Chapter 357: The Man In A Black Cloak
Lennon shook his head and answered,“I'm afraid that's not possible. Each of us only has one chance to go there. And you can no longer get close to the cliff after you fall for the first time.”
That was true. When the Hall Cloud disciple tried to get close to the cliff, he was blocked by an enchanted barrier. He rushed toward the enchanted barrier and bumped his head heavily leaving his forehead bleeding. Even the Water Wind Kill from the Twelve Earthly Branches Array could not break it.
“Everyone can only try once. If you fall, the enchanted barrier will not let you go in again. So, take your time. We can try one at a time,” Lennon said.
Seeing what happened to the first disciple, the other disciples hesitated. They were reckless in the beginning because they thought the first one to try would get the best rewards. But now all of them saw how the first disciple failed. What could happen to the rest? From there, they realized that there was no need to hurry.
They decided to let others go first while the rest could watch. This way, they could assess the difficulty and come up with a plan on how to deal with it better. But none of them seemed to want to be the next one to try.
At that moment, a man wearing a black cloak suddenly appeared from the jungle. He rushed towards the cliff like a plume of black smoke.
“Who is that?”
Lennon's face sank at the sight of the man in a black cloak. He quickly took out a green Caltrop Pike. He pointed it to the man and tried to stab him swiftly.
Lennon was quick, but to everyone's surprise, he missed. The black figure was jumping forward the cliff, and when Lennon attacked, he stomped his feet midair and his body suddenly changed position.
Everyone knew that flying was not allowed in the Cloud Road. They assumed that the black figure also knew about this because he jumped to change direction. This was an unusual skill.
This made it difficult for Lennon to attack, hence he failed to stab him.
When they realized the possible threat, the other disciples took out their weapons. Meanwhile, the black figure continuously jumped in different directions. As the disciples attacked, he rolled himself to avoid the attack and continued rushing into the enchanted barrier in front of the cliff.
After he passed the enchanted barrier, he was finally safe. The enchanted barrier would be his shield from any outside attacks.
'That's an amazing skill!' Zen sighed to himself. His eyes widened in awe in the dark. Zen could not take his eyes off the strange man.
He didn't look like a disciple from the Cloud Hall but from one of the five second-grade sects. Each sect had its own unique power. Although the disciples from the Red Sect were not doing good in the Cloud Road at the time, there should be some outstanding ones from Auspice Sect and Iridescence Sect.
“Come on! Let's seize that guy!” the disciples from the Cloud Hall shouted from the outside.
Lennon's face turned black and he shook his head again. “This cliff only allows one person at a time. If he's in, all we can do is wait.”
“So, you mean we'll just wait here and watch him take all the boxes away?” one of the disciples asked angrily. For the Cloud Hall disciples, all the boxes on the cliff belonged to them. Even if they could not take them all, they didn't want anyone to take them.
Lennon felt angry, too. But right now, there was nothing he could do but wait. A while ago, they encountered the arrogant guy at the third grade of the nature level. Lennon did not hesitate to kill him immediately with the Water Wind Kill of the Twelve Earthly Branches Array. He clearly knew how powerful the array was! Even himself could not bear the power of the array made by twelve disciples at Illuminating Soul Realm.
But this guy was able to escape from the Water Wind Kill using his weird steps.
This fact annoyed Lennon to a great extent. 'What does he think of the disciples from the Cloud Hall? Does he think we are so easy to deal with that he can just come and go freely in front of us? And he's just at the third grade of the nature level!' Lennon bitterly thought. Even an ordinary disciple could defeat such a guy, but he successfully escaped from the Twelve Earthly Branches Array!
They were the ones who defeated the spiders, hence they deserved to get all the treasures. But now another guy appeared and went ahead into the cliff. There was no way that Lennon could accept this. For him, it was unreasonable for this guy to just show up and take the loot without doing any work.
“The boxes are not easy to take. Calm yourselves! Let's make an array! Even if he's lucky enough to get a box, he cannot escape from us!”
At Lennon's command, the twelve disciples started to make the array as they stared at the cliff. Once the guy in black cloak left the cliff, they would attack him at once. With the power of the twelve disciples at the Illuminating Soul Realm, he would surely die even if he got the box.
The guy seemed to ignore what the twelve disciples were doing and walked calmly to the platforms on the cliff.
Outside the Cloud Road, Fernandez laughed and asked,“Who is that disciple? He dares to defy Lennon. I must say, he's as brave as Zen!”
“There's no doubt that he is Lewis from our Auspice Sect, Elder Fei. Even if he's wearing a black cloak, I can tell from the way he moves,” the leader of the Auspice Sect said with a smile. He was an old man in a white gown. He was excited to watch Lewis Baili.
A better performing disciple was the crowning glory of a sect leader. The leader of the Auspice Sect was feeling proud at that moment.
“Good! Lewis is doing very well. Now, it's up to him how many boxes he can take in one shot,” Fernandez sighed and went on talking. “There are too many secrets in the Cloud Road, but unfortunately, we can no longer enter it since we're now higher than the third grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm. But I can still remember that the things inside the red boxes were very attractive, even to us! If my memory serves me right, it's a secret medicine to strengthen the soul. The ones in the blue box are more unusual,”
Kenneth nodded his head and said,“You're right. Sixty years ago, I attended the Cloud Road. At that time, Osmond joined us. He got the blue box and later improved his strength greatly. Thus, he became the elder of the Cloud Hall!”
“Yes, Kenneth. And if I'm not mistaken, Osmond's talent was not as good as yours before you attended the Cloud Road. Presumably, the thing in the blue box is an extremely good chance. So, Osmond is now the elder of our Cloud Hall, while you're only a steward,” Lady Long said beside them with a cold smile.
Kenneth didn't feel upset. Instead, he said,“Good chance relates to a practitioner's luck. Anyone can become the elder of the Cloud Hall. But the fact that Osmond became the elder of Cloud Hall was not just because of luck or the blue box. He was destined for it. I don't think I have the need to be jealous.”
“Kenneth is right,” Fernandez agreed and nodded his head. “The head of our Cloud Hall got the silver box. But you can't say the reason for our great leader's position and strength is just because of that silver box.”
“What do you mean? It was our leader who got the silver box?!” The sect leaders were astonished. It was the first time that they had heard about it.
Fernandez nodded and replied,“Yes, but no one followed suit. And not to mention the gold and the black boxes. They remained unopened for the past years.”
The leaders of the sects watched the boxes on the cliff through the Picture Slab. They all yearned for those boxes. Being as strong as they were now, it would be so easy to take away these boxes. But the Cloud Road did not allow them to enter for the second time. It was such a pity!
“Look! Lewis has jumped onto the first platform. As the rules of the cliff, one can only get one box of the same color. If Lewis gets a red one, his next target should be the blue one,” Fernandez said slowly.
“Lewis, can take that red box! I know he can!” The head of Auspice Sect had high confidence in Lewis. Lewis Baili was his favorite disciple and the most outstanding talent of the Auspice Sect in thousands of years.
The platform Lewis was standing on was exactly the one the first disciple from the Cloud Hall chose but failed to take.
As soon as Lewis jumped on the platform, a sharp sound echoed from the cave. It meant that the fierce wind would appear very soon.
“Blow him off!”
“Let's wait until he falls down. We will cut him into pieces then!”
the disciples down the cliff shouted. Apparently, they were ready to attack Lewis anytime he fell off the cliff.