Past life sage: This life a dual cultivator

"This problem is not so simple as you think. If the problem could be solved by the imperial family experts, they wouldn't have brought this creature to the grand sect competition", the second elder of the Lu clan spoke.

"Senior, what is the arrangement now? There must be some experts watching over the space crack", Zhan Chen looked towards the second elder of the Lu clan with a questioning look on his face.

"Yes, one of the general of the imperial army is watching over the Red mountain now", second elder replied.

'So, this is why imperial family assist the Shen clan that day. They do not want to see infighting among the super powers while the continent is facing such an existential threat', Zhan Chen thought to himself.

"All the participants in the top hundred list, please gather around near the stone platforms", an expert from the Spirit palace made the announcement. Zhan Chen bade his farewell to everyone and walked towards the battle platforms.

"I wonder what is the arrangement in this three layered test", he thought to himself while standing alongside with other cultivators.

"The test will be held in the nearby Sepentine forest. It will be a true test for the participants where they will face life threatening danger. The more they can travel in the forest, the greater there rank will be.

The participant who can overcome all the challenges and come out from the other side of the forest in least possible time will be the winner of the grand sect competition", the Spirit palace expert announced.

"Senior, will there be higher rank beasts?", a participant asked the Spirit palace expert.

"Ofcourse, there will be but we have already removed the sixth tier magical beasts from the Sepentine forest which means you will face magical beasts upto peak fifth tier level", the Spirit palace expert replied.

"Peak fifth tier magical beasts!", hesitant look appeared on some of the participants' faces after they heard the reply of the Spirit palace expert. There cultivations were only at Core condensation realm yet they may face peak fifth tier magical beasts who were equal to peak Martial ascension realm experts.

"How are we supposed to fight? We will be dead if we got noticed by any peak fifth tier magical beast", few participants started to murmur among themselves.

A frown appeared on the face of the Spirit palace expert after he noticed the reluctance on the faces of some of the participants.

"The three layered test is only for those who are brave and ready to face the danger. If you can't advance courageously, then there is no point in being in the top hundred list", he spoke to the gathered participants.

Majority of the participants were looking forward to participate in the three layered test. The unwilling participants had to give up their resistance after hearing the chiding words of the Spirit palace expert.

"Keep these tokens with you while participating in the test. The token will show the audience, how far you have progressed in the Serpentine forest", the Spirit palace expert spoke and took out a heap of square shaped tokens from his spatial ring.

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"An emperor realm expert!", Zhan Chen knitted his eyebrows after reaching the vicinity of the Sepentine forest along with other participants.

"Everyone, please hand over your magical treasures before entering the Serpentine forest. You are only allowed to take your weapons of choice. Other than that, no other magical treasures are allowed", one of the Spirit palace expert spoke.

The emperor realm expert of the Spirit palace released his aura slightly and all the participants had to part with their life saving treasures although many of them felt reluctant to do so.

"Zhan Chen, don't you have any magical treasures?", the emperor realm expert looked towards Zhan Chen. A surprised expression appeared on Zhan Chen's face as the question was too sudden. He immediately rein on his surprise and bowed towards the emperor realm expert.

"Senior, I only have this spatial ring. Other than that, there is nothing on my body", Zhan Chen replied and took out his spatial ring from his robe.

"Take out your weapon and leave behind the spatial ring", the emperor realm expert spoke. The same instruction was given to other participants and all of them had no choice but to obey the instructions of the Spirit palace experts.

Zhan Chen took out Lu Mingxi's sword and entered the Serpentine forest. The presence of the emperor realm expert ensured that he couldn't use his soul consciousness freely inside the woods.

"Forget it, I will use a different trick to travel inside this forest", he thought to himself.

The Serpentine forest was a large forest occupying the south direction of the Longyang city. The forest was dense and covered with luxuriant vegetation of different kinds.

The only thing Zhan Chen could see was long grasses and thick trunks of wild trees. He walked slowly while looking for the dangers that the Spirit palace expert was talking about.

He stopped on his way after walking for a while. His gaze fell upon a dense tree from where a creature was eying him with hostile eyes.

'Green eyed ape', he murmured to himself and looked towards the tall creature who was latching onto a branch of the tree.

The ape saw it's yellow teeths and warned Zhan Chen not to tresspass into its territory. From it's ferocious look, Zhan Chen was sure that it wouldn't hesitate to attack him as soon as he take one step forward.

'There is no point in fighting with it. Rather I should use it's familiarity with the surrounding and keep an eye on the nearby areas', Zhan Chen thought to himself.

A flicker appeared in his eyes and the next moment, the green eyed ape shed the hostile look on it's face. "Go to the nearby areas and let me see the dangers lying before me", Zhan Chen gave a command to the green eyed ape.

The ape struck it's chest with it's hand to assure Zhan Chen about his ability and then jumped towards a distant branch of the large tree. He hopped onto the branches of the distant trees and it's figure disappeared from the eyes of Zhan Chen within few seconds of time.

"This ape is really useful. With it, I can finally know what is happening around me", Zhan Chen thought to himself.

The ape hopped onto branches after branches and with its ability Zhan Chen could see the dangers lying ahead of him. There was a gigantic snake a little distance away from him and from its eyes, Zhan Chen could tell that it was waiting for a prey to appear.

The green eyed ape jumped past the snake and saw Zhan Chen other dangers of the forest. Zhan Chen started to walk forward with the green eyed ape as his guide. He walked unhindered for several minutes but he had to stop because the violent reaction of the green eyed monkeys.

"What makes you fear so much?", he tried to communicate with the green eyed ape. The green eyed ape started to shiver suddenly and all of its body hair stood erect after it went towards a certain direction. Zhan Chen could feel the panick inside it's heart and it made him curious about that direction.

'There must be something which made the green eyed apes fear for their lives. I can see from its memory that it had never visited this place but the cautiousness about this place was inherent in its blood', he thought inside his mind.

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