In the Northwestern corner of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, nestled within a ring of mountains, stood a grand hall — one of the academy's main buildings — the Mission Hall.
Hovering in mid-air, Liu Bai could clearly see the terrifying density of people flowing through the hall below, far exceeding even that of the Spiritual Value Hall.
This alone showed the significance of the Mission Hall within the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy and its importance to the students.
After all, completing missions was the primary method by which most students earned spiritual value and various rewards.
However, while the Mission Hall was extremely popular within the academy, only those with a certain level of strength were qualified to take missions here. Especially those that required venturing into the Northern Heaven Continent — those came with strict strength requirements.
Upon entering the Mission Hall, Liu Bai's first impression was how unusually bright and spacious it was.
Inside the hall, there were numerous crystal light screens, and upon them flickered an endless stream of mission listings.
Liu Bai's gaze swept briefly across them before turning to the central area of the hall.
There, a blood-red crystal pillar stood tall, strikingly conspicuous. Liu Bai's heart skipped a beat, and he focused his attention, his gaze locking onto the blood-soaked text engraved upon the pillar.
The horrifying crimson hue made the crystal pillar the most eye-catching object in the vast hall. Every student who came here would look at it with a mix of anger and fear — at both the scarlet pillar and the names carved upon it, formed from the accumulation of blood.
"Bounty List…"
A thought stirred in Liu Bai's heart, and he immediately recognized what it was.
He had seen this thing in the original novel. The names on it belonged to fugitives who had caused significant damage to the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. Many of them were remnants of the Demonic Dragon Palace.
These individuals were especially fond of slaughtering Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy students who were out training or performing missions on the Northern Heaven Continent. Because of this, Liu Bai paid special attention to the list in case he accidentally ran into any of them in the future.
"Number one on the Bounty List — Mo Xingtian. Reward: ten million spiritual value, one supreme-grade spiritual artifact, one Deity-grade spiritual art."
"Number two — Venerable Ten Thousand Skulls. Reward: eight million spiritual value, one Deity-grade spiritual art."
"Number three — Blood Corpse Demon. Reward: five million spiritual value."
"Number four — Demon Dragon Son. Reward: three million spiritual value."
"…"
Each crimson character on the pillar displayed the danger each individual posed. The high bounties were enough to make one's eyelids twitch.
However, everyone understood that despite the astronomical bounties, not just anyone could claim them.
What surprised Liu Bai was that Mo Xingtian was already sitting at the top of the Bounty List at this point in time. In the original novel, Demon Dragon Son — who was now only ranked fourth — eventually became the second most wanted.
Liu Bai continued scanning and eventually spotted the name of Yu Yuan, a blood dragon demon, in the tenth position. This was the poor soul whose head would be brought back two years later by Shen Cangsheng upon emerging from secluded cultivation — the very stepping stone that made Shen Cangsheng's name resound throughout the academy.
Very quickly, Liu Bai finished reviewing the academy's Bounty List. Overall, every one of those savage and brutal individuals listed was not someone he could afford to provoke at his current level.
As a newly enrolled student, even though Liu Bai had already broken through to the Heavenly Fusion Realm, he was only barely qualified to take on a Human-grade mission.
As for Earth-grade missions that required venturing into the Northern Heaven Continent, there was no way a freshman would be assigned such a task. No matter how powerful Liu Bai was, it was simply not allowed.
Soon, Liu Bai found a task assignment counter. This was the distribution area for Human-grade missions, so it was quite crowded, though most of the students here weren't that strong.
Liu Bai did a rough sweep and estimated that the strongest among those eligible to take missions here were in the mid-phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm. Those like Huo Yun, who had already reached the late-phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm, were eligible to take low-tier Earth-grade missions instead.
Although Earth-grade low-tier missions were only one level above Human-grade high-tier missions, the spiritual value rewards between them were worlds apart. Thus, those capable of taking the former would never bother coming to the Human-grade mission area.
"What mission do you want to accept?" the middle-aged instructor at the counter asked, without even raising his head upon sensing someone in front of him.
"Hunt a Heaven-class spiritual beast — the Armored Earth Dragon."
Earlier, while reviewing the central area, Liu Bai had already searched the task screens. There were many Human-grade high-tier missions available, but the only ones that could grant him experience points were those involving the hunting of Heaven-class spiritual beasts.
