Chapter 112: The Killing Intention
Zen stood in the crowd and stared at the general. The man looked strange, and Zen had never seen him before.
“Why can't I leave? Who are you?” he asked in a deep voice. If someone came looking for him, that could only spell bad news.
Suddenly, someone whose head was covered with gauze appeared from the side. “Zen, I have sworn that you will die with your boots on,” he said menacingly. “Did you naturally think you can run for your life?”
Even with his face completely concealed, and only his eyes were seen, Zen still recognized his voice. It was Yale. Before the demon attacked the city, Zen had knocked some sense into him a few times.
“Oh, it's Yale. What did you do? Did you really ask your brother to come here?” he asked casually, though he grasped the flying blade in his hand. The general before his eyes was powerful. Apart from him, there were two soldiers on the side.
The soldiers appeared to be at the grade six of nature level. However, based on their decisive breath, their strength should not be underestimated.
In fact, Zen's own strength was far more powerful than what should be in the realm. Thus, he did not blindly judge the opponent's strength.
“I am Josef. I have heard about you from my younger brother. They said you've offended many members of our Zhuge family, such as Chad and Fren. Now, you hit Yale? Very few people dare to offend anyone in our family. Today, you came to White Emperor City where I will treat you well. My suggestion, however, is that you cut your own arms by yourself, wear this chain, and follow me. Otherwise... You will meet your doom!” As soon as Josef uttered the last words, he whipped out a chain used to capture prisoners, and belted it on the ground.
“Cut my arms by myself?” Zen raised his brows first, and then laughed loudly as though he heard a sarcastic joke. In a dauntless manner, he stated, “You are just a counselor. As a member of the imperial army, can you really act without being given direct orders in White Emperor City?”
“As the counselor of the imperial army, I certainly can't ignore the military rules. Regardless, I think no one would dare to talk behind my back if I deal with some commoners. In this situation, I can torture and kill you as long as I want. Who dares to oppose me?” Josef challenged, waving his hand.
Zen put the flying blade down and sneered, “If that's the case, I would like to see you try and kill me!”
Lifting his hands slowly, he poised himself in a fighting position. The disciples of the Drizzle Peak and Skytop Peak took out their weapons, one after another, and stood on each of his sides.
“Do you dare to fight on Zen's side? Are you not afraid of death?” Surprised, Josef did not expect these people to side with Zen. He did not anticipate that the elusive man had the group's support.
In the past, no one in their right mind wanted to be involved in the affairs of the Zhuge Clan. After recognizing that he had sorely overestimated the reputation of his family, his expression shifted into a look of dismay.
Lenard unsheathed his black and white swords and said, "Everybody says that the wisdom of the Zhuge noble clan is unparalleled.
So far, why are the members I have met not wise at all, but stupid?“”What do you mean?" asked Josef.
“Maybe you won't encounter any trouble if you kill Zen. The trick is whether you can really make it happen. Besides, we have so many people here. Are you going to kill all of us? How will you explain that to the Cloud Sect? You are just a counselor. If the Cloud Sect blames the imperial army, do you think that you'd be safe under the protection of Zhuge family?” Lenard shook his head, appearing to be puzzled over Josef's logic.
When he slowly began to comprehend the man's words, Josef became frustrated. How could he have not thought about that?
Frankly, he had not expected the unity of the disciples of the Cloud Sect.
The counselor thought for a while and suddenly asked in a deceitful manner, “Don't you want to escape from White Emperor City? Now that the demons surround the city, it will not be easy for you to leave without getting hurt. I can send some people to escort you! Anyone who wants to leave, come over here! Take my side, and I will provide you a safe passage.”
His beguiling promise gained the interest of several disciples immediately.
After all, there were thirty-three peaks in the Cloud Sect. The disciples of the other peaks had nothing to do with Zen. Naturally, they did not want to get involved in the affairs of the Zhuge family. Just then, only Lenard of the Skytop Peak took the lead to stand beside Zen. Others did not say anything.
Now that Josef had promised to protect them when they went down from the mountain, they were certainly more attentive than before. After giving his offer some thought, the disciples of the Cloud Sect finally came to a tough decision.
Slowly, one by one, many of them left their spot and approached the counselor. When no one else made a move, only the disciples of the Skytop Peak, Drizzle Peak, and Lady Peak including Nina were left on Zen's side.
After seeing that the number of the people beside Zen had decreased, Josef smiled again and stated smugly, “Except for Zen, the rest of you may leave. I dare say, only the fools do not know what to choose!”
However, as soon as Josef paused, he saw a blinding flash coming from the hand of a female disciple standing behind Zen.
The flash converged rapidly to form a dragon-shaped life vitality. Then it shot towards Josef with immense power.
“Ho!”
In that very moment, Josef sensed that his life was in peril. The mere thought of losing this way sent chills down his spine, so he willed himself to jump suddenly, and avoided the Shock Dragon.
The Shock Dragon rushed over all the way, with no signs of stopping, and finally hit a house behind Josef. The entire building did not stand a chance against it and collapsed in an instant.
“Bang!”
The house crumbled down, and there were smoke and dust all over the ground.
After his close brush with death, Josef wore a straight face. Even the soldiers he brought with him did not know how to react to the female disciple's attempt.
Although no one could still see Yale's face clearly, his eyes spoke volumes as they glistened with terror.
“Shock Dragon? Someone of Zhu Clan!” The furious counselor glared at Nina.
