Degrade from Nobility to a Humble Slave

In a single breath, Zen sprinted a few hundred feet, where he saw a colorful light strip hovering in front of him. Thinking it might be the entrance to the third layer. He investigated, and sure enough, it was. He plunged headlong into the light, disappearing.

Passing through the band of light was like walking into a different world. The scene in front of him differed from the second layer.

The lush trees were replaced. Instead, there were bare hillsides and stone forest composed of jagged rocks. Caves at least ten feet deep dotted the slopes, and black noxious smoke rose from the openings. It looked like a sad and lifeless site.

The disciples who passed through the band earlier were not in sight at the moment. He tried to figure out where Nory was but, Zen appeared to be off Nory's trail. 'Where on earth has Nory gone? Maybe he found somewhere safe after he got to the third layer because disciples from the noble clans might come looking for him. Hope you are safe now, my brother!' thought Zen, sincerely praying for Nory's safety as he began to make his way through the third layer.

After making his way up a hillside, Zen stepped into the jagged rocky forest.

The crystal fragments he had in hand were far from being enough to pass the Blooded Test, so he hurried on his way. He needed to get enough crystal fragments as soon as possible, as this wasn't a safe place to remain.

Unreal beasts on the third layer were all higher level and therefore more challenging to fight. Generally speaking, the strength of the three-grade beasts was comparable to that of a person at the marrow refining level. And since the unreal beasts were transformed from evil creatures, they were even stronger. Animals of the same level were generally more powerful than their human counterparts.

For that reason alone, Zen knew that he needed to be vigilant. He looked around warily, continuously as he walked through the forest. He had taken only two steps, and he heard a sound. The hairs along his arm and scalp tingled when he listened to the hissing of a snake.

The hairs on his neck stood up, alerting him that something was following him.

whipped his head around toward the strange hissing sound, scanning every inch very carefully, only

of doubt, Zen wrinkled his brow, making a face while wondering, 'Was that an illusion, or am

forward through the forest. However, as he was passing under a stone arch formed by some jagged rocks, a

and narrowly avoided being whipped by the snake as it dropped, thrashing its body where Zen had been a

to his feet and found a three-grade beast blocking his path. It was a

on its first go, the gigantic boa slithered out of reach, scuttled into the surrounding stone forest. The boa looked around savagely with its massive, mesmerizing

a stone so that the boa couldn't take him from behind. Then stared at the boa, as long as it attacked him from the front, he was confident he

and flicking its tongue at Zen,

to his back pinned to the stone, motionlessly watching, unwilling to fall for the ploy of being lured away no matter

creatures, their most significant shortcoming was that they were not patient like the humans hunting them. So, Zen patiently kept careful

an hour later, the encounter

strike. Since Zen's back was against the stone, the crafty serpent let loose enough of its muscular body to coil itself around the

him, Zen focused and suddenly, a purple aura burst from within his body. Unsure if it would flee or try to crush him in retaliation, Zen knew he had only this one chance, and if he couldn't annihilate it in that first strike, the prize would be lost. So, he was determined not to give

strength of the boa's enormous body. Gravel and dust dropped to the ground. At the same time, the hold the boa had on

themselves with each breath, feeling the heartbeat slow, and heat coming off their victim. They would not stop until their prey ceased breathing. The prey suffocated slowly, bones grinding as they did. Then the snake would release the victim, unhinging their large jaw to swallow the food

filling his