The First Failures
Yaan looked down from above, watching the various happenings below with an unchanging expression. The sect master had already set up various formations around the ship, allowing them to view the entire situation of the 25 disciples below clearly.
At first, they could just look down at the forbidden land and see the goings on through the formation, but this became difficult after a few hours passed by and the various groups spread out in different directions. The real time recordings playing aboard the ship's formations were extremely useful and allowed many of the elders with personal disciples or clansmen in the forbidden land to maintain their peace of mind.
When Yaan witnessed the first three people fail after six hours, he actually felt relieved. Seeing that his students were indeed not too stupid and were willing to give up in order to save their lives, let him feel a bit more relaxed. If they had decided to fight to the death against that mosquito horde, he would probably lose all hope.
Even if every disciple failed, so long as they survived, Yaan could at least preserve his life.
Over the past three months, besides training his students, he also put in effort to slowly alter this 'survival trial' in an attempt to make it less and less dangerous. He did this slowly because he was not sure if the Immortal Ancestor would step in if he made things too easy.
In the end, it still needed to have some aspects of a survival trial, but there was no need for it to be overly dangerous. So long as the disciples kept their wits about them, so long as they were not too obstinate about passing and obtaining a high ranking, then their survival should be a non-issue.
The problem was, that most of them were prideful, obstinate people!
Being raised as pampered young geniuses throughout their lives led to this inevitable development of their personalities. Those who were born into the sect's outer sect nations were better off in this regard, but those born into the eight great clans were absolutely arrogant and self-obsessed. Some of them really might prefer to die rather than giving in!
Yaan shifted his attention towards the group of nine once again. This group which consisted of Yu Xan, six other clansmen, and only two disciples without a clan backing, worried Yaan the most.
The group was too big, far too big. Perhaps if this trial was a hunting mission, it wouldn't be too bad, but this was not that sort of assignment…the Fragment Forbidden Land, even just the outer circle, was not a place where Qi Temple Realm cultivators could run rampant!
"Everyone, stand strong! Hold your ground, do not back down to these mere beasts!" Yu Xan yelled out heroically.
Clash!
"Ugh…"
"Tuli!" Yu Xan's eyes widened and he cried out anxiously. He turned back and examined Ji Tulia closely, only letting out a breath relief after finding that although she was injured, she was not in any serious danger.
"Here!" He threw her a recovery pill, then turned to face her assailant with an enraged expression.
Seeing this, Shia smiled bitterly. Over the past few hours, she had seen clearly that Yu Xan and Ji Tulia were even closer than she had previously realised. Her secret hope of eventually getting together with Yu Xan was seeming more and more like an impossible dream…
'No, I can't let this get me down!' Shia clenched her fists tightly. She rushed forth to Yu Xan's side to assist him in taking down the strongest of the beasts, a Peak Rank 3 steel armadillo.
This creature's armour was far too tough, making it difficult for anyone in this group to actually deal it a fatal blow. Combined with the other beasts that were surrounding them from every direction, it became difficult to see a way out from this situation.
But Shia did not let this get her down.
'Ji Tulia has the Ji Clan, who are allied with the Yu Clan, whilst I have no family backing. On top of that, even I have to admit that Ji Tulia is slightly better looking that me…my only hope is to impress Yu Xan with my abilities! I have to become stronger! I need to pass this test!'
The battle raged on.
None of these disciples had experienced danger like this before. They had all been in their fair share of battles, but those were mostly sparing matches against their peers whilst their elders watched over them.
They had also been on missions to subdue demonic path evil doers…but in those missions, they travelled in well structured groups, whilst their targets were always much weaker than them. Not only that, but they were always within the lands of the righteous; an elder willing to lend a helping hand was never too far away.
They had even explored inheritance sites! But…those were righteous inheritances, there was rarely any danger at all…
In this situation, they were in true danger. Every single attack from these demonic beasts targeted their lives! They could feel the malicious killing intent emanating from the beasts, these savage creatures truly wanted to kill them. Some of these beasts had the ability to kill them!
And their elders would not step in to save them unless they crushed their Crystal Shield Bead.
However, could any one of them truly bring themselves to surrender in front of their peers? To give up in front of the sect master and their elders? To bring an end to their life in the venerated Fragment Sect?!
They could not!
