Gatekeeper Of All Realms Chapter 54

Shen Ye went numb.

Why was he so annoying?

What could he do to control himself?

A rapid flurry of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

“Shen Ye, you’ve become a one-star official newcomer?”

Qian Rushan rushed in, his face beaming with joy.

“Ah, yes, Manager Qian, I was just exercising here, and the playing cards seemed to have changed their assessment of me,” Shen Ye explained.

“Hahaha, that’s great. As long as you’ve been on the list once, even if you fall off later, it’s enough to attract everyone’s attention,” Qian Rushan said happily.

“Hey, you really want me to fall off the list?” Shen Ye was a little disgruntled.

“This year, out of over three thousand candidates, only 54 can get official newcomer qualifications. Being on the list once is the biggest recognition!”

Qian Rushan’s face was flushed with excitement, as if he was already very satisfied with this achievement.

“Is that so…” Shen Ye was a little unsure.

“Trust me, it’s true.”

…

Twenty minutes later.

Shen Ye looked out the window.

“Still not here? Looks like it’s late.”

“No, we’ll be there soon,” Qian Rushan said.

“Ah? We’re here?”

“Yes. I don’t know if you have acrophobia, but if you do, I hope you can overcome it soon.”

The cabin door opened.

Before them was a city floating in the clear blue sky.

Skyscrapers, densely packed;

Traffic, endless.

Various flying vehicles shuttled back and forth, exceptionally busy.

“That’s not right, I’ve never heard of such a city.”

Shen Ye muttered.

“You’ve definitely heard its name, but you don’t know its location.”

“This is the completely excavated sky ruins, now an entry and exit port – welcome to Yunshan Port.”

Qian Rushan extended his hand, pointing to the higher, deeper sky.

“And there are more ancient ruins not far above our heads.”

Shen Ye looked in the direction he pointed, and couldn’t help but murmur:

“Seeing ghosts in broad daylight…”

In the depths of the deep blue sky, shattered ancient palaces stood still, as if silently narrating the mysterious past of civilization.

“Do you see that palace complex with red walls and green tiles on the left?” Qian Rushan asked.

“I see it,” Shen Ye said.

“That’s one of the three most famous high schools in the world, Jialan,” Qian Rushan said.

“The school is in the ancient ruins of the sky?” Shen Ye asked, surprised.

“Otherwise, how could it be called one of the three great high schools?” Qian Rushan laughed.

“But… have all these ruins been excavated?” Shen Ye couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course not – many places are too dangerous, and some dangers are completely invisible,” Qian Rushan said.

“Invisible?” Shen Ye said.

“Even those with professions, only those who have truly reached the Tao can see those dangers.”

“—But Jialan High School will always be here. Its teachers and students are responsible for studying the ruins in the sky, looking for inheritance and history,” Qian Rushan said.

Qian Rushan was quite interested and continued in a deep voice:

“The elites of humanity bear the responsibility of excavating history—”

“One day, history will tell us what the truth of the world is, and where we humans came from.”

Shen Ye said, “What about the other two academies?”

“One is in the sea, and one is underground,” Qian Rushan said.

“Also next to ruins?”

“Yes, Guixu High School is at the bottom of the sea, and Xirang High School is underground.”

Jialan, Guixu, Xirang.

Are these the names of the three great high schools? Why have these names appeared in the myths and legends of our world?

Shen Ye only felt an unspeakable shock in his heart, and also felt that these things were as bizarre as dreams.

Suddenly.

A streak of light flew from the depths of the sky, and with a flash, it landed in front of Shen Ye.

Shen Ye was startled, and upon closer inspection, it was a small, rectangular card.

The card was about half the size of a palm, emitting a faint white glow, suspended motionless in mid-air.

“Take it – it’s yours.”

Qian Rushan said.

“You have one too?” Shen Ye said.

“Every student who takes the entrance exam for the three high schools gets one – I just applied for yours successfully yesterday,” Qian Rushan said.

Shen Ye took the card.

The card vibrated slightly, revealing the words “Admission Ticket”, and then a line of small text appeared:

“You are now one of the ‘Newcomer’ deck, now merging for you.”

The newcomer card flew from Shen Ye’s hand and merged with the admission ticket.

The front of the card still showed Shen Ye holding a skull, but the back revealed lines of small text:

“First mission: Take the Azure Dragon for a ride in the South China Sea, and return only after traversing one hundred thousand li in the sky.”

“If you wish to abandon the current mission, please swipe your finger across this card.”

Dragon…

One hundred thousand li…

Shen Ye looked at Qian Rushan.

“This is a task from the Tower of Tarot from ancient times. You don’t need to pay attention to the tasks inside, as most of them are impossible to complete anyway.”

Qian Rushan explained.

“Most of them can’t be completed, which means some can?” Shen Ye said.

“Those missions can only be completed by children of influential families. With vast resources backing them, they can complete some and improve their evaluation,” Qian Rushan said.

“What’s the use of evaluation?” Shen Ye asked.

“All students participating in the entrance examination, once they step into Yunshan Port, will receive an admission ticket and be observed by the sky ruins until the banquet ends tomorrow night, when they will receive their final evaluation,” Qian Rushan explained.

Shen Ye looked at the card, a premonition of ill omen already stirring in his heart.

