The Survival Trial Begins

When the elite disciples entered into the Fragment Forbidden Land, they were naturally tense and instinctively gathered together. Yu Xan took the lead, seeming to have no fear as he turned back towards the others in the class and smiled.

"Everyone, you all don't need to worry so much. We have already discussed our tactics beforehand, remember?"

When he saw some slow nods in response, Yu Xan was satisfied, but he glanced at a few individuals who were hanging back.

"We all need to stick together in order to maintain the strength of the group! Even I am no match for a Rank 4 demonic beast in a one on one fight. This is clearly the method that the elders intend for us to use, as it is the only way to successfully pass the trial! Unity is the strength of the righteous!"

Yu Xan spoke loudly and his speech roused many peoples' spirits, but some others were not content.

"Yu Xan, who put you in charge, hmm?" Dan Shi, the second ranked student in the class, stepped forwards and faced Yu Xan directly. Yu Xan frowned and for some time, silence descended upon the class as the known rivals stared at one another tensely.

"Look here Dan Shi, we need to-"

"Ah!" A girl called Tay cried out. She was born into one of the 13 outer sect nations, she had no significant family or clan backing.

"What is it?" Yu Xan turned to this girl in some annoyance, but he forced himself to smile, maintaining the disposition of a leader.

"Th-there are only 22 of us left…" Tay replied anxiously.

After hearing her words, everyone looked around in shock.

"Damnit!" Yu Xan couldn't help but curse aloud, feeling frustrated that he had failed to maintain control over the group so early on. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get sucked into an altercation with Dan Shi yet again!

Hian, Ji Suzu and one other disciple actually snuck away during Dan Shi's and Yu Xan's argument!

After realising this, chatter broke out amongst the class.

"Ah, actually, I was thinking that perhaps it might be best if we all split up and went our own way, you know?"

"Right, Elder Yaan taught us to only rely on ourselves when out in unfamiliar places, was it really his intention for us to all group together?"

"W-well, maybe we should form small groups? Going alone could be more dangerous…"

Gradually, despite his best efforts, Yu Xan lost control over the group. In the end, another 13 individuals split away from the main group, some going alone, others in pairs or trios.

Only nine people remained here in this place.

After taking a deep breath, Yu Xan calmed himself.

"Yu Xan, good job bringing everyone together." Dan Shi laughed, staring at Yu Xan mockingly, enjoying this moment of shame that his rival was experiencing right now.

Honestly, moments like this had become more common for Yu Xan, ever since he met Elder Yaan…

Yu Xan did not respond to Dan Shi, but instead looked serious as he cast his gaze across those who remained.

"Everyone, I know that this is not ideal, and that many of us have our differences, but I believe that you all remained here because you are of the same mindset as myself. We all need to stick together in order to excel in this trial!"

Dan Shi's mocking expression faded, and in the end, he sighed solemnly and nodded. He actually didn't want to see the group split up either. Truthfully, he felt no better than Yu Xan about being unable to control the group.

With this, the different groups had formed, settling on their approach to the survival trial.

Yaan and Brase returned to the treasure ship, which now hovered above the purple formation and allowed the elders to look down at the happenings below. This formation could prevent them from entering the forbidden land, but it could not prevent the elders from looking inside, nor from overhearing the disciples' discussions.

From start to finish, Yaan maintained a calm expression, as if everything was going according to plan. When the others saw this, their doubts were partially dispelled. They decided to keep their silence and watch to see what happened next.

On the inside, Yaan was not feeling so calm.

'When did they organise something like this amongst themselves? Did I not drill it into them that in this survival trial, they needed to do their best to hide themselves from the demonic beasts, since they won't be able to match a Rank 4 beast, even as a group? A big group will attract far too much attention! Did Yu Xan gather everyone to talk about this in secret because he knew that I would be against such an idiotic tactic…?'

Although he felt agitated, Yaan showed nothing on his face.

It wasn't long before he calmed the unease in his heart. There was no point in feeling stressed now, since there was nothing that he could do to change anything.

Yaan did not have much hope for that group of nine, he was sure that if such a large group stuck together, they would soon enough be confronted by a Rank 4 demonic beast. He could only hope that they would be able to shatter their Crystal Shield Beads in time, allowing them to survive.

Yaan wouldn't care even if every disciple failed this trial. Sure, his reputation might take a hit, but so what? Even if everyone failed, he could make up some excuse about how he intended everyone to fail this time, as failing in a trial like this was an excellent learning experience.

Right now, he was only concerned about staying alive!

"Heeee!" Hian screeched in fright as a spider dropped down from the tree in front of him. He immediately lashed out in panic, using his strongest spell and stabbing forth with his sword without hesitation.

