After the Headmaster's cruel replacement, things had taken a turn in the Academy.
Summoned on short notice, officials from all the other cultivation institutes in the Earthly Realm arrived to pay their respects to the Heavenly Sage, Yun Cang.
He was the god responsible for overseeing the Earthly Realm, and one of the strongest that were still able to descend without causing an imbalance that would damage the spatial laws.
Fear alone made them answer his call, and kneel before him.
The students could all feel the shift. Some reached out to their families, taking extended time off. Others, mostly seniors, were given tasks and drafted into the immortal armies to assist in their search.
For many, it was a dream come true.
Soon, the Academy became a shadow of its former self. Immortals came and went, bringing or carrying news, carrying out tasks or reporting their task's completion.
Heavenly Sage Yun Cang remained at the pinnacle of the academy, lording over it all without ever stepping outside.
Xu Ye had taken to wandering the Academy whenever his mother was absent- which was more often now than when she had first arrived a while ago.
He sat at a fountain and stared at the water, noticing some copper coins resting in the basin.
His midnight eyes flickered, and he frowned before reaching in to pick one of them up.
Clutching it, he closed his eyes and fell into deep thought and reminiscence. Then, he let it go, allowing it to plop back into the water.
Opening his eyes, Xu Ye sighed and gazed upward, his gaze briefly drawn to the gaping hole in the void, just above the Academy's center.
Out of its warping body, he noticed something coming out. Focusing his gaze, he realized that it was the front of a large vessel, with a massive figurehead and bowsprit.
The figurehead itself was the carved face of a Dragon King, complete with red paint and black painted facial hair.
As the vessel continued to come through, it revealed more of its enormous self. A ship that sailed on space itself.
Numerous massive sails could be seen, and beyond them, structures akin to a city of metal could be seen, built into the ship itself, all bright and golden.
In Xu Ye's eyes, it was as though he were standing mere feet away from it. He saw it all clearly.
Now that his Ocular Divinity had been fully restored, he could more accurately control what he saw and when he saw it.
As he was looking on, a bright white light rushed out from the pinnacle tower of the Academy.
Heavenly Sage Yun Cang.
He stood on the round platform at the center, looking up at the ship. His expression faltered slightly, but not enough for his perturbed state to be revealed to anyone.
Around him, scant few students were present, in awe of the sight. Seeing him arrive, though, they shied away.
As the rest of the ship's body came through the rift, it leveled out and came to a stop above the Academy.
"AAHAHAHAHA! Brother Cang, long time no see!" A thunderous voice filled the sky as a person leapt from the side of the ship, flying down to Yun Cang.
Masking his innermost thoughts, Yun Cang forced a smile, "Brother Wuxi, it has been too long."
Yun Wuxi was dressed in simple daoist robes and carried nothing on him. Even so, his aura and energy appeared no less than Yun Cang's.
"Why have you come," Yun Cang asked as he took hold of Yun Wuxi's offered hand.
"The Master thinks my students need some real world experience. I'm taking them on a tour of the Lower Realms, starting with the Netherworld." Yun Wuxi sighed, lamenting his fate.
"I see," Yun Cang tried his best to hide the glint in his eyes. "I assumed you had come here to stay. How pitiful."
Yun Wuxi tapped his arm, "Worry not, there will be time enough for us to catch up. For now, I'm just going to let my students come out and stretch their legs. They've been in seclusion for the whole trip."
Yun Wuxi waved and whistled up at the ship. Soon after three figures leapt from the ship.
"I'd heard you were a teacher somewhere. Where were you assigned?" Yun Cang asked as he eyed the three students descending from the ship.
"The Jade College," Yun Wuxi casually answered, stretching a bit.
"The Jade College..." Yun Cang's wide eyes betrayed his shock. "So... the Master you were referring to...?"
"Hm? You mean you don't know who the Master of the Jade College is? It's the Jade Emperor." Yun Wuxi rubbed his nose and sniffled.
By then, the three students arrived to see Yun Cang in a stupor.
The first to descend was a young woman, dressed in simple pink robes with something wrapped up and attached to her back. It looked like some kind of instrument.
Her hair was short, a dark scarlet color, and accessorize by only a single jade ornament.
They all had ornaments like these, differing in shape, but serving the same purpose of identifying them as students of the Jade College.
Her name was Lin Yueyao.
After her came a somber-faced and mysterious-looking young man, dressed in old gray robes and carrying nothing but a sword in his hand.
With his other hand, he constantly made a sword sweal, as though he was always ready for battle.
His hair was the shortest of them all, barely covering his ears, and matched the color of his clothes.
This was Han Jianyu.
Finally, with nothing at all on him but the ring on his finger, the final smirking student appeared.
