits for both himself and the Xuan Gang, since there was someone willing to stand at the front, why would he refuse?
As for retaliation from the seniors... he, Li Xuantong, had never been afraid of such a thing.
After the gathering ended, news of the strongest freshmen banding together to dominate the Spirit Ranking quickly spread among all the new students.
However, most freshmen still held fear toward the powerful seniors, so many chose to stay hidden in the shadows and simply watch.
Yet Liu Bai and his group did not disappoint. The first to make a move was Li Qing under Liu Bai's command, who had already reached the peak of the Divine Soul Realm.
After fully fusing with the Snow Demonic Beast, Li Qing's cultivation had reached the half-step Heaven Fusion Realm, so after the gathering she immediately chose to attack the Spirit Ranking, setting an example for those who were still hesitant.
"Fifth on the Spirit Ranking, and a reward of ten thousand spiritual value, along with one thousand per day..."
Liu Bai looked at Li Qing's ranking and nodded in satisfaction.
It had to be said, Li Qing had indeed not let anyone down.
"With these rewards, you should be able to exchange for a Spirit Pill now, correct?"
For Li Qing, the Spirit Ranking was not her final goal. Ultimately, she still aimed for a breakthrough to the Heaven Fusion Realm.
Li Qing looked at her Spiritual Value Token. "I'm still short eight thousand..."
Liu Bai raised his brows, not expecting such a large gap.
"Eight thousand eh, I just happen to still have eight thousand. Tomorrow you can go exchange for the pill..."
To Liu Bai, a few thousand spiritual value was nothing. It was better to help Li Qing improve her strength first so that she could also serve as a reliable assistant on future missions, which was likewise a form of indirect benefit to himself.
"This... it's fine. Now that I receive one thousand per day, I just need to wait another eight days..."
Before she could finish, Liu Bai interrupted her.
"Eight days at this stage is not a short time. With a Spirit Pill, and entering the Thunder Domain, you could break through in at most three days. You cannot afford to waste those eight days."
"Don't worry, I'm only lending you this eight thousand. When you have more spiritual value, just return it then. Besides, the stronger you are, the easier it is to earn spiritual value, so every minute counts for us in the early stages!"
Hearing Liu Bai's words, Li Qing no longer objected.
She only wanted to wait one more day in order to gain another one thousand spiritual value so that she could enter the Thunder Domain. Without the tempering of the Thunder Domain, even with a Spirit Pill it would be difficult to break through in three days.
Thus on the second day, after Li Qing went to the Spiritual Value Hall to redeem the Spirit Pill, the news was quickly caught by all the freshman factions. Once they heard that she would go straight to the Thunder Domain to break through, these people became even more excited. One after another, they rushed to assault the Spirit Ranking.
After all, once you got onto the ranking, there was a reward. Even if they were eventually pushed down, that one-time reward had already been earned...
With this mindset, many who were not very confident in their own strength started attacking the rankings first.
In a short time, the entire Spirit Ranking became lively as if someone was challenging it every moment.
This scene was naturally seen by the senior students. They even caught wind of rumors that the freshmen were planning to dominate the rankings.
However, not all of them were monstrous talents like Liu Bai, and many of these freshmen could not even compare to Li Qing, so after seeing that most of them were merely making noise below the thirtieth position, the seniors did not pay much attention.
But when the Xuan Gang, Demon Gate and Judgement Hall made their moves one after another, the seniors could not remain calm any longer.
Right now on the Spirit Ranking, aside from Liu Bai's undisputed first place, even more than half of the top ten had been replaced by newcomers.
The third place had been taken by Ye Tian, the King of the Spiritual Road. Though he had not broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm, his strength was definitely in the top ten among the new students. With Li Xuantong personally gathering the strength of the Xuan Gang to help him exchange for a Spirit Pill, he broke into third place during his breakthrough attempt.
Fourth place was Mo Feng, the Vice Captain of the Judgement Hall, not a Spiritual Road King, but reaching quasi-king level strength.
Fifth was still Li Qing, then seventh was Ling Yu from Demon Gate, followed by eighth Xu Huang and tenth Jiang Tai.
The whole Spirit Ranking was shaken.
Since when could freshmen occupy more than half of the top ten of the Spirit Ranking? This had never happened before.
"Looks like this batch of newcomers are not the quiet type. Looks like there will be a good show."
Many seniors who already disliked those occupying the rankings were now even more intrigued and began to watch the show with interest.
As for the seniors who had been squeezed out, they were naturally furious and prepared to "have a chat" with these freshmen to show them what it meant to respect their seniors.
But before they could take action, the freshmen made the move.
Liu Bai directly challenged the veterans who had been squeezed out of the top ten, proposing a showdown in three days at the freshmen plaza. Each side would send five people, best of five, the first to win three matches would be the victor.
The loser not only had to apologize to the winner in front of everyone, but also hand over all their spiritual value as compensation.
The latter half of this condition was extremely unfavorable to the seniors, because the freshmen were all dirt-poor, barely holding on to any spiritual value.
But what the seniors cared about was not the spiritual value, but their dignity, so the first half was what truly mattered to them.
As for losing... honestly, in a five-fight match, if the seniors still lost, then they really were useless and even if they lost everything they had, they would have no one else to blame.
This challenge caused an uproar in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. Many instructors caught wind of it and some even suggested banning the match or punishing Liu Bai and the other freshmen for stirring up trouble. However, Dean Tai Cang only smiled and refused.
