Chapter 29: Compelled To Fight
In a single?breath, Zen sprinted a few hundred feet, where he saw a colorful light strip hovering in front of him. Thinking it might be the entrance to the third layer. He investigated, and sure enough, it was. He plunged headlong into the light, disappearing.
Passing through the band of light was like walking into a different world. The scene in front of him differed from the second layer.
The lush trees were replaced. Instead, there were bare hillsides and stone forest composed of jagged rocks. Caves at least ten feet deep dotted the slopes, and black noxious smoke rose from the openings. It looked?like a sad and lifeless site.
The disciples who passed through the band earlier were not in sight at the moment. He tried to figure out where Nory was but, Zen appeared to be off?Nory's trail. 'Where on earth has Nory gone? Maybe he found somewhere safe after he got to the third layer because disciples from the noble clans might come looking for him. Hope you are safe now, my brother!' thought Zen, sincerely praying for Nory's safety as he began to make his way through the third layer.
After making his way up a hillside, Zen stepped into the jagged rocky forest.
The crystal fragments he had in hand were far from being enough to pass the Blooded Test, so he hurried on his way. He needed to get enough crystal fragments as soon as possible, as this wasn't a safe place to remain.
Unreal beasts?on the third layer were all higher level and therefore more challenging to fight. Generally speaking, the strength of the three-grade?beasts?was comparable to that of a person at the marrow refining level. And since the unreal beasts were transformed from evil creatures, they were even stronger. Animals of the same level were generally more powerful than their human counterparts.
For that reason alone, Zen knew that he needed to be vigilant. He looked around warily, continuously as he walked through the forest. He had taken only two steps, and he heard a sound. The hairs along his arm and scalp tingled when he listened to the hissing of a snake.
The hairs on his neck stood up, alerting him that something was following him.
Zen whipped his head around toward the strange hissing sound, scanning every inch very carefully, only to find that nothing but the jagged rocks were there. Everything was perfectly still.
Full of doubt, Zen wrinkled his brow, making a face while wondering, 'Was that an illusion, or am I just jittery?'
After listening for a little while, remaining perfectly still, he sighed in relief. Then he continued to move forward through the forest. However, as he was passing under a stone arch formed by some jagged rocks, a shadow fell, cast from the other end of the arch, heading straight at him.
Thankfully, Zen had been extremely vigilant, making his reaction time notably fast at the sight of the shadow. Leaning back, he pressed himself close to the ground, allowing him to nimbly elude?the shadow. While at the same time, he rolled sideways, and narrowly avoided being whipped by the snake as it dropped, thrashing its body where Zen had been a second earlier. Zen tilted his head slightly, peering at a deep groove that was cut into the spot where he had been a second prior.
When Zen?had the chance, he clambered to his feet and found a three-grade?beast blocking his path. It was a giant boa!
Missing him on its first go, the gigantic boa slithered out of reach, scuttled into the surrounding stone forest. The boa looked around savagely with its massive, mesmerizing eyes, and its bright red tongue lashing out, flicking the air periodically, to taste where Zen was.
Zen didn't dare take the creature lightly. He took a few steps back, leaning against a stone so that the boa couldn't take him from behind. Then stared at the boa, as long as it attacked him from the front, he was confident he could deal a deathblow.
Unexpectedly, the cunning boa snaked around the stone forest, occasionally popping its massive head and flicking its tongue at Zen, only to vanish again, just as quickly as it appeared.
Zen?kept to his back pinned to the stone, motionlessly watching, unwilling to fall for the ploy of being lured away no matter how hard the snake tried.
The boa moved fast. If Zen?followed it, he would end up with nothing. Although the beasts were all transformed from evil creatures, their most significant shortcoming was that they were not patient like the humans hunting them. So, Zen patiently kept careful watch of the boa's movements.
In the stone forest, a meeting between a person and a boa seemed inevitable. Yet an hour later, the encounter was still a cat and mouse game. Finally, Zen's patience paid off, as the boa launched at him.
The boa slithered behind Zen and raised its tail, preparing to strike. Since Zen's back was against the stone, the crafty serpent let loose enough of its muscular body to coil itself around the rock and?Zen with it.
Controlling the energy flowing through him, Zen focused and suddenly, a purple aura burst from within his body. Unsure if it would flee or try to crush him in retaliation, Zen knew he had only this one chance, and if he couldn't annihilate it in that first strike, the prize would be lost. So, he was determined not to give it a chance. With a plan in mind, Zen offered no resistance, allowing the beast to entwine itself around the rock along with his body slowly. Soon he was lifted into the air.
