Ye Zhongming sat alone in a corner, quietly watching two beings fighting not far away—well, let’s call them "people" for now.
Those were two creatures standing two and a half ters tall, their bodies packed with muscle, their heads draped with long white hair reaching past their shoulders. They closely resembled humans, except their hands and feet had only four digits, and their elbows and knees were covered with obvious bony armor—not sothing acquired later, but naturally grown.
Also, their backs weren’t flat. Along both sides of their spines, two rows of bones protruded symtrically. It was unclear why they had such a structure.
Ye Zhongming could tell that these two obviously related beings weren’t actually fighting to the death—it was more of a test of strength. As for their power…
The King of Cloud Peak was inwardly shocked.
Whether it was the force of their strikes, the speed of their movents, or even the aura they exuded, Ye Zhongming detected a familiar scent.
Yes, the sa scent as his own—that of a level-nine lifeform.
And it wasn’t just these two restless fellows. Nearly all the beings in this mysterious space were at this level. Even the few slightly weaker ones weren’t far behind.
Back when Ye Zhongming had finished his arrangents outside Holy City, a beam of light from the sky locked onto him. To outsiders, the King of Cloud Peak simply vanished into the light. But he knew—it was so kind of energy guidance, and the trigger was the admission ticket he carried.
He wasn’t clear on the exact process. All he rembered was a sudden feeling of weightlessness, then losing consciousness. When he woke up, he was inside an ecological pod.
The mont he opened his eyes, the pod’s door slid open. Ye Zhongming stepped out and found himself in a very narrow, elongated room. Aside from the pod and an open bathroom at the back, there was only a passageway ahead.
Walking through the passage, he arrived in this oval-shaped, light-colored space. Around him were nearly a hundred identical passageways, just like the one he had erged from.
Here, there were also nearly a hundred beings—all kinds of existences. In Ye Zhongming’s eyes, few could be called "human."
Of course, in the eyes of those other beings, he probably wasn’t human either.
Was the purpose of the admission ticket just to co here? Were all these beings here because they obtained admission tickets? If on Earth, perhaps a dozen or so people had acquired them—like Ji Ruiguang and Mu Hanyi—but they weren’t seen here. Did that an there were other spaces like this one?
Ye Zhongming’s gaze swept across the room again. Aside from a few spots where small groups of beings were whispering in different languages and thods, the only movent ca from those two wrestling clanmates. The rest, like Ye Zhongming, sat near their respective passageways, watching coldly and maintaining vigilance.
Though these beings were all different, they shared one thing in common—each wore only a single thin garnt. Nothing else.
Ye Zhongming’s equipnt, including his space ring, had all disappeared. He didn’t know if they had been taken after being transported here.
After staying here for several hours, nearly every being had grown impatient. So had already begun exploring this enclosed space. Strangely, there were no windows or exits—it seed completely sealed. The ecological pods and bathrooms were at the innermost part, backed by the sa white walls of unknown material.
A few had even tried attacking the walls, but to no avail. Aside from drawing attention with loud bangs, it had no effect.
Just as the crowd’s mood was turning restless and irritable, the ceiling suddenly lit up. The beings looked up and saw the previously seamless space split open—like an egg standing upright, with the top third sliced off.
Seven or eight beings descended from above, landing at the center of the space.
The leader had facial features similar to a human’s, but its face seed lted, with over a dozen uneven fleshy strips hanging down, pale and sickly-looking.
It wore a red robe-like garnt and clasped its hands behind its back. Only when it turned did Ye Zhongming see that its "hands" were actually two tentacles, loosely tied together.
Ye Zhongming wasn’t about to laugh at it—because from this being, he sensed a long-unfelt pressure.
The pressure of sothing far stronger than himself.
But Ye Zhongming wasn’t afraid. Since arriving here, he had also felt sothing different.
How to describe it? It was a purely instinctive bodily reaction. If he had to put it into words, back on Earth, after becoming a nine-star evolved and stabilizing his energy, he had felt a natural sense of fullness—a feeling that once made him believe he couldn’t progress further.
Over ti, through cultivation, the King of Cloud Peak realized that while the path forward wasn’t completely blocked, it was extrely difficult, as if Earth itself refused to allow existences that could threaten it.
But here, that feeling was gone. In its place was a kind of hunger—his body instinctively craving energy, yearning to absorb more.
It seed that before long, he would progress again, just like on Earth.
"A little better than I expected. But you recruits are still trash."
A ntal transmission forced its way into the minds of every being in the space, conveying those words.
"Don’t ask where this is. Don’t ask who I am. And definitely don’t ask what we’re doing—because soon, others will co to claim you. Ask them if you want answers."
"All I can tell you is, most of you will never see
again. Because becoming a top-tier lifeform and receiving an invitation from the sky isn’t the start of good fortune—it’s a trial… one you might not return from."
"Alright then. Good luck."
With that, the being and its companions flew back up. Before anyone could digest its words, various voices began calling down from above, summoning one being after another.
Ye Zhongming didn’t know the selection criteria, but the arriving beings always chose their targets instantly, without hesitation.
Had the universal races already "divided" them while they were unconscious?
As Ye Zhongming observed, puzzled, three black-robed beings wearing bronze masks suddenly entered. After a brief scan, they walked straight toward him.
"Co with us, trash."
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