And so, the battled continued. This fight was brutal, everyone sustained injuries time and time again, forcing them to rely on recovery pills just to permit them to continue fighting. However, they were Qi refiners, not body temperers - they could not use recovery pills indefinitely.
After two hours of arduously holding off the beasts, finally, the battle was over.
In the end, they lost two members of their group…
But nobody died. Those two had simply become a burden on the group after sustaining terrible injuries, they were unable to continue fighting. In the end, the danger, their injuries, combined with their desire to not weigh everyone down, overcame their desire to push on through the trial. They crushed their Crystal Shield Beads and failed the trial.
The group of nine was cut down to seven less than half a day into the survival trial.
Time continued to pass by at what felt like the slowest pace of their lives for many of the disciples within.
The rate at which the elite disciples were encountering beasts, and danger in general, made Yaan almost break out in cold sweat. This was actually his first time seeing into the Fragment Forbidden Land. He had heard plenty about this place and learned much regarding its terrain, but learning and seeing were two different things.
The first thing he noticed, was that the number and strength of the Rank 3 beasts was way higher than he expected! Originally, he was mostly concerned about the Rank 4 beasts, since they would be far too strong for the Qi Temple Realm disciples to handle.
However, as it turned out, the Rank 4 beasts were not only uncommon to the extent that only a single one appeared during the first day of the trial, but they also weren't as big a threat as you would expect. Demonic beasts rarely bothered to hide their auras, and if a Rank 4 aura appeared, most disciples would surrender quickly. Even Yu Xan had no delusions about defeating a Rank 4 beast!
But these Rank 3 beasts were more powerful than normal Rank 3 beasts, Yaan was sure of it. The types of beasts in the Fragment Forbidden Land all seemed to be those that were difficult to deal with, whilst many of them travelled in groups.
Take the red-plated mosquitoes for example. This Rank 3 beast almost always travelled in a group, making it extremely difficult for any of the disciples to handle.
After one day passed by, no more disciples had failed the trial, and thankfully, nobody had died. After the initial few hours, during which time five disciples were forced to activate their Crystal Shield Beads and hence failed the trial, things mostly settled down.
Those who ventured out alone found places to hide, whilst those who travelled in groups found themselves fighting more frequently, but they also benefited from having others to watch their backs.
The second day.
The group led by Yu Xan was now reduced to seven members. Nobody decided to leave the group, despite realising the difficulty in maintaining a large group in this trial. Perhaps they simply didn't want to admit their mistake.
More likely though, was that they had all been shaken by the battle that occurred the previous day, and they were too fearful to venture out alone, despite this being the safer option.
This group again encountered multiple large battles on the second day. In the end, yet another member in the group was forced to withdraw from the trial after sustaining near-fatal injuries.
The person to receive these injuries was a member of the Sonn Clan, one of the eight great clans. A Sonn Clan Elder was amongst those watching on the ship above the formation. He quickly rushed to his great grandson's side after seeing him in such a worrying state. He didn't even have time to curse Yaan for this trial, and he did not return to the ship afterwards, instead opting to take his defeated descendent back to the Sonn Clan.
Since this disciple was no longer permitted to stay in the core sect anyway, the sect master remained silent and allowed the ex-disciple to be taken away.
Aside from the Sonn Clan young master, two others were eliminated on the second day. This was already better than Yaan's expectations…he was starting to feel like he could see the light at the end of the tunnel!
He was somewhat worried about Hian, though…
Hian had been running non-stop ever since the start of the trial. After running in terror for two days straight, he ended up straying hundreds of miles away from the starting point…
As for Ji Suzu, she was still sleeping. The elders all wore odd expressions whenever they observed her. They felt like this unusual girl had gotten way too lucky, to find such a safe spot.
Who would have thought that the most successful disciple would achieve this success by taking a nap?
Yaan praised her in his mind, at this rate, she would not only be able to pass the trial, but she would probably choose to stay beneath this rock for some time afterwards. This way, she could raise her ranking just by staying in the forbidden land for longer than everyone else. Since her location and concealment technique were able to hide her from any danger, Yaan was not overly worried about this.
The third day.
At this point, there were only 17 disciples remaining within the trial at the start of the day.
This was the final day in which it was essential to stay within the forbidden land in order to pass the trial…if they just made it to the end of the day, all of the remaining disciples would pass this trial!