Chapter 31: Ogre
Outside Bloody Mountain, the masters exchanged wide-eyed looks of disbelief and gasped in surprise.
Being a master at Cloud Sect meant being well-informed, composed and mature.
And through the years, they had seen all kinds of talents.
Quite frankly, some of the most talented warriors were trained by them. Accordingly, they should not be so surprised.
But, these masters could not help shouting excitedly. Why was that?
Each of the masters had a distinct perception of the rare skills and strength Ryan possessed, and also, they knew the might of Ryan's dagger!
The average people might not know, but the masters did. Those energy threads were extremely sharp, and could easily slice a low-grade spiritual weapon in two. Even a middle-grade spiritual weapon would probably be cut into pieces. To withstand those silk threads, a top-grade spiritual weapon was needed.
But, what occurred just now, was so strange. Everyone, including Ryan, was shocked.
It was a huge surprise when Zen withstood the silk threads with his flesh!
Everyone watching had believed this to be Zen's final stand before he was out of the Blooded Test. In their eyes, his struggle was in vain. Zen didn't stand a chance of winning against Ryan and his spiritual weapon. The only foreseeable outcome of Zen crashing into the threads was?him being shredded.
Much to the onlooker's surprise and Ryan's astonishment, Zen not only shattered the silk threads but also outmaneuvered Ryan in the blink of an eye.
It was no wonder that the crowd was?surprised. What was the body of this kid made from? How did he develop ironlike flesh? His strength was comparable to a top-grade mysterious weapon. The expressions on the masters' faces were astonishment while in the heart of each was the idea of bringing him under their folds.
Unlike the other masters, Dylan Fang had a bitter taste in his mouth, and hatred filled his eyes. He stared at the Picture Slab. It never struck him that Ryan could be eliminated because he was the most talented refiner in the Fang Clan. This time, his family sent four pupils to participate in the Blooded test. But unexpectedly, three of them failed. He was afraid that it was difficult for the remaining one to pass the Blooded test. Sadly, the one being kicked earlier was the young master and part of the main branch of the family. He sighed, knowing a scolding would be waiting for him next time he returned to the Fang Clan.
As it was not difficult for people from the Fang Clan to be admitted to the Cloud Sect since their family was influential in pills refining, none of them would have imagined all four would fail the Blooded test. This was shameful and bitterly humiliating to the whole clan, and no doubly so for him.
“Zen Luo!” spat Dylan through clenching teeth bitterly. The name was burned into his mind. He would never forget the humiliation brought on his clan by that kid. There were a vast number of?talents at the Cloud Sect; many of them died for many reasons. Dylan wanted to see how Zen would end! “Hmph,” he snorted.
When the fight ended, the masters were excited to watch another battle and tried to watch Zen, only to discover that he disappeared without a trace from the Picture Slab. Earlier, none of them cared much about the bad connection that prevented them from tracking Zen. But, after the battle with Ryan, it was evident that he was a wonder to watch! Now, with Ryan out of the test, Zen's picture was all blurred again. Jumping up angrily, the masters looked for an outlet to vent their frustrations, and blamed Joshua.
Being scolded so harshly left Joshua frowning and feeling down. He wanted to explain himself, but when he thought of the horrifying rumors about Master Su, he decided to swallow the bitter pill. He didn't dare upset her.
Feeling resentment, Joshua was unsatisfied with nowhere for him to complain, and nothing to do but keep silent. 'Dang! Such bad luck! But, who is to blame? This is all that initiate Zen's fault!' thought Joshua, shifting the blame.
Finally, he had a place to lay the blame. 'He dared give me a hard time? We'll just see about that!'
At their first meeting, Joshua knew Zen would be trouble. Here was this commonly born disciple who dared to oppose him, causing Master Su to criticize him, and now the instructors were scolding. How could he settle for this? He was silent, but what no one saw was how full of hatred his eyes were as he contemplated how he could get revenge.
Joshua was so worked up about Zen that when he caught sight of the magic array system plate?beside him, an idea clicked into his mind. A vague smile spread across his face. 'Hey, hey there, you disgusting maggot! So, you want to pass the Blooded?test? Never!'
An expert at the Cloud Sect had designed and installed the whole magic array system on Bloody Mountain. Supporting the large system, were thousands of magic arrays varying in size from small to large, and the system controlled the beasts.
Since this kid embarrassed him, there was no way Zen would pass the Blooded test, unless Joshua let it happen. Looking around, Joshua made sure no one was watching him before?discreetly turning, walking up to the system plate, and placing his hands on the innermost circle of the plate.
The system plate had five circles, representing the five layers in Bloody Mountain. They went from the easiest on the outside, getting progressively harder, to the innermost layer, where stayed a solitary five-grade beast, whose strength was comparable to a master at nature level. Since the disciples were at lower levels, no one had set foot on the final layer to challenge the five-grade beast in the history of Bloody Mountain.
As a matter of fact, many people questioned whether or not the fifth layer and five-grade beast were necessary because it was impossible for anyone to challenge it successfully. It seemed pointless for a five-grade beast to be there. Why? Because it expended so much energy to imagine one with the magic array system. This was a complete waste of power that they could apply to many other places.
Every time a master proposed to get rid of it though, the suggestion was rejected.
Why not just let it be? After all, there was no need to make changes. Since the five-grade beast had been created, it could just stay on the fifth layer and remain there, silently, with no issues. That was the reason given by the senior managers at the Cloud Sect.
Working quietly, Joshua erased the circle at the core of the system plate, forcing the five-grade?beast to leave the center. As the innermost circle vanished, the beast, under Joshua's control, rose, rushing in Zen's direction. When Joshua saw that the five-grade creature was closer to Zen, he drew his arms back.
