Passing Five Gates

When everyone stood under the Star Fruit Tree and looked up, they felt even more awe and wonder at the tree's grandeur.

Standing below, the sky is completely obscured by the tree canopy, stretching as far as the eye can see. A rough estimate suggests that the diameter of the tree canopy is at least a hundred kilometers.

Head Instructor Guo Mo stood under the tree and addressed all the trainees. "After three days of adjustments, our God General Training Camp is about to officially begin. What you see in front of you now is the Star Fruit Tree. Three paths have been artificially constructed on the trunk to lead to the top of the tree canopy, which you can now see."

All eyes were focused on the tree trunk, and sure enough, they saw a series of paths spiraling upwards along it. These were steps carved out of the bark, about five meters wide, but they hadn't even cut through the bark, which showed how thick the trunk was.

Furthermore, there is a platform approximately every 400 meters in altitude, presumably for resting purposes.

"As you all probably know when you arrived, there is a ranking system, both between the bases and among you as individuals. The specific method for ranking is this climbing Heavenly Ladder. This time, the total number of new students is three hundred, with one hundred each at the advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels. Each time, five people from each group will be selected to climb to the top in twenty batches."

"You see those five platforms, right? Starting from 400 meters, then 800 meters, 1200 meters, 1600 meters, and 2000 meters, there are five platforms in total. Those are not places for you to rest, but places to test you."

The martial artists were all taken aback. They thought the so-called test was just climbing a tree. After all, it was a height of two thousand meters, spiraling upwards. Ketu take six or seven thousand meters to walk, which would be a great test of physical strength.

"Some people might think it's about climbing trees, but that's too simplistic. The God General Training Camp cultivates talent, and first of all, the person cannot be a fool. Character, courage, willpower, strength, and bravery are all key aspects of our assessment. A person who is inherently evil cannot become a member of the God General Training Camp."

Some martial artists don't care much. How can you know if someone is evil or righteous? It's hard to tell.

Guo Mo continued, "Don't think we can't test you. Each of these five platforms has fifteen Virtual Helmet, just like the helmets you use to practice your martial arts manuals. Once you put on the helmet, you will enter a virtual environment. You won't even be able to distinguish it from an illusion. Once you put it on, you will think you have entered a real world. This is virtual technology."

The martial artists nodded in agreement. The helmets worn with the cultivation manuals were actually for entering a virtual environment, something everyone was familiar with.

"The first test is whether a martial artist is truly evil or righteous. You can be indifferent, you can be ruthless, but a martial artist cannot lack a basic sense of right and wrong. If someone is truly evil by nature, it will be very difficult for them to pass this test. Our God General Training Camp will absolutely not accept such a martial artist. If you can't pass, you will be eliminated!"

Although Guo Mo did not specify the details of the test, the martial artists were all on edge.

Human nature is the most unpredictable thing. What if you are really an evil person by nature?

"So the First Gate is good and evil, which is the most basic. The Second Gate is courage, which tests whether a martial artist has the courage to fight when facing danger. This is also a basic quality of a martial artist and is indispensable. If you can't pass it, you will be eliminated."

"The Third Gate is called Willpower. Congratulations to those who have reached this level. There is a character in the Virtual Helmet for this level, the National Hero Yan Qi Ye. You must have heard of him."

The martial artists nodded in agreement; no martial artist was unaware of this famous name.

"Yan Qi Ye also graduated from this God General Training Camp. In order to test the future martial artists, he recorded a video, which will be presented in this Virtual Helmet. You will see him then. The one who will test your willpower is him."

People's faces immediately lit up with joy. Being able to see Yan Qi Ye in person was something to be proud of, after all, he was a figure from hundreds of years ago.

"The Fourth Gate is called Strength. In this level, martial artists will engage in real combat in a virtual environment. Based on your brain's Neural Reaction, the virtual environment will automatically simulate combat, to the point that you can't even distinguish it. Therefore, this level will be the ultimate test of a martial artist's strength. The virtual system will automatically score you."

"The Fifth Gate is the choice. This challenge will delve into the fears in the hearts of martial artists and see Xuan Ze they make when faced with the most critical moment. The system will also automatically score them."

"I also want to tell you something else: apart from the Fifth Gate, the system inside the Virtual Helmet will reflect the images from the First Gate to the Fourth Gate onto this large screen. In other words, everyone's performance in the virtual environment will be displayed to ensure fairness."

At that moment, a huge screen was erected in front of the martial artists' gathering place, and images quickly appeared on it.

The large screen displays fifteen smaller images, each corresponding to a person climbing the Heavenly Ladder.

"Will everything we do in the virtual environment be displayed on this?" a martial artist asked.

"That's right, this is the virtual technology we have today. You yourselves don't know you're in a virtual environment, but we can all see it clearly. It's impossible to cheat."

