Myriad Realms Gatekeeper

Shen Ye shuddered.

Why do I find myself so annoying!

What can I do to restrain myself?

A series of hurried footsteps came, interrupting his thoughts.

"Shen Ye, have you become a One Star official newcomer?"

Qian Rushan rushed in, asking with a face full of joy.

"Ah, yes, President Qian, I was just exercising here. The cards seemed to have changed their evaluation of me," Shen Ye explained.

"Hahaha, that's great, as long as you have been on the leaderboard once, even if you are knocked down later, it's enough to attract everyone's attention," Qian Rushan said happily.

"Hey, are you just waiting for me to be knocked down?" Shen Ye was somewhat displeased.

"This year there are more than three thousand candidates, and only 54 can obtain the status of an official newcomer. Just being on the list once is the biggest affirmation!"

Qian Rushan's face was flushed with excitement, seemingly very satisfied with this achievement.

"Is that so..." Shen Ye was somewhat unsure.

"Believe me, it's true."

...

Twenty minutes later.

Shen Ye looked out the window.

"Haven't arrived yet? It seems to be delayed."

"No, it's about to arrive," Qian Rushan said.

"Ah? We've arrived?"

"Yes, I don't know if you have a fear of heights, but if you do, I hope you can overcome it soon."

The cabin door opened.

In front of him was a city floating in the deep blue sky.

Skyscrapers lined up one after another;

Traffic was busy, never-ending.

All kinds of flying vehicles shuttled back and forth, busily.

"That's wrong, I've never heard of such a city," Shen Ye muttered to himself.

"You must have heard its name, but you didn't know its location," said Qian Rushan.

"This is the Sky Relic that has been completely excavated, now a port for coming and going—welcome to Yunshan Port."

Qian Rushan stretched out his hand, pointing to the deeper skies.

"And there's more, more ancient relics are not far above our heads."

Shen Ye followed his pointing direction and couldn't help but murmur:

"Seeing ghosts in broad daylight..."

In the depths of the deep blue firmament, rows of broken ancient Jade Palaces stood still, silently telling the mysterious past of civilization.

"Do you see the red walls and green tiles of the palace complex on the left?" asked Qian Rushan.

"I see it," said Shen Ye.

"That is one of the world's most famous Three Great High Schools, Azure High School," Qian Rushan said.

"The school is in the ancient relics of the sky?" Shen Ye asked curiously.

"Otherwise, how could it be called one of the Three Great High Schools?" Qian Rushan said with a smile.

"But... have these relics been fully excavated?" Shen Ye couldn't help asking.

"Of course not—many places are too dangerous, some dangers are completely invisible," said Qian Rushan.

"Invisible?" asked Shen Ye.

"Even Professionals can only see those dangers if they have truly entered the path," said Qian Rushan.

"However, Azure High School will always be here; its teachers and students are responsible for studying the relics in the sky, seeking heritage and history from them," Qian Rushan said.

Qian Rushan, with great interest, continued solemnly:

"Human elites bear the responsibility of excavating history—"

"One day history will tell us, what the truth of the world is, and where we humans come from."

Shen Ye asked, "What about the other two schools?"

"One is in the sea, the other underground," Qian Rushan said.

"Also next to the relics?"

"Yes, Guixu High School is under the sea, and Breath Soil High School is underground."

Azure, Guixu, Breath Soil.

Are these the names of the Three Great High Schools? Why do these names appear in the myths and legends of our world?

Shen Ye was filled with an indescribable shock in his heart and found these matters as bizarre as a dream.

Suddenly.

A streak of light flew from the depths of the sky, flashed just once, and then landed in front of Shen Ye.

Shen Ye jumped in fright, focused his gaze, and saw it was a small rectangular card.

The card was about half the size of a palm, emitting a shimmering white light, hovering in mid-air without moving.

"Take it—it belongs to you," said Qian Rushan.

"Do you have one too?" Shen Ye asked.

"All students who take the entrance exam for the Three Great High Schools have one—I just successfully applied for yours yesterday," said Qian Rushan.

Shen Ye grasped the card.

The card trembled slightly and displayed the words "Admission Ticket," followed by a small line of text:

"You are now one of the 'Newcomer' deck, integrating now."

The Newcomer card flew out of Shen Ye's hand, merging with the Admission Ticket.

The face of the card still showed Shen Ye holding a Skull Head, but the back sprouted rows of small text:

"First Task: Take the Azure Dragon for a spin in the South Sea, only return after traveling a hundred thousand li in the clouds."

"If you wish to abandon the current task, please swipe your finger across this card."

Dragon...

A hundred thousand li...

Shen Ye looked towards Qian Rushan.

"These are tasks from the Tower of Tarot from the Ancient Era, don't bother with them, almost all of them are impossible to complete," explained Qian Rushan.

"Almost all are impossible to complete, which means some are doable?" asked Shen Ye.

"Those tasks can also only be completed by Scions of the Noble Family, with their backing of vast resources. They can complete some and improve their evaluation," said Qian Rushan.

"What's the use of evaluation?" Shen Ye asked.

"All students who take the entrance exam, upon stepping into Yunshan Port, will receive an Admission Ticket, and the Sky Relic will start observing them until the end of tomorrow night's banquet, when they will receive the final evaluation," explained Qian Rushan.

Shen Ye looked at the card, already feeling an ominous premonition.

