Chapter 180: Chapter 170

Underground Imperial Mausoleum.

This is a resting room.

Torches burned brightly on the walls, and stone guards stood on both sides of the door.

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Shen Ye appeared quietly.

Two voices spoke at the same time.

"I guessed you would come, just didn't guess you would arrive so quickly," Nangong Sirui said, fanning himself.

"Which one did you choose as a mentor?" Xiao Mengyu asked.

Looking around, Shen Ye saw the resting room was empty except for the two of them.

They truly deserved their rank as the first and second top newcomers.

"I don't know his name yet, just that I've already accepted a task," Shen Ye said, scratching his head.

Rumble, rumble-

The stone doors slowly moved aside.

A passageway appeared before the three of them.

"The door only opens when at least three people gather, okay—I'm in a hurry, I'll go ahead," said Nangong Sirui, and with a flash of his Physique, he zipped through the door.

All sorts of hidden weapons popped out from the sides of the route, aiming straight at him.

The ground gave way, turning the path into a cliff.

A swarm of bats followed closely behind Nangong Sirui, spitting small fireballs at him.

Nangong Sirui dodged and weaved through the passage, struggling to overcome the numerous obstacles, and quickly disappearing at the end of the corridor.

"Do you know what his task is?" Shen Ye asked.

"He mentioned something just now, seemed like he has to reach a certain tomb room within a set time and retrieve an artifact from inside," Xiao Mengyu replied.

"What about you?" Shen Ye asked again.

Xiao Mengyu drew out her Remnant Snow Sword and said:

"Defeat 100 creatures—without killing them."

Shen Ye looked at her, then back at the passage outside.

Not a single creature in sight.

"The events that happen here depend on the task—but should I go first, or will you?" Xiao Mengyu asked.

"You go ahead," Shen Ye replied.

"Oh, right. What's your task?"

"Just wandering around."

Xiao Mengyu's beautiful eyes widened.

"Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but my mentor indeed just told me to wander around," Shen Ye said with a shrug.

Wandering around...

Is that even a trial?

Life's not fair indeed.

"Hmph... You really look like a punching bag today. I'm leaving first; you can wander around as you please."

Xiao Mengyu turned and left.

As soon as she entered the corridor, two serpent creatures with human faces suddenly appeared.

"Hehe, little girl, we've eaten humans before, you know," said one of the serpent creatures with a laugh.

Xiao Mengyu ignored them, stepped forward, her sword split into two shadows, and swiftly sent the two serpent creatures flying, sticking them to the wall.

"98 more to go!"

She muttered to herself while continuing onward, soon disappearing at the end of the corridor.

Now only Shen Ye was left.

Shen Ye crossed his arms, deep in thought.

After seeing Nangong Sirui's and Xiao Mengyu's tasks, he began to doubt his own task.

—Just wandering around?

Now, he stood alone in the resting room.

Waiting further was pointless.

He stepped forward, leaving the room and entering the passageway.

As Xiao Mengyu said—

Different events would occur depending on the task.

He waited a moment.

And sure enough, something happened.

A strange person with eight legs emerged from the ground, holding a long paper with five or six pages of text, first checking the text back and forth, then asking:

"Shen Ye?"

"That's me," Shen Ye replied.

"Here for the mentor's trial?"

"That's right."

The creature looked at the paper again, then asked uncertainly:

"What did your mentor tell you exactly?"

"He said to just wander around," Shen Ye answered truthfully.

The creature shifted its gaze from the paper to Shen Ye.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Shen Ye asked.

"No, it's just... Are you sure you want to take the trial?"

"Yes."

"...Okay then, follow me."

Without looking back, the creature turned and walked away, and Shen Ye promptly followed.

They passed several crossroads.

The creature stopped, looked at its list, and said:

"All right, first challenge—you have to reach tomb room number fifty-seven within thirty minutes and retrieve an artifact from inside."

"Charge forward—starting now!"

As soon as those words were spoken,

Various traps and creatures began to appear along the way.

Shen Ye was momentarily stunned.

What the...

Isn't this Nangong Sirui's trial task?

Do I have the same one?

"Hey, can I use a Technique Spirit?" Shen Ye called out.

"Of course, as long as you have the strength, any means are permitted," the creature replied.

"Great!"

Shen Ye leaped upward, his Physique soaring directly into the air, rushing forward with unparalleled speed.

No need to prepare for take-off, no need for intricate movement techniques, no need to pick a landing spot—

Just fly!

In the Main World, only those with a Dharma Realm level of four or five could fly.

In other words—

During this test, no newcomer could avoid all the ground traps by flying.

But Shen Ye was flying now!

Suddenly, a hole opened in the wall, releasing several green, glowing arrows.

Shen Ye touched his ring, instantly donning a suit of Undead Battle Armor.

—This was still one of Prince Norton's collectibles!

He didn't even pause for the arrows, letting them hit the armor with a "ding ding dang dang" sound.

Charge!

Charging ahead full force!

Shen Ye's flight speed increased more and more.

Suddenly, two zombies appeared ahead, reaching out to grab him.

Shen Ye touched his ring again.

A large Skeleton burst out, turning into a Skeletal Giant, and with a single punch, it blasted the two zombies away.

It cleared all obstructions along the way.

Shen Ye accelerated unabated, reaching the end of the path in one breath.

He could see the area filled with corpses.

Among the countless corpses, five doors were concealed within.

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Each door only revealed a hint of its outline, indistinct to the eye.

Before, the test was to assess the adaptability of the new students, but here, it was time to start testing their powers of observation.

Shen Ye was in a rush; where would he find the time to search slowly?

"Hey!"

He shouted loudly, "Which one is Tomb Chamber Number Fifty-Seven?"

"Whispers of the Dark" activated!

