Chapter 354: The Ghost-faced Spider
Standing at the arched gateway, Fernandez laughed, “That's amazing! He is indeed a brave boy! He's a promising disciple, Kenneth. You must have put a lot of time and effort on him!”
Seeing Zen's performance, Kenneth was relieved. Zen was not only powerful, but his mind and ways of doing things were also a lot better than that of Evan.
Truth be told, the Cloud Hall disciples' arrogance came from the power and influence of the Cloud Hall, and that gave them the nerve to suppress the disciples from the second-grade sects. But they were not all to blame. Anyone who had become the disciples of the Cloud Hall would do the same. But Zen had a strong resolution compared to other practitioners.
He knew his opponent's identity and was aware that he could attract the attention of the Cloud Hall with his strength and skill. 'Yes, it's true that you're a disciple from Cloud Hall. But I will soon become a Cloud Hall disciple who is way better than you. We're on the same level, so you couldn't suppress me by the name of Cloud Hall! You're pathetic!' Zen thought.
His understanding of this matter showed that he had extraordinary strength, great vision, and confidence.
But when Kenneth heard Fernandez's remarks about him putting a lot of efforts on cultivating Zen, his face blushed.
As the leader of the Cloud Sect, Kenneth had paid attention to Rocher, Patrick, Jacques, and Tracy, but he never noticed Zen. He had never heard of him, let alone got to know that Zen was Yan's brother.
Zen was like someone popping out of nowhere. If it was not in the All Peaks Competition where Zen emerged as the victor with his great strength, Kenneth would have never noticed this young man.
Therefore, it was ironic that Kenneth had never put any efforts on cultivating Zen, or given a little bit guidance to him.
So hearing Fernandez's words, Kenneth could only force a smile and laugh it off.
Kenneth was riding high in this Cloud Road test with Zen winning the recognition from Fernandez. Moreover, Rocher and Patrick also stood out among the contestants. Through the Picture Slab, Kenneth saw that Rocher and Patrick had already crossed the second phase of the Cloud Road.
As for the leaders of the other four sects, they could only watch with envy. Eddy remained silent. Rocher ranked third in Cloud Sect and he made a sweeping victory over all Eddy's Red Sect disciples. Moreover, there were Patrick and Zen whose strength were beyond imagination. Eddy was already hopeless that his disciples would win over Kenneth's.
“No matter how powerful Zen is, if he meets Frank and Lennon of the Cloud Hall, I'm afraid that he would be in trouble. I guess I just have to wait and see how he will deal with them.” Fernandez shook his head and smiled. “I hope that Zen won't irritate them too much when he confronts them, otherwise he would end in a bad shape.”
“Frank who? Are you referring to Emanuel's son, Master Fei?” The leader of the Iridescence Sect suddenly said with a smile. The old lady had kept a straight face all the time, and it wasn't until she heard the name of Frank that she cracked a smile.
Fernandez nodded and replied, “Yes. I heard that Emanuel is also paying a lot of attention to Frank's performance in the Cloud Road test. He has planned to come here to watch for himself but was held up by some urgent affairs in the Cloud Hall.”
The leader of the Iridescence Sect grinned, showing her two broken teeth, “Frank is the real talent, an outstanding disciple indeed. Don't compare Frank with that nobody.”
“Lady Long, how can you say that? Zen is somebody. I know your eldest disciple Lois Jin is engaged to Frank. But that doesn't give you the right to belittle a disciple from Cloud Sect!” Kenneth was unhappy to hear Lady Long's words. Although he knew Lady Long was not a person to be trifled with, he didn't want anyone to insult his disciples especially Zen who gave so much honor to him. The best he could do for Zen was to step up and defend him.
“Huh! He is only a boy from the grassroots. I can say anything I want about him! Unless, of course, his name is gilded with gold. But is it? Yes, he's a surprisingly strong young man, but in my eyes, he has too many irons in the fire. I'm sure that he can't go too far! Frank and Zen are all on the Cloud Road. They will meet each other soon. I need not say more. Just wait and see. Moreover, I…,”
Lady Long babbled on and it gave Kenneth a headache. All the other leaders chuckled in a playful manner.
