The Great Ruler

Chapter 448 – Freshmen in the Academy

“Relying on my Heart’s Eye State, I’m able to arrange a Rank 5 Spiritual Array. From this point, I guess that I can be considered as a Rank 5 Spiritual Array Master.”

Mu Chen sent a dry laugh towards Ling Xi. Over the last half a year, he had invested too little time towards his understanding of Spiritual Arrays, therefore his progress in it wasn’t something especially great. The inquisitive look on Ling Xi’s face as she asked him about his progress in Spiritual Arrays something that he was somewhat helpless to do anything. Ling Xi was clearly not much older than him, yet she was able to suppress him to death with her strength. This made Mu Chen feel some grief and indignation. Could it be that following by mum’s side would be that beneficial?

Thinking about his current progress, he should be considered as extremely outstanding within his fellow peers. However, he could not muster the slightest bit of comparison against Ling Xi.

“Rank 5 Spiritual Array Master?”

Giving an ambiguous smile upon seeing Mu Chen’s actions and appearance, she continued speaking in an indifferent tone. “Any Grade under the rank of Spiritual Array Grandmaster is not worth a mention. After all, anything below Sovereign realm is just like an ant. In the aspect of Spiritual Arrays, one can only be considered as genuinely be attuned to it when one reaches the realm of Spiritual Array Grandmaster. If not, one would not be able to truly stand on the grand stage.”

“Furthermore, Aunt Jing could be considered on the realm of Ancestral Master rank in her attainments in Spiritual Arrays. Being her biological son, you should not have only ordinary attainments in this aspect.”

After being reprimanded like that, Mu Chen could not help feeling somewhat resentful. Unable to hold it in, he subsequently asked, “What Grade of an expert does a Ancestral Master in Spiritual Arrays amounts to?”

Shooting a glare at Mu Chen, Ling Xi replied with an amused shadow appearing in her beautiful eyes. “Looks like you still don’t know the depths towards the grading of Spiritual Array Masters. The so-called ‘First to Ninth Grade’ that is used is just a crude approximation. Generally speaking, anyone above Sixth Grade would be capable of being known as a Spiritual Array Grandmaster. Despite this, there are also different Grades within the realm of Spiritual Array Grandmasters.”

“There are three phases within the realm of Spiritual Array Grandmasters: Heaven, Earth and Human, with three Grades for each phase for a total of nine Grades, which just so corresponds to the nine Grades of Sovereigns. What comes after Spiritual Array Grandmasters would be a Scholars, which corresponds to Earth Sovereigns. As for Ancestral Masters, they are what comes after Scholars. You should be very clear about what realm they exist in, right?”

Sucking in a mouthful of cold air, Mu Chen looked blankly at the grinning Ling Xi as he replied, “Heavenly Sovereign?”

He already had some guesses after seeing his mother refining the Yellow Dragon Sovereign, sending the Black Dragon Sovereign flying and even overwhelming the Immeasurable Old Ancestor. However, when this guess became a reality, he still could not help being filled with shock.

Heavenly Sovereign…

Even when placed within the boundless and endless Great Thousand Worlds, people who possessed such strength would absolutely be considered to be regional Overlords. Even those clans with long traditions would have to be courteous towards existences of that realm. Therefore, anyone within the Great Thousand Worlds would absolutely be able to travel unimpeded with the backing of a Heavenly Sovereign.

All along, Mu Chen had always assumed that he had an ordinary background, since his father’s strength was truly not worth one bit of mention. However, who would have guessed that his extremely weak old man would be able to find such a terrifyingly strong and powerful wife…

“My old man’s too awesome,” said Mu Chen as he smacked his lips, while an expression filled with admiration appeared on his face. What was the definition of awesome? This was exactly its definition. If this matter was circulated, there might not be even a single person that would believe this. However, it had truly happened to his father. Now, Mu Chen really wanted to know exactly what had happened that year for his father to actually drag his pheonix of a mother down from the skies…

Resting her jade-like hand on her cheek, a blank expression was completely present in Ling Xi’s beautiful eyes. Clearly, this was something that didn’t add up in her mind. In her eyes, Aunt Jing was a completely perfect lady, with her sight seemingly being extremely, extremely high. However, from the news that she had received from Mu Chen, his father seemed to be an extremely ordinary person and came from a small place. Also, his strength didn’t appear to be outstanding. However, a person from such an unseeming place was actually able to obtain the love of Aunt Jing. This was truly an inconceivable matter.

