Shattered Continent, southwest of the central region
This was a vast and boundless desert, with a scarlet-yellow colour present within it. With a single glance, the endless stretch of yellow sand extended all the way to the end of one's line of sight.
As of now, the scarlet-yellow desert wasn't quiet at all. Frightening gales wreaked havoc, battering against the heavens and earth, causing yellow sand to fill the skies, obstructing one's line of sight.
The source of the gales wasn't naturally formed, but the great battle that had erupted within the desert.
Accurately speaking, it was a battle of a considerably astonishing scale.
In the air, figures stood in the air, boundless Spiritual Energy sweeping out from their bodies. As waves of Spiritual Energy surged out from their hands, swift and fierce Spiritual Energy swept out from their hands, before violently rumbling towards the ground before them.
Bang!
Bang!
The earth trembled as gigantic fissures extended out akin to spiderwebs. Within the yellow sand, there were a few figures miserably dodging and defending themselves.
The number of those figures was relatively small, with approximately a hundred people present. However, at this moment, the figures surrounding them were several times more than them.
Clearly, this was a large-scale encirclement and annihilation battle.
Such a scene wasn't a rare sight in the current central region. As the battles grew more and more intense, quite a few groups had started to band together. The result of this was the formation of large-scale battles.
Take, for example, the present situation. It was a larger scale alliance of forces encircling and annihilating a smaller group.
Clearly, their target was the points held by those groups.
The rampant gales that wreaked havoc within the desert were the result of the intense battles taking place here.
As the gales and yellow sand wreaked havoc in the sky, a figure stood at the forefront. Dressed in greyish-white robes, his face was exceedingly withered and shrivelled, while his skin radiated a somewhat strange greyish-white colour.
At this moment, he didn't take any action. Instead, he crossed his arms across his chest, expressionlessly looking down at the groups that were putting up a desperate struggle. As the gales blew past, not even his robes fluttered in the wind.
Following behind this person were several figures, all of them wearing ridiculing smiles as they stared down below, seemingly treating this encirclement and annihilation with such a great disparity in strength as a game of amusement.
This team was the one from the Skysoul Institute. As of now, they were ranked tenth on the point rankings.
"Captain, once we get rid of these guys, our team's score should rise to the ninth place." One of the young men looked at the man in the grayish-white robe in front of him and suddenly laughed.
The greyish-white-robed male was naturally the Captain of this group, Lu Tian. As of now, he was a rather resounding number one expert within the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament.
When he heard her words, he nodded his head and cast a glance at the dozen silhouettes beside him. All of them had powerful Spiritual Energy ripples around them. Their strengths had actually reached the First Grade Spirit Disaster.
These people could be considered as their partners. However, it was clear that Lyu Tian held the greatest authority in this large group. This could be seen from the reverence in the gazes of the other captains as they looked towards Lyu Tian.
"Captains, we've taken the majority of the points this time. I hope that everyone can understand. After all, this is the most important time for us to charge into the Top 8." A smile appeared on Lyu Tian's face as he spoke out towards the Captains.
Upon hearing his words, the Captains hastily shook their heads, their smiles appearing slightly unnatural. Although they had managed to form a strong group like Lyu Tian, which had allowed them to obtain quite a bit of points during this period of time, they would always be the ones who put in the most effort in every encirclement and annihilation of the other groups. Although their lives weren't in danger, there were quite a few members who had suffered serious injuries. If they wanted to completely recover, they would require a rather long period of rest. As of now, the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament had already entered its final phase. Therefore, by waiting for those seriously injured members to completely recover, they might have already missed the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament.
Within such a group, they had paid the greatest price. However, seemingly half of the points would be taken by Lyu Tian and his group, before the remaining half would be split equally among the other groups.
This was clearly too unfair. However, they did not dare to say anything about it, as they were extremely clear about Lyu Tian's strength. They did not have the qualifications to bargain with him. If they were to lose Lyu Tian's protection, their fates might be no different from those groups that were encircled and annihilated by them.
Therefore, even if they were extremely dissatisfied with the overbearingness of Lyu Tian and his group, they did not dare to reveal even the slightest bit of it.
Shooting an indifferent look at the unnatural expressions on the faces of the Captains, Lyu Tian retracted his gaze in an indifferent manner. Looking towards the sandy ground below, he said, "It's about time. Zhou Ya, take care of that fellow who's putting up the most intense resistance."
"Yes, Captain."
Behind Zhou Ya, a youth cracked a smile, before locking his somewhat chilling gaze down below. At that location, there was a group that was putting up an especially intense resistance, with many attacks being blocked by them. The leader of that group seemed to possess the strength of First Grade Spirit Disaster.
The person named Zhou Ya slowly walked forward, before swiftly descending towards that direction.
As Zhou Ya descended, the group that had been locked onto also sensed danger. Immediately, they moved closer to each other, while ugly expressions appeared on their faces as they stared at Zhou Ya, who was descending.
"Captain, what should we do?" Numerous members of the group that had been locked onto looked towards their Captain.
This Captain had a somewhat sturdy build, while his face appeared slightly familiar. If Mu Chen was present, he would be astonished to discover that this person was actually the group from the Desolation Spiritual Academy that he had bumped into not long after entering the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament.
As for this person, he seemed to be called Lin Zhou.
The information regarding the remnant of the Divine Wood Palace's branch hall was obtained by Mu Chen from Lin Zhou and his group. In the end, they had even cooperated to enter the Divine Wood Palace's branch hall to search for treasures. However, after the treasure hunt ended, both parties had separated. Mu Chen never imagined that Lin Zhou and his group would actually arrive at the central region of the Great Spiritual Academy. Furthermore, their strength had increased by quite a bit.
