The gigantic snake had armor-like scales from top to bottom. It actually had a pair of hands growing out of its body too, holding two axes.

“Ssss!” Its tongue looked like a whip.

“Ah…” The youngest among them, Lu Ruoxi, turned pale and took several steps back.

“That’s a big one…” Many of the groups became intimidated.

“Keep the formation, don’t falter.” Li Jiankun shouted to boost their morale.

“I’m taking it down!” Jiahui remained fearless and initiated combat. She thrust her sword forward as if it was a poisonous snake too.

“Go!” Jiankun was afraid that something might happen to her so he followed suit.

“We’re coming!” Zhiting and the rest rushed forward.

They couldn’t back down since their target was the lair of these creatures.

“Clank! Clank! Clank!” The snake swung its axes around in a violent manner.

Its scales were extremely tough. Jiahui and the others made direct contact but couldn’t harm the snake at all.

Ruoxi lacked actual battle experience and was carelessly struck by the tail. She went flying while vomiting blood.

“Careful!” Zhiting jumped over to catch her, leaving herself vulnerable to an incoming slash.

During this perilous moment, Jiahui darted over and stopped the axe with a great shield. Both her and the shield got blown flying. She rolled on the ground for quite a while.

She stabilized her stance and showed great courage, attacking the snake lower section from below without caring about her own injuries.

The experience at the divine mountain truly transformed her. This girl used to be bashful and too shy to talk. Now, she always had a calm demeanor and feared nothing. She had matured from the pain and near-death experiences.

“Rumble!” The seven’s alternating attacks were useless, seemingly facing defeat.

Weizheng was nervous the entire time and almost came to help. Alas, he didn’t dare to take the initiative without Li Qiye’s command.

“Fools!” Li Qiye said: “If one person can’t win, then work together to maximize the output. Li Jiankun is the strongest, so he’ll be the main force to stop the two axes. Jiahui, focus on its weak spots to deliver a fatal blow. Xiu Ling and Xiu Qi, you two attack the sides. Xuehong, attack its rear. Zhiting, play the role of support and block its sight. Ruoxi, circle and distract it.”

The losing group found morale after receiving clear instructions from Li Qiye.

“Ready up, go again!” Jiankun rushed straight forward with a shield and sword.

“Bam! Bam!” He directly confronted the two axes.

“Poof!” Zhiting unleashed a fireball straight at the snake’s head in order to blind its vision.

“Now!” The two brothers, Xiu Ling and Xiu Qi, attacked the two sides.

Meanwhile, Wang Xuehong ran to the back of the creature and smashed its head with his hammer.

At the same time, the youngest girl ran around everywhere and unleashed numerous different weapons. She didn’t stop moving in order to avoid retaliation.

In the beginning, their teamwork still had flaws but as this went on, they started to understand each other and got used to combat. This made the flow of the fight much smoother.

“Ssssss!” The snake bellowed miserably.

Jiahui took advantage of a rare chance and penetrated the monster’s body before swiftly retreating.

Its gigantic body whipped back and forth before falling on the ground like a pillar. Blood flowed down the ground and the snake became stiff.

“We did it! We did it!” Wang Xuehong celebrated loudly and finally felt pain all over.

The group smiled and felt a great sense of achievement. They never dared to think about taking on such a dangerous task before but today, they have successfully taken down a powerful foe.

“Sssh!” The celebration was short-lived since more green eyes flashed deeper in the valley.

“Not the time to celebrate.” Li Qiye coldly uttered.

The group gathered for formation again. There was no time to relax and rest.

“Just like before.” Jiankun was afraid but still maintained a cool head.

“Go now, don’t let them attack together, let’s take care of the closest ones first.” Jiahui added.

“Now!” Jiankun was the primary force and needed to be the vanguard. He led the group deeper into the valley.

“Rumble!” Loud explosions and bangings happened all over the valley. Trees collapsed everywhere.

A contest between seven humans and numerous snakes. Jiankun took the brunt of the damage as the vanguard so he was grievously injured.

“He won’t die and I can cure anything less than death.” Weizheng wanted to join several times but Li Qiye stopped him.

Weizheng smiled wryly after hearing this, aware of the type of training now. He could only pray for the kids at this point.

The battle never stopped in the valley. The group had killed several gigantic snakes after a while but was nearly routed too.

“Idiot, you usually only get one chance. Miss it and your friends will die!” Li Qiye occasionally criticized the group, always drawing blood on the first prick with his sharp tongue. Even Jiahui wasn’t spared after making a mistake.

Weizheng finally saw his merciless teaching method. Normally, he felt that the supreme ancestor was still very lenient towards the juniors. Now, this was no longer the case. The ancestor was brutal and held nothing back.

Ten hellish days have passed in the valley. The disciples barely managed to survive and whenever they made a mistake, they were instantly chastised.

They also retreated several times in order to stay alive. After ample rest, they would rush in again despite having unfavorable odds.

Their teamwork has gotten tremendously better, the same for their courage and sense of solidarity.

Later on, Li Qiye rarely needed to instruct them. They suddenly were able to realize their own mistakes and correct them. The merciless training increased their speed and reaction time too.

On the tenth day, the snake king bellowed and fell to the group.

“We did it!” They made it to the lair after killing the snakes in this valley and began to celebrate.

After the group recovered, Li Qiye opened his eyes and said: “This is only the beginning of a long journey. Gather your stuff, time to go.”

The group got a chill but still followed his orders with haste. Two days afterward, Li Qiye stopped again and threw them into an abyss.

“The fog will toy with your mind. This is a test for your dao heart. Don’t go insane down there now.” Li Qiye said.

The group below looked around and saw nothing but darkness. They became nervous, thinking that this was hell.

“Calm down, don’t separate and keep on reminding each other.” Jiahui had experiences with this and warned.

They were tortured for more than ten days down there. Jiahui’s dao heart was tough enough for her to get out sooner. However, she stuck around in order to help her peers. The group eventually made it out.

***

As they headed for Reincarnation Mountain, Li Qiye took advantage of all the perilous locations along the way. He wouldn’t let them out without passing the trials.

In the beginning, the group dreaded these trials. As time went on, they became accustomed to the toughness and improved greatly.

Not just in cultivation but also teamwork, camaraderie, and battle experiences…

The seven didn’t abandon each other during the most dangerous events.

This type of training didn’t come by easily by lingering around in the sect. That’s why this arduous journey was necessary.

Weizheng was happy to see this. He was certain that these seven would become the pillars of Mountguard in the future.