“Elder Sister Ling Xi, what Grade are you at in the realm of Spiritual Array Grandmasters?” asked Mu Chen curiously as he looked towards Ling Xi.

With a smile, Ling Xi replied, “I should be at the highest grade of the Human phase, which is equivalent to a Third Grade Sovereign.”

“Third Grade Sovereign…” Mu Chen made another sigh of admiration. Her Grade was even higher than Elder Zhu Tian and the other Heavenly Seated Elders. Placed within the Northern Heavens Continent, she was already comparable to those leaders of the other peak influences present here. Although she had the benefit of being instructed by his mother, being able to have such accomplishments at her age clearly showed her extremely outstanding talent.

“Despite that, my cultivation in Spiritual Energy isn’t all that great. At this moment, I’ve actually only just crossed by Divine Soul Tribulation, and not yet stepped into the Sovereign Realm.” Casting a glance towards Mu Chen with her beautiful eyes, she continued speaking, “After all, not everyone’s like you, having such astonishing talents in these two aspects.”

After being around Mu Chen for such a long time, she knew that the latter not only possessed outstanding talent in his cultivation of Spiritual Energy, he had also inherited Aunt Jing’s talent in the aspect of Spiritual Arrays. Along his path of progress, he had obtained quite substantial results in both his Spiritual Energy and Spiritual Array cultivation, which had surprised many people.

Giving a smile, Mu Chen finally felt that the matter was somewhat balanced now. From the looks of it, he still had some superiority when compared to Ling Xi.

Noticing the additional shadow of satisfaction present within Mu Chen’s eyes, Ling Xi gave an indifferent smile as she said, “Since you know that Aunt Jing’s that outstanding on the aspect of Spiritual Arrays, you have to do more research and study on them in the future. At the very least, you have to reach the realm of Scholar; if not, you will definitely let Aunt Jing down.”

Instantly, Mu Chen’s satisfied look froze up as he rubbed his nose in resentment. With such a formidable mother, he truly had great pressure on his shoulders. Indeed, although he had an extremely high talent on the aspect of Spiritual Arrays, wanting to reach the realm of Scholars wasn’t something that could be achieved just by relying on talent. After all, there were too many geniuses within this universe. Yet, those that were able to have accomplishments in the end were an extremely small number amongst them.

Seeing Mu Chen’s satisfaction being suppressed down, Ling Xi gave a sweet smile. With her jade-like hand placed on her cheek, she gracefully pursed her lips, before knitting her eyebrows towards the outer region of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy while saying, “What’s with the noise in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy today?”

“Today’s the day where the Freshmen enter the academy,” replied Mu Chen in a lazy fashion.

Today was the day where the new batch of Freshmen would enter the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. Therefore, the entire Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy was extremely lively today. As for Mu Chen’s batch of students, all of them were incomparably excited, since after simmering for over a year, they were finally able to toss away the title of Freshmen from their names. From today onwards, they would become figures that were able to show off their superiority.

Slightly nodding her head, Ling Xi didn’t care about the matter anymore, choosing to lazily bask in the enjoyment of this idle moment.

The Outer Region of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy

At this moment, there seemed to be a sea of humans present here, with a stretch of black covering the grounds, extending endlessly towards the horizon. The noise and chatter resounding from within perfused throughout the surroundings, spreading and reverberating far and wide.

Countless teenage males and females had gathered here, with everyone having excited expressions on their faces as they sized the cultivation holy ground they had all yearned for, yet appearing exceedingly foreign to them. Being the new batch of Freshmen of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, they had worked and tried their best to pass through all of the tough challenges to obtain the qualifications to stand here today.

