When I woke up, I wanted to go home.

The competition will last for a month, with ten days for each of the beginner, intermediate, and advanced mages!

Ten days for both King-level and Emperor-level mages!

Ten days to become an Emperor-level mage!

The competition will arrange matches according to the number of participants in each level.

For example, there are the most beginner, intermediate, and advanced martial arts and magic masters, so they will engage in multiple battles on the same day!

Since Zhu Chongjiu's competition was still twenty days away, he had nothing else to do, so he came along to watch his academy's students compete.

Let's also take a look at the overall level of the students in the Ice and Snow Continent.

The competition took place in the square in front of the royal palace, where two kinds of runes had already been inscribed by the capital's imperial-level mages.

One type is the area rune, which is like a large bowl turned upside down on the ground, where the player is controlled within a certain area.

Whether it's martial arts techniques or magical techniques, they will be blocked, and people will also be blocked, just like an invisible wall.

Zhu Chongjiu felt that these runes must have been modified from defensive spells.

Zhu Chongjiu had also seen this kind of rune-based technique when he was studying at the Mage Academy in Viter City.

He just didn't take it seriously and didn't want to practice. Most of these rune spells are auxiliary spells!

There is also a type of rune on the field that is a defensive rune, but it defends against the ground to prevent the students from destroying the plaza during their battles!

Four Emperor-level mages were channeling their inner energy into the runes around the plaza.

In battles like this, which are at the highest level and belong to advanced mages, each Emperor-level mage can easily control many runes for a long time without them being destroyed!

Zhu Chongjiu looked around for a long time and found Ha Wu. After observing for a while, Zhu Chongjiu realized that the opponent Ha Wu was fighting was a small level lower than Ha Wu and also lacked Ha Wu's combat experience.

When Zhu Chongjiu saw Ha Wu, Ha Wu was displaying his prowess and was forcing his opponent into a retreat. Zhu Chongjiu estimated that the outcome would be decided in another four or five minutes!

Zhu Chongjiu stopped looking at Ha Wu and began scanning them one by one.

Because it's done by lottery, it's uncertain in which round a student from your department will appear.

After Zhu Chongjiu had been looking for half an hour, he saw the girl who was a low-level mage, "Wu Xue".

Wu Xue was playing against a tall and strong boy, and judging from the team uniform he was wearing, he was from Ruixue City General Hospital.

After using a spell called "Blizzard Mist" to confuse her opponent, Wu Xue immediately followed up with a water needle that pierced directly into the mist.

Zhu Chongjiu had also seen these two techniques. After casting the Blizzard Mist, the target's body would be instantly covered by a blizzard. At the same time, the blizzard would be accompanied by a thick fog, doubly confusing the opponent.

The advantage of this technique is that after casting it, the opponent cannot see through the world outside the blizzard fog, but the caster can sense the information outside the fog.

The downside is that it can only confuse the opponent for a moment and cannot control them, so the opponent can come out whenever they want!

But then again, sometimes, victory or defeat hinges on that one moment!

Therefore, Wu Xue immediately followed up with a water needle attack, shooting it into the blizzard fog.

Water needle, as the name suggests, is a technique that uses water to compress into the shape of a needle.

Advantages: high speed, small size, difficult to detect, and strong penetrating power.

The downside is that if it doesn't hit a vital part of the opponent, it won't cause much damage.

Because the physical abilities of both humans and animals in this world are too strong.

On the body, if a tiny hole the size of a pinhole is shot into an insignificant location, it will have virtually no impact!

Upon seeing this, Zhu Chongjiu realized that Wu Xue was about to lose, as Wu Xue's water needle was aimed at her opponent's eyes.

Although the competition prohibits malicious killing, as long as it's not an instantaneous death, and the speed is so fast that dozens of royal-level and several emperor-level referees can't react, if the referees feel that your attack is enough to win completely, they will intervene instantly to save the opponent's life.

