Chapter 606 - 250: The Selection Begins, Dragon Blood Shows Its Might
Chapter 606: Chapter 250: The Selection Begins, Dragon Blood Shows Its Might
The perspective pulled back, soaring high into the heavens.
Looking down from above revealed a startling sight: centered on an unknown coordinate in the vast Pacific Ocean, more than a dozen ferries, just like the Far Star, had been swept into a giant vortex!
Like pieces scattered across a chessboard, they were separated by vast distances, yet at the same time, they had all fallen into the same terrifying predicament.
「Meanwhile.」
「In a secret conference room.」
Only a dozen or so people sat around a long conference table.
Zhu Mingyi was among them.
This time, however, he wasn’t in the primary seat of honor. Instead, he sat at the head of the table alongside another man—a gentle, refined-looking middle-aged man in a tunic suit.
This man was Hou Guanghe, the Executive Vice Principal of Great Xia’s top martial arts institution, Longyin Academy.
Seated below them were several other powerful figures, each with a unique but equally unfathomable aura.
"Yi, isn’t this opening... a little over the top?"
The speaker was a burly man with a powerful build and bulging muscles. He wore a training tank top and radiated an intense battle lust, his voice a low rumble.
He was Sun Lie, Dean of Longyin Academy’s Strong Attack System.
A graceful, intelligent-looking woman sitting opposite him replied calmly, "Mr. Huo, why don’t you just watch quietly? Isn’t this your favorite part?"
Mu Qingyin, Dean of the Support System.
Sun Lie grinned, flashing a set of pearly whites, and said nothing more.
In a corner of the table, a young man who looked half-asleep was slumped lazily in his chair. He yawned and drawled, "Pressure creates motivation... otherwise, how would we know who the real dragons are, and who are just mudskippers."
Yan Che, Dean of the Control System.
As for Yi Jiugao, Dean of the Mysterious Arts System, he sat beside Hou Guanghe as always, silent and unmoving like an emotionless statue.
At the front of the conference room, a massive screen was split into seventeen different panels, each broadcasting a live feed of the scene on one of the ferries.
Zhu Mingyi watched the panicked crowds on the screens being dragged into the vortex. His brow furrowed as he turned to Hou Guanghe beside him.
"Mr. Hou, is this also part of the assessment?"
Before Hou Guanghe could answer, Yi Jiugao, who was beside him, explained in his flat, unwavering voice, "The assessment began the moment they boarded their ferries."
"This year, we have seventeen candidates for the final selection, far more than in previous years. Therefore, the Principal made a last-minute decision to add a preliminary screening process before the formal assessment begins."
Zhu Mingyi nodded in understanding. His gaze fell upon several of the screens, where the faces of numerous top performers from the national exams appeared.
A small smile touched Zhu Mingyi’s lips. "However, this predicament doesn’t seem to pose much of a challenge for them."
Hou Guanghe smiled warmly and picked up his teacup. "Haha, Zhu, you worry too much."
"The star of the show has yet to make an appearance."
The instant he finished speaking.
Everyone in the conference room watched as, on all seventeen screens, the dark water at the center of each madly spinning vortex suddenly began to bulge upward!
SPLASH—!!!
Amidst towering waves, a colossal creature burst forth from the depths of the sea!
It was a monstrous beast, over a hundred meters long!
It had the long, slender body of a flood dragon, covered entirely in deep blue scales that shimmered with an eerie light. Each piece of its Scale Armor was like a heavy shield.
Two jagged horns jutted from its savage head, and its pair of lantern-sized, vertical pupils gleamed with a cold, tyrannical light.
It coiled in the center of the vortex, tilted its head to the sky, and let out a deafening roar!
ROAR—!!!
The terrifying shockwave of sound was so powerful it even caused the images on the conference room screens to tremble violently.
Its mere presence—the terrifying pressure that stemmed from its very level of existence—made the legs of every ordinary person on the ferries give out. They collapsed to the deck, and some were even knocked unconscious by the force of the roar alone.
It seemed to possess control over the sea itself. As it roared, the massive vortex spun with even greater frenzy. The waves churned, rising into walls of water dozens of meters high that came crashing down upon the tiny ferries!
It was like the end of the world.
"Is that... a Deep Sea Dragon Beast?"
Even for someone as worldly and knowledgeable as Zhu Mingyi, his face was now a mask of pure shock.
"How can there be more than a dozen Deep Sea Dragon Beasts, all with nearly identical strength and appearance, attacking them simultaneously?"
He snapped his head toward Hou Guanghe, his voice grave. "What is their power level?"
Hou Guanghe set down his teacup, still wearing that same breezy, unconcerned smile.
"The Principal raised these Dragon Beasts himself in his spare time, feeding them in the sea beneath the academy. They’re quite obedient."
"We’re just letting them stretch their legs a bit this time. They definitely won’t go for the kill."
"As for their power..."
Hou Guanghe paused, then continued in a tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather.
"They’re probably about equivalent to the Divine Realm Great Perfection, I suppose."
The moment those words were spoken.
The entire conference room plunged into a stunned, eerie silence.
Even Yan Che, the ever-composed Dean of the Control System, showed a flicker of interest in his eyes.
A glint flashed in Zhu Mingyi’s eyes. ’Did I hear that right?’ he thought.
Divine Realm Great Perfection!
’They’re making a group of kids, not even twenty years old on average, whose cultivation has at most just reached the Early Stage of Divine Intent, fight monsters of that caliber?’