Life-and-Death Trial Mission

On the forty-third floor, Yin Congyang was injured as soon as the fight began. He simply couldn't fully withstand the opponent's axe technique, which was brimming with profound mysteries. Yin Congyang felt that this axe technique was no longer one that comprehended a single law—it might even carry a trace of the Law of Space.

Relying on his powerful soul force, Yin Congyang unleashed the [Shake God] secret technique, but it only affected the opponent for an instant. After all, at this level, an opponent's soul defense was bound to be very strong, with almost no weaknesses. Moreover, the deeper one's comprehension of the laws, the more they were steeped in the essence of the universe, and the stronger their soul and will became.

But relying on that single instant of influence, Yin Congyang still closed in, paying the price of his left arm being severed, and beheaded the opponent with one axe stroke.

Ascending to the forty-fourth floor, Yin Congyang's physical injuries and mental exhaustion were instantly and fully restored.

After this opponent appeared, he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he looked at Yin Congyang and said, "Planetary Level nine, and you've made it to the forty-fourth floor. You're very impressive. But you should know that the Heaven-Reaching Tower has a major leap every ten floors. Above the fortieth floor, there's a minor leap every three floors. If you gave it your all on the forty-third floor, then you won't pass this one!"

"Then let's try," Yin Congyang shouted, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. "Don't just talk big..."

Before he finished speaking, the [Shake God] secret technique was unleashed first, and at the same time, Yin Congyang closed in on the opponent like lightning, his axe in hand. This time, he truly poured all his soul force into the [Shake God] secret technique and burst it out.

The soul attack secret technique hit the opponent first, and the guardian of this floor's eyes blurred for a moment. Yin Congyang had already appeared before him, his axe swinging down toward the opponent's chest. There was no time to dodge, so in shock and fury, the opponent could only counterattack with an axe, slashing horizontally.

Yin Congyang's axe struck the opponent's chest first. A concentrated blow with over seventy times the amplification force instantly shattered the guardian's body into pieces. Meanwhile, the opponent's axe just barely sliced through a third of Yin Congyang's neck—just a few centimeters away, and Yin Congyang would have been decapitated.

With his vocal cords damaged, Yin Congyang looked at the opponent's incredulous eyes, curled the corners of his bloodstained mouth, and smiled silently.

Instantly restored, Yin Congyang appeared on the forty-fifth floor. This time, the soul attack still had some effect, but the guardian of this floor had a slightly stronger soul defense than the one on the forty-fourth. That small gap prevented Yin Congyang from seizing the initiative. The guardian's profoundly mysterious axe technique broke through his defense, and he was directly killed.

Forty-fifth floor: failure.

When Yin Congyang reappeared outside the Heaven-Reaching Tower, he was met with the astonished gazes of all the students and four instructors.

"Alright, everyone's Heaven-Reaching Tower assessment is over," the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady paused and glanced at Yin Congyang. "Student A1 has the best result, passing the forty-fourth floor. This score ranks among the top of all previous students...

The Training Camp Intelligent System has recorded everyone's performance. Everyone, go back and rest, and adjust your state. Over the next few days, based on each person's daily performance over the past ten years, the intelligent system will evaluate your character, wisdom, strategy, sense of good and evil, and cooperation with teammates, and assign tasks to each person. Some tasks are solo, some are team-based. Every task tests your limits... But!"

The Purple-Robed Dragon Lady swept her gaze across all the students, her cold voice suddenly turning stern: "No one is allowed to disclose their task to others, nor inquire about others' tasks. If discovered, you will be immediately expelled from the training camp and all resources will be reclaimed. Do you all understand?"

"Understood!"

All the students answered in unison.

After leaving the Virtual Universe, Yin Congyang sat in his villa, pondering the Purple-Robed Dragon Lady's final stern warning.

Clearly, something similar must have happened in previous training camps, leading to serious consequences, which was why there was such a harsh penalty for leaking secrets. This made him somewhat alert. Before coming to the training camp, Ming Yu had given him a piece of advice, saying the competition in the training camp was fierce and brutal, and he shouldn't be soft-hearted. At the time, he thought it only referred to the students, but now it seemed there were other aspects to watch out for.

A few nights later, he received an email from the Training Camp Intelligent System, with the subject marked "Top Secret—Read Alone, Do Not Leak!"

The email read:

Student A1, after ten years of training, we believe you have grown much stronger than when you first entered the training camp. However, as one of the peak races, the history of billions of epochs has proven that flowers raised in a greenhouse, no matter how well cultivated, can hardly withstand the battering of storms. Only by constantly enduring the trials of wind, frost, rain, and snow can one better grow into a towering tree.

The peak powerhouses of the human race have all walked thorny paths, charging forward fearlessly, cutting through brambles, slaying hostile races on the Outer-Domain Battlefield, and surviving countless brushes with death to forge themselves into invincible experts.

The Primordial Universe is vast and boundless. Although humanity is one of the peak races, it is far from invincible. Outside the territory, many external forces watch covetously; within the territory, countless spies and agents of hostile races have infiltrated.

