Bloodcolor Mountain

The Aristocratic Clan Disciples went up the mountain first. Then it was the turn of the thousand or so trial disciples.

There were more than a dozen paths on the southern side of Bloodcolor Mountain. The trial disciples scattered and climbed up along those narrow trails.

Luo Zheng walked silently at the rear of the group. He felt somewhat uneasy—not because he feared Wang Hengzhi or the Wang Family, but because he could not understand why Wang Hengzhi was willing to put in so much effort to help Luo Peiran.

Although Luo Peiran had the entire Luo Family supporting him from behind the scenes, a family from Chongyang County was nothing more than a tiny ant in the Imperial Capital. It was nothing at all. Wang Hengzhi could not possibly be interested in anything Luo Peiran possessed.

Why exactly? Luo Zheng could not figure it out.

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a band of multicolored light appear along the mountain path ahead. The band of light drifted unsteadily, like a dream, like an illusion, resembling the gate to a fairyland.

"This is the outermost illusion array. Once you pass through this band of light, the Bloodcolor Trials truly begin." After one trial disciple finished speaking, he walked forward. His body then sank into the band of light in an extremely bizarre manner. Seeing this, the other trial disciples followed and went through as well.

Luo Zheng did not hesitate. He stepped into the band of light, and the scenery around him suddenly changed!

"So this is an illusion array?"

From the outside, the entire Bloodcolor Mountain was a monotonous expanse of blood-red. But after entering the illusion array, the scenery within transformed in an instant.

Whether it was the towering trees on the mountain or the low shrubs and thickets, their colors all became much richer. Although everyone knew that these sights were actually illusions, created by using Crimson Illusion Sand to activate a large-scale illusion array—

when they touched the trees and thickets, both their texture and their scent were lifelike, no different from the real thing.

Luo Zheng had only taken two steps when he heard a beast howl. Fierce fighting sounds followed. Someone nearby had encountered an illusory beast.

He lightened his footsteps and circled into the woods. There, he saw three people surrounding and killing a first-level Demon Wolf Illusory Beast.

A first-level illusory beast was weak. In terms of both strength and attack power, it was only roughly equivalent to the Bone Refining Realm. The three people were not weak either; all had already entered the Viscera Refining Realm. Under their combined assault, they quickly killed the Demon Wolf Illusory Beast.

When the Demon Wolf Illusory Beast's corpse hit the ground, it transformed into specks of dazzling light. They floated up and slowly faded away in midair.

A Green Crystal Shard was left on the ground.

"Haha, this Green Crystal Shard is mine!" One person rushed over and snatched the shard up.

"Why should it go to you? I contributed too!" Another person refused to yield.

"Since that's the case, let's rely on our strength. If you have what it takes, come and take it!"

A moment ago, the three had worked together to surround and kill the beast. Now, they were quarreling over a single Green Crystal Shard.

Seeing this, Luo Zheng shook his head and continued deeper into Bloodcolor Mountain. He walked on and off along the way, but soon grew somewhat depressed, because he had not encountered even one first-level illusory beast.

The illusory beasts on the first level of Bloodcolor Mountain were the weakest, and most people could deal with them. Therefore, almost no one was willing to risk entering the second level. The result was a case of too many monks and too little gruel: whenever an illusory beast appeared, people immediately rushed to kill it.

For the sake of Green Crystal Shards, quite a few people had already fought one another viciously.

A hundred Green Crystal Shards were needed to pass the assessment. At this rate, there would not be enough time to gather that number. Rather than compete with others here, it was better to challenge a higher difficulty. Luo Zheng simply headed deeper into Bloodcolor Mountain.

Before long, he entered the second-level illusion realm of Bloodcolor Mountain.

Compared to the first level, there were far fewer people in the second-level illusion realm. The second-level illusory beasts had strength roughly equivalent to the Viscera Refining Realm, making them suitable challenges for those with somewhat greater ability.

Luo Zheng had only wandered around twice and passed through a lush forest when a sharp cry suddenly rang beside his ears.

Luo Zheng looked up and saw a Bristle Demon Monkey hanging from a large tree. Its eyes glowed a bright red as they fixed firmly on him.

