"Jiang Yuan from Mingzhu Academy is here!"
This news spread through Imperial Academy like wildfire.
The geniuses who came to participate in the voting ceremony also heard the news and began to inquire.
Although Jiang Yuan had suppressed Imperial Academy, there were not only geniuses in Imperial Academy in Huaxia; other geniuses had not witnessed his oppressive power firsthand.
They waited for Jiang Yuan's arrival in the Magic Duel Arena.
Before long, Jiang Yuan led Mu Ningjiao and others into the Magic Duel Arena.
"Jiang Yuan is here!"
As his voice fell, thousands of eyes looked over.
Jiang Yuan walked at the very front, his expression unchanged.
"The number one genius mage in the country?" In the waiting area, Guan Yu chuckled, the mockery in his tone self-evident.
"Imperial Academy is truly becoming less and less worthy of the title of Huaxia's strongest academy; they actually let an unknown mage suppress them." The person next to him mocked both Jiang Yuan and Imperial Academy.
It was a good thing the students of Imperial Academy were far from here, otherwise, if they had heard, a huge conflict would have likely erupted.
"Perhaps, this person is very strong," Guan Yu said casually.
In the hall, there were many people who looked down on Jiang Yuan like them.
But there were also exceptions.
At this moment, a figure actively went to greet Jiang Yuan, his actions making many people look sideways.
"Hello, I am Ai Jiangtu," Ai Jiangtu introduced himself.
"Hello," Jiang Yuan replied.
He was very surprised why Ai Jiangtu had come over at this time.
Just to simply say hello?
"I am Ai Tutu's brother. My sister told me she would also follow you all to the Imperial Academy, but why don't I see her?" Ai Jiangtu said.
Jiang Yuan then understood that it was for Ai Tutu, so he said, "Ai Tutu said she had something to deal with when she got off the plane. She should arrive at Imperial Academy soon."
Ai Tutu did not receive a nomination, but that did not prevent her from following them to Imperial Academy to join in the fun.
"So that's how it is," Ai Jiangtu mused.
He paused, then smiled, "Then let's not worry about my sister for now. Let's go to the waiting area. Everyone for the voting ceremony is about to arrive, and Dean Song He will speak for a while later."
Jiang Yuan nodded and walked with him towards the waiting area.
Upon reaching the waiting area, those strange gazes became even more obvious, and even Mu Ningjiao and the others next to him started to feel extremely uncomfortable.
Mo Fan couldn't hold back, he raised his right middle finger and spun it around, shouting loudly, "Are you guys sick? Why do you keep staring over here? If you keep staring, do you believe I'll teach you how to behave?!!!"
This was very Mo Fan.
Just a few words made the atmosphere tense, and angry glares and curses came whistling in.
Mo Fan wasn't intimidated at all; he raised his left hand as well, two middle fingers brazenly showing disdain for those exasperated students.
If Dean Song He wasn't watching from above, they would have rushed up and ganged up on Mo Fan long ago. Now they could only watch him make a mockery of them.
Seeing that these people couldn't out-curse him and couldn't lay a hand on him, Mo Fan became even more arrogant.
The Magic Duel Arena instantly became a cacophony.
Dean Song He, seeing this, stood up from his seat, and a powerful aura instantly swept across the entire venue, the previous clamor abruptly ceasing.
"Distinguished genius students, welcome to you all, coming from academies around the world to gather here. On behalf of Imperial Academy, I welcome your arrival!"
"Now that everyone has arrived, it is time to begin the National Training Hall's voting ceremony."
"Everyone, step forward!"
His words seemed to possess a magical power; everyone subconsciously left their original positions, forming lines and standing in the center of the arena.
Song He did not use any mental abilities; it was merely because his powerful aura would make ordinary mages subconsciously follow him.
Within his gaunt body, powerful magic energy was hidden!
"Once again, welcome everyone to our Imperial Academy to participate in the voting ceremony. This voting ceremony will be the same as before, and the rules are…"
Simply put, the voting ceremony was divided into three rounds.
The first round was a team competition, similar to the Academy Nomination Contest. It was also free team formation, regardless of win or loss, with rankings based on scores.
The final thirty participants would advance to the second round.
The reason why team competitions appeared in both the voting ceremony and the nomination contest was that the final format of the World Academy Tournament was a team competition.
Therefore, performance in team competitions was also a dimension that the National Government Mentor highly valued.
The second round was a pure individual strength confrontation, with the final ranking determined by wins and losses.
The top ten would become official members of the National Training Hall, while the latter twenty would not be eliminated; they would compete for the status of National Pavilion students in another competition some time after the voting ceremony ended.
The final third round was actually the captain election ceremony.
Generally speaking, the first-place individual would be the captain.
However, there had been cases in previous National Training Hall where students with strong leadership, cohesion, and high personal charisma, but not the strongest in terms of individual power, were chosen.
Such students were often more suitable to be captains than the first-place individual.
After the rules were announced, Song He motioned for the students to begin forming teams freely.
To facilitate team formation, he distributed a list of participating students for the voting ceremony to everyone.
It contained some basic information.
This information was filled out by each academy and was not mandatory to contain too much detail.
However, what main and sub-elements they cultivated were definitely included, as these were what teams looked at.
"There are only thirty advancement spots. It seems I, the great Mo Fan, cannot hold back!" Mo Fan felt some pressure.
He had been beaten so badly by Ding Y眠 at Mingzhu Academy that he had scurried away with his head in his hands. Now, with so many experts here, it indeed felt a bit more difficult.
"For teaming up, I want to try on my own first," Mu Ningjiao said, looking at Jiang Yuan.
She had strong aspirations for an official spot in the National Training Hall, but she wanted to earn enough points to enter the second round based on her own strength.
If she advanced by relying on Jiang Yuan, many people would surely say she was unworthy of the spot.
Moreover, she believed she was certainly capable of advancing to the second round with her own strength.
"Alright," Jiang Yuan agreed.
Mo Fan heard this, came over, put an arm around Jiang Yuan's shoulder, and laughed, "We good brothers should still stick together; let me have a good time later."
Jiang Yuan's eye twitched; ignoring the ambiguous remark, he righteously said, "I think you two should also be like Mu Ningjiao and first secure your advancement spots with your own strength to get some good practice. So, Mo Fan, you and Old Zhao can go have fun as a team."
Upon hearing this, Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan panicked.
"Don't, without you, how am I supposed to have fun?!" Mo Fan cried out.
"Exactly!" Zhao Manyan echoed.
Jiang Yuan expressionlessly raised his middle finger: "We'll meet again, goodbye!"
After saying that, he turned and left, without a hint of regret.