When all the freshmen rushed into the mountain range the once silent mountains were instantly awakened.
Roar!
Within the mountain range countless spiritual beasts raised their heads and roared toward the heavens. The ground split open as innumerable spiritual beasts leapt out charging toward the vast tide of people.
At the same time in the distant skies large flocks of fierce spiritual beasts vibrated their wings stirring their spiritual power to drive away these sudden intruders.
The vast tide of people and the charging spiritual beasts clashed together and violent spiritual power swept out making even the skies above become dazzling.
The sounds of slaughter and furious roars converged together.
With wave after wave of spiritual beasts pouring out from the depths of the mountains the once unstoppable tide of freshmen began to slow. The human tide gradually split into countless streams each one advancing toward the towering mountain deep within the range that symbolized glory.
Liu Bai raised his hand and struck out with a palm. Scorching spiritual power transformed into a boundless sea of flames instantly engulfing a herd of several hundred spiritual beasts.
"Ding congratulations player for killing one Low-tier spiritual beast gained 1 experience point"
"Ding congratulations player for killing one Mid-Tier spiritual beast gained 5 experience points"
"Ding congratulations player for killing one Mid-tier spiritual beast gained 4 experience points"
Liu Bai cursed inwardly.
Although he knew that killing monsters below his own level would yield reduced experience points he did not expect the reduction to be this severe. There were not even any Beast Soul Points to be gained so there was no point in wasting effort here.
"Let's go!"
Liu Bai's small team had few members but each possessed great strength so the endless beast tide did not hinder them much. With Liu Bai leading Li Qing and Guo Xiong guarding the flanks and Su Xuan protecting Su Ling'er they bypassed the crowd and began heading straight toward the Northern Spirit Mountain.
At the same time as Liu Bai's team accelerated other squads within the tide also began to push forward rapidly.
These squads were few in number but each member was extremely powerful clearly the elites among the freshmen.
Outside the battlefield the senior students watching changed their expressions.
Originally they had thought this year's New Students Assembly had been made easier and felt some dissatisfaction. But upon seeing the terrifying beast tide their hearts secretly rejoiced.
"Good thing good thing I did not expect the academy to go this far. With so many spiritual beasts these freshmen are in for a bitter fight"
"This is nothing it's only the first trial. Look at those who have broken through the beast tide every one of them is a strong one among the freshmen. This stage is merely to block the ordinary students"
When they reached the foot of Northern Spirit Mountain Liu Bai and his group clearly felt the spiritual beasts growing stronger. The Low-tier and Mid-Tier spiritual beasts that occasionally appeared earlier had completely vanished. Every one before them now was a genuine High-Tier spiritual beast.
Against these beasts Liu Bai and the stronger members had little trouble but Su Ling'er, Zhang Heng and Shao Rui could no longer keep pace.
"Boss you guys go ahead taking us along will only be a burden. With our strength reaching here is already our limit" Zhang Heng suddenly said.
Liu Bai did not object. At this crucial moment in the race to the summit there was no time to take care of others.
Reaching this point already placed them in the upper ranks of all the freshmen so for the three it was enough. Liu Bai's group directly plunged into the even more dangerous forested slopes.
Boom!
Spiritual power swept out as Liu Bai erupted with terrifying force instantly shaking several High-Tier spiritual beasts to death.
"Ding congratulations player for killing one High-Tier spiritual beast gained 200 experience points and Beast Soul Point 1"
The experience was still heavily reduced but it was acceptable. Most importantly there was still the gain of one Beast Soul Point.
"In that case let's begin the slaughter"
With that thought Liu Bai's gaze turned cold. He punched toward the massive figures within the forest ahead.
"Mountain Shaking Divine Fist Mountain Shaking!"
Boom!
The terrifying fist force transformed into a massive divine mountain that violently smashed into the mountainside of Northern Spirit Mountain.
Like a falling star it actually caused the entire mountain to tremble.
With this single strike hundreds of High-Tier spiritual beasts perished before Liu Bai. Within a thousand meters ahead everything was cleared out leaving a vast vacuum zone.
"Hiss!"
