Battle Through the Heavens

When Xiao Yan and Xun Er arrived at the deputy headmaster, Hu Gan’s, study, they saw that there were already quite a number of people standing on the empty ground in front of them. These people were divided into quite a number of large and small groups. Each of them softly conversed with a smile. Amongst these groups, the three groups consisting of Bai Shan, Wu Hao, and Hu Jia respectively, were the largest.

Xiao Yan’s and Xun Er’s appearance also caused the noisy, open ground to become slightly quieter. Other than a small number of people, most of the gazes that were used to look at the two of them were filled with respect. In the Qualifying Competition a few days ago, Xiao Yan used a tyrannical battle style of one against three to shock and deter all the dissatisfied voices. Therefore, his reputation had already faintly surpassed Bai Shan, Wu Hao, and the others despite having only arrived at the academy less than a month ago.

Xiao Yan and Xun Er directly passed through the human crowd and arrived at an empty spot near the front. They exchanged glances with Bai Shan and the two others. With the exception of Bai Shan, Hu Jia and Wu Hao nodded towards them. Their attitudes were clearly much better than before. Clearly, the words that Hu Gan had told them two days before were not totally ignored. When they were just entering the Inner Academy, a place where strong people were as numerous as the clouds, it was likely that they would suffer a little if they were not a little more united. Although the two of them were haughty they were not stupid. It would naturally be best if they did not need to endure pointless suffering.

At this moment, the open ground was also surrounded and filled with quite a number of other students. In the hearts of all the students in the outer academy, being able to enter the Inner Academy to train was an honor that caused many people to be extremely envious of. Countless number of people had been working hard towards this direction from the moment they entered the academy. Therefore, each year, when the students who had passed through the Qualifying Competition were entering the Inner Academy, there would be many people who would come to see them off, or simply to watch them.

Ten minutes after Xiao Yan had arrived at this place, the tightly shut door of the study was opened. Deputy Headmaster Hu Gan and a few old men slowly walked out. When the people on the open ground saw them arrive, the private whispers on the open ground gradually became quiet. A moment later, it was completely silent.

Hu Gan’s gaze slowly swept across the fifty students on the open ground. When he saw that there was no one missing, he nodded with satisfaction. With a step forward, he clearly said: “Students, today is the day that you will all be entering the Inner Academy. I will congratulate all of you here. Your hard training had finally finally reaped rewards. I believe that after entering the Inner Academy, all of you might not suit the training method in there; however, there is one point that I am very certain. That is, in there, you will be able to activate your own potential to the greatest extent there, ke ke, I am not exaggerating, you only need to stay in the Inner Academy for one year and you will be totally transformed… There may be people amongst you who know some students in the Inner Academy. After all, they would occasionally have some leave to come out of the Inner Academy. Therefore, you should all be clear just how large a gap there is between the strength when students come out and when they first entered.”

When they heard Hu Gan’s words, there were a few students on the open ground who nodded slightly. Clearly, they should have some interactions with those students who had come out from the Inner Academy. The majority, however, had faces filled with anticipation and excitement. What Hu Gan had said was what they were pursuing. Was it not their aim to pursue an even greater strength when they fought to enter into the inner academy? They believed that regardless of how strange or tough the training method of the Inner Academy was, they would endure it all the way!

Being able to stand out within Jia Nan Academy proved their talent and hard work. The people who were able to stand up here were not those who thought that strength would just come without any effort.

“The Inner Academy is the core of Jia Nan Academy. Due to the need to keep its location secret, most of the students in the Outer Academy, as well as the instructors, are unaware of its exact location. Therefore, we will send you to a certain place.” Hu Gan smiled. He raised his head and eyed the distant, blue sky. At that spot, ten black shadows were flying over. A moment later, the black shadows gradually became bigger. They were surprisingly ten enormous Griffins.

The ten Griffins carried their enormous dark shadows as they swept past the academy. Finally, they stopped in the air above Xiao Yan and the other students. They flapped their wings and wild wind shot everywhere, fanning the students below until some of them began to sway.

“Griffins? Don’t tell me that the Inner Academy is very far from here?” A glint of surprise flashed past Xiao Yan’s eyes as he looked at the Griffins hovering above.

Hu Gan waved his hands towards the Griffins in the sky. Immediately, the dark shadows began to press towards the ground. Finally, the ten Griffins landed in an empty spot not too far away after a wild wind brushed past. Everyone’s gazes scanned them, only to find that there were two people on the back of each of the Griffins, driving them.

“Alright. Time’s up. All students, please get on. Five people to a group.” Hu Gan pointed at the Griffins and smilingly said after seeing that they had landed.

When they heard Hu Gan’s words, the students on the open ground immediately turned around. They were like a swarm of beasts as they rushed onto the open ground, after which they appeared to be like fleas as these impatient fellows climbed onto the large backs of each of the Griffins, hearing ‘suo suo’ sounds as they did so. However, when their feet stepped onto the backs of the Griffins, the slightly slippery feathers caused them to suffer. Some of the people, whose feet were not stable, directly slid and fell down. Their bodies smashed into the rocky ground, causing banging sounds to appear repeatedly.