He had seen illustrations of this kind of demon monkey in books. The Bristle Demon Monkey was a demonic beast from the Western Regions Oasis. He had never expected the illusion array to manifest even such a beast. Azure Cloud Sect's foundation was indeed profound; it even possessed an Illusion Array Master with such extensive knowledge.

The Bristle Demon Monkey shrieked strangely at Luo Zheng several times. Its belly suddenly caved deeply inward, then swelled in an instant. The long, hard bristles on its stomach were like steel needles, shooting toward Luo Zheng in a rainstorm.

Luo Zheng's reaction was not slow either. Almost in the same instant, he sprinted forward while punching the tree. Borrowing that force, he leaped two zhang into the air and reached out to grab the Bristle Demon Monkey.

The Bristle Demon Monkey was extremely nimble. It swung around the tree once, deftly evaded Luo Zheng's grab, then leaped from one tree to another.

Seeing that the Bristle Demon Monkey was about to escape, Luo Zheng's competitive spirit was roused. He refused to believe he could not deal with a second-level illusory beast.

Luo Zheng then pursued the Bristle Demon Monkey without pause. Its attack power was not particularly strong; its main method of attack was the bristles on its body, which were hard as steel needles. But Luo Zheng's body was as hard as a Mysterious Artifact, so he could completely ignore the bristle attacks.

The key issue was that this demon monkey was too good at weaving around. It darted and swung through the forest, and was as slippery as an eel. Several times Luo Zheng was about to seize it, only for the demon monkey to make a bizarre roll and slip free from his grasp again.

After pursuing it for some time, Luo Zheng saw the situation ahead clearly. He rushed forward first, spread his arms, and slammed them forcefully into a large tree ahead!

"Fall for me!"

The tree, thick enough for a man to wrap his arms around, snapped in two under Luo Zheng's violent blow, then collapsed thunderously to the ground.

At that moment, the demon monkey leaped into the air. It had been preparing to jump onto that tree, but Luo Zheng had broken it first. With no tree from which to borrow force, the Bristle Demon Monkey could only obediently fall toward Luo Zheng.

A smile appeared on Luo Zheng's face. This time, it would not be able to escape.

However, the instant the Bristle Demon Monkey neared Luo Zheng, its bright red eyes revealed a vicious glint. It squeaked sharply, and its entire body suddenly turned red. The bristles all over it stood straight up.

Sensing something abnormal, Luo Zheng suddenly felt danger. He raised both hands to shield his head while continuously retreating.

Before he had taken two steps back, the Bristle Demon Monkey's body suddenly doubled in size and rapidly swelled.

"Bang!"

The Bristle Demon Monkey's body exploded without warning, unleashing a thunderous blast. A huge pit was blown into the ground, while the bristles on its body shot in every direction on the force of the explosion.

In its final moments, the Bristle Demon Monkey had fired out bristle needles of tremendous power. Quite a few pierced through Luo Zheng's skin and lodged in his body.

"I never expected a second-level illusory beast's final struggle to have such power." The might had completely exceeded Luo Zheng's expectations. He clicked his tongue in wonder, then pulled the bristle needles from his body one by one. If he had not run fast enough just now and had been caught in the explosion at close range, he likely would have been injured.

Although the levels of illusory beasts were similar to those of humans, many illusory beasts could unleash innate powers beyond human comparison when facing a crisis of survival.

After dealing with the steel needles in his body, Luo Zheng walked toward the pit. At its center, he found a Yellow Crystal Shard. Only thirty Yellow Crystal Shards were needed to pass the assessment, far fewer than the hundred Green Crystal Shards required.

Of course, the demonic beasts he had to face were correspondingly more formidable.

Just as Luo Zheng was about to put away the Yellow Crystal Shard, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Put down that shard, then leave this place at once!"

At these words, Luo Zheng's brows furrowed. He turned his head and saw three people. Judging by their attire, he determined that all three were Aristocratic Clan Disciples, and they might even belong to the same lineage. Only Aristocratic Clan Disciples would dare rob someone so brazenly.

"I killed this illusory beast. The shard naturally belongs to me. Why should I put it down?" Luo Zheng asked.

One of the Aristocratic Clan Disciples said, "Be sensible and stop wasting your breath! If you anger our Fang Family, you will not even have a chance to regret it."

