Dragon Phoenix Academy, one of the four great ancient academies.
Throughout the years, the Dragon Phoenix Academy had taught generation after generation of outstanding cultivators. They even had God Realm cultivators among their ranks. The academy was a neutral power yet was no weaker than any superpower. No organization would willingly offend an ancient academy like it.
Such an academy had three of their Saint Realm elders killed within the span of a single day. Outside of the Devil Domain, something like that had never happened before. Out of Situ Mingyu, Shadowflash, and Feng Huosuo, two were high-ranked elders, and one was an ordinary elder. In the academy, their positions were definitely not low. It was quite an irony for all of them to die on the same day in the hands of one of the academy’s abandoned disciples, Xiang Shaoyun.
News that Xiang Shaoyun was a devil had also reached the academy. All the Overlord Legion members were filled with disbelief. Regardless of whether they believed it or not, Xiang Shaoyun had been crippled by a God Realm expert. Thus, his only fate was death. Nobody could change that.
Many thought that Xiang Shaoyun’s body had been possessed by a devil and felt regretful for him. After all, he was a super genius and the first person to have ever fused nine different energies. The method of fusing nine energies would most likely disappear with him.
At the Dragon Phoenix Academy’s Back Graveyard was a blind old man. The old man was slowly sweeping the ground, demonstrating a great attention to detail that caused one to involuntarily feel reverence. The people of the Dragon Phoenix Academy knew him as the gravekeeper elder. He was also known to the outside world as the guardian god or the lord guardian.
Anyone with such a title was someone who had contributed greatly to the dominion and humanity. Few could obtain such a title, and everyone who did stood at the very peak of existence.
The gravekeeper elder was one such person. However, he was so low-profiled that not many even knew he existed. If it wasn’t for his token, who would have believed that a blind old man sweeping the grave would be a guardian god of the dominion?
The gravekeeper elder had lived for an untold amount of years. Almost everyone from his generation was no longer in the world. One could say that after living through countless years, he was left with no family or friends.
Ten years ago, the old man had finally accepted a disciple. He had thus gained a person he could worry over. However, before the disciple had even finished his training, he was driven away from the academy. The old man had sent one of his followers to help the disciple with some troubles. Apart from that, the old man had not done much for his disciple. Even so, anyone could see that the old man cared greatly for that disciple of his.
Ten years had passed. The disciple had returned not once, but the gravekeeper elder wasn’t bothered. But now, news of his disciple’s death had arrived. Furthermore, the disciple’s death seemed to be related to the three dead elders. Nobody knew how the old man would react. The old man might pay no attention to the affairs of the world, but that did not mean that the old man was ignorant.
The wolf guard was kneeling before the old man, retelling everything that had happened at the Heavenly Snow Mountain. After hearing what had happened, the broom in the old man’s hands snapped into two. Over the countless years, this was the first time the old man had broken a broom. Hearing the snap, the wolf guard trembled, feeling as though that snap was the sound of his neck breaking. A suffocating sensation instantly invaded his body.
“You may leave,” said the gravekeeper elder.
The wolf guard did not dare to say anything and hurriedly disappeared from the old man’s face.
The gravekeeper elder tossed the broken broom aside and clasped his hands behind him as he gazed at the graveyard. He sighed and said, “Looks like I have been here for so long that many have forgotten about me.”
His body then flickered and released a strand of energy that flew toward the Dragon Phoenix Academy’s meeting hall. The gravekeeper elder had departed the graveyard. That was a major event for the Dragon Phoenix Academy, one that alarmed even the grand elders.
“It’s the gravekeeper elder’s aura. Is he going to announce something?” a purple-haired old man muttered before hurriedly leaving his cultivation room.
“Why is he coming out? Is something big happening?” muttered a handsome middle-aged man who was standing atop a mountain. He vanished into thin air.
From numerous places within the academy, several powerful aura undulations could be detected. The entire Dragon Phoenix Academy seemed to be stirring, something that had not happened in recent years.
Instead of the regular elders, the strongest of the Dragon Phoenix Academy were moving. They were all people who could shake the academy’s foundation with a single stomp of their feet.
Soon, more than 10 people gathered in the meeting hall. Everyone was of a different age and was dressed in a different outfit. They had all reached a cultivation level where they returned the complex into its original nature.
The current principal was among those who had arrived. Not a single Saint Realm elder was qualified to attend this meeting. The gravekeeper elder was standing in the hall, his figure akin to a lofty mountain that one could only look up to.
Every single grand elder behaved in a respectful manner. None of them dared to even breathe too deeply in the gravekeeper elder’s presence, including the principal.
The gravekeeper elder had been keeping watch over the graveyard all this while. It had been years since he had last left the graveyard. Thus, his departure signified that something major was about to happen.
The principal cautiously asked, “What brings you out, gravekeeper elder?”
Everyone looked at the gravekeeper elder, waiting for his answer. They all wanted to know just what had caused this lord to leave the graveyard.
“Xiang Shaoyun is a devil?” asked the gravekeeper elder.
Who was Xiang Shaoyun? About half of the people present hadn’t even heard his name. As for the other half, they were extremely familiar with it.
“Xiang Shaoyun is a devil? What’s going on?” asked a grand elder doubtfully.
A different person said, “That’s not possible. That kid is clearly someone with a nine-star physique. How can a devil possess such a physique? What kind of a joke is that?”
A few of them had once tried taking Xiang Shaoyun as their disciple. They had all failed due to his stubbornness. Over the years, they had been fully focused on cultivating and had not paid any attention to the affairs of the world. Thus, they were unaware of Xiang Shaoyun’s recent developments.
The principal looked conflicted as he nodded and said, “Xiang Shaoyun had been seen using the Imperial Nether Clan’s innate abilities. His astral energy cultivation was thus crippled by Daoist Wudao. It is unknown if he is still alive.”
“Just because he knows the Imperial Nether Clan’s innate abilities, he was judged as a devil. The ones who passed that judgment were the elders from our academy. Am I right?” asked the gravekeeper elder emotionlessly. At this point, his tone turned heavy as he said, “Looks like all of you have forgotten about me, the useless keeper of the graves.”
