Chapter 296: Before The Storm (1)
1st of October.
The academy was on break today. In fact, the academy would have three days of break each month. After the monthly examination, the students would be allowed to rest from the 1st until the 3rd. Classes would resume on the 4th and there would be no breaks until the following month.
And on the 3rd of each month, the Top 100 Ranking would be refreshed. The ranking would be updated in the morning and the students would be able to start challenging the ranking again after that.
The new students had only entered the academy for around two months. In previous years, students this new would have nothing to do with the Top 100 Ranking. Generally, the new students would only start challenging the ranking during their second year. And even so, very few of them could get into the ranking.
Things were different this year.
On the 1st, Zheng Yunhui made a very public visit to the House of Hundred. When Su Yu first joined the academy, he had been brought to the House of Hundred during the tour. He had even encountered Jiang Mu, sixth place in the ranking, in front of the building during their visit.
Jiang Mu was a sixth-stage Infinite Strength cultivator at the peak of the Mental Tempering Stage. His true combat strength was beyond that of a regular ninth-stage Infinite Strength cultivator.
Zheng Yunhui left after spending a short time in front of the building. But before leaving, he declared that he would enter the building after two days.
Everyone understood the meaning behind that declaration. Only those in the Top 100 Ranking could step into the House of Hundred. Since a new student was declaring that he would step into the House of Hundred, he was clearly going to start challenging the ranking this month.
The top 100 rankings of the various academies had always attracted a lot of attention. After all, these rankings were the cradle of Skysoars and the source of Mountainseas.
Of the existing academy elders, almost all of them were once members of the ranking. Of course, there were also some who had managed to reach the Skysoar Realm without first entering the ranking, but there were very few of such people.
Someone incapable of entering the ranking before 30 would need to be some sort of extreme late bloomer to reach the Skysoar Realm and beyond. Otherwise, someone like that would probably stop at the Skysoar Realm.
For the past few months, the academy had been akin to a calm lake. But finally, ripples were starting to form on the surface of this calm lake.
Those above 30 were all eagerly waiting for the show to unfold. Those below 30 without any hope to enter the ranking were also doing the same. Those actually in the ranking merely treated the declaration as a joke.
There would be some proud freaks entering the academy each year. But each year, the most prideful of them would be taught a harsh lesson without fail.
Even the freaks from Xia Yuwen's batch had only started challenging the ranking after three months. And that was widely considered an extremely strong batch. But the current batch had only entered the academy for two months.
Research center.
Su Yu had heard about the declaration as well. Zheng Yunhui was truly arrogant, but that matter had nothing to do with Su Yu. And Zheng Yunhui was no fool either. Su Yu did not believe that Zheng Yunhui would do something stupid.
As an eighth-stage Great Strength cultivator with 85 percent willpower, Zheng Yunhui might really stand a chance against the bottom 10 students. Su Yu did not care about that. He was more concerned about a certain rumor. The students from the Foreign Students Faculty were also intending to challenge the ranking.
The academy was currently discussing whether the foreign students should be allowed to do so. Su Yu guessed that they would ultimately allow the challenge. Since those foreign students were allowed to enter even the grottos, a mere Top 100 Ranking was nothing.
Of course, they would still impose strict limitations on the age of the challengers since different races would age differently. Some races would still remain an egg at 30 years old. The academy had yet to reach a verdict about that.
"Foreign students..."
Su Yu was actually looking forward to that. Up until now, the human and the foreign students had been separated from each other. The foreign students had mostly remained in their own faculty.
The past two months could be considered a period of adaptation for everyone, including the foreign students. But two months had passed. Most people should have finished adapting to life in the academy by now. He wondered if the foreign students were getting as impatient as he was.
After all, he was also getting more and more eager to see just how strong the senior students were.
"Principal Wan wants to reform the academy and even Great Xia as a whole. But nothing has happened yet. Apart from reducing the benefits of some senior students, nothing seems to have happened..."
Su Yu suddenly recalled something.
Prior to entering the academy, he had heard that Wan Tiansheng was going to reform the academy. But up until now, nothing had happened. Apart from cutting some funds, nothing much had happened.
If that was the so-called reform, then it was really anticlimactic, considering how big of a ruckus it had caused previously.
Not to mention Great Xia as a whole, What Wan Tiansheng had done so far had not even benefited the academy whatsoever.
"Well, all that is still unrelated to me..."
Su Yu was waiting for news from Xia Huyou. After receiving his newly ordered blood essence, he would enter the grotto again. This might also be his last visit for a long time. After all, he had no money left.
While Su Yu was waiting for Xia Huyou.
Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
Within a large conference hall.
Numerous elders were gathered.
Wan Tiansheng was seated in front of all the elders. His face was somewhat pale. Numerous terrifying scenes were replaying within his mind.
The arrival of the elders pulled him back to reality. Looking at them, he couldn't help but wonder how many of these people would still be around in the future.
While thinking about all that, he said with exhaustion, "I am already aware of the Foreign Students Faculty's request. We should treat everyone equally, so they are allowed to challenge the Top 100 Ranking. They will also receive the same benefits as the human students upon entering the ranking."
The elders weren't surprised. This was the result they had guessed.
"I did not gather everyone here for a small matter like that..."
For people like them, the Top 100 Ranking was indeed a trivial matter. They were all Mountainsea experts. Their time was far too valuable to waste on something like the Top 100 Ranking.
After looking at all the elders present, Wan Tiansheng softly said, "Everyone, the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy has been growing stronger in recent years. Compared to 50 years ago, our number of Mountainsea cultivators has increased considerably.
"Fifty years ago, the academy had two Sunmoon experts and nine Mountainsea experts. Now, we have 36 Mountainsea experts."
