Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 436: Fire Energy Hunting Competition

The vast sea of trees held various different kinds of Magical Beasts within it. Every once in awhile, there would be ferocious auras of Magical Beasts shooting out from within the sea of trees in an explosive manner. However, when these Magical Beasts entered within a hundred meter radius of the group, they would be shocked by the powerful force emitted from the barrier that Hu Gan’s and the three elders created until they warily retreated.

Of course, this was not the case for every one of them. As the Magical Beast were widespread in such a concentrated manner within the vast endless mountains, there was naturally no shortage of frighteningly powerful creatures . Half an hour after the flying formation began travelling within the mountains behind the academy, there were some powerful Magical Beasts who forcefully charged and attacked the Griffin formation, in spite of the pressure being released by Hu Gan and the other three people. At this time, Hu Gan and the other three old men began to display their shocking strength. Each time they waved their hands, powerful blasts of energy shot across the sky like a thunderbolt. Immediately, Xiao Yan and the others would hear a muffled sound, and the large-sized Magical Beasts suddenly exploded into fresh blood and fell down.

As they flew, various kinds of ferocious Magical Beasts swarmed over, pouncing from the rear and front. However, there wasn’t a single Magical Beast who could break through the blockade that was Hu Gan and the three others.

Xiao Yan and the others stood on the Griffins. Their faces were stunned as they watched the Magical Beasts’ bodies being shredded to bits. From their Qis, most of these Magical Beasts appeared to possess the strength to contend with any one of the students present. Even if that was the case, they were still turned into a mist of blood each time Hu Gan and the others waved their hand. This kind of strength really caused people to turn green with envy.

“No wonder they need to escort us all the way there. It is really unexpected that there are so many dangers lurking in the mountains behind the academy. If we were to travel by foot through the forest, it is likely that given the strength of the other students, there would hardly be anyone who would be able to walk out alive.” Xiao Yan laughed bitterly as he eyed another cloud of blood form from an explosion fifty meters away from their location. Earlier, when the group flew past the vast mountain range, he could clearly sense that there were at least rank 5 or Dou Wang class Magical Beast auras existing in the dense forest below using his outstandingly large Spiritual Perception. However, the Magical Beasts, which had reached such a rank had already gained intelligence which was not inferior to that of a human’s. Therefore, they could naturally sense the strength of Hu Gan and the others. Hence, they did not act like the weaker Magical Beast, attacking the Griffin formation recklessly. It was also fortunate that these high ranked Magical Beast knew what fear was. Otherwise, even with Hu Gan and the three other Dou Huang level experts escorting them, it was likely impossible that this Griffin formation of theirs would arrive at their destination unscathed.

Bloody mist accompanied them all the way as they continued to fly. Hu Gan and the three others were like sharp cones that tore out a path within the Magical Beast that came attacking in all directions. The strength of a Dou Huang was strong to such an extent.

This nearly peremptory charging continued for almost an hour before the flying speed of the Griffin formation finally slowed down. When he sensed the reduction in speed, Xiao Yan swept his gaze in front of him. However, he was uncertain when he discovered that, other than a bottomless gorge under their feet, the other places were still an endless green carpet where they could not see the edges. Forget about the Inner Academy, there wasn’t even a single human figure.

“What is happening?” Xiao Yan exchanged looks with Xun Er and the rest. All of their faces were filled with doubt and confusion.

“Descend!”

The sharpness in Hu Gan’s eyes gradually disappeared. The powerful force, that soared from within his body earlier, was quietly retracted back into his body. He smilingly waved his hand, and the ten Griffins flapped their wings as they slowly descended towards the mountain gorge below.

The Griffins carried a dark shadow and wild gusts of wind as they landed smoothly on the ground. Xiao Yan and the others saw the waving gestures that Hu Gan showed them. They exchanged glances before leaping down from the Griffins and began to land and gather on the empty ground. Their gazes looked all around them while their faces were at a loss.

