Chapter 61: Fire Energy Hunting Match

The griffin team landed, and all the students leaped down from their backs, casting their gazes around the mountain ravine, which possessed no distinguishing features other than being somewhat secluded.

"Where is this? Could the Inner Academy be somewhere nearby?"

"Are you an idiot? Didn't the Vice Headmaster already say he would send us to a place where someone would greet us and lead us into the Inner Academy? This is clearly the handover point."

The students whispered amongst themselves.

Huo Qian, who had just descended from the sky, glanced at the eager students, a rather strange smile playing on his lips.

Without further ado, under everyone's watchful eyes, Huo Qian stepped forward a dozen paces, then halted. With a wave of his hand, a formidable surge of energy suddenly shot from his palm, striking the empty space before him.

Under the impact of this energy, the calm, water-like space abruptly began to ripple and undulate.

These ripples surged rapidly, and finally, a silver gate standing seven or eight Zhangs high materialized out of thin air!

Seeing this, quite a few students were startled, not expecting such profound mysteries to be concealed within this seemingly ordinary place.

The silver gate slowly creaked open with a crisp sound. The scenery behind the gate was the familiar dense forest, seemingly no different from the woods they had seen along the way.

"Thank you three elders for your hard work along the journey. You may take the griffins back to the Outer Academy now. All students, follow me."

After giving instructions to the three escorting elders, Huo Qian waved his hand and was the first to step through the silver gate.

Dozens of students followed closely behind.

If they had discovered such a spatial portal alone in the outside world, they might have proceeded with caution, but here, with the Vice Headmaster leading the way, no one felt any sense of danger.

Passing through the silver gate, everyone felt a slight blur in their vision before their feet firmly touched solid ground.

Looking ahead, two elderly men and several middle-aged men had somehow appeared at the forest entrance before the group of students.

Furthermore, behind them stood nearly twenty senior students of the Inner Academy. On the chests of all these senior students, badges engraved with a tower-like pattern were pinned, making their identities easy to recognize.

"Hahaha, Old Huo, you're still as punctual as ever. It makes things so effortless when you escort the newcomers! This year's newcomers... well, why is there an extra one?"

One of the two old men, noticing the large group entering, greeted Huo Qian with a smile. His sharp gaze swept across the crowd, and upon discovering the discrepancy in numbers, he looked slightly surprised.

Normally, each Inner Academy selection tournament had only fifty slots.

Of course, this did not mean the Inner Academy only admitted fifty newcomers each year.

Aside from the Outer Academy selection, there were other channels to enter the Inner Academy.

For instance, the Medicinal Alchemy Department of the Outer Academy.

The requirements for those students to enter the Inner Academy differed from those of regular students.

"Haha, plans can never keep up with changes. A rather special case appeared among this year's incoming students. It would be a complete waste to let him languish in the Outer Academy, so I made an exception and let him participate in the selection tournament, and accordingly, added one more slot."

Hearing the other party bring this up, the smile on Huo Qian's face grew even brighter.

As he spoke, Huo Qian turned and beckoned to Xiao Chen and the other four. Once they arrived by his side, he gestured toward the two old men and introduced them.

"This is First Elder Su Qian, and this is Elder Qin. Both are pivotal figures in the Inner Academy. Whenever you have matters in the Inner Academy from now on, just look for them—they'll definitely be of help. These five little fellows are the top five of this year's selection tournament, and their strength is quite decent."

This last sentence was clearly directed at Elders Su and Qin.

Huo Qian spoke with modesty, but the smile on his face was immensely proud.

As the Vice Headmaster of the Outer Academy, having the students he produced be this dazzling naturally brought him a sense of glory.

Showing off, especially in front of these familiar old fellows, made him feel even more delighted.

Hearing this, the two elders turned their attention and began to inspect the top five of the selection tournament with slightly more seriousness.

When their gazes landed on Xiao Chen, flashes of unconcealed astonishment crossed both of their eyes.

"He is not yet thirteen this year."

Huo Qian added fuel to the fire.

Su Qian and Elder Qin let out soft gasps of surprise, the shock in their hearts rising another notch.

A four-star Dou Ling at just over twelve years old—even with all their experience, this was the first time they had ever witnessed such a thing!

As for Zi Yan...

The Inner Academy elders were all aware that her true form was a Magical Beast, though they simply didn't know the exact species.

"That truly is astonishing. Old Huo, your decision was correct. Leaving a genius like this in the Outer Academy would be nothing short of misleading youth." First Elder Su Qian nodded and praised.

Huo Qian smiled smugly, then belatedly reined it in.

"What do you mean by that, old fellow? Is my Outer Academy unworthy of teaching a few geniuses?"

"I didn't say that, but you know the situation inside the Inner Academy."

Hearing this, Huo Qian merely curled his lip slightly and stopped arguing back.

He naturally knew how important *that* object inside the Inner Academy was.

The reason Jianan Academy could become an institution renowned across the continent—with youths frequently coming from the Central Plains to study—was that *that* object contributed at least forty percent to its current success!

"Alright, leave the rest to me."

Exchanging a word with Huo Qian, First Elder Su Qian turned to face the mass of newcomers.

"Although all of you have passed the selection tournament and earned the qualification to enter the Inner Academy, wanting to enter the Inner Academy doesn't end just like that..."

Su Qian smiled, raised his hand, and a large handful of pitch-black crystal chips appeared in his palm. With a casual toss, the crystal chips shot forth like arrows and, under his subtle control of Dou Qi, suspended themselves in front of everyone, including Xiao Chen.

The students hurried to grasp the crystal chips, instantly feeling a strange warmth seep out from them. Looking down, they saw a transparent surface on the crystal chip, upon which was printed a large red numeral.

"Five!"

Gazing at this red numeral, dozens of students flashed looks of bewilderment, failing to comprehend its meaning.

Xiao Chen, however, knew its purpose.

Fire Energy points! This was the hard currency of the Inner Academy!

Looking up into the distance, he could see the group of senior students currently staring at the crystal chips in their hands with burning gazes, harboring undisguised covetousness.

"Some things are hard to explain in just a few words. Once you've seen it and used it once, you'll understand. You don't need to ask anything right now; you only need to keep one thing firmly in mind."

"That is to cherish the crystal chips in your hands as if they were your own lives and guard them well. Once you enter the Inner Academy, you will understand their importance! If you don't believe it, just look at the expressions of those fellows behind me, and you'll get a sense of it."

First Elder Su Qian chuckled.

Hearing this, the students immediately put away their crystal chips.

They could sense that Su Qian was not joking.

"Next, what you must do is enter the forest, traverse through it, and reach the far end. The Inner Academy you yearn for is right there!"

First Elder Su Qian pointed at the group of senior students in the back and continued, "As you journey through this forest, remember to be extremely, extremely careful of them. According to the rules of the Inner Academy, within this forest, they are permitted to strike at will. In other words, they can attack you and use any means short of murder to plunder the Fire Energy on your crystal chips."

"And what you need to do is use every possible means to evade them or defeat them. As long as you aren't caught by them and successfully reach the Inner Academy, you will receive a final reward. The earlier you arrive, the richer the reward."

"Right, there are several other such senior student teams scattered throughout the forest."

With this final reminder, First Elder Su Qian pointed abruptly toward the pitch-black forest behind him.

"Regarding this forest plundering, we in the Inner Academy call it the 'Fire Energy Capture Match'!"

"Now, I declare..."

"This year's Fire Energy Capture Match officially begins! Little fellows, start running for your lives!"