Sitting quietly in the cultivation room, Shen Qian had a rare moment of emptiness, until the sun set and the bracelet started vibrating wildly again, bringing him back to his senses.

"It's time to go back."

He exhaled a breath of stale air and stood up.

In the slanting shadows of the dappled sunlight, the youthful spirit between his brows gradually dissipated until it was completely hidden.

...

January 19, 2298 AD, sunny.

Shanghai is located by the sea, on the shore of the East China Sea.

In fact, since a year ago, this area of ​​several hundred square kilometers, which was separated out, has become a no-go zone for ordinary residents of Shanghai.

The martial arts department set up a cordon here, with elite military warriors guarding the area day and night. Under the effect of some kind of large-scale isolation formation, the residents of Shanghai could not see anything, but they could often hear knocking and banging sounds coming from inside.

As soon as the announcement of "Stepping into the Nine Heavens" was released, many observant people immediately guessed that this was most likely the main arena for the "Battle of the Nine Heavens".

Three months ago, the area finally fell silent, but it remained closed off, and no one knew what it looked like inside.

Three buses bearing the military markings of Jiangzhong Military Region slowly drove along the exclusive road by the sea, but they could not drive directly in and were directed to stop on the outskirts.

As the students from Jiangzhong Military Academy got off the bus, they were immediately met with a cacophony of noise.

Shen Qian glanced at the parking lot, which was originally an endless expanse, but was now filled with buses from various universities. At a glance, there were nearly 10,000 people gathered in the parking lot alone, which made him sigh.

Although the main venue of the "Nine Heavens Cup" is crowded, most of the attendees are spectators. Today, apart from the powerful figures attending the ceremony, professors and mentors from various universities, and military personnel responsible for maintaining order, there are no spectator seats in this area.

This means that 99% of the countless young faces in the field of vision before sinking are...

What's even more alarming is that this parking lot is only parking lot number nine; there are many other parking lots of this size surrounding it.

"Wow, I thought that having more than 300 people sign up at our school was already a lot, but now it seems that the people at our school are really calm."

Ouyang Fei clicked his tongue in disapproval.

He smiled wryly before sinking in. Who could disagree?

Originally, more than 700 people had signed up for the Jiangzhong Military Academy, but after Ning Zhiyuan's reminder to weigh the pros and cons, many of the hot-blooded individuals came to their senses.

In fact, the situation is similar at other universities to some extent. Many people have given up applying, but there are still a large number of people left.

If it weren't for the influence of this year's "Nine Heavens Cup," many people would have been naturally discouraged from attending university after seeing how terrible the freshmen are, and the number would be even greater.

Even so, according to the martial arts department's announcement after yesterday's registration deadline, the final number of participants in this year's "Nine Heavens Battle" is...

!

Nearly 300,000 people.

Although Chen Qian experienced even larger scenarios during his college entrance examination preparation, the two are clearly not comparable.

Currently, the number of students enrolled in martial arts colleges is approximately three to five million, which, statistically speaking, is roughly one in ten.

After an invisible screening process, those who still have the confidence to participate in the battle for the Nine Heavens, excluding those who truly do not understand themselves, are all the true elites.

Even before the collapse, facing such a chaotic situation, they dared not be careless.