If the tasks are like this, then what about the exam itself?

"President Qian, the joint entrance exam we are taking... is it difficult?" Shen Ye asked tentatively.

"It's hard to say."

"How long does the exam last?"

"That's also hard to say," thought Qian Rushan, "One year it took 45 minutes, another year it lasted three months."

Shen Ye's mouth twitched.

Three months...

It seems I need to prepare more food for myself.

Seeing that Shen Ye's expression was off, Qian Rushan softened his tone:

"Of course, you are already one of the 'Newcomer' cards, so you will have extra benefits during the examination."

Extra benefits?

Shen Ye asked, "Isn't that unfair to those who haven't become a 'Newcomer'?"

"Becoming an official member of the 'Newcomers' is also part of the examination—don't be naive, your assessment has already started," Qian Rushan said seriously.

Shen Ye nodded silently.

"Additionally, the cards will evaluate you—those with higher evaluations will get some help and rewards during the exam," Qian Rushan added.

"Help and rewards... Are they impressive?" Shen Ye asked.

"Of course!"

Qian Rushan continued, "After the banquet tomorrow night, you will be teleported into the examination venue."

"The exam starts at night?" Shen Ye couldn't believe it.

"I'm not sure, it's different every year, but anyway, that's when you'll enter the exam venue," Qian Rushan said.

Shen Ye fell silent for a moment.

In his past life, the examination scene where everyone quietly answered questions in a bright and clean classroom, with "Uphold exam discipline, maintain exam integrity" written on the blackboard, was completely overturned.

—This world's exams are too damn tricky!

Just then, Qian Rushan's phone rang, and he stood up to take the call on one side.

Shen Ye lowered his head and began to flip through the cards in his hand.

On the back of the card, there was a long line of evaluation:

"Drowner."

"You are in a situation where you could be killed at any time, and yet you are completely unaware, this is what's called a Drowner."

Shen Ye's heart skipped a beat.

This evaluation sounded so much like his own Evaluation Entry.

Evaluation Entry is an inherent ability that comes with the card.

Could it be that this kind of ability is interconnected...

But he had only just arrived at Yunshan Port; how could the card know his circumstances?

Shen Ye grew silent for a moment.

—That meant, from the moment he had entered Yunshan Port and appeared here, he was still in extreme danger.

How could this be...

Shen Ye subconsciously flipped the card over and swiped his hand over it again.

A new task appeared:

"Slay demons and vanquish monsters for ten years, don't return until you collect no fewer than three thousand monster heads."

Three thousand monster heads?

Ten years?

Thanks a lot.

Shen Ye swiped the card again.

"Copy eighty thousand volumes of scrolls in the Scripture Pavilion."

I was too lazy to copy homework, and you want me to copy this?

But if it's all martial arts heritage...

"There have been a total of five adventure and archaeological teams lost in the Scripture Pavilion, none survived," Qian Rushan said, hanging up his phone and returning, glancing at the fine print on the card.

Without hesitation, Shen Ye swiped the card again.

A new task appeared:

"Spar in combat, win one bout."

"—This task cannot be declined and can quickly raise your star rank."

"Only by using star rank privileges can you reject any fight."

Huh?

This seems doable.

"Don't get your hopes up," Qian Rushan returned from his call and said, "This task belongs to the Scions of the Noble Families. They wield the best weapons and wear the strongest armor from their families, waiting specifically for you newcomers to earn evaluations from you."

After saying this, he casually pointed outside the Flying Shuttle.

There, on the distant road, lay a bloodied student.

Next to him was a group of medics frantically providing treatment on the scene.

A few classmates around the same age as Shen Ye, including A Yi, who had been playing cards together earlier, were so anxious that they were nearly in tears.

A young man wearing chainmail, holding a large shield and a long knife, stood aside with a disdainful expression:

"What's this? He doesn't even count as a 'Newcomer,' I didn't gain any evaluation points."

"What bad luck!"

With that, he walked away.

The people around just watched quietly.

No one intervened.

"Being beaten like this? Does nobody care?" Shen Ye couldn't help but ask.

Qian Rushan responded, "That's right, the Clan Disciples have been learning various inherited techniques since childhood, all to earn tasks and raise their star ranks from you all—"

"If you hadn't been chased to be killed, I actually wouldn't have wanted you to come so early."

Shen Ye nodded, understanding.

It was like playing a game.

The others had already leveled up dozens of times, taking on new players like slicing through melons.

Better to avoid it if possible.

Qian Rushan continued:

"However, there are limits; if you kill someone, that will lead to immediate disqualification from the exam, and you'll end up in jail."

"The medical team is always on standby, ordinary injuries can heal quickly."

"It's just very uncomfortable for a while."

Shen Ye nodded, then shook his head:

"I can't understand, this is just a card, how does it know whether I have completed the task?"

"The cards are issued by a Divine Artifact of the Tower of Tarot—don't ask too much, it doesn't like others discussing it. If it gets annoyed, it could lower your star rank."

Qian Rushan gave him a look that indicated he was not joking.

"However, the comforting news is that you can't die here; this is a relic site under the strict surveillance of Kunlun."

Shen Ye closed his mouth.

He looked down at the card in his hand.

Lines of text continued to emerge on the card.

Suddenly.

All the text stopped, arranging into three neat lines:

"You have been challenged by:"

"Xiao Mengyu."

"—Cannot be declined."

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