Dragon Gate

When Su Mu could see his surroundings again, he was standing in a completely unfamiliar square.

The square was larger than I had imagined.

Beneath our feet were grayish-white stone slabs, each several meters square, with fine anti-slip patterns carved on their surfaces. They were pieced together and extended in all directions until the horizon. A ring of huge stone pillars stood at the edge of the square, each as thick as a dozen people could hug. The pillars were covered with runes, gleaming with a faint blue light, like a ring of silent sentinels.

Su Mu looked up. Above the dome was artificial skylight, simulating the colors of early morning, soft and bright. But the dome was too high, so high that it gave people the illusion that "half of the sky had collapsed."

The square was packed with people.

No, even saying "a sea of people" isn't accurate enough.

Su Mu glanced around and saw that the people in the square were divided into square formations. Each formation had about seven or eight hundred people, all wearing different colored school uniforms, standing neatly and orderly, arranged like squares on a chessboard.

He counted them; there were at least several hundred square formations.

A square formation has seven or eight hundred people, and several hundred square formations would amount to... hundreds of thousands of people.

This is just one test center in the provincial capital.

"A multitude of carp in the great river..."

Su Mu silently sighed to himself.

Although the number of people taking the college entrance examination in his previous life was about the same, he never had the chance to stand among hundreds of thousands of people. Only now did he feel the overwhelming sense of pressure from millions of people competing in the same arena.

Everyone here is a dungeon raider, everyone is an outstanding individual among their peers, and everyone stands here with their own ambitions and dreams.

As Su Mu was thinking, a white figure walked over from the side.

Ye Qingxue stood beside him, her head slightly tilted back, her gaze passing over the crowd and looking towards the distant sky. The morning light fell on her profile, softening her cool and aloof face.

"It's spectacular," she said.

Su Mu nodded, assuming she was referring to people. "Yes, hundreds of thousands of test-takers, more than the entire student body of Rongcheng No. 1 High School."

"No." Ye Qingxue tilted her head slightly. "Look at the sky."

Su Mu was taken aback and looked up in the direction of her gaze.

Then he saw it.

Above the square, deep in the clouds, a huge square archway floated.

The archway is supported by four sturdy stone pillars, the surface of which is carved with coiled dragon patterns, the dragon heads facing upwards and the tails downwards, coiling and intertwining, lifelike.

A huge plaque hangs from the beam between the stone pillars, with two ancient characters engraved on it...

Dragon Gate.

On either side of the plaque, clouds surged, and golden light could be faintly seen flowing deep within the clouds, as if something was breathing behind the door.

The entire archway is suspended hundreds of meters in the sky, half-hidden by clouds. Sunlight pours down through the gaps in the clouds, making the dragon patterns on the stone pillars shine with golden light.

From a distance, it looks like a heavenly gate that has stepped out of mythology.

Su Mu was slightly surprised.

He certainly knew about Dragon Gate; it was in the college entrance exam materials.

But this is the first time I've seen this.

After all, the secrets to the college entrance exam are not publicly known and cannot be shared online.

But after his initial surprise, the first thought that popped into his mind wasn't the story of "a fish Leaping over the Dragon Gate."

Instead...

How much is this thing worth?

If only I could buy this floating structure and use it as the South Heaven Gate in a dungeon!

In Journey to the West, the South Heaven Gate Heavenly Court of Heaven is the main gate of the Heavenly Palace, and it was the first place that Sun Wukong smashed when he wreaked Havoc in Heaven.

If he builds a South Heaven Gate in the instance, once the concept is anchored, the prototype of the entire Heavenly Court system will be formed.

Su Mu stared at the Dragon Gate, his mind racing with calculations.

First, what is the working principle behind this?

Floating runes?

Anti-gravity magic array?

Or is it some kind of rule-level anchoring?

If it's a rune or magic circle, he can easily find a similar building card to replace it; he doesn't necessarily have to buy the original. But if it's a rule-based anchor, then it's troublesome. Rule-based items are usually priceless and have extremely high access requirements.

Secondly, does the concept of "Dragon Gate" have a corresponding element in Journey to the West?

Yes. South Heaven Gate is one. Moreover, the name Dragon Gate itself carries the meaning of "leaping over the Leaping over the Dragon Gate". In Journey to the Journey to the West, the carp spirit, the Dragon Palace, and the East Sea can all be associated with "Dragon Gate".

If we could get our hands on it, with a few minor changes to the name and appearance, it could easily become the South Heaven Gate.

The more Su Mu thought about it, the more hopeful he felt.

There was a reason why he thought that way.

According to the information he read in the book, the space where the college entrance examination was held was actually a Heroic Spirit Secret Realm.

The Heroic Spirit Secret Realm is Dungeon Space left behind after a dungeon master dies.

After a person dies, the Dungeon Space does not immediately disappear. If the core card is completely preserved before death, the instance can continue to exist.

Of course, this is a relatively rare phenomenon, but after countless years of accumulation, there are quite a few hidden places in the world.

However, many more hidden realms have been lost in the wilderness.

During the difficult years of the Source Calamity, most of the Lair Wars took place outside the city walls, and many territories have yet to be reclaimed from the monsters.

Those hidden realms within those territories naturally went unnoticed.

Some of these hidden realms were even taken over by monsters, becoming their lairs. Others simply disappeared naturally over the long years.

The secret place for the college entrance examination in front of us has a very unusual origin.

Its owner was one of the earliest dungeon raiders to awaken during the earliest Source Calamity in this world.

After that person died, the secret realm was left behind and was discovered by someone hundreds of years ago.

This secret realm has one extremely special feature... it cannot harm humans, nor can it materialize.

In other words, attacks between players cannot cause real damage in this secret realm, and core cards will not truly shatter.

This characteristic is extremely rare in dungeons and secret realms.

For this reason, hundreds of years ago, the Dungeon Master Association and the official authorities jointly transformed this secret realm into an examination venue. After countless rounds of refinement, adjustment, and optimization, it eventually evolved into the large-scale college entrance examination venue it is today.

The entire secret realm is like a giant examination hall.

The dragon Dragon Gate suspended in the clouds is the most iconic and central structure of this secret realm.

Su Mu stared at the Dragon Gate, pondering: Since this secret realm could be transformed into an examination hall by the authorities, it means that the buildings inside can be interfered with.

If I have the ability in the future, could I find a similar floating structure, buy it, and place it in the dungeon as the South Heaven Gate?

The South Heaven Gate in Journey to the West is the main gate of the Heavenly Court, and it was the first place that Sun Wukong smashed when he wreaked Havoc in Heaven.

If we could build a South Heaven Gate within the instance, once the concept is anchored, the prototype of the entire Heavenly Court system would be formed. Moreover, the name "Dragon Gate" itself carries the connotation of "a fish Leaping over the Dragon Gate the Dragon Gate," which can be associated with the carp spirit, the Dragon Palace, and the East Sea in Journey to the Journey to the West. With slight changes to the name and appearance, it could easily become the South Heaven Gate.