Chapter 348: Appearance Of The Red Fire Snake
Four disciples stood by the lava sea, two were ladies from the Iridescence Sect and the other two were guys.
As soon as the male disciples saw Zen, they rolled their eyes, glancing at him disdainfully. Zen recognized them immediately as elite members of the Brumous Sect. When they had first arrived escorted by their leader, they had noticed Zen at that time.
Considering these two elitists thumbed their noses at even the Illuminating Soul Realm disciples, there was no way they would take a disciple at the level of nature creature like Zen seriously.
Actually, aside from Zen and Rocher, who were both nature creatures, the lowest ranking disciples participating from the Cloud Hall and the other five sects were at the first level in the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Unbelievably, at the third grade of nature level, Zen was the lowest ranking disciple at the trial.
Regardless of how Zen tried to keep a low profile, there was no way for him to go unnoticed. He was at the third grade of nature level and surrounded by disciples who were at the Illuminating Soul Realm, which made him as conspicuous as a firefly lighting up the sky at sunset on a warm summer night.
Zen hadn't planned to cross the lava ocean yet. Like the other four disciples, first, he wanted to observe what he would be up against silently. He'd seen a hundred-foot long black wire, suspended over the ocean which got Zen thinking. He thought, if he could reach the line, he could travel down the length with his understanding of the space rules.
But, he realized that it wouldn't work because the ocean was boundless, and if he were going to cross it, Zen would need enough force to propel himself more than a hundred miles, and the line fell substantially short of the far side of the ocean.
As Zen stood there puzzling out how to cross the lava, one of the male disciples waved at Zen and indifferently said, “Hey you! Yeah, you, over there! Come here!”
Zen's face darkened into a scowl as he stood where he was, staring back at the disciple, and responded, “Who? Me? Why? What's up?”
“Cut the garbage and just get over here!” said the other Brumous Sect disciple in a huff.
By the condescending tone that the two elite disciples used, Zen knew they took it for granted that they could boss him about because he was at the third grade of nature level, and he wouldn't be taken seriously as a refiner.
At first thought, Zen was going to handle the situation by snubbing the two, but, as he took a deep breath, he calmed down, and in that second, Zen decided against it. The Cloud Road trial wasn't like the Blooded Test. Throughout the Blooded Test, contestants could attack each other, and the magic array guarded them so that no one would die.
But, there was no magic array at the Cloud Road, so, if anyone were to perish, it would be final.
Plus, the purpose of the trial was not to win any fights. Instead, the participants needed to traverse the Cloud Road.
Beyond any of that though, Zen assumed he could get some useful information from them about the lava ocean.
Plastering a broad grin on his face as the thought came to mind, Zen walked over to them and asked, “What's up, bros?”
“Listen up! We've decided that when the Sea of Raging Fire has subsided, you're going to be the first one to cross it. Got it?” barked the male disciple viciously. He probably thought Zen could be easily intimidated.
One of the disciples from the Iridescence Sect glanced at Zen with a compassionate look and said, “Adler! Don't be like that! It's cruel!”
Grinning, Adler Pang added, “And what's wrong with being cruel? I want him to obey me! It's strange that a disciple at the third grade of nature level would be permitted into the Cloud Road. The rules are too lax. In the future, if I become an elder at the Cloud Hall, I'll make sure the rules are changed!”
“You? The Elder of Cloud Hall? You are quite ambitious, aren't you, Adler?” commented the other Iridescence Sect disciple with a playful smile on her face.
Zen couldn't care less about Adler's boasts to the Iridescence Sect ladies. He focused on what he'd just learned. Zen now knew that the lava ocean was the Sea of Raging Fire and that when the sea ebbed out, the fires waned. That seemingly small piece of information meant the genuine road appeared during low tide after the fires abated.
Other disciples had probably crossed the ocean already, during the last low-tide. Now, the other four disciples and Zen were going to wait until the next ebb and cross.
Zen deduced that Adler Pang wanted him to go first because there were other perils aside from the fires.
If that were what Adler wanted, then Zen would lead the way, blazing the way for the others, concluded Zen silently.
They had only waited for about five minutes before the ocean's lava lurched abruptly.
Sizzzz! Pop! Splat!
As the lava swelled, pressure built before the sizzling bubble burst, spewing the sweltering heat everywhere.
“The fires of the Sea of Raging Fire are subsiding!” exclaimed Adler. He gave Zen a fiendish glance and said, “When you see the road under the sea appear, move forward!”
“I order you to move forward, and you have to do what I say. If you start with any nonsense and decide not to do what I tell you, then there won't be any hope of you finishing alive!” threatened Adler callously.
