Chapter 25: Bloody Mountain
After the disciples from the noble clans had gone up the Bloody Mountain, it was the turn of the thousand ordinary disciples. They formed a line and entered the mountain one after another.
A dozen paths snaked their way into and around the southern region of the Bloody Mountain. Since the paths made it easier to navigate through the mountain, the disciples randomly selected a road and made their way toward their destination.
Zen walked at the back of the line in silent contemplation. He was a little nervous and full of doubt. He was not afraid of Billy and the Wang Clan, but he could not understand why Billy worked so hard to help Perrin.
Yes, Perrin had the resource support of the Luo Clan. Compared with the noble clans in the Imperial Capital, the Luo Clan was only a small clan in C County. Perrin had nothing to offer Billy in exchange for his help.
'What the devil are they up to?' Zen couldn't understand Billy's motives.
While he was walking, Zen was distracted from his thoughts by a colorful band of light on the mountain road ahead. The band of light fluttered erratically, like the entrance to a fairyland.
“This is the outermost magic array. We will enter the real Blooded Test after we go through this ribbon of light,” said one ordinary disciple. After saying this, he walked forward. As he neared, the light ribbon enveloped his body. Within a blink of an eye, he had disappeared.
Zen stepped into the band of light without hesitation. After doing so, he found that the surrounding scenery had changed!
“This is the magic array!”
When he had first arrived at the Bloody Mountain, Zen had been bewildered by the unique color of the mountain. The entire scene was monotonous as even the plants were the same red color. But when he walked into the magic array, Zen found that the scene inside was different.
The world suddenly became rich and colorful, including the tall trees on the mountain and the dense growth of small trees and shrubs. He knew that the landscape was a facade that had been created by activating a large phantom array with red magic sand.
However, when he reached for the trees and the shrubs, Zen found that their touch and taste were lifelike.
After he had taken several steps forward, Zen heard the howling of a beast followed by the sound of fierce fighting. Apparently, someone had encountered an unreal beast not far away.
He held his breath and crept toward the woods. When Zen neared the scene, he saw three men working together to kill a first-degree phantom wolf.
The wolf was not difficult to deal with. Its force and attacks were equivalent to the bone refining level. Since the three men had already stepped into the organ refining level, they didn't have any trouble defeating the phantom wolf.
When the beast's body fell to the ground, it changed into colorful spots of light that floated up, and slowly disappeared in the air.
A green crystal fragment was left on the ground.
“Haha, this green crystal fragment is mine!” One of the three men rushed to grab the fragment.
“What makes you think that you can take it? I helped kill the beast, too.” Another man was determined not to share the fragment.
“In that case, let's one on one. If you win, this fragment will be yours!”
A moment ago, the three men had worked together to kill the monster. Now, they were disputing over who got to claim the green crystal fragment.
Seeing this, Zen shook his head and continued on his way to the depths of the Bloody Mountain. After a while, Zen felt a little disheartened as he had not encountered a first-degree phantom beast.
The phantom beasts living in the first layer of this Bloody Mountain were the weakest of the monsters. Most disciples could cope with them easily, and so they weren't in a rush to get to the second layer and encounter new risks. As a result, the number of disciples hunting the beasts exceeded the number of targets. As soon as a phantom monster appeared, someone would rush to kill it.
The level was so crowded that disciples began fighting each other for green crystal fragments.
A hundred green crystal fragments were needed to pass the test. The time allowed to complete the test was not enough to accumulate that amount. Zen concluded that it was better to challenge beasts of the second layer than to compete with others here. With a new goal to work toward, Zen headed further into the depths of the Bloody Mountain.
It wasn't long before he entered the second layer of the Bloody Mountain.
Compared to the first layer, there were fewer people in the second layer. The strength of unreal beasts in this layer was equivalent to the organ refining level, which was more suitable for a stronger person to challenge.
While walking around, Zen saw a lush forest. Then, he heard a shrill cry from above.
He glanced up and saw a monkey hanging from a big tree. The monkey's eyes glowed red, as he stared at Zen.
He had seen pictures of such monkeys in books. As a native of the oasis in the Western region, this species of monkey was called the mane monkey. Zen had not expected that this kind of demon beast could be created in the magic array. Cloud Sect was undoubtedly endowed with abundant talent and resources including a learned and brilliant magic array master!
The mane monkey screamed at Zen. Suddenly, the beast sucked in its stomach. Then it took a deep breath, and the stomach blew up like a balloon. In the next instant, its hard mane burst sending steel-like needles hurtling toward Zen.
Zen was quick to react. He sprinted forward, and at the same time, he threw his fist at the tree. With the help of this force, Zen was able to jump two feet in the air. As he did, Zen reached for the mane monkey.
The mane monkey was extremely dexterous. It swung around the tree, avoided Zen nimbly, and jumped on to another tree.
Seeing that the mane monkey was about to escape, Zen decided to chase it. It would be shameful and embarrassing if he couldn't deal with a second-degree unreal beast.
He kept following the mane monkey as it jumped from tree to tree. The mane monkey was not good at attacking. Its primary defense was its hard steel mane. But Zen's body was as hard as a mysterious weapon, and so he could completely ignore the mane monkey's attack.
The mane monkey was so agile that it led Zen around the woods. It was very hard for Zen to catch it. More than once Zen had almost caught the monkey, but the monkey rolled and slipped away again.
After a long period of pursuit, Zen decided to try a new tactic. He looked around and studied the trees nearby. Having identified an opportunity, Zen rushed forward, spread out his arms, and hit a tree in front of him with all his might!
“Fall down!”
The big, thick tree split in two before collapsing to the ground.
A second later, the monkey leaped into the air. It had been aiming for the tree, but since Zen had broken the tree before it could reach it, the mane monkey flew straight toward Zen.