However, at this moment, Lin Zhou appeared to be in a slightly miserable state, his gaze brimming with fear and dread as he stared at Zhou Ya. Although he had also passed through First Grade Spirit Disaster, he understood that he had only managed to do so by luck not too long ago. As for the Zhou Ya before him, his strength might already be on the verge of touching Second Grade Spirit Disaster. Lin Zhou was simply not his opponent.
Furthermore, there were even more tyrannical figures eyeing them covetously in the air, especially the Captain of the Skysoul Academy, Lu Tian. He was an extremely formidable character.
"Hand over your Academy Plaque. We only want the points, and don't want to hurt anyone. However, if it really comes to that, we don't mind." Extending his hand towards Lin Zhou, Zhou Ya spoke out in an indifferent tone.
"We've painstakingly obtained these points. If they're taken away by you today, how am I going to explain to everyone?!"
In the end, Lin Zhou still clenched his teeth. Along the way, they had experienced many cruel and brutal battles in order to reach this point. If they were to be robbed today, all the hard work they had put in before would be for naught.
"Bang!"
As Lin Zhou's voice rang out, Zhou Ya's face had already turned completely dark. Tyrannical Spiritual Energy abruptly swept out. With a stomp of his foot, his figure appeared right before Lin Zhou like a spectre.
"Since you don't know how to explain yourself, let me do it for you!"
A cruel smile rose from the corner of Zhou Ya's mouth. In the next instant, he furiously sent a palm patting out. His palm sparkled with a lustrous white light, causing one to be able to faintly see white bones through his flesh and blood, appearing exceedingly strange.
Bang!
As he sent a palm patting out, the air beneath his palm exploded apart. Boundless Spiritual Energy smashed towards Lin Zhou's chest without the slightest bit of mercy.
Such a swift and fierce attack caused Lin Zhou's face to change. Hastily circulating all the Spiritual Energy within his body, he sent a fist rumbling out.
Boom!
As fist and palm collided, Spiritual Energy wreaked havoc as it swept out. The powerful shock waves caused the yellow sand in the air to be sent flying, layer by layer.
Hmph!
A pale shade surfaced on Lin Zhou's face as a muffled groan rang out, before his figure was sent flying back by the shock waves. In the next instant, a hundred metre long scar was formed on the ground, while a mouthful of blood uncontrollably spurted out from his mouth.
"Captain!"
Upon seeing this, the faces of the other four members of the Desolation Spiritual Academy drastically changed. In the next instant, with fierce roars, they had unexpectedly rushed towards Zhou Ya at the same time.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot."
With a faint smile, Zhou Ya took a step forward. Akin to a spectre, his figure shuttled back and forth between the four people.
Bang!
Bang!
Suddenly, a bloody mist spurted out from the chests of the four people, before their bodies flew out miserably. The clothes on their chests were in tatters, with a deep bloody handprint imprint present on them.
Lin Zhou's face turned ashen as he looked at the spectacle before him. Struggling to stand up, he fiercely glared at Zhou Ya, who was slowly walking over.
"Now, do you plan to hand it over, or not?" Zhou Ya spoke out with an indifferent gaze as he looked towards Lin Zhou, who was already like a dried up oil lamp.
"You guys have chased after us for three days. Isn't this too overbearing?!" Lin Zhou roared out in fury.
"Childish."
With a smile, Zhou Ya shook his head and said, "In this place, as long as one has sufficient strength, one would have the qualifications to be unbridled and overbearing. Naturally, if you guys have a sufficiently strong background or companions, we would feel some fear. However, do you think that a group of your level would have such a thing?"
The smile at the corner of Zhou Ya's mouth was filled with ridicule. The strength of Lin Zhou's group wasn't considered to be that strong. Therefore, he didn't believe that they would have a good relationship with some heavyweight group.
Furthermore, so what if they did?
Their Captain was a person that had a good relationship with an expert like Ji Xuan, who was currently ranked first on the point rankings. Within the entire central region, who wouldn't give them some face?
Hearing that, Lin Zhou and his group froze, before their eyes gradually dimmed. They were clear about their own capabilities. Among the groups that they had some cooperative relationship with, there wasn't a single group that could compare with the group from the Skysoul Academy. After all, the latter was ranked in the Top 16 on the point rankings. Within the entire Great Spiritual Academy Tournament, there might not be too many people that could surpass them.
As for experts that were able to surpass the level of Lu Tian and his group, why would they look at them?
"That's the end of the nonsense."
Zhou Ya shot a ridiculing look towards the dimmed Lin Zhou. Taking a step forward, his palm pressed against the latter's chest at lightning speed. Tyrannical Spiritual Energy condensed within his palm caused Lin Zhou's body to turn stiff, not daring to make even the slightest bit of movement. At this moment, the smile at the corner of Zhou Ya's mouth turned cold.
"It's very unfortunate to tell you that you've lost your final chance. Therefore …"
With a tremble from Zhou Ya's palm, tyrannical Spiritual Energy gushed out.
Lin Zhou's eyes shut in despair.
"Haha. If you're smart enough, it's best that your palm doesn't land. If not, just your Captain Lu Tian might not be able to protect you."
However, just at the instant when Zhou Ya was about to land his vicious strike, a somewhat clear and bright, somewhat familiar laughter rang out. The voice that was neither near nor far caused Lin Zhou's body to tremble, causing him to furiously open his eyes.
In the next instant, he saw figures slowly walking out from the yellow sands not too far away. At the very front, there was a figure that was exceedingly familiar.
It was Mu Chen.
At this moment, Lin Zhou's eyes grew increasingly wide.
(To be continued.)