The entire sect is obsessed with love, but I'm the only one who's truly insane.

Soon, the third person to break the formation emerged; it was none other than the demon cultivator Xingliu.

Xingliu rushed straight to Lin Du, chattering beside her, "So, are you still number one this time?"

Lin Du looked at the little girl. Although she was probably the same age as her master, the cleverness in her eyes made it impossible for her to guess her age. She could only find her cute.

She was always tolerant of young girls like this, and shook her head, "No, it's this one."

Xingliu glanced up at the leaderboard. "Kaiyang?"

She blinked. "Just like my name, it's a star."

Lin Du smiled faintly. Xing Liu was certainly not a star. When the Wushang Sect members went to the demon race for training, they encountered a great demon who looked almost exactly like her. That great demon was most skilled in earth-type magic. It is likely that Xing Liu and that great demon came from the same clan and might even have some kinship.

But the Kaiyang before us might be different.

The second round only admits the first 100 people to advance to the third round.

More disciples of the Lianheng Sect and other cultivators emerged one after another, and within half an hour, the list of the top one hundred people was ready.

The remaining people were teleported out at the same time, and could only regretfully watch as spectators.

The third round is the ultimate test, which is the plan proposed by Lin Du: to build a large array to block the evil spirits.

The third question was announced before the competition. Although the formation master still had to adapt to the situation and the location assigned was uncertain, it was still a good preparation.

Lin Du and several familiar disciples from the Lianheng Sect bowed from afar, then looked up at the teleportation array for the first hundred people.

The area of ​​Dongming Realm is vast. The Demon Realm occupies about one-tenth of its area. Since it is all land, it is surrounded by the Central Continent, the Demon Realm, and Yunmolu. The desolate desert in the middle is tens of thousands of miles long when encircled.

The area is filled with sandstorms, towering mountains, volcanic lava, and Gobi desert, where spiritual energy is extremely thin, making it difficult to harness its power. This further tests the array master's ability to set up arrays on the ground.

The venues allocated to the 100 array masters in the third round were scattered across various locations.

Behind each participant were approximately three flying monitoring devices that transmitted images in real time.

Assessing the merits of a defensive formation involves its strength, coverage area, and level, which are all extremely different factors.

Ahead of their competition lies the Spirit Martial Arts Tournament, which tests the quantity and quality of demons slain.

After their competition, mechanical engineers and weapon refiners will come to seal up and complete the scattered formations.

Everyone can choose their own venue map, selecting it in order of their ranking.

Kaiyang stood before the map, not making a selection immediately. After glancing at it, he asked, "I wonder which area is the most difficult and has the most demons?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Du looked at Kaiyang and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Are we finally talking about demons?

The alliance leader, Yuheng, raised his hand and pointed to one of the maps.

Seeing this, Kaiyang waved his sleeve and took out the map. "In that case, I'll choose this place."

He didn't leave immediately, but stood to one side.

Lin Du had looked at the entire map countless times beforehand and had already decided on the location he should choose.

She raised her hand and pointed to one of the maps.

Yuheng was taken aback. "This area... is extremely long horizontally, and there are no venues for our formation master competitions nearby."

Because the mechanics preferred to build in this long direction, only a small section was specifically chosen.

Lin Du nodded. "I know."

Of course she knew.

Lin Du raised his hand, took the map, and walked towards the teleportation array. "In that case, I'll go first."

The grand formation cannot be established overnight; the competition has a time limit of ten days.

Kaiyang looked at Lin Du's back and shook his head. Although the place was long, the terrain was narrow and winding, making it easy to set up.

They're quite shrewd.

Lin Du landed in a long valley area, which was unbearably hot.

She knew that there was an active volcano outside the edge of the map. Although it was not shown on the map, for many formations, a volcanic eruption would be almost devastating.

Cooled lava flowing from volcanoes contains more metallic components that disrupt energy flow.

But Lin Du chose it not because of its difficulty.

She took out the array plate, released her divine sense, and first walked around the long line to begin on-site exploration and investigation.

Array masters utilize the power of array stones, but they must also consider environmental interference.

Such complex terrain in the wild always presents unexpected difficulties.

Lin Du walked out, marking things on the map as he went, looking much like any other array master.

The array masters watched the contestants' performance through the water mirror, but at this moment they were all somewhat uninterested.

Because surveying itself is extremely tedious, the formation masters encounter similar situations.

"Hey! Demon!" someone shouted, pointing at one of the images.

