Chapter 80

July 20th, weather cloudy to clear.

Under the cover of white clouds in the sky, the Enlightenment Glow slowly dissipated, replaced by sunlight shining through the gaps in the clouds and mist, spreading over the entire Enlightenment Cliff.

Today is different from the past; after the Enlightenment Glow dissipated, the freshmen on the middle three layers and the lower three layers did not stay on the Enlightenment Platform to continue cultivating, but went to the nearby wine shops and restaurants one after another.

Because today is the annual freshman arena battle of the Nine Great Academies on the Enlightenment Cliff.

Although they cannot go directly to the top three layers of the Enlightenment Cliff, they can watch the battle through the Mirror Flower Water Moon opened by the Nine Great Academies.

Zhu Hongyuan, who is on the sixth layer of the Enlightenment Platform, is also like this; after ending today's enlightenment time, he rushed to the wine shop on the fourth layer early, waiting for the Mirror Flower Water Moon of the arena battle to open.

"Zhu Ge!"

Just as he walked into the wine shop, he heard a call; he raised his head to look, and it was several students from the same school in Nanshan before.

"Come quickly, there's a seat here!"

A smile appeared on Zhu Hongyuan's face, and he walked over quickly.

"Old Hu, Sanzi, Angou, you guys are so early?"

He greeted them while sitting down.

Sanzi smiled and said: "We are closer, look over there, Li Feng arrived even earlier than us; I'm afraid he came before the Enlightenment Glow time ended."

Mirror Flower Water Moon is a small spell specially arranged by the wine shop to attract customers.

If you come early, you can also grab a private room.

However, most of the freshmen are short of money, and being able to watch the Mirror Flower Water Moon in the lobby is considered relatively wealthy.

More people can only watch the "big screen" in the square outside.

Zhu Hongyuan looked over there; sure enough, Li Feng from Ye Chen and Lin Mo's class, as well as several other students from the same school who were admitted to the academy, also gathered at a table.

Their position is better, and they clearly arrived earlier.

Old Hu pouted, clearly not getting along well with that group of people, and said:

"Most of them are on the bottom-most Enlightenment Platform, with at least three thousand people each; whether they can be blessed by the Enlightenment Glow depends on luck, so slipping away early doesn't have any impact."

Speaking of this, he said to Zhu Hongyuan with an envious tone:

"It's still Zhu Ge's sixth-layer Enlightenment Platform that's awesome, with less than a thousand people; the glow effect received is probably much better than our fourth layer."

Zhu Hongyuan didn't show a proud expression when he heard this, but said with a wry smile:

"Actually, the sixth layer is no better than the layers below; even in the best position, the blessing bonus is at most less than 5 points of comprehension value."

"And, you can't enjoy it for the full three hours, at most about one hour."

Hearing this, Old Hu and Sanzi showed surprised expressions: "No way? The highest is less than 5 points?"

Zhu Hongyuan gave a wry smile: "I'm really not lying to you, the truly good positions are all on the top three layers."

Hearing this, the few people at the table suddenly realized.

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

Even Zhu Hongyuan, who was the heaven-gifted genius of Nanshan before, belongs to the unknown among the Enlightenment Cliff.

Zhu Hongyuan sighed and said: "If you really want to say it, the resources enjoyed by Lin Mo, Chu Wange, and the others are the most top-tier, right."

These two, one is this year's Immortal Ranking top graduate, and one is in the top ten of the Immortal Ranking, all on the top-most Enlightenment Platform.

Not only are they envious, but they are also the existence that all freshmen from ordinary academies in the middle and lower layers envy.

Before they could chat in detail, an exclamation sounded in their ears.

"It's open, it's open! The Mirror Flower Water Moon has a picture!"

Hearing this, everyone in the lobby raised their heads one after another, looking toward the Mirror Flower Water Moon spread out at the very front of the wine shop.

Only after the Mirror Flower Water Moon rippled slightly did the picture gradually appear.

First to enter everyone's eyes was a wide, large arena; looking down from a God's perspective, it occupied at least two or three thousand square meters.

"Holy crap, such a big arena?"

Someone in the lobby exclaimed.

Soon, someone explained: "Ignorant! This is the Void Space of the Nine Great Academies; every year, the freshman arena battle of the Nine Great Academies is held inside."

This sentence was like triggering a conversation starter; the owner of the wine shop was also entertaining guests at the front while explaining more meticulously:

"Haha, that's right! Everything in the Void Space is illusory, and even the contestants use substitute paper talismans."

Someone said in dissatisfaction: "Substitute paper talismans? Then what's the point of this fight?"

The owner shook his head: "Not so! Substitute paper talismans will not only perfectly replicate the contestant's panel, but also be fought by the contestant's own spiritual sense, which is no different from the examinee being there in person."

"In addition, the purpose of doing this is naturally to protect these heaven-gifted geniuses, so as not to delay their cultivation because of injuries in the competition."

Hearing the owner's explanation, the freshmen also understood.

The purpose of the arena battle is to compete for the position of the Enlightenment Platform; if you get injured for the sake of competing for the position, it is not only not worth the loss, but also violates the original intention of establishing the arena battle.

Soon, everyone didn't continue to struggle with this problem, but curiously looked at the empty large arena.

"When will it start? I can't wait anymore!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as the voice fell, they saw a phantom slowly emerging in the center of the arena, finally condensing into a figure.

However, the other party seemed to have deliberately blurred his face in order not to compete for attention.

So in the audience's line of sight, they only saw a figure wearing simple Dao robes, and even his expression could not be seen clearly, only hearing the voice sound in the field:

"Greetings, fellow Daoists; this year's freshman competition of the Nine Great Academies, the first round of the arena battle is about to begin."

"Now, let me explain the rules of this competition for you fellow Daoists!"

Straight to the point, without a word of self-introduction and extra nonsense, it directly made countless freshmen gathered in front of the Mirror Flower Water Moon perk up.

"The first round of the arena battle is very simple, divided into three stages."

"The first stage—Void Melee!"

"Compete on the same stage in groups of 200 people; defeat 1 opponent on the arena to get 1 point."

"After the arena battle time ends, contestants who have obtained 10 points and survived can enter the next round of the challenge match."

"The rules for the second stage of the challenge match are even simpler; contestants can choose any freshman ranked higher than themselves to challenge, and after winning, they can obtain the other party's meditation cushion serial number."

Hearing this, the audience in the wine shop lobby was in an uproar.

"My God, are the rules for this year's arena battle so simple and crude?"

"Can you challenge everyone in front after getting 10 points?"

"Did you listen to the lecture carefully at all! It's 'any one,' not everyone!"

"Same meaning, doesn't this mean you can directly challenge the Immortal Ranking top graduate?"

"Ah this... won't everyone go to challenge the top ten of the Immortal Ranking?"

"..."

Before everyone could reach a conclusion, the host of the Void Space quickly added:

"However, challengers need to be aware that you are choosing opponents simultaneously, which means you may also choose the same contestant."

"So the supplementary rule is: once the number of challengers for a challenged person exceeds three, then the challenged person will counter-select the challengers."

"And, if the challenged person accepts three challenges, they will not be able to continue choosing the other party for challenges in this round of the arena battle!"

"As for the third stage, it will be kept secret for now."

"The above is the process and rules of this arena battle; now, please have the first round of melee contestants take the stage!"

The host quickly explained the competition rules preliminarily.

As his voice fell, streaks of talisman light suddenly lit up in the Void Space, followed by freshmen of the Nine Great Academies wearing Dao robes of various colors appearing in every corner of the arena.