Mostly they weren't willing to mess with the two of us, but Gao Rong was another story. We decided to slow down and fight—while Gao Rong fought a handful of contestants who thought to take him, we went around going after others to get points ourselves, as well as to prevent and discourage others from joining in against him. Gao Rong defeated his opponents 3-on-1, but by that point an alliance, or at least a big group who agreed to move over toward the further starting checkpoints rather than fight each other, was heading in our general direction. They would get on Gao Rong like a magical beast on a hunk of meat if they could.
We kept moving forward, both of us already having scored a dozen KOs each. An admittedly gorgeous sunset was clearly visible as the path to the West Base Camp Checkpoint at last came into sight. Soon after, we sensed a group of about 20 cultivators. However, they were waiting just outside the checkpoint rather than defending it.
