Chapter 80

July 20, the weather changed from cloudy to clear.

The Dao-awakening aurora slowly dissipated beneath the clouds in the sky, replaced by sunlight filtering through gaps in the mist, spreading across the entire Dao-awakening Cliff.

Today was different from usual; after the Dao-awakening aurora faded, the freshmen from the middle and lower tiers did not remain on the Dao-awakening platforms to continue cultivating, but instead hurried to nearby taverns and restaurants.

Because today was the annual Nine Great Academies Freshmen Dueling Tournament on the Dao-awakening Cliff.

Although they could not directly ascend to the upper three tiers of the Dao-awakening Cliff, they could watch the matches through the Nine Great Academies’ Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

Zhu Hongyuan, stationed on the sixth tier of the Dao-awakening platform, was no different—he left early after finishing today’s Dao-awakening session and headed to the tavern on the fourth tier, waiting for the Mirror Flower, Water Moon to activate.

“Zhu Ge!”

As he stepped into the tavern, he heard a call, looked up, and saw several students from his former school in Nanshan.

“Come over, there’s a table here!”

Zhu Hongyuan smiled and quickly walked over.

“Lao Hu, Sanzi, An Gou, you’re here so early?”

He sat down and greeted them.

Sanzi grinned: “We’re closer, see over there? Li Feng got here even earlier—he probably came before the Dao-awakening aurora even ended.”

The Mirror Flower, Water Moon was a minor spell arranged by the tavern to attract customers.

If you arrived early, you could even secure a private room.

But most freshmen were short on spirit stones; being able to watch the Mirror Flower, Water Moon in the main hall already meant they were relatively well-off.

Many others could only watch the “big screen” outside in the square.

Zhu Hongyuan glanced over and indeed saw Li Feng from Ye Chen and Lin Mo’s class, along with several other students from their school who had been admitted to the academies, gathered at a table.

Their position was better, clearly because they had arrived even earlier.

Lao Hu puckered his lips, clearly not on good terms with that group, and said:

“Most of them were on the lowest tier of the Dao-awakening platform, each with at least three thousand people—whether they even got blessed by the aurora depended on luck, so leaving early didn’t matter much.”

Here, he added with envy:

“Still, Zhu Ge’s sixth-tier Dao-awakening platform is awesome—fewer than a thousand people, and the aurora’s effect must be far better than ours on the fourth tier.”

Hearing this, Zhu Hongyuan did not look proud; instead, he chuckled wryly:

“Actually, the sixth tier isn’t much better than the lower tiers—even the best spot gives at most five points of Dao-sensitivity bonus.”

“And you can’t even enjoy it for three full hours—barely an hour at most.”

Hearing this, Lao Hu and Sanzi looked astonished: “No way? Only five points max?”

Zhu Hongyuan sighed: “I’m not lying—real prime spots are on the upper three tiers.”

Hearing this, the group at the table suddenly understood.

Only after entering the Dao-awakening Cliff did they realize the difference between ordinary academies and the Nine Great Academies.

Even Zhu Hongyuan, once the golden boy of Nanshan, was utterly unknown here.

Zhu Hongyuan sighed: “If we’re talking real resources, Lin Mo and Chu Wange must be enjoying the absolute top-tier benefits.”

One was this year’s Immortal List Top Graduate, the other a Top Ten Immortal List member—both on the highest tier of the Dao-awakening platform.

They were not just envied by him, but by every freshman from the middle and lower tiers.

Before they could continue their conversation, a cry rang out beside them.

“It’s open! Open! The Mirror Flower, Water Moon has a picture!”

Hearing this, everyone in the main hall looked up toward the Mirror Flower, Water Moon displayed at the front of the tavern.

The Mirror Flower, Water Moon rippled faintly, then gradually revealed an image.

The first thing everyone saw was a vast fighting arena, viewed from above, covering at least two to three thousand square meters.

“Holy shit, this arena is that big?”

Someone in the hall exclaimed.

Soon, someone explained: “You’ve never seen anything before! This is the Nine Great Academies’ Momentary Space—every year’s Freshmen Dueling Tournament is held here.”

This sparked a wave of commentary, and the tavern owner, while serving customers, added more detailed explanations:

“Haha, right! Everything in the Momentary Space is illusory—even the competitors are using substitute talismans.”

Someone complained: “Substitute talismans? What’s the point of fighting then?”

The owner shook his head: “Wrong! The substitute talismans perfectly replicate the competitor’s stats and are controlled by the competitor’s own spiritual sense—no different from being there in person.”

“Besides, this is done to protect these prodigies, so they won’t get injured during matches and disrupt their cultivation.”

Hearing the owner’s explanation, the freshmen understood.

The purpose of the dueling tournament was to compete for Dao-awakening platform positions—if competitors got injured fighting for them, it would be counterproductive and violate the tournament’s original intent.

Soon, everyone stopped debating this and instead stared curiously at the empty large arena.

“When does it start? I can’t wait!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a shadow slowly materialized in the center of the arena, finally forming a figure.

But the figure deliberately blurred his face to avoid drawing attention.

So in the audience’s view, they saw only a simple Daoist robe, could not make out his expression, and heard only his voice echo through the arena:

“Greetings, fellow Daoists. The first round of this year’s Nine Great Academies Freshmen Dueling Tournament is about to begin.”

“Now, I shall explain the rules of this competition.”

Straight to the point—no self-introduction, no wasted words—immediately snapping the attention of countless freshmen gathered before the Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

“The first round is simple, divided into three stages.”

“Stage One—Momentary Free-for-All!”

“Competitors are grouped in sets of two hundred; defeat one opponent to earn one point.”

“After the match time ends, those who have earned ten points and remain alive advance to the next round of challenges.”

“Stage Two’s challenge rules are even simpler: competitors may challenge any freshman ranked higher than themselves; upon victory, they claim the opponent’s meditation mat number.”

Hearing this, the tavern’s audience erupted.

“My god, this year’s tournament rules are this brutal?”

“Just get ten points and you can challenge everyone ahead of you?”

“Did you even pay attention in class?! It’s ‘any one,’ not ‘everyone’!”

“Same difference—so you could directly challenge the Immortal List Top Graduate?”

“Wait… are everyone going to challenge the Immortal List Top Ten?”

“…”

Before they could reach a conclusion, the Momentary Space host added:

“However, challengers must note: your selections are simultaneous, meaning you might end up targeting the same competitor.”

“Thus, the supplementary rule: if a competitor receives more than three challenge requests, they may choose which challengers to accept.”

“Also, once a competitor accepts three challenges, they may not be challenged again in this round.”

“As for Stage Three, it remains confidential.”

“That concludes the tournament’s procedure and rules. Please welcome the first round’s free-for-all competitors!”

The host quickly finished explaining the rules.

As his words faded, talismanic lights flared across the Momentary Space, and one by one, freshmen of the Nine Great Academies in colorful Daoist robes appeared at various corners of the arena.