According to what Kong Guofeng said on the way, recently, all the participating forces pooled their resources and jointly set up a reconnaissance and perception-type Spirit Rune Array of Tier Six around the entrance to the Celestial Ladder Secret Realm to prevent prying by other forces.

Inside the barrier, one deep green military tent after another stood tall, indicating that this place had already been surrounded layer upon layer by the Eleventh Army and powerful experts from prestigious families and sects from various places.

Although, according to the laws of the Great Xia, secret realms without definite ownership can be entered by anyone based on their abilities.

However...

Clearing the area with one's abilities is also a skill, and those unconvinced can come and test the strength of the twenty or thirty True Men inside today.

This is an inheritance left by a powerful figure close to Seven-Star, yet it is only open to Three-Star Spirit Masters, thus those who can participate are the so-called chosen ones, and security has naturally been taken very seriously.

However, as a True Man, and even considered the host and initiator of Zhen Sheng City, Kong Guofeng's arrival naturally encountered no restrictions, directly leading Lin Guang into the Celestial Ladder Secret Realm.

A slight dizziness flashed by.

Lin Guang felt the scene before his eyes change abruptly.

In an instant, he suddenly felt he was standing on a vast green plain.

And before him was a towering gray mountain that seemed to defy the laws of physics and common sense.

It looked like a thick finger, a staircase straight to the sky, standing on the earth like the mythical Sea-Stabilizing Needle, surrounded by forests at its foot, yet devoid of any grass or wood further up, as if the entire mountain was piled up by gigantic rocks, with only wisps of clouds lingering at mid-mountain, the top hidden from view.

One can imagine that if there were sunrise and sunset phenomena within the secret realm, then the shadow of this mountain might become something akin to a sundial pointer on this continent.

At the moment he saw it, three different styles of exclamations emerged in Lin Guang's mind simultaneously.

Even someone as calm as Lin Guang couldn't help but start marveling and wondering.

Just what kind of strength is needed for the materials of this mountain to maintain such a rigid structure thrusting into the sky? Or is it not reliant on material strength at all, but on something more fundamental, more profound to maintain this?

Perhaps, as many speculate... this mountain could indeed be the source of the Celestial Ladder Mountain Secret Realm.

The next moment, Kong Guofeng once again took Lin Guang into the sky, flying towards the mountain.

Enveloped in Kong Guofeng's telekinesis, their flying speed easily broke the sound barrier, the scenery on the ground rapidly retreating, yet even so, it took them close to ten minutes to finally approach the gigantic Celestial Ladder Mountain that seemed just within reach.

Such is the phrase 'looking at a mountain, exhausting a horse.'

And upon coming this close, Celestial Ladder Mountain appeared even more majestic, almost filling the field of vision from end to end.

Thus, Lin Guang finally noticed some peculiar things.

In the lush forest at the mountain's base, there grew numerous scattered, familiar golden tree species.

Though not many, they were exceptionally conspicuous.

Golden Birch Trees...

Lin Guang thought of the golden patterns resembling tree roots beneath the Education Bureau, pondering.

"We've arrived."

The next moment, Lin Guang landed on the ground.

He could see that a small section of the woodland had been artificially cleared, forming a small platform.

At the center of the platform, there was a spatial rift resembling both a mirror and a vortex, yet unlike typical unstable spatial rifts, its edges were square, like sculpted door frames.

Already, quite a few people stood here in advance, divided into two groups, each with thirty or so.

Kong Guofeng set Lin Guang down, then landed among the other group of people.

His spiritual power fluctuations spread: "Everyone, how is the situation?"

From appearance alone, there were both men and women, young and old, but upon closer inspection, one would realize those standing there were not human at all, with various phenomena subtly rising around them, resembling unfathomable natural phenomena and disasters.

This was not because they couldn't restrain their power.

Simply because beings above level sixty, just by their mere existence, influenced the surrounding space and environment, coupled with the presence of thirty-odd True Men standing too close, as well as Contracted Beast Kings housed within their Spirit Beast Spaces, causing inevitable collisions of energy.

Clearly, these were True Men from various places across Fenghai Province.

Among them were many familiar figures, including Bai Wu dressed in a white martial arts robe, as well as True Man Puxiang with his white, bushy beard.

An elderly True Man smiled and said, "The second evaluation result from the Celestial Secret Department headquarters has come out, and it's still the same four words."

Naturally, Kong Guofeng knew what the first result was: "Safe and sound."

However, a middle-aged True Man with a stern look shook his head: "Still, caution is advised; the Celestial Secret Department is not infallible."

This sentence seemed disrespectful to the Great Xia, but many True Men, including Kong Guofeng himself, nodded slightly.

These were painful lessons.

The Celestial Secret Department is an extremely important department of the Great Xia, its secret techniques of deduction are closely guarded secrets, typically difficult for ordinary True Men and Beast Kings to even comprehend, let alone learn. While generally reliable, its accuracy is not one hundred percent—especially concerning otherworldly fragments and lives.

A century ago, despite the Celestial Secret Department giving an auspicious result, a dozen young Spirit Master geniuses simultaneously ventured into the inheritance of a particular otherworldly strongman.

But in reality, it was a trap left by a powerful mad god from the Otherworld.

The god had a strange temperament, thoughts completely illogical, leaving the inheritance specifically to ensnare and kill trial takers, making the exterior seem like a genuine inheritance, even using special concealment and interference techniques, yet inside it was a death trap, even True Men intervening resulted in the loss of six prodigies, and there was nothing of value inside.

In the exploration of secret realms, the risk of death is not an unacceptable fact.

There's no path for Combat Spirit Masters that doesn't involve taking risks.

The question is whether the risks can be anticipated in advance, and whether they are proportional to the benefits, whether they are worthwhile.

Thus, later generations would conduct temporary explorations when venturing into such inheritance secret realms.

A young female True Man appearing to be in her twenties or thirties, with a cinnabar mole between her brows, spoke softly.

"I have used mystical techniques and our sect's divine object to sense the will remnant of the inheritor, and this is indeed a secret realm created specifically for inheritance. The inheritance content itself is not overly dangerous or of the Evil Dao."

Even while speaking, this True Man kept her eyes closed, giving off an unusual feeling.

"Great Dream Sect's [Three Thousand Dream Prophecies], as an old man, I naturally believe it."

"Well then, let's see which family's prodigy can take the top spot this time."

A True Man from the Jiang Family nodded, looking towards another group of people slightly stirred by Lin Guang's arrival.

"Perhaps... the competition may have already started."

......

Lin Guang landed nimbly among this dispersed group of people.

The average age here was much younger, almost all were extremely good-looking young boys and girls, each with extraordinary bearing, exuding various auras.

Some clasped their hands behind their backs with cold expressions, others had sharp gazes and an imposing presence like unsheathed treasure swords, some folded their arms, resting with closed eyes, appearing to disregard anyone else.

Some even had a more mature appearance.

They were already in university but had not yet reached Four-Star, thus catching this last opportunity to attend the inheritance.

Overall, there was not a single person present with a talent below Purple.

As soon as he landed, Du Qing and Leng Shengnan nodded at him, acknowledging his presence.

Suddenly, a cold female voice rang out: "Du Qing, is this your captain?"

The speaker was a girl with a cold and alluring appearance, dressed in a sleek black outfit, her posture straight as a pine, long black hair tied high, the tips drawing sharp arcs in the wind.

She said icily: "Choosing a second-year high school student as the captain, and transferring to a public school, you are truly regressing, it would have been better to accept my invitation back then."

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