Chapter 358: The Blue Treasure Box
“Hooo... hooo... hooo...”
The wind kept blowing violently out of the cave, whistling with strong gusts like an ancient behemoth's breaths.
It whipped across Lewis' cloak and made rustling noises, but the man's feet were stable as if deeply rooted on the stone platform, so no matter how hard the wind blew, he was unmoving, standing steady as a mountain!
“That guy...”
Disciples from Cloud Hall were stunned as they watched Lewis, whom they never thought to be so powerful that he would choose to face the wind's momentum head on.
“Hooo... hooo... hooo...”
After Lewis resisted the first attack of strong gusts, the wind suddenly increased momentum and blew more violently. Aside from the increasingly brutal onslaught of air, there were wind blades rushing towards Lewis.
“Wind blades? Good! Cut him to pieces!”
a Cloud Hall's disciple shouted.
With his head covered by a cloak, the other disciples couldn't see Lewis' expression. However, because of the blast from the wind blades, he was suddenly moving in a very unusual way.
Commonly, when there was a blast of strong wind, a person would even get blown away as long as he retreated slightly. Surprisingly, Lewis remained firmly in place.
The audience saw him slowly zigzagging his way forward. Because of the strange way he was walking, he successfully avoided the frontal attack of the wind blades. But he didn't retreat, and moved along the stone platform one step at a time, towards the red treasure box!
'What strange steps! The cloak boy may be adopting the method that sailors use when sailing against the current!' Zen thought. He was closely observing Lewis' movement and then suddenly, his eyes brightened.
If an experienced sailor wanted to row upstream in the water, he would not paddle against the wind. The better option was for him to row sideways as if zigzagging, to effectively make use of the upwind's pressure to help him move forward. The boats would always move forward in a zigzag whenever these were sailing against the current.
Cleverly, the boy in a cloak was using the same principle to move along. The strategy was two-pronged: the wind's force did not hold him back, and to a certain extent it even served as additional support, and at the same time, it helped him evade the wind blades.
“Wow, the cloak boy is so brilliant!” Zen exclaimed. He was very impressed by how Lewis succeeded in fighting off the strong winds.
On the other hand, the faces of Cloud Hall's disciples turned deathly gray. No one ever imagined how the cloak boy was able to escape being harmed by the wind blades. But what was more astonishing was that Lewis wasn't retreating but instead moving forward against the wind.
The Cloud Hall's disciple, who was earlier blown away by the violent wind, was the most astonished among his group. Initially, he felt disappointed, unwilling to admit his failure, which he attributed mainly to lack of preparation time. But now it seemed that even if he had withstood the onslaught of the first gust of wind with sheer strength, he would not have coped with the second gust followed by the wind blades.
Obtaining the red treasure box was very tempting. But to do so, the challenge for anyone was as tough as reaching for the sky.
In fact, based on the number of treasure boxes being opened, one could determine how difficult it was to accomplish this. Cloud Road test was held once every three years. And to date, so many trials had been staged, yet, only a few treasure boxes had been taken away. Every three years, there were so many top disciples from the five second-grade sects and the Cloud Hall who would participate in the Cloud Road test. Yet, even with their remarkable skills, only a few of them managed to get the treasure boxes.
Since the treasure box was so tough to obtain, the opportunity and benefit hidden in it were not only tempting but also astounding.
Lewis inched his way towards the red treasure box, continuing to walk sideways, in a zigzag pattern. Finally, he stood in front of his goal and opened it. The moment he did so, the violent wind blowing from the cave slowly stopped.
“He's got it!” one disbelieving participant excitedly announced.
A second voice bellowed, “The cloak boy opened the red treasure box!”
“Dang it! I was hoping to get that red treasure box, but he got it ahead of me!” another participant yelled in irritation.
Many of the Cloud Hall's disciples were utterly envious of Lewis' success, and a number of them broke out into curses to display their frustration. How could they not be jealous of such a feat?
Although these disciples from Cloud Hall were unsure of getting the red treasure box, they harbored high hopes of being able to get to it. In their minds, the treasure box was like a beautiful woman they had always coveted. While they knew there was only a slim chance of pursuing that beautiful woman, there was still a glimmer of hope in their hearts. Now, there was no time to start the pursuit because she had already become someone's lover. So at that moment, it was not hard to imagine the depression and grief they felt.
After opening the red treasure box, something black popped out of it, the shape of which seemed to be continually changing. After the thing appeared, it crept into the brow of the cloak boy, who stood motionless on the towering platform. Not a muscle moved as the black creature slowly slipped into his brow.
