Battle Through the Heavens: Purple Heaven Thunder Emperor

Chapter 157 I don't believe you!

"The inner courtyard isn't so easy to get into!"

After landing on the mountain stream, Hu Qian smiled faintly at the puzzled looks of some new students, then turned around, waved his hand, and a dazzling energy beam shot out. It seemed to encounter some obstacle in the empty air, creating ripples like water.

Before everyone's eyes, the ripples began to flow slowly, eventually forming a pale silver gate, seven or eight feet high, that appeared out of thin air.

"This is the method of a Dou Zun powerhouse, using spatial power to seal off a huge space!" Seeing the strange look in Xiao Bai's eyes, Xun'er's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she leaned close to his ear to explain in a low voice.

Xiao Bai nodded slightly, inwardly marveling at the Dou Zun powerhouse's mastery of space. First there was a spatial lock, and now there was a spatial blockade. Through the fluctuations just now, he could sense that the area of ​​this blockade was quite large. He couldn't help but yearn for this level of power. This was only a Dou Zun. If it were a Dou Sheng, he wondered what kind of extraordinary power they would possess to open up a space with a mere gesture!

After passing through the silver gate, Xiao Bai felt his feet touch solid ground for a moment, which surprised him. He hadn't expected that this was a miniature short-distance spatial teleportation channel. The door was clearly in mid-air, but in the blink of an eye, it landed on the ground.

"I didn't expect it would be the two of you on duty this year!" Just as I was a little stunned, Hu Qian's laughter came.

Xiao Bai turned his head and saw that not far away, two old men were leading the way, with about twenty young people standing behind them. Each of them had a badge with a tower-shaped pattern pinned to their chest.

"There's nothing we can do, we're just born to be busy!" The two old men shook their heads helplessly upon hearing Hu Gan's greeting, their gazes sweeping over this year's freshmen as they asked, "How are this year's freshmen?"

"You five, come here!" Hu Qian turned and beckoned to the five people standing in front of him. Once they were closer, he pointed to two elders and said with a smile, "This is Elder Su, and this is Elder Han. They're in the inner courtyard. You can find them if you need anything. These are this year's top five. Their strength should be alright, right?"

The two elders looked at Hu Qian with surprise. They knew this vice dean of the outer academy. In previous years, they would praise the new students he brought. Why was he being so modest this year?

Their gaze swept over the five people before finally settling on Xiao Bai. To their surprise, they could sense the energy fluctuations of the other four, but they couldn't sense anything from this white-haired boy. Something was blocking their view.

The two exchanged a glance, both noticing the surprise in each other's eyes, and thought to themselves, "No wonder Old Man Hu has been so humble this year; he seems to be quite different this year indeed!"

"Wow! What a beautiful girl! It seems the inner courtyard's beauty ranking will have two more people this year!" Just as the two old men were surprised, several young men behind them turned their attention to the group, their eyes lit up, and they whistled and laughed loudly.

"Shut up! Anyone who spouts nonsense will have five days of tower repair time deducted!" Elder Su turned around and shouted, and the young people immediately shut their mouths.

He then turned to the new students and said slowly, "You are new students, and I hope you can adapt to this place as soon as possible. This will be of great benefit to you. Look at these guys; in previous years, they were all at the bottom of the rankings when they came in. Now, just one year later, any one of them could rank in the top three among you!"

His gaze lingered on Xiao Bai. If it weren't for this unfathomable freshman, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was ranked number one. This year's freshmen's overall strength seemed to be no match for last year's.

"Alright, enough with the chit-chat. Although you've passed the outer academy's selection competition, getting into the inner academy isn't over yet!"

Elder Su smiled, raised his hand, and a handful of pitch-black chips appeared in his palm. With a casual flick of his wrist, the chips shot out as if they had gained eyes, hovering in front of all the new students.

Xiao Bai held the chip in his hand, and a strange heat emanated from his palm. After examining it closely for a moment, he noticed a smooth mirror surface on the transparent chip, with a large red number "five" appearing on it.

The group of young people behind the two old men were staring intently at the black chip in the new student's hand, their eyes revealing undisguised covetousness.

Xiao Bai's gaze fell on the group of young people, his eyes deep and unfathomable. He slowly swept over them, pausing particularly on a few of them. If Xiao Yan were here, seeing that look would definitely send chills down his spine, a lesson he had learned from being beaten so many times.

"You don't need to worry about what this chip is right now. Just know one thing: treat it like your life and keep it safe. You'll find out when you enter the inner courtyard! Just look at their eyes and you'll understand!" Elder Su said, pointing to the group of young people behind him.

