"I wonder how much Fire Nectar Immortal Wine Junior Brother has on hand?" the sword-browed youth suddenly asked.

The others heard this and looked over.

One cup of Immortal Wine can sustain them for half a day. There are six of them in total, and they still need to stay in this Xuanbing Mountain Range for nearly a month. Relying on this one bottle alone might not be enough.

"Don't worry, everyone, I have a few more jars. Enough to get through this trial," Sun Ke said with a chuckle.

The others immediately relaxed their expressions.

"Senior Brother Sun's help is greatly appreciated. If Senior Brother needs help with anything in the future, just say the word," another tall youth said solemnly.

"Yes, Senior Brother Sun is generous. We thank you for this!" the others echoed, nodding.

"We are fellow disciples, helping each other is only right and proper. You are all too kind," Sun Ke replied calmly, but he was secretly pleased.

He had only joined the Candle Dragon Dao for a short time, and he wanted to curry favor and build connections within the sect. Although he had used up some Immortal Wine, it was worth it.

At the same time, hundreds of miles away in the sky, Han Li's face flashed with a hint of joy, but then he fell into contemplation.

Su Tongxiao had disappeared from his side at some point.

Sun Ke and the others didn't delay and continued to move forward. Before they had flown far, they encountered their first real battle since entering the mountain range.

It was a group of snow foxes, with strength equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage to the Transformation stage. There were as many as forty or fifty of them, rushing out from the mountains on both sides like a huge torrent, howling in unison, their momentum extremely impressive.

Bai Suyuan and the other six were already quite strong, and with their previous cooperation and the warming effects of the Immortal Wine, a subtle understanding had arisen between them. They immediately formed a battle formation in the shortest possible time.

Bai Suyuan, the sword-browed youth, and Sun Ke, the three with the highest cultivation, stood at the front.

A Crescent Moon Flying Sword, a Purple Gold Staff, and four Flying Daggers flew out almost simultaneously.

The Crescent Moon Flying Sword flashed and transformed into a hundred-zhang-long silver sword rainbow, slashing down from above.

The Purple Long Staff shone brightly, and hundreds of purple staff shadows appeared, emitting a piercing screech as they struck down fiercely.

The four blue Flying Daggers shone with a bright blue spiritual light, suddenly growing dozens of times in size, turning into four blue giant blades dozens of zhang long, chopping down.

The torrent of dozens of snow foxes was like a wave crashing against a reef, and they were immediately knocked back.

The first dozen Transformation stage snow foxes were killed by the three's attacks, their bodies blasted apart. The snow foxes behind them faltered for a moment.

However, this pause determined their fate.

The remaining three, standing behind Bai Suyuan and the others, waved their hands at this moment.

Streams of magical treasure light rained down, enveloping the snow fox demons.

Rumble!

Various colors of light intertwined, emitting muffled thunder-like explosions.

A moment later, the light of the magical treasures disappeared. The dozens of snow foxes had turned into a pile of fragmented corpses, and blood stained a large area of the nearby ground, exuding a strong bloody smell.

In the distance, in mid-air, Han Li nodded slightly.

These people's adaptability was not bad, especially Bai Suyuan and Sun Ke. After all, they had experienced some life and death situations outside, and they knew the cruelty of the cultivation world. Compared to those juniors who were born and raised in the sect, they were ultimately different.

As a large sect in the Northern Cold Immortal Territory, the Candle Dragon Dao had a cultivation environment that others could not imagine, thanks to the foundations laid by their predecessors. Resources and treasures were readily available, allowing these direct disciples to improve quickly, but drawbacks also emerged.

The sect's higher-ups had put a lot of effort into the growth of these core disciples.

But even immortals seemed unable to avoid the mundane...

Bai Suyuan and the others didn't linger. After a brief rest, they immediately continued to move forward.

At this moment, the other two groups also encountered demon beast attacks.