Naturally, a lot of the Mountainsea experts 50 years ago were from the multiple character faction. But many of them had perished during that battle in the Allheaven Battlefield. Apart from the experts of their own academy, numerous experts of the other academies were also present during the battle. All of them were there to protect the fifth principal during his advancement into the Invincible Realm.
In fact, there were even several Sunmoon experts from other prefectures present to help the fifth principal.
Wan Tiansheng paused slightly before continuing, "We have doubled the number of Mountainsea cultivators we have. We only had 30 Cloudbreach cultivators back then. Now, we have over 200 of them in the academy. And we also have around 200 Skysoars in the academy..."
The academy had around 500 researchers. Compared to the rest of humanity, that wasn't a big number. But this was an absolutely powerful group of people. As for those below the Skysoar Realm, such as the instructors, the number was even bigger.
All the elders remained silent.
Wan Tiansheng rubbed his temple and said, "But...how about the Sunmoon Realm? It has been so many years. Where are our Sunmoon cultivators? Our Mountainsea cultivators have increased by 27. Back then, with such a small number of Mountainseas, we had produced two Sunmoons. The fifth principal himself was on the cusp of entering the Invincible Realm. Today, we have a much higher number of Mountainseas. But where are our Sunmoons?"
Wan Tiansheng sighed, "Over these years, I have been thinking about this. The other academies are also wondering the same thing. Even the Knowledge Seeking Realm is asking the same question. That battle 50 years ago seemed to have broken the spine of all human cultural researchers."
Some of the faces in the crowd turned bleak.
Fifty years ago, they had fewer Mountainseas. They didn't have a lot of Sunmoons either. But that era somehow felt much more glorious than the current era.
The fifth principal. Battling Invincible experts. Dominating the Myriad Realms.
But ever since the fifth principal had perished...human cultural researchers had been on the decline. Sure, everyone knew that they had a higher number of Mountainseas today. But everyone could clearly feel that human cultural researchers were in decline.
Beside Wan Tiansheng, Vice Principal Xia Changqing said, "Old Wan, just what exactly are you trying to say today?"
Wan Tiansheng said, "I used the Heaven Connecting Mirror."
Those words alarmed everyone in the room.
Wan Tiansheng solemnly said, "Human cultural researchers have been going downhill since that battle 50 years ago. Our Sunmoons have been decreasing instead of increasing after all these years. I checked the future and the past. Ultimately, I reached a conclusion..."
Everyone focused on him.
Wu Yuehua asked impatiently, "What conclusion?"
"Of the two Invincibles who had fought the fifth principal back then, one had perished in the battle but the other survived." Wan Tiansheng calmly said, "The survivor is someone from the celestial chasm race. That race is good at curses, darkness, and death. I suspect that he had done something back then..."
Xia Changqing immediately retorted, "Impossible. That fellow might be an Eternal, but how is he capable of affecting the cultural researchers of an entire race? Also, new Sunmoon cultural researchers have still been appearing all these years. The cultural researchers of humanity are still not at the end of the road!"
Wan Tiansheng calmly said, "You guys are free to believe what you want. But I am still going to talk about this. I've also informed the Knowledge Seeking Realm of what I saw. After checking the future, I have some guesses. That survivor might not be the only culprit. Rather, there are a lot of people working together in secret against us. All the myriad race willpower texts we have could very well be problematic versions."
"What do you mean?"
Wan Tiansheng frowned and slowly said, "Fifty years ago, those two assassinated the fifth principal. I suspect they did not do so because they were afraid of the fifth principal's strength after affirming his dao and reaching the Invincible Realm. Their main goal is to sever the cultural research teachings of that generation. I suspect that all the willpower texts we obtained subsequently have been cursed by them. All the Divine Characters humanity have formed these years might be problematic.
"If that is true, then that explains why there are still a few new Sunmoons among human cultural researchers but most of us can't reach that realm. Over these years, seven new Sunmoons have emerged. After this meeting, I will check and confirm whether they have formed any new Divine Characters over the past 50 years."
This time, even Xia Changqing's expression changed as he said, "Do you mean that all the myriad race willpower texts we had obtained over the past 50 years are problematic? Every Divine Character formed of these texts is cursed. That's why we couldn't enter the Sunmoon Realm?"
Wan Tiansheng exhaled deeply and answered, "That's my guess. I feel like that is very likely true. And if that is the case, human cultural researchers are in trouble."
"Impossible!" One of the elders exclaimed in shock, "We have seized numerous myriad race willpower texts from the battlefield. Have they been spending their time cursing every single willpower text in their possession?"
That was impossible to accomplish. Just how much manpower and energy would they need to do something like that? This scheme was simply too massive to be actually carried out.
Wan Tiansheng slowly said, "I am of the same opinion. But...why must the curses be on the willpower texts? They only need to curse the willpower texts of the divines, devils, and a few other powerful races. These are the texts those geniuses will be studying. Those who aren't geniuses...don't have much hope of reaching the Sunmoon Realm anyway."
That final sentence was akin to a hammer, striking deep into everyone's heart.
If...that was really true...
"Everyone, calm down." Wan Tiansheng raised his hand and solemnly said, "I am merely speculating. I might be wrong. But if I am right, then the deaths of our Mountainseas and Sunmoons 50 years ago might not have been accidental. Rather, the whole thing is a conspiracy."
Conspiracy!
All those people weren't killed for trying to protect the fifth principal when he was affirming his dao. Rather, they were killed to sever the teachings of all cultural researchers from that generation.
The new cultural researchers would not be able to go further than the Mountainsea Realm. Why? Because the myriad race willpower texts they studied were all problematic.