Why did Zhu Chongjiu say that Wu Xue was going to lose? Because Zhu Chongjiu discovered that even though the tall and mighty boy in the blizzard fog couldn't perceive the outside world, his combat instincts still sensed the danger.

With a sudden tilt of his head, the water needle flew past the boy's cheek, leaving a bloody trail on his face!

Then the boy rushed out of the blizzard and mist, seizing the moment when Wu Xuegang was adjusting her internal energy after using two spells. As the boy rushed out, an ice sword instantly condensed in his hand!

Just as Wu Xue was about to unleash her next spell, the boy's ice sword was already at her neck!

Wu Xue glanced at the boy and said: I lost!

The boy replied: You were great too. Your combination spells almost cost me the upper hand. But I want to remind you that mages can also fight in close combat. Don't just rely on the backline for control and output. Combat requires self-control and flexibility.

After the boy finished speaking, the judges announced that he had won, the runes disappeared, and the boy walked away!

Zhu Chongjiu watched the boy's retreating figure and thought to himself: This one is not bad. He has his own ideas and doesn't practice brute force! He's also a gentleman and not a sycophant!

Zhu Chongjiu watched for a while longer, but when he didn't see any more students from his academy, he also felt that it was getting boring.

He didn't go to see the dean, and he didn't know what the dean was busy with, so he went back to his rest room alone.

A speechless night!

The next day, after the competition began, Zhu Chongjiu arrived at the square.

In the first competition, Zhu Chongjiu saw Ha Wen.

Ha Wen's opponent was a student wearing the uniform of the Tianxue City Mage Academy. Ha Wen and his younger brother Ha Wu had different fighting styles. Ha Wu's style was more aggressive and fierce, while Ha Wen's style was more cunning and introspective, in order to create opportunities for himself. Five minutes later, Ha Wen won!

Nearly an hour later, Zhu Chongjiu looked at several students from his academy. Among them, Qian Gu and Li Lingling from the advanced group of magic masters, Xin De from the advanced group of martial arts masters, and Wang Zhan from the low-level group, all four of them had advanced!

After watching for another half hour, Zhu Chongjiu returned to his room.

After that, Zhu Chongjiu basically didn't leave the house, not even for meals. Ten days later, the competition for beginner, intermediate, and advanced martial arts and magic masters was completed.

That evening, while Zhu Chongjiu was meditating, he was awakened by a knock on the door. Zhu Chongjiu sensed it and said, "Come in!"

The Ha brothers, Ha Wen and Ha Wu, pushed open the door and excitedly said, "Ninth Brother, we brothers have both advanced! We can go treasure hunting in the Divine Void with you now!"

Zhu Chongjiu said with an "Oh," and then added, "Congratulations! Besides you, who else in the academy has achieved a ranking to enter the Divine Void?"

"There are only two of us who are advanced martial arts mages, Ye Lang is the only intermediate martial arts mage, there are no beginner martial arts mages, Li Lingling is the advanced magic mage, Boone is the intermediate magic mage, and Wu Bing is the low-level magic mage," Ha Wen said excitedly.

Zhu Chongjiu replied, "Excellent, excellent! There are a total of eighteen spots, and over two thousand participants. Our academy has secured six of them. That's very impressive!"

Ha Wu continued, "Of course! The principal is really proud this time. After the competition today, when the principal took us out to dinner, he was so proud of himself that his head was practically touching the ceiling. He kept saying, 'There are successors! There are successors!'"

Seeing that Zhu Chongjiu had no interest in saying anything more, Ha Wen pulled her younger brother Ha Wu and said, "Ninth Brother, there's nothing else, I just wanted to tell you this, so we're leaving now!"

After saying this, the two brothers turned to leave, but Zhu Chongjiu stopped them, took out the flesh and blood of the Sky-Splitting Tiger and two catties from his storage ring, and handed them to the two brothers, saying, "Each of you has one catty of flesh and blood. Take advantage of the remaining twenty days to quickly advance to the King level, so as to increase your survival rate after entering the Divine Void."

