“That’s the Azurefoot Academy. The man in azure clothes is Jiang Yi, the Azurefoot Academy’s outside help. He’s from the overlord force the Cloud Trigram Sect. I heard that he can be ranked in the top ten among the Cloud Trigram Sect’s inner disciples. He can be considered a genius in martial cultivation since he brought the Primal Chaos Art to the eighth stage.
“That person over there is Flowing Cloud Academy’s outside help, Bai Yuchen of the Azurewood Pavilion. There isn't anything special about him, but I heard that he was invited over because he had an opportunity and obtained a powerful spiritual artifact,” explained Mo Ling patiently to Lin Yun.
Lin Yun could tell that she placed a lot of effort into gathering this information. If what Mu Xue said was true, then the various academies must’ve placed their hopes in the helpers they invited.
He first looked at Bai Yuchen, who looked ordinary. But his pupils were extremely bright and filled with soul energy. As for Jiang Yi, he looked even more ordinary. He was donned in azure clothes just like Lin Yun as he sat on his seat with his eyes closed.
But for some reason, Lin Yun had a feeling that Jiang Yi was even more troublesome than Bai Yuchen. After all, Mo Ling said that he could be ranked in the top ten among the Cloud Trigram Sect’s inner disciples. So there was no way Lin Yun dared to underestimate him.
“This will be interesting.” For some reason, Lin Yun’s heart was filled with some expectations. He fought many battles since he came to the Nether Prefectural City, but they were all with the disciples of the Heavenly Province Academy. As for the overlord forces, he had only heard about them.
But he looked towards Cao Zhen of the Azurehut Academy once more. After all, that person was a monstrous genius from the Northern Snow Manor, who was known to have the highest possibility of being on the Dragoncloud Ranking.
Right at this moment, Lin Yun could sense a gaze on him. When Lin Yun turned his head over, he saw Mu Xue looking at him deeply. Although she didn’t say a word, Lin Yun could tell what she was trying to say. She must be trying to say that the competition was a battleground for geniuses of the overlord forces.
There were many people gathered here and their focus was on Cao Xiu, Jiang Yi, and Bai Yuchen. Everyone was looking at the three of them enviously. There were billions of lives in the Ancient Southern Domain with tens of thousands of empires, but there were only nine overlord forces.
The names of the overlord forces were resounding to everyone, even back in the Great Qin Empire. They were like stars that shined brightly in the sky, enveloping the Ancient Southern Domain. The disciples who came from the overlord forces were shrouded by a halo that would attract everyone’s attention.
But it was laughable that those people thought that they were a cut above everyone else. For Lin Yun, he would treat them seriously, but he would never underestimate himself.
Seeing that there were no changes to Lin Yun’s expression as he closed his eyes and ignored him, Mu Xue became furious that Lin Yun had disregarded her. Did Lin Yun really think that he was that great because he defeated Huang Yan? If he had the capability, then he should defeat his opponents on the stage.
As time gradually passed, the surrounding discussion gradually became louder. Shortly after, Lin Yun could clearly sense that the entire mountain had erupted.
“That person has come?” Lin Yun opened his eyes and looked at the entrance. He could see a group walking in proudly. The one leading the group had defined features and an indifferent face. He had a frail build, but he gave Lin Yun an uneasy feeling.
He didn’t have a temperament that belonged to a young man. Instead, that frail figure seemed like a ghostly blade that came from hell. Lin Yun had never seen Cao Zhen before, but he was certain that this person was Cao Zhen.
Not only Lin Yun, but Jiang Yi, Bai Yuchen, and Cao Xiu all turned to look at Cao Zhen. This person had killed a greater Yang stage wandering cultivator a year ago. Even if they had no idea of his current cultivation, they could still estimate it. Cao Zhen’s reputation was even stronger than the three of them combined and none of them dared to take Cao Zhen lightly when they saw him.
“The Five Academies Competition is hosted once every two decades. I believe everyone knows about the rules, but I’ll repeat them again. In the first round, the four academies will face off and the final winner will face the champion of the last competition, the Violethut Academy. Each academy will send out three people and the first academy with two wins will emerge victorious. In the second round, both academies will send out their strongest fighter and the winner will be the final victor of this competition.”
The rules were announced by an elderly man who had descended from the sky. Everyone knew that this person was an elder of a major clan in the Nether Prefectural City.
Tang Yu wore a grave expression as he held onto a token and poured his origin energy into it. In the next second, the token formed a pillar that shot into the sky. The other academies also had similar glowing tokens.
The four tokens formed four pillars that were either black or white. According to the rules, the black pillar will face the other black pillar and the white pillar will face the other white pillar.
Lin Yun raised his head and saw that the other black pillar belonged to the Azurefoot Academy.
“The Azurefoot Academy!” Mo Ling’s eyes flickered. “The Azurefoot Academy isn’t hard to deal with. We have to determine our fighting order.”
If the strongest fighter fought their weakest fighter, there was a high chance that they would lose. So there was also some strategy in arranging the sequence. To the Heavenly Province Academy, they would naturally send out their weakest first, Liu Yunyan. As for Lin Yun and Mu Xue, they would be discussed later.
“I can go with any arrangement,” said Lin Yun.
“Then you can go second,” said Mo Ling. “Mu Xue will go last.”
“I have no opinion,” said Mu Xue. She also wanted to see Lin Yun’s performance since the second sequence was crucial. After all, the pressure would be great if the first person lost. And if the second round was also lost, they would lose the competition.
Conversely, the second sequence was crucial if the first person won. Anyone could tell that Mo Ling had great hopes for Lin Yun.
“Both sides please send out your first participant!” The elder’s voice echoed throughout the mountain once more as Liu Yunyan soared into the sky.
“It’s Liu Yunyan!”
“Now, this is interesting. Her father was the cause of the Heavenly Province Academy’s loss two decades ago. I never expected that the academy would send her out first two decades later.”
“I heard that the Profound Yang Palace’s helper didn’t come. They got someone from the Great Qin Empire as their helper.”
“If Liu Yunyan loses this battle, then it will be dangerous to the academy.” The surrounding area burst with discussions following Liu Yunyan’s appearance. The Heavenly Province Academy’s elders and disciples couldn’t help becoming nervous.
Liu Yunyan’s opponent also landed on the stage at the same time as he looked at Liu Yunyan with his invasive gaze.
“This person is Zhou Qin. He’s the weakest in the Azurefoot Academy. If Liu Yunyan performs normally, there’s a high chance that she’ll win,” analyzed Mo Ling calmly. But Lin Yun noticed that her finger was moving. Clearly, she didn’t seem as calm as she looked.
“Lin Yun, you’re curial regardless if we win or lose in this battle. We have hope as long as you can win,” said Mo Ling.
Tang Yu and the other elders knew how powerful Lin Yun was. They also knew he wasn’t someone who could be gauged by cultivation level. However, his opponent might be Jiang Yi, the genius of the Cloud Trigram Sect. So none of them would feel at ease until they saw Lin Yun defeat his opponent.
“I hope that you can give me the chance to stand on the stage. Otherwise, I would’ve come back in vain,” said Mu Xue.
Lin Yun merely glanced at Mu Xue before he turned back to the stage. He wasn’t a person of many words, so he didn’t bother talking. Only time would make Mu Xue eat her words.