Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Hmmm? Tang Yue looked around, standing at the center of the five pillars. 

They were just normal looking pillars, possibly made of white marble with lines and ridges on them.

There was absolutely nothing special about them. 

She stared at the five pillars with her eyes wide open for a few hours and still was unable to see anything, let alone comprehend some sort of insight.

Tang Yue then pondered for a while before closing her eyes tightly shut. 

If something couldn't be seen with her eyes open, she wondered if she could see it or rather feel it with her eyes closed.

However, as she closed her eyes, she still couldn't feel or grasp anything. Tang Yue could only sigh before giving up on that thought.

"Hmmm… I am currently floating in a mana river and the first test was about physical tempering. Is the second test perhaps about mana core tempering?"

Since she couldn't see or feel anything from the pillars, Tang Yue once again closed her eyes, but this time, she rotated her two mana seeds and started cultivating by inhaling the mana around her.

As she gradually tried to sense the various elemental essences in the mana river, she suddenly perked up in excitement.

The five pillars were indeed not ordinary!!!

Each of the five pillars was emitting an elemental essence apart from the violent oppressive aura and the pressure.

They were like beacons that separated out the different elemental essences from the mana river and then sent them out in waves.

There was an earthen pillar, lightning pillar, fire pillar, wind pillar, and ice pillar, representing the five elements of nature.

"Hmmm… So last test involved body tempering and mind tempering… So for this test… Do I need to break through to the Demi-God realm in my cultivation base as well?" Tang Yue pondered.

This was the only conclusion that she could arrive at as she had no other clues about this test.

However, there was an issue. She only had affinity or rather mana core consolidation for two out of the five elements.

"Ok, let me worry about that later. First I will break through and become a Demi-God today!" Tang Yue resolutely closed her eyes and sat in a cross-legged position, floating atop the mana river.

She then started cultivating the two elemental essences that she had an affinity to.

She slowly and steadily absorbed the essences and nurtured the two mana seeds that were settled deep within her body.

As Tang Yue breathed in and out, she felt as if these two seeds inside her body were voids greedily sucking in everything she was feeding them.

But there was no method to rush cultivation and she could only patiently keep churning the mana essences and feeding them.

Time trickled by and Tang Yue was unsure of how many hours had passed. The desert around her was still bright and sunny as if it was still daytime.

In fact, the desert or the trial grounds had always been like this ever since she was teleported here.

There was no day and night cycle change or rather she hadn't experienced one here yet.

Tang Yue suddenly couldn't help but wonder if the time inside the trial grounds was flowing at the same pace as it was outside.

However, there was no way she could know about this while still being inside so she decided to just keep silently cultivating.

Another few hours passed before she finally started sensing some changes in the two seeds swirling around her lower abdomen.

They had somewhat settled down and stabilized. They no longer moved or rotated.

This was the first step to the mana core and soul fusion, a mark of transition to the Demi-God realm.

Tang Yue became excited and started to absorb more and more elemental essence from the pillars.

She could have never achieved this stage so fast without these thick concentrated mana waves.

Coming to this island, this palace, she had lost a lot, but this trial was indeed extremely invaluable and had already helped her quite a lot.

Tang Yue did not know how she was related to Medusa or why their appearances and even their voices were so similar, but one thing was certain.

She was grateful for her help and her inheritance.

Just as Tang Yue prepared herself to finally cement and seal the two seeds and break the barrier to step into the Demi-God realm, the dessert around her disappeared and she suddenly found herself back at the old palace.

"What the hell?" Tang Yue turned around in panic and hissed. "Did I just fail?"

"Oh? Little snake? You are already back?" Even the old man whose soul was now partly lingering outside her body materialized again and looked at her with surprise.

"Umm… did I just fail Master?" Tang Yue asked, still confused about what had happened.

"Yes. That should be it. It has only been one hour since you stepped inside. Did you get stuck at the pillars?" The old man asked.

"Master…" Tang Yue smiled bitterly. "Couldn't you have given me some pointers before going in?"

"Eh? Pointers? Why? Little snake, I cannot disgrace her highness like that. So what if you failed? Just keep trying again. You can try as many times as you want."

"What? I can try again?" Tang Yue tiredly laid on the cool and soothing marble floor and let out a deep sigh.

The path in front of her was long…

Meanwhile…

A group of three elves and one bunny walked out of the small town. 

Both Xander and Charlotte had accepted various miscellaneous missions in order to understand the situation they were in better.

They also wanted a better grasp on the strength of the people here and the treasures in the land. 

So the duo had accepted all sorts of missions ranging from easy to hard.

And Xavier, of course, accompanied them for the trip along with his bunny girl as he had nothing else to do.