Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Tang Yue did not have the time to worry about the similarities between her and Medusa. 

Her hands lowered from her head to her throat as she clutched it, feeling suffocated and unable to breathe.

The pressure was clearly too much for her to handle, but Tang Yue had just spent the last six months hammering away at stubborn and resilient ores with violent backlashes.

It was a devil-like training that had tested her resolve at every step of the way as she had to inflict enormous pain and torture on herself.

"Raaaaa" Tang Yue shook her head and let out a loud scream, also letting out all her pent-up frustrations.

She clenched her fists tightly, her eyes returning back to their sharp and cold gaze.

The crushing pressure was slowly and steadily chipping away at her soul and mind, pushing her one inch at a time into the realm of madness but Tang Yue fought back, holding her ground.

She banged her fists on the sands of the desert, trying to support the weight of the mountain on her shoulders.

Blood leaked out of all her orifices, but it was not her normal healthy purple blood. It was a thick pungent putrid black blood.

Tang Yue coughed and spit out more blood. She was almost at her limits, only barely holding on.

The aura emitted from the five pillars ground her with an insane pressure from top to bottom, slowly tempering her body, her bones, blood, and right down to her individual cells.

Even though she knew that this was doing more good to her than harm, she still was being slowly overwhelmed by the pain.

And as if responding to her plight, a few notifications rang out.

Ding. Congratulations. Body tempering successful.

Ding. Congratulations. Strength, Stamina and Defense have been upgraded

Ding. Congratulations. Body tempering successful.

Ding. Congratulations. Strength, Stamina and Defense have been upgraded

Ding. Congratulations. Body tempering successful.

Ding. Congratulations. Strength, Stamina and Defense have been upgraded

…

…

"Is this your way of helping me out, old man?" Tang Yue threw her head back and laughed as if she was possessed.

She didn't think that the system notifications would pop up in the midst of these trials. 

It broke her trance and snapped her out of the spiraling madness of pain, which finally gave her a second to breathe and think.

At first, she didn't think much of this test as it was purely her body's ability to withstand the pressure, but now thanks to that one second of relief, a small thought had taken root in her brain.

She wondered if this was truly a test for her body or her mind. 

As such, she knew that she wouldn't be able to last long in this insane condition, so she decided to give her idea a try.

Tang Yue fell down, face forward onto the desert sand, completely giving in to the pressure, but she held onto her consciousness.

As she felt the mounting pressure on her body and her back, she imagined drowning into the desert sands, slowly and steadily, thereby transferring some of the pressure to the sand rather than fully withstanding it on her own.

She then closed her eyes and meditated, trying to forget about reality and the crushing pain and thought back to some of the days when her life was more normal.

However, Tang Yue suddenly started laughing because it had been a while since her life was normal which for her was being invisible, sad, and alone.

Ever since she left the serpentine kingdom as a consort betrothed to the demonic elven prince, her life had been filled with one surprise after another and was nothing remotely close to normal.

She couldn't help but wonder if Charlotte was the one who had fed her the poison which began everything.

"I should ask her when I see her again. Mmm…"

At the thought of the two elves, a big smile formed on her face, that was connected to her body which was twisting and contorting in pain. However, that pain didn't reach her mind.

Her mind was still lingering on the two elves and the things that they had experienced together.

When they were together they all hated each other and now that they were apart, Tang Yue missed the warm memories she made with them.

Those were in fact the only good memories she had, good enough to completely block out the pain and pressure on her body.

Perhaps it was because she was only a fingernail away from death just recently, she sorely missed the two and felt all alone without them.

She reminisced the ways that they had held her tenderly and loved her until she screamed in pleasure and wondered if they missed her in her absence.

Memories started to pool one after the other and soon she completely lost herself in them, no longer struggling from the tremendous pain wrecking her body apart.

Even when they were not with her, they were still helping her. Tang Yue smiled.

Thanks to their thoughts, Tang Yue managed to completely sever her mind from her body.

She did not know how long the trial was going to last, but now she no longer cared about it. She was happy to withstand whatever was being thrown at her body.

In her mind, she was enjoying a pleasant dinner with her two partners, whilst patting Little Blue who was lying on her lap.

At the thought of the wolf, her eyes slightly teared up, wondering how the little guy was doing. Her mind instantly fell back into the harsh reality and a searing pain surged through her body.

"Damn it!" Tang Yue screamed in agony. Even though she had managed to sever her mind from her body, she was not able to stay in that state for long.

In barely a minute she was once again pulled back into reality facing the full brunt of the crushing pressure and the hellish body tempering.