The stone behind him was quickly crushed under the strength of the boa's enormous body. Gravel and dust dropped to the ground. At the same time, the hold the boa had on Zen tightened until he was firmly enshrouded in the vice-like grip.
Zen knew the habits of constrictors. After they wrapped their prey, they would?slither and slowly tighten themselves with each breath, feeling the heartbeat slow, and heat coming off their victim. They would not stop until their prey ceased breathing. The prey suffocated slowly, bones grinding as they did. Then the snake would release the victim, unhinging their large jaw to swallow the food whole.
Before the boa constricted against him, Zen inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air and closed his eyes.
Inwardly, he focused on his limbs, drawing strength, and waited for a while. To the boa, he appeared to be a weak, defenseless being now. Suddenly, gathering all his vigor, he snapped the back of the beast.
“Cra-ack!”
The boa's colossal body was snapped into several pieces. The pieces scattered, falling onto what remained of the rock. The snake's eyes grew large with a horrified look. From deep in its memories, the boa knew that once wrapped within its coil, it was impossible for a prey to escape. And shortly after that, the boa had a meal. The constrictor thought it would be happily digesting now.
Instead, the strength of the prey it had chosen was so sudden, that the boa was unable to endure. And it was instantly torn in several pieces with no time to react.
Five pieces wriggled on the ground before transforming into small bits of light, and finally, disappearing. Zen slaughtered the boa constrictor.
“Ping! Ting!” came a sound as the snake faded.
Following the sound, Zen saw a purple fragment fall from the jagged rock, clinking to the ground. After the battle he just survived, the fragment's fall was crisp and sweet to Zen's ears. Now, he only needed nine more purple fragments to pass the Blooded Test, making him realize that the third layer was a better place to hunt.
Zen picked up the purple fragment, wiping it clean with his sleeve, before tucking it safely in his pocket with the other pieces he'd collected so far. He looked to his right and jogged ahead in a hurry to earn more fragments.
Estimating that up on the fourth layer the creatures would be equal to someone half-step into the nature level and animals being what they were, the beasts would be stronger than that even. Thus, he had no intentions of going up there.
Knowing that he would only need to kill three beasts at level four to pass the Blooded Test did tempt Zen. However, recalling the strength Evil Lan exerted even when physically exhausted, and that these were half-step into the nature level for?beasts, he dismissed the idea of going up there.
The fact was that Zen's assessment was extremely accurate.
For the Blooded Test, most people remained on the third layer. Very few disciples braved the fourth or fifth layer. The reasoning was simple, the initiates were not at the higher levels, which meant the beasts were too strong, and those participants would probably lose their lives before earning a single fragment. That was not a place the disciples wanted to be.
After deciding, Zen spent six hours wandering around on the third layer.
During that time, he harvested quite a few fragments.
First, he came across a demon crow that attacked him from the air, leaving Zen?no way to avoid its attacks. When he tried attacking the demon crow, it would deliberately put distance between itself and Zen, making Zen raise his brow and shrug his shoulders.
As he scoured his mind for some way to deal with this demon crow, an idea popped into Zen's head. Falling to the ground abruptly, Zen pretended to be dead. He wasn't sure, but, he believed the demon crow was a scavenger that would enjoy feasting on a carcass. The minute the crow saw Zen sprawled on the ground, it believed Zen was dead and swooped down to feast. But, as soon as it was close enough, Zen punched it. The demon crow fell dead from the one punch Zen delivered.
Later, he met up with a tremendous ancient mammoth. Its monstrous frame was intimidating, the power it possessed was more so, and could lead to trouble for Zen. However, Zen wasn't afraid at all and relied on his instincts. Zen dispatched it quickly.
And after that, he met three black wolves...
a sky dragon...
and even a colossal gorilla...
In general, the beasts were much more extensive and stronger on that level than they were on the second layer. For Zen, it took a little bit longer to deal with them, because while the beasts were strong, they weren't as smart as him. With a bit of creativity, it wasn't difficult to slay them.
Over the six hours, he won a total of eight purple fragments from his victories and needed only one more to pass the Blooded test.
While he was thinking that, a bloody porcupine?appeared in front of him. Fury flashed in its savage eyes, while it drooled from out the corners of its mouth near protruding hideous tusks. In desperation, it surged at Zen, attacking.
Deadly quills covered the bloody porcupine completely. If a person was pierced by one of the quills, the poison would kill him. Worse yet, its skin was so thick and rough on the beast that it made killing it a formidable trial. In a short time, very few chances to kill it arose.