The rules only specify the ranking during the competition; they don't stipulate that you can't be promoted after the competition!

Zhu Chongjiu added, "Don't eat too much at once. Just eat one bite of meat and drink one sip of blood at a time. If you eat too much, you will explode and die. Wait until you have digested before eating the next bite."

The two brothers looked at the flesh and blood of the Emperor-level demon beast flying towards them, and with great excitement, they knelt down and bowed to thank their Ninth Brother for his life-saving grace.

Zhu Chongjiu used his internal force to lift the two of them up and told them to get out quickly. He also told them to try not to let others know, saying, "I'm giving you this. If everyone knows, I won't have enough to go around!"

A day later, the King-level and Royal-level competition began, but while the King-level competition was still held in front of the square, the Royal-level competition venue was changed!

Because the battles between Emperor-level and Emperor-level mages are too powerful, the runes inscribed by the Emperor-level experts can no longer restrain them. Therefore, Emperor-level mages must go to a venue 500 miles outside of Ruixue City, which is specifically for the competition between Emperor-level and Emperor-level mages.

However, in the palace, a large screen of about a thousand square meters was broadcasting the live footage of the Royal-level Mage Competition.

Upon seeing the large screen, Zhu Chongjiu thought to himself, "When was this installed?" Looking at the projection on the screen, he thought, "This must be a projection of a spell called 'Ice and Snow Mirror' that I saw."

The battles between King-level and Emperor-level fighters were far more captivating than the battles between the students, and it was clear that the crowd watching from the outer perimeter of the plaza was much larger.

Zhu Chongjiu paid special attention to the royal-level mage from his own academy.

Because everyone had made a move on the way to Ruixue City, Zhu Chongjiu was aware of everyone's strength. Even Dean Wang had made a move, and Zhu Chongjiu had even ventured deep into the snowy mountains to capture monsters. But this person was the only one who hadn't made a single move throughout the entire journey!

Although Wu Lintian, a mid-level royal-rank mage, was only at the mid-level, his mastery of water magic was extraordinary, which made Zhu Chongjiu nod in approval.

Even though his opponent was a high-level royal mage who was one level higher than him, the fight was evenly matched.

Although the opponent had a slightly stronger internal force than Wu Lintian, he was far inferior to Wu Lintian in both combat experience and combat skills!

While Zhu Chongjiu was engrossed in watching, Dean Wang appeared in front of him from nowhere and asked, "How is it?"

Wu Lintian is a genius in our institute. Don't let his slightly older age fool you; he may not be as highly regarded as those younger geniuses with high ranks.

Dean Wang quickly smiled apologetically and said, "Ninth Brother, I wasn't talking about you. You are one in a million, a once-in-a-millennium talent. I can't compare to you, I can't compare to you!"

Zhu Chongjiu said, "Stop talking nonsense. If you have something to say, say it. If you don't, go wherever you need to go."

Dean Wang's expression turned serious as he continued, "Wu Lintian is a bit older, and there's a connection between them."

Unlike ordinary cultivators, Wu Lintian, despite his good family background, did not begin marrow cleansing or meditation in his childhood like other people from well-off families, laying the foundation for becoming a magician or martial artist.

Even those who are less skilled started in their youth!

The sooner you sense the elemental information in meditation, the better. First, you can start cultivating sooner and lay a foundation to get ahead of others. Second, if you can't sense the elemental information, you can switch to martial arts cultivation as soon as possible, so you can do both without any problems.

When Wu Lintian finally realized that he couldn't sense the magical elements, he refused to switch to martial arts.

For decades, Wu Lintian never gave up, relying on connections and resources to thoroughly study and research various techniques and methods.

Even without any cultivation, in terms of spell theory alone, Wu Lintian surpasses all the king-level spell masters in the academy. Some even have royal-level spell masters who would occasionally seek out Wu Lintian to discuss spell-related problems.

As the saying goes, perseverance pays off. Wu Lintian finally sensed the water element when he was nearly forty years old.