Chapter 245: Chapter 143: Camp Entrance Assessment, Earth-rank Cultivation Technique

Lin Ye’s heart began to race with excitement.

According to the official Great Xia rating system, Cultivation Techniques and Observation Skills were divided into four major tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Each tier was further subdivided into high, mid, and low grades.

According to Chen Meng, the Five Qi Guiding Formulas he was currently practicing was merely a high-grade Yellow-tier technique.

Right now, Lin Ye was in desperate need of a new Cultivation Technique.

Otherwise, whether he was cultivating or killing monsters to level up, his experience gain would be halved.

It was a frustrating situation.

But now, just by joining the camp, he could get a low-grade Earth-tier Cultivation Technique and a high-grade Mystic-tier Observation Skill for free!

What an astonishingly generous offer!

Just by looking at the fervent gazes of the talented individuals from extraordinary backgrounds around him, Lin Ye knew that the benefits to one’s cultivation from the daily lessons alone would exceed most people’s imaginations.

Yin Liulan seemed quite satisfied with the crowd’s reaction. She continued,

"The first class begins at ten o’clock sharp."

"Anyone who fails to walk into the classroom on time..."

"Sorry, but you’ll be the first group to be eliminated from this training camp."

As soon as she finished speaking, an uproar instantly erupted from the crowd.

"That’s not fair!"

A short-haired young man couldn’t help but crane his neck and shout.

"This violates the rules! In previous years, even if there were eliminations, they only happened after the first week’s comprehensive assessment!"

Yin Liulan tilted her head, her lazy eyes quietly staring at the person who had spoken out in protest.

There was no killing intent, no oppressive aura.

But the prodigy felt his skin crawl under her gaze, and he found himself unable to utter another word.

"See?"

Yin Liulan withdrew her gaze and swept it across the entire area.

"It’s precisely because of trash like this... who can’t even grasp the situation, that I get so bored."

"Right now, in this place, I am the chief instructor."

"I make all the rules."

"If you don’t like it,"

she pointed upward and continued, "you can go report me to the provincial command headquarters. Be my guest."

The young man’s face turned the color of beet root, his lips trembling, but in the end, he didn’t dare say another word.

"Good. It seems no one has any more objections."

Yin Liulan clapped her hands together.

"In that case, the entrance assessment..."

"...begins now!"

As her voice fell, countless red warning lights suddenly flashed throughout the enormous underground space!

A piercing alarm blared from all directions!

Before their horrified eyes, the passage they had used to enter was sealed shut by an incredibly thick alloy gate!

And ahead, the only exit leading to the interior of the training camp was also blocked by a descending gate.

The figures of Yin Liulan and the other two instructors who had been standing before them dissolved into bubbles and data streams, then vanished.

All three of them had only been holographic projections.

To their astonishment, everyone realized they were trapped in a massive metal cage!

"I’ll only explain the assessment details once."

Yin Liulan’s voice now echoed from the speakers in the area.

"You need to defeat..."

"Ugh... this is so annoying... I don’t feel like talking anymore."

"Su Yunjin, you do it!"

A burst of static came from the broadcast.

Then, Su Yunjin’s gentle voice took her place, continuing the explanation.

"Fellow students, in a moment, a large number of Martial Arts Puppets will appear randomly throughout the area. Defeating a Martial Arts Puppet will earn you qualification points. The specific point value will be displayed on the puppet itself."

"Those who earn 20 points or more should proceed to one of the four passages at the edge of the area. After verification by an attendant instructor, those who meet the score requirement will be allowed to pass."

"Fighting among participants is strictly forbidden during this trial. Violators will have their eligibility revoked."

At this point, the crackle of a hot mic sounded over the broadcast again.

Yin Liulan’s voice cut in again: "I don’t agree with that last rule, by the way. Just pretend it doesn’t exist."

The broadcast went silent for a moment before Su Yunjin’s voice, tinged with a slight sigh, resumed.

"The number of puppets is limited. Please prepare for battle. Good luck to you all."

With that, the broadcast officially ended.

The next moment, on the massive testing ground before them, cracks split open across the floor.

Accompanied by a grating screech of metal, one humanoid puppet after another, gleaming with a metallic luster, slowly rose from beneath the ground!

These puppets were the same size as an average person, forged entirely from some kind of dark gold alloy, with intricate wiring connecting their joints.

Each one exuded a different aura.

Numbers had been manually painted on the waists of all the puppets.

The numbers ranged from as low as 2 up to 20, completely at random.

’So my intuition was right,’ Lin Ye thought.

He had seen things like this in the mock exam, but the ones before him now were far superior in terms of both material and the energy fluctuations they emitted, incomparable to the Early Stage of Vein Opening Realm puppets from the simulation.

Aside from the numbers hastily scrawled in red paint on their waists, these puppets rising from the ground showed significant differences in their appearance, body type, and even their stances.

Even stranger, a distinct name was carved into the chest of each puppet.

[Chu Jie], [Sun Wenbin], [Zhao Siyuan]...

These living names, branded onto cold, artificial puppets, created an indescribable sense of dissonance.

For a moment, all fifty people present simply watched, none daring to make a rash move.

In the midst of this oppressive silence, a cry filled with horror and disbelief suddenly rang out.

"Bro...?!"

Everyone’s gaze instantly converged on the source.

A slender young man was pointing a trembling finger at one of the puppets on the field.

His eyes were wide with shock and confusion.

Noticing the puzzled looks from those around him, his lips trembled as he struggled to explain, "Th-that puppet... that’s my brother, Chu Jie! Why... why is he here?!"