Half an hour later, Lin Yun and Yu Mu stopped outside an ordinary courtyard. The courtyard looked no different from a disciple’s residence.

“This is Senior Tang’s residence?” asked Lin Yun. After all, he never expected that Tang Yu, a Heavenly Soul Realm expert, would have such an ordinary residence.

“Senior Tang likes peace, so this is what he wanted. Come, let’s go in together,” smiled Yu Mu.

“Yeah.” Lin Yun nodded and entered the courtyard. When he entered, it was as Yu Mu had said. The place was filled with a serene atmosphere. He also noticed some elders that he had previously seen and they were examining him as they talked among themselves.

“This is the person that Senior Tang wanted to recommend?”

“This is him. I heard his performance has been rather brilliant lately. He defeated everyone and obtained the flower king. Even the dean has taken a fancy to him.”

“But the soul energy fluctuation coming from him says that he just reached the third grade spiritualist. Isn’t that a little too unreliable…”

“He reached the basic requirement. Plus, his martial cultivation is probably the reason why the dean chose him.”

“His cultivation doesn’t seem strong. Then again, our academy hasn’t been producing any talent in recent years…” Some elders looked at Lin Yun with doubt while others looked at him with expectation.

Although Lin Yun maintained his composure on the surface, he felt somewhat uneasy. After all, no one wouldn’t feel happy with being scrutinized by so many people. At the same time, Lin Yun was curious what he was needed for. Just what kind of trouble was the academy in that they would nurture him into a third grade spiritualist.

While he was in deep thought, Yu Mu came to a stop and smiled, “You can enter by yourself. I won’t accompany you any further.”

Lin Yun took a deep breath before he nodded at Yu Mu and entered. The pavilion was filled with an azure smoke with Tang Yu meditating in the center. The incense fragrance that filled this room had a calming effect.

Now that Lin Yun had formed his soul mark, he could sense that Tang Yu’s soul energy had filled the entire room despite having his eyes closed. He knew that every action from him was under Tang Yu’s senses.

“Senior Tang,” greeted Lin Yun.

“Sit.” Tang Yu slowly opened his eyes with a smile. His eyes flickered with a deep glow that could pull Lin Yun’s consciousness in. All of a sudden, Lin Yun thought of a terrifying possibility. Could this grey-clothed elder not only be a Heavenly Soul Realm expert, but also a fourth grade spiritualist?

Mo Ling once said that a fourth grade spiritualist was comparable to a Heavenly Soul Realm expert. If he had guessed correctly, then this old man was terrifying. He was definitely one of the pinnacle beings in the entire Nether Prefectural City, who was comparable to the experts in the Profound Yang Palace.

Thinking about it, Lin Yun sat down uneasily and asked, “May I know why you called me here?”

“It’s not urgent.” Tang Yu smiled and looked at Lin Yun, “You formed your soul mark not long ago, right? I was somewhat worried when I heard about your situation from Mo Ling, but there doesn’t seem to be a need for me to worry about you.”

“Nothing can be hidden from you.” Lin Yun was somewhat surprised that Tang Yu could tell that he had formed his soul mark.

“Your talent in spiritual runes isn’t inferior to the pinnacle geniuses that I’ve seen in my lifetime. So much so that…” Tang Yu suddenly paused and he didn’t continue. What he wanted to say was that Lin Yun was even stronger than them. After all, Lin Yun was a swordsman and studying spiritual runes wasn’t his main focus.

In other words, there was a reason why Lin Yun came to the academy to study spiritual runes. After all, there was no other reason why a genius like Lin Yun would come to the academy. But Tang Yu didn’t expose Lin Yun. He continued, “But you should know that a third grade spiritualist is just the beginning, right?”

“I’ve heard that many times. Why don’t you tell me more about that today?” said Lin Yun.

“Tell you more about that?” Tang Yu smiled. “How can I tell you anything more when I’m only a fourth grade spiritualist? I’m not any stronger than you are. Only by becoming a fifth grade spiritualist can you be considered a pinnacle expert in the Ancient Southern Domain. That sort of existence can change the terrain with a wave of their hand.”