"Next, you need to cross this forest and reach the inner courtyard at the end. During this process, you must be especially careful of them. According to the rules of the inner courtyard, they can attack freely here, meaning they can attack you, and you can fight back!"

"Aside from the prohibition against killing, they will do everything in their power to seize the fire energy from you!"

"If you can evade them or defeat them, avoid being captured, and successfully reach the inner courtyard, you will receive the final reward. Remember, this reward is ranked; the earlier you arrive, the richer the reward!"

After saying that, Elder Su suddenly pointed to the vast green forest behind him and said, "In the inner courtyard, this forest competition is called the 'Fire Energy Hunting Competition'!"

"Now, I declare the 'Fire Energy Hunting Competition' officially open! Students, begin your escape! Good luck!"

After Elder Su finished making the announcement, he looked at the backs of these young and inexperienced freshmen and shook his head inwardly, hoping that this year's class wouldn't be too fiercely contested!

"Brother Xiao Bai, let's go too!" Xun'er stood gracefully beside him, her beautiful eyes sparkling as she looked at him and said softly.

"Leave? No rush!" Xiao Bai shook his head, looked at Elder Su, whose gaze was sweeping over them, and stared at the five motionless figures with a puzzled expression. He spoke loudly, "Elder Su, from now on, as long as we're in this forest, we can fight, as long as we don't kill anyone, right?"

"good!"

Before Elder Su could finish speaking, everyone present heard a muffled thunderous sound, followed by a black shadow trailing a long, crimson bolt of lightning, which disappeared from the spot as if tearing through space.

"Bang!"

After a muffled thud, everyone present, including Vice Dean Hu Qian and the two elders, as well as the freshmen and seniors who had not yet left, had not yet reacted when they heard the sound and instinctively turned their heads to look.

Several inner court students lay not far away, their figures pitiful. Each of them had a huge black ball on their head, their hair standing on end as if it had exploded, and a pale face with faint traces of blood at the corner of their mouth. Their eyes were filled with astonishment and fear as they looked at the black-robed, white-haired figure.

"You like whistling, don't you? Come on, whistle another one for me!" Xiao Bai walked up to one of the students who had been whistling the loudest earlier and said in a low voice.

"Dou Ling!!" Elder Su had just sensed Xiao Bai's strength level and was dumbfounded when he saw this scene.

"It is indeed a Battle Spirit, and not just any ordinary Battle Spirit!" Elder Han, standing to the side, nodded in surprise.

The two suddenly turned around and looked at Vice Dean Hu Qian. They had previously thought that this year's freshmen were not very good, but they did not expect that there was a big one hidden among them.

Hu Qian instantly wiped the look of surprise off his face, stroked his beard, glanced at the two of them. The people in the inner courtyard always acted superior and didn't care about the students in the outer courtyard at all. How about that? You've kicked a hornet's nest!

Xun'er and Little Fairy Doctor were initially puzzled by Xiao Bai's actions, but after hearing his words, they instantly understood what was going on. Their eyes sparkled with a captivating smile.

"It really makes me feel safe!" Xu Su murmured to herself as she looked at the figure in black robes, a strange light flashing in her eyes.

"Slaughter the mountain!"

A soft shout startled Tu Shan, who was somewhat lost in thought, and he hurriedly called out, "Present!"

"Take the fire energy cards from them!"

"yes!"

With a nod, Tu Shan jogged over and collected all the inner court students, then walked up to Xiao Bai with five light blue fire energy cards in his hand.

"Five people, and the total is less than two hundred?" Xiao Bai picked up the crystal cards, glanced at them, frowned, and said with a hint of disdain.

The five people lying on the ground coughed up blood again. This demon robbed them and then looked down on them for being poor? If they were rich, who would want to come and rob the new students of their few points of fire energy?

After transferring the fire energy from several blue crystal cards, Xiao Bai flicked his finger, and several streaks of light flashed as he threw the crystal cards, each with a large number of zeros, back at the immobilized individuals.

His gaze shifted to the remaining fifteen inner court students.

"What...what do you want to do? We didn't whistle just now!!" An inner court student who was closest to Xiao Bai swallowed hard when he saw Xiao Bai's gaze. He looked nervous and thought he hadn't expected there to be such a freak in this year's hunting competition. He wished he hadn't come.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bai's face showed a playful expression. Looking at the somewhat thin young man in front of him, he smiled faintly and said, "Have you forgotten that this is a fire energy hunting competition? Since it's a hunt, then naturally there are prey and hunters!"

"Now, I declare that you are all my prey. Hand over the fire power!"

A clear voice rang in everyone's ears. The inner courtyard students looked at each other with disbelief in their eyes, wondering if they had come to the wrong place. Was this still the hunting competition where the senior students earned fire energy? Had they been given the wrong script?

