Chapter 149: The Immortal Soul
While Saul watched Zen beat all the evil ghosts, he remained silent for a while. Then slowly, he said, “Interesting! There appears to be a dragon lying dormant in your body.”
A dragon? Zen did not try to deny it. In fact, there was not only one dragon inside his body --- but nine!
However, only the cyan dragon that lay at the bottom of his body woke up. Particularly, it was the dragon that killed the evil spirits. It was a shame that he could not tell when the other eight dragons were going to awaken. Perhaps, the next dragon might only wake up after the current cyan dragon's scales were completely lit up.
“Haha! Not bad at all! Indeed, you are qualified to proceed to the fifth round. Seeing that you have already passed four tests by now, I won't force you to give up anymore. Should you be successful in the final test, you will obtain the Sun Moon Stars Picture, which is the most powerful Contemplation Picture in the fairy palace. Your only chance at winning, however, depends on you going at it with all your strength. Since the attacks of the ghosts affected your soul, I can assist you with your recovery.”
As a creature of wide knowledge and experiences, Saul had seen all kinds of people while staying at the fairy palace.
During his encounter with Zen, he had looked down on the man repeatedly. Nevertheless, Zen succeeded in conquering all the difficulties and consistently passed the tests one at a time. After a while, Saul could no longer intimidate the man and allowed him to advance to the next test instead.
As soon as Saul stated his intention to help, a halo of light descended from the sky and directly entered Zen's brain.
Suddenly, his soul appeared to be in a relaxed state, giving him a sense of pleasure and making him almost want to cry out in bliss. Despite Saul being just a puppet, he had casually displayed his surprising skills to cure people.
After the halo disappeared, Zen, who had been beyond exhausted, suddenly felt energized as his eyes beamed with high spirits.
After stretching his limbs in satisfaction, he turned to Saul eagerly.
“Okay, I don't think I need to take a break anymore. Allow me to start the final challenge now,” Zen said, looking at the endless marsh before him.
While bracing himself for another fight, he could not help but wonder, 'What kind of opponent am I going to be up against in the last test?'
It was not long before an armored warrior appeared from the marsh. Squinting for a better look, Zen took in the appearance of his enemy.
The armored warrior looked as tall as he did, but the aura emanating from him was confusing.
“This armored man is only half-step into the nature level? It's incredible!”
Zen was dumbfounded. It never occurred to him that he would meet an opponent who was at the half-step into the nature level.
With Zen's current strength, even if he had to confront nature creatures, they could hardly stay alive in the battle, let alone opponents with only half-step into the nature level. So far, only the Illuminating Soul Realm masters could beat him.
It was going to be a piece of cake for him to deal with anyone of the half-step into the nature level. Because of this, Zen was perplexed about the arrangement.
“Do not look down on your opponent. The fifth and also the final test is the most difficult that you will have to face. The real strength of that armored man is about the same as yours, half-step into the nature level. If you are a nature creature, then so is the armored man,” Saul explained.
Zen smiled lightly and said, “Then, I will definitely win.”
“Huh?!” Saul exclaimed, looking at him in mild surprise. “How could that be so easy? Within the warrior's body, there is a strand of soul remnant from an unknown immortal. Although the soul remnant has no memory, it comes from the soul of an immortal. Thus, it has inherited the battle skills and styles of the immortal. Even though he is of the same level as you, you are not a match for him in terms of the cultivation method and actual combat experience.”
“A strand of soul remnant from an immortal?” Zen repeated slowly.
Upon hearing Saul's words, his heart grew heavy and his facial expression turned glum.
The same strength, used by different people, would show different effects.
A great example was Zen himself. Even though he had only entered half-step into the nature level, it was rather easy for him to defeat nature creatures.
On the other hand, his opponent now was an immortal!
Except that, this immortal before him reduced his level to half-step into the nature level just to fight with him.
'I must be careful, ' Zen thought to himself. He became more vigilant than ever. Holding the broken flying knife, he gazed unwaveringly at the armored warrior not far away.
The armored warrior approached Zen at a slow pace, appearing as though he were only taking a leisure walk.
And as he continued to tread steadily, waves of life energy emitted from his helmet and armor.
“It is life energy!”
As the armored warrior was presently half-step into the nature level, he could not use life vitality. Therefore, Zen assumed that the matter he saw coming from the armored warrior was merely life energy.
However, the life energy seemed so strange. Instead of being a single color, there were several of them! Even more, the life energy constantly changed shades.
'What kind of cultivation method has he mastered that enables him to summon such vibrant life energy? No matter what, I'd better strike him first to gain the upper hand, ' Zen thought. Like a flying shuttle, Zen pushed off the ground and rushed towards the armored warrior. At the same time, he shot the broken flying knife straight at the armored warrior.
With a loud rustle, the broken flying knife rotated and came sharply at the head of the armored warrior.
Trying to outmaneuver the armored warrior, Zen thought of a strategy to subdue him.
For his plan to work, the armored warrior had to dodge the flying knife, and then that was when he planned to use the Spiritual Thorn. After that, he would retrieve the flying knife and initiate his fatal attack.
However, the armored warrior ruined his plan with a single move, one that was simple yet effective enough for him to avoid biting the dust so early in the battle.
In a very subtle manner, the armored warrior... tilted his head.
