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"So much time has passed, wasn’t it said that it only required one day?"

Within the Beihai Dragon Palace, the youngest son of the Duke of Wei paced back and forth in agitation, much to the amusement of another, older magician who watched with a wry smile.

"Second Young Master, there’s no need to be so anxious. You warriors naturally have great lung capacity and consume more air; your anxiety only increases that consumption. It’s not that I can’t handle it, but we should save some spiritual power for any unexpected changes," the elder advised.

"Ah..." The young lad was taken aback, touching his head with a sheepish smile, obviously a bit embarrassed.

His family, under his father’s tutelage, held sorcerers in high regard, and on a regular basis, the young ones were taught the basics of techniques to facilitate cooperation with talented children of sorcerer families. In this aspect, the Northern Aristocratic Family did exceptionally well.

This was why the institutions of the Northern Aristocratic Family were rigidly structured and why the channels of promotion were highly congested, yet they still possessed incredibly powerful military forces capable of almost overthrowing the Imperial Court and simultaneously holding back the Ancient Huan Country at the Northern Border.

In this place alone, the Sorcerer Family and the Warrior Family were united like never before!

As the youngest child of the Duke’s family, he was naturally brought up with a fine education from the Duke of Wei and was acquainted with many techniques.

The underwater breathing technique he was familiar with had been used countless times, often in surprise attacks against pirates in the north, and by some elite troops.

In simple terms, it involved the combination of Water Technique and Wind Technique to create an internal cycle, but the air for this technique came from the surface of the sea.

The deeper one dived towards the bottom of the sea, the more difficult it was to deploy, requiring an exceptionally high level of spiritual power.

According to several elders, they were now tens of thousands of feet below the surface; drawing air from that elevation, especially through the chaotic currents within the Dragon Palace Secret Realm, was exceedingly difficult—even for a First Rank magician maintaining the oxygen supply for just a few of them was quite troublesome!

"Now that I think about it, sending our young ones to study in Jiangnan really was a wise decision!" the Duke’s youngest son remarked with curiosity.

"Ah..." sighed another elder magician in black robes. "In some special circumstances, the savings in manpower and art energy are more than tenfold," he said.

The nearby magicians nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

The Wind Jade of Jiangnan could store vast amounts of Wind Art Energy; with some modification, it could have been used now—where would there be a need to consume the precious spiritual power of a First Rank magician?

If this were a battle, such a disparity in consumption would be fatal!

"By the way, how many of our Northern youngsters got accepted this time?" the Duke’s son asked with curiosity.

"Ah..." Once this topic was broached, the expressions on the elders’ faces grew noticeably more troubled.

The examination results from the recent Jiangnan examination had already reached the North a few days ago.

In the external magician quota, the Imperial Court had the highest number of students accepted, with over a hundred entering Jiangnan Academy, surpassing seventy for both the most challenging Heavenly Institute and the most practical Huang Academy.

Many astute young ones had also taken an interest in the Rune Academy of the Earth Institute, with quite a few changing their minds at the last minute to sit for that examination—reportedly about a dozen were admitted.

On their own side, to say their results were worse than the Imperial Court’s would be an understatement; they didn’t even surpass those from the Northern Border.

There were only about thirty participants from the Ancient Huan Country, yet half were accepted, fifteen in total, with as many as five entering the Earth Institute.

It was evident that these youngsters from the Ancient Huan Country not only valued scholarship but also had far-sightedness; they weren’t solely fixated on the Heavenly Institute.

In contrast, from their own side, there were as many as three hundred participants, not much different from the number from the Imperial Court, yet shockingly fewer than ten were accepted—and of them, eight had doggedly pursued places in the Heavenly Institute!

However, when carefully examining the reasons, these experienced elders obviously knew the causes.

The North was in constant conflict. Sorcerer Families greatly valued offspring with inheritable talents, and conversely, the commercial environment in the North couldn’t compare with that of the South or the Capital City.

The status of those with domestic responsibilities was so low it was not much different from that of house servants.

In this kind of environment, how could domestic offspring with a good foundation in theoretical studies not be targeted by the direct descendants?

And for those who had the rare chance to take the academy’s examination, consumed by concern for their own combat strength, why would results be good if everyone was vying for the most difficult in the Heavenly Institute?

As for the Rune department of the Earth Institute, the Engineering department of the Mystic Academy, and the Hundred Schools department of the Huang Academy, while their practicality was immense, in the eyes of those youths who had been oppressed for years, they were nothing more than a slightly higher-level logistics; status was low for logistics offspring in the North, so even with an advanced position, how much could their status really improve?

This, too, was an issue within the family system.

It seemed necessary to consider some reforms when returning, to offer more promises, and to motivate the young ones to yearn for education.

Otherwise, given the current situation, it would take no more than a decade for the North to completely decline into the lower echelons of the wilderness.

