Chapter 113: Five-Clawed Golden Dragon
Josef took to his heels and Zen chased closely behind, and they were soon running out of the barrack and onto the streets.
Josef was quick on his feet, but facing Zen's hot pursuit, he began to employ every trick that he could think of.
Seeing that the willow leaf darts didn't work on Zen, he fished out a piece of brown sign paper and cursed, “Soldier in armor!”
Josef tossed the paper note in the air. The paper went up in flames at once and a soldier wearing an armor materialized out of thin air. Facing Zen, he wielded a sword and slashed at the opponent.
“Smash to pieces!”
Smack! Zen threw a punch and the soldier vanished as instantly as it had appeared. Without pause, Zen opened his fist and shook it casually, before moving to gain ground on Josef.
Feeling cornered, Josef gnashed his teeth together in frustration. The very next instant he crushed the pendant that hung around his neck with his bare hands.
The pendant was an heirloom passed down by the Zhuge ancestors. It had been bestowed on him when he became the counselor to the imperial army, with claims that the pendant would come to his rescue in times of danger.
As soon as he crushed it, a pale blue nimbus of light surrounded him protectively, making him glow with an otherworldly aura.
“Smash it!”
Zen punched the light with his fist.
The luminous curtain trembled faintly but soon recovered its intensity.
“So strong?”
Zen frowned, his eyes glinting at the blue aura. The light curtain was indeed remarkable to resist the power of his fist. He assumed it was an heirloom from the Zhuge family. It obviously held ancestral power.
Pow! Smack! Smash!
Zen struck the cloak of light a dozen times in a row. It quivered palpably but he failed to make the slightest crack on its surface.
Josef exhaled as he watched the sight. If he could just hold on for a while, the reinforcements would come to his aid. This was White Emperor City, and he was the counselor to the imperial army, after all. How could Josef let this jerk show such impudence and run unrestrained on his own turf? Josef curled his lip. “Don't waste your time trying to break it open. It's the invaluable Nine-foot Spectroscope. Once it is released from the pendant, even the Illuminating Soul Realm is unable to crack it in such a short time.”
Zen didn't give up and kept at it, but found that he really couldn't smash the curtain with mere brute force. Firmly, as if deciding on something, he nodded his head and a stream of demonic life energy rose from his palms. He swerved it in the direction of the curtain. In a flash, the sizzling life energy hit the curtain and infused in it.
It worked like a charm. The demonic life energy held the power of annihilation and devoured anything that came its way. It forced a crack into the curtain and spread to the other parts in a heartbeat.
“What did you do? How is this possible? What was that thing you used?” A vein pulsed in Josef's temple as he took in the scene, angered beyond belief. “Zen, this is White Emperor City. If you dare hurt me, you risk antagonizing the imperial army, with its millions of soldiers. Are you sure you want to do that?”
Zen scoffed at his words. Before the light curtain could be completely devoured by the demonic life energy, he squeezed one of his hands through the crack and caught Josef by his neck. “Oh? I risk antagonizing the imperial army with its millions of soldiers, do I? You are only a counselor to the imperial army. You think you represent each of those soldiers?”
“It's true that I don't represent the entire imperial army, but don't forget that my last name is Zhuge. If you provoke the Zhuge Clan, you become our enemy. We will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and make sure you die a painful death!” Josef announced, his eyes blazing a warning.
Zen exhaled sharply and tightened his grip on Josef's neck. “Hmm. Seems to me you Zhuge people are all the same. Using the name of your family to threaten and intimidate others. Except for that, what else can you do?”
Josef's hand shot up to seize Zen's own that held his neck. A sinister smile found its way to his lips. “There are many things we can do. One of them is killing you!”
Even before he finished speaking, a blue paper shaped into a symbol appeared on his palm. He placed it on Zen's hand forcefully and it burned into flames. What followed were tiny sparks of lightning
that rushed to surround Zen's body. They didn't harm him, instead, he felt that every muscle of his body had suddenly gone numb. In other words, he was paralyzed.
Sizzling sounds engulfed the air, and
Zen stood deathly still, unable to move an inch.
Josef roared with laughter. “You smug jerk. You didn't think I had this trick up my sleeve, did you? Hah! Now die!”
A brilliant sharp dagger popped out of thin air in Josef's hand, and he moved forward to stab Zen in his neck.
Josef knew his strength was not extreme, so he had many hidden weapons on him. Those little things could come handy in times of peril.
Unexpectedly, as the dagger reached Zen's body halfway, Josef felt a sharp pain shoot into his brain. Holding his head in his hands, he dropped unceremoniously on the ground and rolled over.
“Spiritual Thorn!”
Zen glanced at Josef coldly who was lying on the ground, groaning in pain. The murderous look in his eyes held no mercy.
As the lightning effect released by the blue symbol ebbed away, Zen moved his unfeeling body and picked up the dagger that Josef had let fall on the ground. He marched over to Josef in a split second.
“Stay where you are! If you dare kill the counselor to the imperial army, you become the enemy of the Burning Sky Empire!” At that moment, Zen noticed a black figure approaching him in the shadows. He heard a brief growl as his dagger moved toward Josef.
