The mixed-level competition carried on at an intense pace.

The Red Clay Province was fraught with dangers that would prevent ordinary humans from moving even a step, paralyzed in fear. Yet the elite student squads were moving swiftly throughout, strong enough to proceed with caution.

They scurried across the land, efficient, little groups that moved to deal with the corruption, turning the land from dark to light as they chased down the objectives and points.

The points were a powerful source of motivation that spurred them on to take down corrupted city after corrupted city.

By the 20th day of competition, the map of the Red Clay Province reflected in the spirit mirrors had already been more than half cleansed, marking the second half of the competition.

...

In the morose ruins of a large city, a cleansing light sprayed upwards into the sky from one point, sending a shower of light-yellow power across the region, purging the corruption within.

Li Luo stood on a broken tower, checking his spirit mirror. He smiled.

"700,000 points. We've really been pushing the pace." It had been about 10 days since they had departed Thunderpeal Mountain, and they had not let up even once. Moving at full speed, they had cleansed every single objective along their way, both big and small.

Including the extermination of every single Other they had come across.

The First Princess and Jiang Qing'e nodded in relief after hearing Li Luo's announcement. They had pushed themselves hard in the last few days, and they had shouldered roughly 80 percent of the pressure. They had to fight the Disaster Class Others, including quite a handful of Lesser Heavenly Disaster Class Others.

They had not had a break at all.

Anyone less brilliant than this pair would have crumbled already.

The First Princess was clad in a form-fitting set of purple top and trousers. Her long hair was done up in a simple ponytail, and she looked more like a youthful adventurer than an elegant princess. The fighting had also left some gashes in her clothing, exposing the glowing skin underneath, but the battles had worn down any thoughts of modesty here.

"What about Lan Lan's squad?" she asked, phoenix eyes narrowed.

"They're at 660,000 points, Boss!" weakest squad member Li Luo chirruped dutifully.

"They haven't fallen off a bit either," Jiang Qing'e said. Her heavy sword was resting on her lap, and her long hair had come undone in the last fight, cascading softly around her face. She had her aloofness worn away in the heat of battle too, and was speaking a little more warmly now.

Li Luo nodded. One main reason why they had worked themselves so hard was because of the pressure from Lan Lan's squad. But no matter how hard they pushed, the other squad was right there with them.

Both Jiang Qing'e and the First Princess had strong personalities. Since they had declared their intention to take the championship, they would do their best to live up to it. Neither would give up easily.

"I'm sure they are suffering as well," Li Luo offered.

They had fought many grueling battles along the way. Even the First Princess had been injured a few times. Although the strongest Four Star Hall student was in Lan Lan's squad, he could not possibly be that much stronger than the First Princess, not even with his Duke Art.

And on their side, they had Jiang Qing'e, who was definitely much stronger than Lu Jinci.

All in all, the combination of Lan Lan and Lu Jinci might not be stronger than the combination of the First Princess and Jiang Qing'e.

And if even the First Princess and Jiang Qing'e were feeling exhausted, how much peppier could the others be feeling?

It was a test of willpower and endurance to the end.

Li Luo walked up behind Jiang Qing'e and placed a tender hand on her back, transferring power over.

She froze for a moment, then she relaxed into the warmth of his hand, enjoying the small amount of healing. She half-turned to smile at him, too tired to care about whether he was being truly kind or if he had other things on his mind.

Li Luo avoided her eyes, keeping his face straight as he touched her alabaster skin.

Still, his healing skills were not bad, and Jiang Qing'e felt slightly better.

A while later, she reached around and tapped the back of his hand slightly. He removed it.

"Qing'e, if there's any other place that feels uncomfortable, just let me know and I'll massage it for you," Li Luo said eagerly.

"Oh, Little Li Luo, this big sister over here is feeling the aches all over as well. Can you massage me?" the First Princess called over teasingly.

Li Luo was just about to reply when he felt a sudden death stare from Jiang Qing'e beside him. "Your Highness," he hurriedly called back, "what you suggest is improper between us!"

The First Princess' laughter rang out in sweet peals. She was just joking with him. She wasn't Jiang Qing'e, and if Li Luo dared to actually touch her, she would probably peel his fingernails out.

Li Luo rolled his eyes, but he was actually used to the First Princess' teasing at this point.

"Our high-level fighting is almost at an end now," Li Luo said, pulling out his spirit mirror again. "If we keep going, there'll only be one level three city left, and then we're clear to head to Russet Rock City."

The First Princess and Jiang Qing'e looked to where Li Luo was pointing on the map.

"We take down that city and then we'll be at the final stage of the mixed-level competition... but it won't be an easy city to take," Li Luo said. "Many other possible routes converge here. We might run across other squads, which will lead to fights breaking out over the city."

"We'll just fight them off, no different from the other contested cities before," Jiang Qing'e said indifferently.

Although the inter-squad competition was not as strong in the mixed-level competition, it still existed.

For example, a level three city was a big prize worth 50,000 points. No one would want to share it or let it go. Therefore, they would usually fight, and the winning squad won the right to take the city.

It was an unspoken rule at this point.

Li Luo nodded. "Yeah, but I think there's a chance we'll meet Lan Lan's squad here. Given their speed, it's likely our paths will cross there."

"Surely we won't be that unlucky." The First Princess frowned. "They might be coming from a completely different direction." 

"We'll meet them sooner or later," Jiang Qing'e said calmly. "If we meet them here, we can see how strong they really are."

The First Princess nodded. She was not afraid of Lan Lan.

"’This is just a guess, but maybe we won't meet," Li Luo said with an easy shrug. If they could take the last level three city smoothly and head to Russet Rock City without too many problems, that would be ideal.

"Rest another two hours, then move?" Li Luo asked the two girls.

Both nodded.

After their rest, the squad moved on from their last objective, headed to their penultimate one.

Moving at full speed, they took only one day to reach the level three city.

When they arrived, they spotted a swift movement towards them from another direction. It appeared to be three people drawing closer.

A mere minute later, they appeared in front of Li Luo's squad.

Li Luo grimaced.

The First Princess shot him a dirty look. "Your mouth absolutely sucks. It's too big, and it jinxes us."

Right in front of them was none other than Lan Lan's squad.