Everyone knew that Lady Long was a tough person to tangle with, and Kenneth was not wise to make trouble for himself.
It was a lost cause so Kenneth just calmed down and suppressed his anger. Though he didn't refute verbally, he was cursing Lady Long in his heart repeatedly. 'Huh! Let's see! Zen is never easy to be defeated as he appears. It doesn't matter if Frank is Emanuel's son, or if Lennon has exceptional strength. Those things do not matter to Zen!' he thought.
While the leaders were talking, Zen had made his way to the passage at the back of the platform.
The so-called secret test was not really hidden from the public view. There were stone pillars on the Sea of Raging Fire along the passage and anyone would immediately notice the place. So, it didn't make sense why it was called a secret test.
Also, entering the small island was not a prerequisite to cross the Cloud Road. So, this small island could be considered an optional test in the Cloud Road.
When Zen reached the end of the passageway, he set foot on the small island.
The boiling lava hit on the rocks like waves and would eventually harden into a layer of black rock. It continuously hit the rocks, forming layer after layer of hardened black rock. It started to look like a wrinkle in human skin.
Zen was in awe to see a small island on the Sea of Raging Fire. More strangely, there were plants growing there.
From its name, the Sea of Raging Fire, it was known that the place was a sea of lava. The air smelled of sulfur. The cultivators' bodies were strong enough for them to withstand it. But if a normal human would come here even for a short time, he would immediately be choked by the smell and pass out.
So, Zen was surprised to see some plants on the island. The plants needed oxygen to grow, so he was amazed that the plants managed to survive given the air condition. Zen was in awe and it made him appreciate marvelous things that the Creator made.
Before this, Zen had met plants which could crawl on the ground. So nothing much could shock him given that he was in such a weird world full of shattered floating remnants.
He was starting to get sick of the sea of lava. So, now that he entered the jungle, he felt much relaxed.
While enjoying the pleasant scenery, Zen's guard was up. It was a secret test after all, and he knew that it wasn't going to be easy.
He saw a passageway in the jungle. As he got closer to it, he saw that it was blazed by someone with brutal force. The tree branches that were cut off by hacking knives could be seen everywhere and there were also randomly scattered footprints on the ground.
He assumed that it was the doing of the Cloud Hall disciples who were here before him.
Zen was happy that he could save a lot of effort with this passageway in front of him. He walked on it without hesitation.
But only after a few steps, he heard a rustling sound, but it immediately disappeared.
He turned around but didn't find anything strange. To make sure, he even used his spiritual force to sense the surroundings. But still, there was nothing except for trees and plants.
Zen began to walk again. But after another few steps, he heard the rustling sound again.
“What's it?” Zen frowned and paused. He looked around, but there was still nothing.
Despite seeing nothing, he was sure that he was being followed. It was good at hiding itself that even his sharp sense failed to detect it.
Whenever he started to move, the rustling sound rang in his ear. Zen turned around swiftly and this time, he saw that the trees were covered with numerous spiders as big as a fist. Aside from their size, there was another weird thing about them; it was strange that they had the face of a ghost.
“Ghost-faced spiders? And they are huge!”
The ghost-faced spider was rare and seldom showed itself, but such creature was widely known in the Eastern Region. On its back was a ghost face and it was extremely poisonous. The ghost-faced spider could be used as a medicine, to make pills, or to make poisons.
But the commonly seen ghost-faced spiders were small. Zen hadn't seen a ghost-faced spider as big as a fist. Moreover, those creatures seemed to have the ability to camouflage. They could hide their breaths and if they lurked behind the leaves, Zen could not detect their existence.
Many ghost-faced spiders were hanging on the trees, and they cast greedy eyes on their prey as if preparing to press on him simultaneously.
“Go away!”
With his eyes on the spiders, Zen slowly stepped backward to the direction he was heading. The consummate sword intent emanated from the Streamer Sword he was holding, and it began to rotate.
The spiders zoomed towards him with rustling sounds.
As Zen made a move, the ghost-faced spiders swarmed around and jumped onto the treetops. They were trying to submerge Zen with their huge number.