Chapter 525: 525 has quite a beautiful dream.
Legend has it that Xia Youchen was born a commoner’s child. His extraordinary natural talent caught the eye of a mentor from Chenxing Academy, who took him under his wing.
At the time, Chenxing Academy was not on par with the Four Great Academies, but its strength was not far off either. It was even jokingly referred to as the fifth academy of Anyun Country, mostly admitting students of common birth.
Xia Youchen’s remarkable talent, coupled with diligent cultivation, quickly set him apart. He fell in love with his mentor’s only beloved daughter, becoming a celebrated tale within Chenxing Academy.
During the inter-academy competitions in Anyun Country, Xia Youchen sliced through his opponents, advancing to the finals and became an idol to all swordsman of common birth. With his strength at that time, it was quite likely that he would defeat his rivals and seize victory. Not only would his own name go down in history, but Chenxing Academy’s standing would have soared. Either it would have replaced one of the original Four Great Academies to become a new one, or the jest of the fifth academy would have turned into a reality.
However, to everyone’s surprise, on the eve of the final match, his mentor betrothed his daughter to another man. Xia Youchen, filled with unwillingness, confronted his mentor. During the ensuing argument, they came to blows, and Xia Youchen grievously wounded his mentor. Fortunately, several other mentors arrived in time to save his master, and Xia Youchen seized the opportunity to escape amid the chaos.
Afterwards, Chenxing Academy issued a warrant for Xia Youchen’s arrest everywhere. Xia Youchen fled, leading a vagrant life until his whereabouts were discovered several years later.
But what no one expected was that by that time, Xia Youchen had not only ascended to the rank of Sword Saint but had also mastered the Beast Taming Technique, enabling him to fight in unison with Exotic Beasts.
In that battle, Chenxing Academy dispatched nearly a hundred experts, including mentors and dozens of the academy’s finest students. However, after a bitter fight, more than thirty fell, more than thirty were severely injured, and the rest were all wounded. Although Xia Youchen was also severely injured, he still managed to evade his pursuers.
After this battle, Chenxing Academy’s primordial energy was severely damaged, and they no longer dared to casually send people to kill Xia Youchen. They thought the issue had ended there, but years later, once healed, Xia Youchen attacked on his own initiative, single-handedly and animal by side, annihilating all the experts who had once pursued him.
Chenxing Academy, situated in the Capital, received support from many families and even the Royal Family sent several experts. But in the end, they couldn’t stop the once again injured Xia Youchen from breaking through the encirclement. The reinforcements suffered heavy losses.
From then on, Chenxing Academy’s strength plummeted to rock bottom. It went from being a contender for the Five Great Academies to becoming a second-rate institution, gradually forgotten by all.
Meanwhile, Xia Youchen’s fame shook the world. Even a thousand years later, his legend lived on. However, after that grievous injury, he vanished without a trace and was never seen again.
Everyone thought he had died from his injuries and was buried in some unknown wilderness. Who could have imagined he had turned into a skeleton, hiding in Exotic Beast Valley?
"Se... Senior Xia, I was rude before. Please accept my apologies. I have pressing matters and must take my leave," Qu Fengting suppressed the fear in his heart, nearly bowing in half as he made his apologies to Xia Youchen. Once he had finished speaking, he quickly made his exit.
This fierce god, who killed men upon meeting them and gods as well, showed no mercy to his fellow academy mentors and even spared not the experts from the Beijing Family and the Royal Family. Qu Fengting didn’t dare confront him. He cherished the naïve belief that once he finished his speech, he could just run away.