His execution to dodge the flying knife was swift, accurate, and concise. By simply tilting in one direction, the flying knife brushed past his cheek. It missed the target by only half an inch!
'He is so confident about himself. He knows the flying path of the knife as though it were the back of his hand!'
Zen thought and looked at the armored warrior, gasping in surprise.
Then he turned his thumb down and dragged the flying knife back, following the same route. With a lift, he then shot the flying knife at the backside of the armored warrior's head again.
His opponent slightly turned his head to one side, just as he did earlier. It was as though he had eyes on the back of his head, he successfully dodged the attack from the flying knife.
“Ah…” All Zen could do was wear a dumbstruck look.
His two consecutive attacks had both failed. To his astonishment, the armored warrior just got away with it so effortlessly. After attempting the best tactic that he could think of, he was now at his wits' end.
Just then, the armored warrior suddenly took his first offensive move; he rushed towards Zen at a rapid speed.
“Is this the strength of a half-step into the nature level cultivator?”
As Zen looked at the armored warrior who was speeding towards him, Zen's pupils dilated. He could not believe that a half-step into the nature level cultivator could run so fast!
It appeared that he had overlooked the similarity in the nature creatures' and Illuminating Soul Realm masters' reaction when they encountered him before. Truthfully, although his opponent had the half-step into the nature level, he also had the strand of soul remnant from an immortal. Therefore, his real strength could not be measured simply as an ordinary half-step into the nature level.
While rushing towards Zen, the armored warrior extended his long skinny arms and manipulated the life energy to form two colorful curves in the air.
As soon as the curves appeared, they were quickly compressed and turned into two fist shadows, which he harshly struck at Zen.
At the same time, he suddenly advanced towards him. With lightning speed, the armored warrior dashed so rapidly that Zen was only able to see shadows of his body, which was barely visible to the naked eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the armored warrior halted in front of Zen. Pulling back his hand to gain momentum, he then threw his fist at Zen.
As luck would have it, while the warrior sped up, Zen had simultaneously injected the energy of the Phoenix Crystal into his body.
With the help of the Phoenix Crystal, his speed increased by at least ten times. Even then, he still fell a few steps behind compared to the armored warrior's speed.
With an ominous rumble, his opponent's fist hit his body and smashed him down onto the ground.
Despite sustaining minor damages, Zen was quick to counter the attack.
As soon as he fell down with a howl, he immediately hit the ground with his fists and sprang to his feet.
However, as soon as he stood up, he was struck with two fist shadows that were formed by the life energy. The fist shadows were too powerful that they hit his chest with a loud resounding thud. As a result, the armored warrior knocked him meters away. Zen rolled on the ground before he came to a halt.
The armored warrior did not follow up his temporary victory with hot pursuit. Instead, he continued to walk towards Zen at a steady pace.
Lying on the ground, Zen gasped as his chest heaved.
'This armored warrior is too powerful. He has prepared for his every move, and he sees right through my strategy. What should I do?' he thought to himself while frowning.
Still taking deep breaths, he rose to his feet. As he had reached this far, it was simply out of the question for him to give up so easily.
When he straightened up, however, the armored warrior noticed him and zoomed towards him again. His figure flickered, approaching Zen with unfathomable steps.
“Go to perdition!”
With his eyes firmly fixated on his opponent, he swung his fist at the man as soon as he was within reach.
Unfortunately, despite his efforts, the punch missed the target again. What he hit was only the shadow of the armored warrior.
Suddenly, the armored warrior snuck behind him and placed his palms on his back.
Zen felt a horrible strength push him on his back, and then he tumbled on the ground where he hit his head on the soft soil. The impact of the attack made him plow through the path, leaving a trace of a long furrow on the ground.
Unable to help it, he spat out dirt from his mouth. Due to his terrible and uncontrolled landing, there was mud on his face, mouth, and even nose.
Regardless of all the continued attacks, he still stood on his feet and cleaned the mud off his face.
His only advantage was his exceptional body.
Although he had endured several attacks from the armored warrior, he still managed to stand and try again. Had it been someone else, the last blow would have wounded the person and ended the challenge.
Nevertheless, Zen's body had become strong after being tempered by the fire for several times. As powerful as the armored warrior was, his blow kept turning into a warm current, which served to wash Zen's belly.
“Pooh!”
After spitting out the aftertaste of mud in his mouth, he gazed at the armored warrior firmly.
The armored warrior moved extremely fast. If he continued to approach Zen at such a speed, it was nearly impossible for Zen to catch sight of his body. In this case, Zen would definitely lose.
“I'll try to narrow the gap between us and fight hand-to-hand with him,” Zen thought
As he had a strong and tough body, it never crossed Zen's mind to hesitate in a close distance and hand-to-hand battle.
Without another thought, he threw his broken flying knife again. This time, though, the target of the flying knife was not the armored warrior, but to block his way of retreat.
At the same time, he shortened the distance between the armored warrior and him, reaching out his hand to pull.
But as soon as Zen had reached out, the armored warrior deflected his attack and simply shoved his hand away.
“Do you want to push me away? No, I don't think so!” Zen yelled.
When his opponent had deflected his left hand, he quickly used his right hand to attack the armored warrior.
But then again, Zen did not expect that the armored warrior's arms would be as flexible as the body of a spiritual snake. Quickly enough, the armored warrior twined his flexible arm around Zen's right hand and locked it firmly.