Chapter 163: Revenge Battle

"I told you not to follow along. Go hide somewhere; you might get hurt later."

Xu Yang gave Long Kun a seemingly playful warning, but Long Kun knew it was no joke. To casually challenge a Dean at the Cavern Heaven Peak stage, speaking of 'Holy Lord' and 'Sect Master' as if they were peers—this was truly encountering a formidable figure!

Little Tuan Tuan, clever as she was, scampered over to Long Kun when she sensed something amiss. The two of them crouched by a nearby stone pillar to watch the commotion. Tuan Tuan, however, showed no fear; a grin remained fixed on her face, her courage far surpassing Long Kun's.

"Come out, all of you." Xu Yang casually uttered, and instantly, over thirty teachers from the Sacred Soul Academy, all at the Cavern Heaven Peak stage, who had been waiting nearby, appeared. They surrounded Xu Yang and his three companions in the hall of Stone Pagoda No. 1.

"Haha, it seems you already guessed my intentions? Knowing there's a tiger in the mountains, yet still choosing to go there—that takes guts!" The Dean revealed his true colors, but his imposing presence was clearly insufficient against Xu Yang and his group of four.

"You mere trash, daring to call yourselves tigers and wolves? Laughable!" With a single gesture, Xu Yang conjured hundreds of sword auras simultaneously. A terrifying wave of sword energy instantly enveloped the entire Stone Pagoda No. 1!

"My god... what kind of realm is this? How can he be this ridiculously strong? And all this time, I thought this guy was just an Aura Refining cultivator, playing the pig to eat the tiger??" Long Kun was utterly speechless. He knew Xu Yang was hiding his true power, but he had assumed it was, at most, at the Nascent Soul Peak stage, similar to his companions. Now, it was clear that things were far from that simple.

*Rumble!* Sword auras shot out from all directions, piercing towards the academy teachers who had come to assist. Each one of these assistants possessed power far beyond anything Long Kun could contend with.

"My heavens, they're about to turn the entire academy upside down! Everyone here is from the academy's elite, and it seems taking down these four won't be easy..." Long Kun mused to himself, only to see Tuan Tuan, the little girl, already picking up her drawing board and preparing to act.

"Sword Aura, Amplify!" *Clang!* A powerful sword energy resonance immediately augmented Xu Yang's sword auras, truly catching the attention of all four of them.

"It seems Little Tuan Tuan isn't so simple either. She's been holding back her strength all this time. Her ability isn't just about bringing drawings to life; it must be some kind of top-tier auxiliary cultivation technique passed down from ancient times!" Bai Lianxue pondered, as four or five old cultivators already approached her.

"Golden Body Protection!" A powerful golden Buddhist light enveloped them, causing the approaching cultivators to instantly recoil from the glaring radiance. At the same moment, Ling Yao and Ling Qingshu also made their moves.

Terrifying sword energy crisscrossed every corner of the grand hall. Teachers from various academies unleashed their unique abilities: some summoned magical artifacts, others summoned demonic beasts, and there were also sword cultivators and robust physical tanks joining the battle.

Unfortunately, Xu Yang's power remained astonishing, clearly overpowering everyone around him by an entire level.

With his second strike, Xu Yang's sword energy had actually broken through to the Primordial Spirit stage, and a direct slash in mid-air headed straight for the Dean's position.

"We can even handle the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land, so do you think you alone can take down the four of us?" "Perhaps I don't have that ability, but once you decide to act within the Sacred Soul Academy, you'll have no chance at all!"

The Dean smiled sinisterly, then stomped his foot, causing a brilliant golden hexagonal star formation to materialize on the hall floor!

The six points of the star rotated and hummed, emitting incredibly potent spiritual energy fluctuations. This formation also seemed to have a cumulative effect: not only could it enhance the power levels of the surrounding teachers, but it could also secretly draw upon the spiritual energy stored within the stone pagodas.

"Such strong pressure..." Ling Yao's heart tightened. Even with her peak mastery of the sword dao, she felt immense pressure while within this hexagonal star formation.

As for Ling Qingshu, it went without saying that without the top-tier treasure Xu Yang had given her for protection, she would be practically half-crippled in terms of combat strength.

"Hahaha! Stop your futile struggles. Honestly tell me your purpose for coming here, and I might spare you!"

Xu Yang gave an noncommittal smile. "Who gave you such immense confidence?"

"Hmph, take a look at the stone pagodas outside! For every pagoda soul that lights up, the hexagonal star formation beneath your feet will grow stronger. This is our Sacred Soul Academy's Holy Light Star Formation, passed down for tens of thousands of years. Every stone pagoda in the academy is interconnected."

"More importantly, Stone Pagoda No. 1 is the core array eye that links all several hundred pagodas. Once all pagoda souls are ignited, the radiant judgment invoked from the center of the formation can obliterate a cultivator at the peak of the Primordial Spirit stage. I'd like to see how the few of you will contend against the might of our entire academy!"

Dean Jian Tong exuded immense confidence. He was, of course, using the banner of "judgment" to leverage the academy's power and exact revenge for the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land lineage.

"Master... this formation's devouring power is growing stronger, restricting our movements. We must find a way to break free quickly!" Bai Lianxue warned with a solemn expression.

If this were an open-field battle, Xu Yang and his three companions could overturn the entire Sacred Soul Academy in a matter of time with their strength. Opponents of this caliber were simply no match for them.

However, their opponents held the advantage of time and terrain, utilizing the academy's tens of thousands of years of accumulated foundation to blockade and suppress them. The effect was entirely different now.

Xu Yang remained unhurried, calmly surveying his surroundings. After discerning the directional rules of the hexagonal star formation beneath his feet, he suddenly closed his eyes and began to interfere with the entire formation's energy conversion system using his immensely powerful spiritual energy.

*Rumble!* Soon, more than half of the hundreds of stone pagodas in the academy, whose pagoda souls had been lit, began to tremble uncontrollably. This was the effect of Xu Yang's spiritual energy, causing significant blockages and deviations in the formation's energy transmission. As a result, the power being conveyed from some subsidiary pagodas to Pagoda No. 1 began to stagnate and even backfire.

"No, the pagodas are collapsing, run!" *Rumble...* One stone pagoda after another began to crumble.

The Dean gritted his teeth and ignored it, focusing all his energy on dealing with Xu Yang and his group of four. He had no time to spare for the fate of the other subsidiary pagodas.

"You bastards, no matter the cost today, I will make sure you all become buried alongside the Seven Elders of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land!" Jian Tong clasped his hands together, and with the cooperation of the dozens of other Cavern Heaven Peak teachers around him, he activated the same cultivation technique, further intensifying the oppressive power of the hexagonal star formation.

"Crack!!"