Chapter 114: The Five-clawed Blackish Purple Dragon
As the spectators waited for the fight's next sequence with bated breaths, the golden dragon slithered around Zen and pranced on its five, large claws like a giant snake. Zen's Heavenly Ogre Fist was far weaker than that of the golden dragon's, and his power had been weakened a lot throughout the battle.
After all, Zen was still half-step into the nature level, which meant that he was only capable of condensing and exerting demonic life energy. Although demonic life energy was powerful as it was, it was nothing compared to the strength of life vitality. Apart from the incomparable differences between the two, the five-clawed golden dragon in front of him continuously consumed life vitality which only made it grow stronger.
Thus, the battle between the dragon and Zen was not the fairest. It was like pitting a chick against an eagle, and Zen was the much weaker chick.
“Boff!”
The unmistakable cracking sound of a punch was heard from the shadow of Zen's fist that collided against the five-clawed golden dragon. Right after the punch, the shadow stealthily slipped into the body of the dragon and vanished from their sight.
The general of the imperial army's lips curved into a flat smile when the shadow had vanished. He sneered at Zen's overestimation of his own strength and overconfidence about his own abilities. He used to think highly of his own “Magical Dragon Fist,” but after a fierce attack, Zen even didn't flinch at all. Very soon, the golden dragon defused Zen's punch that he used his life energy to throw.
The spectators, including Lenard and Cleve, shook their heads at the sight of the attack.
The audience were witnessing what they had already expected.
It was completely impossible for anyone else present to battle a strongman who had entered the Illuminating Soul Realm, simply because in such a fight, they weren't powerful enough to counterattack at all.
In the audience, Nina's face had a serious and vexed expression. For this trip, she brought along three jade boxes with her, each containing a “Shock Dragon”. She had previously called on her last Shock Dragon to counterattack the five-clawed golden dragon when it showed up for the first time, so she had none left.
Even if all her Shock Dragons had been used up, she still had an arsenal of other hidden self-defense weapons ready at her disposal.
For instance, she owned one “thunder stone,” which was considered as one of the three most powerful weapons of the Zhu family despite its mere size and appearance.
The process for making a thunder stone was extremely complicated. In addition to the complexity of producing one, it was also made out of highly expensive materials. It would roughly cost about ten thousand cubic crystals to create a single thunder stone. It was like consuming ten thousand cubic crystals in one go, which meant it was too costly to utilize one.
For all those reasons, the Zhu family had only made seven thunder stones, one of which was possessed by Nina.
In the event that Zen couldn't defeat the golden dragon by himself, Nina was ready to throw one thunder stone at the creature to aid Zen's attacks.
Her slender hands clutched the small stone tightly. She grew increasingly nervous as she continued to watch Zen's battle against the golden dragon.
After the golden dragon crashed the intent of Zen's fist, it ferociously jumped at Zen right away. However, when it got quite close to Zen, something strange took place.
A little blackish purple spot suddenly showed up on the chest of the golden dragon, which swiftly began to grow bigger and bigger.
The incident left Nina's mouth agape at the mysterious scene that played out in front of them. She knew that the blackish purple thing was just Zen's life energy.
Zen's life energy showed up and dispersed slowly. Its dispersion gradually increased in speed, and when the golden dragon rushed very closely to Zen, the demonic life energy had completely engulfed the dragon.
The once glittering golden dragon had immediately turned into a blackish-purple skinned creature. The attack of Zen's demonic life energy had forced it to cease moving and stop in front of him, as if it was frozen into its place.
The strange occurrence took everyone by surprise, including the imperial army general whose face now wore a peeved expression. In this battle, he had previously exerted a Magical Dragon Fist, which called out the five-clawed golden dragon that attacked his enemy. Furthermore, he could still manipulate the direction where the golden dragon moved. He could even order the golden dragon to howl and roar in order to boost their morale to fight.
However, in this moment, the five-clawed golden dragon that he had tamed with his life energy had not only turned blackish purple, but also lost contact with him. In other words, he was currently incapable of keeping the dragon completely under his control.
His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about the situation. “What on earth has happened? Why did my golden dragon turn blackish purple? What has this guy done to my dragon?” he muttered. Confusion and many unanswered questions filled his mind, all of which were beyond his comprehension.
