Chapter 154: The Five Court Edicts

Lin Fan's figure gradually faded into the distance, with Lin Hongyi and the others following closely behind him. The setting sun stretched the eight figures into long silhouettes across the horizon.

Countless people gazed at the departing figures, struck dumb and unable to utter a word.

They knew that from this day forward, Heavenly Book Academy had gained yet another formidable and untouchable faction. Although this group consisted of only eight people and had never officially declared its establishment, many people subconsciously regarded them as a forbidden zone.

"Wait for me!"

Suddenly, a loud shout broke the silence. The crowd looked over to see Jiang Xuesheng chasing after them. Yang Xiao paused for a moment, then led the members of the Gods and Demons Alliance in pursuit as well.

Many had assumed that with the strength to annihilate the Heavenly Dynasty Society, Lin Fan would establish a newly rising faction. Little did they know that Lin Fan was already a reserve member of the Gods and Demons Alliance!

He was a mighty combat force within the Gods and Demons Alliance. Re-evaluating his prowess, Yang Xiao estimated that Lin Fan's battle strength was likely among the top three in the entire alliance.

From that day onward, the lives of Lin Fan, Hongyi, and the others returned to a peaceful routine. No one else dared to challenge them, and one by one, they all entered the Clarity Tower to cultivate with single-minded dedication.

During this period, the academy issued several new decrees, making adjustments for both new and senior students.

All freshmen below the Qi Vein realm would remain as first-year students. Those who reached the Qi Vein realm were automatically promoted to second-year students, attending both martial arts and military classes alongside the second-years.

As for those who had attained the Pulse Connecting realm, they were all promoted to third-year students!

This single decree instantly clarified the student hierarchy across the entire academy. Previously, the third year was for the Pulse Connecting realm and the second year for the Qi Vein realm, but the first year had been a chaotic mix of various levels. Now, the boundaries were distinct:

First-year meant below the Qi Vein realm; second-year meant below the Pulse Connecting realm; and third-year meant the Pulse Connecting realm!

Naturally, with the implementation of this decree, the original freshman top-one-hundred rankings were completely wiped clean. Those students with sufficient cultivation had advanced to the lower grades, and unless they started issuing challenges anew, they found themselves at the very bottom of their respective year levels.

Lin Fan, Hongyi, and the others were no exception. However, they welcomed the tranquility; anyway, they were not lacking in merit points, and this arrangement allowed them to focus on their cultivation with even greater peace of mind.

The second decree concerned the incident involving Lin Fan and the Heavenly Dynasty Society. The academy announced that regardless of how many people had died, the casualties were the result of initiated life-and-death duels, and therefore, no disciplinary action would be taken against Lin Fan!

The third decree stated that in two months' time, Heavenly Book Academy, along with the other four major academies and four super sects, would contend for a mystic realm. The matches would be matched tier by tier: Qi Vein against Qi Vein, and Pulse Connecting against Pulse Connecting.

The ultimate victors would not only secure the right of entry into the mystic realm but would also receive one million merit points, a spirit stone, and permanent access privileges to the final two floors of the Clarity Tower and the final two floors of the Pavilion of Scriptures!

As soon as this news broke, the eyes of every student in Heavenly Book Academy turned crimson. They might not fully understand what a mystic realm entailed, but one million merit points served as a cheat code for rapid advancement, enabling them to boost their strength at a terrifying speed.

The utility of merit points within the academy was immense; virtually every aspect of cultivation required them.

One million merit points—even for a third-year student who could receive a monthly stipend of twenty thousand merit points, it would take over eight years to accumulate that amount. Even for members of the Enforcers Department, it would take more than four years of accumulation.

If they could truly win the championship, the million merit points alone would be enough to ensure a smooth and unhindered path for their future!

Furthermore, the final two floors of the Clarity Tower and the Pavilion of Scriptures were places ordinary people could never hope to enter. The effects of the top two floors of the Clarity Tower were far more potent, while the top two floors of the Pavilion of Scriptures supposedly housed cultivation techniques that surpassed the capabilities of River realm experts.

If they could gain entry, their strength would experience a massive leap in a very short span of time.

As for the spirit stone, it was even more precious. A single ordinary spirit stone contained the entire reservoir of energy belonging to an early-stage Stream realm expert, which could be absorbed to elevate one's cultivation.

For anyone below the Stream realm, provided their innate talent was sufficient, even if all ambient vital energy between heaven and earth vanished, a single spirit stone would be enough to propel them to the Stream realm!

Moreover, absorbing the spiritual Qi within a spirit stone for cultivation was extremely rapid. While it might not match the cultivation speed of the top two floors of the Clarity Tower, it was virtually on par with the tower's fifth floor. In other words, cultivating while holding a spirit stone granted ten times the cultivation speed of an ordinary person.

