Chapter 137: The Black Wolf
The lightning leopard was fast but not as quick as the tremors that rocked the ground. If it got caught in the vibrations, it could turn into dust in an instant.
The people stopped whispering. The long-haired woman, who stood in the center of the noble clan members, stretched out a hand. Her long hair was rolled out like waves. A pale-blue light ball surged from her body, vanishing as soon as it had appeared.
The very next moment, the blue light ball surfaced around the lightning leopard's body as a visible shield protecting it.
When the tremors spread to its body, the ball of light dimmed a little, but it was apparent that it had devoured the power of the tremors. The lightning leopard was left unharmed as it ran, the two giant puppets hot on its heels.
The tremors swept forward, drawing closer to the members of the seven noble clans as well as Zen.
Several of them scuttled to nooks and corners in an attempt to avoid them. The distance made the energy of the tremors easier to bear but it was still beyond the endurance of the nature creatures.
Only the long-haired woman, Wilson and two other powerful men of the Illuminating Soul Realm stood unmoved like stones, letting the approaching tremors assault them.
Zen also did not budge from the other side of the square. He sensed the tremor gushing toward him until it finally burst through his body, knocking through with an impact that nearly threw him over. The tremor was like a warm stream of water that rushed through his insides. It began to scour his belly roughly.
At first, he tried to resist it but then stopped, sensing that he might be facing a breakthrough. Once his belly was scoured, it might help him reach the nature level. With this revelation in mind, Zen allowed the tremor to run through his insides even as it pained him.
Unfortunately, after the tremor left him, he didn't feel any change in his belly. Zen twisted his lip in displeasure. The tremor had been of moderate intensity. If only it had persisted for a few more moments! Then his belly could have been scoured thoroughly.
Not far away, the long-haired woman and the powerful men of the Illuminating Soul Realm stood frozen as they watched the tremor pass over Zen's body.
Did he want to die? He didn't move an inch as the tremor passed over him. Instead, he faced it as they had.
They were sure that the tremor would turn him into dust.
But as the tremor passed over, they saw that the masked boy didn't, in fact, turn to dust. He stood, staring ahead, his eyes twinkling with delight.
The nature creatures hidden in the corners weren't witness to the scene and didn't know that Zen had stood fearless before the tremor.
Shock was painted across the faces of the Illuminating Soul realm masters as they wondered what the boy's body was made of. How could he withstand such power? He was only half a step into the nature level. He couldn't transform his life vitality to protect himself. So how was he able to face the impact of the tremors? Such an unusual boy!
If they didn't kill him, he would certainly rise to unbridled power and play tyrant one day. The powerful men of the Illuminating Soul Realm were ruffled.
Some of them had the intention to kill him some time ago, but now wasn't the time to practice their aim.
The main goal of the seven noble clans as of now was to enter the inner door of the fairy palace.
The temptation of a palace of celestial beings was undeniable.
During their explorations before, they had discovered that the two giant puppets who guarded the inner door attacked any and all who tried to break in.
Previously, they had run into the two puppets. Several of their fellow comrades were caught off-guard and killed with their maces.
This time, however, the members of the seven noble clans were well prepared. One of them had brought the lightning leopard that could outrun anybody.
They planned to use the speed of the lightning leopard to provoke the two giant puppets. After it led them to the square, they would seize the chance to sneak into the inner door while the puppets chased the leopard busily.
What they had not counted on was for the masked boy to appear out of nowhere.
At first, the young man had seemed insignificant, so they sent Yves to kill him.
However, it was Yves who got killed instead. Not only him, but the young man managed to deceive Leon too. They might not have gotten rid of the masked boy, but the lightning leopard had successfully led the two giant puppets to the square. This diverted their attention.
No longer interested in killing the masked boy, the clans realized that they needed to act in haste and run to the inner door while the leopard kept the guards distracted.
While the seven noble clans were together in this mission, secretly, they still schemed against each other. There was a large amount of treasure in the fairy palace that would add to their riches if they could grab even one for the clan.
It was the long-haired woman who rushed to the front foremost. Several masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm followed her closely. The rest of the nature creatures too rushed to their side.
Zen stood at the square and watched them, knowing what to do next. He followed the members of the clans with quick footsteps. They had been clever in tricking the two giant puppets. This was a great opportunity for Zen to enter the palace too.
The masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm noticed Zen following them and sneered.
In order not to attract the attention of the giant puppets, they had left the masked young man behind for the moment. But apparently, he was insatiable. 'Shameless cretin!' thought a few of the people. He dared follow them to enter the inner chambers!
They had been planning to infiltrate the inner chambers for a long time now, and suddenly a boy appeared out of nowhere, wanting a share in their profit! It was unacceptable to them.
“Stop him. Tell him not to follow us. Just kill him!” the long-haired woman said from between her teeth, her eyes blazing with anger.
Wilson, who had been following the long-haired woman, ambled forward, wearing a disparaging smile on his face. His body was illuminated with bright yellow lights as he waved his hand. His life vitality surged forward and morphed into a few human figures, all as tall as him. Soon, they began to crawl on the ground, transforming into three khaki-colored aardwolves.
Flames were set ablaze behind the aardwolves, a result of the burning life vitality.
“Go, kill that kid!” Wilson roared in a deep voice.
Under Wilson's direction, the three aardwolves turned around and darted toward Zen, their sharp teeth glinting against the flaming backdrop.
The aardwolves pursued Zen, until finally they blocked him, coming to a standstill three feet away from him.
“The old guy's life vitality is the aardwolf?” Zen gave a small smile and swiftly pulled the demonic life energy from his belly, gathering it in his right fist.
This kind of life vitality avatar was his favorite. When the aardwolf in the front bolted over to him, he bent at the waist and punched it with his right fist.
“Ogres Shaking the World!”
A dark-purple shadow of a fist rushed out of his knuckle. With the aid of the Phoenix Crystal, the punch he threw was ten times faster than before.
The aardwolf was a lot more flexible than Hugh's Five-clawed Golden Dragon, but Zen's fist still packed a punch.
Wilson was still running to the inner door. This square was only a hundred steps' distance for the giant puppets, but that distance was like a dozen of miles to a small human. He kept up his speedy sprint even as he controlled his aardwolves.
When he noticed Zen throwing a punch at the aardwolf, his lips twisted into a smirk.
His life vitality was special. The aardwolves might look ordinary, but in fact, they could recover fully even when they were smashed to smithereens. It was a waste of effort on the boy's part to punch them with his fist.
Soon, however, he found that he couldn't laugh. The smirk stilled on his lips, like the frost of late autumn.
The aardwolf that Zen had punched blackened from head to toe. At the same time, Wilson sensed that he lost the ability to control it.
What a strange power. How did this kid do it? Wilson watched him, stunned. How had the boy grabbed one of his life vitality avatars and turned it to black, effectively rendering it out of his control?
He blinked his eyes in astonishment but consoled himself. It didn't matter. There were two more aardwolves left. He could kill the boy using them. Immediately, he waved his hand. The two aardwolves' life vitality was burning. The wolves scraped their claws on the ground with guided intention before howling loudly and darting to Zen.
Their life vitality burned ablaze. Without fear, Zen manipulated the recently turned black wolf to fight them.
The black wolf was made out of demonic life energy, which had devoured Wilson's life vitality. It circled the first aardwolf. The black wolf neared it and slashed at its body with its claws, transferring its demonic life energy. Soon, the aardwolf too was devoured by the demonic life energy and turned black.
Zen could kill the other aardwolf, but when he raised his hand to use the Heavenly Ogre Fist this time, a sudden thought struck him.
Since the aardwolf could be swallowed by his demonic life energy and come under his control, would the Phoenix Crystal somehow strengthen its power?
In an instant, he exerted the power of Ogres Shaking the World into his fist and punched the aardwolf, while also pushing the energy of the Phoenix Crystal into it.
The aardwolf hit by Zen's Heavenly Ogre Fist dropped to its knees and whined. In an instant, it changed colors. Now, it was a black wolf under Zen's control.
What was different from the other two black wolves, however, was that this one had a faint, bright purple energy spilling through it. It was the energy of the Phoenix Crystal.
“Let's try the speed!” Zen manipulated the black wolf, making it move with the energy of the Phoenix Crystal.
Woosh!
The black wolf burst forward like lightning, its speed more than ten times faster.
The lightning leopard, claimed to be the fastest animal in the Eastern Region, could not hold up in the face of this black wolf.
The members of the seven noble clans came running to the inner door. They paled as they watched the scene in front of them, the color draining from their faces.