Passing the Assessment

Before him stood an iron-black mountain peak that scraped the sky. At its base was a cave about 100 meters high, and in front of the cave was a stone chamber built from massive boulders. A bald, red-robed man was drinking there.

Golden Lion approached the man. Before he could speak, the big man glanced sideways at Yin Congyang. "The sixth one... go on." He tossed over a token and an optical computer armguard. The token felt slightly heavy in the hand. "Wear the armguard and keep it on the whole time. That token will teleport you out if you take a fatal hit—that means the assessment is failed. It requires a very brief mental guidance to activate. If you get killed before you can guide it, the token will teleport back on its own. There was a unlucky guy before you who died before he could guide the teleportation force, so the token came back by itself. Need a weapon? If so, go into the stone chamber and pick one."

Yin Congyang shook his head. Before coming, he had already bought a new second-order Force Battle Axe, a Force Battle Suit, and a second-order telekinetic weapon called the [Cloud-Flowing Awl]. It was a slender pyramid-shaped cone made of 108 triangular dagger pieces. Its power wasn't great—only useful against situations like a horde of enemies.

"There are nine passages inside. You take passage number nine and go all the way to the end. That means you've passed the assessment," Golden Lion said to Yin Congyang. "I'll be waiting there to take you—or your corpse—back."

Yin Congyang smiled at him, then stepped into the cave. The cave wasn't pitch black; instead, a faint white light spilled from the cave walls. He saw nine passages at a glance, each marked with a number. Taking a deep breath, he walked into passage nine.

As he stepped into passage nine, the space suddenly widened. The ground felt like it was paved with metal, extremely hard. He had barely walked 100 meters when the ground around him eerily bulged upward. Metal men sprouted from the earth like they were growing out of it. First, a dozen emerged, and more were still rising from the ground behind them.

The metal men that had grown first wielded swords and blades, charging at Yin Congyang.

Yin Congyang gripped the Heaven-Opening Axe, and 18 awl pieces flew out from the Cloud-Flowing Awl on his back, shooting rapidly toward these metal men.

"Clang~ clang~ clang~..."

A series of clanging sounds. The metal men were pushed back a few steps by the strikes, but they were clearly unharmed. They charged forward again. Yin Congyang swept them with his telekinetic force—these metal men had no souls. It seemed he could only rely on the Heaven-Opening Axe in his hand.

He spread his domain, and the speed of these metal men immediately dropped by a level. Yin Congyang easily used the power of his domain, chopping them down one axe at a time. These metal men were incredibly hard—estimated to be C-grade alloy. Only by channeling the domain's power through the axe blade could he cut into their bodies. Yin Congyang instead reversed the axe handle, using the axe back to knock them one by one. He concentrated his strength into a single point, creating a penetrating effect that cracked or damaged the cores protecting their bodies. Once the core was damaged, these metal men immediately melted like they were dissolving, sinking into the ground and disappearing.

He kept walking and knocking, passing through this metal road section with relative ease. The road ahead turned into dirt. After walking for a while, countless branch-like tendrils, resembling willow tree branches, suddenly appeared on the cave walls. They were exceptionally tough, lashing at Yin Congyang like whips, dense and overwhelming. There was no time to cut them all one by one; he could only dodge constantly, moving forward while evading. Fortunately, his domain was still effective. The branches that entered the domain were hindered, slowing down significantly, giving Yin Congyang plenty of room to dodge. Before long, he passed through the tree-whip section without incident.

As he walked, the dirt road gradually lowered. Water began to accumulate on the path, growing deeper until it filled the entire passage. He held his breath and switched to internal circulation.

In the water, many translucent Water Spirits suddenly appeared, attacking Yin Congyang. He tried to counter with the Cloud-Flowing Awl and the Heaven-Opening Axe. Both the axe and the awl could easily injure them, but it was useless—the axe cut a Water Spirit in half, and it immediately fused back together; the awl pierced a hole, and it healed the next second.

All attacks were ineffective at killing these Water Spirits. Fortunately, their attack power wasn't strong. Yin Congyang relied on his domain to protect himself, enduring the onslaught of countless Water Spirits as he passed through the underwater section.

The terrain gradually rose, the passage became dry, and the temperature kept rising. In a short while, the temperature had already climbed over a hundred degrees, and it continued to rise slowly as he went deeper.

This high temperature was very strange. The domain could only prevent it from affecting his body, but his soul in the sea of consciousness bore the full brunt of the increasing heat. What did it feel like to have a normal body temperature while the soul in your mind was so hot it felt like it was being steamed? That was exactly what Yin Congyang was feeling!

Fortunately, the fluctuations from his dantian were very effective. At that moment, the fluctuations surging toward his soul suddenly accelerated, protecting it from the heat damage. Yin Congyang breathed a sigh of relief and walked step by step out of the Flame Soul-Refining Passage.

