The Great Ruler (Web Novel)
The Great Ruler (Web Novel) - Chapter 11: Tan Qingshan

The crisp sound of the bell rang out through the skies. Beneath it, the lively atmosphere also reached its peak.

Directly at the north of the stadium, three figures were sitting side by side. The person at the left was Teacher Mo that appeared yesterday. The person at the right was a middle-aged man with a skinny face. His face was tense and his eyes were slightly sunken. He seemed to be quite strict.

“Oh, the Academy Competition this time seemed to be livelier than ever.” In the main seat between the two individuals was a white-haired old man. He smiled as he stared at the fiery atmosphere below and laughed.

“The situation was mostly clear for the past Academy Competitions, but this one is somewhat difficult to predict.” Teacher Mo said with a smile.

“Why is it difficult to predict? Liu Yang is currently at the Spiritual Movement Stage Initial Phase. Coupled with his Human Level Spiritual Pulse, he would probably be ranked rather high up even within the Heaven Class. Although that Mu Chen is pretty good, there is still a bit of a difference between him and Liu Yang. “The stern middle-aged man seated at the right curled his lips. He was the highest level instructor for the West Branch. He naturally wanted the West Branch students to get the best results.

“Teacher Xi, it is not wise to look down on a person who qualified for the Spiritual Road.” Teacher Mo muttered.

“Unfortunately, that is only said for the ones that successfully passed through the trial within the Spiritual Road.” The stern middle-aged man shook his head as he spoke.

The white-haired old man heard the dispute between the two of them and smiled. Apparently, he had long been accustomed to it. His muddle eyes looked at the seat within the East Branch and stopped at a boy with a thin body. He said: “It’s a pity. Our Northern Spiritual Realm haven’t had a person who qualified for the Spiritual Road for over ten years…This Mu Chen obtained the qualifications, yet he was kicked out halfway. He never experienced the final stage of the Spiritual Road, so his one year trial within the Spiritual Road was considered in vain. This even wasted one year’s time of training for him.

Teacher Mo nodded regretfully. They weren’t able to cultivate Spiritual Energy within the Spiritual Road. However, they were able to obtain Spiritual Energy Empowerment if they successfully passed through the final stage of the trial. If they were extremely talented individuals, it wasn’t impossible for them to advance to the Spiritual Rotation Stage or even the Spirit Stage within one night. Originally, Mu Chen would have become the strongest individual within the younger generation in Northern Spiritual Realm if he passed through the trial. The space for the Five Great Academies would also be properly delivered to his hand and nobody would be able to compete against him for the qualifications.

At that time, even a person like Liu Mubai could only be below him.

However, who would have expected this unforeseeable event of being kicked out halfway. Mu Chen failed to obtain the most valuable Spiritual Energy Empowerment from the Spiritual Road and was kicked out halfway. Because of this, he had wasted an entire year of time to cultivate Spiritual Energy.

“Principal Xiao, what on earth did Mu Chen do in the Spiritual Road? Why would he be kicked out halfway through? I know that boy’s talents, his disposition is also excellent. He would never have been kicked out due to poor results.” Teacher Mo frowned, he could not help but ask. He only knew that Mu Chen caused some sort of commotion within the Spiritual Road, but he was not aware of the details.

When he heard this question, the stern middle-aged man also looked at the Principal of the Northern Spiritual Academy. It was obvious that he was also curious about it.

On the other hand, Principal Xiao gently stroked his beard and gave a bitter smile when he heard this question. He said: “I’m not too sure about it either, but I heard that the commotion that he caused in the Spiritual Road was not small…It even startled the higher ups of the Five Great Academy.”

Teacher Mo and the stern middle aged man were both stunned. Their eyes had suspicion within them. They never imagined that Mu Chen caused an event that would startle the entire world.

“Well, let’s not talk about this now. The bell has rung already, it is time to announce that the Academy Competition has started.” It was obvious that Principal Xiao did not want to say any more about it and immediately waved his hand as he spoke.

Teacher Mo nodded after he heard him speak. He stood up and glanced at the entire place. A deep, forceful voice echoed within every student’s ears.

“It is time now, the Academy Competition has started. Remember, you are not allowed to kill during the duel between the two branches!”

“You should all know the rules already. The ones that step onto the ring have an opportunity to challenge their opponents. However, you only have one chance, so you should know your limits and pick a suitable opponent.”

“Yes!”

Within the venue, the dense pack of human respectfully replied.

“Since it’s like this…” Teacher Mo nodded and waved his hand: “Let it begin.”

Right after his hand was lowered, another loud bell sound rang out. It almost spread through the entire Northern Spiritual Academy.