“You might have been able to withstand the power of?Cut-All-Like-Air Dagger, but, let's see how will you stand up against the strength of a five-grade beast! Hahaha...”
Joshua said smiling ferociously.
Meanwhile, Zen was oblivious to the fact that he was the center of attention, with masters discussing him and his flesh or that he had aroused a great disturbance outside.
After Zen eliminated Ryan, the dozens of crystal fragments that had belonged to Ryan were all his. The crystal fragments he had in hand were far beyond the requirements of the Blooded Test. 'What now?' he wondered, breathing a sigh of relief. All Zen needed to do now was find a corner to wait quietly until the end of the test and maybe take a little break. Then he would be an?outer disciple at the Cloud Sect.
He finally had time to check the many gashes in his clothes and realized he was covered in blood. Luckily, for him, even though the wound looked awful, there wasn't really any pain.
The wounds the threads had made on his hands and feet were bloody and looked severely mutilated. However, these were all trauma and didn't hurt his life energy which might make it simpler for him to heal.
Clenching his fists tightly, Zen pushed his energy out. Deep red blood-like liquid suddenly flowed along the wound sites, down his arms and legs. Under pressure he exerted, the wounds quickly closed. Zen controlled his muscles to heal instantly. This was something anyone at the peak of flesh refining level could do. In that short time, he was able to recover and feel much better.
Waiting until the wounds were almost healed, Zen paced back and forth, to make sure there was no more pain in his body. Then he glanced around and walked away.
In his heart, there remained some questions. The weapon he got from Ryan was a spiritual weapon, 'I wonder how many dragon scales will be lighted up if the black fire in my mind swallows the spiritual weapon? Three, four? Maybe five?' considered Zen. While he still wasn't clear about that, he knew the iron essence he refined would be more than that of a top grade mysterious weapon. Zen shrugged and kept moving.
After Ryan was beaten and encased in light, the dagger was left behind. If he did feed?it to the black fire, the Fang Clan would not let it pass, but chase him down. He wasn't strong enough to loot a spiritual weapon.
As for the crystal fragments that he got from Ryan, he did not know what to do with them. If he found Nory, he could give him some.
What annoyed Zen was that the third layer was so vast?he couldn't find Nory. Where would he find Nory?
While meandering along, lost in thought, Zen was suddenly jarred. The ground under him shook violently, nearly making him lose his balance. As the ground shook again, he heard, “Thu-ud!” as though something very large was walking toward him.
“Bo-om!”
“Thuu-ud!”
“BOOM!”
The ground shuddered so violently, Zen staggered like a drunkard.
The animal's heavy steps became louder, and the tremors under Zen's feet became more powerful the closer the monster got. The jagged rocks rattled and bounced on the ground, and then, the hillside split open.
His heart skipped a beat, but he got control quickly enough. Something was headed at him, and that something must be enormous, he thought, 'What now? Why are so many things so dead set on messing with me? Am I just illfated? This is only supposed to be a test!' Zen bemoaned while dodging flying stones. He wanted to cry.
As Zen stared, he saw four ordinary disciples and two noble clan disciples racing for their lives, screaming and crying in fear. They were barely out when the stone forest behind them collapsed. Following on their heels was a giant lumbering monster!
The monster was humanoid, but there were two sharp tusks on its head, mouth full of spiked teeth and its eyes were like twin blazing flames.
“Is? I-is that an?Ogre?” As Zen stared up at the nearly twenty-foot tall monster, his jaw dropped. Judging from the two oversized fangs jutting from the sides of its mouth, this was an?Ogre.
All Zen knew about Ogres, was that they were more powerful than humans, had been deadly enemies with humankind since ancient times. At least that was what was recorded in various books about the legends of the Ogre.
They were bloodthirsty, brutal, and they ate humans...
All kinds of legends were passed down orally about the Ogres and scared people at the mere mention. Adults were terrified, and tended to tell their children if they didn't behave, the ogres would come to eat them, which would usually make kids silent.
But, that wasn't the principal problem. The problem was that, obviously, the Ogre wasn't supposed to be on the third layer! Before he could figure out what was going on, the Ogre started to attack.
The Ogre rushed a disciple swatting at him with the back of its hand. The pupil was sent sailing through the air, and dots of lights appeared as he landed indicating he was out of the game.
Another noble pupil's plight was worse, as the Ogre snatched him up, shaking him like a ragdoll. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not break away. He screamed hysterically, as the massive monster raised him, popping the tiny noble clansman into its mouth. Within the mouth of the Ogre, a myriad of lights appeared, instantly illuminating its mouth. Another pupil was out in a short time...
Finally, Zen reacted. This was at least a five-grade?beast! Why a five-grade?beast would appear on the third layer, Zen didn't have time to think over. His only thought now was - RUN!
Thinking he could get away unnoticed, Zen took off heading away from the Ogre. Unexpectedly, the monster ceased chasing other initiates, thudding off after Zen. Behind him, Zen heard the heavy crashing of lumbering, heavy footfall, and thought, 'Oh my goodness! I wouldn't have run if I knew he'd follow me!' At that moment he figured he probably should find a spot to hide until the Ogre was gone. But, as he looked around, he saw there wasn't much cover to protect him and decided to keep running.
Despite how slowly the Ogre moved, each step of it was equal to eight steps?Zen took. So, try as he might, the Ogre was much faster than him.
It didn't take Zen long to adjust his breathing so he could sprint faster and rid himself of this Ogre.
After all, he had had enough fragments, so if he were beat to death and knocked out of the game by the Ogre now, it would just be an embarrassing injustice!
However, even running as quickly as Zen was, the gap between the Ogre?and him was getting smaller. The two were as mismatched in speed as strength!
When the Ogre was a mere six feet away, it lunged toward Zen while swatting its thick palm to smack Zen.