Before dawn, the sky had already brightened, and the red sun illuminated the world.

Outside the disciples’ hall of the Huntian Dao Academy, hundreds of people had gathered.

Chen Feng, dressed in a brand-new white robe adorned with blue cloud patterns, with a refined sword at his waist, walked confidently and purposefully. When he saw Li Xinyue smiling and waving at him, a faint smile appeared on his face as he quickened his pace toward her.

“Nervous?” Li Xinyue asked.

“A little,” Chen Feng replied with a smile.

“Me too.” Li Xinyue took a deep breath, and the two of them laughed, the tension within them easing slightly.

In the next moment, Chen Feng’s gaze sharpened, a flicker of coldness flashing in his eyes.

Li Xinyue, noticing his change in expression immediately, followed his gaze and saw a group of people surrounding two figures.

“Ye Yunqi, Yang Xuening...”

A trace of cold fierceness flashed in Chen Feng’s eyes.

As if sensing Chen Feng’s stare, Ye Yunqi’s arrogant eyes shifted in his direction. Upon seeing Chen Feng, Ye Yunqi paused slightly, as though recalling something, his gaze becoming sharp and cutting like a blade. Standing next to him, Yang Xuening, who had been watching Ye Yunqi’s movements attentively, also followed his gaze.

“It’s him!”

Yang Xuening’s face changed dramatically upon seeing Chen Feng.

Since the last time she had humiliated Chen Feng, she had gone into secluded cultivation with Ye Yunqi and had only come out a few days earlier. She had paid no attention to any news about Chen Feng, considering him an insignificant nobody.

In Yang Xuening’s mind, Chen Feng was merely a useless weakling. Even if he had started making an effort to cultivate, so what?

It was already too late.

She never expected to encounter him here.

“Could he have already broken through to the seventh stage of the Body Refining Realm?” Yang Xuening couldn’t figure it out.

As for Ye Yunqi, he had also not paid attention to Chen Feng. Like the rest of the Ye family, he completely disregarded him. This disdain meant Ye Yunqi was equally unaware of Chen Feng’s recent progress.

Chen Feng withdrew his gaze, his expression returning to normal as he walked toward the crowd with Li Xinyue.

Now was not the time to settle scores with Ye Yunqi and Yang Xuening. Everything could wait… until after the Huntian Sect examination.

“Time has come! Everyone, follow me!”

A powerful voice echoed across the crowd. Several figures darted through the air and appeared in front of the two or three hundred Dao Academy disciples. Without pause, they immediately began leading the way outside the academy.

“Let’s go,” Li Xinyue said to Chen Feng, her face filled with indescribable excitement and anticipation.

The hundreds of disciples, all at the latter stages of the Body Refining Realm, moved like schools of fish crossing a river, heading toward the academy gates. Before long, they spilled out of the gates and ran along the broad streets of Huntian City.

“Teacher, where are we going?” Chen Feng asked curiously as they moved.

“We’re probably heading outside the city. Someone from the Huntian Sect will be coming to pick us up,” Li Xinyue replied.

Ten miles outside the north gate of Huntian City, there lay a large training ground. It was vast, flat, and so clean that not even a speck of dust could be seen.

The two to three hundred disciples arrived and gathered at this location.

"Form up and keep still. Do not wander around."

The rarely-seen head of the Dao Academy stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his cold, sharp gaze sweeping through the crowd, instantly instilling a strong sense of pressure on everyone.

"Teacher, how are we supposed to get to the Huntian Sect?" Chen Feng whispered.

"From what I’ve gathered over the years, the Huntian Sect is unimaginably far from our Great Xia Kingdom, a distance human effort alone cannot overcome. Thus, the Huntian Sect sends their Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship to pick us up," Li Xinyue answered quietly.

"The Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship…"

Chen Feng instinctively looked toward the azure sky, his eyes narrowing.

At that moment, a black dot appeared on the horizon, rapidly expanding at an astonishing speed.

“It’s here…”

“The Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship from the Huntian Sect is coming…”

Other disciples also noticed the rapidly approaching black dot, and exclamations of amazement erupted as countless gazes focused on it.