They had all come here to train and cultivate to become stronger and more powerful, before dazzlingly returning back to their hometowns.

At the corner of the sea of humans was a group of seven to eight youthful figures standing together. Looking towards the surrounding crowds, they appeared somewhat cramped, with their gazes showing a slight bit of recoil. Although they were considered as the topmost elite students from the spiritual academy they had come from, they had discovered that they were extremely ordinary when placed here. There were quite a few of the Freshmen in their surroundings that caused them to feel some dread, with some being in the Spirit Realm, a level of strength that was even stronger than their parents.

“This is the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy? Indeed, it truly is worthy of being one of the five Great Academies! It’s much, much bigger than our Northern Spiritual Academy,” said a sweet and delicate young girl as she sized up her surroundings, before speaking quietly towards the young male beside her. “Brother Qingshan, I’ve heard that the most outstanding Senior Mu Chen of our Northern Spiritual Academy is also in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, right? How’s he doing here? I really want to see him. It’s said that he’s the most outstanding student in the history of our Northern Spiritual Academy.”

“Yu Xi, those aren’t good words to say. My Elder Brother Liu Mu is also very outstanding. As of now, he’s cultivating in the Saint Spiritual Academy,” snorted a bulky youth standing beside them.

“Liu Yang, is there any use of arguing here? We’re already in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. Being in such a foreign place, and not being all that outstanding compared to the people around us, it’s inevitable that you’ll get bullied if you don’t group up with others,” replied the youth being called Brother Qingshan by the young girl as his wrinkled his forehead.

Hearing that, Liu Yang snorted twice. Nevertheless, he did not continue speaking any more words. Although he could be considered as extremely outstanding while he was in the Northern Spiritual Academy, his confidence had already been completely crushed upon coming here. After taking a look at his surroundings, it seemed to him that their strength was only average with not the slightest bit of outstanding aspects present.

“I truly don’t know what this is all about with our Northern Spiritual Academy actually being able to obtain so many quotas. Furthermore, its truly strange that we’re even able to be exempted from examinations,” said Liu Yang doubtfully in a low voice.

Hearing that, the youths that had come together with him from the Northern Spiritual Academy all nodded their heads. This matter was something considerably strange for them. In the past, it was extremely rare for their Northern Spiritual Academy to obtain any quotas, with the added possibility of the people chosen to not be able to enter the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. However, this time, they were able to obtain close to ten quotas, with the added matter of being exempted from any examinations. Such a meaty pie falling from the heavens had seemingly caused all of them to turn dizzy.

“Oi, the few of you…”

As they were discussing in low voices, a cry suddenly rang out from before them. They hurriedly turned their heads, only to see a number of youths with grins on their faces as they walked over. From the gazes of those people, one would immediately know that they were Seniors of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. This instantly caused Qing Shan, Liu Yang and the rest of their group to tense up, since they were able to sense rather frightening Spiritual Energy pressures coming from the latter few. The pressure radiating out was even stronger than those coming from their parents.

“We’re in charge of you group of Freshmen.” said a gentle-looking youth as he sent a faint smile towards them. Waving his hands, he continued speaking. “Our Demon’s Gate is now accepting foreign members; therefore, you all will become members of our Demon’s Gate. There isn’t any special requirement, accept that you will have to contribute a certain amount of Spiritual Values every month from now. If anyone tries to bully you all, you just have to say the name of our Demon’s Gate and it’ll do. Understand?”

Hearing those words, Liu Yang, Qingshan and the rest of their group looked towards each other mutedly. Although they weren’t exactly clear what Spiritual Values were, their intuition had told them that this didn’t seem like a good matter. In the next moment, braving himself, Qing Shan asked out, “Seniors, could you let us get more familiar with the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy before letting us decide then?”

Hearing that, an ambiguous smile instantly surfaced on the face of the youth. Staring towards Qing Shan and the group, he grinned while giving his reply, “What’s the matter? Are you looking down on our Demon’s Gate?”

