To become a qualified warden who manages all sorts of criminals, one must be able to endure loneliness, resist the temptation of money, withstand the charms of the most beautiful women, see through lies, avoid traps, outplay gambling masters, and even outwit those bent on destruction. Oh, and you also need a heart strong enough to withstand calamities at any moment.

In short, being a warden is a great profession!

Golden light was so bright it almost blinded everyone.

A massive pile of gold stood before him—no, mountains of gold. As far as the eye could see, gold bars were stacked like small hills, shimmering under the sunlight. The sheer amount was enough to establish a new empire.

To pass through the third gate, one had to go through this golden mountain.

Of course, he had to cross it, but there was a trick to it. His eyes, his expression, his every movement—none of these could betray the slightest hint of temptation. Long Ming’s face was as serene as a monk’s, and his body disappeared in a flash—quick, incredibly quick!

On the screen, in the blink of an eye, the white-clad man ignored the towering mountain of gold without a single backward glance. His demeanor was one of noble detachment, as though money meant nothing to him.

There was no way it truly meant nothing. Long Ming knew very well that money was essential if he wanted to become a true expert.

But it was obvious—since this mountain of gold appeared in the selection process, it had to be a trap.

He could roughly guess the intention behind this setup. The second round’s Nine-Tiered Gate tested one’s inner character.

The first gate tested basic strength, the second tested control over lust, and the third tested resistance to wealth. The next few gates would likely test other traits.

With such a series of trials, no matter how casually certain families treated the selection, they would inevitably pick a suitable warden. Truly a foolproof plan. Long Ming couldn’t help but wonder—who had come up with such an intricate design?

The screen refreshed again: 

[Name: Long Ming]
[Second Round: 20 points]

Another perfect score!

Ten seconds—an immediate, unwavering pass. The perfect clearance.

Ten points—exactly what Long Ming deserved.

But this was getting ridiculous!

In truth, not everyone could resist the temptation of wealth. If someone moved too slowly, hesitated, or even glanced back, points would be deducted. And if they actually took a gold bar, they’d be disqualified on the spot.

The one judging this round was none other than a certain magical beast disguised as the mountain of gold.

If the Dimensional Prison really had that much money, there wouldn’t be a financial deficit in the first place!

Long Ming proceeded to open the fourth gate.

With a bang, the door closed behind him.

There wasn’t a soul in sight in the passageway, but he was sure there were people lurking in the shadows.

Long Ming didn’t rush forward. Being a millennium-old “demon” came with its own unique instincts—like a beast’s sense of danger. You’d better not underestimate such intuition; it often saved lives.

From his storage bracelet, he pulled out a few ordinary wooden beads and scattered them in different directions.

Bang, bang, bang! In two spots where the beads landed, explosions rang out. While the blasts weren’t fatal, they were enough to injure the contestants. Long Ming’s eyes glinted like the calm yet dangerous ocean at night, his gaze narrowing with a touch of wickedness.

Upon closer inspection, an intricate spider web was spread through the air, its threads leading all the way to the fifth gate. The web wasn’t too large or small, but it was impossible for a person to pass through without getting caught. Worse still, the web was surrounded by tiny flying insects.

These bugs were called Bloodsucking Zhu Worms, known for their insatiable thirst for blood. At the first scent of it, they would swarm their target, biting the wound nonstop. It was a trap within a trap!

Even if one avoided the bombs, who would notice the spider web hidden in the mist? Walking through it would cause the threads to cut into the skin, drawing blood and attracting the Zhu Worms. The poor soul would be left writhing in the spider’s embrace.

What a well-crafted scheme!

These monsters in the Dimensional Prison were truly seasoned pros!

The spider responsible for this trap was a Blood-Spider Demoness, a low-level demon beast that coexisted with the Zhu Worms. Though they were common in dangerous places, they were incredibly adept at setting traps.

The fourth gate’s test: traps.

Long Ming’s face remained calm, as if he had already anticipated the difficulty of this round. Silently, he praised himself—good thing he had prepared for all sorts of situations. Otherwise, he might’ve ended up embarrassing himself!

In the Boundless Realm.

“Look at him, standing still. Is he scared to move forward?”

