Age of Evolution

Since his rebirth, the only thing Lin Zhen was afraid of was that he might encounter the black hole again if he went back to the time node of his rebirth in the future.

He never stopped thinking about this question, and the final answer he came up with was that it would definitely happen.

Reborn people are like butterflies, flashing their wings may cause a chain reaction that triggers an ocean storm. However, it is absolutely impossible to change a cosmic black hole.

When that time came, the black hole would appear again. Lin Zhen didn’t know if he would have a chance to dodge it, or if he wouldn’t encounter it if he didn’t go there. He had no accurate answer in his heart.

He was worried that all his efforts would be ruined by a cosmic black hole, and perhaps there would be no such thing as rebirth at that time.

With a heavy heart, he put on his helmet and hoped that he would not encounter a cosmic black hole.

As his vision darkened, Lin Zhen opened his eyes and immediately forgot everything in reality.

In front of him was the vast and endless starry sky, with twinkling stars and the enchanting scenery of the deep universe.

But what horrified him was that in the galaxy, the sky cracked open, and huge black holes swirled like whirlpools. Countless stars rushed towards the devouring black hole in the middle of the starry sky!

Lin Zhen looked at the cosmic black hole in front of him and felt a tremor from the depths of his soul.

This is the most irresistible thing in the universe. The black hole can devour everything, and any material reaching there will be disintegrated and compressed.

It is said that the matter inside the black hole is highly condensed, and a sphere the size of a steel ball might weigh hundreds of thousands of tons, and an object the size of a volleyball could even deflect the orbit of an asteroid.

That is the birthplace of the Star Core, where energy runs rampant, and its power is enough to destroy heaven and earth.

Lin Zhen thought of his previous experience of crossing the black hole, and he didn’t know why he had to go through it again. Instinctively, he wanted to resist at first.

But his resistance was futile, and his power was negligible in front of the black hole. He was pulled into the black hole in an instant.

His soul felt powerless, and he felt that everything was over.

It seemed that his body shattered, and cosmic storms raged around him, planets shattered beside him, and supernovas exploded continuously. He wanted to simply close his eyes and drift along with the tide.

Time seemed to pass for millions of years or just a moment, and Lin Zhen felt an unyielding cry from his soul.

“I can’t give up, I absolutely can’t give up like this!”

“I had the luck to get a chance of rebirth, how can I give up like this? I managed to cross the black hole once, and I can do it again. If I don’t even dare to try, I don’t even deserve to be reborn! I might as well die!”

Lin Zhen activated his negligible power and began to resist the black hole’s force.

The surrounding celestial tide and cosmic storm disappeared the moment he resisted. Lin Zhen opened his eyes and found himself lying on the chair, with Su Mingyue sitting beside him, staring at him blankly, seemingly lost in thought.

The system prompt sounded: “Lin Zhen, score: 6 points, pass!”

Lin Zhen let out a long breath. That was close; had he delayed any longer, he might have failed. It would’ve been truly sad if he were eliminated in the final round.

Su Mingyue’s score came out earlier than Lin Zhen’s – she scored 7 points to pass. Lin Zhen got 6 points, and as a result, he was overtaken by Su Mingyue by 0.5 points with a total score of 45-5 points, making her the winner of the primary group.

Lin Zhen saw the final score and smiled. He said to Su Mingyue beside him,

“Congratulations, you won.”

Su Mingyue looked at the score and then at Lin Zhen hesitantly before saying,

“You are a talent. I want to find a chance to talk to you.”

Lin Zhen was stunned; he never thought Su Mingyue would be the type of person willing to talk to men. So why did she want to talk to him?

“What do you want to talk about?” Lin Zhen asked.

“You are disrespectful to the true God, and I want to save you,” Su Mingyue replied earnestly, with no hint of joking.

Lin Zhen couldn’t help but roll his eyes, knowing it would be difficult to reason with religious fanatics like her, so he pushed it off: “I want to save you too. Let’s do it some other time.”

“Alright, I’ll find you after we enter the Crown District,” Su Mingyue solemnly said, then got up and left.

Su Mingyue’s final score was 46 points, overtaking Li Changying and winning the advanced group.

At the last moment, the Northwest Military School was overturned and lost two group championships.

The total scores of each Base City were quickly calculated. Although the northwest army had one first place and two second place finishes, there were not many talents in other positions, so their total score was only second place, losing to Capital Base City by a single point.

Jiang Huai of Demon Capital Base City won third place in the senior group, and others scored in various positions, winning them third place in total score.

Lin Zhen of Ice City Base City won first place in the junior group at the last moment and ranked fourth in total score.

The Southern Base City ranked fifth, and this early-established Base City had a decline in talents, with its total score falling to last place.