As the fires abated, a row of round stone pillars appeared on the ocean floor. Each stone support was the same size as a round table, with seven or eight meters between each of them, and continued over the horizon. The group would be able to cross the sea by stepping from one to the next.
Not giving a wit for what Adler said to him, Zen quickly studied the road before rushing headlong and jumped through the air to the closest pillar.
“Wow! He's incredibly fast!” exclaimed Adler in surprise. Then turning to the others, he said, “Okay! It's time to head out! Let's follow him!” The group of four took off, heading out after Zen, leaping to the first pillar, and then the next.
Zen darted along, leaping from pillar to pillar without slowing down. Watching him speed ahead agilely, the group surmised he would cross the Sea of Raging Fire in no time at all.
Just as Zen reached the two-mile mark, a ball of flames suddenly shot up in front of him, just off to the left. It didn't look like these were lava flames, and on top of that, the fire shooting up appeared to be alive!
“A fiery evil spirit?”
wondered Zen aloud, furrowing his eyebrows.
A fiery evil spirit was a lifeform that was born within the flames. Once, Zen had absorbed some fire of the earth's core, which could form a fire spirit as well. But, the fire he met at the cave wasn't aged, so, it didn't develop into a fiery evil spirit. At the time, Zen didn't possess the strength to escape a real encounter against a fiery evil spirit.
After the first fiery evil spirit appeared, more followed, pouncing onto the pillars. It was evident that the fiery evil spirits were an obstacle designed to block passage.
Glaring at the fiery evil spirits, Zen elected not to waste time on them, and with a wave of his hand, his purple-black life vitality appeared and formed six vortexes on either side of him.
“Demonic phantom!”
Suddenly, six demonic phantoms appeared and savagely lunged at the fiery evil spirits.
The fiery evil spirits appeared sentient and grew ferocious at the sight of the demonic phantoms coming at them, and their flames grew more vehement, burning hotter, and charging at full tilt towards the demonic phantoms that rushed at them.
Snuff! Snuff! Snuff!
It was plain that the fiery evil spirits weren't expecting the demonic phantoms that were unleashed by Zen to be as powerful. In the instant that the fiery evil spirits slammed into the demonic phantoms, flames exploded. Before the demonic phantoms engulfed them, their flames were extinguished.
Because the fiery evil spirits had no real form, existing only as a highly condensed flame, they gained strength from their extremely high temperatures that they produced, which made them vulnerable to the onslaught from the phantoms.
On the other hand, Zen had formed the demonic phantoms using his life vitality. Although the high temperatures harbored by the fiery evil spirits could cause damage to Zen's life vitality, it wouldn't be able to harm Zen very much.
Snuff! Snuff! Snuff!
As more fiery evil spirits slammed into Zen's demonic phantoms, they suffocated, the flames remaining blazed just ahead of Zen. With the demonic phantoms clearing the path ahead, Zen stepped forward steadily.
More fiery evil spirits were ahead, and after seeing what happened to the other fiery evil spirits as they were pulled irresistibly to the demonic phantoms, they plunged into the Sea of Raging Fire, knowing they would be unable to escape the fate that befell the ones who'd just been snuffed out.
“Ha-ha! I knew it was wise for him to lead the way!” chuckled Adler, proud of his bullying tactics.
“His strength isn't half bad! He surpasses usual nature creatures. But, he isn't a match for us,” remarked another disciple, grinning.
As Zen forged the way ahead, the four disciples only had to follow him, and were rather relaxed.
Just then, a large lava bubble rose up from the Sea of Raging Fire, appearing ahead of them. As the bubble expanded, a giant snake head popped out of the lava.
All color drained from Adler's face, and he shouted, “Dang it! It's a red fire snake! What do we do now? Idiot! What trash luck!”
“Let's take it on, together. Even though the red fire snake is ferocious, we can beat it, if the four of us work together!” encouraged a female disciple of the Iridescence Sect.
“Let's wait a minute, and see how he handles it!” declared Adler. There was a devious smirk spreading across Adler's pallid face as he came to an abrupt halt, and raised his arm to stop the other three disciples from rushing ahead.
Envy being just another part of human nature, in the eyes of the four disciples, Zen would never be an equal match. However, Zen was more talented, as well as being more advanced than when they were in the third grade of nature level. If at some point, Zen gained entry into the Cloud Hall, he would undoubtedly outrank them in no time.
If however, Zen were careless and fell into the sea, and was cremated, or if he were to battle the red fire snake, and be devoured, they wouldn't be unhappy about his fate.