The scarred-faced man held the Black Tortoise carapace above his head, his body shook with exhaustion. He knew that this was his last chance at survival, and he knew the rewards afterwards.

Rumble!!

The lighting danced in the thunderstorm and decended, however as the scarred-faced man held the carapace above his head, a hand grasp his shoulder and another hand grasp the tortoise carapace in his hand and he felt himself thrown back as the lightning struck.

Yet what it met was long slender nails that glossed with blue light as they shockingly ripped through the lightning bolt.

Boom!!!

A huge shockwave travled through the air as currents of lightning spread across the area.

The scarred faced man landed a few meters away and gazed at the scene in front of him.

Meng Lin stood there, her left hand still extended as the lightning dissipated around her. She flicked her fingers, causing a few lightning sparks to scatter around her.

Her eyes, filled with annoyance and glare, met the scarred-faced man's gaze.

"Stay back," she warned, her voice laced with power. "Concentrate on the core forming, you’ve past the 9th tribulation.”

The rest of the group watched in shock and surprise, unsure of what Meng Lin was doing.

The middle-aged man and the mysterious woman in black exchanged glances, while Liara's eyes widened with suprise.

"Meng Lin, what are you doing?!" Liara shouted, her voice subtle under the rumbling lightning storm.

Meng Lin turned her head slightly to glance at Liara. "You stand back too”

The scarred-faced man struggled to sit crossed legged, his body still trembling from the impact. "Why did you save me?" he asked, a mix of gratitude and confusion in his voice.

Meng Lin didn’t bother to answer as she stored the tortoise capeace and raised her head to look at the thunderstorm that seems to be agitated as it’s rumbling increased, her left hand hurt.

“It should only be one” Meng Lin muttered under her breath, she remembered that the more you interrupt heavenly tribulations, the more tribulations you receive yourself, since she interrupted once then only one more lightning will decend, she hoped.

She took a deep breath, her body radiating with a powerful aura. She raised her hand and a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, directly towards her.

As the lightning approached, Meng Lin stood tall, her eyes focused and determined. She extended both her hands and her claws extended with a glossy look detached from her hands and met the lighting bolt full on.

Booom!!

The clash of lightning and claws created a deafening explosion, causing the ground to shake violently. The surrounding area was engulfed in blinding light, making it difficult for anyone to see and a big cretar formed on the ground.

When the light finally subsided, the rest of the group could hardly believe their eyes. Meng Lin stood unscathed, her body emitting a faint blue aura.

The thunderstorm gradually calmed down, and Leara approached Meng Lin with a curious look in her eyes.

“Why did you do that, and how are you unscathed from that heavenly Lighting” Leara looked back, to the figure of the scarred face man, who was meditating, solidifying his Gold Core.

She asked, as she noticed the energy fluctuation of a core formation. “Do you just want us to have more powerful members”

Knowing what Leara meant, Meng Lin was about to say something when suddenly”

Boom!!!

From the distance emerged a large fog, Meng Lin looked afar and realize that it was a mob of spirit beasts charging towards them.

The others quickly snapped out of their shock and prepared themselves for battle.

The scarred-faced man opened his eyes, his Gold Core now fully formed, and stood up, alongside the Burly man and the mischievous man, they all released gold core aura.

Meng Lin glanced at the scarred-faced man and nodded. "We need all the strength we can get," she said to Leara. "There seems to be three rank 3 spirit beasts in that group and at least seven half step rank 3 beasts as well as over 500 other spirit beasts.”

Leara raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, it looks like we're in for a fun fight then," she said, summoning a short sword in her hand.

Meng Lin smiled slightly and looked at the others, The mysterious woman and the middle aged man both held the same expression as they gazed at the coming fog.

The trio of two man and one woman held a worried expression as even through their cultivations have increased, they were still the weakest members of the group.

The scarred faced man and the mischievous man had a calm expression, they took out their weapons, with the scarred faced man taking out a small orb and the mischievous man holding onto his lightning rod which pulsated with heavenly lightning.

She looked over at the burly man and found out that he was looking at her with a small smirk on his face, his fear of her turning into a condescending smile, however he appeared to know the situation as he focused on the fog of monsters soon after.

Meng Lin took a deep breath, her body radiating with confidence and determination. She knew that she had to focus on reducing the large number of spirit beast or they might be besieged.

As the fog of spirit beasts drew closer, Meng Lin raised her hand and summoned her Jade dust sword.

With a flick of her wrist, she used the beast marks on her hand to sent forth a a ball of water and fire, both containing the figures of the golden lizard and the black tortoise.

Burst

After traveling a one hundred meter the fireball and water ball exploded upon contact with the approaching spirit beasts, engulfing a large number of them in flames and intense water pressure.

A large number of low and middle stage spirit beast were instantly shredded and a few late stage beasts were critically injured, the attack had done its part but Meng Lin wasn’t pleased with it as it was not even able to cause harm to any beast at the peak stage of rank 2.

“Heh” a small laughter left the mouth of the mischievous young man as he raised the lighting rod in his hand.

Rumble!!!

Crackle!

Lightning danced around his rod before shooting out, striking several spirit beasts at the peak stage at once with deadly precision. The smell of burnt fur filled the air as several beast corpses fell to the ground, all at the peak stage.

The scarred-faced man, not to be outdone, activated the small orb in his hand. Light enveloped the orb and a massive beastly shadow emerged.

Roar!!

It released a large roar and thundered towards the spirit beasts a few dozen meters from them.

The middle-aged man and the mysterious woman in black moved soon after as the middle aged man summoned a large bow and arrow and began shooting towards the group of beasts, targeting the peak and half stage rank 3 beasts.

The mysterious woman raised her hand and out of nowhere, a few half stage rank 3 beasts began to have slashs across their bodies.

And a few seconds later, the sound of clanks fillled the air as from the original 500 spirit beast, one hundred peak rank 2 beasts reached the group with three rank 3 sprit beasts who were intercepted by the three newly gold core cultivators.

Growl!!

All around them, Meng Lin and her group were attacked by peak rank 2 spirit beasts, the sounds of their growls and snarls mixed with the screams and shouts of the group as they fought back in their own ways.

Slash

Meng Lin swung her sword with precision, slicing through the beasts that came too close. Each swing emitted a sharp slicing sound as it cut through the air and flesh.

She didn’t neglect her beast marks as even while she continued to dance with her sword, they moved in the background, attacking any beasts that targeted her, or block any attack that she wasn’t able to block.

Slowly but surly the group of 100 spirit beasts were dwindled down to a few dozen as Meng Lin and her group fought with all their might.

The scarred-faced man continued to summon his beastly shadow, roaring and crushing any spirit beast that came too close.

The mischievous man, with his lightning rod, unleashed powerful heavenly bolts of lightning that electrocuted and paralyzed the remaining beasts.

The middle-aged man and the mysterious woman in black didn’t have any problems disposing the sprit beasts near them.

As the number of spirit beasts decreased, the intensity of the battle decreased as the ones that were done with their opponents went out to help the ones that were having trouble.

Meng Lin went to help the trio of man and woman who were having trouble, as they were wounded with bits of slashes across their bodies.

The middle aged man and the mysterious woman both disposed of the half stage beast and went on to help the three new gold core cultivators.

And with overwhelming power, they struck down the final rank three beast, ending the battle with an anticlimactic finish.