“Is it another representative of the empire?” His brows snapped together as he stabbed Josef sharply. “Death calls you!”
He pulled out the dagger fiercely, splattering blood on the dead leaves that surrounded Josef's body on the ground. Zen was not someone who condoned killing, but if he hadn't known how to use the Spiritual Thorn, he would have been the one dead right now. He could not afford to show mercy to anyone who wanted to take his life.
“You are dead!” The general from the imperial army sprinted to him, his life vitality surging up and turning into a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. It was burning in red-hot flames. The heat waves rushed to Zen, crackling with terrifying power.
“Illuminating Soul Realm!”
Zen twisted his lips. This was the second refiner at the Illuminating Soul Realm he had encountered.
He had confronted Vale before, who was also an Illuminating Soul Realm refiner. Zen was weak before his formidable energy. He had no chance to fight back.
The Illuminating Soul Realm could burn life vitality and magnify its power by more than ten times. It could kill the nature creatures as easily as an ordinary person could kill an ant.
Zen clearly knew very well how potent the refiner at the Illuminating Soul Realm was. He could only step back and retreat.
But the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, created by life vitality, seemed to have anticipated it. It pursued Zen forcibly, not giving up until it had swallowed him down its throat.
Just then, Zen heard Nina shout at him. “Zen, get down!”
Without hesitation, Zen leaned forward and rolled down to lie flat on the ground.
With a roar, the Shock Dragon flew above Zen's head and abruptly collided with the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.
Nina's Shock Dragon was equivalent to a full attack of an Illuminating Soul Realm refiner, but she didn't have the ability to fully control it. Thus, powerful as the hidden weapon was, it couldn't hit the target accurately.
Zen leaned forward. The Shock Dragon crashed into the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.
The attacks of the two strengths of Illuminating Soul Realm suffered a head-on collision at full speed. Undeniably, the power it produced was immense and terrifying. As the two dragons clashed, a gleam of bright light blazed forth. The disciples of the Cloud Sect and the imperial army soldiers shut their eyes instinctively.
As the light disappeared, the general of the imperial army walked over to Zen, his jaw clenched and his eyes livid. “Even if it seems that someone from the Zhu clan is backing you, you still owe me an explanation. Why did you kill Josef?”
Zen stood his ground and stared back at the general defiantly. Stepping forward, he coldly said, “He deserved it!”
“It's not up to you to decide whether or not he deserved it. His allegiance was with the imperial army, and only the army gets to decide his fate.” Life vitality sparked in his hands. Soon, another mini Five-Clawed Golden Dragon took shape and hovered on his palm. “If you can't find an explanation, you must die!”
Zen spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground. The collision between the dragons had released too powerful an energy to withstand, and the after effects had injured him. “What? Do you mean to tell me I should not have fought back when he placed the dagger on my neck? Do you expect me to just sit around and wait for death?”
“The imperial army has millions of soldiers who are stationed at the White Emperor City. We have a strict code of discipline. If Josef wanted to kill you, he must have legitimate reasons!” the general said seriously.
“Ha, I'm surprised you can say such shameless things so casually to my face. If that's so, why do you ask me to give you an explanation? You can just kill me straight away!” Even as he said this, Zen's body was on high alert. The demonic life energy circulated inside of him, zapping through his spirit and bones.
It was true that the person he currently faced was at the Illuminating Soul Realm, but he would not sit still and await death.
“Oh? Then prepare to die.” The general waved his hand, and the mini dragon took to the air and swelled into a gigantic Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. Flapping its strong wings, it circled the sky, emanating prodigious power.
With a roar, the general of the army pressed his hands forward in the air and the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon ignited into flames and hurtled toward Zen.
The dragon was born out of life vitality, and once the life vitality flared up, it was several times more powerful than normal.
Watching the sight in front of them, Cleve, Lenard and the rest of the people standing at the gates of the barrack went pale and wide-eyed in shock.
Zen was definitely capable of beating a demon general, and in their eyes, he had unmatched strength and skill. But would his power prevail against an opponent who was a refiner at the Illuminating Soul Realm?
Between the half-step into nature level and the Illuminating Soul Realm, there was an entire realm that stood like a wall.
The gaps between different strengths could be narrowed by other means, like super weapons, unique cultivation methods, talent, and technique.
But the gap between Zen and the general was a broad moat with no way to close the distance, and taking all things into consideration, it was impossible for him to surpass it.
The general of the imperial army declaring a war on Zen was equivalent to a death sentence.
Zen stood before the daunting Five-Clawed Golden Dragon and felt his life energy surging out of his body through his navel, like high tidal waves forging ahead, finally gathering into his fists.
“Heavenly Ogre Fist -Ogres Shaking the World!”
Zen had once used this punch to block the full blow of a refiner at the Illuminating Soul Realm before.
His strength and his technique must have risen up by several notches since then. He felt far less anxious facing the general than when he battled Vale. Zen figured that the general was not on the same level of strength as Vale.
As Zen struck the powerful blow with his fist, the demonic life energy gathered forward and molded itself into a purple-black shadow of a tight fist, smashing hard at the gargantuan dragon.