The sky curtain makes you a useless class monitor, yet you act arbitrarily for eternity?

The young man was Ye Chen.

His body had turned purple from the cold.

Blood flowed continuously into the lake from his shoulders, chest, and arms, quickly spreading a dark red color around him.

The python was clearly no ordinary monster.

Its body was a mix of red and black, and its blood-red eyes were fixed on Ye Chen.

All the scales stood up.

Layers of fleshy buds grow between the scales, making them almost vertical.

The armor plates that were originally used for defense have now all been turned into blades that can shred flesh and blood.

The giant snake coiled around Ye Chen's waist and abdomen, tightening its grip around his body.

The raised scales scraped against the skin, making a teeth-grinding friction sound.

Young Ye Chen gritted his teeth.

He held a short knife in each hand, the blades pressed against the upper and lower jaws of the giant snake.

He was going to tear that demon lord's head apart!

"Well--"

Ye Chen let out a muffled groan.

The muscles in his arms were stretched to their limit, and his shoulder blades made a cracking sound under the immense force.

The snake's jawbone also began to shift.

"Click click click—"

The boy's bones were cracking all over.

The python was also tightening its grip.

Beneath the lake's surface, the sound of bones cracking emanated from their bodies simultaneously.

shore.

Young Ye Long stood in the wind and snow with his hands behind his back, his military uniform completely dry.

He stared calmly at the battle in the lake.

Only the hands behind his back were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Ye Chen!"

Ye Long spoke.

The sound pierced through the wind and snow, clearly reaching the lake.

"Three minutes have passed, and we still haven't dealt with even a little snake belonging to a demon lord!?"

"The disciple I randomly took in the Zhenguo Army is now your age, and he's already capable of slaying a Great Demon Lord!"

"Grass--!"

The veins on Ye Chen's forehead bulged.

The cold water poured into the wound, causing waves of pain.

He was running out of air and his vision was starting to go black.

But upon hearing Ye Long's voice, he forced his eyes to widen.

On what grounds?

Why is it that the disciple he casually took in can surpass him?

Why should he be thrown into this kind of place every day, beaten, injured, and on the verge of death, only to be pushed back with a casual "not enough"?

He has lived through this kind of training since he was six years old.

Every time I think I've finally done enough, what awaits me is an even tougher battle.

He wanted to ask the scoundrel what he had to do for the other party to be satisfied.

But lake water poured into his throat.

My chest feels like it's about to explode.

He couldn't utter a single word of these words.

He stared intently at the pair of blood-red snake eyes before him.

The anger in his chest overwhelmed the cold and the excruciating pain of his spine about to break.

"Aaaaaah—!"

"Compare to your mother, my foot!"

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

"Click—"

"puff--"

The two short knives ripped outwards at the same time.

Ye Chen forcefully tore open the upper and lower jaws of the strange snake.

Snake blood gushed from the split skull, splashing onto the boy's face.

But the snake's body did not stop moving.

Even when a python's head is broken, its body continues to perform the instinct to constrict its prey.

next second.

The fierce look on Ye Chen's face was replaced by excruciating pain.

"Click—"

His spine broke under the constriction of the snake's body.

The boy's body stiffened abruptly.

"Aaaaaah—!"

"Your Highness!"

The soldiers in uniform on the shore could no longer wait for orders and rushed into the lake through the ice.

Ye Long did not stop him.

He simply watched as the group pulled Ye Chen out of the snake's body, then turned and walked into the depths of the snowstorm.

"He ate the snake gall."

Ye Long did not stop.

"Once the bones are healed, send him to the next battle immediately."

After saying that, he stepped through the snow and walked into the depths of the snowstorm.

"Commander!"

A soldier shouted out instinctively.

Ye Long did not turn around.

The figure was quickly swallowed up by the wind and snow, leaving only a blurry silhouette.

On the lake, only a few soldiers and the unconscious boy remained.

Together they cut open the snake's belly and removed the still-pulsating gallbladder.

When Ye Chen was placed on the stretcher, he had already lost consciousness.

His chest, abdomen, and arms were covered in gaping wounds, the flesh torn open by snake scales, revealing the stark white bone fragments.

The soldier pried open his jaws and put the snake gall into his mouth.

The snake gall melts in your mouth.

Intense demonic power immediately exploded within Ye Chen's body.

The soldier responsible for channeling the true energy sat cross-legged behind the stretcher, placed his palms against Ye Chen's back, and slowly sent the true energy into his meridians.

The cold air from the lake water had already penetrated my internal organs.

The chill spread along the broken spine, almost freezing Ye Chen's blood.

Cold sweat beaded on the soldier's forehead. He could only increase his output of true energy to expel the cold from the snake's body while suppressing the uncontrolled demonic power within the snake's gall.

Ye Chen did not wake up.

His fingers were still in the position of holding a knife.

Even when he was unconscious, he did not loosen his grip.

A soldier bent down to cover him with a thick military blanket, pausing for a moment when his fingers touched the boy's cold ankles.

That foot was barefoot.

My feet were covered in frostbite-cracked wounds, with bloodstains and ice shards stuck together.

"Why is the commander so strict with His Highness...?"

Someone was looking in the direction where Ye Long disappeared, their voice very low.

"This isn't training; it's pushing His Highness to his death!"

"Who knows..."

Another soldier wiped the snake blood off Ye Chen's face.

But after wiping away the bloodstains, what was revealed was still a pale face devoid of any color.

The boy's brows were furrowed, and frost clung to his eyelashes.

"It's just a pity for Your Highness."

"I've been undergoing this hellish training since I was six years old."

"Today it's the Demon Lord Python, tomorrow it might be the Great Demon Lord."

"Last time, he broke seven ribs and was unconscious for less than two hours before the division commander had him dragged off his sickbed."

"He was only nine years old then..."

The soldier looked at Ye Chen's tightly closed eyes, his voice growing softer and softer.

"He doesn't even have time to get a good night's sleep."

"Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night in pain, and there's no one to be with me."

"Because the division commander said that no one would accompany him on the battlefield."

Snow fell on the edge of the stretcher.

Ye Chen let out a very soft whimper while unconscious, his fingers gripping the corner of the blanket again.

The soldiers fell silent at the same time.

One of them turned his face away and rubbed his eyes.

"well……"

A brief silence fell beside the stretcher.

The wind and snow swept past them.

No one dared to talk about Ye Long anymore.

In the distance, Ye Long's footprints were being covered by heavy snow.

Ye Chen, on the stretcher, was deathly pale, breathing weakly, his chest rising and falling so barely noticeable.

The soldier responsible for channeling his inner energy looked at him and asked in a low voice:

"If His Highness wakes up, will he really have to be sent to the next performance?"

"You dare disobey the division commander's orders?"

"..."

The soldier opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

He tucked the military blanket around Ye Chen and then covered the boy with his own coat.

"Send His Highness back first."

"This time, don't let him freeze to death in the snow."

The stretcher was lifted up.

Several soldiers, carrying the unconscious Ye Chen, trudged through the broken ice and headed deeper into the snowstorm.

The boy's dangling arm swayed with the stretcher, his fingers brushing against the snow, leaving a thin line of blood.