Gatekeeper Of All Realms Chapter 53

I protest!

Why does she get to cross the river in a lone boat, with a bamboo hat and long sword, looking all cool and handsome?

Why do I have to hold a skull?

Shen Ye was pondering this when he saw a small line of text appear next to Xiao Mengyu:

“Do you want to send a request to add the other party as a friend?”

You can even add friends!

As soon as this prompt appeared, Xiao Mengyu, standing on the lone boat, seemed to sense it, placing her hand on her sword, as if ready to strike at any moment.

Another line of small text appeared:

“The other party has rejected seventeen previous add requests. Please proceed rationally.”

Shen Ye thought for a moment and said, “Add.”

He waited for a few breaths.

Xiao Mengyu’s expression changed, as if she had just come to her senses, and she looked over at Shen Ye outside the card.

“You’ve also joined the ‘Newbie’ deck?” she asked.

At the same time, a line of small text appeared:

“The other party has added you as a friend. From now on, you can hold the card and call out to them to communicate directly.”

Shen Ye smiled and said, “It was a bit boring on the shuttle, and a friend taught me, so I learned to play with this card.”

“This is from the Tower of Tarot. It has some benefits to carry it. I was going to tell you when you arrived,” Xiao Mengyu continued in a casual tone.

Shen Ye, however, felt his eyebrows raise.

Did you hear that?

The guaranteed admission was just “some benefits” in her eyes.

People simply couldn’t compare.

“Alright, I have nothing else to do. I just wanted to add you,” Shen Ye said grudgingly.

“Your card’s… illustration—tsk, it looks like a big villain,” Xiao Mengyu teased.

But on second thought, considering his performance in the hotel battle, this card accurately captured his affinity.

“Oh, by the way, can you change my scene to an autumn wind and bright moon, riding the waves?” Shen Ye asked.

“This is automatically generated. Unless you spend money or become a formal card.”

“By the way, I suggest that if you have nothing to do, you can check the ‘Newbie’ rankings to understand everyone’s strength—we can discuss the rest in detail when you arrive,” Xiao Mengyu said.

“See you then.”

“Goodbye.”

After their conversation, Xiao Mengyu on the lone boat turned her head and looked back at the cold river.

Shen Ye watched with a pang of envy and couldn’t help but ask, “If I’m willing to spend some money, will the scene and appearance on my card change too?”

A single word appeared on the card: “Yes.”

“What will it change into?” Shen Ye asked expectantly.

“Please flip to the front. You can preview for 10 seconds.”

Shen Ye immediately flipped the card over.

He saw himself standing in a pool of reddish blood, wearing a necklace made of skulls, unkempt, with long hair, and a demonic smile on his face.

Shen Ye was furious.

Damn it.

Isn’t this the Sha Wujing look?

If someone from Blue Star came and asked him, “Where’s your Monkey King?”, how could he ever recover!

—Do I deserve absolutely no positive image?

Shen Ye suppressed his anger and whispered:

“Show me the 54 people in the official ranking.”

A long leaderboard immediately appeared on the back of the card.

Hmm?

Xiao Mengyu, with her peerless swordsmanship, was only ranked fifth?

Shen Ye followed the rankings upwards and saw a name at the very top of the leaderboard:

Nangong Sirui.

—A woman?

Clicking on the name, the entire leaderboard vanished, and a new scene appeared on the back of the card.

Peach blossoms fluttered.

On a throne carved from gold and jade sat a beautiful person in a white robe and jade crown.

Shen Ye grunted and mumbled to himself:

“She’s really beautiful.”

The other party was dressed in ancient attire.

In his previous life, traditional Chinese clothing was also very popular.

It was the same in this world, even more so—

Prominent families would dress in ancient styles during traditional festivals to commemorate the demeanor of their ancestors from ancient times.

The woman on the card held a paper fan, her eyes slightly closed, seemingly lost in thought.

Six sparkling stars revolved behind her.

And beneath her throne, several beautiful maids knelt on both knees, some holding pipas, some playing guzheng, or softly singing.

“Nangong Sirui.”

“The eldest son of the Nangong family in this generation, a descendant of the ancestral lineage.”

“Strength level: Six stars.”

“—The undisputed number one of this year.”

Wait.

Hold on a second.

Shen Ye’s gaze fixed on the words “eldest son” in the second line.

—Can you believe this is a man?

He looked at the person again and saw he indeed had an Adam’s apple.

It’s a man!

Why are you so good-looking, being a man!

And still playing ancient dress-up, white robes, holding a fan.

And a bunch of beautiful maids.

Shen Ye flipped the card over to look at himself.

Tsk.

He didn’t have a single star; he was just a reserve card.

Others had ancient attire; he had a school uniform.

Others had beauties; he had a skull.

I can’t look anymore. I can’t look anymore.

He returned to the leaderboard to look at other ranked candidates, and as he scrolled through them one by one, his face grew increasingly grim.

There was only one six-star, Nangong Sirui, on the entire leaderboard.

Aside from that, all the five-star and four-star newbies were from aristocratic families.

Not a single ordinary candidate had three-star strength.

“Hello, I’m from the corporation. I just heard from Yunye that you are too.”

—Someone came to greet him.

Shen Ye instinctively put away his card.

He saw a boy with dyed yellow hair and skinny jeans standing in front of him.

“Ah, yes, my name is Shen Ye,” Shen Ye said.

“I’m Zhang Xiaoyi, everyone calls me Ah Yi,” the yellow-haired boy said.

