Chapter 11678 — That Old Thing

Di Liankong had been gunning for Wei Zhao from the moment he appeared. No need to think twice—behind it there had to be Di Xuanwang's prompting.

Shi Wushuang said coolly, "If I were you, Senior Di, I'd have learned my lesson. After all, you just took a fall at Wei Zhao's hands last time. Pull another stunt like that now, and think how ugly it'll look."

Di Xuanwang's face darkened. He gave a cold snort. "Him, Wei Zhao? As if he's worthy of making me take a fall. If not for that old thing behind him, would he ever have gotten the better of me?"

"I'll grant you it. That old thing behind him is formidable."

"But this is the Heavenly Dao Academy. However strong the old thing is, he can't reach his hand in here. Wei Zhao can just sit tight and wait to cry."

Their squabble soon drew the notice of everyone around.

A young man in glasses turned his head and warned Shi Wushuang, "Wei Zhao's jade talisman has been tampered with."

At that single sentence, Shi Wushuang's expression changed utterly. "Is that true, Instructor Xiao?"

In truth, she already believed it.

The man's name was Xiao Tiao. He was the youngest instructor in the Academy's history, and a figure admired by nearly every one of the Academy's higher-ups. His eventual entry into the Academy's highest echelon was all but carved in stone.

A man of that caliber would never speak off the cuff without absolute certainty.

Xiao Tiao glanced at Di Xuanwang and gave a slight nod.

The meaning was plain enough.

Di Xuanwang tried to argue, but in the end swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

The gulf in standing between him and the other man was vast, the two nowhere near the same order of magnitude. To let a thing like this come to a clash would be a sure loss with nothing gained.

Shi Wushuang had already grasped the situation. She turned at once to the row of higher-ups seated in front, those charged with oversight. "Instructors, Di Liankong has resorted to such despicable, shameless tactics to engage in unfair competition. I submit this violates the spirit of a fair selection, and that the Academy ought to impose sanctions and grant Wei Zhao a fresh chance to compete fairly!"

The Academy's higher-ups exchanged looks.

One of them, the eldest and most senior, spoke in a deep voice. "The trial selection for new recruits must indeed be fair and just. But our Heavenly Dao Academy has always admitted all without discrimination. Whatever methods are used during selection, so long as they are not subject to outside interference, that is the candidates' own affair. We will not intervene."

The rest of the higher-ups nodded one after another.

Shi Wushuang's heart sank. She still wanted to fight for Wei Zhao's sake.

Beside her, Di Xuanwang sneered. "Junior Sister Wushuang, a trial selection is not children playing house. The Academy has never had a single rule saying one must win by the fair and just means you imagine."

"Even if his jade talisman was tampered with, that only means Wei Zhao's skill fell short. If he can't discover it, then he deserves to be eliminated."

"You crying injustice for him here—isn't that a bit ridiculous?"

Shi Wushuang was choked off, at a loss for words.

The expressions of those present varied.

Many indeed found Di Liankong's maneuver hard to stomach, but none of them would step forward for Wei Zhao. It had nothing to do with any of them, and besides, Di Xuanwang's words were not without reason.

Just then Xiao Tiao spoke. "It's not certain Wei Zhao will be eliminated."

Everyone stared, taken aback.

Had the man not been so haloed with renown, many there would likely have contradicted him to his face.

Di Xuanwang gave a "hmph." He did not argue openly, but his contempt was plain.

Even the textbook Wei Zhao had gotten his hands on was wrong, and he had been shut out by the others, with not so much as a chance to verify and correct errors.

Under such conditions, if Wei Zhao could still achieve True Mandate concretization, it would be as good as self-taught mastery—forcing comprehension of True Mandate concretization out of nothing but his own innate insight.

The difficulty was nothing short of defying heaven!

Not that such a thing was absolutely impossible. After all, whether the original version of True Mandate concretization or the whole series of improved versions afterward had all been comprehended, generation by generation, by heaven-favored prodigies on their own.

But every one of them had gone through long ages of groping and verification. For Wei Zhao, in a timed competitive setting like this, the difficulty was not remotely the same.

At least in the eyes of ninety-nine out of a hundred, Wei Zhao had just been handed a death sentence.

And then, just at that moment, Wei Zhao rose to his feet in the arena.

On the instant, a translucent, dense aura of life blazed out from his body. True Mandate concretization!

"A tenth-layer True Mandate?"

"Good heavens! It really is a tenth-layer True Mandate!"

The whole gathering was struck dumb.

With his jade talisman tampered with, Wei Zhao had not only completed True Mandate concretization, but come out of the gate with a tenth-layer True Mandate at that. Any mortal's jaw would hit the floor!

Someone could not help murmuring, "The limit of a novice True Mandate concretization is a tenth-layer True Mandate. How did he manage it?"

Di Xuanwang stood frozen like a wooden rooster. "How is that possible? How could he possibly produce a tenth-layer True Mandate?"

The Academy's history had not been without new recruits who could produce a tenth-layer True Mandate—but whenever one appeared, not one had been anything less than a top-tier rookie king. Not once had there been an exception!

Indeed, this scene had already stirred the Academy's highest echelon.

Wei Zhao's name had entered the vision of the Academy's highest echelon for the first time.

Shi Wushuang shot Di Xuanwang a glance. "No matter how much sand you mix in, you still can't bury a shining piece of gold. What a waste of Senior Di's pains."

Di Xuanwang wanted to retort, but looking at the Academy's highest echelon now hurrying into the arena, he choked the words back in the end.

Before absolute strength, no matter what he said now, in the eyes of others he was merely a clown.

In front, Xiao Tiao looked at the trial projection and remarked meaningfully, "This year's recruits really are interesting."

The moment the words fell, gasps of astonishment rose again all around.

"Another tenth-layer True Mandate in Group A!"

"There's one in Group D too—a tenth-layer True Mandate!"

"Three tenth-layer True Mandates at once—what on earth is going on this year?"

Shi Wushuang, who had just been brimming with excitement, was left gaping as well.

The new recruit trial had four groups in all, ten people to a group—forty people in total.

By the Heavenly Dao Academy's past experience, among a cohort of new recruit candidates, a single tenth-layer True Mandate was already quite rare.

Three tenth-layer True Mandates at once—a spectacle unprecedented in the entire history of the Academy!

The Academy's highest echelon was shaken as one.

Meanwhile, at the trial site for Group B, where Wei Zhao was, the crowd had no idea what was happening outside, yet each and every one of them was steeped in shock, unable to react for a long while.

After a long silence, Di Liankong managed with difficulty to voice the question on his soul: "How is that possible?"

Wei Zhao spread his hands. "Must be my good luck."

"..."

The whole arena was speechless.

If a bit of good luck was all it took for you to produce a tenth-layer True Mandate, how wretched must the luck of all these others be?

After all, even Di Liankong and Liu Han, the two with the most True Mandates among the rest, had only fifth-layer True Mandates—put together, they barely matched Wei Zhao.

And not only Di Liankong; at this moment, everyone's expression was exceedingly peculiar.