Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 24: Yan Luo

At this time, Nory stepped out of the crowd and said loudly, “I saw that the disciples of the noble clans approached Zen and caused trouble. This guy started it first!”

Even though it was courageous of Nory to step out and speak up, he was very nervous inside. As a native resident of the Imperial Capital, he was aware of the authority of the noble clans. Even the weakest noble clan had more power than ordinary families. However, Nory didn't hesitate.

Seeing Nory speaking up for him, Zen began feeling warm inside. When he thought of how his misfortune almost made Nory fail the initial exam yesterday, Zen felt a little ashamed. He appreciated that Nory was willing to stand by him — even if Nory would offend the Wang Clan — when he most needed it.

Since Nory had spoken in Zen's defense, other ordinary disciples followed as well.

They also hated injustice. Now that Nory had spoken up against the Wang Clan, they were willing to help him condemn the haughty Wang Clan disciples.

“Yeah, these noble clan disciples are too unreasonable!”

“Absolutely, they did it first!”

“Yes, we all saw it!”

All the ordinary disciples began shouting. Hearing their accusations, the faces of Billy and his followers darkened. The tall guy, in particular, stared at Nory, as if ready to swallow the latter.

However, since many masters were on the spot, those disciples from noble clans could do nothing.

Master Su blinked her eyes and said, “In that case, it's clear now. Since they made trouble first, they should be punished. Who knows to which peak the disciple that began the fighting belongs?”

“He is the inner disciple of the Skytop Peak.” Joshua did not want to be involved in this matter and replied, “I have decided to deduct 100 points as punishment.”

“The Skytop Peak? Master Xu! Your inner disciple caused this disturbance and attacked someone. How should he be punished according to the rules?” Master Su didn't want the matter to be dismissed easily. And so, she turned to Master Xu and asked loudly.

Master Xu stepped out from among the other masters, glanced at his disciples, and said, “According to the rules, 1, 000 points should be subtracted!”

Master Xu's words sent shivers coursing through the tall Wang Clan disciple. The loss of 100 points was acceptable, but losing 1, 000 points mattered to him a lot! Points played a crucial role in Cloud Sect. Both, cultivating and getting handbooks required disciples to have points.

However, the opportunity to earn points was limited. At first, a disciple could complete Cloud Sect's tasks to earn points. Now, one could buy points. Earlier, one cubic crystal could be exchanged for one point, but in recent years, the price of one point had increased to two cubic crystals.

The Wang Clan was very huge with many collateral branches. The tall disciple was not part of the core Wang Clan.

Thus 1, 000 points, the equivalent of 2, 000 cubic crystals, was definitely a large sum of money for him.

Master Su smiled and said, “That sounds fair. Let's follow the rules and subtract 1, 000 points!”

Master Xu nodded, but he sulked inside. He thought, 'What the heck? Fair? If I don't give this disciple a harsh punishment, you will make trouble for me. I don't have a choice.'

After dealing with this matter, Master Su approached Zen and said, “I believe that your disciple card may have some problems. Could you show it to me please?”

Zen was doubtful as his disciple card was the same as that of the others. What problem could it have? However, since Master Su had helped him, Zen felt obliged to agree. Moreover, Zen was a little naive. He hadn't thought that villains could be as beautiful as Master Su. Just going by her beauty, he felt that she was perhaps not a bad person. After thinking of this, Zen handed his disciple card to her.

Master Su carefully took the disciple card from Zen. Then she fiddled with it before returning it. She smiled at him and said, “Well, it seems that I made a mistake. There is no problem with your card!”

Zen was puzzled by Master Su's odd behavior, but he didn't think about it more. Now, the most important thing for him was to get the qualification for the Blooded Test.

Then Joshua, the invigilator, stood in the center of the crowd and announced the conditions of the Blooded Test.

“The Blooded Test is very straightforward. You have to kill the so-called unreal beasts. Every examinee will receive a crystal fragment every time he kills an unreal beast. The whole Bloody Mountain is divided into five areas. Level-1 begins in the outermost area. For killing unreal beasts here, examinees will be awarded green crystal fragments. The next level is on the second-floor area. Here, you will face level-2 unreal beasts. Your corresponding rewards for killing them will be yellow crystal fragments. On the third floor, for killing level-3 unreal beasts, examinees will get blue crystal fragments. For killing level-4 unreal beasts, you will get purple crystal fragments while for level-5 unreal beasts, examinees will get black crystal fragments.”

