Chapter 350: The Angry Disciple
“Rush! Rush!”
“Hurry! Hurry!”
The two disciples of Brumous Sect were sweating heavily, their faces turning red. They had done their best to up their speeds and could not get any quicker.
A female disciple of Iridescence Sect behind them waved her hand and a ribbon of blue life-vitality emerged out.
“Breeze without a Trace!”
It was an auxiliary cultivation method to enhance the speed of the disciples.
Soon, a set of breezes floated around the four disciples.
The breezes flew to their legs, and the four disciples appeared to run quicker.
“The platform is right there. Everybody, hold on!” Adler shouted.
Although the platform looked not too far away, the lava sea level had risen as high as the stone pillars. Now, the lava spread across their surface, covering every inch of them as the seconds passed by.
Watching the stone pillars get enveloped by lava, Adler gasped in despair.
“Ahhh! I am burnt!” Another disciple of Brumous Sect stepped in the lava by accident, his foot toasting into a dark color. He dared not halt though and tried to keep going forward. He knew he would die if he stopped moving.
Only four stone pillars were left in front of them. If they managed to use them, they could jump onto the platform.
But the four stone pillars were like the gates to perdition. They were now out of their sight! That meant they had to step into the lava before they could get onto the platform.
A female disciple from Iridescence Sect gritted her teeth, shouting, “Freeze A Thousand Miles!” A small icy, crystal rune materialized on her pretty face.
The move was called 'Freeze A Thousand Miles', but of course, it could not freeze the entire lava sea. In such hot conditions, its impact was greatly reduced. The frost only spanned about thirty feet.
However, it was enough to save their lives.
The frozen frost cooled down the lava, turning it into a solid black mass. The four disciples stepped on it and got on the platform before it could melt.
Just as they jumped onto the platform, the lava melted the frost layers. The stone pillars disappeared. It was a sea of fire around them.
The two male disciples threw themselves onto the platform heavily. The one from Brumous Sect covered his feet and groaned out of pain as he got to the safety of the platform. His feet had been burnt black.
The two female disciples from Iridescence Sect too sat on the platform, panting heavily, their chests heaving up and down.
Adler straightened, taking out a pill from his pocket and putting it in the hurt disciple's mouth. He then took out a jade box from his space ring. It had some green salve in it. Adler smeared the ointment on the burnt foot.
“Eh?” Some of the warriors on the platform looked on curiously. The two disciples from Brumous Sect had come with proper preparations in advance for the fire sea. The green salve was a specialized treatment for burnt skin. It seemed very effective.
After Adler had rubbed in the salve, the disciple stopped groaning. Still, it took a while for him to recover.
Finished with addressing the burnt foot, Adler turned his gaze onto the other warriors. His eyes shifted to Zen in the group. Staring at him, he said coldly, “It was your fault. I'll give you two options—you jump down by yourself or I push you. Which one do you prefer?”
“Oh?” There was a smile in Zen's eyes when he asked, “How was it my fault?”
“You agitated that snake before running away yourself. We had to take great pains to kill that snake together. It cost us plenty of time. If we had been any slower, the four of us would have died in the lava.” The more Adler said, the angrier he got. Fury exuded from his body in waves. “You deserve to die.”
Zen's smile crumbled. “You think I agitated the snake?” he asked. “That's ridiculous. Would it have cheered you up if that snake had eaten me instead? Your lives are precious but mine is not? That doesn't sound very reasonable. You were the ones hiding behind me. If you hadn't wanted that snake to eat me, why did you waste time asking me to lead the way for you? The four of you should have died in the lava... And it would have been fitting. You don't deserve my sympathies at all!”
Hearing this, the other warriors shook their heads. It was true that the two disciples did not deserve any sympathy. They wanted a shortcut and to use others to lead the way. A warrior should not expect such easy ways out.
Moreover, Zen successfully dealt with the snake, all by himself. How could they blame Zen even if he agitated it?
“Sympathy? Ha ha! Who do you think you are? Why do I need your sympathy?” Adler replied, smiling thinly. He pulled out a dark golden spear from his space ring. Waving and pointing it at Zen, he said, “You were not willing to lead the way, were you? Well, in the world of warriors, strength is what decides everything. It's perfectly reasonable. You are not as strong as us, so you must serve as cannon fodder when asked, or die! Understand? But it's too late for you now. I will never grant you another opportunity to serve us. You must be killed!”
“The world of the warriors? Strength decides everything?” Zen repeated Alder's words in a low voice. “I agree with what you said. However, you don't seem to know the real meaning behind your words. Either that or you are not aware of who the stronger one is between us.”
As Zen finished talking, he took out the Streamer Sword from his space ring. Some elements of the sword intent whirled around the Streamer Sword, forming dozens of sword intent cyclones.
Seeing what was about to happen, the other warriors could not stay calm. One of them stood up, saying, "If you two want to fight it out, you can do it after the trial.
Don't fight here! If the platform turns over, all of us will die!"
The platform was supported by many thick columns beneath it. This way, it looked rather like a fan.
The construction was not very solid. Besides, Cloud Road was years old, and so were the columns. If Zen and Adler battled here, the platform would probably collapse.
None of the others wanted to see that happening.
“Adler, please don't fight here. Let him go for now,” one of the female disciples said, even as the other voiced out her agreement.
Adler looked at the sword intent cyclones with a cold expression. However, he was curious. 'He seems to have learned the sword intent, and it seems to be excellent. It looks better than the slender sword intent. Is it the successful sword intent?' Adler wondered, in disbelief of what he was seeing. This had come as a surprise to him.
Adler himself was not good at sword skills. He used a spear, which was why he didn't realize that Zen did not have slender or successful sword intent. It was the consummate sword intent!
But to Adler, it was not so important that Zen had learned the sword intent. What was more important was that Zen was only at the third grade of the nature level, while Adler was the top disciple of the Brumous Sect. He had secured the third position in the Sect Competition of his sect.
If not for the two female disciples, Adler would have rushed to the front of the Cloud Road in no time at all.
“All right. I agree this place is not suitable to fight. Let's not do it here. You're lucky, Zen, otherwise, I would have mauled you like a dog!” Adler waved his spear once more before putting it back into his space ring.
“I am willing to fight here,” Zen said, ignoring Adler's words
“You?!” Adler had assumed that since he had let Zen go easy this time, the latter would play nice to them. But Zen seemed not to mind it at all. Was he wishing for his death?
Like everyone else, Zen feared death. Only those who didn't have love in this world desired death. Zen, however, had everything he could ask for. He didn't want death. His reason for proposing a duel was that he knew the hot lava could not hurt him, seeing as how his body was a spiritual weapon.
If the platform turned over, Zen would not die, although the others might.
Zen found he had nothing more to say to Adler. He found a corner and squatted down while waiting for the lava sea to wane.