Zen smiled when his plan worked. The monkey had no way to escape this time.
However, as the mane monkey approached Zen, it gave out a fierce cry. Then its eyes glowed a deep red before it emitted a squeak. In the next instant, its body turned red, and the mane of the whole body bristled.
Zen found the monkey's unusual move. A sense of danger filled Zen. He covered his head with his hands and drew back in horror.
Before Zen could retreat two steps, the mane monkey's body grew twice as large.
“Peng!”
The mane monkey's body suddenly exploded. The noise was deafening! When the dust settled, Zen saw that the explosion had left a huge hole in the ground. The needles from the monkey's mane were scattered in all directions by the force of the explosion.
At the time of its death, the monkey had released its mane needles with such force that they were firmly lodged in Zen's body.
“I didn't expect a second-degree phantom beast to have such a powerful attack,” Zen said in surprise as he pulled out the mane needles one by one. If he had not stepped back, he could have been hurt by the mane needles.
The classification of unreal beasts was similar to that of men. The one main difference was that many unreal monsters could burst with incomparable innate power when faced with a survival crisis.
After handling the steel needles in his body, Zen approached the pit and found a piece of yellow crystal fragment in the center. Only 30 yellow crystal fragments were needed to pass the test. That was certainly a much smaller number than the green crystals!
Of course, the monsters he had to deal with were a lot more fierce.
Just as Zen was preparing to put away the crystal fragment, a voice boomed through the forest.
“Put that crystal down and get out of here!”
On hearing the words, Zen frowned. When he turned, Zen saw three men standing behind him. Judging by their clothes, Zen knew that these three men were disciples from noble clans. It was possible that they might be from the same clan. Only the children from noble clans would dare to rob someone so openly.
“I killed this beast. So this crystal fragment belongs to me. Why should I put the piece down?” Zen asked.
One of three men answered, “Cut the garbage, or you'll suffer the consequences! We are from the Fang Clan. Anger our family, and you won't have a chance to regret it.”
“My brother is right. You can learn lessons from the mistakes of others. All those who did not listen to our family died miserably!” Another man said.
“Turn in your crystal fragment, or we will kill you!” The third man said.
Zen held the yellow crystal fragment in his hand. The expression on his face conveyed that Zen didn't have the patience to deal with such arrogance. In fact, all the novelty he had seen after he reached the Imperial Capital made him feel relaxed and happy, except for the children of the noble clans. Words would fail to describe the attitude of such people.
Leaving aside the strength of the children from noble clans, what they had done was so rampant and outrageous that they seemed to look down upon everything in the world.
It was perhaps their noble birth and their superior living environment that made them forget that what others feared was not the children, but the power of their family clan.
Zen put the crystal fragment in his pocket and prepared to leave. He did not bother to spend more time rationalizing with these men.
But the three men were determined not to let him go. They rushed forward quickly, encircled Zen, and then they began closing in on him.
They thought that since they had all reached the marrow refining level, it would be easy for them to defeat Zen, who was only at the organ refining level.
But in Zen's view, they were too slow. It could be seen at a glance that they had been trained from childhood. However, their strength had been increased by pills. They lacked actual combat and practice experience, and hence, their weaknesses were apparent.
At this time, Zen stood with his back to the three men. As the three men pounced on him, Zen took a step back and easily avoided their attack. At the same time, he quickly circled behind them and reached out to grab two men by the back of their necks.
“Let go of me. If you touch me, my family will kill you!”
“No one has dared to hold me like this. I will never forgive you. I will cut you into a thousand pieces and watch as you die painfully!”
The two men looked flustered. They hadn't expected their strength to be so weak that they had no power to fight back. However, they did show true characteristics of children from noble clans. Even when caught, they felt they could win by threatening their captor.
Zen sneered. He lifted his arms and slammed the two men's heads into each other brutally.
“Bang!”
The two men were “killed” by the force Zen had used. Like the mane monkey Zen had just killed, their bodies turned into spots of light that disappeared slowly.
If they had not been in the magic array of the Bloody Mountain, the two men would have truly died. Their heads would have broken into pieces with the force Zen had used.
Fortunately, they were in the Blooded Test, in which all participants were a phantom illusion. Hence, these two men had not been hurt. Since they had died in the test, a light had enclosed them. Now they would wait for the Cloud Sect's instructors to transport them outside the Bloody Mountain. In any case, they had failed the Blooded Test.
The original intention of the Blooded Test could be seen here. In the Bloody Mountain, everyone competed with not only the phantom beasts but also with other disciples.
And the use of the magic array would effectively avoid real death.
Seeing the two companions had been taken out, the remaining man took a few steps back in surprise. His expression showed the fear he felt. His rampant and arrogant attitude had been swept away. As soon as the shock wore off, he shouted, “My family... My Family...”
But Zen didn't let him finish. He growled at the man. “If you don't want to die as well, hand over all the crystal fragments you have. No matter how powerful your family is, they can't save you now!” After saying this, Zen took a step toward the man.
Without hesitation, the disciple from the Fang clan threw a handful of crystal fragments at Zen. Then he turned and fled without saying anything.
Zen shook his head. He didn't want to rob others, but it seemed like recently, many people were trying to rob him.
He collected the crystal fragments. There were 20 green crystal fragments and seven yellow crystal fragments!
It looked like the robbery was a quick and convenient way to finish the test. Zen was tempted. Compared to the effort of killing phantom beasts one by one, snatching was obviously more efficient.
But he soon gave up the idea. The ultimate purpose of giving the Blooded Test was to challenge and improve himself.
He would never give up the opportunity to refine himself. However, if others tried to rob him, Zen decided not to let them go.