At that moment countless people across the battlefield sucked in a deep breath.
The senior students who had been gloating earlier were all like statues eyes wide as if their eyeballs were about to pop out.
"So this is the freshman who defeated late-phase Heaven Fusion Realm Huo Yun? Wasn't it said that he only won by relying on a Spiritual Array? How is he this terrifying now?"
That single punch might have forced even some Early-phase Heaven Transformation realm experts to avoid it. And you're telling me this is the power of a freshman who just broke through to the Heaven Fusion Realm?
In the skies above Elder Zhu Tian and the other two elders were also visibly surprised.
"That move just now should be a high-level Spirit-grade fist technique right? Judging from the power I'd say his mastery is quite high. For someone his age to reach this level truly a monster" said the white haired elder to Zhu Tian's left.
"Not just that" Elder Zhu Tian said with a smile. "Did you not sense it? This boy's spiritual power is far denser than an ordinary Early-phase Heaven Fusion Realm cultivator. I suspect even late-phase ones may not match him. That is the foundation that allows him to unleash such terrifying Spiritual Arts so freely"
Hearing this the other two elders quickly focused their senses and their expressions instantly changed.
After Liu Bai cleared the beasts with a single large scale attack they quickly charged into Northern Spirit Mountain. Many other freshmen who saw this had no time to be shocked and began frantically attacking the spiritual beasts blocking their paths.
At the same time Li Xuantong He Yao and others broke away from their larger groups and began charging up Northern Spirit Mountain alone.
Of course in the entire freshman body only a few could do this so the race to the summit quickly split into two groups.
Liu Bai's team and the other Heaven Fusion Realm cultivators had the ability to challenge the higher slopes. As for who would be among the first five to reach the peak that remained uncertain.
As they climbed higher Liu Bai noticed that the number of lurking spiritual beasts had greatly decreased. However every one that could live here was a true Heaven-Tier beast.
Even the weakest Heaven-Tier low grade spiritual beasts in their mature stage possessed combat strength comparable to mid or late-phase Heaven Fusion Realm cultivators. Thus whether it was An Ran, Li Qing or Guo Xiong none of them could handle such a beast alone.
"Careful!"
Just as they slowed their pace to climb the forest around them seemed to come alive. Countless blood colored vines burst from the ground and in the blink of an eye bound them tightly.
Creak creak!
The vines constricted like pythons capturing prey threatening to crush them into pieces.
Liu Bai's expression darkened and the Fire Path Spiritual Energy within his heart channels erupted. A sharp cry rang out as a giant bird entirely composed of flames rose from his body. The violent flames instantly burned the vines binding him into ash.
At the same time Su Xuan broke free from her brown vine prison. Li Qing and Guo Xiong were a step slower and An Ran was the last to escape her vines. Using the icy power of her Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk she froze them solid but was clearly heavily drained.
"A spiritual beast that can control plants it should be hiding somewhere in this forest" Su Xuan said with a grave expression.
Now that they were deep inside the forest if they could not find that beast it would continue to harass them endlessly.
"Hiding in the dark? Then we will simply make sure it cannot hide"
Liu Bai let out a cold laugh and his figure rose into the air. Scarlet spiritual power rapidly condensed in his right palm and within a few breaths it was like he was holding a blazing sun.
"Great Sun Burning Sea Palm!"
Boom!
The great sun boiled the sea and the blazing fire scorched the heavens.
When a blazing sun descended into this mountain forest, everything within it would be reduced to ashes under its searing heat.
Whoosh!
Just as the heaven-scorching flames were about to incinerate everything in sight, a black shadow suddenly shot out from within the fire, instantly fleeing into the distance.
Unfortunately, Li Bai, who had been waiting for this moment for a long time, would never allow it to escape so easily.
Buzz!
A faint vibration of a bowstring rang out and a golden arrow imbued with the power of the gentle wind transformed into a streak of flowing light, silently closing in behind the black shadow.
In the next moment, the arrow pierced through its chest.
A stream of gray energy surged out from the arrow and rapidly rushed into the spirit beast's head. In an instant, the black shadow that had been struggling suddenly froze, before its entire body went limp.
