"Intercept the new students? This..."
For a moment, the students of the Outer Mountain were all stunned. They couldn’t believe their ears! They, who had long surpassed the Emperor Realm, were being told to intercept a few new students? It would be an absolute slaughter! Was this really the mission? And the reward for completing it was entry into the Inner Mountain?
"Surprising, isn’t it?" Dilaka smiled wryly. "I was just as surprised when I heard the Dean issue this mission himself. Although this year’s new students are incredibly formidable, and one among them possesses unimaginable strength, pitting them against a blockade of several hundred of you Emperors is asking a bit much. But since the Dean has decided this will be the test, your job is to carry it out! Now, I will tell you the conditions for completing the mission."
"Yes, sir!" Countless fanatical eyes gleamed, full of hope for their futures, as if they could already see themselves standing tall within the Inner Mountain.
Dilaka was far too experienced not to understand what the students below were thinking. He said calmly, "I hope you all take this mission seriously. While you’re feeling so pleased with yourselves, have you stopped to consider why the Dean would give you a mission that seems so simple? If it were really that easy to get into the Inner Mountain, wouldn’t that be a bit too suspicious?"
"However, there’s no time for you to ponder that now. They will arrive in ten days. The only thing I can tell you is this: you won’t just be intercepting four groups of new students, but five!"
"Five groups?!"
All the students of the Outer Mountain were shaken. Five groups... As former new students themselves, how could they not know what that implied? But throughout history, aside from those admitted through Special Recruitment, Holy Tomb Mountain had never, ever had a fifth group! What happened this year? ’Could an Empire have deliberately thrown the competition?’
"Heh... that’s right, five groups. You’re probably thinking there’s something fishy going on, aren’t you?" Dilaka sneered, his sharp eyes seeming to pierce right through their thoughts. "But the truth is, a Low-level Lower Empire stormed into the ranks of the High-class Empires in just two days with thunderous momentum! Then, in the final battle among the Peak Empires, it single-handedly defeated two of them to win a ticket to Holy Tomb Mountain!"
"A Low-level Lower Empire?"
"Single-handedly defeated two Peak Empires?"
"That’s impossible!!"
A torrent of astonished cries erupted from the crowd. They were, after all, the top talents from various Peak Empires themselves. They knew full well the immense gap between a Low-level Lower Empire and a Peak Empire—it was like the difference between a Sect Master and an Emperor! Even for a talent capable of Defying the Heavens, a Sect Master could never be compared to an Emperor! And what’s more, they supposedly did it with only a single person fighting each time! What kind of monster are we talking about?!
"I know you don’t believe it!" Dilaka spoke again, and the crowd below fell silent. It was as if his every word carried crucial information.
"But I saw all of this with my own eyes. So do not get careless, or the result may be far beyond your expectations. As for the mission’s completion rules, you are to intercept these students and keep them captured until the assessment is over. However, to increase the difficulty, I will scatter them completely before they enter the mountain, making them individual targets. This will, in turn, disperse your forces as well."
"Finally, the one who completes the mission won’t necessarily be the first person to capture a new student, but the last person to do so! Do you understand?"
Not the first, but the last. The message Dilaka was sending them was clear: captured students could be stolen!