On the Snow Camel Ridge path, Qi Huanyu and the others encountered a group of icy fierce birds, with heads similar to vultures, but with extremely large beaks that constantly opened to spit out streams of white ice arrows.

There were more than a hundred of these fierce birds, with about half of them possessing Transformation stage strength.

Streams of white ice arrows fell, mixed with extremely cold air. From time to time, the fierce birds would dive down.

Although Qi Huanyu and the others had a large number of people and good magical treasures in their hands, most of them had not experienced much life-and-death combat.

The fierce birds' cold and violent killing intent and the storm-like attacks caught them off guard, and they seemed a bit chaotic under the pressure.

Everyone stood in a circle, with the light of various defensive magical treasures connected together, forming a hemispherical shield to resist the waves of falling attacks.

"Don't panic, these are just Transformation stage demon beasts! Everyone, listen to my command. Half of the people continue to support the shield, and the other half counterattack!" Qi Huanyu's face was slightly pale, and he said in a deep voice.

The others had already regarded him as their leader. Now that he shouted, the others felt more confident and immediately began to act according to his instructions.

Streams of bright magical treasure light flew out, hitting the white fierce birds in the sky, starting a counterattack.

Although the attacks of the crowd seemed a bit weak due to the suppression of their momentum, the gap in cultivation was still there.

The fierce birds in the sky began to be shot down.

A quarter of an hour later, the battle finally ended.

Most of the white fierce birds were killed, and some escaped.

Qi Huanyu and the others were not injured. Looking at the surrounding fragmented corpses and the bloody smell in the air, their faces were still pale, but their hearts gradually settled down.

"A mere group of Transformation stage demon beasts has scared you like this, how embarrassing! As you can see, as long as you calmly meet the challenge, these demon beasts are not to be feared!" Qi Huanyu shouted, encouraging morale.

The others nodded when they heard this.

Qi Huanyu was about to say something more when a more experienced person stepped forward and reminded him, "Young Master Qi, the smell of blood is too strong here, we should leave as soon as possible."

Qi Huanyu was stunned, immediately understood, and led everyone forward.

In mid-air, a fluctuation arose, and a blurred figure emerged, which was Su Tongxiao.

He shook his head, and his figure disappeared from the spot in a flash.

The situation on the White Fox Valley path was similar. Tang Chuan and the others also didn't have much experience in bloody battles. Faced with the suddenly emerging ferocious demon beasts, they were immediately caught in a flurry of activity.

However, their strength was there, and they had good magical treasures in their hands. They still resisted the attacks of the demon beasts, suppressed them after steadying themselves, and there were no casualties.

The three groups of disciples continued to move forward.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight days passed, and these people gradually penetrated deep into the Xuanbing Mountain Range along the three routes.

As the strength of the demon beasts encountered along the way gradually increased, demon beasts with Refining Void stage strength began to appear.

After several previous battles, Qi Huanyu and the others' ability to respond in actual combat had improved a lot compared to before, but they still seemed a bit uneasy when facing demon beasts of the same level.

On the Snow Camel Ridge path, Qi Huanyu and the others were blocked by a group of demon beasts, which turned out to be a dozen giant Ice Snow Mantises.

These mantises were snow-white all over, covered with frost patterns, their mouths divided into four petals, their two eyes large and protruding, looking quite terrifying. Their two thick forelimbs were like two broad-backed giant blades, exuding a bone-chilling ice aura.

Each Ice Snow Mantis actually had a Refining Void initial stage cultivation base, and they were extremely fast, turning into a dozen snow-white phantoms, surrounding Qi Huanyu and the others and attacking wildly.

Qi Huanyu and the others formed a circle as before, with the magical treasures on their bodies united together, forming a colorful hemispherical light curtain to protect everyone.

However, these Ice Snow Mantises were far from comparable to the previous fierce birds. Wielding their two forelimbs, they pulled out snow-bright blade lights, emitting terrifying sharp whistles, and slashed at the spherical light curtain.

These snow-bright blade lights were extremely powerful, causing the light curtain to tremble.