“Nice to meet you, nice to meet you,” Shen Ye said.

“—Do you play poker? We’re short one person here,” Zhang Xiaoyi said.

Playing cards?

It’s been years since he played.

“Let’s go!” Shen Ye said excitedly.

At this moment, when the two regional managers of the Martial Arts Group arrived at the venue, they saw Shen Ye, Guo Yunye, Zhang Xiaoyi, and a few other boys sitting on the ground, playing cards.

Some other boys were playing touch-and-reach.

They were shouting, cheering, laughing, and generally looking happy.

“These little rascals, instead of going back to their seats to rest, they’re playing cards here?”

One manager said, annoyed.

“Let them play,” the other manager sighed, “Once they get to their destination, they won’t have this much ease anymore.”

The previous manager seemed to remember something, paused, shook his head, and abandoned the idea of going over to discipline them.

On the other side.

Restaurant.

“It must be the ‘Newbie’ deck from the Tower of Tarot, how nostalgic! Among the students I’ve discovered, one achieved a four-star ‘Hand Blade’ level in the exam,” Yu Sihai said.

“Don’t even mention it,” Qian Rushan’s gaze was bleak. “I haven’t discovered any newbies.”

“Hehe, how are the newbies this time?” Yu Sihai asked.

“There’s hope that someone will surpass your student,” Qian Rushan said.

Yu Sihai smiled indifferently.

Qian Rushan stopped drinking his porridge, filled two cups of wine, and placed one in front of Yu Sihai.

The two clinked glasses and drank.

“By the way, how’s your injury?” Qian Rushan asked.

“Too much life force was extracted, so I just look a bit old, but I’m slowly recovering,” Yu Sihai said.

“That’s good, that’s great,” Qian Rushan’s expression became a little more lively.

“By the way, I didn’t expect a lazy bum like you to start mentoring newbies too,” Yu Sihai said.

“Hahaha, I was just doing it to complete a task, but I didn’t expect to actually find a good one,” Qian Rushan said.

He then asked, “You brought quite a few people this time, what’s the situation?”

“An A-level disaster broke out in the eight provinces of the southeast… a large number of masters died, and it barely managed to seal the disaster back,” Yu Sihai said.

“These children…” Qian Rushan said.

“Yes, they are children of martyrs, and their strength is good. The government decided to let them try. At the very least, they will be given priority admission to a key provincial school,” Yu Sihai said.

The two remained silent, refilled their glasses, and drank again.

…

Shen Ye lifted his blindfold and looked outside.

Outside the window was a clear blue sky, with clouds swirling below the shuttle.

The card suddenly vibrated slightly.

He pulled it out and saw a notification for a friend request.

Guo Yunye.

—It was the boy he played touch-and-reach with.

Shen Ye thought for a moment and clicked accept.

The other person’s image immediately appeared on the card.

Guo Yunye wore a dog-head hat, sitting on a mound of earth, looking at him.

There were no stars on the dog-head hat.

He was also a reserve card.

Haha.

This isn’t much better than me.

“Shen Ye, when we get there, want to go shopping with us?” Guo Yunye excitedly asked.

Shen Ye even heard Zhang Xiaoyi’s voice coming from the card.

—The boys had gotten along for a while and had already become friends, adding each other on the card.

“I have an appointment later, I’ll contact you guys when I’m free,” Shen Ye said.

“Alright then, remember to find me to hang out,” Guo Yunye ended the call.

Shen Ye put away the card, still feeling a bit disgruntled.

Why was he a reserve card and not a formal one?

—This card also seemed to be based on evaluation.

Sitting here doing nothing, or playing cards and touch-and-reach with people, what kind of evaluation could that improve!

Evaluation…

He was quite familiar with this, after all, there was an evaluation every night when he entered the door.

In that case, didn’t he have an incomplete Frost Moon Shocking Heaven?

Should he practice it once?

No sooner said than done!

He walked casually to the bowling alley.

By now, they were probably approaching their destination, so the bowling alley was deserted, with no one left.

Shen Ye took a deep breath and began to warm up his limbs.

A few minutes of warm-up completed!

His figure flickered, using the Ghost Shadow Technique, projecting a silhouette onto the aisle, then he spun around and performed a series of flying kicks.

Frost Wind!

This wasn’t over yet.

Shen Ye took a few quick steps, lightly treading on the wall, leaping up, and slapped the top of the air vent with one hand.

—Deer Stride Under the Moon!

The entire set was complete, only lacking the Thunder Palm!

Shen Ye lightly landed and stood still.

His pocket suddenly vibrated slightly.

He immediately pulled out the card and saw a line of small text appear on it:

“Although somewhat incomplete and uncertain, it is indeed a suspected long-lost technique. If this legacy reappears in the world, it will add much uncertainty to this exam.”

“You have successfully been promoted to a one-star.”

“You have become an official member of the deck.”

“Received one-star benefits:”

“You can refuse one challenge per hour.”

On the card.

Shen Ye stood there, holding a skull, looking bored and dazed.

Suddenly.

He seemed to realize something and looked up.

He saw a star appear above his head.

One star!

One of the 54 official members of the Newbie deck!

Shen Ye pointed at the newly appeared star above his head, revealing a defiant and smug evil smile.

“Hey, can’t we be a little more decent?”

Shen Ye said helplessly to himself on the card.

His card self laughed incessantly, placed the skull on its head, and made a funny face at him.