Chapter 39: Challenge
Nory inconspicuously pulled Zen's sleeve and whispered, “Let's find somewhere else to sit.”
The man seemed to cause trouble deliberately, so Nory thought they'd better leave.
Zen didn't acknowledge the rude disciple's demand. He continued to eat his food quietly.
“I told you to get out of my seat. Did you hear me?” yelled the young man. To emphasize his point, the man slammed his hand on the table made of hard rock maple. When he withdrew his hand, a clear palm mark had been imprinted on the table. This disciple must be very strong!
Zen remained unaffected by the man's angry display. He chose to chew his food and pretend as though he didn't care about what was happening around him.
“Pooh!”
When the man received no response, he spat into Zen's plate and sneered, “Haha! Enjoy your meal!”
Before the rude disciple could finish sneering, Zen had kicked his chair back, stood, grabbed the man by the collar, and clenched his left hand as though ready to punch the guy.
At the moment, Nory held Zen's left arm and blurted, “Hey brother, calm down! You are not allowed to fight here. In accordance with the rules of Cloud Sect, disciples who battle with each other will be penalized with a loss of points. The moment you do not have enough points, you will either be kicked out of Cloud Sect or confined in Hell Mountain!”
Hearing Nory's words, Zen relaxed. Ever since his admission to Drizzle Peak, Zen had been informed of the rules governing Cloud Sect. He knew what Nory was saying was right.
Since Zen did not enjoy a high status in Cloud Sect, he had to obey the rules. Both Sean and Master Su had told him this many times.
The young man was apparently prepared to provoke Zen to make him break the rules. Perhaps he intended to drive Zen out of Cloud Sect.
When Zen understood this, he shelved his temper, loosened his grip, and stared at the young man for a moment before saying, “I don't know who ordered you to look for trouble. But to be honest, I doubt if your intelligence is good enough even to be considered as average. I can't believe you would think of such a stupid idea to aggravate me! Since you want a fight, I'll give you a chance to challenge me. How about that?”
Hearing Zen's words, the young man cracked up, “Haha! It's just what I intended to say. So, let's fight in the battle ring, and don't try to escape like a cowardly chicken!”
Cloud Sect had stipulated that disciples could not fight each other privately, or they would be severely punished.
However, Cloud Sect was a martial arts shrine. People who cultivated martial arts for long periods were usually aggressive. Since Cloud Sect had millions of disciples, conflicts between students were inevitable.
The solution was to go to the battle ring.
Every peak within Cloud Sect had a few battle rings.
“Hey, guys. Just calm down! There's no need to go to the battle ring!” said Sean nervously. He had just entered the dining hall when the face-off between Zen and this rude disciple had started. He had witnessed this fierce scene and rushed over to persuade both men to back down.
“Idiot off, Sean. You are nothing! This is none of your business!” The young man sneered. Then he turned to face Zen and continued, “This guy has agreed to fight a duel with me in the battle ring. It's too late to change what's going to happen now! I can wait three days for the battle. You'd better prepare the ground to bury his corpse!” After saying that he turned and left.
“Zen, why couldn't you just ignore his provocation?” asked Sean anxiously.
Nory came up and explained, “Sean, it's not Zen's fault. It was that guy who came looking for trouble!”
“Even so, you should try to avoid conflict. That guy is Leo Xu. Do you know in terms of strength that guy ranks thirtieth from among tens of thousands of outer disciples in Drizzle Peak? Though he has not arrived at the nature level, he is still half a step into the nature level!” It was no wonder that Sean was so anxious. Zen was merely at the top of the organ refining level, but he had agreed to duel with Leo Xu, a cultivator who was half a step into the nature level. Of course, Sean thought Zen was crazy.
“Half a step into the nature level! Ranking thirtieth! Gosh, what can we do?” Nory was stunned after he heard about Leo's strength ranking. Although Nory knew that Zen was much stronger than an ordinary cultivator at the same level, the strength gap between Zen and Leo was still too big.
Half a step into the nature level? Zen frowned. In the Blooded Test, he, by virtue of his strength, killed a level-5 unreal beast, an ogre whose power was comparable to that of a human at the nature level. However, Zen killed the ogre by coincidence.
