Chapter 558

557. Chapter 552: Unease

After completing the first Zhou Tian of the modified technique, Seeing Seeing Ji Xing nearly cried out in shock.

He came from a poor immortal clan, so his cultivation technique was inferior; no matter how hard he worked, his cultivation remained barely sufficient to stay in the Xuan Dao Class.

The one hundred thousand superior-grade immortal crystals given to Ding Huan were earned by himself—his family had already exhausted everything to get him into the Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy.

His talent was not outstanding, his resources were scarce, and his technique was mediocre; his ability to barely remain in the Xuan Dao Class was the result of relentless effort.

Now, after practicing Ding Huan's revised technique, he finally understood what cultivation truly meant.

The amount of immortal spiritual energy swept through in a single Zhou Tian was dozens of times greater than what he had previously absorbed in one full cycle, and nearly all of it transformed directly into his own cultivation.

Could such a technique possibly exist in this world?

Yet this was clearly derived from his own family's technique.

In the Pangu Great World, disciples fully nurtured by immortal clans like Seeing Seeing Ji Xing were virtually nonexistent; they were everywhere in the Dao Corridor.

The Dao Corridor was peculiar—it could hardly even be called a cultivation world.

All survival methods of the Pangu Great World were useless here.

The survival order of the Dao Corridor was even more refined than that of certain legal planets.

Even when the strong oppressed the weak, it manifested through competition, not the naked, brutal predation of the Pangu Great World, where human lives were as worthless as grass.

Whoever struck first here, regardless of reason, would be killed immediately.

Moreover, the Ten Thousand Laws of the Dao Corridor were enforced strictly, with no hypocrisy or evasion.

Because of this order, numerous immortal clans had come into existence.

Even weak immortal clans could survive without being casually exterminated.

After sensing the power of Ding Huan's revised technique, Seeing Seeing Ji Xing forced himself to calm down and initiated the second Zhou Tian.

He then realized that his technique improved in effectiveness with each successive Zhou Tian.

Once several Zhou Tian connected all his meridians and dantian, he clearly felt immortal spiritual energy surging toward him, his cultivation rising rapidly.

When had his cultivation ever increased so fast?

Not only Seeing Seeing Ji Xing, but the other seven also felt nearly the same—none had ever experienced such terrifying cultivation speed.

Long Xiyue, from a great immortal clan, was equally stunned by her own cultivation pace.

Ding Daoshi had revised her technique, yet she had not hesitated when practicing it.

In the Dao Corridor, Daoshi were respected; she would never believe a Daoshi would arbitrarily alter her technique.

Now, practicing Ding Huan's revised technique, she finally understood just how extraordinary it was.

It looked like the same cultivation technique, but in truth, each Zhou Tian was entirely different.

She did not know whether she could pass this technique on to other members of her family.

But for now, her priority was to rapidly increase her cultivation.

Previously, she had never been able to focus her mind during cultivation; this new technique, after just one Zhou Tian, plunged her into deep immersion.

That was not the most shocking part—the most astonishing was that she sensed a unique Dao rhythm within the immortal spiritual energy she absorbed.

This unique Dao rhythm seemed to strip impurities and dantian toxins from her body, then expel them outward.

If this counted as a surprise, then when Ding Huan began cultivating, none of them knew how to express the excitement within them.

When Ding Huan cultivated, boundless immortal spiritual energy surged toward him, and at that moment, everyone felt as if bathed in the purest immortal spiritual spring.

The cosmic laws of space became crystal clear.

It felt as if they could articulate these cosmic laws directly—why would they need to comprehend them? Or rather, how could they have ever failed to comprehend them?

Did such cultivation speed still require a month to reach Xuan Immortal Peak?

Even Long Xiyue, with the lowest cultivation among them, believed she would reach Xuan Immortal Peak in at most half a month—perhaps even just ten days.

Could this Ding Daoshi truly be a probationary Daoshi?

…

The Dao Law Hall of Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy.

This time, Yuan You, the First Dean of Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy, and Elder Asfi, Head of the Enforcement Division, were both present.

Vice Deans Gu Min, Han Chi, Lu Chenzhou, and all other senior academy officials were present.

As for minor figures like Fang Bei, they did not even have the qualifications to appear here.

"I heard one of our classes bypassed the academy and registered as a class to participate in the Dao Law Academy's Grand Competition?" Yuan You spoke calmly, but his anger was barely contained.

It wasn't that academy classes were forbidden from registering independently for such competitions.

The issue was that he had not been informed at all.

For an academy class to register for such a competition beyond its level required official academy approval—not just anyone's whim.

During the Dao Corridor Academy Deans' Council, someone had brought this up to mock him.

"It's the Zhengdao Class. The Daoshi is a probationary Daoshi recruited half a month ago," Lu Chenzhou volunteered.

He knew this matter well—indeed, Ding Huan and Fang Bei, the Dao Monitor Officer, had clashed bitterly over it.

"What?" Yuan You, already furious, nearly spat blood upon hearing "Zhengdao Class."

Did they have absolutely no sense of propriety?

"Who appointed him as Daoshi of the Zhengdao Class?" Yuan You forced down his rage.