"They are just a bunch of young hot-blooded kids. Let them cause a ruckus. This might not be a bad thing for the Academy.."
The academy's stance instantly pushed the duel to the eye of the storm.
Soon after, news came from the senior side that they had accepted the challenge. The five seniors stepping up were all the very ones who had been squeezed out of the top ten.
Among them, the strongest was naturally Huo Yun, who once ranked first on the Spirit Ranking and had now successfully broken through to the late-phase of the Heaven Fusion Realm.
Three days passed in a flash. Today, in the largest plaza of the freshman living area, it was already packed with people from early morning.
Countless freshmen surrounded the place tightly, all wanting to witness the ultimate confrontation between new and old students that was about to begin.
Of course, there were many veteran students among the crowd as well. Some even recognized a number of Heavenly Ranking experts who had personally come to observe the battle.
Obviously, they were also curious to see just how capable these newcomers, who dared to challenge the seniors directly, really were.
Finally, amidst much anticipation, all ten participants of the duel arrived.
On the Seniors side were five former top ten Spirit Ranking experts led by Huo Yun. Each had the strength of mid-phase Heaven Fusion Realm, with Huo Yun having already stepped into the late-phase.
On the freshman side, Liu Bai was naturally present, and the other four were Su Xuan, Shen Cangsheng, Li Xuantong and He Yao.
The five of them represented the strongest freshmen of this year. Whether it was Zhou Fan who had broken through to the Heaven Fusion Realm while still in the Northern Heaven Realm or the newly advanced Li Qing and Ye Tian, they were all one tier below these five.
Even so, that side's five were only at the Early-phase Heaven Fusion Realm, and compared purely on paper strength, they were still far inferior to the five seniors.
"Oh, so you are the strongest freshmen of this year? Very impressive, but trying to flip the table already might be a little too soon?"
The speaker was a somewhat lazy-looking young man with long hair casually draped behind him and an ancient long sword hanging at his waist.
Although there were many sword wielders, they all kept their weapons in their mustard seed bracelets. Wearing a sword at the waist like this, Liu Bai had seen only this one so far.
This man was formerly ranked third on the Spirit Ranking and was called Xiao Jian, but had been pushed down by Ye Tian.
However, judging by his expression, he did not seem as furious as the others who had been squeezed out. Instead, he looked quite interested in the freshmen.
"Too soon or not, we will only know after the table is flipped," Liu Bai replied with a slight smile.
"Haha, true enough. If we do not flip it how would we know if we can? In that case, why not let me test the strength of this junior?"
Clapping and laughing merrily, Xiao Jian directly issued a challenge to Liu Bai.
"Hehe, I would naturally like to spar with senior as well. But I think someone here is even more eager to fight me, so I can only helplessly refuse."
While speaking, Liu Bai glanced at Huo Yun.
Ever since he had forced Huo Yun off the Spirit Ranking, this battle had become inevitable.
Hearing this, Li Xuantong stepped forward and looked at Xiao Jian. "In that case, it would be appropriate for me to be Senior Xiao Jian's opponent."
After all, Ye Tian was Li Xuantong's subordinate. At this moment standing up for his subordinate made perfect sense.
Shen Cangsheng, He Yao and Su Xuan also respectively chose their opponents.
After that, there was nothing more to say. The five split into five battlefields and began fighting.
Perhaps knowing that Liu Bai was not only powerful but also a Rank 3 Spiritual Array Master, Huo Yun did not act carelessly and instead took the initiative, blasting his fist toward Liu Bai.
Boom!
That punch rolled with spiritual power, ravaging like a storm and brought a domineering fierce gale mercilessly crashing toward Liu Bai.
Liu Bai was not surprised. His three Spirit Wheels spun rapidly and pitch-black spiritual power surged out like a tide. He unleashed a punch as four Death Seals condensed and then exploded. The black waves layered upon each other and fiercely collided with Huo Yun's punch.
Bang!
Visible ripples swept across the battlefield and then churned upwards, shaking the air and emitting low thunderous sounds.
As the shockwaves gradually faded, the two figures appeared once more under countless gazes.
It was actually evenly matched.
"Oh, so this was the move you used to defeat Fang Xu back then? You really do have some skill."
Huo Yun sensed the terror of those four black seals and remembered how his junior had been defeated by this freshman in one move, and suddenly realized.
"Hehe, now that I have shown my ability, should Senior Huo Yun also let this junior witness your strength?" Liu Bai said warmly but his smile carried an unfathomable meaning.
At this remark, the atmosphere between the two instantly grew even more murderous.
Immense spiritual power rumbled in the sky and collided like thunderclouds clashing with deep booms. The tense atmosphere made even the air seem frozen.
Countless eyes were fixed on the two, holding their breaths, not even daring to blink, afraid that even their breathing might ignite the earth-shattering battle between them.
Amidst the silence, a wild gust suddenly swept through, trees swayed and a green tide surged around the plaza.
At the instant the wind blew, a cold glint flashed in both Liu Bai's and Huo Yun's eyes. Then the two shot toward each other like lightning, surging with torrents of spiritual power, crashing into one another.
Boom!
It was like thunder exploding across the horizon. The terrifying pressure swept out in all directions and the shockwaves created winds that raged wildly. The solid ground of the plaza shattered to powder and continued rolling outward with the shockwave...
...
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