Degrade from Nobility to a Humble Slave novel Chapter 68

Once past the hall for tier two cultivation methods, Zen looked around. Only four other people had accompanied him. One of them was the towering strongman who always held a great sword.

Zen knew that this strongman was physically powerful and had boundless energy. He had not expected this strongman to also have a mighty soul. As Zen suspected, Cloud Sect had many outstanding disciples.

As Zen walked ahead, the hall that housed tier three refinement methods came into his sight.

An eerie purple light radiated from this hall.

Five people entered this hall. Except for Zen, all other people looked unwell.

One of them had turned ghastly pale as soon as he had stepped into the hall. From his attire, Zen guessed this was a disciple from a noble clan. Judging from his pallid face, it was evident that he was finding it difficult to resist the intent of the Vengeful Beast. This disciple reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark grey pill. Then, he closed his eyes and swallowed the pill. When he opened his eyes again, gold rays of light radiated from his eyes. At this sight, Zen realized that the pill invigorated the soul and helped the disciple withstand the intent of the Vengeful Beast.

"Disciples from noble clans are so fortunate!" Zen murmured and shook his head. Then he thought, 'How can disciples from ordinary clans acquire such pills?'

The five disciples surveyed the hall. Since they had entered the hall, tier 3 cultivation methods were accessible to them.

In the Eastern Region, cultivation methods were classified into four tiers.

Of these four tiers, tier 1 cultivation methods were the most common. Since there were innumerable tier 1 cultivation methods, they were the cheapest and could be acquired at martial arts clubs.

However, tier 2 cultivation methods were limited in comparison to tier 1. In general, these were inherited by small clans. For instance, the Purple Light Fist that Zen practiced was just one of many tier 2 cultivation methods. The Luo Clan was neither rich nor big. For such a clan, a book on Purple Light Fist was fairly precious. Hence, they generally didn't share their knowledge of cultivation methods like Purple Light Fist with others. The Purple Light Fist was so rare that even collateral branches of the Luo Clan were not allowed to practice this cultivation method.

Compared to the first two tiers, tier 3 cultivation methods were even more precious.

This kind of knowledge was usually given to collateral branches of noble clans.

In the hall for tier 3 cultivation methods, there was only a single-layer bookcase. Since the bookcase held hundreds of books for tier 3 cultivation methods, the powerful influence and reach of Cloud Sect were obvious. Zen was certain that it wouldn't be hard for him to find a cultivation method suitable for him.

He sifted through the bookcase while thinking about which cultivation method he should pick.

Surely, Purple Light Fist was a good choice for Zen. But it would be not enough now that he had joined Cloud Sect, as he couldn't harness his power to the greatest extent by practicing Purple Light Fist exclusively. As a consequence, he would be in an extremely unfavorable situation when he fought with people who practiced high-tier cultivation methods.

After thinking for a long while, Zen decided to continue walking toward the next hall.

The purple light pouring out of this hall was extremely bright, but it was less overwhelming than the intent of the cyan dragon.

Moreover, Zen's soul had been calcined by the black flame inside his body. His soul was far stronger than an ordinary person's. Thinking of this, Zen decided to choose a more powerful cultivation method for himself.

The other four men stared at him in shock when Zen started to march ahead.

"Do you want to die? The intent of the Vengeful Beast appears to be rather predominant in the hall for the tier 4 cultivation methods. You won't be able to withstand it," the towering strongman gently reminded Zen.

Zen smiled in acknowledgment at the strongman before replying, "I know that, but I want to try."

"Hehe. Don't stop him if he wants to die. I have seen many guys like him who overestimate their abilities. It is said that the intent of the Vengeful Beast is substantial inside the hall for tier 4 cultivation methods. In fact, it is so strong that it can kill people intangibly. Anyone who enters that hall before cultivating his or her state of mind will not gain anything except death," the disciple from the noble clan said haughtily.

Zen laughed flatly as soon as he heard that disciple. Instead of refuting, Zen stepped into the next hall.

Finally, Zen had reached the hall with the rarest cultivation methods.

The hall for tier 4 cultivation methods was much smaller than the former ones.

Every book on these cultivation methods was quite rare. These books even contained hidden secrets, which were almost impossible to inherit by even core members of large noble clans.

There was only one bookcase inside this hall too. Compared with other tall and luxurious bookcases that Zen had seen in the former halls, this one appeared to be very short, shabby, and old. The wood had decayed over the centuries.

Zen felt as though he was surrounded by a completely different intent of the Vengeful Beast when he stepped into this hall.

The purple light had been replaced by purple shadows, which looked like rare beasts.

These shadows slowly floated up and down in the hall. Once Zen stepped into the hall, these shadows began bumping into Zen. Perhaps they could sense that a human being had entered the hall.

Since the purple shadows were intangible, they couldn't harm Zen's body. However, Zen discovered that these shadows were attacking his soul with every blow to his body.

Deep in his brain, Zen felt a sharp stabbing pain.

For others, this kind of pain might be fatal. But Zen had a far stronger soul.

In spite of this, he was in deep agony.

Every shadow bumped into him like an awl and Zen felt a sharp stab in his head. As a result, Zen felt intense pain deep in his brain.

Such pain was not physical, but spiritual. There was nowhere for Zen to hide and escape from the shadows. As a result, he had no choice but to endure the pain caused by the shadows.

His soul couldn't withstand the attacks, and it throbbed every time a shadow attacked Zen.

He could bear the attack of one shadow. But since all the shadows were attacking Zen one after another, the pain was unbearable.

At last, Zen felt as though he would succumb to the pain of being attacked by many shadows.

Spiritual things were rather mysterious, and he had never heard of attacks against a person's soul. Naturally, Zen didn't know how to counterattack the shadows.

Zen gritted his teeth and closed his aching eyes. The pain was so terrible that Zen felt as though his eyes would pop out. At that moment, he even considered giving up.

But after further thinking, Zen realized that he must be persistent.

Before coming to Cloud Sect, he had been subject to inhumane levels of mental suffering.