Apotheosis

As Zen's experience got deeper, his mind gradually became stronger and more tranquil. Evidently, he was not as impulsive and irritable as before.

He was distressed about Yan's departure, but he quickly buried the emotion in the deepest recesses of his heart.

A few days later, Zen, Rocher, and Patrick gathered at the Cloud Palace. The time for the Cloud Road trial had finally come.

It was a most important day for them. The mindsets of all three were different. Rocher was looking forward to it as he had been wanting to go to the Central Region since long. He was eager to hone his sword in the outside world. And Patrick, as the reincarnation of Acalanatha, hoped to acquire a greater inheritance.

To Zen, however, this felt inevitable. He was as if a toddler taking his first step.

"You three, come with me!" Kenneth walked out of Cloud Sect. With a roll of his sleeves, he took the three of them with him, flying in a certain direction.

They had mused that their path to Cloud Road would be similar to Yan's travel, that was to say, a ride on a giant flying chariot to the Central Region.

The location was too far off from the Eastern Region... It would take half a month for a giant flying chariot to cross the vast mountains situated halfway.

However, Kenneth flew with them in the opposite direction.

Before long, a mountain appeared in front of them, the one inside Cloud Sect. It was not a well-known mountain. It seemed that Cloud Sect had not made use of it—no construction was done on it. It had no buildings. All in all, it was ordinary.

But as they flew to the front of the mountain, Kenneth lowered all of a sudden, instantly landing at the foot of the mountain.

Doubt climbed on the faces of the three disciples. They had no idea what Kenneth was up to. Was it possible that the legendary Cloud Road was hidden inside the mountain? The mountain was shrouded in much mystery. What secrets did it hold?

"Follow me," Kenneth said without further explanation, leading the way.

Trailing behind him, the disciples soon reached the front of the mountainside. Kenneth waved his hand and the shadow in front of them slowly dissipated, revealing the wide, gaping hollow of a cave.

The four entered the cave. They walked down a long corridor that ended in a vast and circular space.

In the middle of the circular space, they found a platform about ten feet wide and two feet high. On this platform were various carved runes that Zen, Rocher, and Patrick did not recognize. They also found six crystals around the platform.

"What kind of crystals are they? They seem to contain such pure life vitality! Could they be..." Rocher said with enthusiasm, his voice trailing off as he considered the possibility.

Patrick too was shocked at the pure and rich life vitality emanating off the crystals. A surprised look flashed across his usually cal

was a novel experience for anyone who stepped into the transmission array channel for the very first time.

Suddenly, about five minutes later, a bright blue light appeared in the front.

"What's that?" Rocher asked eagerly.

As Kenneth looked down to see, his face changed. "Stay behind me!" he shouted. "That's space windstorm!"

The three were not sure what the space windstorm was, but from the looks of it, they knew that the power would be too great to withstand.

Even Kenneth did not want to encounter the space windstorm. It didn't occur every time. This time, they had not been as lucky.

Facing the space windstorm, Kenneth's giant body bulged up, tiny spots of yellow life vitality gathering on its surface, spreading quickly.

"Ha!" Kenneth roared loudly, yellow life vitality expanding to something ten times larger. It morphed into a giant shield to protect the group of four. At the same time, the space windstorm swirled, making its way to them.

Sizz, sizz...

The space windstorm tore apart Kenneth's life vitality incessantly. A peculiar sound, like that of an electric current, echoed through the channel.

Kenneth's life vitality did not stop flowing, still wanting to resist the space windstorm.

As Kenneth fought it, Patrick and Rocher seemed to be holding their breaths. This was horrible. A slight mistake from Kenneth, a moment of lost concentration, and they would get rolled into the storm, their bodies turning to ashes!

Zen's emotionless eyes, however, were fixed on the space windstorm.

"Zen, what are you looking at?" Rocher whispered to him.

Patrick looked at Zen strangely. Although the space windstorm was a sight to behold, any pair of eyes would exhaust themselves looking at it for a long time.

As Zen watched the space windstorm, a bright-blue storm penetrated Kenneth's life vitality shield like lightning, shooting directly into Zen's eyes!