Chapter 120: In front of Xun Ge, it's all just clouds

The next day was the day of the secret realm assessment.

Northern Dipper Square.

Early in the morning, this place was already packed with people.

"Xun Ge, have you received your points wristband?"

"Hmm."

Li Buffan has one ability: no matter where Lu Xun is, he can always find him quickly.

Not long after Lu Xun arrived at Northern Dipper Square, he came over.

The points wristband is just a wristband for recording achievements; worn on the hand, it can automatically count the number of astral aliens and foreign tribesmen killed by students.

Although it has a display, it is actually a magical artifact, and it also has notification and distress functions.

"Here I come."

In the sky, one huge airship after another flew over and landed on the various fields of Northern Dipper University.

On Northern Dipper Square gathered only freshmen, while the other fields were for upperclassmen.

The students boarded the airships in turn.

"Wow, it's huge."

The interior of the airship is even larger; one airship can hold several thousand people.

Even more amazingly, once inside the airship, the area around it becomes transparent, allowing the students to see the outside situation.

"Set sail."

After the students finished boarding, many airships took off, flying outward from the capital.

Not only Northern Dipper University.

In the capital, airships rose into the sky one after another, making it very lively.

"Wow, Mom, so many airships."

"What day is today? Are we going to war somewhere?"

"It seems to be the secret realm assessment of the cultivation academy."

"Wow."

"I wish I could get into these cultivation academies."

Many people were startled.

When they learned that the airships carried only cultivation academy students, many ordinary people stopped what they were doing and gazed up enviously at the airships in the sky.

They had not opened their meridians, so they had no chance of cultivation in this lifetime.

Entering a cultivation academy was a dream beyond their reach in this lifetime.

"Really lively."

"That should be the airship of Pure Void Academy, right?"

"And over there is the airship of Ten Thousand Willows Academy."

On the airship, the students curiously looked around.

There are many cultivation academies in the capital, but not all of them are participating in this secret realm assessment.

Among the students of some ordinary cultivation academies, there aren't even a few fourth-year students who have reached the third stage, so they are not qualified to take this joint exam.

At most, these academies will send out a few elite students to participate.

Thus, the many airships all rushed out of the capital, heading west.

Half an hour later.

The place has been reached.

All that could be seen was many airships floating above a large plain in the west.

These are students who have come from other places to take the joint exam.

In the entire east, Qingbei dominates, having gathered countless talents.

But some slip through the cracks and are snatched up by other cultivation academies.

The eastern population base is large, so there are also some talents like Murong Wan, who possess a special constitution but have not been discovered.

"That should be the airship of Magic Capital University; I heard they discovered a genius this year who has a Glazed Pure Body, a constitution completely immune to heart demons and heavenly tribulation."

"Wow, no heavenly tribulation? That's amazing."

"Heavenly tribulation isn't necessarily bad; I actually think that undergoing its tempering makes one better."

Upon seeing an airship, some well-informed students began chatting.

"The Glazed Pure Body isn't even Magic Capital University's trump card this year; they supposedly have something even stronger, a student who just broke through to the third stage three days ago."

"What?"

"What's going on this year? So many geniuses breaking through to the third stage in just one semester."

"I heard a saint-grade elixir recently appeared; could it be related?"

Another piece of news spread, causing many students to exclaim and speculate.

"Third stage? In front of Xun Ge, they're just clouds."

Beside Lu Xun, Li Buffan held his head high, as if he were the impressive one.

"Magic Capital University is actually fine; no matter how talented their geniuses are, can they match ours? I'm more worried about Ten Thousand Willows Academy."

"Yeah, did you see the video a Ten Thousand Willows Academy student posted yesterday? Damn, they've stacked fourth-grade spirit talismans thicker than a dictionary—how the hell do they play?"

"It's said that members of a great family spent tens of millions of Dark Energy to buy fourth-grade spirit talismans for their descendants in order to obtain a Heavenly Dao Talisman."

