Chapter 925: Zhang Xuan Returns

The succession procedures for the four academy deans were essentially the same.

Not out of arrogance or self-praise, but the two of them, whether in teaching or in managing the entire academy, were among the most outstanding figures in the history of deans.

With such abilities, they only received forty-five percent and thirty-seven percent approval, which shows how difficult the ancestors' evaluation was.

A twenty-year-old youth, even if he had been learning since birth, what could he have learned?

Could his approval rating be higher than theirs?

"Far from it, it's simply incomparable!"

Seeing their expressions, how could he not know what his two old friends were thinking? Wu Ran shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Incomparable? Do you mean... he has already exceeded fifty percent approval?"

Shen Pingchao frowned.

The highest proportion he could imagine was just that.

Because those who could receive such approval were basically geniuses among geniuses, with outstanding achievements in the academy, even making great contributions. It was already unbelievable to have a student who only enrolled this year become dean; could the ancestors possibly grant more than half approval?

If that were really the case, with so many ancestors... wouldn't that mean they had absolutely no taste!

"Fifty percent?" Wu Ran continued shaking his head.

Seeing his expression, Wu Tianqiong finally breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it, fifty percent approval couldn't be that easy..."

Before he could finish, the voice from across continued: "If it were that little, I wouldn't even mention it. It's... one hundred percent!"

"One hundred percent?"

The two deans nearly spat blood.

You must be joking, right?

Everyone's thoughts are different; achieving satisfaction from every single person is absolutely impossible!

Thus, in the history of the four academies, with so many brilliant deans, never had a one-hundred-percent approval been heard of.

A new student just turned twenty, gaining the full approval of over a hundred ancestors of Hongyuan Academy?

"I knew you wouldn't believe it, but facts are facts!"

Wu Ran sighed. When he first heard the news, he had the same expression as the other, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

If it weren't for the fact that at least a hundred thousand people were watching and everyone could confirm it, he too would not have believed it.

"Since you're so certain, it must be true..."

Knowing that his old friend never lied and had no reason to lie to them, Wu Tianqiong couldn't help but look over: "The ancestors' approval only lasted three sentences. What exactly did he say that made so many people acknowledge him at once?"

"He didn't say anything... Instead, he beat up the wills of many ancestors!"

Wu Ran twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Beat up?"

Shen Pingchao and Wu Tianqiong both stumbled.

They had heard of all kinds of flattery and ingratiation, but beating up... was that even possible? Since when did the wills of ancestors have so little backbone and yield to brute force?

"Not only that, but this new dean also gained 100% recognition from the faculty and students, smoothly condensing a perfect Dean's Order! At the same time, during his lecture, there was a grand spectacle of donkeys braying and dogs barking, and countless animals broke through to become savage beasts..."

Afraid that the two deans might be too overwhelmed by the shock, Wu Ran continued without giving them time to digest.

"Perfect Dean's Order..."

"Donkeys braying and dogs barking..."

The two deans were indeed heavily struck and took a long time to recover: "This Dean Zhang, have you met him?"

"No!" Wu Ran shook his head: "When I came, he had gone out to take the assessment for Six-Star Master and advance to the empire. It's been over two months now..."

"Over two months? Looks like it's unlikely we'll meet him this time!"

"Indeed, advancing to an empire is extremely difficult; without several years, it's hard to accomplish..."

Hearing that this new dean had only just taken the Six-Star Master assessment and had chosen the most difficult path of advancing to an empire, Shen Pingchao and Wu Tianqiong both shook their heads.

"Several years? No need! From what I know... he's already passed!" Wu Ran said.

"Didn't you say... it's only been a little over two months?" Wu Tianqiong's mouth twitched.

"Yes, he completed it in just over two months, advancing from a titled kingdom to an empire..." Wu Ran nodded.

"..." The two deans.

When they first arrived, they said the students had never seen the world and needed to know that there are always higher mountains and stronger people... Now, after hearing all this, they finally realized that it was they who hadn't seen the world.

Having sat in the dean's position for no less than 500 years, they had seen countless geniuses of all kinds, but one like Dean Zhang... they had never heard of.

"This War Master Selection tests the students; no matter how talented the dean is, it's useless! As far as I know, the overall combat strength of Hongyuan Academy's students is lacking... When the time comes, we'll see the real deal on the competition field!"

"Yes, as a dean, personal ability isn't important; what matters is whether he can lead the academy forward... If he can't do that, no matter how much recognition he gets from the ancestors or how powerful his Dean's Order is, it's all in vain!"

The dean of a master academy is not meant to showcase personal ability, but to bear responsibility and demonstrate management skills. If the students are poor and the advancement rate is low, no matter how impressive the dean is or how great his reputation, it's useless.

Putting the right people in the right positions and making the best use of everything—that's what a dean should do.

The four academies had always been in competition. At this moment, with Hongyuan producing such a formidable dean, it would be false to say the other three felt no pressure.

