The one making the declaration was none other than Situ Yan, Di Lin's senior sister. She was now a fifth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator. Of course, Di Lin was once at the same cultivation level, but he ended up being killed by Xiang Shaoyun, who was only at the second stage back then.

Situ Yan only dared to challenge Xiang Shaoyun right now due to her strong companions, who granted her no small amount of confidence. The group's leader was Lei Bao, someone Xiang Shaoyun had met once before. As for the rest of them, Xiang Shaoyun had never seen them. There were more than 100 of them.

Xiang Shaoyun had met Lei Bao the first time he had entered the Purple Lightning Pool. At the time, Lei Bao had taken a liking to Money and had wanted to make Money his mount. But since Money already belonged to Xiang Shaoyun, Lei Bao had decided to give up.

In the subsequent years, the two had not met. The circumstance in which they finally met again was rather interesting.

Lei Bao was someone who didn't care for his appearance. His bright purple hair was extremely conspicuous, and his lofty body was half a head taller than Xiang Shaoyun. His surging aura displayed his extraordinariness.

He was already a ninth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator, stronger than even Huang Tianji. His advancement speed was truly impressive. His strength and talent were understandable, however. As a descendant of one of the academy's grand elders, he was one of the outstanding disciples from the academy's local faction.

With his strength, he was the leader of the faction he came from. His companions were all direct descendants of academy elders, each with an extraordinary background. There were also two eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivators in the group. Evidently, they were all qualified to stand against the academy's top 10 freaks.

Xiang Shaoyun ignored Situ Yan and cupped his hands in greeting to Lei Bao. "It has been a while."

Xiang Shaoyun could sense Lei Bao's terrifying strength, but he had no fear. However, he had a decent impression of Lei Bao. Hence, he did not turn hostile immediately from Situ Yan's provocation. After all, it was always better to have one extra friend than one extra enemy.

The Overlord Legion was a rising faction, so it wasn't sensible to get into conflict with a local faction. Of course, if Lei Bao and the others intended to make an enemy out of them for Situ Yan's sake, there was nothing the Overlord Legion could do about it.

"Yes, it has really been a while. Seems like you have been growing quickly, kid," said Lei Bao with a smile.

He still remembered that Xiang Shaoyun was only a first-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator when they had first met. In a short period of three years, he had reached the sixth stage. Thus, he was looking at Xiang Shaoyun with a whole new level of respect.

Before Xiang Shaoyun could reply, Situ Yan said, "Boss Lei, you need to uphold justice for your little sister. This Xiang Shaoyun had murdered my junior brother. We have to take revenge!"

The local faction members had strong unity. When any of them encountered trouble, the others would help. After all, they had all grown up together and were basically siblings. Even though they occasionally had some friction with each other, they would still work together against outsiders when required.

Because of that, Situ Yan hoped that Lei Bao would stand up for her. If he could help, Xiang Shaoyun would suffer.

With an annoyed look, Lei Bao said, "That is your junior brother. He is not a member of our circle. As far as I know, your junior brother was killed fair and square on a ring. There is nothing unfair about it. If you want to avenge him, go ahead. We won't stop you."

In the circle of locals, Situ Yan had a bad reputation. She was mean, unruly, and unreasonable. Nobody would be willing to associate with her if it wasn't for the sake of showing her grandfather respect. Among the group, a few admired Situ Yan, and they were the only reason Lei Bao had tolerated her joining them.

When Situ Yan heard his words, she paled. If Lei Bao was unwilling to help, she wouldn't have any courage to face Xiang Shaoyun.

"Boss Lei, you can't say that. No matter what, Sister Yan grew up with us. If we do not act after her sweetheart was killed, won't that dampen the spirits of our fellow brothers and sisters?" said an eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator.

The speaker was Mo Xiaoqing, one of Situ Yan's admirers. As he grew in strength, they had drifted apart for some time. But prior to the opening of the battleground, Situ Yan had gone looking for him. After spending some time together, she was finally able to make him care more about her affairs.

Mo Xiaoqing was rather handsome, but he gave off a soft feeling. Even when he spoke, he was rather effeminate and did not sound like a man at all. In the past, many people would laugh at him for being effeminate. But as he grew in strength, he had taught a few people a lesson. From then on, nobody dared to speak about him being effeminate anymore.

"Sure, Xiaoqing, you can handle this," said Lei Bao indifferently.

Lei Bao was their leader. Thus, he couldn't blatantly side with Xiang Shaoyun. In any case, he did not have any relationship with Xiang Shaoyun. Thus, he decided to give Mo Xiaoqing the freedom to handle the matter. That way, he could do Mo Xiaoqing a favor at little cost.

However, the Overlord Legion was a force to be reckoned with. Despite Mo Xiaoqing's strength, he wouldn't be able to take Xiang Shaoyun down easily. He realized that as well, and he wasn't stupid enough to challenge the entire Overlord Legion by himself.

Pointing at Xiang Shaoyun, he demanded, "I won't make things difficult for you. Kowtow to my sister Yan, and I'll let the matter slide."

After saying that, he revealed his aura of an eighth-stage Emperor, intending to suppress Xiang Shaoyun and the Overlord Legion with his cultivation level.

To his surprise, Xiang Shaoyun replied with derision, "Are you stupid?"

Mo Xiaoqing's face fell as he shouted, "You're asking for it!"

"You need to check with the brothers and sisters behind me what they're asking for as well," said Xiang Shaoyun with a sneer. He then turned and asked, "So everyone, what are you asking for?"

"Violence!" they all answered uniformly.

Their voices overlapped and resounded in the air, forming a powerful aura that caused those from the local faction to shiver momentarily. As for Mo Xiaoqing, he even jumped. With the unity displayed by the Overlord Legion, he didn't even have a way of extricating himself from this matter gracefully.

"Y-You...audacious! Do you want me to expel all of you from the academy?" shouted Mo Xiaoqing.

"Wow, those are some big words. Are you the principal?" said Xiang Shaoyun as he dug his ears.

"He's not the principal, but he is a direct descendant of the previous principal," said Situ Yan.