His hair was long and pitch black, his eyes sparsely violet, and had a far stronger and larger body than the others, but not overly so.
He folded his arms and regarded Yun Cang with a playful smile, his sharp eyebrows raised.
"What have we here, Master? A distant relative of yours?" He said.
"Right you are, Long Feng. This is Brother Cang, the Heavenly Sage that oversees the Earthly Realm." Yun Wuxi put an arm around Yun Cang's neck and grinned.
"Pleased to meet you," Lin Yueyao bowed slightly.
Han Jianyu nodded his head. Long Feng just smiled.
"So, which of you is stronger, Master?" Long Feng asked, excitement plain as day on his face.
"Now, now," Yun Wuxi waved his hands in a disarming manner, "We're only here for a short time. Go take a walk or something. We're departing soon."
Long Feng scoffed, "What better way to loosen up than a quick spar?"
His hand moved and his ring glowed, then a massive, broad saber materialized in his grip, resting on his shoulder.
"Are you up for it, Heavenly Sage? " Long Feng smirked.
The others were already making room.
"Here he goes again," Lin Yueyao sighed.
"Show us a good fight then, Long Feng," Han Jianyu sat on the floor, holding his sword close to his chest.
Yun Wuxi shrugged, "Well, Brother Cang, you might as well put this youngster in his place."
Yun Cang was at a loss, but he did not reject the challenge. Straightening, he readied himself for Long Feng's attack.
"That's the spirit!" Long Feng moved, saber and himself vanishing into thin air.
Yun Cang twisted, dodging a gust of wind that turned out to be Long Feng's saber, barely missing his right shoulder.
The air shifted, and Yun Cang was forced to take a step backward in order to dodge a saber to his leg. Long Feng was clearly ruthless.
Those two attacks had clearly been invisible due to Long Feng's speed, but Yun Cang had managed to dodge them thanks to his divine sense.
"I guess this Heavenly Sage is worthy of the title. Not like the others," Han Jianyu nodded like a pleased elder.
"Think Long Feng will lose this time?" Lin Yueyao asked.
Han Jianyu chuckled, then took a breath, "I'd love to see that, but Long Feng is a hair's breadth away from his Dao Integration, yet he can still exchange blows with Master."
"I don't see some nobody who oversees a filthy Lower Realm being able to beat him."
Lin Yueyao giggled, "That's what I thought you'd say."
Yun Wuxi suddenly reached down and smacked Han Jianyu on the back of the head.
They didn't even know when he appeared next to them.
"Don't belittle your elders, Jianyu!"
Meanwhile, Yun Cang sidestepped a stabbing attack, and Long Feng stopped, becoming visible again.
This whole time, Long Feng had been moving at insane speeds and rapid-firing attacks with his weapon, which Yun Cang had been avoiding.
Both parties were impressed. Long Feng because he didn't expect Yun Cang to keep up with him, and Yun Cang because his opponent hadn't used even a bit of energy.
"That was fun, but if all you're going to do is dodge then it's going to get boring." Long Feng stood the saber up on the floor, his hands on the stub of the hilt.
"Hmph," Yun Can put an arm behind his back. "Wouldn't want you to get bored, now. Come then. With this next attack, I'll show you the true distance between us."
Long Feng grinned, "That's more like it."
This time, he moved at a normal pace, holding his saber in both hands as he charged.
Yun Cang took a breath, an aura of white light all about him, then watched as Long Feng's saber slashed toward him.
His hands deftly maneuvered the blade, shifting it away from himself before he struck Long Feng's body.
However, his eyes immediately darted to the left, and he turned, seeing another saber coming toward him.
He shifted his stance as he tried to avoid the attack, then fired a punch in the same instant, sending the true Long Feng flying.
With a loud crash, Long Feng slammed into a nearby wall, saber still in hand.
Yun Cang straightened, but suddenly felt something on his cheek. Reaching up to investigate, he was shocked to find that he had been cut.
As he was staring at his own blood, Long Feng emerged from the dent in the wall and gave a big smile.
"That's more like it!" His aura emerged, black and murky, while at the same time half of a violet halo appeared above his head, like a floating crown.
Yun Cang reeled in shock. Han Jianyu, Lin Yueyao and Yun Wuxi smiled at the arrival of the moment they had been waiting for.
In the distance, Xu Ye gasped as his eyes reacted to the sight of the current Long Feng.
"That's... There's no way..."
Long Feng roared, charging toward a shocked Yun Cang, his semi-circular, violet halo glowing.
His saber, empowered by his aura, moved once again, muscles bulging as he swung with both arms.
The wind reacted with a gale, washing over everything that was ahead of Long Feng.
Yun Cang summoned a blade of white light, and met Long Feng's saber.
The resulting clash rocked the entirety of the Academy.