"My brother is right. The past is a lesson for the future. Everyone who refused to heed our Fang Family's words died horribly!" another Aristocratic Clan Disciple said.

"Hand over the shard or die. Choose one!" said the last Aristocratic Clan Disciple.

Luo Zheng gripped the Yellow Crystal Shard in his hand, his face showing utter impatience. The various novel sights he had encountered after coming to the Imperial Capital had left him refreshed and delighted. Only these Aristocratic Clan Disciples made him feel utterly speechless.

Leaving aside the strength of these Aristocratic Clan Disciples, their arrogance alone was outrageous. In Luo Zheng's eyes, their arrogance had already reached the point of blindness.

Perhaps the halos that had surrounded them since childhood had made them forget that people feared their family, not them personally.

Thus, Luo Zheng put the shard into his pocket and prepared to leave without looking back. He could not be bothered to waste words with these fools.

But the three Aristocratic Clan Disciples obviously had no intention of letting him go. They quickly charged out, forming a triangle as they pounced fiercely toward Luo Zheng.

The three probably believed that, since all of them were in the Marrow Refining Realm, taking down Luo Zheng, who was in the Viscera Refining Realm, would be a piece of cake.

But to Luo Zheng, all three were far too slow. It was obvious they had been raised on pills since childhood. Lacking actual combat and tempering, their movements were riddled with flaws.

At that moment, Luo Zheng had his back to the three. When they pounced, he barely took a single step backward and easily evaded their attacks. At the same time, he moved around behind them with the speed of lightning and reached out to seize two of them by the backs of their necks.

"Let go of me! How dare you touch me? The people of my Fang Family will grind your bones to dust!"

"From childhood to now, no one has ever dared grab me like this! Even cutting you into a thousand pieces would not be enough to forgive you!"

The two looked panicked. How could they have imagined they would be so pathetic, utterly unable to fight back before Luo Zheng? Still, they displayed the true colors expected of Aristocratic Clan Disciples. Even with their necks seized, they could spout such a jumble of threats—perhaps it was simply their greatest instinct.

Hearing them, Luo Zheng let out a cold laugh. He summoned strength into both arms and slammed their heads violently together.

"Clang!"

Under such a savage collision, the two "died" on the spot. Their bodies immediately began to fade like the demon beast Luo Zheng had just killed, while specks of light wrapped around them.

Had this happened outside the Bloodcolor Mountain illusion array, their heads would have been like shattered watermelons. They would certainly have been dead.

Fortunately, this was the Bloodcolor Trials. Strictly speaking, every person was an "illusion" relative to the others, so their actual bodies were not harmed. Instead, they were wrapped in light. Once the people outside Bloodcolor Mountain transported them out, the two would be considered eliminated.

That was also the original purpose behind Azure Cloud Sect's design of the Bloodcolor Trials. The opponents in Bloodcolor Mountain were not only illusory beasts, but other opponents as well.

By using an illusion array, death could be effectively avoided.

With two Aristocratic Clan Disciples eliminated, the remaining one still wore an expression of terror. His earlier arrogance had been swept away. He backed away several steps, muttering and shouting, "Our Fang Family... our Fang Family..."

"If you do not want to be eliminated, hand over all your Crystal Shards. No matter how powerful your Fang Family is or how great its reputation, it cannot save you now!" Luo Zheng said coldly, taking a step toward him.

The Aristocratic Clan Disciple from the Fang Family said nothing. He threw out a handful of Crystal Shards, then turned and fled.

Luo Zheng helplessly shook his head. He could not be bothered to rob others, but quite a few people insisted on coming to his door.

He gathered up the Crystal Shards. There were twenty Green Crystal Shards among them, and no fewer than seven Yellow Crystal Shards!

It seemed that robbing people really was faster. Luo Zheng was even somewhat tempted. Compared with killing illusory beasts one by one, robbery was clearly far more efficient.

But he soon abandoned the idea. The ultimate purpose of the Bloodcolor Trials was still to undergo trial and tempering.

A shortcut could certainly be taken, but Luo Zheng would never give up the chance to train himself. Of course, if some blind fools came looking for him, he naturally would not let them off either.