The ogre was similar to a human at the nature level only by strength and defense. Moreover, he had neither of the wisdom and skills that a cultivator at the nature level should have. He couldn't even control or use his life vitality.
On the other hand, the flying knife had played an essential role at the critical moment. If he had not used the flying knife, Zen would have failed the Blooded Test.
“In my opinion, we'd better tell Master Su about this matter, and Zen should not go to the battle ring,” said Sean, while thinking of Master Su.
The masters in Drizzle Peak didn't behave like cultivation teachers for disciples. For example, Master Su generally did not interfere with the cultivation of her disciples. Every day, the masters issued tasks, organized various activities, maintained order, and distributed rewards.
However, they did not teach disciples how to practice directly.
By contrast, they were more like administrators of Drizzle Peak.
Sean's idea seemed to be a feasible alternative. Maybe it was better to let Master Aura Su deal with the matter.
After silently mulling over the situation for a long time, Zen shook his head and said, “That guy was deliberately looking to cause trouble. I can't avoid it, not to mention I have already agreed to go to the battle ring. If I surrender because of such a small challenge, my cultivation determination will be adversely affected.”
The path of cultivation was full of thorns, and every cultivator had to rely on persistence.
Those with great achievements had shown strong persistence levels.
If Zen flinched in the face of this challenge, his persistence and prospects for the cultivation of martial arts would gradually fade.
Moreover, Zen was curious to find out who had incited Leo to come looking for trouble. Zen did not know who the mastermind was.
Billy? Or the Fang Clan? Perhaps it was Chad from the Zhuge Clan? Zen didn't want to guess. No matter who was going to make trouble for him, he would resist.
“Zen, you… Alas!” sighed Sean. He seemed more anxious than Zen!
Many outer disciples who had witnessed the fight between Zen and Leo, now shook their heads and looked at Zen with pity.
They were all amazed that an outer disciple who had recently joined Drizzle Peak dared to challenge Leo in the battle ring. How stupid he was! In the battle ring, even if a disciple was killed, no one was to blame for it!
In general, if there was no big vendetta, two disciples didn't need to fight in the battle ring. Zen might very well die three days later.
However, Zen seemed very calm. He even comforted Sean, “It's all right! Just remember to come to the battle ring to cheer me on!”
Half a step into the nature level…
The situation was a rare opportunity for Zen. During the arduous fight with Evil Lan, Zen persisted and endured until he won. His reward was reaching the organ refining level! However, at that time, Evil Lan was close to his strength limit.
Despite that, Zen had reached the top of the organ refining level and had lit up two dragon scales in the giant furnace in his mind. As far as strength was concerned, he was much stronger than a cultivator at the marrow refining level.
It seemed risky for Zen to accept the challenge of a cultivator who was half a step into the nature level, but Zen still had a chance to fight and perhaps, even win!
Sean was still anxious about the duel.
Zen was only at the organ refining level. Furthermore, he had entered Drizzle Peak only half a month ago. How dare he accept Leo's challenge in the battle ring? Was he a fool?
After Zen and Nory left the dining hall, Sean considered his options for a long while. Finally, he decided to report the matter to Master Su.
Master Su had spoken with Sean privately a few days ago. She had instructed him to inform her whenever there was news about special matters and performance about Zen.
However, Sean didn't expect that Master Su would show no emotion after hearing the news. She just explained that she would watch the duel three days later.
Sean was tempted to ask why Master Su did not think of stopping the duel between Zen and Leo.
Of course, Aura Su would not interrupt the duel! Her grand goal was to produce a super disciple who would be the most powerful disciple in Cloud Sect, for Drizzle Peak!
In fact, Zen was only one of Aura's many candidates. There had been a few inner disciples with great potential in Drizzle Peak. As far as their refining level was concerned, these inner disciples were far beyond Zen. But somehow, Aura had a hunch that sooner or later, Zen would grow in terms of strength. And when that happened, people including Aura would admire or be even awed by Zen.
As for the situation, Aura would not intervene a lot. She believed that only by experiencing the situation of life and death would disciples be inspired to reach their potential.
Thus, even if Leo hadn't come looking for trouble, Aura would have picked a few disciples to make trouble for Zen.