Just like this time, had there been enough Rune Stones, the few First Rank magicians should be at full capacity—where would there be a situation like now, where watching the Second Young Master breathe a bit more oxygen made them feel like their hearts were being wrenched out?

As he was sighing, suddenly, a black-clad elder who had been closing his eyes abruptly opened them, startling everyone present.

Even the always calm Duke Bai Sang was alarmed and stood up, "Master?"

The black-clad elder was one of only two Super First Rank sorcerers who came with Duke of Wei this time; the first, Mr. Guijing, was currently presiding over the Dragon Transformation Ceremony and must not be disturbed.

This man was the head of a Northern Sorcerer Family: the supreme elder of the Dugu Family, Dugu Yifang!

The aged elder opened his muddy eyes, his voice carrying a rare chill, "Something... has happened in the North!"

At the age of three hundred, there were few things that could still excite Dugu Yifang like this. His grim expression almost foretold the gravity of the situation!

"Master Dugu..." Bai Sang suppressed the unease in his heart and quickly asked, "What happened?"

"The Lu Family has opened Myriad Serpent Valley!"

"Have they truly gone mad?" The faces of several sorcerers changed. Myriad Serpent Valley housed a very terrifying evil god; back then, the greatest country in the Northern Wasteland was Zhulong Country, a power that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Southern Barbarians’ demon nations.

It boasted the most dreadful evil god and the strongest Earth Fiend Sorcery Family, which was also the ZhuLong Sorcery Family.

This was a family with an infamous reputation so fearsome that even the people from the Zhang Family in Tiandu wouldn’t dare provoke them in the North.

Later, feudal lords from all sides exerted their power, and together they brought down Zhulong Country.

The ZhuLong Sorcery Family was slaughtered, their techniques acquired by the Siao Family.

It was said that at that time, the Siao Family secretly nurtured one who is now the head of the ten great Court Sorcerers.

Besides the fearsome ZhuLong Sorcery Family, what made people even more wary was the terrifying evil god from Myriad Serpent Valley, a branch of the Southern Barbarians: Mother Earth!

It was said that the snakes of Myriad Serpent Valley always dwelt in low-lying areas, massive in size, preying only on gigantic monsters from the underworld, and they moved to the North because it was more suitable for hibernation.

These snakes slept for years on end, and randomly pulling one out would reveal a demon of at least Third Rank.

Reportedly, during the fall of Zhulong Country, the sovereign sacrificed tens of thousands of warriors, using their fresh blood to awaken the monsters below.

The terrifying Earth Serpent moved, each one ten thousand zhang long, coiling around to encircle entire city gates; their mere presence on the battlefield was so fearsome that it could paralyze cavalry who were not mounted on Dragon Horses.

And at that time, Bai Sang himself had witnessed the evil god Mother Earth, who, without even showing her head and merely stirring underground, could cause earthquakes spanning hundreds of kilometers—an unimaginable size!

In the end, it was the King of Qin who had to intervene, using some secret blood to lure Mother Earth to Earth Dragon Valley for sealing. The Myriad Serpent Ritual was also disrupted then.

Otherwise, according to predictions, if all those Earth Serpents were to be awakened, the whole North would have been swallowed up completely.

And the key to Myriad Serpent Valley... was in the hands of the Lu Family people.

Back then, the King of Qin deeply trusted Lumings; this ability to destroy a Northern region had been in the keeping of the Lu Family for fifty years. And that terror in the North was thoroughly made to be forgotten by the Northern populace, under the King of Qin’s Tianyue plan.

Now, with Lumings gone, everyone felt that the Lu Family might act rashly, but no one imagined they would go this mad!

What was the point of doing this?

The moment the Lu Family people opened Myriad Serpent Valley, would they not be devoured by the terrifying Mother Earth, leaving not even dregs behind?

Harming others without benefiting oneself?

Could there not be someone sane enough in such a large family as the Lu Family to stop this?

"How is the situation now?" Bai Sang took a deep breath and asked.

"Earth Serpents have begun to revive..." Dugu Yifang said somberly, "Many martial warriors from the aristocratic families have been assassinated, and a mysterious force is continuously killing high-ranking warriors, obviously collecting fine blood, aiming to awaken those monsters asleep underground again! "

"A mysterious force?" Bai Sang’s brow furrowed tightly, "What mysterious force? Assassinating members of the entire Northern Aristocratic Family? Can the Lu Family even be involved with such forces?"

"I don’t know... The Princely Heir was also attacked yesterday, and suffered serious injuries, the situation now is extremely bad!"

"This..." Bai Sang looked up, his mind forming some speculations, but if it were so, one misstep could cause more trouble than in the past. There was no second King of Qin now to turn the tide...

It seemed that the world... was truly on the brink of chaos!