Moreover, such missions were usually completed in the vicinity of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. The round trip would be convenient, and if everything went smoothly, it wouldn't take much time — perfectly suited for Liu Bai's current situation.
"Hand over your spiritual value Token…"
The middle-aged instructor still didn't pay much attention. After all, it was just a Human-grade mission. For students of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, this level of mission wasn't considered dangerous.
However, when he saw the information on the spiritual value Token, his expression paused. Then he quickly raised his head and looked toward Liu Bai.
"Liu Bai? Freshman?"
Seeing the confused expression, Liu Bai could only nod.
"You're a freshman — what are you doing here making trouble? The Freshmen Conference hasn't even taken place yet. Why aren't you preparing for that? What are you doing coming here to take on missions?" The instructor looked a bit annoyed.
It wasn't that he held any prejudice against freshmen — it was just that these newly admitted students were still just seventeen or eighteen-year-old teenagers. Each of them had lofty ambitions, but they were prone to getting into trouble.
Moreover, the academy's arrangement for freshmen was to first allow them half a year to familiarize themselves with academy life, and only then would they be guided to start adapting through the lowest-level missions.
Liu Bai, being the first to directly attempt a Human-grade high-tier mission, was simply unprecedented.
"There's still some time before the Freshmen Conference. It's more than enough for me to complete this hunting mission. And according to academy regulations, anyone who has reached the Heavenly Fusion Realm is eligible to take on Human-grade high-tier missions. My strength meets the requirements — I'm not violating any rules."
Hearing this, the middle-aged instructor's brow furrowed. He was just about to reprimand this arrogant youngster when he suddenly thought of something.
"Huh — you're Liu Bai? The freshman who just defeated Huo Yun?"
The match a few days ago had caused quite a stir within the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. This instructor hadn't had time to watch it in person, but he had heard plenty about it over the past couple of days. So he had some impression of the name "Liu Bai."
"That's right. I'm that Liu Bai."
Hearing this, the instructor was momentarily speechless. After a long silence, he finally nodded and said, "Since you're Liu Bai, then you do have the ability to complete this mission."
The Armored Earth Dragon, after all, was only ranked 88th on the Earth Rankings — a Heaven-class low-tier spiritual beast. Its strength was at most equivalent to the Early-phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm, so for Liu Bai, it wasn't an impossible opponent.
The requirement for this mission was to retrieve the complete head of the Armored Earth Dragon. The reward was fifty thousand spiritual value. Liu Bai could also sell the spirit beast's essence core to the Spiritual Value Hall afterward, which should fetch around seventy to eighty thousand spiritual value.
With that, this single mission could net him an income of over a hundred thousand spiritual value — which was precisely the reason Liu Bai chose this mission.
Very soon, the middle-aged mentor registered the mission on record and handed Liu Bai the known information the academy possessed regarding the location of the Armored Earth Dragon.
Next, Liu Bai simply needed to retrieve the corpse of the Armored Earth Dragon to complete the mission. It was a very straightforward task.
After successfully accepting the mission, Liu Bai thanked the middle-aged mentor and swiftly left the Mission Hall.
Although the academy had provided a general location of the Armored Earth Dragon, actually finding it still required Liu Bai to put in considerable effort. The area covered by the information was vast, and just traveling to and searching for the target took Liu Bai two full days.
Finally, on the morning of the third day, Liu Bai discovered traces of the Armored Earth Dragon in a secluded valley.
What he hadn't expected was that this seemed to be the nest of the Armored Earth Dragons. There were five of them in total, of varying sizes.
Among them, the largest was nearly a hundred meters tall and several hundred meters long. Even lying down, it resembled a small hill.
Just from the size alone, it was clear that this leader-class Armored Earth Dragon already possessed strength equivalent to the late-phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm. It was the undisputed king among Armored Earth Dragons.
Silently approaching, Liu Bai observed the giant beasts with their dark green armor-like scales that exuded an indestructible heaviness. Atop their heads were massive black horns, faintly glowing with an eerie light. Simply being near them created immense pressure.
Yet despite the daunting sight, Liu Bai showed no fear — on the contrary, there was a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Didn't expect it to be a whole family. Looks like I'm destined to make a huge profit this time."
To Liu Bai, these beasts below were no longer just spiritual beasts — they were massive piles of spiritual value and experience points.
