Chapter 451: Saluting the Heroes (Combined Chapter, Requesting Everything)

Seemingly thinking of something, Ning Bizhen gazed toward the north.

Li Zhangsheng followed Ning Bizhen's gaze, looking in the same direction.

At the same time, countless people throughout the Academy District were making the same gesture as Ning Bizhen.

The horizon was clear and blue, when suddenly, a huge black dot appeared, growing larger and larger as time passed.

Closer, even closer!

When they were about to enter the Academy District, Li Zhangsheng could already see their general appearance.

Dozens of large flying mounts were dragging an aerial platform nearly a thousand square meters in size, which was covered with a large number of crystal coffins.

Besides the crystal coffins, over a hundred people stood upon it; they were all pale-faced and sorrowful, appearing like candles in the wind, exuding a sense of frailty.

"Follow me to welcome them!" Ning Bizhen's voice was uncharacteristically hoarse as she flew toward the aerial platform.

Li Zhangsheng did not ask any questions and followed Ning Bizhen in flight.

Even though he had not experienced it himself, seeing such a scene, Li Zhangsheng had already roughly guessed what had happened.

"Souls return, all personnel fall out!"

Suddenly, Xu Wenhua's voice resounded throughout the entire Academy District.

The next moment, dozens of figures flew out from Yuanling Academy; they quickly gathered in an orderly fashion, with Xu Wenhua, Zhang Kaishuo, Ning Wei, and Lu Qian standing in the front row.

On the ground, countless instructors and students of Yuanling Academy began to gather; they were solemn and grave, spontaneously forming two columns on either side of the main road.

It was not just Yuanling Academy; the other academies in the Academy District were the same, though their numbers were much smaller.

On the way, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen merged into the ranks of Xu Wenhua and the others.

Ning Bizhen stood to the left of Xu Wenhua, while Li Zhangsheng stepped back a distance, standing at the very end of the line with Miao Yinfeng; they were also the only two students from Yuanling Academy to come out to welcome them.

In front of them were a group of Fourth and Fifth Rank instructors, numbering as many as seventy or eighty; if one counted the instructors who were out on missions, the number would definitely exceed one hundred.

As for the other academies, the number of people they sent to welcome them varied, but most were in the single digits, with the smallest having only one or two people.

It was not that they did not want to send more people, but it involved an unspoken rule: only those of the Fourth Rank and above were qualified to come out to welcome them, while the rest could only stand on the sides of the road.

The gap between academies was immense; like these academies located at the bottom, their top brass were only of the Fourth Rank.

Soon, the middle and high-level personnel of dozens of academies gathered together.

Among them, the middle and high-level personnel of Qingmeng Academy and Hongtao Academy fell to the left and right of Yuanling Academy; they were also the only existences in the Pengcheng Academy District second only to Yuanling Academy, each possessing a Sixth-Rank Expert.

The other academies were also ranked according to their respective status, and the total number of people reached two or three hundred.

After approaching the edge of the Academy District, they landed one after another, walked for a distance, and stood at the entrance.

Not far ahead, dozens of large flying Demon Pets dragged the platform down slowly.

Boom—

This was just an ordinary platform without the ability to hover, so it landed directly on the ground, making a dull thud.

Xu Wenhua stepped forward, his expression solemn, and said to the hundred or so pale-faced people on the platform: "You have all worked hard!"

"You have all worked hard!"

As soon as Xu Wenhua's voice fell, the voices of the others followed closely behind.

"Salute to our heroes!"

The next moment, Xu Wenhua turned toward the crystal coffins placed on the platform, his eyes filled with hot tears, his expression carrying sorrow, and he bowed in salute.

"Salute to our heroes!"

The others followed Xu Wenhua and shouted, simultaneously bowing toward the large number of crystal coffins where their heroes lay.

Two or three months ago, the Abyss Gate located in Yuan Province once again triggered a Demon Disaster; the Demon Tide surged, demons ran rampant, and whether it was Yuanling Academy or other academies, they all organized personnel to join the army in conquering the demons, shedding their blood and sacrificing their lives to protect their homes and country.

Among this group of personnel who went on the expedition with the army, there were instructors and students; in the process of exterminating the demons, losses were inevitable.

These people on the platform had all lost their contracted Demon Pets and were in a state of mental shock; they could not exert their full strength in the short term and could only return together with those who had died in battle.

On these crystal coffins were written the names and affiliations of those who had died in battle.

Through the crystal coffins, one could see broken corpses, but there were only the bodies of some of the fallen; the rest were left with nothing, and their clothing and personal belongings from when they were alive could only be used as substitutes.

Demons were not picky eaters; humans were included in their menu.

