Chapter 27: The Best Way To Dispense With Fools
The noble clansmen pupils enjoyed many magic pills, learning the best training skills, and there were even some endowed with excellent bloodlines of the family elders.
Most of them were born with exceptional advantages over ordinary people.
Quite a few of them turned into dandies, living a life of extreme depravity due to their special status. Through magic pills, they cultivated smoothly, but they lacked strength and fighting power.
Zen did not think that all the children of the gentry were like this. Otherwise, the noble clans in the Imperial Capital wouldn't have thrived for as many years. There must be many children among the nobles, who were gifted, diligent and practiced hard.
But, obviously, the men he faced now weren't in that league.
These guys didn't want to work hard nor did they want to kill the beasts, so, instead, they robbed other participants of their crystal fragments. He was indignant that they wanted something for nothing. How could such shameless people exist in the world?
He watched momentarily, noticing that they were robbing the ordinary disciples, not letting them pass, and yet, the noble disciples were left to pass through without saying a word.
They were bold enough to rob participants in broad daylight, and the Cloud Sect didn't care?
Zen didn't actually know if that was true. These guys had been doing this for a while. A few years ago, some disciples from the noble clans discovered this was an ideal location to set up a blockade here, between the second and third level, and collect tolls in the form of crystal fragments from the commoners passing through. It was an easy way to make a fortune, prevent some from gaining admittance and they successfully passed the Blooded Test easily.
At that time, the Cloud Sect turned a blind eye to their behavior for some reason.
When the children of the noble clans saw that the Cloud Sect had not punished them, they became more unscrupulous. The experience spread among them for several years. Every Blooded Test since then, there was a group of noble disciples waiting in advance to rob others.
The number of unreal beasts on the first and second layers wasn't large, and with so many people fighting, many found it impossible to achieve their goals within the given timeframe. So, in order to pass the Blooded Test, many of them were forced to go up the third level.
Now they faced a new dilemma. Before they reached the third level, they were stripped of their crystal fragments by these despicable disciples.
Some disciples feared their strength of numbers, while others worried about their influence and high status in the Empire. So, most of them chose to hand over their crystal fragments. Zen stood to the side for a while, only to see that even a few strong men succumbed to the bullies. They were angry, but seemingly had no choice but to hand over their pieces of crystal fragments helplessly.
Meanwhile, many watched from a distance with hesitation on their faces. They couldn't decide if they should hand over their crystal fragments and head up to the third layer, or back and kill more beasts in the second layer.
Of course, not all ordinary disciples were willing to be bullied.
As Zen watched from the side, he saw a strong man stride up to pass. The man stood six and a half feet tall, was as strong as an iron tower, and he carried a great sword.
The men from the noble clans saw him and shouted, “Stop!”
“What's the matter?” asked the towering man as he stared at them fiercely.
“If you want to pass through this way, you need to leave all your crystal fragment pieces behind!” stated one of the men.
At this, the towering man looked sullen. Glaring at the group of noble disciples, he asked, “Why should I? What's your reasoning? Does the Cloud Sect sanction robbery in this manner?”
“Haha, why should you? The reason you should is that we are strong in number and more powerful. If you don't hand over your crystal fragments, you don't pass here,” stated another man.
The towering man was not the sort to give in. His face reddened with anger. Unsheathing his great sword strapped to his back, he held it at the ready as he said, “Bah! You want me to hand over my crystal fragments? That's a pipe dream. If you call me Grandpa, I'll consider giving you a reward, my grandchildren, your prize will be, death to anyone who tries to stop me!”
Zen watched from where he stood, not far off with a smile on his face. The towering man was not weak. This group of noble clansmen finally ran into someone too challenging to intimidate.
The towering man swung his great sword and rushed the pass. He was a burly man with big arms, and as he wielded the great sword, the wind roared, whipping the faces of the noble disciples which caused them discomfort.
The men from the noble clans were not strong, or they wouldn't be there robbing others.
In the face of the towering man's attacks, the bullies cursed. Unable to resist his attacks, they fell back to each side of the passage, exposing a gap through the middle.
Some ordinary disciples who had been hesitant saw the gap and emboldened, took the opportunity to follow the towering man and race through the pass.
More and more disciples joined the group when they saw the others succeeding.
The checkpoint of the noble clansmen was collapsed. The ordinary disciples hurried as a mob at the pass, like fish released from the floodgate. Zen followed the crowd, speeding forward.
Seeing what was occurring, the noble clansmen's faces were filled with anger. They didn't expect this at all. They didn't expect to let one man through, let alone so many people along with him.
By the time they reacted, quite a few ordinary disciples had slipped through the gate and entered the third level of Bloody Mountain.
“Stop them!” cried one of the noble clansmen who was dressed in blue.
Seeing the scene, the other noble clansmen knew they wouldn't have anyone to rob if more commoners slipped by.
It was worth pointing out that while these noble disciples were not strong, with the weapons and magic tools their families provided, they could still fight.
