Chapter 897: The Shock of the Master Teacher Academy (Part 1)

Ignoring the crowd's shock, Dean Jiang put away his zither after sending Hong Lin flying, stood on the platform, and swept his gaze around with coldness in his eyes: "Anyone else question the teacher's lecture? I am willing to duel!"

The audience fell silent; those who had harbored such thoughts dared not utter a word.

One of the ten great elders and a seven-star demon sound master—no matter how they fought, they would lose!

"Hall Master Xue, do you have any more students? I can take them on alone..." Seeing no response, Dean Jiang looked at Xue Cangyun again.

The few students behind Hall Master Xue shrank their necks when they saw his gaze, not daring to lift their heads.

None of them were stronger than Hong Lin, and he had been beaten to that state—who would dare say anything?

"The Master Teacher Hall of the Baituo Empire acknowledges Master Zhang as Dean, with no further objections!"

Xue Cangyun clasped his fists.

He himself was no match, let alone his students.

"Of the five Master Teacher Halls present, three have acknowledged. What about Hall Master Bai of the Chiyao Empire and Hall Master Mo Gaoyuan?"

Zhao Bingxu breathed a sigh of relief.

The succession ceremony was hastily arranged; only four Master Teacher Halls from neighboring empires had come, plus the Hongyuan Empire, making five in total.

"The Chiyao Empire has no objections!"

Hall Master Bai was only a deputy; since the three full hall masters were no match, he naturally dared not object and quickly stood up to clasp his fists.

"The Hongyuan Master Teacher Hall has always supported Master Zhang as Dean!" Mo Gaoyuan also stood up.

He had witnessed Master Zhang's rise step by step since arriving in Hongyuan City and was one of the first to agree, so he naturally would not oppose.

"Very well, if there are no objections, let us proceed to the next item!" Zhao Bingxu nodded.

The Q&A session's biggest obstacle was the Master Teacher Halls from other empires; now that they had acknowledged, the problem was essentially resolved.

"Elder Zhao, we have questions for Dean Zhang!"

At that moment, a group of students in the audience stood up in unison, several hundred in number.

The one at the lead was the student who had killed the most spirit beasts in the battle against the Cloud Mist Ridge earlier.

A fourth-year student, Zhu Chenqing!

His family had been killed by spirit beasts from Cloud Mist Ridge, so he harbored immense hatred. Since entering the Master Teacher Academy, he had vowed to destroy those who opposed humanity.

To avenge his family.

Unfortunately, the Master Teacher Hall had refrained from action for various reasons, and his own strength was limited—alone, he could do nothing.

He had thought this beast tide would make the academy change its previous inertia and completely eliminate Cloud Mist Ridge, but instead, for the sake of the new dean's succession, they had negotiated... compromised!

His fury was understandable.

Thus, the students who stood up had all heeded his call... demanding justice!

The earlier supporters were mostly from the Xuanxuan Society; seeing that the new dean was their president, they immediately fell silent. Out of ten thousand, only a few hundred remained.

"Please speak!" Zhao Bingxu frowned.

"I want to ask Dean Zhang: when will the Master Teacher Hall fight the spirit beasts of Cloud Mist Ridge again?" Zhu Chenqing said.

Directly asking about the terms would be impolite and challenge the dean's authority; this phrasing was more appropriate to his status.

"They've hit the core issue!"

"It seems not only we care about Cloud Mist Ridge; these students also want to know the answer!"

"Let's see how this new dean responds!"

...

Hearing Zhu Chenqing's question, Chu Ji and the others exchanged glances and nodded.

As emperors of neighboring vassal empires, who became dean mattered little; what mattered was whether this new dean had the ability to protect them!

If he mishandled the Cloud Mist Ridge issue, they would surely doubt his capability.

If he couldn't handle a group of spirit beasts, how could he stand up for their empires?

"Fight?"

Thinking it was something else, Zhang Xuan and Zhao Bingxu exchanged glances and smiled. The latter shook his head involuntarily: "No more fighting! The threat of Cloud Mist Ridge has been completely resolved. From now on, there's no need to worry about beast tides endangering human safety!"

"Completely resolved?"

Zhu Chenqing and the other students exchanged glances, frowning.

What did that mean?

No more worries... was that a promise from the Cloud Mist Ridge kings?

But beasts were beasts; how could such a promise hold?

If it were that simple, the Master Teacher Academy, standing for so many years with countless brilliant deans, would not have been powerless.

"Since Elder Zhao is so certain, we want to know what conditions the academy agreed to, so that the spirit beasts, which have troubled us for years, will never cause a beast tide again!"

Gritting his teeth, Zhu Chenqing stopped beating around the bush.

"Dean, let me explain..."

Seeing the crux of the issue, Zhao Bingxu glanced at Zhang Xuan and smiled, about to speak when he saw an elder flying in hurriedly from outside the crowd.