“Liu Xiong, hurry and come down here. I’ve disliked you for a long time!”

“Chen Tong, you should also come out as well. This time, I’ll pay you back from last time!”

Mu Chen stared at the messy scene within the venue. He could not help but smile. However, the majority of these duels were rather ordinary, so he did not care too much about it. He would only occasionally look in the direction of the West Branch’s Liu Yang. Liu Yang, too, was staring coldly at him.

By now, everybody in the Northern Spiritual Academy knew that Liu Yang had mentioned about selecting Mu Chen as his opponent during the Academy Competition. Thus, nobody in the West Branch dared to challenge him first. Of course with Mu Chen’s strength, the West Branch students also knew that the only one who was qualified to be his opponent was Liu Yang.

They were quite looking forward to the duel between the two most excellent students from the East and West Branch Earth Class.

Mu Chen did not care about the cold stare that Liu Yang gave towards him. He would occasionally talk softly with Tang Qian’Er who was beside him. However, this action only caused Liu Yang to grit his teeth even more.

The duels within the stadium were quite lively. However, the ones that attracted the most interest were the students ranked rather high up within the Earth Class. Because only those duels would be able to change the rankings.

“That’s our East Branch’s Tan Qingshan. Sure enough, he took action…”

Su Ling, who was beside him, suddenly let out an excited shout. Mu Chen’s gaze also followed it over and looked. Not far away from them, a boy in black clothes stood up and walked towards a ring.

The boy looked quite skinny and his face looked slightly pale. However, he pursed his lips tightly to show his determination. He did not speak or smile. It was as if he didn’t hear the sounds from his surroundings.

“Tan Qingshan…”

Mu Chen stared at the boy in black clothes and was slightly startled. He was somewhat familiar with him. Tang Qingshan was considered to be the strongest person within the East Branch Earth Class before he came to the Northern Spiritual Academy. Even now, he would be able to reach the top five among the Earth Class students.

Tan Qingshan also noticed Mu Chen’s gaze. His body paused for a moment and he raised his head to glance at him. A faint smile appeared on his silent and unsmiling face.

“Good luck.”

Mu Chen gave a smile to him. Although he was not particular close to him, they were still East Branch students. And so, he did not dislike Tan Qingshan.

Tan Qingshan nodded. Then, he jumped onto a ring. Suddenly, many eyes shot straight towards him. Within the East Branch, Tan Qingshan had quite a bit of reputation.

“I wonder who he is going to challenge…”

A few people whispered and their eyes were filled with curiosity. There probably aren’t many individuals within the West Branch that Tan Qingshan would regard as an opponent, right?

“Liu Yang.”

Under the many gazes, Tan Qingshan’s gaze stared directly at a figure in front of the West Branch. His quiet voice caused a large uproar.

“He actually wants to challenge Liu Yang?”

Many students looked at each other. Although Tan Qingshan was considered to be someone ranked high up within the Earth Class, but there was still a large gap between him and Liu Yang. Nobody even imagined that he would take the initiative to challenge him.

Within the West Branch’s seats, Liu Yang was also startled for a moment. His eyes soon became depressed. Currently, Mu Chen hasn’t been challenged by anyone, yet he was already challenged. Wouldn’t that make others feel that Liu Yang’s intimidation was weaker than Mu Chen?

“Conceited guy.”

Liu Yang stood up. That gloomy atmosphere caused the West Branch students nearby to shudder. It was obvious that Liu Yang was quite terrifying at this moment.

Liu Yang jumped straight into the ring. He stared at Tan Qingshan , then he looked at Mu Chen. He said with an expressionless appearance: “Did you find someone to test me out first?

When his voice dropped, he did not wait for Mu Chen’s response and stared down at Tan Qingshan. The smile he gave was a bit ghastly: “Ignorant trash, do you still think that you’re the number one person within the East Branch Earth Class?”

Tan Qingshan stared at Liu Yang. His eyes became a lot more serious. He was once the strongest student within the East Branch Earth Class. Although that title was transferred to Mu Chen later, his prideful self continued to work hard and train. The relationship he shared with Mu Chen was more like a competitive relationship. After all, they were both East Branch students, so he would not cause trouble for Mu Chen. However, if he was able to defeat Liu Yang here, he should be able to retrieve back his first place.

Tan Qingshan grasped his palms tightly. A deep yellow Spiritual Energy surged throughout his body and finally wrapped around his arms. A fierce, imposing manner slowly emitted out from his body.

“This Spiritual Energy…”

Su Ling and the others were surprised as they stared at the Spiritual Energy above Tan Qingshan’s arms.

“He also advanced to the Spiritual Movement Stage!”