No one had expected Huang Yan to lose and they most certainly didn’t expect him to lose so badly. Simultaneously, they didn’t expect that Lin Yun would be so ruthless. Everyone looked at Lin Yun in shock. It took them a long time to recover from their stupor.
Mo Ling and Liu Yunyan weren’t shocked because they knew Lin Yun’s temper too well. Lin Yun had never thought much about his origin, and in his view, the overlord force wasn’t out of reach.
Others could be arrogant towards him as long as they had the strength. However, if they didn’t have the strength to back their arrogance, then Lin Yun wouldn’t give a damn where they came from. Others might think that Lin Yun’s victory was unbelievable, but they could guess that Lin Yun had many fortuitous events.
It was highly possible that he had practiced a rare technique that disregarded a difference in cultivation. On top of that, they had witnessed Lin Yun’s terrifying defence. Since Huang Yan disregarded that because of his arrogance, his loss wasn’t surprising.
“Lin Yun, aren’t your methods a little too despicable…” Mu Xue jolted awake and she turned to look at Lin Yun. “Huang Yan wasn’t fully prepared when you attacked him.”
“Are you going to talk to your enemies about honor then? Are you going to wait for them to prepare their ultimate move before you attack? He can only blame himself for looking down on his enemy. Why are you blaming it on me? Your logic is interesting,” smiled Lin Yun.
“Even if you won, you didn’t have to be so ruthless to give him another kick, right? Didn’t you say that you were only going to exchange one move?” Mu Xue knew that logic wasn’t on her side, so she could only change the topic.
“I see. Alright, I’m sorry for that. I’ll apologize to him another day,” smiled Lin Yun. But looking at Lin Yun, he clearly wasn’t bothered by it. This made Mu Xue’s face turn red from anger as she gnashed her teeth.
Right at this moment, the door to the Imperial Study Hall opened as the dean came out with the elders. When the elders saw Huang Yan lying on the floor unconscious, all of their faces changed. They quickly asked, “What happened?!”
None of the disciples dared to utter a word as they looked at Lin Yun. With that, everyone’s gazes turned to look at Lin Yun, including the dean.
“He wanted to spar with me, but he was defeated by a single punch of mine. You can ask Lady Mu Xue about it,” smiled Lin Yun as he turned to look at Mu Xue.
“Is that true?” Tang Yu turned to look at Mu Xue.
Mu Xue was hesitant, but she ultimately nodded her head, “That’s indeed the case.”
She wanted to add that Lin Yun also kicked Huang Yan, but her grandfather interrupted her as he stroked his beard with a smile, “A kick to knock the elite of the Profound Yang Palace unconscious. I believe none of you have anything left to say about this matter, right?”
All the other elders were speechless when they heard that. Seeing the doubt on Mu Xue’s face, the dean explained with his eyes narrowed into slits, “We’ve decided to let Lin Yun have the quota through our discussion. There was some disagreement, but it looks like it’s fine now.”
Lin Yun wasn’t surprised by that because strength was the ultimate speech in this world. Even if he went for Huang Yan even more ruthlessly, the dean wouldn’t say anything about it.
“Young lad, was the pellet alright?” asked the dean.
“Thank you for the pellet. I’ve benefited greatly from it,” said Lin Yun as he cupped his hands together.
“That’s great. Go and prepare yourselves. You guys will head to the destination later today under the leadership of Elder Tang Yu. Don’t disappoint us,” said the dean. His tone was rather casual because he didn’t want to put pressure on anyone. Or perhaps in his view, even if they had help, how could they win against the Violethut Academy?
Outside the Nether Prefectural City on a majestic mountain, many cultivators were gathered together. The Heavenly Province Academy might only be a quasi-overlord force in the Nether Prefectural City, but many people were still interested in the competition. They were especially interested since Cao Zhen from the Northern Snow Manor was participating. Many people knew about him and they knew that the Northern Snow Manor was grooming him to be on the Dragoncloud Ranking.
In addition to Cao Zhen, the Heavenly Province Academy’s loss two decades ago shook the entire prefecture, so many people wanted to see if the Heavenly Province Academy could protect the incomplete divine rune.
“So many people are here. I bet they’re here to see us lose.”
“I saw the Bloodwing Pavilion. They must be wanting us to lose. After all, we’ll lose our position in the Nether Prefectural City without the incomplete divine rune.” The faces of the Heavenly Province Academy’s party were ugly when they looked at the large crowd.
As they gradually approached their destination, Lin Yun could feel the uneasiness of Liu Yunyan’s expression. Her face even started to turn pale. His eyes flickered, but he didn’t say anything about it. But inwardly, he made another promise to himself.
Very quickly, the party arrived at the summit of the mountain.
“The White Jade Academy is here,” said Mo Ling.
When Lin Yun turned his head over, he saw a large number of white-clothed cultivators. Lin Yun saw Cao Xiu among them.
Him again… Lin Yun muttered inwardly. Cao Xiu probably wanted to suppress Lin Yun back in the Heavenly Province Academy, but Mu Xue interfered right when Lin Yun was about to draw his sword. However, the White Jade Academy had an even deeper impression of Lin Yun as their eyes were filled with killing aura when they looked at Lin Yun.
Lin Yun merely smiled casually before he turned to look at the two people standing beside Cao Xiu. Both of them looked pretty young. One of them was holding onto a greatsword that was half his size.
The other was donned in white and was holding onto a fan. However, his eyes were filled with eeriness that made others uneasy. When that person turned to look at Lin Yun with a smile, Lin Yun retracted his gaze with a grave expression. He could tell that the White Jade Academy’s participants weren’t easy to deal with.
“The one with a greatsword is a wandering cultivator the White Jade Academy took in a year ago. His name is Luo Shen and he’s very mysterious. No one has seen him attack before. The White Jade Academy probably wants to use him as a secret weapon.” Mo Ling frowned as she shook her head. She had collected information on everyone, except for Luo Shen. This had given her a headache.
“As for the other one…” Mo Ling looked at Lin Yun and continued, “His name is Chen Yu. He is a powerful genius in the White Jade Academy. His attainments in spiritual runes are extremely terrifying and he became a third grade spiritualist in only two years. The white-clothed youth you humiliated back then was his elder brother.”
Lin Yun now understood why Chen Yu’s gaze from earlier was so weird. When the White Jade Academy examined the Heavenly Province Academy’s party, many disciples and elders looked at Lin Yun weirdly.
“Didn’t the Heavenly Province Academy invite an elite from the Profound Yang Palace? Why is this brat here?”
“Haha, they probably fell out. After all, it’s not easy to invite a genius from the overlord force.”
“The Heavenly Province Academy had an advantage, since they had someone from the Heavenly Sword Sect. If they invited another genius from an overlord force, it would really be difficult for us. But now, we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“Either way it doesn’t matter. They aren’t worthy to be our opponent.” The White Jade Academy’s party retracted their gazes with a casual expression. But when they thought about the Violethut Academy, their faces became grave.
They then turned to look at Cao Xiu because they knew that their hopes were on him. When Cao Xiu noticed it, he smiled, “Cao Zhen might have a strong reputation, but I’m not a pushover. Don’t worry about it. Cao Zhen wants to use this opportunity to boost his reputation, but I also want to do the same.”
Cao Xiu’s reputation wasn’t great, but he had a fierce ambition. He knew that the elites of the overlord forces were at the Draconic Banquet half a year ago. So this competition was just an appetizer to him. Therefore, the White Jade Academy’s party felt relieved when they heard Cao Xiu’s words.