They clustered together quickly to fill the breach and restore their checkpoint.
While this was happening, the disciples who were trailing after the towering man continued attacking. The cruel and unrelenting enemies left them only the choice of brave resistance or dropping out of the game. Anyone at this time could burst with increased strength.
So the scuffle escalated.
“Aaahh......!”
wailed a disciple as three noble disciples attacked, leaving him gutted. His enemy stood over him with a bloody long sword that shimmered a brilliant green light.
Although each disciple was in the magic array, protecting them from real death, the pain was still real.
After screaming, the disciple was immediately encircled in a light, and he was gone.
But the noble disciples were not faring well. During the fighting, a noble disciple gently pushed against a commoner to stop him. The ordinary disciple appeared unimpressive but was, in fact, more powerful.
The noble clansman felt a strange stab force its way into his body. He began to twitch, tremble, and fell to the ground, dead. Countless dots encased him in light instantly, and he vanished, too.
Zen moved with a deft prowess, like lightning during a storm. Many disciples from noble clans tried stopping him, he dodged the attacks easily, weaving between them as he advanced.
He managed to shake off the interception, and passed the chaotic checkpoint, nearing safety. The outcome of the battle didn't concern him. He needed the time to accumulate more crystal fragments.
As he scanned the scene he had managed to escape, he caught sight of Nory in the crowd.
Nory was only at the bone refining level. The best choice for him was to stay and kill phantom beasts on the first level. But, he appeared to be caught up in the middle of the scuffle, so, he must have wanted to rush to the third layer too. That was beyond Zen's expectation.
Fortunately, Nory's strength was relatively weak among the people, and he didn't draw much attention. He was struggling forward.
Suddenly, a noble disciple noticed Nory and crept up behind him silently holding a gory dagger. Raising it as he neared Nory, he was about to have that dagger driven into his back.
If Nory were stabbed, he would be disqualified.
At this critical moment, Zen didn't stop to think; instead, he quickened his pace, sped, and seized Nory, pulling him to the side.
Because of Zen's actions, the noble disciple's sneak attack failed.
Nory was oblivious to what happened. When he got his wits, he realized a knife fell to the ground, just behind where he had been standing.
He had a look of alarm when he realized what almost happened. He gratefully said, “Zen, I ......”
he stopped short. Zen had no time to talk because the noble disciple was so angry he immediately picked up his dagger and launched himself at Zen. The blade was coming straight at Zen's neck at a deceptive angle, one that was difficult to escape. He wanted to kill Zen with a single blow.
“Go to perdition! Purple Fist Strength!”
yelled Zen as he punched the noble clansman, striking his chest hard, knocking him and his dagger backward to the ground. In the wake of Zen's attack, he felt seven slight explosions in his body, and seven substantial bloody holes appeared on his chest. When Zen enhanced his strength, the Purple Fist Strength had improved too. With terrifying destructive power, his attacks dealt fatal physical damage to an enemy's body.
Another light appeared, floating around the noble disciple's body. Zen eliminated a child from a noble clan with a single punch.
The melee was finally winding down.
The disciples that were strong enough had raced past and onto the third layer, while the ones who didn't have time to rush or weren't strong enough were eliminated.
Of course, many disciples from noble clans were eliminated during the battle as well. The noble disciples' number went from more than twenty to only a dozen left standing. Half of their people failed the Blooded Test.
Knowing so many had failed depressed the noble disciples that remained. Their predecessors used this method to pass the test, and had said robbing crystal fragments in this pass was the easiest way to get into the Cloud Sect. Many of them had succeeded in the previous years.
So, most of them thought they would pass, even if they lay down to nap during the Blooded Test. They never expected a single person to rush the barrier, or that so many others would get involved. They lost control of the situation immediately and unexpectedly lost more than ten people at once.
Meanwhile, Zen eliminated a noble disciple.
The noble disciples were depressed, and they found no way to vent. Seeing what Zen did, they promptly gathered together to launch an attack on him.
“Go!”
one shouted. Watching the noble clansmen surround him, Zen shoved Nory to a safe distance.
“Kill him!”
“It's so discouraging that my cousin was eliminated!”
“I didn't believe these common men would resist! Kill him!”
The noble clan disciples were so furious that they lost their reasoning. They raced at Zen, attacking him madly.
Half of them were at the organ refining level, and half were at marrow refining level. Every one of them wielded a powerful weapon. Each weapon was above the grade of medium mysterious weapon.
Zen remained unflustered in the face of the insanity rushing toward him. He knew if he panicked, there would be more trouble than he had now.
His eyes narrowed to slits, and he observed the disciple in blue, secretly selecting him as a target.
As soon as the noble disciples began to rush him, Zen ducked in the opposite direction, bypassing the bodies in front and headed past them at the man in blue.
Zen noticed they were all following the lead of the man in blue. Taking on the leader first, to defeat his bandit followers, had proved to be the proper strategic choice. So, Zen got him first.