"Brother Yuan, why do I feel that something is different about you today?", Chen Yao asked as she sat next to Lu Yuan.
Her unexpected question caught Lu Yuan off guard, but he quickly composed himself.
"It's nothing. I just encountered an issue in my cultivation.", he shook his head and responded with a calm expression.
It was only when he saw the doubts in Chen Yao's eyes disappear that he breathed a sigh of relief.
But this encounter served as a reminder to him that he should be careful in the future. Since Chen Yao could spot the changes in him, others might also notice something amiss.
It was fine if it were someone weak, but if a powerful cultivator noticed something unusual, they wouldn't hesitate to capture him and search his soul to find his secrets.
As Lu Yuan was lost in thought, time slowly passed, and soon, it was time for the lecture to begin.
The moment the clock turned 10:00, a middle-aged man appeared suddenly on the podium of the hall. He had short brown hair, an unkempt gray beard that betrayed his age, and a deep scar running across his face, making him look quite terrifying.
However, even though he stood right in front of them, no one in the hall noticed him.
Only when he took the initiative to reveal himself by exuding a weak aura did everyone in the room, including Lu Yuan, finally discover him.
"It's the Sixth Elder! I didn't expect that he would be the one giving us the lecture this time!", the excited voice of Chen Yao echoed in Lu Yuan's ears, but she seemed to be the only one happy about it.
The other students' expressions turned grim, revealing hints of fear and some disgust. Lu Yuan understood why.
Most teachers at the Azure Cloud Academy were former students and generally had a cultivation base at the 4th and 5th Levels of the Spirit Gathering Realm. Once these teachers reached the 6th Level and met certain conditions, they had the opportunity to be promoted to Elders and gain administrative power within the Academy.
As far as he knew, the Academy currently had twelve Elders, and this middle-aged man, the Sixth Elder, was in charge of the Academy's Law Enforcement Department. This meant that he was responsible for upholding the Academy's rules while punishing those who broke them.
"Such a position is bound to offend many people, whether one intends to or not. To hold such a position, the Sixth Elder must be either powerful, have a strong background, or both.", Lu Yuan thought.
Standing on the podium, the Sixth Elder looked expressionlessly at the students chatting below and waited for them to stop. When it became clear that this would not happen any time soon, he finally spoke.
"Silence!"
Although his voice wasn't loud, it quickly spread throughout the Lecture Hall, accurately reaching the ears of every single student, no matter their position.
At the same time, the weak aura on his body surged and pressed down on the students.
Seated in the middle of the hall, Lu Yuan was also affected.
The Sixth Elder's voice kept ringing in his ears, while a powerful aura oppressed him.
Lu Yuan's intuition was frantically warning him of danger, as if he were on the brink of death.
Such a feeling was countless times more intense than when he faced the Shadow Serpent, the difference seemingly being like that between a firefly and the moon.
Lu Yuan felt an invisible hand grab his neck and grasp it tightly, causing his breathing to become unsteady. His mind began getting blurry, and his vision darkened, like a fish that had left the water.
This feeling became increasingly intense, but just when he thought that he would pass out, the invisible hand around his neck relaxed its grip, and the oppressive aura vanished.
"Huff... Huff..."
It took a few breaths for Lu Yuan to recover, but even so, it was hard for him to hide his shock.
Especially when he looked around and found that every single student in the hall was gasping for breath like him, his shock became even more intense.
"Is the difference between the Levels of the Spirit Gathering Realm so big? The Sixth Elder didn't even target me, yet I felt that he could have easily killed me at that moment."
"If a Spirit Gathering Realm cultivator can have such power, how strong will the cultivators who surpass this realm be?"
Thinking that cultivation allowed humans to obtain such strength and thinking that he might one day be that powerful, the shock in Lu Yuan's heart retreated, replaced by excitement.
Unbeknownst to Lu Yuan, something was changing within him. For the first time since arriving in this world, he had a new ambition that was not merely surviving.
He wished to become powerful.