#57 - Competition among the Four Major Academies

“Uninvited and barging into my Heavenly Spirit Dynasty's capital, is this your idea of being guests?”

From within the palace, a cold voice echoed.

It was an old man wearing a purple-gold Daoist robe. He was tall and sturdy, like an old lion, his eyes still carrying immense authority.

The old man stepped out, arriving above the palace, facing off against the warships of the three great dynasties from afar.

“Xia Cang, old man, don't be so fiery.”

From the White Phoenix Kingdom's warship, a white-bearded old man said with a chuckle, “We have come here representing the Great Cloud Academy, Azure Sea Academy, and White Phoenix Academy, to invite your Heavenly Spirit Academy to a joint exchange and competition, to discuss the Dao together.”

As the names suggest, the Great Cloud Academy, Azure Sea Academy, and White Phoenix Academy are academies established by the imperial families of the three great dynasties. Similar to the Heavenly Spirit Academy, they gather top talents from all sides of the three great dynasties, and their strength should not be underestimated.

“Exchange and competition?”

Xia Cang was taken aback, not expecting that the three great dynasties' intention was actually to hold an exchange and competition.

“That's right, just an exchange and competition between the four great academies, it's not like we haven't held them before.”

The white-bearded old man said, “Moreover, this time we took the initiative to visit, and the location for the exchange and competition will be set at the Heavenly Spirit Academy, on your territory, so you should be relieved now, right?”

Xia Cang frowned slightly.

The four great academies did indeed have exchanges and competitions before, but that was all thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago.

In recent years, the relationship between the Heavenly Spirit Dynasty and the three great dynasties has deteriorated, especially since the three great dynasties have recently deployed many troops in the border areas, bringing great pressure to the Heavenly Spirit Dynasty.

Now, the three great dynasties have proposed to have an exchange and competition with the Heavenly Spirit Academy,

This gave Xia Cang a bad feeling.

He didn't believe that the three great dynasties were simply here for an exchange and competition.

But the three great dynasties had come aggressively, and if he directly refused, they probably wouldn't let it go easily.

“What, is the Heavenly Spirit Academy not even giving us this face?”

From the Great Cloud Dynasty's warship, a dissatisfied voice echoed.

“An exchange and competition is fine, but it must be a competition between the four great academies, and not the three of you joining forces to deal with my Heavenly Spirit Academy.”

“Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite!”

After careful consideration, Xia Cang said in a deep voice.

The Heavenly Spirit Academy was after all the territory of the Heavenly Spirit Dynasty. If the three great academies dared to join forces to bully the Heavenly Spirit Academy, he could directly flip the table and wouldn't be afraid.

“Hehe, don't worry.”

The white-bearded old man smiled slightly.

And so, the people from the three great dynasties arrived at the Heavenly Spirit Academy, starting a grand exchange and competition.

Originally, the three great dynasties wanted the elders and disciples of each academy to compete, but Xia Cang refused.

In the end, after some discussion, it was decided that the young geniuses below the Transformation Dao Realm would exchange and compete.

For this, the three great dynasties even brought out many treasures as rewards for the exchange and competition.

Seeing that everything was proceeding normally, Xia Cang was somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that he was really overthinking things, and they were really just here for an exchange and competition?

“I am Xiao Tian, the chief direct disciple of the White Phoenix Academy, who dares to fight me?”

As soon as the exchange and competition began, a young man in white stepped out, proudly surveying the surrounding geniuses.

“I will fight you!”

A direct disciple of the inner sect of the Heavenly Spirit Academy stepped forward, and the two sides quickly broke out into a great battle.

Xiao Tian's cultivation was at the first level of the Profound Spirit Realm, while the Heavenly Spirit Academy's direct disciple was at the third level of the Profound Spirit Realm, with a much higher cultivation level.

But to everyone's surprise, after only a dozen rounds, the Heavenly Spirit Academy's direct disciple was sent flying out by Xiao Tian with a palm strike, spitting out blood!

What no one noticed was that during this battle, every attack of Xiao Tian's carried a wisp of black gas invisible to the naked eye, quietly entering his opponent's body.

The defeated direct disciple of the Heavenly Spirit Academy didn't notice at all that a dozen subtle wisps of black gas were traveling through his body, eventually rushing into his sea of consciousness, turning into a black seed!

The smile on Xiao Tian's face grew even richer.

“Next!”

Xiao Tian looked at the many genius disciples of the Heavenly Spirit Academy, Great Cloud Academy, and Azure Sea Academy, with a hint of excitement in his eyes, as if looking at prey.