"Good grief, these people treat money like dirt—I can't even come up with tens of millions of Huaxia dollars, yet they just throw out tens of millions of Dark Energy."

Ten Thousand Willows Academy's extravagance likewise left many students stunned.

Qingbei students, those with poor family backgrounds are actually only a small minority.

After all, before opening the meridians, one must temper the body, and tempering the body itself requires a large amount of resources.

Those who truly have poor family backgrounds but decent talent, lacking resources to temper the body, may end up with unsatisfactory meridian opening results and thus fail to get into Qingbei.

Such students are often snapped up by Magic City University or other cultivation colleges.

However, those with exceptionally good family backgrounds aren't that many either; most students are well-off but not aristocratic.

Even for Qingbei students, the figure of several tens of millions of Dark Energy is still somewhat shocking.

Some students' pocket money from home, plus the resources allocated by the school, is enough to meet their own cultivation needs, leaving little Dark Energy for other pursuits.

Compared to them, the students of Ten Thousand Willows Academy are the true tycoons.

"It's just a Heavenly Dao Talisman, is it really worth investing so much capital?"

"You don't know how precious a Heavenly Dao Talisman is, let alone that first place itself comes with a reward of tens of millions of Dark Energy and represents honor, which these major families value the most."

"Looking at it this way, first place this time is likely to be snatched by Ten Thousand Willows Academy, and Lu Xun might not even have a chance."

The situation at Ten Thousand Willows Academy has left many students lacking confidence.

They lack confidence not only in themselves, but also in Lu Xun.

Even if Lu Xun is heaven-defyingly talented, the problem is they have money power.

Money power among upperclassmen may not be that great an advantage.

But this is freshman year.

"Just floating clouds, all floating clouds."

Li Buffan still showed disdain.

In the students' discussion, finally, the airships in the sky converged together.

"Classmates, now we begin explaining the rules of this secret realm examination."

"This secret realm is called the Cellar Secret Realm; as the name suggests, it lies underground on Lan Xing."

A voice sounded in all the airships.

Immediately afterward, the airships' surroundings ceased to be transparent, and their interiors grew dark.

After a few seconds of darkness, a three-dimensional map appeared above the students.

"Look, everyone, this is the Cellar Secret Realm."

That voice said.

Lu Xun looked up.

"The Cellar Secret Realm consists of interconnected cellar spaces; it has eighteen levels total, with freshmen entering at the first level, sophomores entering at the third level, and juniors and seniors entering at the fifth level."

"Each level is vast, containing large numbers of starspace aliens and foreign tribespeople."

"Remember, when encountering foreign tribespeople, never show mercy, whether they are old or young—they are all our enemies..."

"Within the secret realm, there are some undiscovered cellar spaces that often contain treasures; anything you find inside belongs to you."

That voice continued the introduction.

Lu Xun listened silently.

The rules of this secret realm examination are actually quite simple.

It's a points system.

For each starspace alien or foreign tribesperson slain, points are awarded according to the opponent's strength.

Moreover, each level of the secret realm contains special crystals called secret realm core crystals, which can be used to open passages to the next level.

For each lower level, even if the slain starspace alien is of the same strength, the points earned double.

After entering the secret realm, lower-year students can go down into the higher-year area to hunt, but they must act within their capacity; the deeper they go, the stronger the star-space alien species and foreign race people become.

This secret realm examination lasts seven days in total; freshmen who earn 100 points pass, and for each higher year the passing threshold doubles.

If one wishes to withdraw midway, by operating on the points wristband they can obtain the location of the exit point.

In the secret realm, mutual slaughter is prohibited; otherwise, qualification is revoked and upon exiting one will surely be punished.

On the eighteenth level of the secret realm there is an underground city; if a student destroys the central lighthouse inside the underground city and seizes the secret realm core on the lighthouse, they not only can gain ten thousand points but also obtain the ultimate grand prize far surpassing the Heavenly Dao talisman.

After all the rules had been explained one by one, that voice suddenly announced a major piece of news.

Underground city, ultimate grand prize!