"Hiss, isn't there the Spirit Martial Arts Tournament up ahead? How come there are still demons leaking out?"

"Wasn't the alliance cleaned up beforehand?"

The crowd was abuzz with discussion, clearly dissatisfied with the alliance's plans.

Yuheng remained unmoved by the eight winds, his eyes lowered and silent.

"Didn't you see the proposal the alliance issued when the competition topics were announced?" a young female cultivator asked. "Why are all the different kinds of competitions taking place in this desolate desert?"

Those around looked at the female cultivator and, upon discovering she was a disciple of the Lianheng Sect, couldn't help but scoff, "So she's just speaking up for her own people."

The female cultivator's gaze was clear and her words were calm as she replied, "It was the Supreme Sect Master who personally wrote a letter to all his fellow cultivators. In it, he explained that evil spirits would continue to cause trouble in the future, and that in recent years, the people on the borders had suffered frequent disasters. Various sects and families had to guard the borders to prevent evil spirits from encroaching on the land, keeping the people captive, and turning spiritual cultivators into their food or even enslavement."

"Eight years ago, Buddhist disciples sacrificed themselves, and thousands of Buddhist cultivators perished in order to seal the great formation. The demon race that went to help also suffered heavy losses. The source of demonic energy was sealed, and the evil demons stopped their internal strife and focused on attacking spiritual cultivators. Although the demonic tide has ceased, the evil demons are now our sworn enemies."

"Not just for territory, but also for our people here."

After Jin Rui finished speaking loudly, she softened her tone, "Of course we can hold the tournament in a peaceful place where no one will cause trouble, just like in previous years. But that would only determine the winner. No matter how excellent our formation is, it would only be the formation diagram that gets auctioned off. But if our formation is placed in the wilderness, it will immediately have an effect."

"Of course, our alliance will also give the top 100 a reward that is even more valuable than the formation itself."

"The conference will be held eventually, and our alliance naturally wants to make a contribution to the world."

After hearing this, everyone had different expressions, but none of them questioned it anymore.

One person changed the subject, "Hey, are these demons lying in wait?"

"I'm afraid so. They might just pop out from some random corner."

In the water mirror, Kaiyang waved his sleeve, still surveying the terrain, and directly smashed the demon that rushed out to pieces. The moment the demonic energy overflowed, he used his spiritual power to envelop it, and the demonic energy quickly disappeared without a trace.

"This Kaiyang is really something."

"Who is this disciple of a powerful hermit? He is so formidable."

It is well known that formation masters are not good at fighting.

Except for the Yan Ye lineage.

Lin Du had already sensed the disturbance with his divine sense. He suddenly unfolded the Floating Life Fan, and the power of ice and snow enveloped the demon horde. Then, he flicked his index and middle fingers together, and in the blink of an eye, the demon horde was torn to pieces.

In the next instant, a whirlwind of spiritual energy sent the demon beyond the line drawn by Lin Du.

Everyone chuckled dryly, "Truly passed down from generation to generation."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the demon cultivator Xingliu threw out a small meteor hammer, or rather, a meteor net, which struck the demon's joints and forced it to the side. Suddenly, earth spikes burst forth, piercing the demon through.

Everyone was numb. "This year is truly an exceptionally special one."

They looked at the other water mirrors, where many array masters were struggling against demons, only able to breathe a sigh of relief when the invited combat cultivators entered and swept away the demons.

The crowd calmed down a bit.

See? This is the norm!

"Wait a minute! How did Lin Du get out of there? He's gone beyond the map! He's probably walked at least a hundred miles!"

A moment of silence fell over the crowd. "Isn't anyone going to call her back?! Is she just going to walk around like that? It's not a sprint competition!"

Sure enough, someone obeyed the order and used a magical artifact to call out to Lin Du.

Lin Du glanced at the three 360-degree monitoring magical artifacts following behind him, raised his hand and made a gesture, "I know where I am, I'm not lost."

Everyone fell silent. What was this person doing? Warming up?

I don't understand, I don't understand at all.

But geniuses often have quirks, and they respect that.

"Look! Kaiyang has finished his survey and started drawing the array diagram!"

Everyone's attention was drawn to Kaiyang again. "Truly amazing, this array diagram was formed in one stroke without any auxiliary tools."

"I can't even understand this formation," one person said bluntly.

The crowd that had been praising him fell silent. They hadn't understood either, and could only manage a dry laugh. "Geniuses are indeed extraordinary."