However, harvesting these spiritual value and experience points wouldn't be easy. There were five adult Armored Earth Dragons, one of which had strength comparable to the late-phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm. To succeed, Liu Bai would need a solid plan.
After secretly analyzing the terrain of the valley, Liu Bai quickly formulated an idea.
"If I want to eliminate all these Armored Earth Dragons in one strike, I'll have to rely on an array to launch a surprise attack."
Against such massive and heavily armored beasts, although Liu Bai could kill any one of them using spiritual arts, these creatures weren't stationary targets. If they sensed they were no match and tried to flee, it would be hard for Liu Bai to give chase alone.
One should never assume these spiritual beasts were slow just because of their size. Once a spiritual beast reached the Heaven Class, it would have unique innate abilities. If it really came down to a drawn-out battle, things could get very troublesome.
At this moment, Liu Bai was extremely thankful that he had previously exchanged for the Hundred Spirit Sword Array, a powerful Rank Three Spiritual Array. Without it, in this situation, he would have few viable options.
In secret, Liu Bai held his breath and calmed his spirit. Then, numerous spiritual seals swiftly shot out from both his palms, integrating into the air above the valley.
Liu Bai had long since mastered the art of stealth array deployment. During his battle with Huo Yun, he had even managed to silently set up a spiritual array while fighting. His mastery of arrays had already reached an expert level.
Soon, a hundred spiritual seals had been formed, each vanishing into the surrounding air.
Liu Bai's hands quickly formed seals once again, and in the next moment, radiant strands of spiritual light began weaving rapidly across the sky above the valley.
Roar!
The moment the array activated, the resting Armored Earth Dragons below immediately sensed something was wrong.
Seeing the spiritual lines rapidly forming above their heads, the Armored Earth Dragons, though lacking human intelligence, were awakened in alarm and rage, letting out furious roars.
In an instant, the entire valley trembled.
The Armored Earth Dragon King's colossal body rose to its feet, and the ground shook like an earthquake. The earth cracked, and the streams were disrupted.
Roar!
Without any hesitation, the Armored Earth Dragon King's dark horn began to gather spiritual power, and a massive dark spiritual energy beam roared forth.
Its target was the still-forming spiritual array above its head.
Whoosh!
A sound of rushing wind rang out, and a seemingly small figure blocked the dark spiritual beam. Then, a towering pale divine mountain manifested, shielding against the devastating beam.
Boom!
The valley trembled once again as the intense shockwaves exploded in the air. Countless trees below were felled in an instant, and the cliffs on both sides of the valley began to collapse.
Inside the divine mountain, Liu Bai felt a terrifying force slam into him from outside. For a moment, he felt as though he couldn't breathe. Even his bones groaned under the pressure.
Roar!
At the critical moment, a wild roar erupted from within Liu Bai's body. An even more violent force surged outward from his core, neutralizing the external impact.
It was the Three-Headed Stone Flood Dragon residing atop the divine mountain within his Spleen Aperture unleashing its might, allowing Liu Bai to withstand the Armored Earth Dragon King's full-force attack.
And that would be its only chance to strike.
"Hundred Spirit Sword Array, descend!"
With Liu Bai's icy shout, his hands changed seals rapidly. In the next moment, a hundred spiritual swords gathered in the sky, then rained down like a storm.
Roar…
With a furious and mournful roar, the Armored Earth Dragon King could only watch helplessly as its family members were pierced through by the terrifying spiritual swords.
The iron armor defenses they were so proud of proved utterly useless before these swords. Each sword easily penetrated their tough hides.
Each sword in the Hundred Spirit Sword Array carried the power of a full-force blow from a mid-phase Heavenly Fusion Realm expert. Aside from the Dragon King itself, how could the other four possibly resist?
As it witnessed the death of its kin, the Armored Earth Dragon King finally erupted in rage. Its massive eyes locked onto Liu Bai in the sky, and endless spiritual power surged violently from its body.
"Oh? Going all in now?"
Liu Bai smiled faintly, completely indifferent to the bloody scene below.
Unfortunately for the Armored Earth Dragon King, Liu Bai had targeted it specifically from the start. Given its enormous size, at least seventy of the hundred spiritual swords had struck it directly.
Even with late-phase Heavenly Fusion Realm strength and thick armor covering its body, the Dragon King was now riddled with wounds.
Even so, it still had enough power left for one desperate final strike.
...
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