Joshua stopped to quickly swallow before continuing, “To pass the test, examinees need 100 green crystal fragments, 30 yellow fragments, 10 blue fragments, three purple fragments, and one black crystal fragment!”

Zen listened to the instructions attentively. It seemed that killing the outermost unreal beasts was the easiest task as they were just at level-1. However, the requirement was to kill 100 beasts. As for strongest level-5 unreal beasts, examinees only needed to kill one to get a black crystal fragment to pass the test. That must mean that a level-5 unreal beast was too powerful for ordinary people to destroy.

“One more thing! Everything that happens on the Bloody Mountain is an illusion. You may get hurt, you may feel pain, and you may also die! However, these are all illusions! If you 'die', you will be sent down the Bloody Mountain. That means you have lost the test! Keep that in mind! There is only one chance for everyone. Try to do your best!” Joshua pointed at the Bloody Mountain and said, “Now you can go up the mountain. As usual, the disciples of the noble clans go first!”

The privilege of the noble clans again!

This was an unfair rule as the people who went up the mountain first would have advantages over the others. Unfortunately, the rule was made by the leaders of Cloud Sect. As per rumor, there were secret associations among Cloud Sect, the noble clans, and even Burning Sky Palace. Thus the people without a strong background could do nothing.

Suddenly a disciple of a noble clan asked, “Can I take my guards up the mountain?”

“Of course not!” Joshua felt a little bitter when he heard the question. If an examinee could take helpers, what was the point of the test? One could just take some masters to help him pass the Blooded Test easily.

Billy turned to two members of his clan who would also take part in the Blooded Test. “Tim, Dim, you two must remember the faces of those two guys. When you get up the mountain, find an opportunity to kick them out of the test.” Then Billy glanced around quickly to see if anyone was looking before making a cut-neck-off gesture to them.

Tim and Dim nodded and said, “Don't worry! We will make sure that they fail the test.”

Billy then instructed, “At the key moment, you can use the Final Killer given by the clan, understand?”

“But Billy, I have only one Final Killer. If I use it, I won't have more...” One of them hesitated a little.

The Wang Clan had trained many skilled, talented craftsmen. Brady Wang, one of the three weapon refining masters in the Burning Sky Empire, was a member of the Wang Clan.

Thus every disciple of the Wang Clan had a vital weapon called the Final Killer, which had terrible force. If an owner were faced with a dangerous situation, he could use this weapon to turn the tables. However, each member of the Wang Clan only had one Final Killer. This was why Tim and Dim were hesitant to use it to kill Zen.

Moreover, in the Blooded Test, a person could not be killed during the test. One could only be forced to leave the mountain.

“Not to worry! I'll help you apply for another Final Killer!” Billy belonged to the main branch of the Wang Clan. Thus, he had a much higher status than Tim and Dim. It would not be difficult for him to get another Final Killer from his clan.

“Billy, you are so kind as to help me with my clan's affairs. I thank you from the bottom of my heart!” Perrin said.

A faint smile grew on Billy's face as he replied, “Perrin, this is not a big deal. Moreover, you're helping the Wang Clan. My brother would like your help to write a few more letters to your sister at Hell Mountain. He needs to win her favor!”

“That's what I'm supposed to do. My sister is too stubborn, which is why this is taking time. And I do believe that as time goes by, she will come around. It will be a blessing for her if she can be married to your brother.” Perrin said.

It was fortunate that the two were standing far away from Zen. Had Zen heard their talk, he would have punished Perrin!

Since Yan Luo had been sent to Perdition Mountain, she was still unaware of what had happened at home. So far, even the news of her father's death had not reached Yan!

In the correspondence between Perrin and Yan in recent years, Perrin had been fabricating all kinds of reasons and excuses to pacify her. Now, Perrin wanted to coax Yan into marrying Billy's brother.