Noticing the smile, cold sweat started pouring out from Qing Shan and the group. The pretty young girl by the name of Yu Xi bit her lip, before speaking out after summing up her courage, “We, we have a Big Brother here in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy! He’s also a Senior. You can’t bully us!”

Hearing her words, the few youths could not help instantly bursting into laughter. The Freshmen in the surroundings didn’t dare to speak out, as those Seniors before their eyes possessed strength absolutely on the level of Heavenly Fusion Stage. That was a realm that none of the Freshmen dared to go against. Furthermore, Seniors bullying freshmen was an extremely common matter, something that everyone should have encountered before.

“Beautiful little Junior Sister,” Restraining his smile after quite a while later, the youth grinned towards Yu Xi and said, “What’s the name of your Big Brother? Let me hear it. I want to see if our Demon’s Gate’s able to subdue him or not.”

Hastily, Qing Shan went forward to restrain the young girl. Offending those Seniors clearly wasn’t too rational of a decision. Furthermore, if Mu Chen was dragged into this matter, it would really be troublesome.

However, although the young girl was small of age, she was the current batch of geniuses coming from the Northern Spiritual Academy. Although she had only cultivated and trained for a year, her strength was already rapidly catching up to Qing Shan, Liu Yang and the other Seniors from the Northern Spiritual Academy. Therefore, being the gifted one like she was, she clearly didn’t face much of this kind of pressure. In the next instant, with a beet-red face, she bit her lip. Flinging away Qing Shan’s hand, she raised her pretty face and shouted out in a loud voice, “My Big Bro’s name is Mu Chen!”

Her extremely clear voice rang out within the noisy chatter coming from the surroundings, unexpectedly causing the canter around to quieten down. In the next instant, gazes shot over one after another, of which included some of the Seniors who were here to maintain order. At this moment, all of them were looking in shock towards the red-faced pretty young girl who had just shouted out…

Qing Shan was instantly scared by the sudden quieting of the surroundings, especially those gazes from the various Seniors, which had caused a shock to shake through his heart. Instantly, he placed the young girl protectively behind him. Although Liu Yang and the rest were shocked till they feet started to shiver,

“I’m very sorry, Senior. She’s still young and isn’t sensible. We agree to the previous matter…” All of a sudden, Qing Shan’s forward gaze moved, hastily apologising to the few Seniors which had seemingly been very stiff and rigid.

However, at this very moment, the youth before him who had a slightly amused grin on his face had somewhat froze up, with his lips starting to quiver. A slightly astringent breath started to ring out from his throat, before he lowered his voice and replied, “Your, your Big Brother is called Mu Chen?”

Qing Shan looked towards the youth before him, who appeared to be not quite right, and was instantly confused. At this moment, he could only brace himself and nodded her head in apprehension. However, all of a sudden, he notice quite a few people rushing up and striding over from the crowds of Seniors in the surroundings. All of them seemed to have the same insignia pin on their chests. From the voices coming from the surroundings, they seemed to be members of the Luo Goddess Association.

Upon seeing such a formation, Qing Shan was instantly frightened, while the pretty face of the young girl, Yu Xi had turned pale. Nevertheless, she clenched her teeth and stood her ground in defiance.

However, as the group of Luo Goddess Association flooded over, they unexpectedly didn’t do anything to her. On the contrary, they had barged their way in front of those people from the Demon’s Gate. Faced against them, those rather bossy Seniors from the Demon’s Gate had actually resentfully retreated a few steps back. Clearly, they didn’t wish for any conflict against the people of the Luo Goddess Association.

From this, the Freshmen in the surroundings could instantly tell that the Luo Goddess Association was clearly much stronger than the Demon’s Gate.

Nervously taking in the scene unfurling before them, Qing Shan and the group noticed a youth in the lead of the group before them sending them an extremely welcoming smile as he said, “Junior Brothers and Sisters, you know Brother Mu?”