“There must be something wrong. Didn’t you see the explosions earlier?”

“Someone just entered the second gate and is negotiating with Queen Medusa. It’s Feng Yang Yan from Phoenix City. If that human kid doesn’t leave soon, he’ll run into him!”

Everyone knew that fighting wasn’t prohibited within the Nine-Tiered Gate. As long as you defeated your opponent without killing them, it wasn’t considered breaking the rules. The further along the competition went, the more likely it was that contestants would be eliminated by each other.

This was exactly the kind of drama the younger generation from the various families wanted to see. If Long Ming didn’t move soon and bumped into Feng Yang Yan, a fierce battle would be inevitable if the Phoenix City powerhouse took a dislike to him.

At that moment, Long Ming finally moved. Fire-element energy circled around him. After all, what do creatures like spiders and bugs fear the most? Fire.

The Blood-Spider Demoness’s traps might fool someone unprepared, but they were useless against him.

The next step was finding their weakness. No matter how tough those spider webs were, let’s see how they liked being roasted by fire!

“Still not coming out?” Long Ming spoke, his voice low and cold, sending chills down the spine of anyone who heard it.

This guy was the real deal!

On the spider web above, a small spider that had been easy to overlook began to transform. In no time, it morphed into a little girl with two pigtails and a rosy, innocent face. She looked utterly adorable.

But she was clearly terrified of the fire surrounding Long Ming, her body stiff and unable to move closer.

“Want to become roasted spider?” Long Ming’s words were as cold as ice, capable of freezing someone’s soul. He was a master of reading people’s emotions, able to adjust his tone to suit the situation perfectly.

A little demon like this, who had only just learned to transform, might be powerful but was still inexperienced and naive.

Sure enough, with just one sweep of Long Ming’s Holy Domain aura, the little girl shook her head like a rattling drum and quickly withdrew the spider web. Trembling, she stepped aside, clearing the path for Long Ming.

Phew, he managed to bluff his way through again!

Maintaining his icy, top-tier expert demeanor, Long Ming walked all the way to the fifth gate.

Behind him, the top experts from various families were hot on his heels.

The leaderboard flashed in red, and the scores of the other contestants appeared on the Flowing Light Stone screen. Besides the previously unknown Long Ming, the leaders included Phoenix City’s Feng Yang Yan, the five great experts from Divine Dragon Valley, and the Blood King Lewis.

If Long Ming didn’t want any of these experts to catch up to him, he had to clear the gates before everyone else.

It couldn’t be helped. While he had used pills to boost his strength to the Holy Domain level, it wasn’t his body’s true power. He could only exert about 60% of that strength and had to be careful not to overburden his body.

In other words, he was a fake Holy Domain expert.

If he encountered a real powerhouse, he’d have to tread carefully.

With astonishing speed, Long Ming continued his relentless pace, sweeping through the gates. The fifth gate’s guardian was a thief named Ma Liang, a scrawny and unimpressive-looking man. The competition here was to see who could steal something from the other first. Before Ma Liang even finished explaining the rules, Long Ming had already taken the ring off his finger.

In awe of Long Ming’s deftness, Ma Liang awarded him a perfect score and even asked for pointers.

But Long Ming, maintaining his cold, aloof exterior, wasn’t about to give a public lesson. What a joke! Why would he reveal his sneaky tricks? That would ruin his edge.

As a result, the Flowing Light Stone screen showed a bizarre sight: Ma Liang, a C-ranked criminal in the Dimensional Prison, bowing at a 90-degree angle, practically begging Long Ming for advice.

But the white-clad man, clearly finding such side paths beneath him, didn’t even look back as he walked away.

The comments beneath the screen were filled with admiration:

“Sir Long Ming is clearly a selfless and upright man, no way he’d teach such underhanded tricks!”

“Exactly! Even though he’s better than the godly thief, his moral compass is as strong as ever. What a hero!”

“This is exactly the kind of warden the Dimensional Prison needs to restore peace!”

Thus, Long Ming became the only person to perfectly clear the first five gates.

If Long Ming had any thoughts on the matter, it would probably be something like: This prison is a haven for problem children!

