Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-2989

The inner academy’s plaza was filled with a sea of people. Almost all the inner academy’s disciples had arrived, and the locations that they were standing at were carefully chosen based on their guild rankings. The Luo Gate hadn’t gone to the devil battlefield in a few days, so they had fallen to rank thirty-nine.

As for the Unfettered Alliance, they were rank ninety-seven and were also in a spot at the front. However, Long Chen wasn’t with them. He was with the instructors.

The shocking thing was that Long Chen was standing amongst the Heaven Masters. It had to be known that the God Institute only had four Heaven Masters. The Immortal Institute only had six, and that was the most of any institute in the academy.

The academy had over thirty institutes but fewer than a hundred Heaven Masters. Some institutes only had a single Heaven Master, as the exam could truly be called difficult.

In fact, it was rumored that the exam had to be personally overseen by the dean. It was a heaven-defying level of difficulty.

All those instructors were white-haired old-timers, so Long Chen appeared particularly conspicuous amongst them.

Long Chen had originally been standing amongst the Human-rank instructors, but Heaven Master Yun Yang had called him over to stand beside him.

Long Chen was trying to be low-key with this many people here, but he was forcefully pulled up, causing everyone to stare at him in dumbfounded silence. Even Bai Shishi was astonished.

Luo Bing, Mu Qingyun, and the others were all stunned. When had Long Chen become a Heaven Master?

Even the other instructors didn’t dare to believe their eyes. Being stared at by so many people, Long Chen felt unnatural. But now that he was here, he couldn’t leave. He simply stood there, acting indifferent.

Millions of disciples had gathered along with the instructors. The various experts of the academy were here. Long Chen spotted Chu Huairen, the head judge, as well as many experts that he didn’t recognize.

Based on their robes, they seemed to be on the level of institute heads. The fact that all of these figures were gathering shook Long Chen. Just what was happening?

Just at this moment, an elder stepped forward and announced, “First let me introduce myself. I am the deputy dean. As for my name, I won’t mention it as none of you dare to actually say it.”

Long Chen almost laughed. This stiff-faced old man was actually quite humorous. But it was true, no one would dare to say his name even if they knew it.

“We have gathered everyone today because there is an important matter to announce. I will try to keep it short, so listen closely. Within our Martial Heaven Prefecture lies an immortal land left behind from ancient times. It is an independent star that crosses through the cracks between planes. It passes through our Martial Heaven Prefecture occasionally, but its movements are not always stable. Sometimes it comes once every three years, sometimes once every few decades. What I’m saying is that it is about to appear once more. According to the Six Ally Treaty, the disciples of the six major powers can all enter. This immortal land can be considered its own planar world from the archaic era. For some reason, the human race living inside of it suddenly vanished, but they left behind certain inheritances. The High Firmament Academy has some tomes that were obtained from that immortal land. Later they were translated by the academy and given to everyone to cultivate. For example, instructor Long Chen’s Starry River of the Sky Art was obtained from that immortal land.” The deputy dean specifically looked at Long Chen.

This startled everyone. Even the deputy dean accepted Long Chen standing amongst the Heaven Masters. In other words, he wasn’t standing in the wrong place.

Long Chen himself was surprised. The Starry River of the Sky Art was something he was using to deceive others and cover up the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. After his battle with Chu Kuang, he never studied it again.

That was because he was incapable of training in this technique. When others used their astral power, it was only the power of one star. Despite that, a slip-up could easily cause a body explosion.

However, when he used it, it instantly activated the power of all 108,000 stars. Last time, he almost died.

Furthermore, he kept getting a feeling that the Starry River of the Sky Art was somewhat connected to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. It was as if it was a simplification of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

That mysterious expert had said that without condensing the seventh star, it was forbidden to use the astral power of the cosmos. In other words, Long Chen would be able to use this kind of power in the future, but not now.

Hearing that this technique came from this immortal land, Long Chen was intrigued. Perhaps he might be able to gain some clue about the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art as well.

The deputy dean continued, “When this immortal land was discovered, there was a broken stele with many ancient immortal characters. However, due to their age, the carvings were unclear. Only two characters could be faintly recognized: Jia Lin. Thus, that place is called the Jialin Immortal Land. After the Jialin Immortal Land was discovered, it was jointly controlled by nine major powers, and the High Firmament Academy is one of them. After so many years, only six of those powers remain, and our relationships are not so friendly. Thus, every time the Jialin Immortal Land opens, a storm of blood erupts. Killing people for treasures is a common occurrence inside. However, there are countless opportunities inside that are very attractive. If you can obtain any treasures inside, you can keep them for yourselves or offer them to the academy in exchange for other treasures of equal value. The cultivation world is one where danger and opportunity exist together. The strong rise over the weak. It’s a cruel world. The six major powers have made an agreement that any enmities that occur within the Jialin Immortal Land are limited to the Jialin Immortal Land and will not be pursued outside of it. In other words, if you are killed inside, the academy will not get revenge for you afterward. Every disciple can choose whether or not they wish to enter the Jialin Immortal Land. The academy will not force anything. Everyone should think this over. However, it is up to the guilds to register. Further details will be given to those who register. Due to how important this matter is, let me just give you one final warning. The chances of dying in the Jialin Immortal Land are normally over fifty percent.”

The deputy dean left after saying that. Long Chen was speechless. It seemed that he hadn’t given them anything useful to go off of, no? Was that it?

Once he left, the disciples erupted excitedly. “Heavens, I’ve actually caught up to this generation’s Jialin Immortal Land!”

“So what? With your power, if you went, you’d never return.”

“Power isn’t everything. Sometimes luck is more important.”

The disciples began to discuss things loudly like a swarm of bees.

“Everyone, this is our information on the Jialin Immortal Land. The heads of the various guilds should come and take a copy…” announced an Elder.

“No need. Everyone from the Heaven Female Alliance will be participating.” Bai Shishi’s voice quieted the crowd. She looked toward everyone and said, “I should also mention that if you wish to enter the Jialin Immortal Land, don’t hope for others to help you. It is a lawless place, a true battlefield. Your enemies will be cultivators, not brainless devil creatures.”

“Don’t listen to her nonsense. Isn’t killing people much simpler than killing devil creatures? A group of men like yourselves wouldn’t be scared by this, right?”

Just at this moment, a wildly arrogant voice rang out, stunning everyone. Someone dared to contradict the first rank expert of the Earth Rankings?

Everyone looked over. It was a fair-faced man whose youthful features had yet to even regress. What shocked people was that he was definitely not in his twenties but had reached the mid Divine Flame realm.

“Who is that?”