"Ding, congratulations to the player for slaying a low-grade Heaven-Tier spiritual beast. You have gained 5500 experience points and 10 Beast Soul Points."
A single arrow to end its life.
"Seems like my luck is pretty good today. The fifty percent Soul Seizure chance triggered."
The vitality of a Heavenly-Tier spiritual beast was extremely tenacious. If its head had not been directly pierced through, killing it instantly would have been nearly impossible. Especially for wood attribute spiritual beasts, whose vitality and recovery abilities were frighteningly strong. If it had managed to escape, it likely would have fully recovered from its wounds in no time.
The five of them quickly approached the spiritual beast's corpse and discovered that it was a green leopard. On its back, there were two hundred purplish-brown crystalline stones growing.
"It is a Zijing Leopard, a rare Heavenly-Tier spiritual beast with strength equivalent to the early-phase of the Heaven Fusion Realm" Su Xuan introduced for the group.
Li Bai's mind quickly flashed through the information regarding this type of spiritual beast. It ranked ninety on the Earth Rankings, placing it near the bottom among the low-grade Heavenly-Tier beasts.
Although the Zijing Leopard was also of the wood attribute and compatible with his attribute, its strength was too weak. Li Bai had no plans to fuse with it for now, instead storing its beast essence and corpse away.
"Let's go."
After putting everything away, Li Bai called for the others and prepared to continue climbing.
However, just as they were about to move, in other directions of the towering Northern Spirit Mountain, dozens of earth-shaking roars erupted…
These roars were filled with violent spiritual energy and ferocity. Judging from the auras, they were all powerful spiritual beasts that had stepped into the Heavenly-Tier, causing Li Bai and the others' expressions to become more serious.
It was clear that others had nearly caught up to their climbing progress and had also encountered attacks from Heavenly-Tier spiritual beasts.
From the look of it, the number of Heavenly-Tier spiritual beasts here was likely far beyond their expectations.
"We will need to be more careful from here on…"
Li Bai exchanged a glance with Su Xuan, gave the group a reminder, and without lingering any longer, his figure turned into a beam of light shooting straight toward the towering mountain peak that pierced the clouds.
Su Xuan and the others quickly followed.
At the same time, in another direction, Li Xuantong, He Yao, and the others also rose into the air. Behind them lay the massive corpses of Heavenly-Tier spiritual beasts and scenes of devastation.
Clearly, such individual low-grade Heavenly-Tier beasts were still unable to halt their advance.
Roar! Roar!
At this moment, the furious bellows of countless spiritual beasts still echoed throughout the vast mountain range.
Numerous spiritual beasts and human figures clashed violently, erupting into battles of terrifying magnitude.
However, there were now very few people in the skies paying attention to these outer regions, for their gazes were all drawn to that towering great mountain.
From the massive spiritual energy fluctuations erupting from within the mountain, it was evident that many new students of considerable strength had already entered the Northern Spirit Mountain.
Within that mountain forest, they too encountered even stronger spiritual beasts. The battles there were far more intense than those outside, causing even greater commotion.
"These little fellows are charging faster than I imagined… But the real fun comes later. I suspect that in the end, that big fellow will definitely give them a nice surprise."
Elder Zhu Tian, who had been watching the battlefield from the skies, chuckled.
The two elders beside him were somewhat speechless at his words.
Still, they were not truly worried. That big fellow had lived in Northern Spirit Mountain for countless years and had some rapport with their Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. While it would take action, it likely would not go all out to kill.
If by chance it truly went berserk, they would have no problem reasoning with it…
"Hm?" Suddenly, Elder Zhu Tian let out a sound of surprise.
Following his gaze, the two elders beside him also saw what had caught his attention.
"That is… Li Bai, right? This little fellow truly keeps surprising me. Just now he used a high-level Spirit-grade earth attribute offensive Spiritual Art and now he has unleashed a fire attribute art of comparable power. Moreover, the arrow with which he killed that Zijing Leopard did not seem simple either…"
"This little fellow is becoming more and more astonishing."
...
For Advance Chapters
pateron.com/Translaterappu