Chapter 148: The Ghosts Of The Masters
“Go to perdition!”
The broken flying blade cut through the air with high speed that it looked like a silver line to the naked eye.
“Bash!”
The heads of the snake were not as strong as Zen thought because they got cut off easily.
Without the heads, the snake would die. After its body wriggled in the air, its severed body finally fell to the ground motionless.
Standing on the dead body of the snake, Zen sighed of relief. At this point, he heard Saul's voice from the sky, “You really are surprising, kid! Who would have thought you're immune to snake venom? It looks like you can make it through this round.”
The most difficult part of the third round was to face the venom of the nine-headed snake that could rotate its heads at any direction. But he was not afraid of snake venom at all so the hydra's deadly venom was useless. Zen killed it without breaking a sweat.
After hearing Saul's word, Zen smiled but he didn't relax. He immediately jumped and rushed towards another hydra.
“Go to perdition!”
Zen was not threatened by the hydra's venom, so as soon as he approached it, he could quickly cut off its heads.
In total, Zen had killed six hydras in no time.
But the rest of the hydras realized that their venom had no effect on Zen, so they changed their attack strategy. When Zen attacked the hydra, it bit him and tried to swallow him whole.
Zen wasn't ready for such an attack, so he didn't have time to dodge it. He was swallowed whole by the hydra. However, only after a few seconds, the hydra's head burst open and sputtered blood all over its body.
The hydras were no match to Zen's brute strength, so he used this as an advantage to break the hydra's head from the inside.
“Go to perdition, you beast!”
He went on a killing spree and finally killed all the hydras.
In this round, Zen had all the advantages that helped him finish the round faster and advance to the next round. For one, he was immune to all the toxins in the world. And two, the number of opponents in this round was smaller than the previous rounds, so he finished in a short time.
“Congratulations on passing this round. You can now get the Cloud and Flying Birds Picture as your prize for getting through this far. This picture dates far back. If you look at the picture, I'm sure you will benefit from it. You can make your choice now,” Saul told Zen.
Zen shook his head firmly.
“Do you really want to go through the fourth round? Trust me, each task gets tougher as you move up and only the most gifted races can pass all the rounds. Well, you've done well, but you're still an ordinary human being so there's no way you can pass the next rounds. Take my advice and leave with the picture,” Saul advised Zen. It wasn't an insult, but rather a kind counsel. Zen was the best compared to his own race. But being in the fairy palace for too long, Saul had seen many talents better than Zen.
“If I don't try, I will not know for sure. If I fail, at least I have tried,” Zen replied decisively. No matter how difficult the next rounds would be, Zen would keep on trying because he wanted the fifth Contemplation Picture.
“I like your persistence and determination. I don't think you can do it, but if you want to try, then go ahead.” Saul realized that there was nothing he could do to change Zen's mind, so he let him through the fourth round.
Zen stood in the front of a swamp, patiently and quietly waiting for the beasts.
Suddenly, tiny light balls appeared from the swamp making a squeaky sound. Zen got a little scared.
“These aren't beasts! What are they?” Zen asked.
“These are the ghosts of the masters who were eaten by the swamp. When they died, they still had unfinished businesses, so they became these little lights floating on the swamp. If you insist on going through this round, they may eat your soul!” Saul warned.
After Saul's warning, the little light balls suddenly transformed into what seemed like glowing bodies. The only thing missing was their feet, but it didn't matter because they could float.
The seven ghosts rushed towards Zen.
Having no weight, the ghosts moved fast. One second, they were floating on the swamp, and in the blink of an eye, they were already in front of Zen.
'How could they move so fast?'
Zen was taken aback by such an eerie speed. In his panic, he fired the broken flying blade towards the ghosts without thinking.
Expectedly, the blade just passed through the ghost and didn't do any harm.
“Aaahh!”
A ghost uttered a bitter cry with endless resentment before thrusting towards Zen.
The ghost moved so fast that Zen didn't have enough time to dodge the attack. He put his arms up to protect himself, but the ghost just went straight through his body.