Now, they had all decided that during the War Master Competition, they would make their own students shine, letting everyone understand that as a dean, being strong oneself was not enough; having strong students was the foundation.

…

While Hongyuan City was in turmoil, Zhang Xuan was sitting on the back of a Purple Sun Beast, flying straight back.

Promoting an empire was extremely difficult, living up to its reputation as the hardest six-star assessment. Even with all his methods, he found it somewhat overwhelming.

Fortunately, he had not failed his mission and finally completed it.

Over the past two months, with the 500 high-grade spirit stones given by the Shen and Liu families, his strength had smoothly reached the peak of Half-Saint.

His true qi power had surged from the previous 60 million tons to 84 million tons, an increase of 24 million tons.

This power was even greater than the 75 million tons of a peak Cong Saint.

With such a surge in true qi power, under normal circumstances, adding his soul power of 20 million tons and physical strength of 32 million tons, the power he could now exert had reached 136 million tons.

Exceeding 100 million.

But... the reality was not so.

No matter how he combined them, his power could never cross the threshold of 100 million tons, hovering only at 99.99 million tons.

It seemed that 100 million tons was a chasm between the Saint Domain and Mortal Transformation, unbreachable without reaching that realm.

A difference of one ton, the gap between immortals and mortals.

However, although he could not exert the power of 100 million tons, with his accumulated foundation, ordinary early and mid-stage Saint Domain First Layer cultivators were no longer his match; he could easily crush them.

Most importantly, after two months of cultivation, his true qi had become even more abundant, and his reserves were astonishingly vast.

If an ordinary Half-Saint's true qi reserve was a pond, his was a river, at least several dozen times larger.

In other words, if he released all his true qi, it would be comparable to several dozen Half-Saint peak experts... just thinking about it was terrifying!

In these two months, not only had he advanced, but Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei'er had also smoothly reached the peak of the Silkworm Seal realm.

Dong Xin and Hu Yaoyao, like him, had become peak Half-Saint experts.

If news of such cultivation spread, it would be absolutely monstrous, but following behind Zhang Xuan, everything seemed理所当然, and they even felt it was a bit too slow.

If not for the need to solidify their foundations, these two might have even succeeded in冲击 the Cong Saint or even Saint Domain!

Zhao Feiwu and Mo Yu, under his guidance, had also reached the Fifth Layer of Mortal Transformation, with astonishing combat power.

Ziyang Beast, who had been following behind the group, also made great progress with the help of countless inner cores in Cloud Mist Ridge, reaching the late stage of the Second Layer of the Saint Domain.

The nine kings of Cloud Mist Ridge also all broke through, reaching the Spirit Consciousness Realm.

It could be said that in the short span of two months—a mere snap of the fingers in the eyes of cultivators—both humans and beasts around Zhang Xuan had undergone qualitative changes, their progress astonishing to the extreme.

Especially the Thousand Ant Hive, after nearly three months of expansion, had reached a diameter of five hundred meters, and its space was even more stable, giving the feeling of a small world.

Various buildings had also been constructed, enough to house hundreds or even thousands of people without issue.

The nine kings of Cloud Mist Ridge and Ziyang Beast usually lived inside, quite spacious, without interfering with each other.

The clone's Witch Soul had been cultivating under the Bodhi tree and now also broke through, reaching the Silkworm Seal Realm.

Seeing the clone's strength was weak, the main body once again had the urge to teach him a lesson, but once they fought... as before, he was beaten into a pig's head.

Although the clone's Witch Soul hadn't strengthened much, for some reason, the more the main body progressed, the more the clone progressed.

After being frustrated for a long time, Zhang Xuan finally understood.

The Nine Heavens Lotus Fetus was too strong; the longer the clone's Witch Soul was in contact with it, the more it resonated, and the greater the combat power it could unleash.

In other words, even if the clone didn't cultivate and just lay around sleeping every day, as long as he waited for the lotus fetus to perfectly merge with his soul, he would possess combat power beyond imagination.

This was something the original body could not match.

No help for it—the original body was inherently inferior, so he had to make up for it with effort. Who could blame him for lacking talent?

"Teacher, we've arrived at Hongyuan City. Should we go directly to the academy, or..."

One day, while he was cultivating, Luo Qiqi came up to him.

"Arrived?"

Zhang Xuan stood up: "Let's go to the residence first!"

With Elder Mi and Zhao Bingxu around, the academy shouldn't have major problems. He would first go see Wang Ying and the others, to check how far their cultivation had progressed.

He hadn't brought them along for this promotion to empire, firstly because he felt he had taught them all that was necessary, and there was no need.

Secondly, he wanted them to learn independence, to see what level they could reach without him—it was a test for them.

Everyone had to walk their own path. Having supported them from the Tianxuan Kingdom until now, it was time for them to move forward on their own.

"Alright!"

Luo Qiqi nodded and said something to the Ziyang Beast.

The enormous sacred beast flew straight toward the direction of the residence.