As he was starting to lose altitude and was soon going to start crashing downwards, he yanked hard on some rope linked to his bag. The bag opened and out of it erupted a giant drape of sorts. It was red colored and soon erupted to form something akin to a cloud. The clouds stopped his fall and he began to float amidst the wind. He gripped the strings coming out of his bag and began to twist them to direct himself forward. There wasn't much visibility due to the fog but as a cultivator, he had a great memory. He knew where to go according to where he propelled himself and such.

He descended slowly but surely as he got closer to the ground. He had sent himself quite far from the beginning of the forest where he had started. He believed that he would soon exit the forest if he ran for a few minutes.

As soon as he touched ground, he discarded the bag. This was an artifact used mostly by the cultivators in the body refinement stage in case they had to jump down from high up. Not having the possibility to use spiritual energy made it so most flying treasures were out of reach. This bag, the feather fall cloud bag, was something everyone could use. In this particular location where it became impossible to fly through spiritual treasures using spiritual energy, such items were very useful. Of course, considering the goal was to go up and not down, most of the champions wouldn't bring something like that along. He did since he was told to use the catapult. He had long prepared himself to jump himself.

It was impossible to fly but to launch something or someone in the air? Possible. So, it gave him this idea. A mighty fine one as many inside the grand hall were praising it. If he had used it from the start, he would have been able to get quite the lead. It was a shame he hadn't been a champion sent after the win. Even his Master, the contestant behind him, was regretful about it. This was quite a great trick. It wasn't new though. Many had used it previously in the long history of this trial. But there was a reason few dared to use it.

The higher one went in the sky, the more potent was the mist. It might have been a good way to speed up but the champion's consumption of spiritual energy was that much higher. It was at least thrice compared to another who would move on the ground. Most contestants believed that preserving one's energy was crucial during the trial. Especially in the first parts.

Speed was a must but there had to be a balance. Otherwise, one might die due to something else. Of course, there were pills that enabled one to recuperate his spiritual energy but could they be consumed willy-nilly? Of course not. The first one could be used whenever but the second one? No. There needed to be a short delay between intakes otherwise a cultivator's core would be damaged. It was after all the forceful acceleration of the core recovery. If you forced a horse to run faster, he would exhaust himself faster as well.

As such, while many contestants admitted the viably of the trick, they wouldn't use it with their own champions. It would be dangerous in the later stages if they overconsumed in the earlier ones. For a champion supposed to mess with the others on the other hand, it might be worth considering. Planting traps further down the road seemed much more effective after all. A lot of them were pondering this issue as they kept observing this man. They were going to use him as a way to judge the feasibility of their ideas.

...

He ran for a few minutes before he heard some noise from his right. He couldn't see anything through the trees and mist but he could hear it. It was getting closer. He wondered if there was still someone left in the forest... It would be too much for him to face someone now. He was confident in leaving the forest alive but only if he didn't have to face someone else.

After all, as a champion selected to miss with others and, ultimately, be sacrificed, he wasn't strong. He was quite strong compared to peers in the same stage but confronted with the best of the best, he didn't have much hope. His only goal was to rush forward and hopefully cross a bridge. Then, he would stay outside the trial areas and wait for it all to end. He didn't want the win, only to survive.

If he met a strong champion now... He was unlikely to escape death. He wisely made the choice to move away in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, he continued to hear the noise and it seemed to get closer and closer. Was he being tracked? There shouldn't be any ways to do so in this living forest. The fact that it was alive made it close to impossible to leave traces behind if he wanted to, which he didn't. So, how could he be tracked? Sound was unlikely as he was moving silently compared to his pursuer. Was it a spiritual technique? No. He would have at least sensed it even if he wasn't able to break it.

Still, he decided to keep running away in hope that the pursuer would give up. But he did not and after a moment, he could see the thing that was after him. It was not a champion. It was something even scarier. It was a dark monster with many eyes and jaws all over its humanoid body. As it chased behind him, he could hear its many laughters with different tones.

Not only was it creepy and ugly, it was incredibly scary. And it was closing in on him... He knew he would have to defeat it if he wanted to proceed. He stopped and took out his two daggers that accompanied him throughout his life.

He would fight this abomination to survive.