Not long after, each academy took away their own fallen personnel and the wounded.

Yuanling Academy had the highest number of participants, and the number of fallen also ranked among the highest, with a total of 23 people, including 5 instructors, while the rest were third and fourth-year students.

Among the fallen of Yuanling Academy, Li Zhangsheng discovered a familiar face, and that was Instructor Luo Hong of the Battle Academy!

Half a year ago, when Li Zhangsheng participated in the Yuanling Academy enrollment examination, the chief examiner at that time was Instructor Luo Hong, and he was also the first instructor who wanted to recruit Li Zhangsheng as a student.

Now, he had died in battle!

As for the others, they could at most be considered familiar faces; with over five thousand teachers and students in Yuanling Academy, it was impossible for Li Zhangsheng to know them all.

Looking at their corpses or their symbolic coffins, under the heavy atmosphere of the scene, everyone felt uncomfortable in their hearts.

"Lift the coffins!"

At Xu Wenhua's command, he was the first to shoulder a crystal coffin and led the way toward Yuanling Academy.

Others followed suit; Li Zhangsheng shouldered Instructor Luo Hong's crystal coffin and followed closely behind the team.

Because too many people had come from Yuanling Academy, only some carried the crystal coffins, while the others brought the wounded and trailed behind; they did not fly, but returned to Yuanling Academy on foot.

The other academies made the same move, returning to their respective academies with their own crystal coffins and wounded.

After half an hour, Li Zhangsheng and his group finally returned to Yuanling Academy and headed toward the Cemetery area.

Before setting out to conquer the demons, the instructors and students of Yuanling Academy would specifically leave behind wills; if they died in battle, they would be buried according to their wills.

Some were buried directly in the Cemetery, while others were taken back to their hometowns by their families; at the same time, Yuanling Academy would personally hand over their belongings and pensions to their families.

Clang, clang, clang—

At this moment, the bell of Yuanling Academy rang.

In the heavy atmosphere, everyone's expression was solemn, especially when they saw people they were familiar with in the crystal coffins; they felt very uncomfortable in their hearts, and some people burst into tears.

Suddenly, a female student cried out with a "wah," unable to stop the tears streaming from her eyes; as she wept, she followed closely behind a crystal coffin, where her Instructor lay.

As if infected by the mood, more and more instructors and students could not help but shed tears, and the atmosphere became increasingly heavy.

It was in this heavy atmosphere that thousands of people entered the Cemetery.

Under the arrangements of Xu Wenhua, the crystal coffins brought back to their hometown for burial were placed in a spacious courtyard, where the ice Restriction was kept in an activated state at all times to prevent the corpses from decomposing.

The remaining crystal coffins were taken to the depths of the Cemetery, where space and tombstones had already been prepared in advance, though the tombstones were still blank and required on-site carving.

Amidst the heavy funeral music, the burial ceremony began.

……

As night approached, the burial ceremony officially ended, and Xu Wenhua publicly announced the recruitment order.

This time, after the dead and wounded were transported back from the front lines, each Academy had to re-recruit a batch of elites to go to the front lines to replace the previous batch and suppress the Abyss Gate.

Students and Instructors could volunteer to sign up; if the number of volunteers was insufficient, the Academy would have to conduct mandatory recruitment until the quota was met.

Additionally, whether recruited voluntarily or mandatorily, all participating students and Instructors would receive different benefits from the Academy based on their cultivation realms, such as a certain amount of Academic Credit, Alchemical Pill, and so on.

"This time, a total of one hundred people will be recruited. The deadline for registration is five days from now. Dismissed!"

After Xu Wenhua finished speaking, most of the teachers and students scattered like birds and beasts, but some still voluntarily remained in the Cemetery, preparing to keep vigil for the deceased and see them off on their final journey.

Li Zhangsheng was also among them; he prepared to keep vigil for Instructor Luo Hong, not only because he knew Instructor Luo Hong, but most importantly, because Li Runfeng and Li Tianyu were students of Instructor Luo Hong.

Because of this, Li Jingyi did not fall behind either; the Li Clan Four Heroes prepared to keep vigil together.

Instructor Luo Hong was a member of the Pengcheng Luo Clan, so Luo Jie and Luo Jing, this pair of siblings, naturally stayed here as well, along with several other members of the Luo Clan.

Although Instructor Luo Hong was a member of the Luo Clan, in the will he had left in advance, he specifically requested to be buried at Yuanling Academy after his death.

Ning Bizhen did not leave either; she was keeping vigil for a female Instructor who had died in battle; they had graduated and become Instructors in the same year and were quite familiar with each other.

