Chapter 52

"Whoosh!"

A large hole, about thirty to forty meters in diameter, opened up at the front of the deck. The piercing cold wind instantly swept into the cabin, making the young men, who were only wearing sports tank tops and shorts, feel a bone-chilling cold.

"All candidates—jump down!" The black-clad officer pointed at the large hole, his face expressionless.

Upon hearing this, many of the candidates turned pale.

The Liao Yuan was suspended hundreds of meters above sea level, and below was the Demon Dragon Island. Jumping from here, even if one fell into the sea, it would only lead to a certain death, let alone landing directly on the island.

"So what, no one dares to jump? It doesn't matter. It's still in time to withdraw from the competition. The Extreme Challenge is not for cowards!" The black-clad officer sneered.

These words stirred the blood of many students. The red-faced youth who had initially expressed interest in enrolling in the First Military Academy pushed through the crowd and roared, "Jump, then jump! What's there to be afraid of? If you're afraid of death, don't become a cultivator!"

He kicked off with both legs, spread his arms, and leaped from the opening. The red-faced youth screamed at the top of his lungs, but his shouts were instantly torn apart by the fierce wind.

With someone taking the lead, those who followed were endless. In fact, everyone knew that there must be some arrangement below, and they wouldn't just fall to their deaths. They just needed to overcome the psychological barrier.

Li Yao mixed in the crowd and quickly moved to the edge of the opening. Braving the cold wind, he looked down and saw that the thousands of young men who had jumped earlier had not yet landed.

They were all stuck in a semi-transparent large net, descending very slowly.

"Deceleration talisman array?"

Li Yao whistled. The deceleration talisman array was an essential talisman array for controlling a flying sword. If attacked by an enemy and fell, activating the deceleration talisman array would allow one to land gently, avoiding a fatal fall.

However, ordinary deceleration talisman arrays only had an effective range of three to five meters. This deceleration talisman array could cover an area of several thousand meters, truly a grand design.

Without hesitation, Li Yao grabbed the white puffball beast, took a deep breath, and leaped from the hundreds of meters high!

The wind howled around him, and birds soared beneath his feet. The feeling of riding the wind on a flying sword was indescribably wonderful!

However, Li Yao hadn't enjoyed it for two seconds when he felt a flash of milky white light around him. His body suddenly felt as if it was stuck in a soft, fluffy cotton ball, and his speed slowed to an extreme.

Falling in this "transparent" cotton for about ten seconds, his body suddenly relaxed, and he returned to normal gravity and speed. The wind began to howl in his ears again.

And this time, after just two seconds, he was once again enveloped by a second "transparent" cotton ball.

Looking down, he saw that hundreds of candidates, hundreds of meters below, were flailing their limbs as if in water. Li Yao pondered and understood the intricacy of this deceleration talisman array.

Between the Liao Yuan and Demon Dragon Island, there were dozens of layers of deceleration talisman arrays, each with a cushioning effect.

Thus, after multiple layers of cushioning, the candidates could safely land on Demon Dragon Island.

The application of such a large-scale talisman array was truly ingenious. Li Yao secretly marveled, realizing there was still much for him to learn.

He closed his eyes, spread his arms and legs, forming a "big" character, and let the "transparent" cotton massage his entire body, taking advantage of the last bit of time to rest and regain strength.

Deep in his mind, memories from Ouyezi flickered through his consciousness.

Finally—

After passing through ten layers of deceleration talisman arrays, Li Yao safely landed about ten meters above Demon Dragon Island. Looking down, he saw a dense, lush forest below, with many candidates already on the ground.

From deep within the forest, the roars of demonic beasts and the shouts of candidates echoed.

The intense battle had already begun in the first second!

Li Yao suddenly opened his eyes, like a ship of garbage waiting in the treasure tomb, his blood boiling.

He lightly touched a branch with his feet, dissipating the last bit of falling force, and used the elasticity of the branch to change direction. Li Yao, like a swift black leopard, darted into the forest and landed steadily.

He immediately drew a sharp breath.

From the sky, Demon Dragon Island looked like a peculiar, narrow island shrouded in black mist, not particularly terrifying.

But once he set foot on Demon Dragon Island, he found the entire island was covered by towering trees that blocked out the sky.

Looking up, he could only see the faint gray mist between the black branches, unable to see the blue sky or white clouds. Even the strongest sunlight, filtered through the gray mist, turned into a hazy yellow.

Looking around, a faint green miasma permeated the air, allowing Li Yao to see only a few meters in any direction. Beyond that, he could only see the jagged gray silhouettes of twisted trees, which looked like the bones of demonic beasts, swaying in the wind.

Just a moment ago, he could hear the continuous sounds of battle, but now they seemed to be blocked by the miasma. Even the roars of demonic beasts became muffled, shifting from the horizon to his ear in an instant, as if a terrifying beast was lurking behind him.

The three thousand challengers landing on Demon Dragon Island were like three thousand grains of sand scattered into the sea, disappearing instantly.

The entire world seemed to be left with only Li Yao, alone on this terrifying island of demonic beasts.

Li Yao leaned against a black tree covered in warts, slowly stretching his limbs, and carefully observed the surroundings.

There were no established paths on Demon Dragon Island. The ground was a muddy layer of decaying matter, and he had to be careful not to step on the fine bones of demonic beasts, which would pierce his soles. The green miasma emitted a slightly pungent odor, similar to the smell in the treasure tomb.

"Hisss, hisss, the Demon Emperor will not let you off..."

Suddenly, a faint, distorted cry came from the black tree behind him.

Li Yao was startled and turned around. He saw several tree warts twisting and writhing, merging together to form an incredibly ugly face of a demonic beast.

The face sneered and said, "Just wait. The Demon Emperor has already gathered a million demonic troops at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. They will soon surge onto the shore, sweep through the Federation, kill all the men, and eat all the women and children, hisss, hisss, hisss!"

Li Yao sneered and said calmly, "I have carefully read the introduction to Demon Dragon Island. It is said that the island is covered with a type of demonic plant called 'Illusion Vine,' which continuously releases a pale green hallucinogenic miasma. It can hypnotize the mind, causing hallucinations and delusions—you are just an illusion, you can't fool me!"

The demonic face stiffened and instantly shattered, reverting to the solid tree warts, disappearing without a trace.

Li Yao sighed in relief, about to leave, when the black tree trembled, and the bark writhed. It was forcibly peeled off from the inside out, and a half-rotten human form crawled out stiffly from the middle of the tree, looking up and giving Li Yao a faint smile.

Most of its body was already rotten, with its internal organs, blood, and flesh intertwined with the roots of the black tree, forming a single entity. The left side of its face was covered with large patches of tree bark and moss, while only the right side of the face could still be vaguely recognized.

It was—Ouyezi's appearance!

"Do you think it's that easy to consume my memories? One day, I will completely possess this body and be reborn in the 40,000th year of cultivation!"

Ouyezi sneered, and his arm, transformed into a branch, trembled and reached out toward Li Yao.

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