The Reveal

The rest of the tournament went by smoothly, with no other dark horses popping up.

Huo Long also surprised every person in the city by breaking through to the Qi Sea realm in front of everyone.

However, as he did, he also accidentally exposed his fire element. Thankfully it was just the fire element and not the Nirvanic Flames.

Also, to Yue Zifeng's guess, Xia Chen didn't wake up and stayed unconscious until the tournament ended.

Following the end of the tournament, the four heads, Yue Zifeng, Sect Leader Zi, Dean Guo, and Duan Zhen, all chose a representative behind them and gave them simple directions.

Afterward, the chosen experts jumped off the stage and created a makeshift small registration stand that reminded Xue Bai of a college fair.

"The top 100 participants, as you all know, are allowed to join one of our 4 great powers. So for whichever power you'd like to join, just stand behind one of us." Dean Guo simply.

After his instructions, all of the winners quickly chose the faction they wanted to join.

Of all the winners, there were only 23 women, and they all, without suspense, joined the Hundred Flowers Sect. 47 lined up at the Wushen Academy line, planning to join Dean Guo's faction. While the remaining 30 each equally split themselves between the Great Xuan Empire and Soaring Sword Sect.

This didn't cause many waves in the eyes of the leaders on the stage. The Hundred Flowers Sect was a haven for female cultivators, while Wushen Academy always had the highest number of cultivators. Mainly because of their lax rules on joining and their lack of a specialty.

The Soaring Sword Sect was the opposite, requiring many conditions that needed to be met before even being able to join. As for the Great Xuan Empire, they were an odd faction to join.

Because once they joined the empire, though, there would be a time for them to grow as respective prodigies, but once they left the institution for their growth, they would need to either become a subordinate to an existing faction or become a son-in-law. And both weren't very appealing to the majority of cultivators.

Duan Zhen and his empire got most of their population for the descendants of their citizens, making this tournament not worth much in his eyes. He only came to give respect to Yue Zifeng, who had invited him.

So for his Great Xuan Empire, actually having people join, and 15 talented youngsters at that, was something good. He also hadn't expected it and was silently happy about it.

He, of course, didn't show that on his face and kept his calm indifferent expression in order to keep his prestige and majesty.

"Junior Brother, what are you still waiting for? The rest of this stuff is just ceremonious nonsense. It has nothing to do with us." Ye Rou spoke as she noticed Xue Bai had no intention of standing up.

However, once she saw his line of sight, she connected the dots and sat down too.

"I see. You want to see the true identity of your fighter is, huh?" Ye Rou spoke as she stared at Huo Long, "Who do you think it is?"

"Second, Senior Sister, I already know who it is." Xue Bai replied, "So I'm not waiting for the reveal of his identity but the aftermath."

The matter of him being Huo Long would reveal itself in a few minutes anyway, so giving his senior sister a vague answer didn't hurt.

"Aftermath?" Ye Rou was confused, "Who could be under that cloak? A demonic sect disciple?"

To be fair, while her guess was extremely off and rather doomy, the choice of words that Xue Bai used were somewhat misleading, giving Ye Rou the wrong impression.

Xue Bai didn't respond and just shook his head. He was curious about how Huo Long would reveal himself.

–

"Little friend Jiang, while I don't wish to be a stickler, our Dean would at least like to see your face." The Elder in front of the Wushen Academy stand spoke politely as Huo Long walked up to him.

The Elder truly didn't want to offend Huo Long for no reason, but since Dean Guo had given him orders, he had to complete them. Offending Dean Guo was worse than Huo Long.

One would bite him in the back in the future, while the other could kill him right now.

The choice wasn't very hard.

Huo Long could sense this and didn't make it hard on the man. He had resolved to reveal his identity long before he had won the tournament.

So under everyone's tense and anticipated gazes, Huo Long pulled down his cloak revealing his face for everyone to see.

Ever since Huo Long had completed his nine nirvana, his appearance had undergone a few changes.

Like when Xue Bai inherited the Celestial Void Fox bloodline, and his hair gained a slight purple hue, Huo Long's hair also gained a red hue.

He also grew the signature phoenix mark in between his eyebrows that Jiang Xiaorou also possessed.

There were also other minor details that differed his current appearance from the last time he had shown his face publicly. After all, it had been almost 2 years since he last showed his face in public. Still, since none of the changes were drastic, his base appearance hadn't changed much, letting most people recognize him instantly.

"Huo Long?!"

The Elder in charge could help but let out a startled cry, while the rest of the crowd didn't have much better reactions.

"How can this be? I personally diagnosed your crippled Martial Veins?" The Elder was confused beyond belief.

