Cerebral Breadth '21'

'Only two hours left? This No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin seems to have a time limit for entry,' Luo Feng mused inwardly. He remained silent, entering the silver-gray elevator with the other seven Wargod powerhouses. The red-robed elder pressed the elevator button! Beep! The elevator doors closed, and the silver-gray elevator began its descent. With a 'hissing' sound, the passage entrance quickly sealed shut, and the desolate area deep within the Amazon jungle returned to its tranquil state. Yet, despite the calm, none of the numerous monsters roaming the Amazon jungle dared to approach this spot! ... Whoosh! The elevator doors opened. Before them lay a black corridor forged from alloy, illuminated by fluorescent lights. 'Gentlemen, welcome to the human base camp of the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin,' the red-robed elder said in fluent Huaxia. He then switched to equally fluent English, 'We're a bit pressed for time, so I'll spare you the lengthy explanations. Please, follow me!' The red-robed elder led the way, with Luo Feng and the other eight following behind. Along the black corridor, they passed through no less than nine checkpoints. Finally, they arrived at a spacious hall, hundreds of square meters in size. Nearly a hundred people from all corners of Earth were gathered in the hall, most of them seated before computers. 'Welcome, eight Wargods!' 'Wargods, we wish you a safe return!' 'Go, go, go! Upon your return, magnificent champagne awaits you all!' The numerous personnel in this underground base were overly excited. Luo Feng and the other eight, however, remained silent. The red-robed elder beside them smiled faintly. 'Don't mind these fellows. They've spent too long underground and rarely see outsiders, so they get a bit overzealous. Alright, then—all eight of you, are you ready?' He repeated the question, once in Huaxia, once in English. None of the eight Wargods uttered a sound, merely staring at him. 'Excellent! Open the entrance passage!' the red-robed elder declared loudly. Clank, clank, clank, clank~~~~ The curved alloy wall at the front of the hall suddenly split open, revealing a circular passage. 'What!' 'Good heavens!' The eight Wargods, who had been silent until now, stared in astonishment at the circular passage, their eyes filled with shock. Luo Feng, too, couldn't hide his surprise. The first two or three meters of the circular passage were alloy, but beyond that... it was a strange blackish-brown, as if formed by countless intertwined tree roots. At the end of the passage was a mirror constantly emitting light—or perhaps it was a mirror. 'Walk straight along the passage and enter that glowing mirror. It's not actually a mirror, but the entrance to the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin!' 'Once inside, there's no turning back.' 'Eight Wargods, I wish you all a safe return!' The red-robed elder looked at Luo Feng and the other eight, and the personnel in the spacious hall also watched them intently. Their journey ahead was fraught with unknown dangers, a gamble with life and death! The eight Wargods fell silent for a moment. 'Gentlemen,' Luo Feng said, walking directly towards the passage. 'I'll go first.' 'Let's go!' 'Go!' Luo Feng led the way, with the other Wargods following him into the passage one by one. Clank, clank, clank~~ The alloy wall of the passage behind them closed, leaving no path for retreat. Stepping into the strange passage formed by intertwined blackish-brown old tree roots, a peculiar scent permeated the air. Luo Feng sniffed. 'Hmm, is this smell coming from these roots? It's quite similar to the scent of the Black God Set.' The Black God Set only emitted a faint, yet persistent, scent when one was very close to it. 'A glowing mirror? The ruin's entrance?' Luo Feng gazed at the circular mirror ahead, which emanated streaks of light. 'Brother Tuoba Yan, good luck,' shouted Tuoba Yan beside him. 'You too!' Luo Feng chuckled, and without the slightest hesitation, he stepped directly into the glowing circular mirror. The mirror rippled like water, effortlessly swallowing Luo Feng. 'I'm next.' A Black man muttered something in his native tongue, gritted his teeth, and stepped into the circular mirror as well. One by one... all eight entered. ... It was a black hall, with a hemispherical ceiling. The entire black hall spanned hundreds of square meters. Streaks of dreamlike light shone down from the hall's ceiling, making the entire space appear ethereal and illusory. 'This is the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin?' Luo Feng stood in the hall, looking around, his expression subtly changing. 'Where are the others?' ... At the same moment, Tuoba Yan and the other seven Wargods appeared in different black halls. Each black hall was identical in structure. 'Truly worthy of being an ancient civilization ruin.' 'I stepped in, and after a blur, I found myself in this hall. And I've been separated from everyone else!' Tuoba Yan looked around curiously. In truth, they had all known before coming that each Wargod's experience inside would be unique, with varying levels of difficulty. Suddenly— A dreamlike, colorful light enveloped Tuoba Yan. 'XXXXXX' A string of complex sounds echoed through the hall. 'Good thing I have the translation software.' Tuoba Yan lowered his gaze to his communication watch. In just two seconds, the translated voice from the communication watch announced: 'Please enter Passage Type A.' The communication watch screen also displayed the corresponding phrase in the 'ancient ruin language.' The black hall began to tremble slowly. After about half a minute, a black passage appeared, with complex characters inscribed beside it. 