'I heard that inside the red treasure boxes on the cliff's first layer are rare treasures of the world that can make one's soul stronger. And it looks like what I have heard is right, ' Lennon thought as he nodded secretly. But he was in no hurry. There were still many other treasure boxes on the cliff. Any person wanting a treasure box could only take one of each color. Sooner or later, Lennon thought he could enter the cliff and take a treasure box that belonged to him.
After standing there for several minutes, Lewis ascended to a higher part of the cliff and this time, tried to reach for the blue treasure box!
“As the saying goes, a man whose heart is not content is like a snake that tries to swallow an elephant. The red treasure box is already difficult to obtain. And now he's trying to get the blue treasure box? Forget your fancy dream!” one disciple from Cloud Hall burst out angrily at the cloak boy.
“Everybody, get ready for the boxes now! I guess as soon as he arrives there, he's going to fall...” another disciple from the Cloud Hall shouted.
He remained skeptical of Lewis' abilities.
Meanwhile, Lewis was busy climbing up the cliff as agile as a monkey, swinging extremely fast until he reached the second floor.
Just as he reached the second stone platform, a raging fire burst out of the cave behind the platform!
“Boom!” came a loud sound from where the fire originated.
Huge flames nearly covered the entire stone platform, and the fire was akin to a giant monster spreading its long hot tongue, roughly forty or fifty feet long. And the whole valley of the secret area slowly felt the horrors of heat.
Even the Cloud Hall's disciples, who stood at the bottom of the valley, sensed a sharp rise in temperature, and they easily imagined the heat emitted by the fire.
“So...so freak fire! How does he expect to get that box?” some timid disciples of Cloud Hall yelled. But Lewis wasn't the only crazily courageous disciple. There were other ambitious warriors, including Lennon, who were aiming to get not just the red treasure box but also the blue treasure box.
But once they saw the huge flames, one by one, they gave up the idea immediately. Even with their current strength, it was impossible for them to obtain a treasure box under those conditions. If they pushed themselves to climb up, losing face was a small thing compared to something more horrible like getting themselves killed.
With his back closely pressed to the platform, Lewis covered his body with a layer of cyan life vitality that seemed to be formed by a secret cultivation method, which could endure the horrendous heat of the fire.
It was because Lewis was down on the ground that he was not directly facing the enormous flames. So, the only thing he had to endure was the aftermath of the fire.
With a layer of life vitality protecting his body, Lewis slowly crept on the platform and crawled towards the blue treasure box.
“Goodness, he's going to get it! Wow, I am so jealous of him now. The reward in the red treasure box is so fantastic that it can strengthen the human soul. I'm quite curious about what's hidden inside the blue treasure box,” one disciple could not help but say with a tone full of envy.
“Other than be envious of him, what else can you do? Just suppose you are allowed to go up there, would you dare to get the box? From here, we can feel the power of the fire at the bottom of the valley. If you go up, the heat can melt you within a few seconds!” another disciple spoke up.
Everyone watched as Lewis moved carefully, one small step at a time. There was Zen, and the many disciples from Cloud Hall staring at his figure attentively, as well as heads of all sects outside the Cloud Road.
They saw that he was aiming to get the legendary blue treasure box, and everyone there was astounded.
Back then, the Cloud Hall's head managed to take the silver treasure box, which was only a grade higher than the blue treasure box. But now, it was the cloak boy, who at such a young age, was able to get the blue treasure box. No wonder those heads of all sects envied him.
However, when Lewis was just a few feet away from the blue treasure box, the fire stopped abruptly.
Since Lewis was quite smart, he had figured out how the cave's mechanism worked. He knew that by opening the blue treasure box, the device would cease to function, and the assault against him would stop. He based this on what happened after he removed the red treasure box on the first floor. Then Lewis presumed there would be two attacks on this floor.
He noted that on the first floor, the first attack of the strong wind was triggered by the gale mechanism, while the second attack was a mixture of wind and wind blades.
So it was logical that with the fire mechanism found on the second floor, the first attack was in the form of a big fire. And although the second attack didn't happen, it would be something more terrifying than huge flames.
To resist the fire attack, Lewis tried every effort, including lying down on the ground. He assumed that he would be unable to ward off the second attack so the moment the fire stopped, he rushed towards the blue treasure box, attempting to snatch it as fast as he could before the launch of the second assault.
To quickly close the distance, Lewis leaped through even before the eye could blink. Then he stretched out a hand to seize the blue treasure box, but when his hand was only two or three inches away from the box, suddenly, a loud “boom!” shattered the air.
At the sound, Lewis' face changed dramatically. He acted like a nimble rabbit and quickly retreated.