Chapter 191: The Counter Attack
“Oh, you're the third son of the Zhang family. I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me!” muttered James in a rush.
The situation had him consider that he might have offended too many people when he tried all means to deal with Zen.
If he really killed Zen, it seemed that apart from the Zhu family, he would also offend the Zhang family.
“Master Mo, we have to measure and weigh the costs at times. Just as the saying goes, you need to take a step back and get some clarity on the situation!” Although Wurth didn't have much physical strength, he had deep insights into the human mind.
Perhaps James really strongly intended to kill Zen.
However, as head of his family, James had to ponder on numerous problems. In addition, he was not only implicated in a single matter, but also even acted on impulse just to protect the dignity of the Mo family. Although he protected the Mo family's reputation for the time being, how could the family live well in the future?
After observation, Wurth concluded that Nina undoubtedly showed great affection for Zen. After all, Zen had saved her life. If something bad happened to Zen there, it would be extremely difficult to provide the Zhu family with a sound and satisfactory explanation.
Moreover, Wurth himself would not remain indifferent provided that something did happen to Zen.
The Zhang family didn't have many rigorous requirements for its members. In addition, Wurth was the son of his father's principal wife, and his elder brother would shoulder the major responsibilities of the Zhang family.
Maybe it would not be an easy task to completely ruin the Mo family if Wurth tried persuading the Zhang family. Still, what about the future?
It was beyond any doubt that Wurth could destroy the Mo family as long as things went his way. Regardless of the intentions of the Zhang family or of Wurth, it was not a difficult thing to achieve. After all, the Mo family was only a small clan with rather small influence. The Zhang family would not feel the burden or pressure, no matter which of the seven major clans took a stand to speak for the Mo family.
However, James still looked hesitant.
At this critical moment, though, a wall behind James suddenly collapsed. A tinge of bright light was immediately emitted out of the collapsed wall.
Thwip!
The sound of a knife flying filled the space. As it turned out, the bright light was a reflection of Zen's broken knife.
This time, he was heavily and strongly overwhelmed by the energy of James' sword.
Previously, Zen had been able to confront Hugh as he depended on his demonic life energy. Moreover, he even killed Seymour inside a pavilion of the fairy palace. Zen could simply kill him as he fully engulfed a great deal of life vitality by taking advantage of the conflicts among the Illuminating Soul Realm masters. It was nothing as he seized the chance to kill Seymour when he was badly injured.
Today, though, Zen's demonic life vitality didn't seem to work. No matter how he tried, he failed to resist James' sword.
To fight off the blade's energy and avoid being dominated by it, Zen made his way here and there in the Mo Mansion as quickly and rashly as he could. The tiles and interiors of the house were crashed and wrecked, and a good many gates collapsed because of Zen crashing into them.
Although Zen tried all means to escape from James' sword, he still failed. Whenever he evaded the blade, he was closely followed as if it was a maggot attached to his bone. With such a determined foe, he was backed into a corner by the powerful energy of James' sword and was nearly killed too many times.
Still, Zen narrowly escaped the final strike of death every time with luck.
For now, Zen could escape by a thread, but it was only a matter of time that he would miss a beat and get killed.
It was an almost impossible task. Zen crazily racked up his brain to figure out a way to escape while running away like a madman.
After laying out his options, Zen deduced that it was impossible for him to unravel the energy. Since the energy was under James' control, he had to target James.
With this in mind, Zen ran all the way around the Mo mansion, so he could dash over to the guest hall.
While clashing into the wall with his corporeal body, he gently flickered his space ring. Suddenly, the broken flying knife flew out towards James.
There weren't many options for Zen in such a situation. If he had any other choice, Zen would not directly confront James, but he had to resort to his sole chance to stay alive.
Wurth's expression twisted abruptly as he heard a thundering sound from the collapsed wall and saw the broken knife, flying and beaming with a silver ray of light as it made its way towards James.
To save Zen, Wurth had put some pressure on James. As his way seemed to have worked, Wurth supposed that James would probably let go of Zen upon his persuasion.
But whatever Wurth had thought of and planned, it was beyond his expectations that Zen would even be able to lay his hands on James as he was closely followed by the energy of James' sword.
How troublesome the situation had become.
It made James even more hesitant as he debated killing Zen or not.
What would happen if he put Zen to death?
What could he gain from killing the man? At most, he could only help the Mo family and himself save face to certain extent.
The Mo family had already declined but its prestige might still be worth mentioning among ordinary folks, even if it meant nothing at all among the noble clans.
What was worse, James had already offended both the Zhu and Zhang families.
Had he known he would be in such a situation, James would have made some concessions. Since Nory claimed that the blood jade bracelet was his father's, nothing would have happened if James simply returned the bracelet to him. However, James forced Nory into something like mad.
Perhaps Zen would not have even laid his hands on the Mo family if James hadn't forced Nory that way.
Thinking of all that could have been, James felt regretful about Nory.
It was possibly the very first time that James felt such regret about his nephew even as he was coerced by everyone else.
While James pondered over killing Zen or not, Zen acted first against him.