If the missions were like this, what would the exam be like?

“Manager Qian, how difficult is the joint entrance exam for the three schools we’re taking?” Shen Ye asked cautiously.

“That’s hard to say.”

“How long will the exam take then?”

“That’s also hard to say,” Qian Rushan thought for a moment, “One year it lasted 45 minutes, and another year it lasted three months.”

Shen Ye’s mouth twitched.

Three months…

Looks like he needed to prepare more food.

Seeing Shen Ye’s expression change, Qian Rushan softened his tone:

“Of course, since you’re already a ‘Newcomer’ card, you’ll have extra benefits in the exam.”

Extra benefits?

Shen Ye asked, “Wouldn’t this be unfair to those candidates who haven’t become ‘newcomers’?”

“Becoming an official member of the ‘newcomers’ – this is also part of the exam – don’t be naive, your assessment started a long time ago,” Qian Rushan said seriously.

Shen Ye nodded silently.

“Also, the cards will evaluate you – those with high evaluations will receive some help and rewards in the exam,” Qian Rushan said.

“Help and rewards… Are they powerful?” Shen Ye asked.

“Of course!”

Qian Rushan said, “After the banquet ends tomorrow night, you will be teleported into the examination hall.”

“The exam starts at night?” Shen Ye found it hard to believe.

“I’m not sure, it’s different every year, but you’ll just enter the examination hall,” Qian Rushan said.

Shen Ye fell silent.

In his previous life, sitting in a bright and clean classroom, with “Maintain good exam conduct, strict exam discipline” written on the blackboard, the scene of everyone silently answering questions had been completely subverted.

—This world’s exam is too outrageous!

Just then, Qian Rushan’s phone rang, and he stood up and walked aside to answer it.

Shen Ye lowered his head and flipped the card with his hand.

He saw a long line of small text on the back of the card:

“Drowner.”

“You are in a situation where you could be killed at any moment, yet you are completely unaware of it. This is what it means to be a drowner.”

Shen Ye’s heart skipped a beat.

This evaluation was so similar to his own evaluation trait.

Evaluation traits were an附带能力.

Could it be that this ability was interconnected…

But he had just arrived at Yunshan Port, how could the card know his situation?

Shen Ye was silent for a moment.

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

How could this be…

Shen Ye subconsciously turned the card over and swiped it again.

A new mission appeared:

“Slay demons and eliminate evil, return after ten years, and the number of demon heads shall not be less than three thousand.”

Three thousand demon heads?

Ten years?

Thank you very much.

Shen Ye swiped the card again.

“Copy 800,000 scrolls in the Scripture Library.”

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

But if they’re all martial arts inheritances…

“A total of five exploration and archaeological teams were lost in the Scripture Library, with no survivors.” Qian Rushan hung up the phone, walked back, and squinted at the small words on the card.

Shen Ye swiped it again without hesitation.

A new mission appeared:

“Duel, win one match.”

“—This mission cannot be refused and can quickly increase your star rating.”

“Only by using star rating authority can you refuse any combat.”

Huh?

This seems doable.

“Don’t wish for good things,” Qian Rushan hung up the phone and walked back. “This mission belongs to children of influential families. They come with the best weapons from their families and the strongest armor, specifically waiting for you newcomers to earn evaluations from you.”

After speaking, he pointed casually out of the shuttle.

They saw a bloody student lying on the road in the distance.

Next to him was a group of medical personnel providing emergency care.

Several students about Shen Ye’s age were with him, almost in tears from worry.

It was Ah Yi, the one they had played cards with.

A young man wearing chainmail, holding a large shield and a long saber, stood to the side, saying with disdain:

“What’s this, not even a ‘newcomer,’ I didn’t gain any evaluation.”

“How unlucky!”

He finished speaking and walked away.

The people around just watched silently.

No one stopped him.

“Struck like this? Isn’t anyone going to help?”

Shen Ye couldn’t help but ask.

Qian Rushan said, “Yes, the children of influential families have learned various moves and inheritances since childhood, just waiting to earn missions from you and improve their star rating—”

“If you weren’t being hunted, I wouldn’t have planned for you to come so early.”

Shen Ye nodded in understanding.

This was like playing a game.

Someone had already leveled up dozens of times, dealing with newcomers was like chopping vegetables.

It was better to avoid it if possible.

Qian Rushan continued:

“But there’s a limit, if you kill someone, you’ll be directly disqualified from the exam and go to jail.”

“The medical team is on standby, general injuries heal quickly.”

“It’s just uncomfortable for a while.”

Shen Ye nodded, then shook his head:

“I can’t understand, this is just a card, how does it know if I’ve completed the mission?”

“The card was sent out by an artifact from the Tower of Tarot – don’t ask too many questions. It doesn’t like people discussing it, and if it gets annoyed, it might lower your star rating.”

Qian Rushan gave him a look, indicating he wasn’t joking.

“But thankfully, you can’t die here. This is a ruins site under strict monitoring by Kunlun.”

Shen Ye closed his mouth.

He looked down at the card in his hand.

Lines of small text kept appearing on the card.

Suddenly.

All the small text stopped, arranging themselves into three neat lines:

“Someone has challenged you:”

“Xiao Mengyu.”

“—Cannot refuse.”