'Oh, the characters match. This must be Passage Type A. There's only one passage anyway!' Tuoba Yan walked directly into the passage. Once he entered, the passage in the black hall instantly blurred and vanished. ... It could be said that, at the same time, seven of the eight Wargods had followed their respective passages deep into the ancient civilization ruin. ... In the black hall, the dreamlike, colorful light enveloped Luo Feng. 'What's going on? This colorful light has been covering me for so long, over 60 seconds, and there's been no reaction at all?' Luo Feng was deeply puzzled, looking up at the dreamlike colorful light. He had no idea that the other seven Wargods had quickly entered the depths of the ancient civilization ruin via their own passages after being enveloped. Only Luo Feng remained! 'XX, XX, XX...' A rhythmic, piercing sound suddenly reverberated through the black hall. 'Translation software,' Luo Feng muttered, quickly looking down at his communication watch. The software was active, and a voice emanated from the watch: 'Alert, alert, alert...' 'Alert?' Luo Feng was startled. Luo Feng didn't know that such a situation had never occurred since Earth's humanity discovered the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin. The dreamlike colorful light enveloping Luo Feng suddenly vanished. At the same time, from the hemispherical ceiling of the black hall, crystal ropes, each as thick as a finger, shot down rapidly. Over a hundred crystal ropes descended like lightning, their speed astonishing, even more so than the long vines of Mist Island. 'Not good,' Luo Feng thought, attempting to dodge. Alas, the speed of these crystal ropes was incredible. They gave Luo Feng no chance to resist, instantly wrapping and entangling him. The crystal ropes bound Luo Feng completely, like a tightly wrapped package. 'What's happening?' 'I've never heard of anyone being tied up the moment they enter a base!' Luo Feng immediately controlled the Duntiansuo in his backpack. Six blades flew out from his backpack, slashing like lightning at the crystal ropes. The Duntiansuo blades, capable of cutting steel rebar like tofu, struck the crystal ropes but left not a single mark. 'Open!' Luo Feng struggled with all his might. Puff! Puff! Puff!... He continuously controlled the flying blades to cut. Yet, against those crystal ropes, his struggles were like a child's, utterly useless. Luo Feng gradually understood... his current strength was utterly incapable of resisting this ancient civilization ruin! Indeed, how could an ancient civilization ruin capable of bestowing Black God Sets be something he could contend with? 'Ancient civilization ruins are truly full of unknowns. I never expected to encounter such a situation the moment I arrived. However, these crystal ropes are only binding me; they don't seem to intend to kill me,' Luo Feng mused. At this moment— From each translucent, crystal-like rope binding Luo Feng, streams of light passed through the ropes themselves, rapidly transmitting upwards towards the ceiling of the black hall! It was as if a computer was transmitting data. This process lasted for about 30 seconds, then abruptly— Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! All the translucent crystal ropes rapidly retracted, merging back into the ceiling. 'XXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX...' A long passage of speech echoed throughout the black hall. Luo Feng quickly looked down at his communication watch. Complex characters appeared on the communication watch's display, and a voice simultaneously spoke in Huaxia— 'Congratulations, your Cerebral Breadth is 21, which is greater than 18. You are qualified to enter this trial base's 'Elite Passage'. As this Elite Passage is opening for the first time in five thousand years, please wait 15 minutes.' Luo Feng stood in the black hall, his mind in a whirl. Didn't Yaorao, the personal guard, say... that the entire No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruin only had Passage Type A and Passage Type B? How did an 'Elite Passage' suddenly appear? And it's opening for the first time in five thousand years? And what's this about 'Cerebral Breadth'? 'What is Cerebral Breadth?' Luo Feng wondered. 'My Cerebral Breadth is 21, greater than 18? It sounds like 18 is some kind of qualifying threshold. From what the ancient civilization ruin implies, among all the Wargods who have entered, it seems no one has ever been able to access this Elite Passage.' Was this a good thing or a bad thing? On the positive side, judging by the term 'Elite Passage,' it's likely to offer unexpected gains, unlike the common Passage Type A and Type B. On the negative side, once he entered the Elite Passage, all previous experience would be irrelevant! Opening for the first time in five thousand years, no one knew what would happen upon entering this 'Elite Passage'. 'Fifteen minutes, it's passing so slowly.' 'My communication watch has no signal at all. It seems there's no way to contact the outside world from within this ruin.' Luo Feng glanced at his watch, feeling no surprise. If the outside world could communicate with the inside, then the Extreme Martial Arts Dojo, Thunder Dojo, and others would likely know far more about this ancient civilization ruin. Time ticked by, minute by minute... Luo Feng waited in silence. 'XXXXXXX...' A string of words echoed in the black hall, and simultaneously, the hall's walls began to tremble slowly. Luo Feng looked down at his communication watch. The communication watch translated a sentence: 'Please enter the Elite Passage.' He looked up! On the wall of the black hall, a deep, bottomless black passage had already appeared. Complex characters were inscribed beside the passage, closely resembling some of the text displayed on his watch.