Before arriving, he couldn't help shouting: "Dean, elders... something terrible!"

"What happened?"

Seeing an elder so flustered at the dean's succession ceremony, Zhao Bingxu raised an eyebrow.

"Reporting to Elder Zhao, outside, outside..."

The old man's face was pale, his body trembling involuntarily: "We are surrounded by the spirit beasts and holy beasts of Cloud Mist Ridge!"

"Surrounded?"

Zhao Bingxu and Zhang Xuan were unfazed, but the elders and students below all changed color.

The prestigious Master Teacher Academy surrounded by spirit beasts—what did that mean?

It was like being trapped in a cage; even escaping would be difficult!

Everyone stood up to go see, when a loud rumble sounded, and urgent wind cries echoed in the sky.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Looking up, they saw three massive holy beasts flying over.

They were the three kings of Cloud Mist Ridge: the Azure Bamboo Earth Dragon, the White-Eared Beast, and the Iron-Scaled Beast.

Before they arrived, the aura of peak Saint Domain First Stage pressed down, seeming to freeze the surrounding space.

Behind them were over a dozen sub-holy beasts, followed by more than thirty semi-holy beasts!

If it were just these few dozen, they wouldn't frighten the academy's hundred thousand teachers and students, but behind them followed a neat army of flying spirit beasts!

Numbering over three thousand, the weakest at Mortal Transcendence Seventh Stage, the strongest at Ninth Stage, orderly and spirited, as if ready to dive down at a command and cause irreparable damage.

"All master teachers, prepare for battle!"

An elder from the Beast Taming Academy turned pale and couldn't help shouting.

Clatter!

The master teachers behind him, having already experienced battle, were well-coordinated. Hearing this, they drew their weapons and stared at the spirit beasts in the sky with vigilance.

"Damn it, those not of our kind are bound to have different hearts! I said we shouldn't tolerate these spirit beasts... but they insisted on negotiating. Look what happened!"

Chu Ji's face also turned pale.

"Expecting spirit beasts to keep their word is a joke! So many spirit beasts flying over without any warning—clearly premeditated. Even if the academy survives this disaster, it will be severely weakened..."

Another empire emperor's face darkened.

"Yes, attacked by spirit beasts during the succession ceremony, suffering heavy losses—this Dean Zhang will surely go down in history..."

Yet another empire emperor snorted.

Three thousand flying spirit beasts, dozens of sub-holy and semi-holy beasts—though formidable, they weren't enough to scare them.

The academy had its foundations, and the Hongyuan Empire royal family was here; dealing with them shouldn't be hard. But... this incident would surely become a laughingstock and leave a lasting stain.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Rumble! Rumble!

Just as everyone was shaking their heads and preparing to fight, more roars shook the sky, followed by violent tremors on the ground.

"What's that?"

A shout rang out, and everyone turned to look, stunned again.

Outside the academy, dust swirled as a group of large Azure-Nosed Elephants charged forward.

These Azure-Nosed Elephants were all above Mortal Transcendence Fifth Stage, numbering several thousand, led by a Saint Domain Azure-Nosed Elephant, exuding a terrifying aura.

With their massive bodies, each step shook the ground like an earthquake, striking deep fear into everyone's hearts.

"Azure-Nosed Elephants too? This is going to be tough..."

Seeing these thick-skinned behemoths, everyone's faces grew even darker.

A group of flying spirit beasts was already hard to handle, and now these charging, massive beasts added to the trouble.

"Everyone, form a defensive formation..."

Trembling, Zhu Chenqing hurriedly shouted.

Clatter!

The students obeyed, quickly forming a defensive formation to prevent being trampled.

Howl! Howl!

Just as they finished repositioning, another piercing roar sounded, and before their trembling eyes, a pack of Iron-Fanged Wolves surged in.

Also several thousand, led by a Saint Domain Iron-Fanged Wolf, they flooded in.

These spirit beasts were cunning and excelled at group attacks, one of the most troublesome for humans. Thousands appearing at once was a major disaster!

"It's over..."

Not only Chu Ji and the others paled in horror, even Yu Shenqing's scalp tingled.

The old eunuch had said he would investigate before the ceremony, but still hadn't reported. Even he didn't know what Elder Mi had negotiated at Cloud Mist Ridge to make them all charge over at this critical moment.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Before the shock subsided, they saw a group of Crimson Flame Lions led by a holy beast, also several thousand strong.

Then came Ironback Bears, Tiger-Head Beasts, Red Fire Apes...

The nine kings of Cloud Mist Ridge lined up, each leading thousands of fierce subordinates, totaling tens of thousands!

In other words, almost all the kings and spirit beasts of Cloud Mist Ridge had mobilized—this was a move to annihilate the entire Master Teacher Academy!

Everyone's face turned deathly pale, and they were speechless.