"You are indeed strong, but we are not made of clay either. There are fifteen of us here, all at least four-star Great Dou Masters. If we all attack at once, even if you are a Dou Ling expert, you probably won't gain much advantage and will have to pay a price!" A burly young man suddenly spoke up, his gaze towards Xiao Bai showing slight apprehension, but his expression was very calm, as if he had everything under control. A confident smile appeared on his face, and he changed the subject:

"Besides, it's not just us here. There are other people in this forest, and the powerful Black and White Fiends are behind us. They have a Dou Ling leading the team. So, you probably don't want to fight us to the death here, right? How about we each take a step back and leave each other alone?"

"You're clever. You pointed out your own strengths first, then mentioned the external crisis. If it were a naive freshman, they might actually have been fooled!" Xiao Bai's gaze fell on the person who spoke, then swept over the senior students who were slowly gathering around him. A strange smile gradually appeared on his face, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes:

"But that seems like a cheap trick, trying to use me as a stepping stone to win people over! A fight to the death? You think you're worthy? What if there are other people in the forest? What if there are the Black and White Gang? To me, they're all just prey!"

"And you actually dare to threaten me with my prey?"

Upon hearing this, the confident smile on the burly young man's face gradually faded, and his expression slowly darkened.

"Such arrogance! How dare you treat us inner court members as prey! Don't think that just because you're a Dou Ling (Battle Spirit) cultivator, you can be so cocky in the inner court. Let me tell you, many Dou Ling in the inner court can't even make it onto the Strong Ranking!" The burly young man sneered. "You're arrogant, but we inner court members aren't pushovers either!"

Xiao Bai was stunned by the burly young man's words, then clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "Excellent, excellent! I've certainly learned something today. Every word you utter seems to involve everyone in the Inner Academy. Are you the Dean? Or do you represent the entire Inner Academy? It's unbelievable that the Inner Academy has someone as shameless as you. They really are training all-rounders!"

A suppressed chuckle came from all around.

"You...you..." The burly young man heard the commotion around him, his face flushed red, his fists clenched, and he glared at him angrily, but he couldn't say a word for a long time.

"Attack!" roared the burly young man, preparing to charge forward, but felt no movement behind him. Turning around, he saw that the older students were looking at him with slightly evasive eyes. Feeling a surge of resentment, he angrily said, "Are you willing to let him take the fire from your hands?"

"Sigh! Let's do it! We're here to seize the fire energy, not to be robbed. If a freshman takes our fire energy without any resistance, we'll never be able to hold our heads high in the inner academy again!" A young man in white shook his head and said helplessly.

"This is interesting!" Xiao Bai clicked his tongue in amazement at the somewhat tragic scene. Despite being the one who abused the freshmen, he was being made to look like the villain!

Seeing the group of senior students from the inner courtyard who were determined to rush over, Xiao Bai lightly tapped his brow with his finger, and a powerful surge of soul energy burst forth.

The senior students' expressions changed drastically, their pupils contracted sharply, and they felt an unimaginable pressure descend upon them, rendering them unable to move an inch. It was as if their necks were being tightly gripped, making it difficult for them to even breathe, let alone speak.

"Ahem, Xiao Bai, you wouldn't be trying to take us two elders too, would you?" The two elders who had been watching the show exchanged a difficult glance. Besides being shocked, they were also on the verge of tears. They felt the pressure on their bodies, and even with their cultivation, it was not easy to deal with. They even found it difficult to speak.

They're fighting kings! When did all the new students become so monstrous?

Hu Qian remained calm and collected, but a closer look revealed throbbing veins on his forehead. While inwardly shocked, he cursed, "This brat, his soul power is so strong? No wonder he refines pills with such ease, even more so than that old man Huo! And what's with this oppressive aura emanating from him? I'm the vice-dean, and he doesn't even spare me?!"

He was at the peak of the Douhuang realm, so he didn't care much about the pressure. He connected with the heavens and earth with his soul, and the pressure instantly decreased by 90%, so he seemed to be fine.

"How could that be? It was a complete mistake, a mistake. The vice dean and the two elders are very magnanimous, I'm sure they won't mind, right?" Xiao Bai withdrew the soul power from Elders Hu Qian and Su Han, and smiled sincerely apologetically.

"I don't believe you!" The three of them couldn't help but roll their eyes. Soul power itself represents control over power. With such strong soul power, you actually said that it would make a mistake?

They realized that this kid, despite his dignified and aloof appearance, was actually a bit cunning and mischievous.

Xiao Bai smiled, not minding at all. The opportunity was too good just now, and he couldn't help but test the waters. What Yao Lao said was indeed correct. He had seen Hu Qian's performance all along.

(End of this chapter)