If it were not for Lin Zhen’s last-minute reversal, the northwest would be in first place and Ice City would be at the bottom. It could be said that he changed the ranking of all Base Cities, causing joy and sorrow to different parties. Guan Shanyue finally breathed a sigh of relief, as Ice City Base City escaped the fate of being at the bottom, and he was already very contented.

At this point, among the 300 participants, a total of 220 were eliminated, and only 80 people successfully passed the Ladder Competition, obtaining the qualification to enter the inner part of the Star Fruit Tree’s crown.

Following that, the eliminated individuals were sent away and were strictly ordered not to divulge anything about the God Generals Training Camp, while

those remaining were to be awarded accordingly.

Lin Zhen received a cash reward of 30 billion, which once again pushed his assets over the 100 billion mark, reaching 110 billion.

Zhang Yue, who ranked 10th in the junior group, received a cash reward of 3 billion and was ecstatic.

As the eliminated individuals were sent away, the remaining 80 people gathered on the platform of the fifth tier after a brief rest.

Guo MO stood at the front of the team and addressed everyone: “First of all, congratulations on successfully passing the Ladder Competition and officially becoming a member of the God Generals Training Camp.”

“The Ladder Competition tests your basic qualities in various aspects. Now that you have proven your qualifications to enter the Star Fruit Tree, I will tell you some things.”

Guo MO pointed behind him and said, ‘What do you see behind you?”

Everyone turned around to look. The platform was high up, located on a tree branch over 100 meters wide. Looking down, they could vaguely see a white glow in the distance among the tree shadows.

“Is that water?”

“Why would there be water in the center of a tree? And the area seems quite large.”

“True, it feels like a lake.”

Guo MO smiled: “That is Lake Heart Tree. It is at the top of the trunk where the branches begin to divide and form the crown. A deep pit is formed between several large branches, and most of the rainwater that falls on the tree eventually flows into it, forming this Lake Heart Tree. Don’t underestimate it; it has a diameter of over 10 kilometers and is nearly 100 meters deep at its deepest point, making it a lake with a considerable area.”

The people all showed expressions of astonishment. A lake with a diameter of more than 10 kilometers was so vast that it was difficult to see the edge with the naked eye. They had never imagined that such a large lake could exist on a single tree, and the thought was unbelievable.

“You will soon delve deep into the crown to search for Star Crystals, and you will inevitably need to venture deep inside. You may lose your way during this time. If you really can’t find the way back, just try to go downwards. As long as you find Lake Heart Tree, you will find our platform. This is the only way to return; understand?”

The martial artists nodded their heads, remembering the Lake Heart Tree, which was the closest to the platform.

“Our platform is beyond Lake Heart Tree, but it does not go deep into the crown, so I can talk to you here. Once you enter the Crown District, you will not see a single War God Powerhouse again because the energy within the fruit tree repels the dantian of War God Powerhouses. Therefore, in the Crown District, the strongest individuals are only Level 9 War Generals.”

At this point, Jiang Huai from the Demon Capital asked: “Commander-in-Chief, are there other people in the Crown District?” “This is an important matter I wanted to tell you all. Listen carefully.”

With these words, Guo Mo’s expression became more serious: “The God

Generals Training Camp has been running for hundreds of years, during which War General-level martial artists have entered every year. However, the number of War Gods who finally came out did not even reach a quarter of those who entered.”

“Less than a quarter! Where did those War Generals go?”

“There is a possibility that they were killed by insects inside the crown; another possibility is that they died at the hands of other War Generals while fighting for Star Crystals. Apart from these two reasons, there is another one – these people did not come out on their own.”

People were all stunned. Why would they stay in the Crown District and not come out?

Guo MO continued: “There are various reasons why they did not come out. The most common one is that they are guarding a particular Special Stargem, waiting for it to mature before leaving.”

“Commander-in-Chief, what is a Special Stargem?” another martial artist asked.

“I have told you before that a Star Crystal matures when it reaches the Constant Star Stage. However, when some Star Crystals absorb cosmic energy, some special energy enters them, such as fire energy, wind energy, and even spatial energy. These crystals are called Special Stargems. If a martial artist can absorb them, they have a good chance of gaining special abilities. Such opportunities are very rare, and once encountered, they are basically not given up.”

“Those War Generals who refused to come out were probably guarding immature Special Stargems, so they would rather wait for them to mature before leaving. They regard it as forbidden territory. If later martial artists also discover it, then a struggle begins. As far as I know, there are still frequent struggles within the Star Fruit Tree; however, as War God Powerhouses cannot enter, I am powerless to prevent such struggles.”

Guo MO looked around at everyone: “So I want to remind you all to be careful. There is more danger inside the Star Fruit Tree than just insects; there are also the martial artists who linger inside. Some of them have stayed inside for decades, and their various strengths have reached the pinnacle of War General-level. Even ordinary War Gods are no match for them, and you stand no chance. If you encounter them, avoid if you can. There will be other opportunities, so don’t lose your life over some insignificant Star Crystals..”