Chapter 455: The True Origins of Jixia Academy's Founding

"This place couldn't really be a fragment of a world from the Shattered Origin Realm of the Primordial Era, could it?"

A god-demon murmured.

The crowd was stunned. They followed the god-demon's gaze, and the notion they had held earlier—that this Jixia Academy was a world created by some great figure—was swept away in an instant.

They discovered that beyond the layered heavens upheld by this gate, a thin membrane of light blocked their view. Through the haze, they could faintly make out a world outside the membrane—blood-red skies, blackened earth, a landscape ravaged and scarred.

It looked exactly like a grand world that had been smashed to pieces.

Faintly visible outside were the bones of living beings—few in number, eighty-one in all—standing guard around this, the highest Xianshan realm. The skeletons stood tall, majestic as mountains, their bearing grand and noble, like true dragons coiled in repose, together protecting this realm.

Just as they had in life, they stood guard over this place.

"These eighty-one are among the founders who established Jixia Academy. They perished on the Primordial Battlefield."

Senior Brother Qingyun spoke. A note of sorrow and reverence crept into his ordinarily calm tone. A spark of fire seemed to flash in his eyes—anger, perhaps, at the savagery of the Primordial Battlefield, or perhaps fury at the deaths of those who came before.

"Before I bring you into Jixia Academy, there is something I need to tell you. Every disciple who enters Jixia Academy must know this, and must abide by it."

He turned. His cool, clear eyes held solemnity, and for the first time he revealed a grave expression.

An involuntary chill ran through the hearts of the crowd. They understood that what came next might truly be the crux of whether they entered Jixia Academy or not, and might also touch upon Jixia Academy itself.

"I believe all of you know of the Primordial Battlefield."

Without waiting for the crowd's response, Qingyun continued:

"The proposal for Jixia Academy dates back far, far earlier—not to what is called the Warring States era. It was only during the Warring States era that King Wei of Qi spread word of it, and he once served as the provisional headmaster of Jixia Academy. In the Warring States era, warlords rose in numbers, vying for supremacy across the Origin Realm.

Yet they were also vying for supremacy on the Primordial Battlefield. It was at that time that the fierce, bloody battles of the Primordial Battlefield occurred, and Jixia Academy emerged into the myriad heavens from that very moment.

These are digressions. If you wish to learn more, once you enter Jixia Academy, go to the Hall of Classics and look it up yourselves.

What I want to speak of is another point: the reason Jixia Academy was established.

At the very beginning of Jixia Academy's founding, it was first established by the Huaguo Mythos to promote learning and scholarship. That's right—just as the ancient histories record, King Wei of Qi founded Jixia Academy to promote learning and scholarship.

But later, when the Primordial Battlefield appeared, the Huaguo Mythos shifted to teaching more god-demons to fight on the Primordial Battlefield. After all, this was one-sided consumption, with no cycle to it.

To avoid overlooking the talents within the Huaguo realm, the Huaguo Mythos opened Jixia Academy to recruitment.

Until the Taigu era, the Warring States era—the Primordial Battlefield erupted in great war, with terrible casualties. To hold the situation on the Primordial Battlefield, a large influx of fresh blood was needed. For this, the Huaguo Mythos united with the great mythos of all kinds, and through Jixia Academy began recruiting disciples from across the myriad heavens.

To this day, Jixia Academy has always been recruiting disciples from the myriad heavens. The great mythos of the Origin Realm also send their own disciples into Jixia Academy to study.

Because Jixia Academy is jointly managed by the four great mythos—including the Huaguo Mythos—and the great mythos of all kinds, the elders of Jixia Academy are personally dispatched by the Huaguo Mythos and the great mythos of all kinds, with great figures from each mythos coming to teach, and resources poured in together.

It is no exaggeration to say that Jixia Academy is now the largest god-demon blood-producing factory in the myriad heavens. The fresh blood for the Primordial Battlefield is supplied by Jixia Academy."

When these words were spoken, the crowd all understood.

No wonder the battles between past and future on the Primordial Battlefield had gone on, yet within their myriad heavens there was virtually no information about it, and god-demons and immortal-demons were rarely seen joining the fight. The truth was that only by entering Jixia Academy could one's forebears go to the Primordial Battlefield.

This also explained why the myriad heavens knew nothing of the Primordial Battlefield, and why no god-demon knew of it to take part.

So that was how it was.

Jixia Academy was the place that supplied "soldiers" to the Primordial Battlefield.

And the world at large only knew of Jixia Academy, not of the Primordial Battlefield.

It was also quite possible that their respective worlds actually knew of the Primordial Battlefield, but the information had been deliberately concealed for fear of causing panic.

Only those who had reached the Immortal level could know the truth—that level of strength was also a main fighting force on the Primordial Battlefield.

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian and the others thought of the Immortal-level beings who had vanished from their respective worlds, and grew all the more certain that those missing Immortals had gone to the Primordial Battlefield. To prevent the god-demons of their own worlds from acting rashly, they had concealed the Primordial Battlefield and waited for Jixia Academy's recruitment.

At this moment.

"I think saying all this, you should be able to understand as well. Today's Jixia Academy no longer teaches scholarship so much as it supplies blood for the Primordial Battlefield, protects the Origin Realm, and protects the myriad heavens.

Make your choice!

If you stay in Jixia Academy, you will receive our unstinting support and teaching, but where there is reward there must also be付出. In the future, when the safety of the Origin Realm is at stake, when chaos comes to the myriad heavens, you will be called upon to act—even when the Primordial Battlefield itself is in crisis, you must take the field and fight the enemy.

If you cannot do these things, Jixia Academy will not cultivate you.

Stay or go—make your choice now.

Do not worry that if you choose to leave, Jixia Academy will bear a grudge against you for it, or put you on some blacklist. Jixia Academy is not so petty as that.

I only hope that even if you choose to leave, you will not speak of today's matter outside, and that in the future, if a realm on the past side truly faces crisis, you can remember that you share the myriad heavens with the past side and lend a hand. Even if you do not help, at least do not hinder."

He put it very tactfully, using only the phrase "hinder." The crowd was not foolish; they understood the unspoken meaning—betraying the past side and throwing in with the future.

Though he did not say it outright, his tone was icy, and one could feel how severe the consequences would be if one betrayed the past side.

"I'll stay."

"I'll stay as well."

A god-demon laughed freely: "The past and the future must sooner or later decide a victor. If the past loses, we cannot stand idly by on the sidelines—peace will be impossible. In the end, we all have to face it.

And to deal with the future, strength is the key. Jixia Academy is the place that can make us strong. Since this is all fated to be so, making oneself strong is the hard truth. I choose to stay."

Without a single exception.

With almost no hesitation, every person present chose to stay and enter Jixia Academy.

Just as this last god-demon had said—strength is the key to protecting oneself, one's world, and one's kin. If in the end one must face it all, then of course one should face it with powerful strength, and Jixia Academy is the most fitting choice.

"Very well. Then follow me."

Qingyun nodded in satisfaction. For the first time, a truly approachable, warm smile appeared on his breezy, composed face.

From now on, these people were his junior brothers and junior sisters—and also his rivals.

Under Qingyun's lead, Zhang Hao and the others passed through the enormous gate and arrived at an ancient hall.

Many people were moving about there—mostly young, with some older as well—dressed in the same attire as Qingyun and his group, all disciples of Jixia Academy.

"The Hall of Immortal Ascension?"

……