Fortunately, it lacked intelligence. In spite of the brute force approach to attack?Zen not working, it was unable to change how it engaged Zen. Time and time again, it charged Zen but didn't even make contact with his clothes, let alone hurt him.
Zen agilely dodged each attack and devised a plan to wait for the creature to drain itself of virtually all its energy then Zen would give it a death blow.
Dodging the porcupine's charge, Zen was barely on his feet when suddenly he felt the sensation that danger was nearby and cursed under his breath, “Dang it!” Instinctively, he rolled to one side.
As he turned, Zen saw a long, shiny blue thread appear where?he had been. Reacting slowly, the bloody porcupine ran headlong?into the thread and was instantly sliced in half. It happened so fast, the creature didn't have time even to scream. Its eyes echoed its final seconds of life, glazed, wide orbs full of fear and panic. As with all the other creatures, light filled the beast before it faded, leaving behind a sizzling purple shard where the creature had fallen.
Zen's face paled as he stared at the gradually disappearing long blue thread, thinking, 'Wow! That thread is sharp! If I'd been slower, I would've been sliced into two by it!'
“Take the fragment, it's yours,” Zen heard a cold voice tell him.
Looking in the direction it came from, Zen saw a young man standing close by. He was casually playing with a delicate looking dagger that had a long bright blue thread that kept coming out of the tip. This young man and his dagger were the reason the bloody porcupine was cut in two.
“Who are you?” asked Zen. Since it was clear that the young man was there for Zen, he remained vigilant.
The young man did not lift his eyes from his dagger as he played with it, as he responded in a casual tone, “Me? My name is Ryan, and I am part of the Fang Clan.”
An idea flickered briefly in Zen's gaze, as soon as he told Zen his family affiliation. Zen soon understood what this man was here for. Ryan was another son of the Fang Clan like the ones who attacked him without reasons back on the second layer. He met three members on the second layer. But apparently, he was stronger than they were. Zen realized Ryan did not have friendly intentions.
Raising a brow, Ryan?took a handful of purple shards from his pocket and sent them tumbling to the ground. The tinging, pinging as they hit the surface sounded like shattered jade dropping, making a crisp sound as they did. Whatever Ryan's purpose was, the music that those shards made as they landed was extraordinarily beautiful.
To ensure passing the Blooded Test, a disciple needed ten pieces. Scattered here were dozens of purple fragments! A small group of pupils could pass the test with this many!
It shocked Zen to see how many purple shards Ryan had collected. To accrue as many as he did, Zen spent hours fighting beasts, but he only gathered nine. And yet, this guy had several times more than Zen. Ryan had dozens!
“Fight me and, if you beat me, you can have all these purple fragments. How about it?” Ryan asked dispassionately.
There was no such thing as free in life, and Zen knew those shards would cost him if he agreed. Shaking his head firmly, “No, I don't think that's a good idea. I'll see you later!” said Zen as he turned to leave. He was sure this fellow was not trying to befriend him.
With the final purple fragment, Zen could finish the test. Why would he want to fight this guy? He would much rather fight a beast. To collect so many purple fragments in such a short period, this guy was definitely tough. As for the dagger in his hand, Zen could see it was a dangerous weapon.
The wheels were spinning in Zen's head. If he were to guess, Zen would have to say that the dagger was very likely a spiritual level of treasure.
After being in so many fights, Zen?was confident in his strength, but he wasn't blind.
Smiling faintly, Ryan stated, “I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter. You see, while I'm not surprised that the three stupid cowards were eliminated, I take pity on them at the same time. To keep it fair, you should pay the price for?getting people from the Fang Clan kicked from the test. Don't you agree?”
Hearing what Ryan was telling him, Zen?stood still, ready to leave. Just as he'd suspected, Ryan was looking to cause trouble. Before he could go, a glowing blue?thread suddenly appeared in front of him.
As the silk thread quickly grew, it became a small square. Zen watched, as the square increased rapidly in size until eventually it became a vast net that could cover hundreds of feet around them and encompassed?Zen and Ryan inside.
“Don't you think that the Blooded Test is exceptionally dull? I mean, come on, we're dealing with beasts that have no intelligence. It's simply insulting to me! We should add something interesting. Only a real fight, perhaps, can cheer me up! Then, maybe I'll leave you whole,” said Ryan, while he laughed maniacally.
Narrowing his eyes, Zen glared at Ryan standing not far away. It would seem that Ryan wasn't willing to let him go until they fought. He sighed, shrugging his shoulders in reluctant acceptance.