Tara relaxed for one hour and resumed her cultivation practice, once again; she gulped down one more 3rd stalk of Liliput powder, her body started to toughen up and strengthened, but she felt that she needed more energy to temper her body; therefore she took once more 4th stalk of Liliput powder to strengthen her skin, muscles, and nerves. Her body started to perspire vigorously and she was feeling great pain; her skin and muscles cracked and blood oozed out from her body with blackish discharge of impurities. She thought that she needed one more 5th stalk of Liliput powder to reach the climax of pain and strengthening of the body, therefore she gulped once more while reaching her full potential of 3rd stage of 'Tempered Body Realm'. She thought that she needed just a push to breakthrough her limit, hence she ate the last stalk i.e., 6th stalk of Liliput powder and her body became anaesthetic while all pain disappeared from her body with black sooty discharge. As the pain disappeared, she soon heard a 'crack' sound from her body and she reached 4th stage of 'Tempered Body Realm' with great improvement in her body; she was ecstatic to see her body's skin became hard as rock, this stage was also called 'Skin Hardening Stage'.
Tara punched a rock beside her and it broke into pieces; she soon came out of cavern in pleasant mood and found a waterfall with lush greenery covering the area and it was located in a solitary place, a good place for cave dwelling; due to her breakthrough she was feeling very energetic, but the process was very painful and impurities were discharged from her body and she was still covered in perspiration, therefore she took shower beneath the waterfall and changed her dress and got ready to resume her Journey with a more confident mind.Tara's strength and speed had increased distinctively, therefore she covered the area with fast pace and soon reached near the territory of Snake Mountain. Over the horizon from long distance, she saw two snake shaped zig-zag mountains and a ravine in between them with river flowing inside; as Tara was about to move in the direction of ravine, she heard sounds of two people following her, therefore she pretended to move forward, but suddenly saw two boys in front of her. These two boys were tailing her continuously from a long distance and for quite a while; after seeing them, she immediately identified these boys, they were two boys from that group of 4 participants who were fighting over 6 stalks of Liliput plant. Among these two, first was a tall boy with 4th stage of 'Tempered Body Realm', called Ken Jack; he wore yellow coloured robe from ' Henshe Gate Sect' with jagged teeth around 7 years of age and second was a dwarf boy with 9 years of age, called Hi Karken; Hi Karken wore same robe while belonging to same sect with cultivation of 4th stage of 'Tempered Body Realm'.
"Hey boys, isn't this shameful for you guys to tail this lady for quite a while with ambiguous intentions; clarify your reason otherwise don't blame me for being impolite, why are you tailing me?" asked Tara. Both boys started to laugh while showing grin and dangerous vibes; they said to Tara, " if you want to be safe then return our 6 stalks of Liliput plant, we clearly saw your clothes from back, when you escaped while we were dueling with each other; therefore we tracked you for a while and came to this lonely area before showing ourselves where nobody can help you, so now decide yourself what do you want, either being beaten and looted completely or politely handing over all goods on your body.
"You half witted fools, it was not that you were tailing me rather I lured both of you here, because I already knew you were tailing me; so, I have only one thing to say for you guys, just hand over everything you have to me like you told me to do or get beaten by me, decide yourself," Tara said brandishing her sword towards them aggressively.
Both boys facial expressions changed drastically, being estrange immediately and said," are you crazy, don't you care about your well being, be little self conscious girl," after saying this, they both attacked Tara; it was a genuine physical fight, they both surrounded her from front and back while punching and kicking towards her, but Tara rapidly dodged their moves and saved herself while counter-attacking at them with great speed technique, called Shadow Movement Skill. She suddenly disappeared into thin air and appeared behind them and knocked them out; she immediately took their storage bags and transferred their credit points in her storage bag. After few moments her credit points increased, but it was not worth it because increased credit points were not much, only 5000 credit points she got after adding both storage bags, therefore she took their badges and pressed them while keeping on their chest and immediately spatial fluctuations started undulating and both were simultaneously teleported out of the tournament.
Tara looked over that place where both boys body disappeared for some time and told herself, "I will not repeat same mistake twice, I have already learnt my lesson otherwise my mother and sister will be embarrassed." She thought before entering the Snake Mountain, it will be wise to to survey the area, therefore she stealthily surveyed area and found there were few traps in the surrounding area before entering Snake Mountain, therefore she became more vigilant while carefully observing any sudden changes in path and after crossing few miles safely, she calmed her heart and soon she saw base of Snake Mountain; it meant she had successfully reached her first hurdle, hence she took a deep breath, clenched her fist and confidently moved towards Snake Mountain while feeling the immensity and solitude of this Mountain. She wanted to find her answers regarding this place that why this place look little ghostly and eerie?