The large contingent of riders headed north. The Xingling Region was cold as winter, blanketed in white snow and dense with forests. Without the Snow Night Shocks as mounts, travel would have been difficult indeed.
No, that wasn't right. It was July, the middle of summer.
But it was easy for Rong Taotao to mistake it for winter.
The temperature here had to be around -25 or -26 degrees Celsius. And this was in the sweltering summer. If it were winter...
Rong Taotao shivered. He could hardly imagine what winter would be like here.
Without a doubt, the farther north they went and the closer they got to a Snow Realm Vortex, the lower the temperature would drop.
When the large company of soldiers emerged from a deep, ancient forest, the students all gasped in amazement.
Rong Taotao saw a wall—a towering and magnificent city wall.
Its thickness was unknown for now, but judging by its height, it had to be at least seventeen or eighteen meters tall!
Wearing his orange goggles, Rong Taotao pushed his vision to its limits, trying his best to get a clear view of the great pass. The ancient wall stretched from east to west, with no end in sight.
Dark, heavy clouds blanketed the land, and layers of wind and snow obscured the ends of the wall, which stretched for countless miles.
The hundred-odd cavalrymen slowed their pace, approaching the wall ahead step by step. Rong Taotao straightened up, peeking his head out from behind the young soldier and looking up at the characters on the giant gate.
Three large characters were written in a flourishing, calligraphic style, their presence even more imposing than the pass itself.
Hundred Corps Pass.
Rong Taotao was no stranger to this story.
His history textbooks described the "Battle of the Snowy Night" in great detail.
The importance of this battle was undeniable. It had determined the territorial integrity of Huaxia and laid the most solid of foundations for the nation's Soul Martial cause.
On that night, over a hundred northern army corps struck simultaneously. In a single night, they swept through the north, driving the Snow Realm Soul Beasts that had been ravaging the land farther to the north.
Rong Taotao, all the students present, the high schools, universities, and towns behind them—even the peace and prosperity on both sides of the pass—all of it existed because of the sacrifices their forefathers had made forty years ago, one falling only for another to take their place.
In this world,
nothing is inherently yours—not freedom, not property, not even your own life.
There is only what you fight for, and what you fight to protect.
In the millennia of Huaxia's vast history, no one chose the era they were born into.
Clearly, forty years ago, during the difficult times when Soul Beasts invaded en masse and the Vortexes in the sky opened wide, some people took the stage of history and shouldered a nearly unbearable burden.
With countless charges and mountains of corpses, they defended these northern lands.
Year after year, suns rose and moons set, and history marched on.
Fifteen years ago, Rong Taotao was born.
Fifteen years later, he stood before this great pass, gazing up at its indomitable spirit and imagining the stories of that time.
A single glance was worth more than a thousand words in a book.
And this was only the first wall.
With a soft "Heh," the soldier nudged the horse's flanks. Rong Taotao quickly grabbed his jacket, peeked his head out from the side, and saw the massive gates swing open.
They finally passed through the wall. To Rong Taotao's surprise, what greeted his eyes was not an empty pass but a town, laid out like an ancient city.
But this was a military garrison, not a bustling market town.
The children clearly wanted to look around the city, but the contingent rode straight on, entering through the South Gate and heading directly for the North Gate.
They crossed the entire city, and by the time they reached the North Gate, its doors were already open.
Rong Taotao's brow furrowed. He looked out beyond the gate at the vast, seemingly endless Snowfield and couldn't even see a proper place to get his bearings...
For the pass, this was of course an excellent defense; any Snow Realm Soul Beasts attempting to storm the gates would be spotted from a great distance. For the children here for the assessment, however, such terrain was less than friendly.
Among the supplies provided by the school, there were only sleeping bags, no tents.
Of course, even if they had tents, they probably couldn't be pitched on this terrain anyway. One strong gust of wind, and they'd be gone...
"Dismount."
Lost in thought, Rong Taotao suddenly heard the young soldier's voice.
Rong Taotao dismounted without hesitation, only to hear a series of CLANKING sounds from behind him.
The students hastily turned to look and saw the thick city gates slowly closing!
THUD!
With a heavy thud, the gates shut tight.
In that moment, only the hundred students and hundred soldiers were left beneath the towering city wall.
SHHH... SHHH... SHHH...
The white steeds the soldiers were riding quietly vanished, dissolving into wisps of Soul Power that flowed back into their bodies.
The scene was terrifyingly quiet. None of the soldiers spoke, and the students were at a loss.
Finally, a soldier who looked like a captain spoke up. "There are only two ways to get back inside this city.
"First: Quit the assessment. All you have to do is report to your guardian.
"Second: After seven days, these gates will open to welcome you home."
The captain's voice echoed at the foot of the wall, mingling with the sound of the vast, snowy wind. "Your assessment objective is to survive for seven days. The assessment... begins now!"
Rong Taotao took a few steps forward, scanning his surroundings while testing the depth of the snow.
A Snow Night Shock could traverse the Snowfield as if it were flat ground because of its special Soul Skill. But Rong Taotao had no such Soul Skill, and the snow already came up past his ankles. This environment would definitely hinder his performance.