Unfortunately, this female Instructor's remains were not recovered, so only a cenotaph could be erected.

"I want to sign up!" Looking at Instructor Luo Hong's tombstone, Li Tianyu's low voice sounded.

"Me too!"

Li Runfeng nodded in agreement.

Li Jingyi hesitated for a moment and said, "Then I'll go too!"

Seeing all three companions going, Li Zhangsheng helplessly spread his hands, "Since you are all going, you certainly can't be missing me; we can look out for each other if we are together."

Although the front lines were quite dangerous, Li Zhangsheng had great confidence in his own strength; as long as it wasn't a Demon Commander or a Demon King-level top-tier demon, he could handle it.

Moreover, Li Zhangsheng had the Purple Flame Corpse-Hiding Coffin and the Third-Grade Star Palace Lotus Platform; they were both defensive treasures, and even top-tier demons would find it very difficult to break through his defenses all at once.

Most importantly, he was currently in urgent need of Advanced Demon Heart to make Advanced Dissolving Agent, and he needed quite a large quantity.

Advanced demons were difficult to hunt, which also resulted in Advanced Demon Heart being very rare and hard to obtain through other channels.

To obtain Advanced Demon Heart, the simplest method was to head to the front lines, either to actively hunt advanced demons or to accumulate Merit to exchange for Advanced Demon Heart.

Additionally, Advanced Demon Heart would occasionally appear in the fortress Market District at the front lines, which was something Li Zhangsheng would have to seize for himself.

Li Tianyu looked at Li Zhangsheng and said hesitantly, "Is this really a good idea?"

The other two had the same expression; Li Zhangsheng was the most potential-filled Heavenly Pride in the history of their Li Clan and possessed the possibility of becoming a King. If Li Zhangsheng were to accidentally fall there, it would be a catastrophic blow to the Li Clan.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!"

Li Zhangsheng shook his head; there were still five days left, and while trying his best to improve his strength, he also had to prepare some life-saving treasures as much as possible.

"Then you must not take risks lightly; it's best to be a bit cautious!"

The other three of the Li Clan Four Heroes looked at each other and finally had no choice but to agree.

After keeping vigil in the Cemetery for a night, Li Zhangsheng stretched, greeted Ning Bizhen, and headed to the Market District to purchase some materials.

The main materials for the Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion were Ice Heart Grass and Yuanqi Fruit; Li Zhangsheng had already collected both of these, and the remaining auxiliary materials were not rare and could be bought in the market.

After returning to the Number One Courtyard, Li Zhangsheng did not catch up on sleep; even if he didn't sleep for two or three days, he wouldn't be affected, not to mention that it was Kailan who would be making the Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion.

Soon, Li Zhangsheng activated the Breath Concealment Restriction.

"Kailan, you make the Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion, and I will act as your assistant!"

Compared to Li Zhangsheng, Kailan's success rate would definitely be higher.

On the simple workbench, Kailan began to process the materials for the Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion formula.

These materials could be divided into exactly ten portions; theoretically speaking, it was possible to obtain ten portions of Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion.

Kailan took one portion of materials, her eyes filled with focus, and she began to operate meticulously.

Li Zhangsheng stood by and assisted Kailan, occasionally wiping sweat from her brow.

Kailan had long since memorized all the steps; her movements were skillful, adding various materials at precise time points, occasionally adjusting the Fire Element, and doing her best to make these materials fuse together perfectly.

"The final step!"

After about a quarter of an hour, while muttering to herself, Kailan poured some pulp of the Yuanqi Fruit into the vessel, then turned the Fire Element to the maximum, and began to wait for the final result.

This process lasted for five minutes; Kailan immediately extinguished the flames and then opened the lid; the vessel contained a small pool of golden liquid without any impurities, which was emitting a Rich medicinal fragrance.

"Success!"

Kailan checked it carefully, and a smile immediately appeared on her face.

While Li Zhangsheng used a Jade Bottle to store this portion of Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion, Kailan took out another portion of materials and continued refining.

After three hours, as Kailan let out a sigh of relief, she clapped her small hands, her face beaming with a joyful smile.

This time, she had successfully refined seven portions of Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion, a success rate as high as seventy percent.

Regarding these seven portions of Ancient Strength Enhancement Potion, Li Zhangsheng had no intention of auctioning them for the time being; he prepared to raise the strength of his Demon Pet to a new level.

Li Zhangsheng had a total of eight official Demon Pet; among them, because of the Light-Dark Symbiotic Body of Baitian and Heiye, one portion of resources could be used as two, so seven portions of potion were just enough to satisfy them.

Due to the different qualities of the Demon Pet, their improvement levels were also not the same.

(End of this chapter)