Late at night, within the venue of the Southwestern Star Cup.

Now the team competition has reached the final stage, and only a gigantic platform simulating various environments remains at the center of the venue.

However, it is resting time now, so there are no spectators here.

In the stone area at the center of the platform, two summoners are sitting cross-legged.

One is a long-bearded old man with white hair, and the other is a middle-aged woman with an elegant and noble aura.

At their location, there is an extremely complex large circular array.

On the array are placed various rare materials, with five crystals of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth from the Small Five Elements Realm at the center.

Beside the old man is a white crane with crystal-like feathers.

On the middle-aged woman's legs is a long snake with interwoven black and blue colors.

These two summoned beasts are both of A-grade; the white crane is at 6-transformation and the long snake at 5-transformation, being incredibly strong entities.

Most importantly, they are both summoned beasts skilled in space-related abilities.

Meanwhile, the chief judge stands respectfully with his hands down.

Several teachers from Imperial University including Teacher Le, as well as several teachers from Xidu University including Teacher Bai and Li Fan, are quietly standing nearby without speaking.

In addition, there are twenty top contestants from this year's individual and team competitions.

This includes the top three from the individual track, and outstanding students from various schools in the team track.

Jiang Guiju is prominently among them.

The senior with horned elephant who chased Li Pu and Long Ren back then is also among them.

"Dear contestants, the reason for gathering you here tonight is actually to ask for a favor."

The chief judge looks at the contestants, speaking sincerely.

"I believe you all know that there were two contestants left behind in the replica during the second round."

"Tonight we will invite two seniors to join forces to open a passage to the Small Five Elements Realm."

Upon hearing this, the contestants all show a change in expression.

Some of them have events tomorrow and were unsure why the organizers summoned them here late at night, but now it's clear.

The most intense reaction came from Jiang Guiju.

"Chief judge, is this true?!"

Her previously dim eyes suddenly lit up.

She has been so worried about the matter regarding Li Pu junior these days that she hasn't been able to sleep well.

Constantly seeking help from teachers at Xidu University, and digging for information.

The team's other members were also quite downhearted, leading to their early elimination in the third round with no heart for the battle.

For them, rankings and rewards no longer mattered; the most important thing was that Li Pu turned out okay.

Hence why Jiang Guiju was so excited upon hearing this news.

Another contestant with a sizable reaction was the horned elephant man.

Afterward, he heard from insiders that the reason those two juniors were trapped was most likely due to that strange valley.

As the one who chased them in, he always felt very guilty.

"However, the connection of the opened passage is naturally not as stable as the replica crystals."

This time, the chief judge spoke again.

"So we're unable to dispatch too many rescue personnel this time."

"Estimated number is around 8 people."

"Given the entry threshold for the replica, you twenty are specially selected as backup personnel."

"Whether it's the summoned beasts you possess, or your own abilities as summoners, you all have the capacity to navigate safely in the Small Five Elements Realm."

"Of course, this time we will dispatch the rescue personnel entirely based on individual willingness."

"But as a member of the organizing team, I sincerely urge everyone to volunteer."

Just as the chief judge finished speaking, someone immediately raised their hand.

"You don't need to say more, I'm in."

"Me too."

"Count me in."

"Add me."

"I'm joining."

"Both of us."

A bit to the chief judge's surprise, all twenty contestants volunteered.

"Thank you."

He solemnly bowed to everyone.

Worried that there would be too few volunteers, the organizers actually had eight slots but called twenty people.

In fact, they had secretly ranked them among the twenty.

Eventually, Jiang Guiju was selected as number 7 to join the rescue team, with the horned elephant man being number 1.

The eight selected stayed on the platform, while the remaining twelve moved to the sidelines in the waiting room.

After some instructions from the chief judge, the platform returned to silence.

Everyone just waited quietly like that.

[Ye~]

Until the white crane broke the silence by calling.

"We've located the space coordinates."

The white-haired old man who had been resting with his eyes closed opened his eyes.

"Next, we'll work together to establish coordinate links, likely opening the passage in an hour."

The middle-aged woman also opened her eyes.

Their words made everyone's expressions tense.

The rescue operation to the Small Five Elements Realm is about to begin.

...

Within the Small Five Elements Realm, level zero zone.

"It's truly an eye-opener, digging through an area."

Walking out from the Gold Desert, Long Ren dusted off the metallic sand on him while exclaiming.

He never expected the scarecrow would have an almost immune ability against piercing.

Earlier, when battling that gold-attributed giant worm, its Golden Needle attack was quite a headache.

Had he not had the foresight to temporarily adjust the [Dragon Scale Shell] onto the fire-pincer scorpion, it might have perished again.

Facing the continuous waves of Golden Needle attacks, they displayed their various skills as if the Eight Immortals crossing the sea.

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