Chapter 46: Bluesky Parking Ground
Later that night, Zen took out Anthony's Purple Blue Sword and examined it.
The sword was aesthetic and of good quality.
Its scabbard was inlaid with colorful gems and gold threads. Since the sword was well preserved, Zen could see that Anthony had taken great care of it.
As Zen pulled the blade out of the scabbard, a whoosh sound filled the silence in the room. When the blade was free of its casing, the sword emanated a purple and blue light.
“What a good sword!”
It was a top grade mysterious weapon. The sword looked like it was at the same level as Evil Lan's Hell Fire Sword. But Zen felt that the sword's quality was much better than that of Fire Sword.
He hesitated a little. It was a pity that such a good sword had to be melted.
Anthony had asked his friends to talk with Zen. He wanted to recover his sword, but Zen categorically refused him.
To improve his strength, Zen had to offer the sword to the cyan dragon.
Zen frowned thoughtfully as he gazed at the sword. A while later, Zen had made his decision. Without hesitating further, he began to communicate with the furnace in his mind.
The black flame shot out of his brow and headed straight for the Purple Blue Sword. The black flame was so quick that a strange arc was drawn in the air.
The sword was like firewood. It burned from point to pommel in an instant! When the black flame thoroughly devoured the sword, a few drops of molten iron essence were left behind. In the dimly lit room, these drops of molten iron gave off a brilliant light.
Zen counted the particles of the molten iron essence. His eyes lit up with the number. He murmured, “The Purple Blue Sword is at the same level as Fire Sword, but it gave ten drops of hot metal essence! What a surprise!”
He couldn't explain why this had happened. What was more, Zen had not yet figured out what the hot metal essence was for!
Zen had gone through all the ancient books on weapon refining in Evil Lan's space ring, but he could not find anything about the origin and usage of molten iron essence. Since this was still a mystery to Zen, he had decided to visit weapon refining masters as they might have some explanations for the essence of the molten metal.
After the black flame sent the ten drops of iron to the cyan dragon's mouth, bright green light burst out from two gray scales on the dragon. After the light dissipated, Zen found that another two dragon scales had been activated.
So far, four dragon scales had lit up on the cyan dragon.
Zen clenched his fist and felt the new power surge through him. Earlier, he had reached the marrow refining level. Adding the strength of the four dragon scales, Zen would now have the power to fight against a cultivator at the nature level.
Later that night, Zen completed his preparations. At dawn the next day, he left Drizzle Peak quietly.
Zen hadn't told his friends about his plans. If they knew he had accepted such a dangerous mission, they would feel bound to stop him. Zen knew what he had to do and he was unwilling to waste any more time discussing the subject with others.
What Zen didn't notice was that a man was watching Zen as he left his room.
The tall, dark-skinned man was Liam Cao, with whom Zen had a dispute several days ago, because Liam supported Thomas of the Zhuge clan.
After the fight, Liam Cao sent Thomas back. At that time, he was ordered to spy on Zen. Fren, one of the most gifted children of the Zhuge Clan, had asked him to follow Zen. Fren had instructed Liam to inform him if Zen left Drizzle Peak. Liam was thrilled as he would now be able to avenge himself.
When Liam noticed Zen leave Drizzle Peak in the morning, he was happy that the opportunity had finally come. He inconspicuously followed Zen.
After trailing Zen for a while, Liam realized that Zen was headed to the east of Cloud Sect.
He had thought that Zen was leaving Cloud Sect, but there was no exit to the east. He felt confused about Zen's plans.
It didn't take Zen long to walk to the Bluesky Parking Ground. That was when Liam realized that Zen must have accepted the mission of shielding against insect aggression.
Several days ago, insects began flooding the Empire. Cloud Sect had tasked many disciples with killing these blade locusts.
Since the insect infestation was in the southern part of the Empire, it would take the disciples a long time to cross the mountains and rivers by foot. The journey was so long that if disciples traveled by foot, the insect aggression would probably be over by the time the disciples arrived.
Therefore, most disciples used the Bluesky Parking Ground to reach their destination quicker.
There were gigantic flying chariots in Cloud Sect and the Bluesky Parking Ground was the place where the gigantic flying chariots parked. The chariot was so quick that it would take only a day to reach the southern part of the Empire.
Now that Zen had stopped at the Bluesky Parking Ground, it must mean that he was also going South to kill the blade locusts.
Liam wondered why Zen was in a hurry to take a task that seemed beyond his ability.
“Since you're in such a hurry to die, I'll give you a hand!” With a cold smile on his face, Liam retreated slowly. He would report the matter to Fren first.
The Bluesky Parking Ground was a manmade square landing pad, about ten feet high.
When Zen climbed up the steps, he found that many Cloud Sect disciples were waiting.
They were at the Bluesky Parking Ground for the same purpose as Zen. They had all accepted the task of destroying the insect aggression as ordered by Cloud Sect.
Most of the disciples were dressed in black robes, and only a few wore white robes. Everyone looked powerful and aggressive. Apparently, they had been forged in the sea of blood and had improved their power through life and death experience.
Regardless of whether it was an outer disciple in a white robe or an inner disciple in a black robe, when they saw Zen, astonishment flashed in their eyes.
