Apotheosis

Devastated, the disciples were speechless. They were all elite disciples of Cloud Hall with skills and strength equal to the top disciples of any second-grade sect.

However, when compared to Zen, they were nothing, as unworthy as the dirt on the earth.

But Zen didn't care how people regarded him. He just concentrated the demonic phantoms in front of him and rushed forward. In a blink of an eye, Zen was able to approach the red treasure chest.

"Vroooom."

Just as when Zen reached the chest, a whirling sound echoed. The mechanisms inside the cave stopped working and the fierce wind disappeared without a trace.

'Here it is!' Zen cheered inside.

As he was fumbling over the treasure chest, Zen seemed to have triggered the mechanism that would open it. There was a 'clicking' sound and the lid of the chest snapped open.

But before he could realize what was happening, an irregular mass of black material floated out of the opened chest. It looked alive, soft and was moving.

Zen tried to touch the mass, but his fingers went straight through the black material.

Puzzled, he studied the intangible substance some more. When he leaned closer, the matter wriggled and writhed, rushing towards the part between his eyebrows.

A very cool and refreshing power waved through Zen. He felt like that he was bathing in ice and snow. The chill penetrated his brain, not unpleasantly, but like a good refreshment on a hot day, clearing away his anger and anxiety.

His soul was enhanced and purified; his spirits lifted.

Zen didn't know how long he was out. When he woke up from the short meditation and opened his eyes, the black mass was gone. It was absorbed by his body.

Because Zen's soul was intensified and stronger than many disciples, his ability to digest energy was faster than Lewis. Apparently, Zen was much stronger than Lewis in that context.

Normally, this dark substance would greatly enhance the soul strength. It had a similar effect on Zen but the result on him was less apparent.

It was like comparing a landowner with many acres of land to his name with a peasant. If a landowner acquired more acres, the changes wouldn't be that visible. But when a peasant acquired acres of land, the change would be obvious.

Zen was the landowner in the analogy. He possessed a soul energy twenty times larger than the black matter. Thus, the growth of acquiring the black matter wasn't visible at all.

Therefore, it looked like he had only little improvement in soul strength.

After he opened the red chest, he climbed further up the cliff. His next target was the blue treasure chest.

Lewis failed to reach the blue treasure chest. As he watched Zen continue, he taunted with a sneer, "What an idiot! He should've stopped at the red chest. Hasn't he learned how difficult the next one can be? Does he think he has what it takes to open that blue chest? I don't think he has any plans on how to open the blue treasure chest."

"Congratulations, Master Shi! Your disciple has opened the red treasure chest!" the leader of Auspice Sect said with a smile.

Kenneth laughed, "Thank you. Your disciple, Lewis, has opened it, too. The honor also belonged to

't rotate and assimilate the power in the flames.

'Not my day, indeed!' Zen was a little grumpy. But he adjusted his mood and charged forward, breaking through the flames.

However, he didn't know that his behavior had caused a buzz among the audience, and the whole thing just went ballistic.

Far away, Lewis was lurking on a tree. He had used a secret method to slow his breathing, hiding from the other disciples and the ghost-faced spiders.

At the start, he was sitting between the branches, chewing a stalk of grass out of boredom. But when he saw Zen walked into the flame and moved forward smoothly, his mouth dropped open in shock. The stalk of grass fell from his jaw to the ground.

"Motherfucker! What the hell just happened?" Lewis was overwhelmed by the scene.

He had been viewed as the best disciple of Auspice Sect, a once-in-a-millennium genius.

He was so much better than other disciples in his sect that he won the first place in the sect competition with ease. The disciple who won the second place was no threat to him, not to mention the others.

And in this Test of Cloud Road, only two other disciples caught his attention: Lennon Zhao and Frank Zhuo. They were the top two disciples of Cloud Hall.

The leader of Auspice Sect also repeatedly told him not to mess with these two guys.

Thus, in the hidden trial he had to go through, he covered his face with a cloak, lest he would be conspicuous and hated by Lennon and cause trouble.

But unexpectedly, he realized that there were many able men competing in the test. In addition to the disciples of Cloud Hall, many skillful disciples from other sects also took part.

At the start, he didn't pay much attention to the other disciples. He had so much confidence in himself that he thought no disciple was stronger than him. And only regarded the other skillful disciples as "not bad".

But this Zen of the third grade of nature level suddenly showed up. His martial arts skills and power control surprised all the audience. Seeing him conquer the flame with his bare body, Lewis had to admit that he was no superior to Zen.