Chapter 899: Inviting the Ancestors

"No! Did you notice? Just now they didn't say 'congratulations to Master Zhang for becoming the dean,' but 'congratulations to the master'..."

After a long silence, someone shouted out.

The shock earlier had been too great; only now did they react.

"Exactly! They said 'congratulations to the master'!"

"When a sacred beast says 'master,' there's only one possibility... a beast pet!"

"Are you saying that Master Zhang... tamed the king of Cloud Mist Ridge? That's why they moved their entire lair here as a congratulatory gift?"

A single stone stirred a thousand waves; the entire Master Teacher Academy was in an uproar!

None of the students at the Master Teacher Academy were fools; in the blink of an eye, they understood.

Then, one by one, they looked as if they had seen a ghost at the calm young man on the platform, only in his twenties, and felt their brains about to explode.

Especially the students of the Beast Taming Academy, all of them were frantic.

They would spend at least several years taming a single spirit beast, preparing various treasures and delicacies in advance, catering to its preferences, setting aside their dignity to curry favor, like begging ancestors...

But this one on the platform had tamed the Purple Sun Beast without anyone noticing, and even tamed the king of Cloud Mist Ridge...

Could it be any more exaggerated?

While they were still stunned, they heard tens of thousands of spirit beasts in the sky and on the ground simultaneously bow down, all looking at the young man on the platform and roaring in unison.

"Roar roar roar roar roar roar..."

"It's ancient beast language!" said an elderly beast tamer in the crowd.

"Ancient beast language? What does it mean?" the people around quickly asked.

Not many were proficient in ancient beast language; even among the many masters of the Master Teacher Academy, not all understood it.

"I can only understand a simple part..."

The elderly beast tamer hesitated: "It seems to be saying... 'Congratulations to the master for becoming the dean of the Master Teacher Academy'..."

"Master? Could it be that these spirit beasts... have also been tamed by Master Zhang and become his beast pets?"

"It seems to be true..."

"Tamed the king of Cloud Mist Ridge, and incidentally tamed all its spirit beasts?"

"Wherever the president, oh, no, the dean goes, not a blade of grass grows..."

Everyone felt their eyelids twitch again.

No sooner had they said 'could it be any more exaggerated' than they saw this scene...

Dean, are you sure you're really just a four-star master, and not Master Kong in disguise?

Even Master Kong, as far as we know, never tamed tens of thousands of spirit beasts and sacred beasts in one go when he was young.

They looked at the young man on the platform again, as if seeing a monster.

"It seems that the so-called negotiation was conducted by the dean himself. It wasn't what we imagined—paying a great price and swallowing his pride—but rather... he wiped out their lair."

A student from the Beast Taming Academy who had participated in the battle was the first to realize.

"Exactly! He went there and tamed them directly. The ten kings, all the spirit beasts, none escaped... With such ability, why bother negotiating!"

"Ridiculous, we kept doubting! No wonder Elder Zhao said earlier that we no longer need to worry about beast tides from Cloud Mist Ridge. When all spirit beasts have become beast pets, how could a beast tide occur?"

"The Cloud Mist Ridge problem that the Master Teacher Academy couldn't solve for ten thousand years was solved by Master Zhang before he even took office. If I were one of the ten elders, who else would I choose as dean?"

After the shock, there was nothing but bitter smiles.

Earlier, when they heard about the negotiation with Cloud Mist Ridge, everyone thought that something had been done to compromise the academy's dignity.

Now it seemed far from it; instead, it had greatly relieved the human race.

Once the news spread, it would surely shock the entire Qingyuan Title Empire.

"He tamed them all..."

Looking at the sky and the surrounding spirit beasts, Zhu Chenqing's eyes reddened.

His greatest goal was to avenge his family, and now that all the spirit beasts had completely submitted, his revenge was as good as achieved!

"Dean, thank you!" He clasped his fists and knelt down, his reverence sincere, without a trace of falsehood.

"Alright, all of you, withdraw!"

Accepting the many gifts, Zhang Xuan rubbed his brow.

He had no prior knowledge that the spirit beasts and sacred beasts would pull such a stunt!

If he had known, he would have stopped them long ago, how could he have allowed them to act so recklessly?

Although they did it to give him face, he was still quite frustrated.

Wealth should not be displayed. If they had quietly given this to him, it would have been a win-win. But sending it as a congratulatory gift in front of the entire academy made it impossible to keep a low profile and get rich quietly.

"Yes!" The Crimson Flame Lion nodded and led the spirit beasts and sacred beasts slowly away.

Seeing the sky and earth filled with spirit beasts and sacred beasts, all orderly and strictly following commands, the renowned teachers exchanged glances, each filled with admiration.

With such a dean, how could the academy fail to thrive?

"Alright, if there are no further questions, let us proceed to the next item: honoring the ancestors!"

Seeing the crowd's attitude shift from doubt to worship, Zhao Bingxu smiled and said.

