Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex took his time walking to the center, going at the same pace as his family. Even then, he ended up being faster than many of the people who had joined this challenge. By the time they had crossed the sixty-meter mark, more than half the people had begun taking things slow as well.

Alex had yet to feel anything more than some harmless touch on his mind, but many were beginning to feel what they could only describe as a headache.

An hour passed, by which point the ones far in the front had already crossed well past the hundred-meter mark, now slowing down as they struggled to go through the rest of the way.

At the same time, the Divine Soul appeared once again and spoke to the masses.

”The first hour has passed, so everyone still within the first ten-meter mark will now be disqualified.”

Alex looked back and found no one there. Everyone was much far ahead by now, so no one was disqualified at all.

Helen grimaced slightly as she crossed the seventy-meter mark. The pressure on her mind had now changed from something that was just there to something that came with a dull pain.

”How much stronger is this planning on getting?” she wondered.

Liz didn’t even say anything. The pain she felt, while not unbearable, was still very annoying to bear. She felt no desire to speak or even complain. She just kept walking.

Ronron was in a similar situation. Except, perhaps, she was even more in pain than anyone else.

Helen and Liz slowly continued on, but Alex stayed behind with Ronron, allowing her to take her time with this.

”You should go on, Father. I will move at my own pace,” Ronron said.

”That’s fine. I don’t care about winning anyway, so I’ll be here with you until you can’t move anymore,” Alex told her.

Ronron tried to argue that he should continue, but Alex wasn’t hearing it. So, she let him be and focused on just handling the mental pain and walking. She was close to reaching the eighty-meter mark now, and if she continued at this pace, she could hopefully reach the hundred-meter mark before being forced to give up.

Alex looked far ahead of them and saw plenty of people reaching past the hundred-and-twenty-meter mark by now. Battlesage was close to reaching the same mark, but he still lagged behind five different people.

Two of those people Alex didn’t recognize belonging to anywhere, but the other three did belong to the big groups. One of those was from the Luo Family, while the other two were the two juniors of the Han Family Ronron had told him about.

The young man from the Han Family was neck and neck with the young man from the Luo Family, both competing with each other to be the fastest to reach the center. The woman from the Han Family lagged about five meters behind them.

”They’re getting quite close,” Alex remarked upon seeing the two frontrunners close in on the hundred-and-thirty-meter mark.

Considering how much pain the others around him were in, he could only imagine how much pain the ones at the front were in.

The Divine Soul appeared a while later as exactly two hours passed.

”The second hour has passed, and so, twenty more meters will now be removed. Anyone still stuck within the first thirty meters will now be disqualified.”

A few cries came from the back where people had yet to cross the thirty-meter mark. They were either too weak to go forward or had simply not thought that twenty more meters would be stripped away at once. Either way, three people in total had now been disqualified from the entire competition.

A barrier formed around the thirty-meter mark, and everyone behind that had to leave.

”Twenty meters?” Ronron looked back, a strict frown on her face. ”Wasn’t it supposed to be ten meters each hour?”

Alex shook his head. ”Sounds more like it’s ten meters for every hour that has passed. So ten meters in the first hour. Twenty on the second.”

”Then what? He’s going to strip thirty more meters in the third hour?” Ronron asked.

Alex had no evidence yet that was what was going to happen, but they had to work under the assumption that it was correct.

Ronron frowned and looked at where she was. She had crossed the eighty-meter mark, so she was safe for the next hour even if the Soul decided to strip 30 meters off. But if she didn’t cross the hundred-meter mark by the hour after that at the latest, she too would be disqualified.

Many people had come to the same realization as well and had begun pushing onward, hoping to at least get past the sixty-meter mark to be safe.

After what felt like a long time, Ronron went past the ninety-meter mark, and so did Alex.

By now, he was beginning to feel slight discomfort as well. While he was spiritually stronger than everyone else there, he wasn’t exactly strong enough to go the whole way without feeling anything. It just meant that the formation took a distance longer than anyone before it began affecting him in any considerable manner.

Ronron’s speed had slowed to a crawl now as she did her best to push herself to the hundred-meter mark at least.

Helen had barely crossed the hundred-meter mark, while Liz was close to reaching it as well.

Battlesage was close to reaching the hundred-and-thirty-meter mark up front, while the two frontrunners from the Han Family and Luo Family were about to reach the hundred-and-forty-meter mark.

The third hour passed, and the soul came back again.

Hundreds of people had yet to cross the sixty-meter mark, and the hundreds that did held satisfied looks on their faces. They would at least get another hour to push themselves to their limit and likely be disqualified after that.

”The third hour has passed,” the soul said, ”and so, forty meters will be stripped away. Anyone still within the first seventy meters will now be disqualified.”