I became a god through frontier slaughter, and I crushed the academy's prodigies!

The atmosphere in the square was subtle and tense.

More than twenty top geniuses from the eight prefectures of the Dragon Kingdom each occupied a region, maintaining a just-right distance from each other.

This distance wasn't intentional; rather, it was the natural repulsion between the auras emanating from the bodies of sixth-tier peak martial artists.

It was as if more than twenty stars had been thrown into the same star field, constantly colliding at the edges of the gravitational field, with an invisible struggle permeating the air.

Feng Wuhen slapped the serrated short blade back into its sheath at his waist, glanced around at the people in the square, and suddenly spoke.

"There are fewer people this year than I expected."

"In previous years, the Kunlun baptism would have brought together at least thirty or forty people from the eight prefectures. This year, we can't even gather thirty."

Yu Xiu sat cross-legged without opening his eyes, and dark red blood energy slowly surged around him.

"Some are dead, some are crippled."

"Last year, the gray fog erupted so badly that six people qualified to come here were lost in Qingyun Prefecture alone. I heard it was even worse in Zhongzhou."

Upon hearing this, the patterns on Li Xuangang's dark gold armor flickered slightly, a manifestation of the Heavy Prison True Intent within him during emotional fluctuations.

"Seven died."

The towering, muscular man spoke in a deep voice.

"Three of them are my brothers who grew up with me."

The square fell silent for a few seconds.

This silence wasn't awkward, but rather a tacit understanding.

Everyone here has experienced the same thing to some extent.

The deaths of fellow disciples and comrades-in-arms are so commonplace on Earth today that they have become numbingly commonplace.

Feng Wuhen broke the silence.

"Speaking of which, there are a few new faces this year."

He gestured with his chin toward the north side of the square, where three young men dressed in identical white Taoist robes stood, their auras calm and reserved.

"People from Kunlun Taoist Academy."

Li Xuangang glanced at it and said indifferently.

Feng Wuhen raised an eyebrow.

"Disciples from Kunlun Dao Academy are also participating in the baptism? They cultivate on Kunlun Mountain themselves, do they still need to go through this procedure?"

"Disciples of Kunlun Taoist Academy and Kunlun baptism are two different things."

The speaker was a young man who had been silent until now. He stood at the edge of the south side of the square, wearing a simple gray robe, with a long sword without a scabbard slung across his back.

His name is Gu Qingshan, the top prodigy of the Northern Border Prefecture.

Gu Qingshan spoke slowly and deliberately, but every word was clearly heard by everyone present.

"Kunlun Dao Academy has thousands of disciples, but no more than five can qualify for baptism each year. Those who can get a spot are the most outstanding group in the academy."

Feng Wuhen's expression became somewhat subtle.

"So, those three white-robed figures are among the strongest of this generation at Kunlun Academy?"

"almost."

Gu Qingshan's gaze fell on the three white-robed disciples.

"However, none of them are the strongest."

The atmosphere in the square changed immediately after those words were spoken.

Yu Xiu finally opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in his dark red pupils.

Li Xuangang crossed his arms in front of his chest, and his dark gold armor emitted a faint metallic scraping sound.

Feng Wuhen went even further and asked the name that was on everyone's mind.

"Are you talking about Xiao Ting?"

Gu Qingshan didn't speak, but his silence was the best answer.

A subtle emotion began to spread across the square.

Li Xuangang murmured the name.

He turned to the eldest of the three Kunlun white-robed disciples.

"Where is your chief? Isn't he attending baptism this year?"

Upon hearing this, the white-robed disciple displayed a complex expression, a mixture of bitterness and helplessness.

"Senior Brother Xiao went into seclusion half a month ago."

Feng Wuhen's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he kept his mouth shut.

Gu Qingshan suddenly spoke.

"At eighteen, he dominated his generation, and as a fifth-tier early-stage beast king, he directly killed a sixth-tier mid-stage beast king in the Gray Mist region."

"At the age of twenty, he became the youngest chief disciple in the history of Kunlun Dao Academy. At the age of twenty-two, he reached the peak of the sixth rank. It is said that his Xuan Lei True Intent has touched the edge of the Heavenly Punishment Law."

As Gu Qingshan finished speaking, he raised his hand and grasped the hilt of the sheathless longsword behind him.

"A born awakener. They are born with the power of thunder, without the need for cultivation or fortuitous encounters. From the moment they are born, they are already standing at a starting point that we may never reach even if we spend our entire lives."

Li Xuangang remained silent for a long while before finally speaking in a low, booming voice.

"Last year, he came to Zhongzhou Prefecture to kill the Beast King, and I fought with him."

All eyes turned to them at the same time.

The towering, muscular man spread out his two palms, each as large as a palm leaf fan.

"The true meaning of the Prison within my body has been perfected, and my physical strength under normal conditions exceeds 100,000 tons."

"And then what happened?" someone asked.

"He never lasted more than ten moves against me."

Feng Wuhen's pupils contracted slightly.

The square was deathly silent.

A violent genius with a physical strength of 100,000 tons was defeated by Xiao Ting in ten moves.

The impact of this information is more direct than any verbal description.

Feng Wuhen's hand unconsciously touched the serrated short blade at his waist.

He is the garrison commander of Mad Shark City in Donghai Prefecture, and has fought against the Beast King in the occupied sea area.

He believed that his combat experience and intuition were among the best of his generation.

But it must be admitted that Xiao Ting is the number one genius.

"A 22-year-old peak sixth-order innate awakener."

Yu Xiu slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

"The ceiling for the younger generation in China."

There was no jealousy or resentment in his tone.

Everyone present was a peerless genius, one in a million, from their respective prefectures.

They have surpassed their peers since childhood, stepping on the shoulders of countless others to get to where they are today.

But when the name "Xiao Ting" is mentioned, everyone will be convinced.

"The ceiling for the younger generation in China may not necessarily be the Xiao family."

A sudden, clear, cold voice rang out.

The one who spoke was a young man dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, with a purple-gold dragon emblem symbolizing the Longjing Taoist Temple embroidered on his chest.

He looked around, his eyes revealing undisguised arrogance.

"The Hidden Dragon Ranking has been updated 142 times. Xiao Ting only occupied the top spot for 70 periods; the remaining 72 periods were all dominated by Li Changge's name!"

Li Changge.

These three words seemed to carry some kind of invisible sharpness, causing Li Xuangang, Gu Qingshan, and the others to slow their breathing by half a beat.

Longjing Taoist Temple, Little Sword Immortal Li Changge.

Legend has it that he held a sword at the age of three, comprehended sword energy at the age of ten, and at the age of twenty-one, amidst the raging tides of the East Sea, with his mid-stage sixth-order cultivation, he cleaved a three-thousand-meter-long sea-severing sword mark with a single sword strike, cutting a peak sixth-order deep-sea dragon beast that was about to transform into a dragon in half.

That was pure destructive power.

Yu Xiu's dark red pupils contracted slightly, and the power of that sword strike involuntarily came to mind.

His Bloodlust True Intent can fight its way in and out of the city-destroying beast tide, but if it faces Li Changge's extreme sword energy, it would probably still have no chance of winning.