'Tap, Tap.'
Zhao Luo was barely keeping himself calm while walking on the dragon road towards the expanded area right ahead of them.
"What will be the next challenge?"
Zhao Luo wondered as the dragon road kept on rising.
"Huff, Huff."
The disciples behind Zhao Luo were hardly keeping up with him
It was like they were climbing a mountain. The dragon road was going up like a staircase that was missing its stairs.
"Don't give up now. We are almost there."
Zhao Luo announced in a loud and mighty voice.
After hearing Zhao Luo telling them to keep up with him, the disciples had found this conviction that gave them strength, thus they kept up with him.
After an hour of walking while being exhausted, Zhao Luo was still calm but his eyes shined with confusion.
"It's still right ahead of us but why can't we reach it?"
Zhao Luo questioned the situation.
The expanded area of the dragon road looked nothing more than a few hundred meters away from them.
While Zhao Luo with the disciples had covered more than 10 kilometers in the last hour yet they still hadn't reached it.
'Should we stop?'
Zhao Luo had to make a choice.
'They need a break too.'
Zhao Luo was worried for the disciples behind him.
Zhao Luo stopped causing the small army marching behind him to stop too.
"Let's stop for now. Rest for some minutes. Then we will resume the journey."
Zhao Luo turned around and told them the good news.
The disciples looked happy as their legs gave out and they sat on the ground for the time being.
Zhao Luo turned to look forward again. He stood straight while holding his hands behind his back. He was thinking about the situation.
'Why couldn't we reach it?'
Zhao Luo still wondered.
During the time he was busy thinking about this matter, his bar had gone through another increase.
It was just a single point away from becoming full but Zhao Luo hadn't noticed the change.
He hadn't realized that he had completed a hidden test on the dragon zone.
After the ten minutes mark passed, the disciples got up on their own before Zhao Luo could even say anything to them.
They didn't want to be a burden on someone who was already leading them.
'They look better than before.'
Zhao Luo thought as he turned around to look at the disciples. His decision was indeed the better one.
"Let's reach that place."
Zhao Luo shouted as he raised his arm and pointed his finger at the expanded area of the dragon road.
"YES."
The disciples shouted with their all.
Zhao Luo smiled as he could feel their energy entering him too.
'Tap, Tap.'
He started walking towards the area again.
The steep road which would look like a vertical line to someone looked from afar was a hard road to walk on.
But the disciples behind Zhao Lup followed him without question. That went for Wu Yang and the others too. Even Feng Mei never disturbed her brother.
They were here to complete a challenge. So no one from among them treated this as a family trip.
Thus everyone walked behind Zhao Lup while matching their speed with his.
After a while.
'Finally.'
Zhao Luo thought as he had reached the place of the dragon road's expansion.
After walking forward, he realized the dragon road was still going on and passed through a cloud above which nothing was visible.
'There must be something behind it.'
Zhao Luo could guess as he looked in the front and a little far away, the thousands of disciples were gathered there.
"Everyone's here."
Zhao Luo said as the others behind him also entered this expanded zone of the dragon road.
From here on the dragon zone was twice as bigger as before and the road ahead was quite long but at some point, it turned into a steep road again that went upwards towards the cloud.
Zhao Luo walked towards the disciples who had gathered in this zone before him.
"What took you so long?"
The disciples sensing the arrival of Zhao Luo and his group said to them in an angry tone.
"What?"
Zhao Luo was stunned for a moment as he soon realized that the road ahead was blocked by two gates.
"The World isn't fair to everyone. Is it the World's fault or the ones who are ruling it?"
Fu Zi's voice rang out as a melodious tone filled the area.
The tone was tragic as if a story contained an unparalleled sadness.
'Another setting means another challenge.'
Zhao Luo knew that another task was coming cause that is how the games were designed.
"The fault lies with the Rulers but they will never accept such an answer. THUS, only the deserving one will pass through the gates so the undeserving will never cause unrest in the Heavens."
Fu Zi's announcement stopped for a while.
Then a column appeared on the door.
[ 7124/200 ]
It was bright enough that caused everyone to focus on it as they could once again hear the announcement.
The '7124' was the total number of disciples in this zone.
"The eternity is a passing aspect of life. But a life without death is a mockery of the heavens. Yet only the superior person deserves to mock the heavens. Thus the remaining 200 disciples will get a chance at eternity."
Kong Fu Zi's last word landed on their ears as everyone jumped away from the other.
"It's a battle royale now."
Zhao Luo murmured as he realized what was happening. They had to bring the that huge number down to 200. Amazing turnaround.
The old man kept on spouting out some top-class 'BS' and ended it with a 'kick others out to proceed'.
'Crack, Crank.'
Zhao Luo tightened his fists as a brawl had already started in front of them.
Zhao Luo may have been right for most of the part but there was one thing that he was wrong about.
It was that nothing was bullshit and everything was connected to what this last challenge was all about.
"Ahhh."
A disciple shouted as he was thrown off the dragon road by another disciple.
A while later.
Multiple screams were echoing around the dragon road as the disciples were falling off the dragon road like crops falling in a basket.
For some reason, Zhao Luo had yet to be attacked by anyone and he wasn't cruel enough to attack someone first.
'Sigh.'
Zhao Luo looked at his tightened fist and exclaimed.
"Why is no one attacking me?"
Zhao Luo mumbled with a displeasing look on his face.
It isn't like he wanted to bully the other disciples but just watching wasn't fun.
"Haha."
Wu Yang and the others couldn't help but laugh while looking at Zhao Luo's reaction.
"It's because of me and my muscles. That way they are bringing it on between just themselves."
Mite told Zhao Luo with a cheeky look on his face.
"Indeed, I will just wait here under the shadows of our great senior mite."
Zhao Luo said as his group was also here with him.
Mite couldn't help but look away as he felt embarrassed. He intended to joke so Zhao Luo wouldn't feel bad about not being attacked by anyone. He wasn't bragging around but looks like his joke missed.
In the trainee hall, who was stronger than Zhao Luo now?
Nobody could defeat a senior like Mite yet he had.
No one could stand up to an inner disciple especially not the psychopathic one, Zi Fei, yet Zhao Luo did.
So the disciples sorted it out between themselves.
Their bars weren't even half full like the bars of the disciples in Zhao Luo's group.
Not even a single disciple in Zhao Luo's group was attacked.
Their 108 spots were already confirmed as Zhao Luo with Wu Yang, Mite, Feng Mei, Yan, Su Shi, Mo Lee, and Wei Bin were standing a little away from the door.
Zhao Luo had his hands behind his back as he spectated the show.
Then behind him were a hundred disciples standing in a disciplined manner.
[ 208/200 ]
The number showed their count above the door.
"100 of them are left."
Zhao Luo looked at the hundred disciples standing in the middle facing each other.
They may even be stronger than the disciples who were standing behind him.
But what could he do?
The one behind him was his companions while the one in front of him was angry at him for taking so long to reach this zone.
[ 201/200 ]
The last 'extra' disciple was left.
"Ahhh."
Another shout rang out causing the counter to drop by one more.
[ 200/200 ]
The next minute only 92 disciples were left from the thousands of disciples that had entered the dragon road.
"Their journey ended while our continues once again."
Zhao Luo said as he turned around and walked ahead of the hundred disciples who were standing behind him as they made way for him.
The 92 disciples who were left also joined with the others.
"Creak~"
The doors opened slowly while making an old wood noise.
"Let's go."
Zhao Luo said as he squinted his eyes.
'Tap, Tap.'
Zhao Luo started walking as 199 disciples followed behind him.
This may just be the last hurdle that they had to face on this journey, The Dragon Road.