“Where is this place? Don’t tell me that the Inner Academy is here?” After they landed on the ground, Hu Jia was the first to be unable to bear it and questioned Hu Gan. When the others heard this question, they turned also their gazes towards Hu Gan. Clearly, they also wanted to know the answer to it.

“It is not so easy to enter the Inner Academy.” Hu Gan smiled faintly. Immediately, he slowly took ten steps forward under everyone’s gaze. After which, his footsteps paused. With a wave of his hand, a wave of energy shot out explosively and arrived at the space in front of him. A strange scene surfaced almost instantly. They saw that when the energy shot past a certain empty area, it actually created a wave-like ripple. This ripple swiftly fluctuated. Finally, a large pale, silver-colored door, that was over seventy to eighty feet high appeared out of nowhere.

Xiao Yan and the others were shocked when they eyed the large, silver-colored door that had appeared out of nowhere. Clearly, they did not think that this seemingly ordinary place would actually hide such a profound secret.

The silver-colored door carried a clear sound as it slowly opened in front of everyone’s eyes. The scene behind the door was also a thick forest, as it has always been. It appeared that this forest in front of them was no different than what they had seen earlier.

“Follow me.” Hu Gan waved his hand and took the lead to walk through the large silver-colored door. Behind him, tens of students followed closely while wearing expressions that were filled with curiosity.

Xiao Yan did not walk near the front. He stood in the back and eyed the people who entered the silver-colored door in front of him. After which, his gaze was once again thrown onto the space outside of the large door. He was somewhat stunned to discover that those people who had entered the silver-colored door seemed to have entered another space and just disappeared into thin air.

“What a strange place…” This scene caused Xiao Yan to exclaim and shook his head. He recalled the spatial folds in front of the ‘Book Collection Hall’ and came to a sudden understanding. The tactics of super elites were indeed something that they had difficulty understanding at their current level of strength.

After Xiao Yan exclaimed in his heart, he lengthened his stride and followed the group. After which, he past through the large silver-colored door. Following which, he also disappeared.

The large door only slowly shut itself tightly after everyone, including the ten Griffins, had entered through them. Finally, a silver-colored energy ripple spread out, and the large silver-colored door gradually dissipated until it completely disappeared. At this moment, this entire region had changed into an extremely ordinary forest.

As Xiao Yan stepped across the large silver-colored door, he suddenly felt his mind go blank. His two feet were pressed firmly on the solid ground as his gaze swept across the place in front of him. However, he was a little surprised to discover that the scene in front of them was similar to the forest earlier. It was just that… at this moment, two old men and a few middle-aged men had actually unknowingly appeared near the forest. Additionally, there were over twenty young people standing behind them. Xiao Yan’s gaze swept over their bodies and discovered that they were all wearing badges on their chest, which had drawing similar to a tower.

“Ke ke, Old Hu, you are punctual as always. We can always rest assured when we let you escort the new students. How are the new students this year?” At this moment, one of the two old men smiled at the leading Hu Gan and said when he saw the large group of people entering.

“Not bad. It is definitely a little better than last year’s group.” Hu Gan smiled and said: “It is really unexpected that it is your turn to carry out the duty this year. Looks like it’s going to be quite tiring.”

“There’s no choice.” The two old men helplessly shook their heads.

“The five of you come over.” Hu Gan turned his body and beckoned Xiao Yan and the four others with his hand. When he saw that the five had arrived by his side, he pointed towards the two old men and said: “These two are Elders in the Inner Academy. This is Elder Su, and this other person is Elder Qing. If you have any problem in the Inner Academy in the future, you can look for them. Ke ke, these five little fellows were the top five ranked in this year’s Qualifying Competition. Their strength is not bad.” These final two sentences were naturally spoken to Elder Su and Elder Qing.

“Oh?” The gazes of the two Elders carried a bizarreness as they swept across the five of them. Finally, they nodded and said: “Being able to obtain the top five at this age. Their potential is indeed much better than the last batch.”