Though the ghost didn't touch him, Zen felt a sharp pain as if he was bitten by an animal. The pain his soul felt was overwhelming.
Because of the pain, Zen couldn't react fast enough. Another ghost rushed towards him and caused Zen pain as it passed through his body.
“Ahhhh!”
The seven ghosts continued to make resentful cries and attack Zen's soul alternately. At this moment, Zen could not do anything but to endure each attack.
'The pain is too much! I must fight back, or they will eat my soul and kill me."
Zen felt another sharp pain in his body. He thought, 'These ghosts are like wild animals. What should I do about them?
Pure physical attacks won't damage them.
If that's the case, then I have to use this one."
When a ghost started to attack, Zen suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, “Spiritual Thorn!”
A gray thorn suddenly popped out of Zen's forehead and fired towards the attacking ghost.
Spiritual Thorn could turn a person's soul into a sharp thorn that could be used to attack another person's soul. This was the simplest or the lamest way of attacking a soul.
In the Eastern Region, there were not many studies on souls and how to defeat one. That was why the Spiritual Thorn was the basic method on how to attack an enemy's soul.
Now Zen thought that it was the only way to defeat the impeccable ghost.
“Shashing!”
The Spiritual Thorn attack was so sudden that the ghost attacking Zen didn't have time to avoid it and got hit by the thorn.
When it was stabbed, the ghost shriveled like a balloon until it finally disappeared.
“It worked!” Zen exclaimed excitedly. At first, he was getting discouraged by the seemingly impeccable ghost and just let them attack him. But he was relieved that the Spiritual Thorn worked at the ghost.
He felt ecstatic and saw a glimpse of hope.
But it seemed that he celebrated too early.
After the first ghost was killed by the Spiritual Thorn, the remaining six ghosts became smarter and more careful.
The ghosts moved faster than before and bit Zen quickly.
Despite the speed of Zen's Spiritual Thorn, the ghosts knew exactly when it would attack, and they could completely dodge it.
Zen was failing this time. He couldn't touch any of the ghosts by his Spiritual Thorn.
He was at the disadvantage in this battle. The pain made his soul weak and he started to feel dizzy.
“This is insane! I can't be beaten. I will kill you all!”
After several failed attempts, Zen closed his eyes and used the Spiritual Thorn to attack at random. He didn't use any logic of his naked eye and just followed his other senses when attacking.
And it worked! He had pierced a ghost.
“Only five left!”
Zen gritted his teeth. He stood up despite the dizziness and continued to fight.
However, the Goddess of Luck was not always on Zen's side. When he tried to use the same trick on the remaining ghosts, it didn't work again. The ghosts continued to attack him, and the pain became more overwhelming. His soul became more fragile and weaker.
“Well, look at you. You're not only immune to any toxins but you can also use your mind to attack your enemy. If you're lucky, maybe you can hit another one. But from how I see it, your soul attack is simple and lame. You might end up dead before you can quit,” said Saul.
Zen was weak and could barely stand, but he was not giving up. He gritted his teeth and shook his head, “Just give me a little more time. I will definitely defeat them.”
“How can you kill them? Your soul attack level is low. Turning your soul into a thorn to attack is a primitive method, but these ghosts have way more advanced thinking. You're just lucky to have killed two ghosts. Better give up now while you're still alive,” Saul suggested, “These ghosts will attack you again. What can you do now?”
The five ghosts surrounded Zen from all angles.
It appeared to them that Zen was ready to give up, so they wanted to eat his soul completely.
Despite being surrounded, Zen just stood. He suddenly gritted his teeth and shouted, “Ahhhhhhh!”
As he yelled, a cyan dragon figure roared in Zen's deep mind.
The dragon's roar turned into an invisible cyan shock wave that spread out in all direction.
When the cyan hit the ghosts, they vanished instantly.
And in that instant, all the five evil ghosts vanished. The cyan shock wave dispersed them all in one attack.