All the corpses extended their hands, pointing towards the door on the far left.

"Thanks."

Shen Ye said.

A giant skeleton transformed into a Skeletal Giant to lead the way, with Shen Ye following behind, quickly reaching Tomb Chamber Number Fifty-Seven.

But inside, the floor was littered with broken weapons and armor, and distinguishing the treasures from among them—

Shen Ye looked around and then stood still, waiting.

One breath.

Two breaths.

A faint light gathered from the darkness and revealed itself in tiny letters on a helmet:

"Rhode's Helmet."

"Treasure."

"Description: The lining of the helmet hides a few perfectly intact gemstones."

"—For emergencies."

This was it!

Shen Ye grabbed the helmet at once.

Boom.

The void opened up, and the eight-limbed monster exclaimed:

"Damn it, how did you know the treasure was this helmet?"

"I guessed," Shen Ye said.

The eight-limbed monster took out a long strip of paper, "Alright, the next challenge is..."

"Defeat a hundred monsters."

"Isn't that someone else's challenge? The challenge just now was someone else's too; why do I have to do it?" Shen Ye couldn't help asking.

"Your mentor told you to just wander around?" the eight-limbed monster said.

"Right," Shen Ye said.

"Here, 'wander' means to go around in a circle—you have to pass everyone's challenges once for it to count as wandering," the eight-limbed monster explained.

Shen Ye was stunned.

The eight-limbed monster looked down at the paper strip, muttering under its breath:

"The requirements are really high. Just wandering won't do; it has to be 'casual,' which means it's got to be very easy and leisurely, with no failures allowed."

"...That's ridiculous," Shen Ye said.

"You want to give up? Actually, even I think your challenge is too insane," the eight-limbed monster said.

"Not giving up—let's start," Shen Ye said.

"Then, let's start right away."

The eight-limbed monster disappeared.

A wall in the back of the tomb chamber opened, revealing a broad plaza.

On the plaza.

Quite a few monsters, wielding weapons, looked towards Shen Ye.

A hundred of them.

Sheesh.

Such a pain in the ass.

Shen Ye's physique shuddered as he flew up, hovering above the plaza, quickly estimated the distance, and began to sing:

"Are you happy?" Sёarch* The NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Joyous Being activated!

Joy Rabbit Dance immediately sprung to life.

The monsters had no choice but to pile up, forming front-to-back lines, and sway clumsily towards Shen Ye in the air.

A hundred monsters collapsed together like a train, finally almost reaching Shen Ye, who was suspended in the air.

Shen Ye crouched in mid-air, resting his chin on his hand, casually drawing the Dusk Shortsword.

"Sorry, I have many stages to get through, so—"

He released his hand.

The shortsword fell and instantly pierced through a hundred monsters.

Boom!

The eight-limbed monster reappeared.

"Damn it, are you actually the mentor here to check on our work?"

It scrutinized Shen Ye with suspicion.

Shen Ye had no choice but to show his tarot cards to the creature.

"Hey, kid, who exactly is your mentor?"

The eight-limbed monster asked with curiosity.

"I don't even know his name," Shen Ye said.

"...Fine, let's look at the third challenge: Defeat the Ghost Spider Tribe on the cliffs and retrieve the Flame Lotus Flower from the depths of the Abyss."

The eight-limbed monster had barely finished speaking before it cursed, "Damn it! You can fly, so isn't this challenge a giveaway?"

"Flying is pretty tiring, okay?" Shen Ye said.

His physique moved, and he flew across the plaza, descending down the steep cliff.

Soon, he reached the Abyss.

Many Ghost Spiders, each five to six meters long, made hair-raising cries.

Shen Ye glanced over and felt these guys were simply a piece of cake.

"Hungry?"

He asked.

"Sure am," the giant skeleton piped up.

"STOP!!!" the eight-limbed monster suddenly burst out, shouting frantically.

Shen Ye halted, looking puzzled at it.

"Raising a bunch of Ghost Spiders is really difficult! You can't just eat them!" the eight-limbed monster shouted.

"Then what about the challenge?" Shen Ye asked, spreading his hands.

The eight-limbed monster produced a lotus flower glowing with fire and tossed it to Shen Ye.

"I'm really scared of you—here, take this, and get going, don't linger here. Move onto the next task," it said impatiently, glancing at the long piece of paper and reading,

"The next task: Find a Giant Clam in the deep river underground and obtain a Pearl."

To go underwater...

Boom!

The giant skeleton transformed into the Skeleton King—

"Come on, we're leaving!"

It beckoned Shen Ye very skillfully.

"Let's go!" Shen Ye jumped onto the Skeleton King's—back as skillfully.

"STOP!!!" the eight-limbed monster roared desperately.

Shen Ye and the giant skeleton both stopped and looked at it.

"...Here."

The monster tossed over a pearl.

Shen Ye: "...Is this okay?"

"It's not easy for us to raise Giant Clams, don't cause trouble! Got it?"

"Okay then, but why are you being so nice to me?" Shen Ye, weighing the pearl in his hand, asked.

"Because none of these tasks suit you!"

Shen Ye was slightly taken aback.

Perhaps it did have a point.

...The tasks here seemed a bit too childish.

It was hard to get enthusiastic.

"Hey, how do you design these tasks? Couldn't you hire some proper game designers? Doing tasks like this really seems a bit boring." Shen Ye remarked.

The eight-limbed monster glared at him and, grinding its teeth, said, "Don't criticize our work—we actually designed it very well. It's just that this place is for testing new students."

"I am a new student," Shen Ye spread his hands.

"Can new students fly? Can they summon Technique Spirits? And make a hundred monsters dance? Bring a king—sorry, don't glare at me, I meant bringing Technique Spirits into the water."

"You're completely out of the standard for testing, what's the point of testing you!"

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