“Yo, what beautiful girls. Looks like there will be two more names on the ‘Beauty Ranking’ within the Inner Academy.” After Xiao Yan and the four others came out, the eyes of the few young people standing behind those middle-aged follows immediately brightened as they whistled and said.

“Shut your mouth. Whoever says any more nonsense will have their tower training time cut by five days!” Elder Su turned around and chided. The young men behind smiled mischievously as they immediately shut their mouths. Clearly, the deduction of the so-called tower training time caused them to be extremely afraid.

After rebuking that group of young people until they did not dare to say anything more, Elder Su turned around. He faced Xiao Yan and the other new students as he slowly spoke: “You’re all new here, so I hope that you can all get used to this place. That way, you will all obtain the greatest benefit possible. Look at these bastards. In previous years, they may have passed through the Qualifying Competition in the Outer Academy but they are merely ranked at the bottom. However, in merely one year’s time, I dare say that with their strength, they would definitely be able to enter the top ten amongst all of you.”

Xiao Yan was slightly startled when he heard this. His gaze was thrown towards those young people and his gaze solidified slightly. He could sense that these young people were indeed very strong. Amongst this group of new students, it might well be possible to count the number of people who could defeat them with just both hands. Yet these people were merely those ranked at the bottom in the Qualifying Competition of previous years. From this, one could see just how the strength of these people advanced by leaps and bounds after entering the Inner Academy.

“Alright, let’s not say any more nonsense. Although you all have already passed through the Qualifying Competition and obtained the right to enter the Inner Academy, it is still not over…” Elder Su smiled. He waved his hand and a large pile of black-colored crystal sheets appeared in his hand. With a random toss using his hand, he threw the crystal sheets. Immediately, the crystal sheets appeared to have grown eyes as they began to suspend themselves in front of everyone. Xiao Yan and the others were startled as they extended their hands and held them.

Once the crystal sheets entered their hands, Xiao Yan and the others immediately sensed a strange heat energy seeping out from within it. They lowered their heads to observe for a moment and discovered that it was a transparent screen of crystal. Imprinted on the screen was a large red-colored number: “5!”

“What does this mean?” Xiao Yan was somewhat doubtful as he eyed that red-colored number. He lifted his gaze and was somewhat stunned when he saw that the group of young people standing behind the middle-aged men were eyeing the dark, black crystal sheets that was held in his and the others hands with heated gazes. There was a desire within their gazes that they did not hide.

“Due to some things, it is quite difficult explaining it. You will naturally understand it in the future. However, there is only one thing which you need to know for now. Protect the crystal sheets in your hands as though it is your life. Once you enter the Inner Academy, you will understand its importance! Of course, just take a look at the expression in the eyes of this group of people and you will understand this point.” Towards the end of his speech, Elder Su pointed at the group of young people behind and smilingly said.

Xiao Yan and Xun Er exchanged glances and nodded their heads. The crystal sheets in their hands shook and were stored into their storage ring.

“Next, you will all need to enter this forest. After which, you must successfully reach the Inner Academy at the edge of the forest.” Elder Su’s finger stopped at the group of young people and said faintly: “You will need to be careful of them when all of you are passing through this forest… According to the rules of the academy, they are able to randomly fight within this forest. In other words, they can attack any of you.”

“Remember, the number on the top of the crystal sheets in your hands is an extremely great temptation to them. Therefore, with the exception of killing people, they will use all sorts of methods to obtain the… ‘Fire Energy’ on your crystal sheets… you will feel that this term is extremely familiar and very lovely in the future… For now, you need to avoid them or defeat them. As long as you are not captured by them and successfully arrive at the academy, you will have your final reward. The earlier you arrive, the richer the reward.”

Elder Su’s finger suddenly turned towards the dark, black forest behind him. “With regards to this seizing in the forest, our Inner Academy calls it the ‘Fire Energy Hunting Competition’.”

“Now, I announce that this year’s ‘Fire Energy Hunting Competition’ has formally begin! Students, begin to flee!”