Chapter 393: What Did She Say
Emanuel enjoyed a very high position in Cloud Hall.
He too was an elder like Fernandez, but the latter was an old man with little potential for any further progress and belonged to the inferior group.
On the other hand, Emanuel was in the prime of his life and was in a peak condition for martial refinement. Due to his formidable strength, he was one of the most powerful elders in Cloud Hall.
The message rune that had reached Emanuel's ears for several seconds only comprised of a few words. There were only a handful of people who could persuade Emanuel into leaving with such a short sentence.
But who could it be?
Zen had entered the Cloud Road for the first time. He had never been to the Central Region before, and had never gotten the chance to know any top leaders of Cloud Hall. Given that, who could be the person who decided to step in and help him?
Several sect leaders were puzzled pondering over that question.
Kenneth focused his eyes at Zen with a convulsed expression on his face. Suddenly, the young disciple of his own sect started to seem strange to him.
He believed he knew Zen well and prided himself for being one of the only people who knew his secrets. But it was finally becoming clear to him that there was a lot he didn't know.
Zen was a nature creature, but that didn't help reduce Kenneth's shock at what he had done in front of Emanuel.
Even though Zen wasn't threatened by Emanuel anymore, Kenneth's head was still full of worries. “You were acting impetuously, Zen,” he said.
Following Kenneth's words, Fernandez nodded and said, “I agree. I don't know who are you relying on but I don't think it's a wise choice for you to act out against Emanuel. He left you unharmed today, but don't forget you have to face him many times in Cloud Hall. If he decides to go against you, you will be in great danger.”
Fernandez had almost figured out who had helped Zen, as there weren't many possible answers. As far as he knew, the only people who could ask Emanuel to leave were the current and former Cloud Hall leaders. The former leader hadn't showed up in public occasions for over a hundred years.
It wasn't a big stretch to assume that the current Cloud Hall leader was the only possible person who could have asked Emanuel to leave. But that wasn't it. The next question that pestered Fernandez was if Zen even knew the Cloud Hall leader to that extent? How did they know each other? Where did they meet?
As per what Fernandez had heard, the Cloud Hall leader had been in a closed-door cultivation for two years. If that was indeed true, it was impossible for them to meet each other.
“Elder Fernandez, Mr. Shi,” Zen bowed to Fernandez and Kenneth with cupped hands, “Thanks for your concern. I know I've overdone it, but I had no other choice. After all, my experiences in the Cloud Road matter a lot. My sanctity will never allow me to tell them to anyone else, even to Master Zhuo! What's more, even if I did as he asked me to, do you think he'd have let me go easily?”
Zen's words had a tone of authority and reason. Both Fernandez and Kenneth fell silent after he finished. They knew this young disciple was right.
Emanuel's immense progress in martial refinement in the past two years had enhanced his position in the Cloud Hall but at the same time had also stirred up his arrogance and hubris.
If Zen really had yielded to Emanuel's threats and told him the secrets of Cloud Road, the unscrupulous elder would still have been doubtful of his words and found another excuse to search his soul.
The weak always became lambs to be slaughtered. Zen had already learnt this during his time in the Eastern Region and knew it would be no different here in the Central Region.
Right at that moment, the other disciples in the Cloud Road finished their trials.
“Hooray! I'm in the first place this year!” As a shrill shout of joy emerged from the exit of Cloud Road, a disciple rushed out with a victorious smile on his face. He had taken lead in the Life Road, sure that nobody had arrived before him. Being the first disciple to finish the trial made him feel like he was living a daydream. He himself knew Frank and Lennon were far more talented than him and how difficult it was to stand out among all the disciples.
However, Frank had taken the risk and chosen the dangerous Death Road. As for Lennon, he had disappeared during the whole process. Naturally, this disciple believed he had finished first.
But the daydream didn't last too long. To be specific, it ended as soon as he saw Zen, Rocher, Lois and Patrick. His happy smile froze and his laugh started to sound harsh to his own ears. With his face twitching, he looked away and silently stepped aside.
“I'm the second!” Another disciple emerged behind him, rushing out of the exit with the same excitement he was exerting a while ago. Being in second place too was a satisfying outcome. But this disciple then raised his hand and saw the other disciples before him. The look on his face changed dramatically just like the first one.
“And I'm the third!” another one shrieked.
The comical scene repeated yet again, amusing the sect leaders and Fernandez as it alleviated the tense atmosphere that persisted a few moments ago.