"Then why can't the Fifth Gate be displayed?" another martial artist asked.

"That's simple. The Fifth Gate is to uncover the martial artist's inner fears, which involves personal privacy. We're going to keep that a secret from you. Do you really want your deepest fears to be revealed to others? Wouldn't that give your enemies a weakness?"

Guo Mo's question left all the martial artists speechless. Yes, who doesn't have a few secrets? Some martial artists may be exceptionally strong, but they would still be weak-kneed at the sight of Zhang Lang. No one wants their secrets to be revealed, especially martial artists.

"The system will score you based on your performance in the virtual environment. The person with the most points after Passing Five Gates levels will be the first place winner. Of course, the teams will be divided into three groups. The final ranking will determine the results of this year's God General Training Camp in your Base City."

"How exactly are the scores calculated?" one of the martial artists asked.

"It's very simple. If a Base City produces a group winner, it gets 30 points; a second-place finisher gets 20 points; a third-place finisher gets 10 points; fourth and fifth place finishers get 5 points each; and sixth through tenth place finishers each get 3 points. The Base City with the highest final score is the number one ranked Base City."

Everyone understood, but someone else asked, "What are the rewards for ranking high?"

"The Base City's reward is more slots available in the future, while individual rewards are only given to the top three in each group, with one point worth 100 million in cash!"

"Wow!"

Many martial artists exclaimed in unison, "If we get third place in our group, we can still win a billion in cash!"

Although these Elite War General are not poor, a sum of one billion is still very tempting to many people.

"Alright, the basic information has been explained. Now, the team leaders from each Base City will organize your groups and draw numbers. You'll start climbing based on the number you draw. Remember, numbers one through fifteen are the first wave, and so on, until numbers two hundred and eighty-six through three hundred are the last wave. Understand?"

The martial artists understood, and people from various Base City gathered together, since they would be cheering on their respective Base City's people later.

Lin Zhen quickly drew her number and looked at it: number 298!

"That's really quite late, the last wave. Well, let's watch the show first."

The people from the Ice City Base City sat together, and Zhang Yue ran up to Lin Zhen and said, "Idol, look, I got number 20!"

"That's great! You'll be going in the second wave. I don't even know if I, number 298, will get my turn today."

There were many people busy on the other side of the big screen. After all the numbers were distributed, Guo Mo said, "Now get ready. Turn on the big screen and broadcast the entire process of each person's climb and their time in the virtual environment. Participating martial artists, remember that when you arrive at the platform, staff will give you Virtual Helmet for assessment. Be quick, or you will be eliminated."

The large screen quickly lit up, and all fifteen small images appeared on it.

"Everyone, please put on your number, it's a metal tag. Now, please come forward if you are ranked first to fifteenth. We're about to start climbing."

Each team leader began asking if there were any people ranked first through fifteenth in their Base City.

Several people in Ice City also stood up.

Lin Zhen glanced at them and realized that they were all people he knew.

Lou Qingfeng, Advanced War General, is number four.

Intermediate War General Wu Ming, number ten.

Beginner War General Shen Tuohua, number 12.

Zhang Yue glanced at Shen Tuohua and said to Lin Zhen, "Lin Zhen, this guy seems to be from your Raging Wind too, right? I remember seeing him in a video when he was fighting against the Russia."

"Yes, from the same Martial Arts Hall as me." Lin Zhen nodded.

"Although Lin Zhen, you are very strong, I don't have high hopes for this kid. I hope he doesn't embarrass himself when he goes up there. Our Ice City can't afford to lose face."

Guan Shanyue, standing at the front of the group, encouraged them. "You all need to work hard. The virtual environment isn't a big deal. Just go for it! Remember, you're representing Ice City. Also, I have something to tell you: as your team leader, I'm actually from Ice City myself. If you perform well, I can get a pretty good bonus. Don't let my bonus go to waste!"

Lou Qingfeng and the others nodded in agreement, and Lou Qingfeng even glanced at Lin Zhen.

He came here on Li Wanfeng's orders to seize the opportunity to kill Lin Zhen, but once he arrived, Lou Qingfeng's thoughts changed somewhat.

Li Wanfeng is nothing more than a War God. If Lou Qingfeng can successfully graduate from the God General Training Camp, then he will also be a War God and Mind Power Master. Why should he listen to Li Wanfeng's orders?

As for killing Lin Zhen, Lou Qingfeng would do it if the opportunity arose, but he wouldn't force himself to do it if there wasn't a suitable opportunity.

Soon, the fifteen people gathered and came to the three passages.

"Remember, flying is not allowed while climbing, not even if you are Mind Power Master. Otherwise, you will be disqualified. Begin!" With Guo Mo's command, the fifteen Elite War General began to stride forward, quickly climbing up the huge tree trunk!