While he was in Wushen Academy, Huo Long was someone that everyone looked highly on. So even though he was only in the Blood Exchange realm and could only be an Outer Disciple, no one dared to mistreat him and thought of him as a Quasi-Core Disciple.

So when Huo Long returned crippled, he was first treated by many Inner and even Core Elders who hoped they could save the genius, this Elder included before they expelled him.

But now the kid was in front of him, not even two years later, in the Qi Sea realm. Anyone would be surprised, let alone this simple Law Engraving Elder.

"I still haven't thanked you for your care Elder Xie. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even have returned home safely that day." Huo Long politely spoke as he gave a slight bow.

"Ah? That?" It took Elder Xie a few moments to remember what Huo Long was talking about.

When Huo Long was expelled, unlike the many derisive looks and laughs that came from the other disciples and Elders, he was rather polite and gave Huo Long a talisman that, when activated, could send out an attack that was comparable to his cultivation base.

But such a talisman was worthless in his mind. He was a Talisman Master and could create a dozen of those a day, so giving Huo Long just one didn't hurt much then. Moreover, it was such a minor thing he had completely forgotten about it before Huo Long brought it up.

Elder Xie was about to continue the conversation with Huo Long after he remembered until a deep resounding voice broke his thoughts.

"Elder Xie, bring the boy here." Dean Guo spoke up from the stage.

"But Dean.." Elder Xie wanted to continue talking, but Dean Guo glared at him, shutting him up.

"Huo Long, follow me." Elder Xie motioned for Huo Long to follow him as he jumped up onto the stage.

The protagonist was compliant and didn't raise a fuss before following the Elder. He, too, personally wanted to see Dean Guo. After all, this was the man who had expelled him before when he was first crippled.

That didn't mean he was angry with the man, but he still was slightly vexed about it. If he were in Dean Guo's position, he would've done the same thing too.

While it wasn't impossible for someone to heal a broken set of Martial Veins, it cost too much. The cost just to heal one set of Martial Veins was enough to raise an entire Spirit Severing realm cultivator.

Though everyone thought of Huo Long to be extremely talented, it wasn't guaranteed he would reach the Spirit Severing realm. And even if he did, Wushen Academy would be almost bankrupt for the next 100 years because of the price.

Landing on the stage, Huo Long was met by the curious and invasive gazes of almost a dozen powerhouses in the Law Engraving realm and above.

Each faction in attendance, besides their leader, also brought along a few Elders with them to help with miscellaneous tasks. And now everyone on the stage was staring at Huo Long, who had recovered.

Dean Guo was the first to speak up, "You've healed."

Since Huo Long was once a part of his Wushen Academy, Dean Guo thought it should be him to talk first, but because he was lacking in the social category, he could only say a very simple sentence.historical

"Yes, I have, Dean." Huo Long replied just as simply.

"Are you angry at me for expelling you then?" Dean Guo asked.

"No, I don't blame you, as I would've done the same. Wushen Academy isn't a place for the weak, and especially not a cripple. So I can only blame my own weakness." Huo Long replied.

"I see," Dean Guo nodded, satisfied at the mature and wise answer from Huo Long.

While Wushen Academy was thought of as a cultivation paradise, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Young cultivators full of potential died on missions. Others were suppressed by their more talented peers.

Wushen Academy was a place for the strong to gather and use each other as stepping stones, not a nursing home for the weak. So if anything, Dean Guo's choice to expel Huo Long indirectly saved him.

But for a 16-year-old to understand that and put down any youthful anger he had, was surprising, and Dean Guo couldn't help but be impressed.

"Are you willing to join once more?" Dean Guo asked after gathering his thoughts, "Your cultivation speed is unheard of in this continent. It's even a year faster than Wang Yu. And surely someone with your personality can't be resigned to being the head of a chicken in this continent. Only by joining Wushen Academy once more can you truly head to a wider world."

Though no one said anything aloud, Huo Long's current cultivation base made them question their reality. Even when Wang Yu had advanced to the Qi Sea realm at 17, people struggled to accept it. After all, some people could only reach the Qi Sea realm in their 30s or even 40s. So a kid only 17 years old to reach it made a lot of heads turn.

But now, a once crippled youth 16 years old had broken the record once more? Some people even thought they were dreaming.

And not letting the chance to recruit the youth once again, Dean Guo spared no effort in trying to tempt the legendary prodigy.

However, just as everyone became silent, waiting for Huo Long's choice, Duan Zhen spoke up.

"Huo Long, if you join the Great Xuan Institute and marry into our Duan Imperial Family, not only will I make you a Gold Class student and let you travel to the Central Continent, but I will also make your father a Duke and can guarantee he will enter the Xiantian Great realm!" Duan Zhen yelled out, stunning everyone.