Despite her recent actions, Nina looked calm and even sported a sneer. The female disciple did not open her mouth to speak while she stood beside Zen. As long as he was nearby, she could feel a sense of security, which was reassuring.
Those who came from noble clans rarely fought each other, as they were often aware of the other clan's strength. It was why they were cautious whenever they met someone from another noble clan.
However, the woman from Zhu Clan startled him with her reckless behavior. Josef had not planned to fight, but she tried to destroy him by releasing the Shock Dragon. Had he failed to evade the attack, it would have been the end of him!
Enraged by her audacity, Josef said, “I don't care who you are. Because of what you did, I will make sure you die today. No. I will make you serve my brothers in the army, and then kill you! You, and you, both of you get over here this instant. I am afraid there are demons lurking around. Kill all the resisters!”
Although Zen appeared to be calm after hearing the counselor's commands, there was a distinctive murderous glint in his eyes.
Indeed, Zen hesitated a little in the beginning. He did not wish to go up against Josef and all the people who chose to fall for the latter's deception. On the other hand, that did not mean that he was afraid of them.
After all, the opponent was an army man, and they were in White Emperor City.
If it were up to him, he wouldn't resort to an aggressive solution like fighting. In fact, he preferred Lenard's approach earlier. He almost subdued Josef by merely making him doubt his own judgments.
Alas, Josef's commands made it clear that some people were going to get hurt today. Nonviolent resolutions were out of the question, and Zen saw no way of changing that.
Anyone who knew him would know that his calm appearance was only a cover-up for the rage that was consuming his heart.
In a steady manner, Zen took one light step forward as though he were drifting.
When his right foot touched the ground, the power of more than a hundred dragon scales in his mind burst out.
Simultaneously, when he deliberately reversed the tip of his foot, an immense power erupted from the ground.
“Crack!”
With Zen's foot tip being the center of a circle, the hard ground started to split open and spread rapidly. A huge crack spread across the whole floor of the room, and then it crossed the wall. It even reached all the way up the roof.
With great force, Zen shot himself towards Josef like an off-string arrow.
The two guards on both sides of Josef were the quickest to react. Upon seeing Zen's powerful and explosive force at high speed, their expressions changed.
After all, he was only half-step into the nature level. No matter how powerful his strength was, it was limited. After the two made meaningful eye contact, they blocked Zen from reaching Josef as though they were two gates.
After facing Zen's power, the two did not dare to disregard it. They activated the life vitality all over their body and exerted the life vitality to create two khaki shields.
The two guards had plenty of combat experience, and their cultivation methods were superior. The khaki shields they made with the life vitality were not eye-catching but could repel the attack of the demon general.
They thought, 'It must be more than enough to block this bloke. He dashes at such a high speed. At this point, only the anti-seismic force is enough to stop him!'
“Get out!”
Zen dashed in front of them and swung his fists to punch the khaki shields.
His fists nearly pierced the life vitality shields, but not as much as he had wanted. Each of the shields had a thickness of three inches. As they were made from the life vitality, they decreased the hardness on purpose to effectively dissolve most of the opponent's power.
These life vitality shields were truly effective!
Even when Zen exhausted all the power of the dragon scales in his mind, he still could not break the shields.
However... an idea came to him.
When Zen realized that he could not break the life vitality shields with his strength, two wisps of demonic life energy arose in his fists.
When the demonic life energy soared into the life vitality shields, it was as though cold water was poured on the boiling oil. The demonic life energy swallowed and transformed the two life vitality shields rapidly.
The expressions of the two soldiers changed instantly. When they saw the dark purple life energy, they knew they were in trouble. Afraid that they might come in contact with it, they let go of the shields.
Being on the battlefield all year long, the two soldiers' instinct saved them this time. If they had not released their grip, the demonic life energy would have swallowed their corporeal bodies quickly.
But the two who just lost the protection of the life vitality shields were now destined to face Zen's fists directly.
“Bang! Bang!”
While they were off their guard, Zen punched the two defenseless soldiers in the chest. Both soldiers ended up flying backward like the off-string kites.
When he threw the punch, he did not apply all his strength. After all, the two were just under Josef's orders, and it was not all their fault. They did not deserve to die.
When the two soldiers were defeated, there was no one else to defend Josef from him.
As soon as Josef realized this, he wore an unreadable expression. It appeared as though he was assessing his situation.
He was a warrior at the grade six of nature level, but his abilities were cultivated depending on the pills. Unfortunately, he did not possess an astounding physical strength. The counselor was only good at strategy and military science.
Nevertheless, he was more than aware of the strength of his two guards. When they fought together, they could bring down four demon generals.
No matter how much Josef thought about it, he couldn't justify how Zen defeated the two guards so easily.
When Yale warned him not to underestimate Zen and not to see him as a refiner half-step into the nature level, he thought his plan was more than enough for a single prisoner.
Based on his warnings, Josef thought two guards was all it would take to defeat the man.
Alas, Zen's strength was beyond Josef's expectation.
At that moment, Josef was at a loss. He could do nothing else but take a step back!
Filled with inexplicable fear, the counselor fled from the fight. As a desperate attempt in causing a diversion, he threw willow leaf darts at his opponent while running away.
Zen did not take the willow leaf darts seriously, and let the counselor shoot them. Then, with these sharp darts going in his direction, he rushed towards Josef without batting an eye.