In the battle arena, Zen was also quite stunned by the dragon in front of him. When he released the life energy, he had never thought he could manipulate the golden dragon. After all, he knew that he was only half-step into the nature level, so that was an impossible feat for him. However, the complete opposite happened as the dragon was now completely under his command. It was just too astounding especially for Zen.
Reaching half-step into the nature level meant that Zen could only isolate the life energy from his body and conserve it for now. However, the life energy usually wouldn't be able to kill his enemies if it didn't attach itself to any weapon.
Only if he had fully entered into the nature level, converted his life energy into life vitality, and turned his meditations into reality could he turn life vitality into substance and have the ability to kill his enemies under his control.
The blackish purple dragon in front of him still remained docile under his command. It had originally been converted from the imperial army general's life vitality, but was now under Zen's influence after it was consumed by his demonic life energy.
Zen's head whipped to the side for a moment. 'Then, how can I manipulate this five-clawed blackish purple dragon?' he thought.
As he silently asked himself, he came up with an idea. He immediately proceeded to separate his soul from his body and bewitched the dragon with his mind.
“Howl, rawr!” the dragon let out a thundering cry.
It was as if it had been woken up from a deep slumber. The huge monster began to ascend towards the sky, as its body started to slither around Zen's own.
Eyes wide with astonishment, Zen was completely amazed and pleased at the outcome of his magic. “That's it! I really can manipulate it now!” he exclaimed excitedly. The blackish purple dragon slithered this way and that, then lowered its head to face its current master. Zen gave it a gentle pat on the forehead as he stared smugly at the furious eyes of the imperial army's general, who had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm.
All the spectators were utterly dazed by the scene. They were absolutely puzzled by how Zen got the general's dragon under his control, especially with only his half-step into the nature level abilities.
What had gone wrong? Just a few moments ago, they witnessed how the golden dragon was ready to kill Zen. But, how could the dragon turn into a blackish purple color and be under Zen's authority in just a blink of an eye? The dragon had really stopped its attacks against Zen and seemed to have been under his dominance.
Was there anything weirder than this in the world?
Meanwhile, Nina's eyes glinted brightly with hope for Zen to win, as she also got lost in the same thoughts. The hand that tightly held the thunder stone in its grip still slightly trembled, but deep inside, she had realized that maybe, she had thought too much. Although Zen was only half-step into the nature level, it was true that he was a rare talent. Thus, it was no wonder that he got to keep the dragon under his control.
Even though his opponent had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, Zen had finally figured out a way against his opponent.
She was happy that Zen at least got to hold his own ground against a much more capable contender.
On the other hand, Lenard, who held a black sword and a white one, was in total disbelief. Under the current situation, he had contemplated if he should still help Zen or not.
It was true that Lenard was always too conceited. Although he didn't rank top ten in terms of strength on the Skytop Peak, he had a wealth of many other talents, wherein he had quickly reached one level after another at the fastest pace. Even if he was not in the top 10 rankings now, he would undoubtedly be included in the list in the future.
No vain man wanted to owe a debt of gratitude. It was completely opposite to their character.
Previously in the Sky Forest, Zen had saved Lenard's life. Because of that, he was protective of Zen in this battle against the general. However, it was simply because he wished to repay him the debt of gratitude.
Strongmen who were at the Illuminating Soul Realm were surely powerful. However, unlike them who entered this realm, Lenard was also cultivating a mystical skill. Once he had harnessed this skill, his strength would be significantly enhanced over a short period of time. He had been confident that his abilities would help Zen reduce the general's strengths in half, but whether Zen could defeat the general or not still depended upon himself.
Like all the other spectators preset, Lenard was also confused about which weird trick Zen had played. It came as no surprise that he was totally shocked by what Zen had achieved as well. Zen didn't flinch at all when faced with a fierce attack from the general who was at the Illuminating Soul Realm. He had even caught the five-clawed golden dragon and got it under his control. Lenard had never seen nor encountered anything more bizarre than this...
At this point, some people in the audience such as Cleve, Qiu, and Gury had witnessed what a “trick” was.