Change the terrain with a wave of their hand? Lin Yun was shocked because he couldn’t imagine how strong that was.

“But there aren’t many fifth grade spiritualists in the Ancient Southern Domain. Above the fifth grade spiritualist is the Profound Venerable. That sort of existence is someone that all of us can only look up to. I’ve only seen such an existence once in my entire lifetime and I felt powerless before him.”

Profound Venerable? Lin Yun was shocked. The path in spiritual runes was shocking, but even so, he didn’t want to give up on the sword in his hand. Furthermore, he wasn’t looking forward to such an existence.

“Back to the topic.” Tang Yu looked at Lin Yun and smiled, “I bet you must have heard of divine runes, right?”

“Yeah.” Lin Yun nodded his head. He heard about the story of divine runes from Mo Ling, but they were long lost after the golden age. Now, spiritualists could only use spiritual runes, which were weaker than divine runes. There was no way they could be compared to spiritualists from ancient times.

If a divine rune were to appear, it would cause a great commotion since everyone would fight over it. After all, the temptation of divine runes was the same as an ancient sword sutra to a swordsman.

“The academy has a stone tablet with a divine rune engraved on it,” said Tang Yu, which left Lin Yun dumbfounded.

“H-how is that possible?” Lin Yun was shocked. He didn’t know how the academy could protect something like that. After all, the Profound Yang Palace was also in the Nether Prefectural City.

“It’s not a complete divine rune. It’s just half of one. However, its value is unimaginable and it’s extremely helpful to spiritualists. That was also the reason why I could become a fourth grade spiritualist,” smiled Tang Yu.

Lin Yun calmed down when he heard that. After all, it made no sense for the Profound Yang Palace to destroy a quasi-overlord force over an incomplete divine rune.

“That incomplete divine rune is the foundation of the academy.” Tang Yu spoke with a bitter expression as he sighed, “Two centuries ago, the academy’s reputation was at its peak and was on the brink of reaching the height of an overlord force. But due to a matter of succession, the academy was divided into five. At that time, the Heavenly Province Academy’s seniors protected the divine runes. But the four other academies have never given up on the incomplete divine rune over the years.

“In the beginning, there were constant battles over the incomplete divine rune. However, after a few battles with great losses, the five academies came to an agreement that we would set up a competition called the Five Academies Competition for ownership over the divine rune.”

“Five Academies Competition?” frowned Lin Yun.

“That’s right. The five academies will send out three of our strongest disciples under the age of twenty every two decades to fight. The final winner will keep the incomplete divine rune. This is the rule that everyone has accepted.”

When Lin Yun thought about it, it made sense. After all, every spiritualist had a vast source of connections, so the losses would be significant if they fought. It made sense that they lowered their losses to the minimum by hosting a competition between the disciples.

“The four other academies’ development in the other cities weren’t as smooth as ours in the early years, so our Heavenly Province Academy has constantly been the winner. But twenty years ago, we lost. We paid a significant price to keep the incomplete divine rune, but that battle was humiliating…” Tang Yu had pain on his face when he mentioned the past. He could still remember the battle vividly.

After that battle, the academy had to hand over the incomplete divine rune. But the dean wasn’t willing to, so we paid one-fourth of the academy’s resources along with three lesser divine abilities before we managed to keep the incomplete divine rune. When the four other academies left, someone said something that humiliated the Heavenly Province Academy greatly.

“What did they say?” Lin Yun asked curiously.

“That person said that we’re all pieces of trash and that the disciples we taught were also pieces of trash. They said that they could afford to wait two decades before taking the incomplete divine rune from us.”

Lin Yun was stunned before he smiled bitterly. It really was humiliating. The Heavenly Province Academy thought that they wouldn’t agree to the dean’s suggestion, but it turns out that the others had never considered the Heavenly Province Academy a challenge, to begin with.