To be the leader of this group of noble clans disciples, the blue-clad man should be fairly strong.
When he saw Zen dared to dart towards him, he grinned contemptuously and changed his attack from the clenching fist to the eagle-claw boxing, grappling in Zen's direction while shouting, “Cyan Dragon Claw! Haha! Do you think you can run away?”
The attack seemed very powerful. A pair of hands, like dragon claws, landed on Zen's head.
Zen kept calm and quickly leaned sideways to slip out of the attack's grip. Zen rammed the man with his shoulder, making him fall back to the ground.
As the clansman was falling backward, Zen moved, and in the blink of an eye, he stood behind him, catching him right before the noble disciple hit the ground. Holding him by the neck with his right hand, Zen shouted, “If anyone dares approach, I'll let him fall, and he'll fail the test!”
When the other disciples of the noble clans saw Zen gripping the blue-clad man's throat, they stopped.
The blue-clad man, Chad, was the intelligent, youngest son of an influential member in the Zhuge clan. To set up a barrier on the path was his idea. Obviously, he was the bigwig in the group of disciples.
At the moment though, Chad was being held by Zen and might be kicked out of the test easily. Consequently, no one dared to make a move.
“Hey buddy, if you let me go, I can make sure you get away safely,” said Chad calmly, even though he was at Zen's mercy.
“Huh, you think I'd believe you?” replied Zen. In fact, with his heightened strength, if need be, he could break through the barrier right now, it would just be a little harder.
However, every one of these noble clan disciples held a mysterious weapon, and some were top-grade. Although Zen's body was as firm as the mysterious weapon, being stabbed would be an unpleasant experience for him. So, this was the safest way. “Tell these guys to leave!” ordered Zen.
“Do you know, my surname is Zhuge?” stated Chad coldly.
There was a clear hierarchy within the noble clans.
More than 30 clans were given the title noble clan throughout the Imperial Capital, but only seven of them were at the top.
Those seven were the Pei, Zhu, Huang, Yu, Yun, Meng, and Zhuge clans.
The top seven noble clans were the backbone of the entire empire, and they were the real giants.
Chad had a higher status than the members of other noble clans' main branch even though he belonged to the junior side of the Zhuge clan.
That was why Chad had the guts to resist.
He believed that if others knew his identity, no one would dare hurt him.
Unfortunately for him, he came across Zen.
In fact, Zen hesitated a little when he heard Chad's surname.
The top seven noble clans assisted the first emperor setting up the Burning Sky Empire, which meant their history was as long as that of the empire.
Even a lower noble clan was too large for Zen to go up against, but he would not yield easily.
“Yes, I know your clan, but I'm sorry, I have to pass the Blooded Test. Tell them to move aside, or you'll… be kicked out!” Zen said, grasping him more firmly.
Chad's face flushed with anger. He treated joining the Blooded Test, like a game. He didn't think anyone would dare provoke him.
Chad thought Zen's behavior was an insult to him, instantly feeling furious. Everything about the Blooded Test was an illusion. So what if he failed today, he could still take part in it next month!
So, in spite of Zen's hand firmly grasping his neck, Chad was going to fight back.
As soon as Chad moved, Zen gently twisted his hand, and with a “Craa-ck,” Chad's neck snapped.
Before Chad breathed his last breath, Zen lifted him higher and threw his body at the remaining noble clan disciples.
The disciples were surprised at Zen's decisiveness. While seeing Chad's body on the ground in front of them and gradually fading into spots of light, they knew that Chad had failed the test.
While the disciples were in a trance, Zen broke through their blockade, lunging towards the third layer of the mountain.
The disciples recovered their wits and chased Zen, each wielding their mysterious weapons.
At the same time, outside the Bloody Mountain, all of the examiners burst into cheers, “Awesome!”
“This boy has great composure in the face of difficult situations. Cool!”
“Ha! What a cunning kid!”
All of the examiners' attention had been focused on the battlefield.
At first, they all paid attention to the towering man who swung the great sword to break through the barrier.
However, after the man succeeded, Zen returned to save one of them. Zen kicked a noble clan disciple out of the test by one punch, caught Chad before the rest could surround him, resolutely killed him, and then escaped while Chad's exit distracted the rest of the disciples.
The series of Zen's actions drew the attention of all the examiners.
They quickly queried Zen's information, while trying to switch to Zen's images on the Picture Slab.
That was when they discovered that the images of Zen were blurred, making them unable to watch.
“What's the matter?” yelled a foul-tempered examiner who glared at Joshua, the one in charge of the Blooded Test. It wasn't easy to find a disciple with good potential, so these examiners were eager to know more about Zen.
“Joshua, why can't we see the images of this kid? What's wrong with the Picture Slab?” entreated several masters. After Zen ran off, they were unable to see his figure anymore.
Before the Blooded Test, the disciple cards and the magic arrays on the Bloody Mountain all had been checked carefully. Over the past few decades, he had not seen such a problem yet.
How did it happen now?
Watching the scene on the Picture Slab, he found that only the boy's images were blurred, which led Joshua to believe it was a problem with the kid's disciple card. 'Wait!'
a thought struck Joshua. Before the boy set off, Master Su checked his disciple card. Joshua thought he had figured out the reason — Master Su must have done something with the kid's disciple card.
The moment Joshua opened his mouth to say something, he felt a chill shoot up his spine, freezing him. He snapped his neck around and saw Master Su staring coldly at him.
If looks could kill, the dagger-like glare Master Su shot him would have killed him on the spot if he uttered a single word!
Joshua swallowed hard, letting his words slip back down his throat at the same time.
Master Su had a frosty look. She wasn't worried about Joshua telling anyone about what she did to Zen's disciple card. She just couldn't believe that Zen went back to save anyone.
Zen couldn't break through the barrier easily just for saving one of them. However, now all of the examiners had seen his incredible performance. Master Su knew that they would compete fiercely against her for Zen, whatever her high, special social status.
Watching Zen's agile form sprinting from the Picture Slab, Master Su shook her head, grudgingly. She just wanted to recruit the boy quietly, but the kid's remarkable performance was making it complicated.
She clenched her teeth and whispered, “Humph, you little rascal, I'll make you experience a hard period when you get to Drizzle Peak!”