Qi Huanyu and the others couldn't care about counterattacking at all, and desperately poured the mana in their bodies into their respective magical treasures to maintain the spherical light curtain.

The Ice Snow Mantises' eyes were cold, but their mouths emitted bloodthirsty hisses, as if tirelessly wielding their two forelimbs, with blade lights raining down from all directions, becoming more and more dense.

The spherical light curtain was not a whole in the first place, but was formed by the joint efforts of everyone's magical treasures. The light in some weaker areas began to dim, and it seemed to be on the verge of shattering.

"Young Master Qi, what should we do? These Ice Snow Mantises are all Refining Void stage demon beasts, and there are so many of them. We can't be their opponents!" a tall, thin youth looked at Qi Huanyu with a look of horror.

This person was a direct descendant of a True Immortal elder of the Candle Dragon Dao. He had been cultivating in the sect since he was a child, and he had broken through to the Refining Void stage smoothly with the help of various pills. He had never been outside a few times, let alone fought.

Although he had made some progress in the past few days, the Ice Snow Mantises' cold eyes and overwhelming killing intent still made him tremble from the bottom of his heart.

The others' situation was similar to that of the tall, thin youth, and a thought couldn't help but emerge in their minds.

Could they die here?

At the thought of this, their expressions became even more flustered.

With a "pop" explosion!

A light curtain transformed from a white silk magical treasure was shattered by a blade light, and a gap appeared in the spherical light curtain.

A snow-bright blade light flew in through the gap, blood flashed, and a scream sounded.

A person near the gap was knocked away, and a wound was cut on his arm. Fortunately, this person was wearing a battle armor magical treasure of no low grade, so he was not seriously injured.

A purple light shone brightly from between Qi Huanyu's eyebrows, and he waved his arm.

A round purple magical treasure flew out, transforming into a purple vortex, filling the gap.

"Don't worry, everyone, this trial mission is secretly protected by True Immortal cultivators, who will help us eliminate unexpected situations. These Ice Snow Mantises should have exceeded the scope of the trial. I believe someone will take action soon," Qi Huanyu said loudly.

Hearing this, the others were overjoyed.

"I have also heard people mention this matter. I was originally half-believing, but since Young Master Qi said so, it must be true."

"I see."

"There are only ten of us, but there are nearly twenty of these Ice Snow Mantises. It must have exceeded the scope of the trial. Why hasn't that person taken action yet?"

In the high sky, Su Tongxiao's body turned into a blurred phantom, the corners of his mouth twitched, he shook his head and sighed, and flicked his finger.

Chi Chi Chi!

Streams of invisible sword energy flew out of thin air, like a torrent, piercing through most of the Ice Snow Mantises.

These Ice Snow Mantises' bodies silently exploded, turning into a pile of dust, scattered in the wind.

All this happened in a flash, and Su Tongxiao's figure disappeared again.

Qi Huanyu and the others soon noticed that the blade lights falling outside had suddenly decreased by more than half, and only a few Ice Snow Mantises remained.

"Huh! Why are there so few of these mantises all of a sudden?" one person said in confusion.

"What left, they were killed. Sure enough, someone is secretly protecting us!" another person immediately retorted.

Qi Huanyu also felt relieved in his heart, a smile appeared on his face, he looked at the remaining few Ice Snow Mantises outside, and shouted:

"These beasts, dare to attack us, kill them all!"

The people next to him agreed in unison, and streams of magical treasure light swept towards these few Ice Snow Mantises.

A few breaths later, the remaining Ice Snow Mantises, except for two who escaped, were all killed.

These Ice Snow Mantises' two forelimbs were full of spiritual power and were excellent materials for refining weapons, of considerable value. Even the people present were quite envious, and several people immediately cut them off and put them away.

"Go!" Qi Huanyu took the lead in flying up, continuing to fly forward.

Knowing that someone was indeed secretly protecting them, he felt relieved and accelerated his pace.