Chapter 1068

Welcome everyone to the opening ceremony of the 107th National University League!

After two months of intense competition, the top 10 universities advancing to the final round are Magic City Institute of Esoteric Abilities, Qingjing Institute of Esoteric Abilities...

At six p. m., the dressed-up host announced the opening of the ceremony.

The front-row seats in the stadium, aside from each university's reserved zones, were occupied by the top martial academies and guilds of Daya.

They would select the best students from this university league and recruit them into their own factions.

The surrounding spectator seats were also packed with excited audiences.

"First, let's welcome the champion team from last year's league—the Magic City Institute of Esoteric Abilities!"

After a brief welcome speech, under the host's soaring voice, the Magic City team, as last year's number-one champion, entered the arena first.

More than ten days ago, Magic City had already publicly released its promotional poster for the competition roster.

Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan, as captain and vice-captain, occupied the central positions on the poster.

Yet now, among the team members representing Magic City, a man stood between Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan at the front.

He was tall and lean, his aura thick and profound, his eyes like lightning, radiating an air of supreme dominance.

The instant he appeared, the entire arena fell silent, then erupted in a deafening roar!

"It's Lei Di! He actually came!"

"What the hell? Did I see that right?!"

"Lei Di! Victory!"

"..."

It was madness!

Every single spectator had gone wild!

In the 105th National University League two years ago, Xu Jingming rose like a comet.

He led Magic City to win first place in the individual, team, and survival events.

That year, Xu Jingming was the hottest new star!

After being recruited by Lei Ting Martial Academy for elite training, his rise became unstoppable.

Sixth stage, seventh stage, eighth stage, ninth stage!

In less than two years, he broke through to the ninth stage and became Daya's youngest ninth-stage councilor!

No one expected to see this legendary figure at the league again—yet here he was, standing among Magic City's team!

"No way! Is Lei Di going to compete?!"

"How are we supposed to play? One look from him and we're crushed!"

"He's a ninth-stage Law Sage—I'm only fourth stage!"

"..."

In contrast to the excited spectators, the other university teams preparing backstage in the arena were stunned into silence.

Fourth-stage esoteric users fighting a ninth-stage Law Sage?

What the hell is going on here?

Someone immediately moved to contact the competition committee to protest.

Even though Xu Jingming was their idol, having him on the field was clearly a dimension-level crushing blow.

But someone quickly spoke up: "I heard Lei Di's enrollment is still registered at Magic City—if we dig into it, he's technically still a third-year student there. I doubt even the competition committee would rule it a violation..."

"Third-year student? Damn! I almost forgot that!" All teams fell silent.

Xu Jingming's achievements were simply too numerous—they'd unconsciously forgotten his age.

Now they remembered: Xu Jingming was actually close to their own age, even younger than some of them...

Lei Di's appearance had drawn immense attention.

Even the subsequent entries of the other top-ten universities failed to draw back any of that focus.

"I'm sure you've all noticed the familiar figure among Magic City's team."

After all ten top universities had entered, the host smiled and spoke:

"But don't worry—he's our special guest and will not participate in any subsequent matches."

At these words, the competing teams instantly exhaled in relief.

Then the host's voice rose again, even more energetic:

"Now, let's welcome Xu Jingming, champion of the previous two National University Leagues, director of Lei Ting Martial Academy, and Daya's ninth-stage councilor, to announce this year's league rewards!"

Amid a sea of cheers, Xu Jingming flew onto the host's podium.

Looking down at the admiring gazes of his peers and the excited eyes of the spectators, he couldn't help but feel a quiet pang of reflection.

One and a half years ago, he was still competing for Magic City.

Now, one and a half years later, he had broken through to ninth-stage mid-level.

His strength ranked among the very top in all of Blue Planet's ninth-stage cultivators.

"First, thank you, my alma mater Magic City Institute of Esoteric Abilities, for giving me this opportunity.

Magic City boasts profound faculty and resources—I've reached where I am today only because of my school's support..."

Xu Jingming did not use a microphone, yet his deep voice echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

Since Magic City had invited him, he naturally intended to promote it well.

Of course, he also didn't forget to promote his own Lei Ting Martial Academy.

With fresh blood from these university graduates, Lei Ting Martial Academy would grow even stronger.

"Cheating! They even brought back a councilor to promote!"

"What can you do? Who else can produce a ninth-stage at age twenty?"

"If I'd known it would turn out like this, we never should have let him slip away in that year's college entrance exam!"

"......"

The other universities in the audience were about to go mad with envy.

With Xu Jingming as their promotional poster, next year's Demon University recruitment would be hard-pressed to have a poor applicant pool!

And those top universities like Capital University were regretting it to their very guts.

If only they'd known it would be like this, they should have upped the stakes back then and snatched Xu Jingming for their own school......

After announcing the league rewards, the opening ceremony continued.

And Xu Jingming left the host's platform, returned to the audience seats, and found the legion commanders of several legions.

"What's the situation on the front lines? Have any ninth-tier Beast Sovereigns entered the battlefield?"

Xu Jingming asked in a low voice.

"Reporting to Councilor, my lord, ninth-tier Beast Sovereigns have already entered the southern border, but they're still holding back—no casualties yet."

The vice legion commander of the Black Dragon Legion spoke respectfully.

He was a peak eighth-tier Grandmaster, at least in his forties.

Yet before Xu Jingming he behaved with the utmost deference.

"The western border also has Beast Sovereigns entering, no deaths yet, but Lord Qingyang the Wu Sheng was ambushed and seriously wounded; he's recuperating now."

The vice legion commander of another legion spoke up.

Qingyang Wu Sheng?

Xu Jingming's brow furrowed.

This man had appeared at the Supreme God Blood auction half a month ago.

He possessed an Enhancement-type S-rank ability, at the mid ninth-tier.

For him to be wounded meant a king-class mid ninth-tier Beast Sovereign had already joined the western front.

"Looks like the war is getting fiercer. I should have a chance to go to the front lines."

Xu Jingming mused silently to himself.

He still had one free resource-selection opportunity in the Great Xia resource vault, plus a large amount of unspent contribution points.

He'd head over to Zhou Yuanwu's place, pick out his gear, and then go straight to the front-line battlefield.

And no matter which front-line battlefield it was, the number of fierce beasts gathered was at least in the hundreds of thousands.

Any single battle would be enough for him to harvest millions of ability points.