The black dot grew larger and larger. With his sharper eyesight, Chen Feng was the first to make out the faint outline of a ship. Gradually, the ship became clear.

It was an entirely black vessel adorned with golden cloud patterns. Its design exuded understated luxury and mystery. Although its size remained unclear, as it drew closer, it blocked out the morning sunlight, casting a massive shadow over the ground.

It was as though the sky itself had been obscured.

"So... huge!"

Whether it was Chen Feng or the other Dao Academy disciples, everyone stared at the gigantic black and gold ship descending from the sky in awe, their hearts and minds shaken to the core. Many couldn’t help but tremble.

“Over a kilometer…”

Chen Feng estimated its length and couldn’t help but gasp.

The ship, with its black body and golden cloud patterns, was at least a kilometer long. Its width exceeded a hundred meters. As it descended, its enormous frame parted the air to either side like waves splitting before a ship, creating gusts of wind that roared deafeningly.

The immense pressure from the ship, even at a thousand meters above, caused the Dao Academy disciples to shudder uncontrollably. Many turned pale, struggling to breathe.

Some disciples, unable to withstand the fierce winds, staggered and swayed on their feet.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, the black and gold ship finally descended, stopping about three meters above the ground.

"Two hundred meters high!" Chen Feng muttered, gasping once more.

It truly lived up to its name as a colossal ship. Towering before them, it was like a mountain.

The next moment, a figure flew out of the Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship, descending slowly in front of the gathered disciples. The man appeared to be around thirty years old, with a calm expression, a tall and slender build, and a flowing blue robe. His aura was otherworldly.

What caught everyone's attention, however, was the bronze disc about a meter in diameter beneath his feet, keeping him suspended three meters above the ground.

Most of the Dao Academy disciples were fixated on the bronze disc, dumbfounded.

"Humans… can fly?"

"Incredible!"

"A bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well. Once one reaches a certain level in martial cultivation, it’s possible to fly using artifacts," Ye Yunqi sneered softly, though a trace of longing flickered in his eyes.

“The Head of Huntian Dao Academy, Tang Jianlong, greets the Sect Envoy.”

The Academy Head immediately cupped his hands toward the man on the bronze disc and spoke in a deep voice.

“Brother Tang, there’s no need for formalities. As before, you may simply call me Brother Lin.” The man in the blue robe smiled faintly.

“Brother Lin, as the envoy of the sect, such formalities cannot be skipped.” The Academy Head replied respectfully, then added, “It seems that in just a few years, you’ve surpassed us all and broken through to the Divine Wheel Realm. Achieving True Core is surely just around the corner.”

“I believe that one day, you too, Brother Tang, will break through to the Divine Wheel Realm,” the blue-robed man replied with a smile.

“Thank you for your kind words,” the Academy Head said, smiling.

“This year’s Dao Academy has quite a few disciples who passed the preliminary assessment,” the blue-robed man observed, his bright gaze sweeping over the two to three hundred disciples like a blazing sun, making everyone feel pressured and tense.

“I hope some of them will pass the sect’s examination,” the Academy Head sighed.

“Brother Tang, I hope you’ll break through to the Divine Wheel Realm soon and return to the sect. When that day comes, I’ll treat you to a drink,” the blue-robed man said with a light smile. “The Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship still has to visit the next Dao Academy, so I must take my leave.”

As he spoke, the blue-robed man waved his hand, and twenty cloud ladders descended from the Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship, gently swaying in the wind.

“You have one quarter of an hour to climb the cloud ladders and board the Sky-Patrolling Colossal Ship. Those who fail will be eliminated,” the blue-robed man said coldly, his gaze sweeping across the Dao Academy disciples. His tone was devoid of any warmth.

The disciples stared at the narrow cloud ladders, each 200 meters long and swaying in the wind, their expressions changing dramatically.

“Form twenty lines and climb the ladders in order!” The Academy Head shouted sternly.

The disciples quickly regained their composure, forming orderly lines. The leaders of each line immediately burst into a sprint, racing toward the cloud ladders.

[--------------------------------------------]

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