[Wu Yue rode her sword and fled like a meteor.]

[Baili Su summoned his riding beast, a mighty eagle, grabbed its talons, and had the bird carry him off.]

[Wang Mingbai chose to take a ship, a luxury cruise with over a hundred oarsmen rowing so hard their arms were about to fall off.]

[Long Yang shouted loudly.]

["Auspicious Cloud Divine Skill!"]

[A sheet of seven-colored auspicious clouds flew beneath his feet and carried him away.]

[As Long Yang flew past you, he said,]

["Brother Chen, want me to give you a ride? Once we land on the island, we can compete fairly?"]

[You politely declined.]

["No need, I have my own sea-crossing method."]

[You took out the Star Shuttle Zhao Hanzhou once gave you, threw it onto the sea, then stepped onto it. It skimmed like a speedboat, kicking up a trail of white spray as it sped away.]

[You had improved the Star Shuttle's internal formation once more from the version Zhao Hanzhou originally modified.]

[Now this Star Shuttle could be used on water, land, and air.]

[Watching your dashing retreating figure, Long Yang nodded repeatedly.]

["Brother Chen still handles things with ease. He will be my greatest rival this time… Brother Chen, wait for me!"]

[The twenty of you arrived at Tide Wind Island one after another.]

[The first challenge was to find the Saint Token and the Saintess Token.]

[There were usually two methods.]

[One, go find them yourself, using divine sense, spirit artifacts, cultivation techniques, each showing their skills.]

[Two, stake out a Sea-Calming Divine Tower and rob whoever uses the first method.]

[But this island was not small. Apart from the judges hovering in the air, only the twenty of you were on the island.]

[There were four Sea-Calming Divine Towers, one to the east, one to the south, one to the west, one to the north.]

[If you staked out the wrong tower, you were done for.]

[So at the start, everyone chose to search themselves.]

[You summoned the Ten Thousand Souls Golden Banner and unleashed the classic move Myriad Ghosts Go to Market.]

[With the banner’s evolution, this move had evolved too.]

[Previously you released the souls inside the banner to scout and gain vision, and you had to direct them manually.]

[Now you simply dispersed three thousand souls evenly across the island, using swarm control to form a networked topology, opening underlying logic, refining granularity, and assembling a combined approach.]

[In plain terms, it was more efficient, clearer, more three-dimensional, and easier.]

[You had no intention of personally looking for the Saint Token, nor did you plan to camp at a Sea-Calming Divine Tower.]

[Instead, you used Myriad Ghosts Go to Market to surveil the entire arena, planning to snatch the Saint Token from whoever found it!]

["Let them search slowly."]

[You jumped onto a tree and closed your eyes to rest.]

[Not long after.]

["Huh? Found one?"]

[Your surveillance network fed you an image; you saw someone pull something from a rock.]

[It was Wu Yue, but what she found was the Saintess Token, so grabbing it would be useless to you.]

[This token was half a person tall and continuously emitted a dazzling blue light. Judging from Wu Yue’s expression when she picked it up, the thing was still very heavy.]

[Wu Yue tried to shove it into her Storage Ring but after much effort realized it would not fit.]

["This is a walking bullseye."]

[You understood at once—the finals were essentially still PVP.]

[Carrying such a large, heavy object that couldn’t be hidden made one extremely conspicuous.]

[Whoever held it would be ganged up on.]

[Wu Yue planned to take the Saintess Token to a Sea-Calming Divine Tower.]

[Unfortunately, luck had been spent finding the token; the tower she chose had three female candidates staking it out.]

[Although Wu Yue was a born genius and possessed the Bright Moon Sacred Physique, and after inheriting the sword path her combat power was peerless,]

[facing three opponents while lugging that burden, it was hard for her to gain the upper hand.]

[They were all Spirit Condensation and Spirit Sea Realm experts, and once a fight started the commotion would be loud.]

[Seeing more people about to converge, Wu Yue decisively cleaved a chasm with a sword and chose to withdraw.]

[The three women pursued her relentlessly.]

["Why are they running toward my place?"]

[You only wanted to quietly stake out a Saint Token, but Wu Yue headed straight for your position, drawing those three madwomen over.]

["Chen Dong! Lend me a hand!"]

[Wu Yue called for help.]

[You remained lying in the tree.]

["I’m waiting for the Saint Token. If I help you fight and then the Saint Token appears, how could I possibly snatch it in time?"]

["A Celestial Origin Longevity Pill! It increases life by five years!"]

["You bully the fewer with the many—what kind of hero or beauty are you! Look at my spear!!"]

[You lifted your spear to fight, clashing with the three female candidates who had been chasing Wu Yue; they were soon gasping and panting from your blows.]

[Of course, when I say spear I mean the Blazing Extinction War Spear.]

[Wu Yue counterattacked and joined you to fight the enemy together.]

["Big sister! Stop fighting! Go stick the Saintess Token into the tower!"]

["Can you do it alone?"]

["I can! You’re just getting in the way here, seriously!"]

["Thanks!"]

["Don’t thank me! Just remember to pay up!"]

[Wu Yue failed to leave.]

[Because some male candidates nearby arrived.]

[They originally wanted to watch the show.]

[But the three female candidates sent them a team invitation.]

["Baili Su! Long Yang! Help out!"]

[Baili Su laughed toward the sky, "The Saintess Token? Not my problem. I simply like watching women fight—haha!"]

[Long Yang and Baili Su struck palms together in agreement.]

[The three women spoke again.]

["Help us! We can pay!"]

[Baili Su sneered.]

["My Baili clan lacks for nothing."]

["I’ll offer myself as payment!"]

[Baili Su raised an eyebrow.]

["That will do. I want three of them! Hahaha!!"]

[When Long Yang saw Baili Su rush into the fray, he immediately displayed a look of disdain.]

["Brother Baili, lust is a double-edged sword!"]

[At that instant you wished Long Yang would help those three women too.]

[But he didn’t.]

[This guy really was strange!]

[Although Baili Su was only Spirit Sea Realm, that was because he was younger than everyone present.]

[His combat ability was hardly weak.]

[His Destiny Spring Overlord Body allowed his strength to flow continuously in battle, growing stronger with every fight!]

[You couldn’t deploy power exceeding the Spirit Condensation realm, or the judges above would detect you.]

[So you could only stack buffs!]

[You geniuses with backgrounds and talents, I have my trait tags!]

[Very fair!] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

[Not far off, Wang Mingbai was flying quickly, clutching a rock as he rushed over.]

[Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a terrifying thunderclap suddenly boomed from the sky.]

["Rumble!!"]

[The thunder was unusually loud.]

[You, the other candidates, and the Martial King judges in the air all looked up.]

[You saw the thunderclouds that had been hovering over the surrounding sea since earlier today swirling into vortices.]

[As they spun, the vortices vaguely formed a horrifying ghost face.]

["Crack!!"]

[A black lightning bolt struck down from the thunderclouds, splitting into countless thin lightning threads in midair, covering the sky and sweeping across, directly knocking aside a number of Martial King judges.]

["All candidates, beware! This is not the Holy Lands' doing!"]

[A judge shouted a warning to you.]