"We acknowledge Zhang as the dean, no more questions!" the crowd said in unison.

This Dean Zhang on the platform was impeccable in character, teaching ethics, education, breadth of mind, and understanding of cultivation, earning respect; asking further questions would only invite humiliation, so it was best to stop.

"Very well, invite the ancestors!" Zhao Bingxu nodded and announced loudly.

Inviting the ancestors upon a dean's succession was a tradition and inheritance of the Master Teacher Academy.

The purpose was to gain recognition from the many former deans of the Master Teacher Academy, which sounded similar to the effect of the Enfeoffment Hall, but in reality it was not.

In the Enfeoffment Hall, one knelt to the many outstanding ancestors of the Master Teacher Hall; the more recognition one received, the higher one's future achievements would be.

Inviting the ancestors involved the residual wills of successive deans selecting and recognizing; the more times one was recognized by these deans' consciousness, the greater the authority and benefits one obtained in the academy.

The Master Teacher Academy was not as simple as it appeared on the surface; it involved deeper matters that even an elder like Zhao Bingxu had no right to explore.

Boom!

With Zhao Bingxu's words, the sky immediately darkened, and a massive array slowly activated around the platform, casting flickering light and shadow like a huge dark cloud descending.

"What's happening?" Many students had never seen such a scene and were filled with doubt.

Wasn't it supposed to be inviting the ancestors? Why had the sky suddenly darkened?

"It seems you don't know. The last time a dean succeeded, I happened to be present, and it was just like this!"

An elder stroked his beard and explained: "The so-called ancestors are actually the wills left by many deans within the academy, akin to souls, unable to move in sunlight. Only by activating the array to block the sun can they be summoned."

"Souls? Could they be witch souls?" a student, unable to contain his curiosity, couldn't help asking.

"Witch souls? How is that possible? The art of witch souls, for the sake of survival, involves possessing others or even refining living people into soulless golden men—inhumane! Our Master Teacher Hall is upright and magnanimous; how could we use their methods!" The elder's face showed disdain.

"Then..." the student was puzzled.

As far as he knew, only witch souls required darkness and shelter from sunlight.

"These ancestors are the teacher-path wills condensed by successive deans, not comparable to the petty ways of witch souls! Just watch..."

As his words fell, a gust of wind howled, and then a faint shadow of an old man appeared on the platform.

The old man had a square face, with a heroic spirit between his brows, giving an aura of swallowing the heavens.

Completely different from the coldness of witch souls, he exuded righteous energy.

Looking at the figure of this old man in the distance, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Earlier, he had thought like the other students that the so-called ancestors might be witch souls; otherwise, how could anyone live for over ten thousand years since the academy's founding?

Seeing this old man, he realized it should be similar to the will left by Master Teacher Kong on the Sealing Saint Platform, not a witch soul.

Although he couldn't fully understand the specifics, this soul was upright and without any chill, far better than witch souls.

Of course, there were pros and cons; its strength was certainly much weaker than a witch soul, and it was not a complete soul.

A witch soul preserved its complete consciousness, while this was merely a will of a master teacher, somewhat similar to the ruthless man in his hand.

"Judging by his appearance and aura, he should be the first dean of the Master Teacher Academy, Mu Kai, Master Mu!"

Unlike Zhang Xuan's scrutiny, the elders and master teachers below were all eyes shining.

The founding patriarch of the Master Teacher Academy manifesting in form—who wouldn't be extremely excited?

Though only a remnant soul, it still contained the ancestor's consciousness.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Soon after the appearance of this ancestor Mu Kai, shadows flickered on the platform, and soon dozens of figures appeared.

Though they seemed faint, they exuded a powerful pressure.

As students and elders, the academy's history was something they had to memorize; every dean who could become one had abilities far surpassing other master teachers and were idols worshipped by countless students.

Suddenly seeing so many idols appear at once, the entire training ground nearly erupted.

"That should be the seventh dean, Dean Liu Changyuan! His 'Changyuan Great Compassion Hand' and 'Thousand-Leaf Spiral Palm' have always been my goals to learn..."

"That should be Dean Mo Liuzhen, known as the most talented among all deans! Truly extraordinary in temperament; just his gaze seems ready to tear through the void!"

"Dean Mo Liuzhen was powerful, but unfortunately, while attempting to break through to eight-star master teacher, he entered an underground cavern and never returned, becoming a great loss to the Master Teacher Hall..."

"My idol is the seventy-sixth dean, Zhu Xuanqing. Though he never broke through from six-star peak to seven-star in his life, he excelled in twelve auxiliary professions and provided detailed descriptions of each, leaving precious wealth to the academy..."

...

The many master teachers were all burning with passion.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Amid the discussions, a total of one hundred and two figures appeared on the platform.

"One hundred and two? Why is there no figure of the previous dean?" Zhang Xuan couldn't help frowning.