This high-temperature passage was extremely bizarre. If you walked slowly, the temperature would reach a maximum threshold that a planetary-level peak soul force could withstand. If you sped up, the faster you went, the higher the temperature rose. The previous trial-taker had died in this passage. His soul force wasn't at the planetary-level peak, and he refused to accept failure, trying to rush through with speed. But the high temperature directly cooked his soul, even reducing his body to ashes. He didn't have time to guide the teleportation force to send him out.

Finally, relying on his strong willpower and soul force, he broke through this passage. He saw that the end was ahead. There was a stone tablet with words written in Universe Common Language: "The exit is 100 meters from here. Dig your own way out."

No choice—time to dig. The cave walls were extremely hard. Yin Congyang was only at the third stage of the Star Level, with a base strength dozens of times weaker than a ninth-stage Star Level. Fortunately, the Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes could not only fell trees but also split mountains. He unleashed his domain fully, swung his axe, and started digging. Every ten meters he dug forward, the cave wall behind him automatically restored itself. Yin Congyang couldn't help but marvel.

He kept digging forward but suddenly stopped. Something was wrong. He had dug at least several hundred meters—why hadn't he reached the exit? Had he dug in the wrong direction? He shook his head. No. The armguard optical computer showed a straight line. Even if he were affected by some mental illusion, the optical computer had no soul.

So he kept digging. The surroundings seemed to grow darker and darker, as if a voice kept saying, "Give up. You've dug the wrong way. You'll never get out. Use the token to leave!"

As he dug, Yin Congyang suddenly smiled. He understood what passage nine was testing.

The metal man passage tested attack power. Without enough attack power, you couldn't get through that section. The willow-whip passage tested neural reaction and movement technique. If even one whip caught you, you'd never break free. The Water Spirit passage made attacks useless—it tested defense. The Water Spirits couldn't be killed, and without enough defense, you couldn't pass. The fire-high-temperature passage tested soul force, and perhaps willpower as well. But this fifth passage purely tested willpower. If you lacked confidence in yourself or had weak resolve, you'd be influenced by the pervasive mental illusions and give up, using the token to teleport out—which meant failure. One had died, one had failed before. The one who failed had given up on this section due to an unsteady mind and used the teleportation token to leave.

Having figured it out, Yin Congyang continued to clear the way with his axe. He dug nearly ten thousand meters before finally smashing through the cave wall ahead. The space before him suddenly opened up, and Golden Lion was standing there, smiling at him.

"Good, Yin Congyang. You've passed the A9-Level Assessment and been promoted to Planetary-Level Class A member," Golden Lion said as he led him out. "Your information has been entered into the training camp's smart system. You can go rest in the Student Zone... Oh, the optical computer on your hand is assigned to you. It has some training camp rules, precautions, and a map of the camp. Tomorrow, you'll be issued the 'SS-Type Bloodline Evolution Agent.' Use it as soon as possible. In ten days, the training camp officially begins."

Yin Congyang pulled up the entire training camp map on his optical computer, found the Student Zone, thanked Golden Lion, and headed there alone.

He found the Student Zone supervisor, Kekechi, who was in charge of student affairs. Kekechi pulled up Yin Congyang's information. "You're the fourth student in Class A. You've been assigned a villa at A04. It's already authorized for you. Go on over. If you need anything, ask the Smart Butler in the villa. It's best not to wander around for the next few days. Tomorrow, you'll receive the 'SS-Type Bloodline Evolution Agent,' and you need to accept it in person. There will also be some Class A student resources issued later..."

He found the A04 villa. After entering, Yin Congyang slowly began to review the training camp's rules and precautions.

There weren't many rules. The main ones were to follow the instructors' arrangements for theory and combat lessons. Class A would receive 100 Student Points every month. Aside from basic resources, anything else needed would require points to exchange.

The training camp's main goal was to ensure that within a hundred years, these students would not only break through to the Star Level but also possess combat power considered strong even among Star Levels, before transferring to the Star Level training camp for further Star Level cultivation.

So there weren't too many precautions either. The main one was that except for a few places like the Combat Arena, students were generally not allowed to fight each other. Resources obtained or items exchanged with points could not be transferred to other students unless applied for in advance and approved by an instructor, to prevent some students from using means to exploit others.

Overall, it was fair. To become stronger, you had to rely on your own efforts.

At the Planetary Level, there would be a small assessment every year, a medium assessment every five years, and a large assessment every ten years. After each large assessment, there would be a Life-and-Death Trial lasting half a year to a year, with varying formats.

Each batch of Planetary Level students had a maximum training period of a hundred years. Some who joined mid-term would also graduate at the same time. If, by the hundred-year deadline, they hadn't broken through to the Star Level, or had broken through but didn't meet combat power standards, they would have to leave the training camp and become external members, continuing to serve the Virtual Universe by doing tasks that required low-level cultivators.