Gudu Qiubai, Devil Concubine, and Little Overlord weren't the only notable disciples from the True Martial Academy. There were also a few who had gained their fame at a young age. Each of them was as strong as Baili Yixiao and Zhan Wushuang. From that, one could see just how freakish the True Martial Academy recruits were.

After all, the academy had ranked first for many years. Thus, the allure of joining the True Martial Academy was much greater than the other academies. Many geniuses preferred joining the True Martial Academy, and it was said that the True Martial Academy's cultivation resources equaled the total sum of what the other three academies offered. However, only the True Martial Academy disciples would know if it was true.

The Nine Palace Academy also had no lack of freaks. Among them, Jiu Tian, the principal's grandson, had the greatest popularity. It was said that during his birth, he had formed a resonance with the Nine Palace Sword Formation, the academy's oldest sword formation. The formation was known as the unrivaled sword formation, and it was created by their first principal.

Jiu Tian had formed a resonance with the formation at his birth, and he had even slowly mastered the formation growing up. He could form the complete formation alone, granting him the ability to harvest any head within a range of 5,000 kilometers. He could also kill those many stages above him, and he seemed unstoppable.

Apart from Jiu Tian, the academy also had a few other extraordinary freaks hailing from different powerful organizations in the dominion. Comparatively, the Sacred Deer Academy's lineup seemed weaker. They only had four ninth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivators, with Jiang Qi being the strongest.

She had a primary-grade nine-star physique, and she also had an Innate Water Physique. Thus, she was born with an affinity to the water element. She had comprehended the profundity of water long ago and was the Sacred Deer Academy's strongest goddess.

The other three weren't exactly weak, but they were only comparable to the likes of Yu Ziyang, Ouyang Chuanqi, and Huang Tianji, or they might even be slightly weaker than them.

Apart from these freaks, the other disciples from the four academies weren't pushovers either. They were all prodigies who had distinguished themselves from thousands, or even tens of thousands, of their peers. Everyone had different trump cards, and a low-level Emperor could very well kill a Sovereign out of nowhere. Thus, one couldn't look down on any of the disciples.

At this time, the disciples had mostly arrived near the island's center. The experts among the furred claw crabs finally showed themselves. These Demon Emperors started fighting the disciples at close range, and even Demon Sovereigns appeared. Their legs were akin to sickles, and their pincers were even more terrifying. Some disciples were snapped in half the moment the pincers caught them, dying the island red with blood.

Xiang Shaoyun was fighting at the very front of the Sacred Deer Academy group. He had blocked a lot of dangers for them, causing the Sacred Deer Academy disciples to feel somewhat guilty. But even more of them felt gratitude. A majority of them were female, and their opinion of him improved rapidly as he, a handsome youth, braved danger after danger for them.

Meanwhile, Xia Liuhui was as shameless as ever. He shouted incessantly, "Kill! If a god comes, we slay the god! If a crab comes, we slay the crab! I, Xia Liuhui, am undefeated!"

He had decent combat strength, but he wasn't very good in prolonged combat. Thus, he was now hiding behind Xiang Shaoyun, yet his mouth never stopped shouting. From the way he was shouting, one would think that he was the one killing all the crabs. His face was truly incredibly thick.

At this time, three peak Emperor crabs appeared and charged toward Xiang Shaoyun. They swept their scythe-like legs at him, leaving a trail behind their legs as they sliced through the air. These crabs were akin to exceptional experts, and their legs contained the power of the great dao and possessed the hardness of an emperor weapon. They were strong enough to easily cut through regular Emperors.

Instead of retreating, Xiang Shaoyun charged the three crabs. With the Shark Devourer Saber in hand, he pounced on them like a massive shark. His sword was akin to a shark's sharp teeth, ruthlessly severing their legs before slicing the crabs themselves into two. There wasn't any suspense in his victory.

Then, Xiang Shaoyun swept his senses over them and pulled the three corpses into his astral cosmos sea. Their corpses were rather valuable. His gaze landed on a certain spot below where a group of crabs was protecting a certain stone. Sensing that the stone was different from regular stones, he activated his gift of instincts and scanned it.

It was as though the stone was furry, with numerous pores. It looked more like a disgusting skin tumor than a stone, and it was incredibly odd. Because the crabs shielded the stone and it shared their same color, nobody else had noticed it.

"Nascent transformation stone!" Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed.

He then dove down without hesitation. The nascent transformation stone was essentially a concentration of the furred claw crabs' essence. Their eggs could also be found on the stone, and they used it as their breeding ground. After being exposed to the furred claw crabs for an extended period of time, a stone would change from a regular stone into a nascent transformation stone.

Others might not know how important the nascent transformation stone was, but Xiang Shaoyun was well-read and knew its value well. One could use it for breeding a large number of furred claw crabs and foster a private crab army. Secondly, the stone itself was unique and could hatch the eggs of demonic beasts that had remained unhatched for thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years.

After all, many powerful demonic beasts had trouble breeding and could easily die young. Many of them even had difficulty hatching their eggs, but this stone, in particular, could smoothly hatch their eggs.

Perhaps many people would look down on these functions, but Xiang Shaoyun knew very well that many ancient clans would have some high-level demonic eggs in store. After many years of suppression, the eggs might lack vitality and no longer be hatchable. Under such circumstances, the nascent transformation stone was extremely useful.

That was why Xiang Shaoyun attached a high level of importance to the stone. He had not expected that a nascent transformation stone would appear here. If others also noticed it, he probably wouldn't have a chance to get it. Therefore, he had to get his hands on the stone first. He was confident that if he auctioned the stone, he would be able to sell it for a high price. After all, it was an extremely rare stone.

However, the ones guarding the stone were the experts among the furred claw crab. There were more than 10 Emperors and 2 Sovereigns. The disciples were unwilling to provoke the powerful group, yet Xiang Shaoyun actually split off from the Sacred Deer Academy disciples and charged toward them alone. The Sacred Deer Academy disciples were bewildered by his action.

"Don't provoke them!" Jiang Qi's voice rang out behind him.

In her eyes, Xiang Shaoyun was already a part of the Sacred Deer Academy's vanguard. However, Xiang Shaoyun completely ignored her and continued toward the stone.