Chapter 450: The Academy beneath the Mulberry Has Cultivated Supremes?!

"Is this asking us to climb the mountain?"

Looking ahead at nine ancient peaks linked together, rising layer upon layer and wreathed in mist, Zhang Hao's brow lifted.

The ancient peaks weren't tall — ordinary people could climb them, and for gods or demons a single step would span them across — but surely it wouldn't be that simple.

"Look, there's someone over there!"

No one knew who shouted it; everyone looked in the direction the finger pointed.

On the platform of the sixth ancient peak, figures could faintly be seen standing there. It was certain those people weren't the eliminated, nor were they candidates like them — they seemed to be waiting for candidates like them.

"People from the Academy beneath the Mulberry?"

"Should be. They're here to receive us — that's great… uh, why aren't they coming down? Just standing on the sixth peak — does that mean we have to go over?"

"Indeed there's no sign of them coming over, no sign of them walking down either. Eight or nine out of ten, they want us to climb over."

"Then what are we waiting for, gentlemen? I'll take the first step and scout the way — ha ha."

Someone couldn't wait and pressed forward.

Clearly, this was another checkpoint — possibly the final one. No one knew how many the Academy beneath the Mulberry would recruit; it might not take everyone who passed. It might only take those who arrived first. To head off that possibility, the earlier one passed, the better.

The next moment.

No one hesitated; they all began to climb.

The moment he set foot on the ancient peak, Zhang Hao muttered that it was just as he thought — the ancient peak was indeed no simple matter; some mysterious power was blocking them from climbing.

With every peak passed, the mysterious obstruction on the next peak grew stronger, each one higher than the last.

At the start, the first peak was still fairly easy — everyone got through. By the second, the situation changed: the obstructing force shifted greatly, and some people found every step a struggle, gasping for breath after only a few hundred meters.

This obstructing force was different for each person — very fair, giving those stronger folk no advantage whatsoever, treating everyone equally.

Down in the town below.

The eliminated were also watching the ancient peaks in the sky; quite a few had started livestreams, broadcasting to the whole world.

Television stations also made urgent contact and switched to the livestream feed.

Soon, some stopped at the third peak, some stopped at the fourth…

By the time the fifth peak was reached, those remaining were few — of the original ten million, fewer than a hundred thousand remained.

This scene drew endless sighs from countless onlookers.

Over a hundred million had come here; now only a hundred thousand remained — already below one percent.

It truly confirmed what someone had said earlier: "one in ten thousand."

Yet people knew these hundred thousand were not the final result.

The Academy beneath the Mulberry's people were standing on the sixth peak, not the fifth — meaning the hundred thousand still had to climb one more peak.

At this moment.

The people on the fifth peak were in despair — gods, demons, immortals, fiends, none excepted — each one drenched in sweat.

An immortal-magus wiped his sweat and looked up at the peak ahead: "Do we have to reach the sixth peak, or climb all nine to pass? If it's nine, it's simply impossible!"

Hearing this, everyone's legs went weak at once.

The same words were spoken in the town, in front of televisions, in front of livestreams.

The Academy beneath the Mulberry's people were indeed standing on the sixth peak, but they hadn't said which peak one had to reach to count — it might be the sixth, it might be enough to reach the fifth, or it might be that all nine peaks had to be climbed. Otherwise, why give nine peaks?

That was why everyone was desperately climbing — no matter which peak it was, charging upward brainlessly was never wrong.

No one was willing to stop easily; they kept squeezing out every last bit of themselves, only stopping when the moment they were utterly spent.

"Climb for Grandpa!!"

A Hua citizen roared at himself and set off toward the sixth peak.

The rest were unwilling to fall behind either, and surged upward.

"I wonder how many will be left in the end," someone sighed.

……

The sixth peak.

Mist wreathed the air, clear light rippled, and purple clouds rose into the sky.

The platform was built of jade stone; the first batch to climb up was small — a sparse dozen or so — all lucky ones who had once been taken away by the Nine-Colored Jin Lian.

If one could ask, one would surely find that every lucky one taken by the golden lotus carried a token.

They were the ones chosen by Kamikawa Mitsu — this wasn't cheating, because they had been chosen precisely because they could pass the test; that was why they were selected.

As for letting the others in without tokens, it was simple: the world was vast and living beings numerous; Kamikawa Mitsu couldn't examine every single one.

So he let all beings come in on their own — giving everyone a chance, so as to avoid letting any slip through the net when he picked people, and thereby recruit a few more talents.

"I can't go on, I really can't move anymore. I wonder which checkpoint it takes to be taken in."

Someone sighed — the moment he reached the sixth peak he collapsed flat on the ground, so exhausted he couldn't even lift a finger.

It wasn't regret, purely lament at how hard it was to be recruited by the Academy beneath the Mulberry. From here to now, only a hundred or two hundred people had made it — a brutal culling of ninety-nine point nine-nine percent. It was damnably tragic.

Among them, immortal-magi had been culled, and even several Imperishables had been eliminated.

On Earth, many fell silent.

The single word "hard" could hardly express it.

"Surely they don't expect us to get past nine peaks."

The Great Sage Heaven-Spanning Monarch, who had climbed the sixth peak, sat on the ground to rest briefly. Compared to before the climb, his aura had weakened considerably, but his eyes grew sharper than ever, keen as swords — as if a precious blade had been honed from grinding, all the more radiant with divine light.

Clearly this stretch of climbing had given him gains; even if he failed to enter the Academy beneath the Mulberry this time, his harvest exceeded imagination.

"Don't say nine — even ninety we'd have to keep going," the Heaven-Wicked Sword Immortal said at leisure, his bearing upright.

"Heh heh, I don't care either way, but Sword Immortal, you absolutely have to pass the Academy beneath the Mulberry's recruitment — otherwise, if the Sword Lord knows in the netherworld that you didn't pass, he'd probably be furious enough to die of rage."

At a time like this, the Great Sage Heaven-Spanning Monarch still couldn't resist courting death by taking a jab at someone.

Just at that moment.

A few people walked over from ahead—it was Qingyun and the others.

Qingyun said in an unhurried tone:

"We've been waiting for you a long time."

Many people's expressions jolted wildly—the meaning of those words…

In an instant, within the town, before the televisions, before the livestream rooms, including those stopped at the first five peaks, everyone's focus converged here.

But they saw Qingyun sweep a glance over them, nod first, then shake his head:

"This batch's aptitude isn't bad, but unfortunately no Supreme-Grade Physique has appeared."

Once those words came out, he was filled with lament.

Yet the crowd immediately grew curious.

No one would fail to care about the Jixia Academy.

"What is a Supreme-Grade Physique?"

The usually easygoing Great Sage Sovereign asked a question.

"What is a Supreme-Grade Physique? It refers to someone whose aptitude gives hope of achieving the Supreme. Of course, it's only hope—having a Supreme-Grade Physique doesn't guarantee reaching the Supreme, but possessing one gives more hope of achieving the Supreme than anyone else."

The Supreme?!

Many people came to understand: it seemed the Jixia Academy's aptitude assessment was based on potential as its standard, which was far more precise than their world's, and probably had some method or basis behind it.

But what shocked them most was still Qingyun's line, "no Supreme-Grade Physique has appeared."

Those words carried an underlying implication—the Jixia Academy must have produced a Supreme-Grade Physique before, and that person achieved the Supreme; otherwise such an assessment would be impossible. One had to know that an existence at the Supreme level was the peak across all ages.

Breathing grew rapid, becoming heavy.

The Jixia Academy had cultivated a Supreme?!

……