Bang!

A blue and red light shot forth, forming a twirling beam of fire and ice. The beam obliterated the spider, before also destroying multiple trees in the surroundings.

After staring forwards tentatively for a moment, Hian relaxed slightly, exhaling as he laughed at himself in a self-depreciating manner.

"A-ah, it w-w-was on-only a n-normal sp-spider…"

He used his strongest spell to kill an ordinary spider.

"Whoops…th-that p-probably made t-too mu-much noise…" Muttering this to himself, Hian's eyes darted about uneasily. He swallowed, then once again set off, running away from this place for fear that his hasty actions would attract the attention of any nearby demonic beasts.

Compared to Hian, Ji Suzu appeared to be far more relaxed right now.

In fact, just six hours into the trial, she had fallen asleep.

The map that Yaan showed to her before contained a labelled layout of this region of the Fragment Forbidden Land. Part of the test was supposed to be that they were entering an unknown land and hence would not know exactly where to go, but Ji Suzu was different, she already knew which areas to avoid, and which places were safest.

As such, she immediately headed to the safest location she could find, killing every beast she encountered along the way as quickly as possible, before hiding herself beneath a giant rock. From there, she used a spell which hid her presence to an extraordinary degree for someone at the Qi Temple Realm, but resulted in her entering a deep dream as a consequence.

Anyway, for now, it seemed that she was safe enough.

In another part of the forbidden land, a trio were desperately battling against a demonic beast. This was a Rank 3 red-plated mosquito, a rarer beast with high battle strength. They were unlucky to encounter this so early on.

They utilised their spells and treasures to the best of their ability, showcasing an admirable battle awareness, despite their inexperience in this sort of life and death struggle. After some time, they finally managed to injure one of the mosquito's eyes. As the beast started to fly about crazily, they quickly retreated, fleeing with haste.

The trio were gasping for breath after running for 15 minutes whilst using various methods to force themselves to run faster. They felt a lingering sense of danger that they couldn't seem to shake, otherwise they wouldn't exhaust themselves like this in the dangerous wilderness…

Buzz!

At some point, the forest around them became more sparse with vegetation. By the time they realised the danger of being exposed to the open air like this, it was already too late.

In their shock, the trio craned their necks to look upwards, only to be met with a sight that made their hearts lurch in despair.

Red-plated mosquitos, a whole swarm of them!

They took up battle stances as the dozen or so mosquitos came into view. They had grim expressions, but they refused to back down just yet!

That is, until a Rank 4 crimson-plated mosquito flew forwards from the back of the pack. The pressure released by this beast was so intense that it made their legs shake. Their fighting intent dissipated instantly, replaced by fear an all-encompassing sense of fear.

"Sigh…" The leader of the trio sigh, immediately retrieving the Crystal Shield Bead and shattering it as he glanced back at the other two.

CRACK!

A white shield formed around him, immediately removing the feeling of danger and letting him relax.

"You two, shatter your beads…"

He trailed off when he saw that both of his companions were already holding their beads. Both shattered them in rapid succession. The trio stared at one another silently for a moment, before sharing a bitter laugh.

They had failed already!

"Elder Yaan, the trial is only one sixth of the way through to the end, but three disciples have already failed…" A young looking man with tri-coloured hair glanced at Yaan casually. This person was a recently ascended elder called Elder Renn, he came along this time mostly because it was a chance to build his relationship with various elders. He had no clan, nor any disciples involved in this trial, so he was not aiming to criticise Yaan. Even so, he couldn't help but point out the issue here.

Yaan's response was simple and preprepared.

"This is a survival trial, but more importantly, it is a learning experience. I did not intend for this trial to be easy to pass. Of course, these disciple are trained to the level where they are able to safely undertake the test, everyone needn't worry about this. As you can see, they understand the importance of surviving, even at the cost of passing."

Some people showed doubtful expressions at Yaan's words, and for good reason.

"But isn't the penalty for failing this trial exile from the sect?" Elder Renn asked with a raised eyebrow.

At this point, Sect Master Brase stepped in with a laugh.

"This is true. For failing the survival trial, these disciples will be kicked out from the sect…however, there is no rule saying that they cannot re-enter. Of course, they will need to wait until the next entrance exam and work their way back up, but this failure should be an excellent experience for them."

After hearing this, the elders understood, now nodding and smiling in approval. Originally they felt that it was a bit harsh to boot these elite disciples from the sect just for failing a single test, but it turned out that the sect master had a plan like this.

Of course, Yaan also knew about this, though this matter really didn't concern him anyway.

As he watched the disciples below struggling, fighting, hiding, and running, he had a thought…

'Immortal Ancestor…are you watching all of this?'