Ji Shiyou and the others stood back to back, surrounded by countless mutated insects.
Having trained together for days, their minds were in sync. Without a word, they exchanged glances and activated their abilities.
Gong Que conjured a two-meter-high earth wall around them for cover, complete with battlements for them to take cover and attack from.
Ji Shiyou, Wen Qingtian, and Jin Xi defended the east, west, and south sides respectively, unleashing a barrage of wind blades, arrows, and fireballs.
Any insect that got close was torn to shreds, unable to reach within ten meters of them. The few that slipped through were shot down by Gong Que.
The insect army changed direction, attacking from the north. But they had miscalculated.
As they approached the earth wall, a large number of insects fell to the ground, unconscious. It was Ba Jiu, unleashing a tidal wave of mental power.
The insects' brains were not well-developed. The impact of Ba Jiu's mental power killed most of them instantly.
The few survivors, stumbling like drunks, were finished off by Bu Zhi's water arrows and Tian Shang's wooden spikes.
With the group's coordinated efforts, the mutated insects fell like wheat in a harvest, batch after batch.
Ming Yue, standing nearby, smiled with relief. She hadn't intervened for two reasons: to remain vigilant for more dangerous threats, and to deliberately train her team. Seeing their visible progress brought her great satisfaction.
Ming Yue stood beneath a large tree, yet the insects ran and leaped past her, ignoring her as if she weren't there.
In fact, they hadn't seen her at all. When she spotted the mutated mosquitoes, she had activated the abilities of Ju Mang, the Ancestral Witch of Wood, merging with the surrounding flora.
As the mutated insects surrounding them were nearing annihilation, the ground was piled high with grasshopper legs as thick as a man's thigh, and the sticky green mucus of caterpillars, along with the charred remains of praying mantises. The air was a strange mix of腥味 and meat aroma.
Just as everyone let out a sigh of relief and let down their guard, a sound like a cow's moo echoed.
Then, a colossal shadow, moving with incredible speed, crashed into the earth wall.
The wall instantly collapsed, sending Gong Que and Wen Qingtian, who were behind it, flying.
Before anyone could react, Bu Zhi and Tian Shang, standing together, felt their waists tighten as they were ensnared by a sticky substance, lifted off the ground, and sent flying into the air.
"It's a frog!"
Ji Shiyou shouted from the other side. He saw a giant frog descending from the sky.
The creature's long tongue had wrapped around Bu Zhi and Tian Shang, and it was about to pull them into its mouth. It was too late for the others to rescue them.
From the frog's gaping maw, Bu Zhi and Tian Shang could see its mucus-lined throat. They closed their eyes in terror.
At that moment, Ming Yue acted. Her figure vanished like a wisp of smoke.
In an instant, she appeared before the frog, which was the size of a small sedan. She punched its jaw.
Ming Yue's current strength could reach a thousand jin. Her punch sent the frog reeling backward.
In pain, the frog's tongue naturally retracted, releasing Bu Zhi and Tian Shang.
They landed on their feet and quickly retreated to Ji Shiyou's side. Gong Que and Wen Qingtian, who had been thrown back, also returned, and the group regrouped.
Though the frog was massive, it was surprisingly agile. It pushed off with its hind legs and quickly flipped over.
With its basin-sized eyes glaring, it looked at Ming Yue, seemingly stunned by her blow.
While it was disoriented, Ji Shiyou waved his hand, sending over a dozen sharp blades flying towards the frog's eyes and throat.
To their surprise, the frog didn't dodge. All the flying knives fell to the ground. Its eyes were covered by a transparent membrane that blocked the blades.
The knives aimed at its throat were even more absurd. Due to the frog's slimy coating, they slid off to the side and embedded themselves in a nearby tree.
Wen Qingtian's wind blades and Gong Que's bullets met the same fate, unable to harm the mutated frog in the slightest.
However, they succeeded in drawing the frog's attention. Its bulging eyes, no longer focused on Ming Yue, turned towards Ji Shiyou and the others.
The frog's white belly contracted and expanded rhythmically. It suddenly opened its mouth, unleashing thousands of water arrows towards Ji Shiyou's group.
Unlike Bu Zhi's water arrows, the frog's had condensed into ice, carrying a chilling aura.
As the water arrows shot out, the surrounding temperature plummeted. It seemed this frog had not only mutated in appearance but had also evolved an ability.
It had evolved its water element ability to the rarer ice element, likely reaching level six or above.
"I'll do it," Jin Xi declared with a delicate shout. She drew a circle in front of her, unleashing thousands of fireballs the size of ping-pong balls, like a brilliant meteor shower, meeting the ice arrows.
Ice and fire collided in mid-air. Both vanished, leaving behind a misty steam that filled the forest, creating an ethereal scene.
With the ice arrows intercepted, the frog let out two cow-like roars. Then, it opened its massive mouth, and a spear of ice, as thick as a water bucket and over three meters long, appeared and flew directly at Jin Xi.
Seeing this, Ba Jiu was about to intervene. Besides his mental power, he also possessed fire abilities, the frog's nemesis. But Ming Yue stopped him with a look. She wanted to train the others.
If not for that, she would have killed the frog with a single punch earlier.
Facing such a large ice spear, Jin Xi hesitated, unsure if her fire ability could counter it.
Hesitation was fatal in combat. While she was stunned, the ice spear was already upon her. It was too late to activate her ability.
The others, who had been watching Jin Xi's confrontation with the frog, knew something was wrong when they saw her freeze.
Ji Shiyou flashed forward and threw a punch. Wen Qingtian moved like a gentle breeze, scooped up Jin Xi, and dodged to the side.
With a cracking sound, the ice spear was shattered into two pieces by Ji Shiyou's blow and fell to the ground.
However, his palm was frozen and lost its combat effectiveness, hanging limply at his side.
With the ice spear blocked, the frog became even more enraged. It opened its mouth repeatedly, and five more ice spears flew out.
This time, Ming Yue intervened. She stepped in front of the group and waved her hand, conjuring a giant water sphere that enveloped the ice spears.
The seemingly solid ice spears melted upon contact with the water, and the sphere fell to the ground with them.
When the frog opened its mouth again, a ball of earth blocked it. The ice spears couldn't fly out and exploded inside the frog's mouth.
Then, a vine snaked into the frog's ruptured mouth, hoisting it into the air.
Finally, Ming Yue waved her hand, and a dense rain of needle-thin steel pierced the frog's body.
Ming Yue switched between her abilities with ease, killing the ferocious frog in a flash of lightning. Her fluid movements left everyone stunned.
"Come here, all of you. Tell me what mistakes you made just now," Ming Yue's face was stern as she summoned everyone and spoke coldly.