What surprised them was not that there was anything special about Zen, but that he was only at the marrow refining level. His cultivation level was too low for this task.
The mission of shielding against the insect aggression was not easy. For starters, blade locusts attacked in large numbers. If that wasn't daunting enough, each locust was extremely strong. What was scarier was that they didn't fear death. Even in the face of several strong men, many desperate blade locusts would dash ahead and lay siege on their enemies regardless of their safety.
Even a cultivator who was a half step into the nature level was likely to be killed by the blade locusts if he didn't pay attention to their siege.
So the minimum eligibility for accepting this task was that the disciple be a half-step cultivator into the nature level.
But now a person at the marrow refining level had been accepted for the task. It was thus, normal for them to have such a strange reaction.
Zen ignored the astonished look on these people. He found a corner on the Bluesky Parking Ground, sat down, and closed his eyes.
Opposite Zen stood four or five inner disciples. As they whispered among each other, they shot several glances at Zen.
Their voices were neither too loud nor too low. It was just at the right level for Zen to hear clearly. Apparently, they were speaking at that level on purpose.
“Since when can a cultivator at the marrow refining level accept such a dangerous mission?”
“There are many different kinds of people in the world. It is folly to assume that some people are in a hurry to find a way to die. Some people simply overestimate themselves.”
“Hey, I'm going to tease him!”
After making that statement, one disciple walked toward Zen. The tall, strong man strolled up to Zen, studied him up and down, and said, “Hey, boy, are you going to kill blade locusts, too?”
Zen opened his eyes, stared at the strong man, and said, “Is there a problem?”
“Ha-ha,” the strong man gave out a queer laugh. “You're just at the marrow refining level. Considering your strength, I'm afraid you'll be split into two by the blade locusts!”
“Oh,” Zen answered simply. Then he closed his eyes again.
Seeing Zen's reaction, the strong man knew that his intimidation did not seem to have any effect. He took a closer look at Zen and saw the token on his waist. He stretched forth his hand to take the token.
Just as the strong man was about to grab the token, Zen's eyes flew open. Quickly, he grasped the strong man's arm. In the next moment, Zen used the momentum of his body to position himself behind the strong man agilely. Before the disciple could blink, Zen had grabbed him by his neck and pressed the broken flying knife against his neck.
Although the knife was broken, it looked sharp, as if it could cut anything in the world. The strong man shivered as the cold from the flying knife's blade spread through his body.
The strong man's friends were frightened when they saw this. They did not expect the unremarkable boy to be fierce enough to defeat the strong man in a blink.
“Hey, bro, we're all disciples of Cloud Sect. Don't hurt him, please.”
“Take it easy, boy, Gordon was just joking!”
The strong man's friends tried to placate Zen.
“Is he acquainted with me? Why did he want to take my token?” Zen asked with a straight face.
One of Gordon's friends said, “I'm sorry. This is all Gordon's fault. Let him go, please. He meant no harm. Gordon, come on, make an apology quickly.”
Gordon had never been more scared in his life. He could feel that Zen was intent on killing him. If he had really attacked this boy, Gordon would have been dead by now. His voice trembled as he said, “I'm ... I'm sorry. I was just kidding. I didn't mean to offend you.”
Hearing Gordon's words, Zen took away his knife and put it back in the space ring. He took a few steps back without saying a word. However, his expression conveyed the skepticism he was feeling.
Although Zen had become a disciple of the Cloud Sect, he had not stopped being vigilant. Since stepping into Cloud Sect, many people had secretly plotted against him. These experiences helped Zen understand that the law of the jungle was still being followed in this holy land of martial arts.
Big fish ate little fish. If he wanted to survive, he needed to get stronger.
The strong man sighed with relief when Zen stepped back. Gently, he touched his neck with his hands. Then he looked at Zen with admiration.
Gordon wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge. As he looked at Zen, a broad smile spread across his face. He said, “Hi, my name is Gordon. The five of us are a team. We specialize in hunting blade locusts. The blade locusts prefer to attack in groups. So if you are alone, you will be in trouble.”
Zen didn't respond to the strong man's words.
The strong man continued, “Well, to tell you the truth, if you want to hunt for blade locusts, you'd better team up with a few people to avoid being surrounded by the blade locusts. Why don't you join us?”
Zen rejected his suggestion with an emphatic shake of his head, “Thanks, I'm used to being alone.”
After that Zen looked for another corner. After having found a quiet place, he sat down and closed his eyes again.
The scene had attracted the attention of many people on the ground.
Most people put aside their contempt, including some of the inner disciples who were stepping into the nature level. Seriousness gleamed in their eyes.
All cultivators liked to put themselves in a hypothetically dangerous situation. They wondered if they could have avoided Zen's flying knife had they been in the strong man's position.
Most people already knew that they couldn't. Zen's reaction was too quick, and his knife was too sudden.
Of course, Zen had better things to do than try to figure out why these disciples were staring at him and what they were thinking about. As he meditated, Zen heard a trembling sound in the air. When he looked up, he saw a monolith descending from the sky.
It was a giant flying chariot.