As long as one possessed a spirit stone, before reaching the Stream realm, it was equivalent to perpetually cultivating on the fifth floor of the Clarity Tower!

Naturally, for those formidable Stream realm experts, absorbing a spirit stone required only a month's time, yet the enhancement to their own foundation was exceptionally profound.

It must be understood that for Pulse Connecting realm experts, their internal genuine Qi had already transformed into true essence. The genuine Qi within their Dantian condensed into liquid true essence, possessing a higher quality and greater might. Simultaneously, because of this liquefaction, the Dantian could store a much larger volume of true essence.

Alongside the enhancement of true essence, the spiritual soul cultivation of a Pulse Connecting realm expert also began to rise. Every single drop of elemental liquid gained represented a doubled combat capacity for a Pulse Connecting expert.

As for Stream realm experts, their state was achieved through the convergence of all elemental liquid. Upon reaching ten thousand drops of elemental liquid, it would fuse and flow like a stream, resulting in an incomparably majestic reservoir of vital energy. A single spirit stone represented the sum total of those ten thousand drops of elemental liquid.

Since the academy had placed the mystic realm at the absolute forefront and all rewards stemmed from contending for it, the benefits of the mystic realm undeniably surpassed the latter.

Naturally, the senior second- and third-year students who were privy to the inside information felt some confusion, failing to understand why the first- and second-year students were being included in this year's mystic realm contention. Yet, upon recalling that the kingdom was preparing to wage war against the Hulan Kingdom, a sense of understanding dawned upon them.

No one understood the formidable nature of the mystic realm better than these senior students. Known as the Heavenly Extreme Mystic Realm, it contained ninety-nine tiers of stairs inside. The pressure varied on every single tier, exerting an exceptionally powerful body-tempering effect.

It was said that anyone capable of traversing all ninety-nine tiers of the mystic realm could elevate their physical strength to surpass that of River realm experts!

Most importantly, the spiritual Qi within this mystic realm was dense to the extreme. For those with good fortune, simply walking through the jungles and picking up scattered spirit stones was by no means a difficult task.

Additionally, the realm teemed with countless fierce beasts possessing extraordinarily powerful bloodlines. Seemingly influenced by the mystic realm, these beasts gave birth to offspring every year. If one could capture one or two of these cubs and tame them as battle beasts, they could become a regional overlord in the future, even if their personal cultivation never advanced further.

This was because these fierce beasts were capable of growing to at least the fourth rank, with some rumored to be able to reach the fifth or sixth rank!

The mystic realm imposed restrictions on the entry level; anyone surpassing the Pulse Connecting realm could not enter. Therefore, every year upon its opening, aside from dispatching a large contingent of personnel, the imperial family reserved one hundred slots to be contested by Heavenly Book Academy, the four subsidiary academies, and the four super sects.

The victors would secure those one hundred slots!

Once inside the mystic realm, one could exit at any time, but no one was foolish enough to do so voluntarily. Leaving meant that to re-enter, one would have to wait until its opening the following year, and even then, one's faction would have to win the right to enter all over again.

It was said that the density of spiritual Qi in the mystic realm was by no means inferior to the fourth floor of the Clarity Tower. Many people, even if they failed to capture a fierce beast cub, were more than willing to cultivate inside simply to temper their physical resilience.

The fourth decree stated that eight months later, Heavenly Book Academy would hold its first grand tournament. This would not be a grade-level tournament, but an academy-wide grand competition. The results of this competition would serve as military service credentials, determining the official ranks conferred and the scale of troops commanded!

The fifth decree stipulated that starting from that day, military training would incorporate a demerit and merit points system. Those who performed with distinction would receive bonus points, while those who abstained would have points deducted. Upon the conclusion of the academy grand tournament, these accumulated points would be factored into the overall score to determine each student's military rank.

The promulgation of these five decrees instantly sparked a massive uproar throughout the entire Heavenly Book Academy!

Unfortunately, Lin Fan paid little heed to all of this, throwing his heart and soul entirely into his cultivation. Since his ranking had been cleared and he no longer needed to fulfill the requirement of two challenges per month—and naturally, no one dared to challenge him now anyway—he seized every moment to cultivate.

In the blink of an eye, two months slipped away. Inside Lin Fan's Dantian, fully eight thousand drops of elemental liquid had gathered. He was merely two thousand drops shy of the peak of the Pulse Connecting realm, having firmly stepped into the late stage of the Pulse Connecting realm.

This marked two months and three days since he had entered the Clarity Tower, leaving him with seven days of cultivation time remaining.

During this period, he had also visited Hongyi, Beihan, and the others. Their cultivation progress had been rapid. A month ago, they had already reached the Inner Barrier realm. Now, another month had passed, and aided by his abundant vitality fruits and the accelerated environment of the Clarity Tower, they should all have advanced to the Pulse Connecting realm!