The Virtual Universe System is the greatest technology of the human race. Through investigations by the Virtual Universe System, the training camp's intelligence department has discovered a group of space pirates entrenched in the Frost Forest Empire, a mid-level civilization under the jurisdiction of the Ganwu Universe Kingdom. They occasionally plunder in the Dark Universe, and in peacetime, they use the guise of adventurers to gather various information about the Ganwu Universe Kingdom—from the secrets of various Universe Legions to the livelihood news of low- and mid-level civilizations—sending it out through the Virtual Universe. They are suspected of being dark agents of the hostile Machine Race within human territory.

Recent intelligence indicates that this group is stealing information about elite training camps at various levels. This behavior poses a serious threat to the Planetary Level students of all training camps.

Student A1, your task is to take the training camp's spaceship to Red Leaf Planet in the Frost Leaf Star System, which belongs to the Frost Forest Empire, and eliminate all twelve of these dark agents. Below is the list of the group's members:

Aulis (Star Level nine, Domain First Stage)

Glacha (Star Level seven)

Fali (Star Level seven)

Aspasia (Star Level three)

It has been confirmed that these twelve individuals will gather in the Frost Leaf Star System in thirty days. The training camp's E9-class spaceship, number E386, will depart in one hour and is expected to arrive at the Frost Leaf Star System in twenty-five days. At that time, the Training Camp Intelligent System will apply to the Virtual Universe System to tag these twelve individuals and freeze their Virtual Universe permissions. Please proceed to the spaceport immediately to board the spaceship, and eliminate the targets as soon as possible after arriving at the Frost Leaf Star System.

Note: All gains during the mission, except for items designated in advance, belong to the student for personal distribution.

After reading the email, Yin Congyang couldn't help but sigh. These people were all Star Level, with the lowest being Star Level three. He wondered how they became dark agents of the Machine Race. Logically, Star Level couldn't even enter the Outer-Domain Battlefield, and it was unlikely they could come into contact with hostile races outside the territory—unless they were other dark agents who had been soul-controlled on the Outer-Domain Battlefield, retired, and returned to human territory to develop new agents. But that was beyond what Yin Congyang could know.

Without time for more reflection, he quickly packed his things, rushed to the spaceport, boarded the E386 spaceship, obtained authorization, and lifted off, leaving the training camp.

Only after the spaceship performed a cosmic jump and entered the Dark Universe did he reopen the email to carefully study the attached mission brief. The twelve people consisted of ten men and two women, with their lairs spread across five planets in the Frost Leaf Star System. Normally, aside from the leader Aulis, who kept a low profile and stayed on Red Leaf Planet year-round, the others drifted through the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, only gathering when there was an operation.

When they had an operation, it usually meant plundering in the Dark Universe, occasionally carrying out tasks assigned by their superiors. After completing tasks, they typically received generous rewards—either huge sums of Universe Coins, evolutionary treasures, secret techniques, and so on.

The training camp's intelligence department had discovered that a month later, they would have an operation, and everyone would return to the Frost Leaf Star System. Yin Congyang had to reach the Frost Leaf Star System within twenty-five days to have enough time to prepare and familiarize himself with the various planets in the system.

Time passed quickly during cultivation.

Travel through the Dark Universe was dull and monotonous. Aside from cultivating, he occasionally met up with Thunder God and Luo Hua in the Virtual Universe. Hong and Luo Feng had been in contact less frequently lately.

Hong was busy because his teacher was nearing death and wanted to travel and see more before dying, hoping that a chance insight might lead to a breakthrough. Luo Feng, on the other hand, was cultivating desperately in the Initial Universe, sitting still and comprehending the laws.

Over twenty days later, the spaceship exited the Dark Universe and reappeared in the Original Universe, having reached the edge of the Frost Leaf Star System.

Using the star map provided by the Training Camp Intelligent System, Yin Congyang had the spaceship circle the entire Frost Leaf Star System several times, familiarizing himself with the various planets in the system. The system was equipped with a Star System Defense System purchased by Aulis and his group, but its level wasn't high enough to detect the training camp's E9-class spaceship.

That made sense. As Star Level cultivators, buying a Star System Defense System capable of defending against E-class spaceships would be too conspicuous and wouldn't fit the low-key style of dark agents.

After several days of reconnaissance, Yin Congyang formulated an action plan based on the star map. Calling it a plan, it was actually very simple and crude.

That was, after everyone returned to the Frost Leaf Star System, he would start from the outer planets, sweeping through them one by one, and finally reach Red Leaf Planet to eliminate the leader Aulis, completing the mission.

The Frost Leaf Star System had a total of eleven planets, but the three innermost planets were too close to the star to be habitable. The three outermost planets were mineral planets, currently uninhabited.

The most habitable planet in the system was Red Leaf Planet, with a pleasant climate and beautiful scenery. The pristine planet was covered in trees similar to Earth's maple trees. Every autumn, the entire planet turned red with maple leaves, hence the name Red Leaf Planet.

Normally, the leader Aulis lived alone, and when there was an operation, everyone gathered on Red Leaf Planet.

The outer planets served as lairs for the other eleven individuals.

The entire system was equipped with the Star System Defense System they had purchased, sufficient to defend against a sudden attack from a D-class spaceship or a Domain Lord.