Apotheosis

As Zen came out of Quenching Peak, he saw it was raining.

Rainy days were rare to come by in the dead of winter.

He looked up at Hell Mountain, located not so far off in the distance, and his eyes instantly hardened.

He used to think the mountain too far to get to. But as his strength increased day-by-day, he knew it wouldn't be too long before he finally rescued his sister.

Moving his eyes away from the mountain, he turned around and took off.

The All Peaks Competition would be a golden opportunity for him to display his talent. It would be the ultimate test of his strengths. Although there was still a long time to go before the competition was held, Zen was eager to make the best of every minute and second till then to prepare himself.

The competition was held every three years, and as it drew nearer, all the disciples began to feel a sense of urgency.

The outer disciples were anxious to shoot ahead of others and become inner disciples; while the inner ones were seeking to be awarded the higher rankings. The top-ranked ones in the inner circle were training themselves to obtain good scores in the competition.

Whether it was Skytop Peak, that ranked the first among the Peaks, or Drizzle Peak, that ranked the last, all the disciples including the mediocre and the highly talented ones were training hard.

Of course, Zen was no exception to it.

Entering the Lake of the Magical Fish would cost him a slew of points. Zen had practiced in it for two hours each time before, but now, he would need four, or even six hours in total. The points it would deduct from his card was rather astonishing. Each time he entered the lake, hundreds of points were on the line.

To ensure there were sufficient points in his disciple card, Zen had to trade away his cubic crystals. He had no choice but to let the Cloud Sect demand an outrageous ch

Previously, when he had auctioned the crystal core, Zen obtained a large number of cubic crystals. To the other outer disciples, that amount would be quite substantial. But now, looking at Zen's anxious face, Wurth deemed that his friend was badly in need of more cubic crystals.

Despite his confusion, Wurth didn't ask him about it directly. He merely gave a smile and said, "I did sell all your goods in the last auction."

"What was the final price of the deal?" Zen probed him. Even though he did not attend the auction, he would not be fooled on the price, because the sky-high rates of each of the items the Blessed Auction House sold off soon passed down among folks via word-of-mouth. Zen could easily inquire about the information from anyone.

Wurth grinned teasingly, choosing to keep Zen in suspense. "Take a guess!"

Watching his beaming face, Zen knew the selling of the heavenly essence was a success. The price should be good, certainly not lower than the price at the prior auction. After giving it a thought, Zen offered his guess, "One hundred and fifty thousand, right?"

Wurth shook his head, his expression unfathomable.

"Two hundred thousand?" Zen blurted, simply guessing a higher number.

"Not high enough!"