By the third year, the Grand petition of the Hundred Academies had reached its final climax.
The substitution of the second place runner-up marked this event; afterwards, the rankings changed rapidly and drastically, with once top 100 and even top 30 prodigies being surprisingly "eliminated" due to unforeseen circumstances.
Some unfortunate souls even perished during unexpected attacks from Nascent Soul Demons, not having enough time to escape.
Meanwhile, the Five-Colored Barrier continued to "slowly" contract inward, and on the eve of the "Survival of the Fittest," the entire activity area was startlingly reduced to a diameter of two thousand miles. It consisted of a vast expanse of undulating mountain ranges, the plex terrain offering a brief respite for the hundred or so who had lasted until the end.
However, within such a narrow area, there were actually as many as fourteen Great Nascent Soul Demons active, alongside an unknown number of alien practitioners with Nascent Soul realm bat power.
During these final three months, these hundred or so Golden Core geniuses not only had to be wary of "backstabs" from their own kind, but also needed to constantly avoid attacks from the demons and alien races, making the situation exceptionally dire.
What made it worse was that because of the Luck Jade Pendant, everyone’s "real-time position" was vividly clear to others.
This meant that even if you wanted to lay low until the end, it was absolutely impossible.
For the sake of surviving until the last day, alliances formed by strong individuals naturally began to take shape.
In just a few days, solo participants became scarce, replaced by more than a dozen "temporary squads."
Perhaps not by coincidence, many members of these "temporary squads" came from the same lineage, predominantly from the Yin Yang, Heavenly Ghost, and Mediation lineages.
This kind of alliance behavior was greatly advantageous for the established Taoist academies, but extremely unfriendly to the "weaker" Daoist schools like the Beihai Daoist School, essentially spelling early elimination.
With only over forty days left until the end of the petition, only twelve temporary squads remained, and the total number of survivors was reduced to just ninety-three people.
On the same day, nine temporary squads unexpectedly launched an attack, targeting the Nascent Soul Demons directly.
Such a coordinated action, if it wasn’t premeditated, would truly be surprising!
Suddenly, fierce battles erupted simultaneously in all four directions—east, south, west, and north.
This was like poking a hornet’s nest; the whole "survival circle" turned into utter chaos.
In just an hour, nine simultaneous battles between humans and demons swiftly concluded, resulting in six Nascent Soul Demons being focused-fired and killed. The other three Great Demons, though heavily injured, managed to defeat those three squads, forcing their retreat.
After this incident, the remaining eight Great Nascent Soul Demons, under the coercion of the alien cultivators, actually chose to join forces and divide themselves into three demon armies, beginning an inch-by-inch search of the world, desiring to slaughter these pesky "mice."
The unified "action" of the nine established squads severely harmed the other three "uninformed" squads.
In the following days, they were successively discovered by the furious Nascent Soul Demons and chased down, eventually having no choice but to use instantaneous movement to exit.
Having persisted to this point, no one was willing to be eliminated so bleakly, so everyone intentionally fled towards the nearest person.
As a result, more and more people became "collateral damage," forcing them to face the decision of fighting or continuing to run.
Once everyone was dragged into the "battlefield," the battles between humans, demons, and aliens became increasingly frequent, and the elimination rate soared!
Amid this ferocious, intense warfare, one true expert after another who could slay Great Demons independently emerged, such as the "Fire Phoenix Fairy," "Dragon King," "Master Wuding," and "Thousand Prison Taoist," the four True Immortals.
With only seven days left until the end of the petition, the number of people dramatically dropped to eleven, while on the Nascent Soul-level "Hunters’" side, there were as many as eight.
By this time, the rankings of the petition were pretty much stabilized, with the most mysterious first place aside, the contest for the runner-up was only between Zhang Fengxian and Long Xiangzi.
...
Amidst a range of mountains of varying heights, a Red Cloud flew closely alongside a mountain slope, with a figure standing erect upon it, none other than Zhang Fengxian adorned in Crimson Armor.
At this moment, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her face filled with a solemn expression.
Due to the "everyone is transparent" scenario, no one dared to hide in place, constantly changing positions to avoid being implicated by others.
On the Qi Fortune "Map," four huge, bright Pure Purple Light Points were prominently occupying the east, south, west, and north, while the remaining seven light points appeared as pale purple scattered all around.
Moments ago, the western Pure Purple Light Point suddenly began approaching her rapidly, and along its path, the nearby pale purple light points were fleeing desperately, as if terribly frightened.
"Something’s not right. Long Xiangzi has always held himself in high regard; why does he appear so disheveled today?! Could it be..."
With this thought, Zhang Fengxian pressed the Red Cloud, raising her head to gaze towards the west...
Not long after, in the western sky, a golden tunneling light flashed out, rushing straight in Zhang Fengxian’s direction.
After a crimson gleam flashed across Zhang Fengxian’s eyes, she identified the silhouette within the tunneling light, momentarily taken aback.
The owner of this tunneling light was none other than Long Xiangzi, fleeing all the way to this place. Yet, he was in quite a sorry state, with several long wounds on his chest and abdomen, continuously dripping blood as if he had been brutally clawed by a giant paw.
About ten miles behind him, a hundred-foot-long winding black giant centipede was chasing relentlessly, with two alien practitioners standing on its head—one with wings on its back, a green-faced eagle nose, and the other covered entirely with yellow carapace, bald with no eyes, and two golden antennas extending from its head.
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