Of course, to a soul that had lived for a thousand years, most of these people were still just children.

The Boundless Realm was becoming more and more lively. As a human with no background whatsoever, Long Ming had practically created a miracle.

In the face of the innate talents of other races, humanity had lost much of its former glory over the past millennia. Although there were still many experts, they paled in comparison to the talented Blood Clan and Beast Clan, especially since most human experts were concentrated in the higher planes.

Many young people from lesser families in the lower and middle planes placed their meager wealth on Long Ming, seeing him as a symbol of resistance against the powerful aristocratic clans.

“Long Ming, you better not let us down! Show those high-and-mighty families that we’re not so easy to bully!”

Long Ming, of course, had no idea that many people were now pinning their hopes on him. He was busy passing through the sixth gate.

The guardian of the sixth gate was an Illusion Master named Norva, a shapeshifting phantom beast. Although young, Norva was a master in the art of illusions.

In the illusion, one would face their deepest fears or desires, and only by overcoming them could they pass through. Most people thought that Long Ming would at least hesitate for a moment, taking some time to break free. But to their surprise, he passed through just as effortlessly as he had with the first gate, completely unfazed.

It was said that only those with pure minds, free of desires and distractions, could navigate an illusion like that.

If Long Ming knew what they were thinking, he would probably burst out laughing. He had simply used a basic mental shield spell from a thousand years ago, something any Grand Mage could cast back then, to block all external interference from his mind and senses. Of course, he passed through without a hitch.

A spell that was trivial to him had now become some legendary technique. People praised him, marveling at how such a pure mind could belong to such a prodigy.

On the leaderboard, Long Ming firmly held first place.

With the sixth gate cleared, the scores refreshed again.

[Name: Long Ming]
[Second Round: 50 points]

Close behind him was Feng Yang Yan, who had passed the fourth gate with a score of 22. As Phoenix City’s top young expert, this was a high score anywhere else.

But when compared to the contestant ahead of him, the gap was stark. After all, Long Ming had earned perfect scores on every gate.

Some people even speculated that it was only a matter of time before Feng Yang Yan and Long Ming met, possibly resulting in an early showdown.

The seventh gate’s guardian was the Gambling King, Murray. What the bet was depended entirely on his mood, and unfortunately for Long Ming, Murray was still in a foul temper from waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

Seeing someone even more handsome than himself certainly didn’t help his mood. Especially when that handsome face wore an expression that seemed to say, “Mortal, kneel before me!”

Enraged, Murray shouted, “If you can reach the eighth gate in the next second, I’ll give you a perfect score! How about it—do you dar—”

What the heck!?

In the blink of an eye, a blur passed by. Turning around, Murray saw that Long Ming had already appeared outside the eighth gate.

Long Ming’s flawless side profile carved a perfect arc as he casually said, “Remember what you promised.”

With that, he pushed open the eighth gate, leaving behind a solitary figure.

Staring blankly at Long Ming’s retreating form, Murray felt as if he had swallowed a fly. It was stuck in his throat, making him gag. Who could he blame? He was the one who made that reckless bet, after all. Face darkening, he begrudgingly awarded Long Ming a perfect score.

How infuriating!

Beyond the eighth gate lay a massive serpent, about forty meters long. Its size alone was enough to scare the life out of anyone. Its green, glowing eyes locked onto him, and for a moment, it felt like the most terrifying thing in the world was gathering in those eyes.

But Long Ming was a thousand-year-old demon. He’d seen plenty of terrifying things. This little intimidation act wasn’t going to scare him. He merely raised an eyebrow and released the flawless aura of a Holy Domain expert.

“Child, if you join me in overthrowing the rule of Grimm, you could become the new god of Grimm!” The serpent’s voice oozed temptation, its eyes radiating a strange power. Staring too long into them felt like being sucked into an endless abyss of darkness.

On the other side of the screen, many people held their breath, hearts pounding.

Thump, thump, thump.

They feared that Long Ming might be swayed at this critical juncture, falling into the trap. After all, this was the Serpent Clan’s most powerful ability—the Heart’s Temptation.

The long silence was suffocating, the waiting unbearable.

Finally, Long Ming’s lips moved.