The quicksands were open and thus after Alex came out of the other side, he stood up and finally saw how long the width of the maze actually was.
'That's almost 500 meters long,' he thought as he looked from left to right.
Just as he was looking at the length, he saw a person accidentally hit one of the strings above the quicksand.
Suddenly, mud from either side of him flew up and fell on top of him, dragging him to the surface. The man got stuck, but he was able to think quickly and started using some technique to pump out water from all around him, very soon the quicksand diluted into nothing but a mud lake around him and he started flying once more.
Somewhere else, a disciple created a bridge made up of rocks and walked on top of it. Some other person made a bridge with vines and leaves.
Yang Ma burned the quicksand until it was hard enough to walk.
People came up with their own methods to cross, but most of them simply chose to fly. It had its risks but was the easiest of all.
After each of the participants crossed, the staff came down to reset the ground so that the next one would have to make way using their own idea.
Alex looked at the nearly hundreds of openings in the tall bushy walls. These ones were a little thicker than the ones he walked through last time.
He couldn't waste time here so he randomly chose one and walked in. Thankfully, there were no more vines blocking his path here. He kept on walking through the maze, reaching dead ends multiple times.
He had his senses on max right now and was even going as far as to release his spiritual sense in a very small area. Just as he was walking, he heard a sound.
Someone just had their talisman stolen. Alex walked a little forward and saw a girl in an orange robe picking a talisman that fell off of the back of a person in red robes.
Alex walked a little forward to see that the person in red robes was on the ground.
'Did she force him there? How is she not disqualified yet?' he wondered. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.
"Move back," the lady said and the man in the red robe stood up a little before moving to the right. They seemed to be in cahoots or something and didn't want to get disqualified.
Alex didn't know if the two of them would gang up on him to steal his talisman or what, so he moved slowly and cautiously. He also kept an eye on his back at all times. He did not want a repeat of the previous times.
The girl touched the man's talisman once more, making it fall off. Now the man only had a single one remaining.
Alex didn't know what was happening, but he wasn't going to waste time here. She has just used her Red talisman and it was going to be in cooldown for a minute.
He immediately disappeared when he got close to 10 meters and touched the girl's talisman
Alex immediately caught it and moved back. The girl was surprised and looked back as well.
She finally realized that her talisman had been stolen as well. "How did you get so close without me noticing?" She asked with curiosity in her eyes. But after seeing Alex not answer at all, her curiosity died.
"Move back," she said and moved a little towards Alex. Alex in turn moved a little back as well. The man in the red robe scooted a little back as well.
However, even with Alex taking his friend's talisman, he didn't turn around.
"You look rather young. Why doesn't the handsome little brother just hand senior sister her talisman," the girl said.
"No way," Alex said with a dry chuckle.
The girl was surprised and a little taken aback. She placed a finger on her cheek and tilted her head a little before asking, "Aren't I really pretty, little brother?"
'The hell?' Alex thought.
"So what if you are?" Alex asked.
"So why won't little brother hand me my talisman?" she asked.
"I already said No," Alex said.
The girl tilted her head once more. This time her face had a very confused look. "What's going on? You are not very strong, so why won't it work?" she asked.
"The hell are you talking about la--"
"GIVE ME BACK MY TALISMAN," The girl said with a furious but calculated voice.
Alex felt his mind grow a little numb. It felt like he was severely sleep-deprived and wanted to sleep. However, a second later he lost all of that feeling and got awake.
He moved a little back and checked his behind as well.
"Mental attacks." He looked at the red-robed man that was standing on the ground. "No wonder he isn't moving. You charmed him, didn't you?" he asked.
"What's going on? How are you so weak and yet have such a strong mind. You not only resisted my charm but also my directed attack.
Suddenly, a staff dropped from the sky and said, "You are disqualified by obstructing another participant's progress."
The staff took her and flew out.
"What? So, charm is accepted, but mental attacks are considered obstruction huh? Thank god I didn't use heaven's impact on her," Alex thought.
He looked at the red-robed man and saw that he was starting to get his wits back now that the woman was gone. Alex looked down onto his Red talisman. The 1-minute cooldown was up.
"Sorry dude, everyone looks out for themselves," he said and walked up to his back before touching his last talisman with the paper.
A staff dropped down from the sky and spoke to the guy just as he recovered his wits. "You have been disqualified for losing all of your talismans, "
The guy started crying about not knowing what was happening, but nothing could be done. Alex just walked forward without looking back.