And just now, Zen had given “the trick” a brand new definition.
Since Zen was able to battle the general who had entered the Illuminating Soul Realm despite the fatal attack on him, perhaps all inner disciples of the Drizzle Peak were no match for him.
Henry and Gury were merely outer disciples, so naturally they weren't really clear about the situation of the inner disciples in Drizzle Peak.
However, on the other hand, Cleve and Qiu caught a glimpse of each other when they witnessed that the tables had been turned on Zen. Both of them silently agreed on one thing.
That was, although Drizzle Peak ranked the last among the thirty-three peaks, its inner disciples were absolutely not weak at all.
Ever since Master Su came to Drizzle Peak, she had found several highly talented disciples in quick succession. All these talented ones diligently cultivated their abilities to accumulate even more superior skills so that one day, Drizzle Peak would be ranked among the top of the thirty-three peaks.
In his opinion, Cleve had always been impressed by Harry Lu, Glenn Yu, and Charlie Liu who had ranked top three among the inner disciples. They all bore the expectations and hopes of Drizzle Peak.
However, Cleve now found that Charlie was no match for Zen, so were Glenn and even Harry, who ranked Number One among the inner disciples of Drizzle Peak.
Who was the dark horse then? From the current predicament of this battle, the answer was clear and definite. Zen, who was only an outer disciple, was the real dark horse.
The five-clawed blackish purple dragon dominated by Zen revolved around him in several circles, but after a while he realized that it was impossible for him to make this dragon be with him all the time.
The reason was very simple. It was because his life energy wasn't enough to let him dominate this dragon.
Once life vitality was converted into substance, one would always have to transfer his life vitality to the substance continuously so that the substance could always exist.
While Zen's body differed from an ordinary person's, the life energy inside him was far stronger than other people who were at the same level as him. Nevertheless, it meant nothing at all for a strongman at the Illuminating Soul Realm.
A few moments ago, Zen had directly overwhelmed the general's five-claw golden dragon by his demonic life energy and turned it into a blackish purple dragon--but now… The dragon under his control spun around him while it incessantly consumed his demonic life energy.
The dragon's ceaseless consumption of his life energy was so amazingly fast that Zen could already clearly see the drastic decline of his life energy near his navel.
“Since it is impossible for me to always get this dragon under my control, then I will... Go! Go and treat him in the same way as he has treated me!” he shouted.
He stretched a hand out and pushed the dragon gently as he yelled at it. Soon enough, the five-clawed dragon raised his head and roared. The ferocious sound echoed loudly throughout the arena and resonated strongly in the ears of everyone present.
After a while, the dragon abruptly and wildly hurled its body forward in an alarming speed, in an attempt to pounce on the imperial army's general who stood far away.
A spasm rippled out through the imperial army general's body when he saw the dragon rush towards him. Everyone would be in a sour mood to witness his opponent see through the trick, and now, the general was even going to be attacked by the very dragon that he unleashed to battle Zen...
Without any more time for over thinking, the general posed one of his hands like a claw. Another five-clawed golden dragon showed up in his hand in a flash. Just like the former dragon, this one also lunged on the five-clawed blackish purple dragon.
The dragons' bodies twisted and writhed violently against each other as they fought fiercely in the sky.
Soon enough, their battle had come to an end.
It turned out that the new golden dragon was far more vicious than the blackish purple one. After only battling for a few moments, it had torn the blackish purple dragon's body into pieces, and destroyed it into several parts.
A self-satisfied smile made its way on the general's face at the final outcome of the battle. “The dragon under your control is just an illusion! Your dragon has given itself away immediately after battling my five-clawed golden dragon!” he said triumphantly.
The truth was, the strengths of the two dragons weren't even on par with each other.
First and foremost, the newer five-clawed golden dragon was converted from life vitality, but the blackish purple one was only formed by life energy. In other words, their natures completely differed from each other. Moreover, the golden dragon consumed life vitality which significantly enhanced its power by a mile.
The battle was grueling and had everyone on the edge of their seats. The general had the upper hand at first. Then, Zen suddenly made a surprising move which turned the odds in his favor, but in the end, the general still won. Although the tables had been turned for his win, the imperial army general's smile didn't last long.