Gradually, more and more disciples passed the trials. The last one to finish was Lennon.
In fact, he was almost on the verge of failing the test. He had no ways to head the Life Road which had a broken part, nor did he have the courage to choose the Death Road. He was left with no choice but to return to the platform alone, waiting for the end of the test thinking he was sure to die.
In this stage of isolation and helplessness, he suddenly saw a flood dragon flying toward him from a distance. Frightened by the giant creature, Lennon tumbled on the ground, almost falling into the rolling lava in the Sea of Raging Fire.
To his surprise, the dragon didn't hurt him, instead stretched out its tail toward him in a friendly way.
Accepting its kindness, Lennon decided to take his chances. If he didn't, he would anyway die waiting for the end of the Cloud Road test. This dragon was his only chance of survival.
He climbed on top of its tail and crawled to its back. The dragon sprinted into the sky with a wild roar and swiftly carried him to the Life Road.
Even though he was the last one to finish, he felt happy enough. The only thing that mattered to him was that he had escaped death with a narrow margin. How did the rank matter when he felt so great simply to be alive?
After all the disciples finished their trials, they gathered around Fernandez, who then majestically announced the list of disciples who had qualified for admission into the Elite House of Cloud Hall.
Other than the millions of disciples in the five subordinate sects, the Cloud Hall also had another group of disciples who were directly under its own charge. Frank and Lennon belonged to this group, which nearly comprised of a million disciples.
Although that sounded like a great figure, it wasn't, relative to the population of the Central Region. In fact, the number of disciples under Cloud Hall was smaller than many other grade-4 sects. For example, the Bloodwood Cliff and the Nine Star School both had at least 4-5 million disciples.
As for the only grade-5 sect in the Central Region, it had over ten million disciples, which could amount to an entire country's population!
Nonetheless, not all disciples succeeded in their martial refinement. Over ninety percent of them ended up in the nature level and only a small portion achieved the Illuminating Soul Realm, which too wasn't that big of a deal.
It had to be combined with marvelous strength and great talent to attract the attention of top leaders and train under their elite sects.
Zen, Frank, Lois, and every other disciple who passed the Cloud Road were all selected from millions of disciples. Each of them was already at the top of the tree, but needed to pass the test of Cloud Road before they were qualified to join the Elite House.
Every disciple of the Elite House was Cloud Hall's hope for the future!
As Fernandez read out the names on the list, Zen was distracted looking for Tia in the crowd. He looked all around him multiple times but couldn't find her.
Tia truly was a master of disguise. She had managed to conceal her real identity not just from Zen, but also Fernandez.
However, she wasn't able to deceive the cyan dragon despite her perfect disguise.
“There she is, the third one to the left of the disciples!”
The cyan dragon's voice came from within Zen's head as he squinted his eyes to make out Tia's form in the distance.
He followed the dragon's words, and as he stared at her ordinary face, he found her looking back at him at the same time.
She pretended to just be glancing at him when she caught him staring at her. She was trying to figure if he could see through her disguise.
To her surprise, Zen's eyes were dead stuck on her, like he saw her clearly. Had he recognized her? That was impossible! She was confident about her disguise. Zen wasn't even a cultivator of the Internal Elixir Realm. He couldn't be able to see through her!
What she didn't know was the disguise did not function before the cyan dragon. The mighty creature could locate her very soul.
Tia put up a nonchalant face even though she was a bit uncomfortable with Zen's eyes fixed on her. Soon, though, the pretense had to be given up. Why was that? Because she noticed a faint smile appearing across Zen's face, as if he was saying, “Be done with the tricks! I already know who you are!”
'He's a blasted pain! He really did find me out!' she thought to herself. She pouted, glaring at him angrily. She pursed her lips together and sent him a message with her life vitality, “Stop staring at me, or I'll gouge your eyes out.”
Zen laughed with no fear at her words. He knew Tia was in a higher position than Emanuel. She was the one who had driven him away with just a sentence.
He had no worries because even though Fernandez had found out Tia's real identity, he would never dare to expose the truth.
“Hey, what did you say to Master Zhuo with that message rune a while ago?” Zen asked, returning a message with his life vitality.
Tia smiled slyly and replied, “I told him it was none of his business and asked him to get out of here immediately,”
Zen was rendered speechless! Although he knew she was in a very high position, he hadn't expected her to have been so rude to Emanuel. Now Zen knew why had Emanuel's face been so low when he left silently.