“The flying knife? I don't fear it at all. It means nothing to me,” James blurted out arrogantly.
Just as he said it, he saw the broken flying knife heading towards him. Like a reflex, he lifted his long blue sword up and chopped up the weapon.
Although James' blue sword was made from his life vitality, it was as mighty as a fairy weapon as it had absorbed loads of heavenly essence.
In addition, James used his Ruin Sword when he chopped up the broken flying knife.
The chopping manifested James' unique and skilled swordsmanship as his long blue sword landed on the very center of the knife.
It was what he thought at first--that he could chop Zen's knife into two halves with his powerful sword.
But when his own weapon touched Zen's knife, it was immediately shattered broken.
“How is this possible? My sword was produced from my life vitality and it's even comparable to a fairy weapon. How could a broken flying knife destroy my sword?” mumbled James in shock.
Never could he have expected that Zen's broken flying knife would be so strong. As he watched his life vitality-based long sword get chopped into two by a knife, he was stunned agape.
The long sword was as hard as a low-grade fairy weapon. How was it possible that his sword was cleaved by a defective knife? The idea was still totally unbelievable for James even as it happened right in front of his eyes.
Still, the broken flying knife worked fast. As soon as the long sword was destroyed, it went straight for James' head.
In any other situation, it would be a piece of cake for James to escape such an attack, but James was still shocked by what had just happened to his weapon. While he was standing in a daze, lost in his defeated thoughts, Zen's knife dashed right for James' head.
As James snapped out of the daze, the knife was already extremely close to his face.
Faced with the cold weapon, he felt an intensely cold chill run up his spine. It was not until that moment that he realized that he would have been killed by a guy who had only reached the first grade of nature level if he hadn't come to his senses timely.
At the critical moment, James jerked his head away from the broken flying knife almost completely on instinct. His head was stiffly inclined sideways, only inches away from the attack he dodged.
Thwip!
The knife flew right by James' face, slashing his cheek and leaving a small wound on his face. A drop of blood trickled down as James' eyes widened.
Although he had fought several battles before, he couldn't help but feel rather chilled to his bone at that moment.
Previously, Zen had defeated James' son with his strength on the first tier of the nature level. In spite of Zen's amazing strengths and boundless prospects, James took for granted that Zen was less powerful than him.
In James' eyes, Zen was still like an ant, only a little stronger than others at his level. Considering what he achieved in the Illuminating Soul Realm, James thought that he could deal with Zen easily in any way he wished. Although Zen was capable of escaping his weapon and could stand his ground, James never thought that it meant Zen would be a threat to him and arrogantly scorned that Zen couldn't possibly inflict any harm upon him.
Contrary to his expectations, Zen could even put him to death, not only bring him harm.
If he hadn't instinctively dodged away from Zen's knife, James would have already been a corpse lying on the ground, the sharp weapon having pierced right through him.
Normally, people were scared when in danger of death. After narrowly escaping death, however, their fear would turn into an extreme fury.
Such was the case for James at that moment.
Originally, he wanted to ponder further upon what Wurth had said to him, so he could weigh the pros and cons of killing Zen, and hesitated because he had the option to only inflict mild punishment on the man.
Now, though, James was filled with rage. As a consequence, he thought of nothing but putting Zen to death.
Meanwhile, Nory, Wurth, Sean, and Nina were shocked frozen by the scene.
When James intended to execute Zen, Wurth threatened him, making him begin to change his mind about dealing with Zen. Alas, the incident was beyond all expectations.
Someone like Zen was able to counterattack James, someone who had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm.
“Huh, Zen was so strong. No wonder that many people spoke highly of his might…”
Given what just happened, Sean remarked with a wry smile.
On the other hand, Wurth heaved a heavy sigh and complained, “Ah, Zen nearly killed James and now he's in even greater trouble. It looks like we can't do anything but wait for the clan elders to deal with the current situation. It would be dangerous if James counterattacks Zen. Would Zen be able to endure the attack until the elders come?”
Standing straight and still where she was, Nina kept biting her lips. At this moment, she activated her Immediate Messager again, wondering why the Zhu family hadn't arrived yet. Something in the air made her feel anxious.
Even Yetta, who stood beside her, turned ghastly pale as well.
As a female member of the family, she didn't have any right to speak. On one hand, she hoped that her uncle would remain safe and unharmed against Zen, but on the other hand, it was clear to her how huge the trouble her uncle would cause to the Mo family if he continued to act willfully and arbitrarily. Perhaps Yetta's uncle still wanted to bet on a chance. In his opinion, Nina was only a female member of the Zhu family, so he concluded that her family wouldn't really lay hands on the Mo family only because of her.
However, as Nina's best friend, Yetta knew her well. There was no doubt that Nina would absolutely not let James go if Zen was truly killed.
Given that, she wondered what she should do.
“You jerk. You looked for trouble deliberately, so you can't put the blame on anyone else,” James retorted as his face turned grim. In the meantime, Ruin Sword suddenly beamed with a much brighter, brilliant blue light.
Whoosh!
Lifting his fake fairy weapon, James pointed his Ruin Sword at Zen, swaying it up and down for four consecutive times.