“Ha ha, young fellows, don’t try to be brave. There are seats placed on the Griffins. Don’t be delusional and try to stand on its back. That is something that only those with the strength of a Da Dou Shi can do.” Hu Gan laughed loudly. He immediately turned his head towards Xiao Yan and the others and said: “The top five. You five will be one group. Climb on up.”

“Uh?” Xiao Yan and the four others were startled when they heard this. He did not expect that Hu Gan would actually arrange for the five of them to be together in a group. They hesitated for a moment. Other than Bai Shan, who knit his brows together, the others nodded indifferently.

“Let’s go.” Xiao Yan spoke to Xun Er. His body flashed and immediately appeared on the back of a Griffin. His feet steadily stood on its slippery feather without moving even a little, as though he was a metal pagoda. When the students, who had fallen from the Griffins earlier, saw his steady movements, they could not resist having their faces fill up with admiration. Having tried to forcefully get onto the Griffin, they clearly knew just how difficult it was for someone to stand on those damn feathers.

Behind Xiao Yan, Xun Er and the others also flashed onto the Griffin at the same time. The four of them also did not borrow the help of anything as they immediately stood straight and tall on the back of their Griffin. This strength was indeed worthy of being the top five rankings of the Qualifying Competition.

After seeing the performance of these five people, Hu Gan and the other old people beside him took one look around the empty ground. When they saw that everyone had boarded their Giffins, they exchanged glances with each other and nodded. Hu Gan waved his hand. He and three other elderly men moved and flashed into midair. Their shoulders shook and four pairs of beautiful Dou Qi wings extended out. Each pair of Dou Qi wings were flapped, and their bodies were suspended in mid air without moving in front of numerous, envious gazes from below.

Being able to coagulate and form a pair of Dou Qi wings and fly freely had always been the dream of many who cultivated.

“We will personally escort you all the way there.” Hu Gan looked down at the open ground from high above in the sky and smiled. He waved his hand and the people, who drove the Griffins, let out a sharp whistle. Immediately, the Griffins suddenly flapped their wings and their huge bodies slowly rose into the air, accompanied by the increasingly shrinking shadows, they rose up off the ground.

“Xiao Yan, Xun Er, We wish you all the best! If your performance in the Inner Academy is outstanding, you will receive time off.” A voice suddenly sounded from below as the Griffins were rising into the air. Xiao Yan and Xun Er lowered their head to take a look. It was actually Instructor Ruo Ling. At this moment, Xiao Yu, Xiao Ning, and Xiao Mei had lifted their heads to watch the group of Griffins, which were ascending higher and higher. They waved towards Xiao Yan when they saw him looking over.

As the Griffin’s wings swiftly flapped, the human figures below became smaller and smaller. In the end, they were nearly the size of ants. Looking down at the entire Jia Nan Academy from this high up in the sky, one could see every location in their line of sight.

Ten large Griffins were flapping their wings in the blue sky, flying in the direction of the endless stretch of mountains behind the academy. Ahead of the Griffins flew Hu Gan and the three elderly men. They formed a four-sided shape that surrounded the entire Griffin formation within. Powerful Dou Qi surfaced outside their bodies. No matter how the wild the wind raged, it did not even touch their bodies.

“The Inner Academy is indeed not within the Jia Nan Academy. Don’t tell me it is located within the boundless mountains behind the academy?” Xiao Yan softly muttered as eyeing the Jia Nan Academy as it disappeared from his line of sight.

“It is rumored that the location of the Inner Academy is a great secret. Even some of the students, who have come out from the Inner Academy, would not be able to find the location of the Inner Academy if they did not have the Griffins trained for the purpose of taxing them in and out.” Xun Er smilingly said. A faint, golden glow seeped out from her body, completely blocking the wild wind that was blowing at her from the front.

“Do you all know what’s so special about the Inner Academy?” Xiao Yan turned his gazes towards Hu Jia and the other two, taking the lead to break the stiff atmosphere. Since the Deputy Headmaster requested them to be on the same Griffin, that meant that they were already a group. Since this was the case, it was a must to release the tension in the relationship between them no matter how little.

“Grandfather has never mentioned anything about the Inner Academy to me, so I am also uncertain. However, each time we see the students come out from the Inner Academy, their strength have all risen sharply compared to when they previously entered.” Hu Jia glanced at Xiao Yan. She similarly knew Xiao Yan’s intentions. She finally opened her mouth to reply after recalling Hu Gan repeatedly reminding her not to strain their relationship.

“I also don’t know. I very seldom bother about these things.” Wu Hao also shook his head. As a battle-crazy person, he had spent most of his time in the past pursuing and killing the people of the ‘Black-Corner Region’ who had strayed into Jia Ma Academy’s boundaries. Where would he find time to bother about the Inner Academy?

“Won’t we naturally know when we get there?” Bai Shan said faintly. Although he knew a little, he was unwilling to share this information with Xiao Yan. He earnestly wished for the other party to suffer a little more.

Xiao Yan looked at Bai Shan, who had his arms crossed in front of his chest, deeply. However, he did not continue to ask anything else. The guard he felt towards this fellow within his heart had become much more dense.

Xiao Yan shifd his gaze away from Bai Shan. He gazed at the lush,green ocean of trees beneath them, which were swiftly rushing past. He exhaled a long breath in his heart. The Inner Academy… was the ‘Fallen Heart Flame’ really at this place?