The Heavenly Phoenix Divine Maiden was especially reluctant to leave Ling Han. She had just discovered the taste of love, and she wanted nothing more than to be entangled with Ling Han all day long. However, she could only choose to bid him farewell now. Anyhow, she could head over to meet Ling Han after they both settled down.
Liu Juntian was also present among the disciples. Right now, there was a complicated expression in his eyes as he looked at Ling Han. However, in its depths, there was still a seething killing intent.
Among all of the king tiers, Ling Han’s talent had ranked a lofty second. This outcome swayed his conviction significantly. Should he look ahead and forget about seeking revenge on Ling Han? However, the death of his brother was still burning in his mind. He couldn’t forget this enmity.
That being the case, he would bide his time until he was powerful enough. When the time was ripe, he would strike suddenly and kill Ling Han.
Ling Han noticed Liu Juntian’s gaze, and killing intent involuntarily rose up in his mind.
If he had a chance, he would also kill Liu Juntian. Otherwise, leaving this person alive would only mean trouble.
In fact, it wasn’t just Liu Juntian who felt animosity toward Ling Han. There was also Nie Tiancheng, Shan Jingyi, and even some prodigies who despised him because of his relations.h.i.+p with Empress Luan Xing.
Of the people that Ling Han was acquainted with, Faceless pa.s.sed the recruitment and became a disciple of the third Saint. Yang Lin also pa.s.sed, becoming a disciple of the seventh Saint. However, the Cloud Maiden and Yue Ying had both been brutally eliminated. They could only leave with hurt and disappointment.
Of course, the Stone Emperor and the North Emperor pa.s.sed the recruitment. Sure enough, they were like two peas in a pod, with both of them becoming a disciple of the Nine Azure Saint.
There wasn’t much time for them to bid farewell to each other before they all had to set off toward their respective campuses. In any case, they would have heaps of time to catch up with each other in the future.
With a wave of his hand, the Tranquil Heart Saint collected his 100 or so disciples. Then, in the blink of an eye, they arrived before the eighth campus. This was a campus that rested on an azure mountain. This was an unfathomably tall mountain, and raising their heads, they could only see thick and swirling mists.
A Saint naturally wouldn’t be tasked with helping them settle in. There was an Eternal River Tier elite responsible for this, and he led them to a stretch of courtyards. He then tossed them a bunch of tags, and said, “Take a tag each. You can unlock the courtyard that corresponds to the number on the tag. This will be your home from now on. Inside your residences, there’s also a jade scroll. If you read the information inside this scroll, you’ll naturally learn about the rules of the Martial Arts Academy.”
After saying this, he gracefully took his leave. Eternal River Tier elites were naturally very busy.
Just as Ling Han and the others were about to enter the gate to the courtyards, they suddenly saw the gate open by itself. A dozen or people walked out, blocking the entrance to the courtyards.
The leader of this group swept his gaze over them before saying with a snicker, “How come all of the new recruits are trash this time? Does trash have the right to enter through the main gate? All of you, crawl in through this dog flap!”
He pointed to the side of the main gate. Sure enough, there was a dog flap there.
Looking at this dog flap, how could the new recruits not know that this was the older disciples trying to establish dominance over them?
Moreover, the man who was standing in their path… was an Eternal River Tier elite!
There was a tradition in the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy. That was, the senior disciples would establish dominance over the new disciples and take them a notch down.This was because those who could enter this academy were all supreme prodigies. At the very least, they were all king tiers.
Which king tier wasn’t proud and haughty?
Thus, they needed to take these new disciples a few notches down. They needed to make them realize that there were heavens beyond the heavens!
Cultivating in the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy for 1,000,000 years… What kind of concept was this? Moreover, some of these senior disciples had already cultivated here for more than 1,000,000 years. Perhaps they had been here for two, five, or even 10 million years!
The man leading them was called Yi Gaoning, and he was a disciple who had entered the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy 3,000,000 years ago. At that time, he had also been a young king tier. However, because he had cultivated for several million years less than the older disciples at that time, he had naturally suffered a brutal initiation upon entering.