"It was Dao Monitor Officer Fang Bei who proposed it. He and Daoshi Ding Huan had a heated argument—it didn't end well," Lu Chenzhou answered honestly.

In truth, Lu Chenzhou did not believe appointing Ding Huan as Zhengdao Class Daoshi was wrong; the error lay in Ding Huan's lack of awareness—he had actually registered for the Dao Law Academy's Grand Competition.

"I heard that on his first day teaching, Daoshi Ding asked the students for immortal crystals," a disciplinary officer stepped forward.

He had received this complaint long ago, but since no one else was assigned to lead the Zhengdao Class, he had delayed punishing Ding Huan.

"Dean, during Daoshi Ding's evaluation, he scored full marks in both the written test and the Dao test, and achieved over eighty percent in the third test—separating the Five Element Liquids…"

He's only just taken over as Dao Master, so he doesn't yet understand how grueling the Academy's Grand Competition is—I believe he will grow gradually. " Gu Min stepped forward to speak up for Ding Huan.

Ding Huan is his man; though this action was somewhat inappropriate, he couldn't let Ding Huan leave a bad impression before the Dean.

"Perfect scores in the first two rounds? Over eighty percent separation of the Five Elements in the third round?" Yuan You stared at Gu Min in shock.

"Yes." Gu Min answered firmly.

Yuan You fell silent.

He knew Ding Huan signed up for the Dao Law Academy's Grand Competition to embarrass the Academy, but one thing he was certain of: Ding Huan harbored a great secret.

"Bring me the Five Element Liquids Ding Huan separated." Yuan You's tone had lost much of its anger.

The Five Element Liquids Ding Huan had separated were quickly brought over; Yuan You's divine sense settled upon them, and his expression immediately turned grave.

The Dao rhythm of these Five Element Liquids separated by that punch was clearly stratified; though their purity was only eighty percent, it was very likely intentional.

If it was intentional, he himself could not have done it.

"That concludes today's meeting. The Dao Law Academy's Grand Competition is less than three months away—work together, and let's strive to secure a better ranking for Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy this time."

Yuan You collected the separated Five Element Liquids before him and announced the meeting over.

Gu Min, who understood Yuan You well, felt a faint unease when he saw the Dean collect the separated Five Element Liquids.

Ding Huan's perfect scores in the first two rounds clearly marked him as no ordinary Dao Master.

But Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy valued talent above all; Gu Min hadn't thought much of it—yet now, the Dean, Yuan You, was beginning to think deeply.

Yet in the Great Dao Corridor, even the Dean could not act against a probationary Dao Master without cause.

Gu Min knew Yuan You had noticed Ding Huan, but he didn't think Ding Huan was particularly dangerous.

…

Ding Huan's eyebrows twitched slightly; he felt a faint unease.

Since entering Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy, this was the first time he'd felt this way.

Cultivating the Great Cosmos Art, fusing the laws of heaven and earth and all things, Ding Huan's Dao had merged with all things.

Therefore, this unease was no empty feeling—it truly signaled possible trouble.

His divine sense swept out; all eight were Xuan Immortal Fully Cultivated—only about half a month had passed.

Ding Huan ceased cultivation; his current cultivation level was Immortal King Fourth Layer. Further cultivation wouldn't allow him to reach Fifth Layer in the short term.

The moment Ding Huan stopped cultivating, the eight's cultivation speed immediately slowed.

Yet compared to their previous pace, they were still far faster—so the eight cultivators did not stop.

Ding Huan began studying the Reverse-Knowing-the-Future Divine Art from the Tian Gang Dao Art.

He possessed the Great Calculation Art.

After learning the Great Calculation Art had been deliberately given to him by the scroll's owner, Ding Huan stopped using it.

Moreover, every time his Great Calculation Art reached an unclear point, the results were blurred beyond recognition—he could only rely on his own judgment.

To be honest, the Great Calculation Art he received was unworthy of its name—it was a disgrace to the title.

Now he had the Tian Gang Dao Art; the Reverse-Knowing-the-Future Divine Art within it was slightly inferior to the Great Calculation Art, yet still a top-tier Dao Art.

Over several days, Ding Huan preliminarily mastered the Reverse-Knowing-the-Future Divine Art and began calculating his own safety in the coming period.

Within two months, he remained unharmed. After two months, while leaving his quarters, he was ambushed and severely wounded, barely escaping.

Ding Huan exhaled in relief.

Only an Immortal Emperor could ambush him and inflict such grave injury.

In Yonghuang Divine Arts Academy, the Dean and Vice-Dean were both Immortal Emperors.

Why would the Dean or Vice-Dean ambush a probationary Dao Master like him?

It seemed his Dao Master evaluation had gone wrong—the issue lay in the Five Element properties he separated with that punch.

The Great Dao Corridor's laws were strict; as long as he didn't leave his quarters, even the Dean dared not act.

Yet Ding Huan disliked leaving his safety in others' hands—he decided to leave in one month.

As for his promotion eligibility, he would let these eight students secure it for him.

"Stop cultivating," Ding Huan called out, halting the eight.

The eight students looked at Ding Huan with profound respect.

Dao Master Ding had promised they'd reach Xuan Immortal Fully Cultivated in a month—in truth, only about twenty days had passed, and all of them were already Xuan Immortal Fully Cultivated.