Treasure Hunting

Chapter 48 Zachary Was Back

Two days had passed.

When Zachary felt that time was almost up, he began to climb up the wall of the cave with his bare hands. Luckily the wall was very uneven, which made it easy for him to climb out of the cave. When he was almost at the top, he raised his head to ground level and looked around for the Blazing Roc. It was no longer around. He then climbed all the way up and disappeared in the next moment.

The intermediary contest was over because eighteen disciples had given up.

Sara, Lewis, and the eighteen disciples were waiting for the eight disciples who passed the intermediary contest at the entrance of the Burial Forest. The eight disciples were supposed to be escorted back to the entrance by the stewards.

Before long, the stewards exited the Burial Forest and brought back seven disciples.

"Why are there only seven of them? Who is not here yet?" Lewis asked when he noticed that one of the eight was missing.

"It seems that Zachary is not here!" Herman replied.

Lewis' expression immediately changed.

"Barton and I have searched everywhere, but we still couldn't find him. He might already be..." Gray sighed.

"His power was not strong enough. It was just too dangerous for him in the first place. We shouldn't have let him participate in the selection test," Herman remarked, blaming Zachary himself for the accident.

The disciples glanced at each other after hearing Lewis' words. Most of them showed an expression that they didn't care at all. Although they were all from the same sect, Zachary had always been treated as a loser. Immediately after he shocked everyone in the formal disciple selection, he was seriously injured by Bruce. Now everyone believed that he couldn't cultivate anymore. Hence, nobody ever had any confidence in him.

'He deserved it! It's a pity that I didn't get the chance to exact my revenge, ' Benjamin thought to himself. He was one of the seven disciples who had passed the intermediary contest. He went through a lot of hardships, but finally made it to the end. He was at the brink of failing several times, but talent and luck helped him to get through. He was also the only disciple at the Mortal Level who passed the intermediary contest, other than the missing Zachary.

"Please go inside and find him. Dead or alive!" Lewis, though worried about Zachary, had to keep himself calm as the leader of the sect.

At the same time, a figure walked to Lewis' side and requested, "Master Lewis, I want to search for him as well."

All the other disciples were surprised with what they saw and heard. No one expected that Elva would offer to look for Zachary. Although her face still looked emotionless and as cold as ice, there was a hint of worry in her eyes that her normal expression couldn't hide.

Lewis glanced at Elva and thought for a while. At length, he nodded at her solemnly and gave her his permission.

Just as Elva and the stewards were about to enter the Burial Forest to search for Zachary, a delicate voice called out to them, "Wait!" Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

This time the one speaking was Sara, who had been silent throughout the event.

"Is there something wrong, Master Sara?" Lewis asked.

"I will go as well," Sara replied.

Her reply caused an uproar in the crowd. Not only did Elva offer to find Zachary, but also Sara! What kind of charm was it that Zachary had? Why was Sara even concerned about him?

"Well..." Lewis seemed to be in a dilemma. After all, Sara was the invigilator. It was rude to have the distinguished guest to help search for a disciple. However, Sara offered to do this favor, and she seemed to be determined as well. In such a situation, Lewis had no idea what he should do.

As Lewis pondered for the best decision regarding the predicament, a figure came out from the Burial Forest, walking leisurely with a wide smile across his face. "Why so many people? Are you going to welcome me? Hahaha..."

When Sara and the members of the Welkin Sect turned to the entrance where the voice came from, they were stunned to see Zachary. Although he was covered with dust, it was amazing for him to return relatively unscathed!

Everyone knew that there was no way a person who couldn't use martial energy to survive inside the Burial Forest. And yet he was the one who came out the last!

Elva breathed a sigh of relief, and then left hurriedly.

Since Zachary came back safely, the intermediary contest came to an end—those eight disciples entered the runoff.

It was the first time in history that two disciples at the Mortal Level made it to the runoff of the selection test. What was even more astonishing was that, Zachary made it despite being at the third grade of

Mortal Level only, which was the lowest grade in the entire history of the sect to get into the runoff. The news spread throughout the sect like wildfire and amazed every disciple.

No one could figure out how he survived the Burial Forest considering he couldn't use martial energy at all. Many considered it a miracle!

At least in the eyes of the members of the sect.

None believed that Zachary could win once more. The weakest of the other seven disciples was Benjamin, who was at the premium stage of Mortal Level. The other six warriors were all at the Earth Level: three were at the premium stage, two at the medium stage, and one at the primary stage. It was highly likely that the winner would be one of the three disciples at the premium stage of the Earth Level.

Most considered it a miracle that Zachary was able to enter the runoff. However, no one thought that he was really eligible for this—they attributed his success to a series of lucky events.

The runoff was a series of one-to-one battles. The strongest was going to win—luck wouldn't be able to help anymore.

Four battle rings stood in a row on the training ground, surrounded by the disciples of the sect. There were over a thousand of them, and it was so crowded that there was no place for them to move around too much.

The four rings were set up to showcase four simultaneous battles between pairs from the eight qualified participants. Everyone expected the eight disciples to use their true ability in order to win. In the end, only one of them would be selected to enter the Celestial College. The runoff immediately became the only topic that every disciple of the Welkin Sect talked about. Everyone was eager to see who would win and make it to the Celestial College.