He had advanced to the Eternal River Tier 700,000 years ago, and thus he was naturally br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence and feeling as haughty as could be.
Moreover, the senior disciples who had “bullied” him at that time had already left the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy. Meanwhile, those who hadn’t left… were all more powerful than him. He wouldn’t dare to provoke them. Thus, he turned his attention to these new disciples of the academy.
It had already become a tradition to take new disciples down by a notch.
Yi Gaoning pointed at the dog flap. This entrance hadn’t been dug out recently. Rather, it had already existed for hundreds of millions of years. Each new disciple would be forced to crawl through this dog flap, regardless of whether they were a supreme king tier or not. Before Eternal River Tier elites, they were as weak as could be.
In any case, this dog flap wouldn’t be the end of the new disciples’ torture. There would still be many more things waiting for them. This was going to be a long and unforgettable day for the new disciples.
His Eternal River Tier aura rippled through the surroundings, sinister and mighty. So what if these new disciples were king tiers? They couldn’t help but shudder in apprehension.
However, there were two exceptions—Ling Han and Empress Luan Xing.
They were both at the pinnacle level of the Heavenly Body Tier, meaning that their power had already reached the low extreme of the Eternal River Tier. Moreover, their battle prowess… was on par with those at the late stage or even peak stage of the low extreme.
Trying to suppress them with an Eternal River Tier aura? Perhaps a Saintly aura would be more effective.
“Hmm?” Yi Gaoning’s eyes widened in surprise, and he instantly raised the might of his aura one-hundred-fold.
A senior disciple stepped forward, pointing at the new disciples and roaring, “What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and crawl in!” He was slightly weaker than Yi Gaoning, and he was only at the consummate level of the Heavenly Body Tier. By the looks of it, he couldn’t reach the pinnacle level, either. Otherwise, he would be a rank three king tier. However, before this recruitment cycle, even the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy hadn’t been able to recruit a single rank three king tier.
To say nothing of rank three king tiers, even rank two king tiers were pitifully rare. Thus, this person was most likely a rank one king tier. Moreover, he had probably become a rank one king tier through reaching the pinnacle level of the Mountain River Tier.
“Hurry up! Or perhaps you want Senior Brother Yi to use force?” another person shouted.
In the past, these people had all crawled through the dog flap and been “tortured” by their seniors. Thus, they were naturally burning to take their anger out on someone. When the new disciples arrived, they could naturally unleash all of their negative emotions and bad memories on the new generation of disciples.
“Why?” one of the new disciples asked in indignance. “This is the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy! Do you people dare to make trouble?!”
“What a joke. Since you know this is a martial arts academy, you should also know that might is right!” one of the seniors said with a sneer. “If you don’t want to be beaten daily, then obediently crawl through this dog flap. Otherwise, what awaits you is a fate far crueler than this!”
“Forget about it. Let me tell you a story.”
He started to tell the new disciples a story. Indeed, not every new disciple would yield to the older disciples and obediently crawl through the dog flap. Some of them would resist, yet these people would all be suppressed. They would then be forced to comply. There were also some who chose to flee from the older disciples and seek help from the teachers of the academy.
However, this would be useless.
There was no shortage of Eternal River Tier elites among the disciples, with some of them even at the high extreme or consummate level. Thus, what could the teachers do about them? These older disciples could choose to ignore them! As such, seeking help would lead to an even crueler fate. Those who sought help would be stripped naked, and then forced to crawl through the dog flap. This was even more humiliating. However, this was their only option if they wanted to be let free.
This was tradition, and no one could be exempt!
Even the mighty higher-ups of the Star Sand Martial Arts Academy had suffered this brutal initiation when they had first entered the academy.
After hearing these stories, the resolve of the young king tiers started to waver. They had heard a few well-renowned names—these were mighty figures who were rumored to be at least at the high extreme of the Eternal River Tier. However, even they had suffered this fate upon entering the academy. They had also been forced to crawl through this dog flap.
Now, however, they were all mighty and paramount. They were the most powerful disciples, disciples whom even the teachers didn’t dare to provoke.
‘I guess I’ll crawl in. This is tradition, after all.’