Chapter 227: Rocher
Lady Hua patted Mack on the shoulder and complemented him, “Well done, Mack! Though you should take it a bit easy the next time. The rubbish of the Drizzle Peak doesn't deserve so much so as to make you use the magic crystal!”
The magic crystal was a kind of crystal stone which the magic array masters usually utilized to increase their array's power. In battle, Mack hadn't been able to completely trap Yehudi within his magic array. But when he used the magical crystal stone, the power of the magic array had suddenly increased several folds and made Yehudi completely defenseless.
Master Wen lifted up the injured Yehudi and walked down the arena. Hearing Lady Hua refer to the disciples of the Drizzle Peak as rubbish, he was heavily pissed off, and his mustache was shaking with anger. “You!”
Lady Hua glanced at Master Wen coldly, a smile finding its way to her wrinkled face. “What? You know very well that your peak always ranks the last. You only have one promising disciple, and that too is at the consummation of nature level. Oh, not to mention, we beat him like this. What do we call such contestants if not rubbish?”
Ninety-foot Peak had ranked eleventh among the thirty-three peaks and showed much potential. Besides, at only eighteen years old, Mack was very young. Moreover, he was not the top disciple of the Ninety-foot Peak. They were very ambitious at the time, aiming to get into the top five in the competition. For that reason, they had saved several trump cards up their sleeves.
Hearing the remark, the disciples of the Drizzle Peak all became very indignant. They stared at Mack and Lady Hua with fury. But there was nothing they could do since both of them were more powerful than most of them put together. They had no choice but to keep silent.
After Master Wen put down Yehudi gently, he took out a pill and prepared to stuff it into Yehudi's mouth.
Before he could, Zen handed him a red pill and asked, “Master Wen, give him this.”
Master Wen narrowed his eyes and glanced at the pill Zen was handing over to him. Shock registered on his face immediately. It was the Red Cloud Pill.
Expensive as the fifth-grade pills were, Zen still could afford them with his fortune. Since he didn't have to worry about money, he usually carried such pills with him in case of emergencies.
However, Master Wen couldn't believe that Zen could afford such expensive pills. He assumed that it was most probably Aura who had given the pill to him. But Zen offering such an expensive pill to Yehudi was what really surprised Master Wen. He knew that it often took years of work for a nature creature to get such a fifth-grade pill. It was extremely generous of Zen to offer this pill to Yehudi.
What he didn't know was that Zen's fortune was nothing less than that of most senior masters. He was even richer than Aura herself.
Though Aura was a noble princess, her fortune was only about a hundred thousand cubic crystals. With that amount, she was the richest among the princesses. The royal family was not very good at doing business, so it was useless for them to own too many cubic crystals.
However, Zen could earn cubic crystals from selling heavenly essence. So for him, it was as if he was blessed with a never ending gold mine, capable of producing an incessant number of heavenly essence. So whenever he was out of money, he could just smelt some mysterious weapons, spiritual weapons, and the cubic crystals would just flow into his pocket as easily as it had left him.
After taking the Red Cloud Pill, Yehudi's pale face recovered its usual red color. The Red Cloud Pill was touted to be with remarkable effects. However, the problem was that its effects were felt rather fiercely. Yehuidi felt that something was dashing around madly within his body. The effects of the pill were instant but painful.
After a while, Yehudi woke up. He gasped heavily and reached out his hand to wipe away the sweats on his forehead. Then he apologized weakly to Master Wen, “I am sorry, Master Wen. I have disappointed you.”
To be very honest, Yehudi didn't need to say sorry to Master Wen. Master Wen was not his teacher. And even if he were, Yehudi was fighting for himself and the Drizzle Peak, and no one particular was counting on him.
“It doesn't matter, Yehudi. You get some much needed rest and take care of your wounds.” Master Wen continued, “We Drizzle Peak disciples always rank the last. Even if we fail again this time, the worst that could happen would be us ranking thirty-third. But there is nothing lower we can fall, right?”
Yehudi also sighed. His aim in this competition had been to get into the top 100. In reality, he wasn't weak and possessed several skills that he hadn't gotten the chance to perform in the last battle. It was unfortunate that he was not as good at the spiritual level, thus losing to the magic array master.
Since he had been deeply wounded during his first round, there was no way he could compete in the following rounds. Although the Red Cloud Pill would help him recover and it had no aftereffects, he still needed to rest for a few days. This essentially meant that he would have no chance to fight in the competition again.
Something seemed to dawn on him suddenly, and Yehudi shifted his eyes towards Zen. He knew that he couldn't count on other disciples of the Drizzle Peak. They were all below the consummation of nature level and were unlikely to perform well, especially when he himself had been so badly defeated. But even though Zen was only at the grade two of the nature level, he still had the strength that could not be graded by his current realm.
“Zen, you are my last hope now,” Yehudi told him faintly.
Zen smiled gently and assured him, “Yehudi, don't worry. I will make the disciples of the Ninety-foot Peak pay. Haha!”
Since the very start of the competition, or indeed ever since finding out that he had to take part, Zen's expressions had remained nonchalant. However, that didn't mean he didn't care about his fellows. Yehudi was a very nice man in Zen's eyes. He hadn't borne any grudges against him after Zen had taken his place and become the top disciple in the Drizzle Peak. He also told Zen what he knew about the rules and other information of the All Peaks Competition, which had helped Zen immensely in his quest for a general idea about the competition.
So Zen made up his mind that he would take revenge on the Ninety-foot Peak for what they had done to Yehudi.
“Don't take the enemy lightly. The magic array is too powerful...” It was not that Yehudi didn't believe in Zen's strength. However, to break free from the magic array, one had to rely on spiritual powers. And it was a very difficult affair indeed to cultivate them. Even though he was at the consummation of nature level, Yehudi was still weak spiritually. Zen was at the second-grade of the nature level. His advantage was his inborn strong power. But breaking the magic array based solely on his inborn strong power was next to impossible and that was what had Yehudi worried.
But he didn't know that Zen's spirit was as solid as a rock after being tempered by the huge furnace. Since he had practiced the Spiritual Thorn and had reached the realm of forgetting himself, his spiritual level far exceeded that of his fellows. Even among the disciples who had reached the consummation of nature level, it was hardly possible to find anyone who could match Zen at the spiritual level.
Yehudi didn't want to discourage Zen, and was warning him for his own good. Zen nodded, reassuring him that he would be careful if his opponent was Mack.
While they were talking, eighteen warriors came into the arena to compete. But in this round, there was no disciple from the Drizzle Peak.
Suddenly, all the spectators started cheering loudly as they saw a person step into the arena.
The man they were encouraging was clad in a white robe. It was not the kind of white robe the outer disciples usually wore. It was made of silk and the man had a noble aura, carrying a Cyan-blade Sword on his back.
“It's Rocher from the Skytop Peak!” People were surprised to see him so early. With his powers, they had expected him to show up much later in the competition.
“No matter how strong Rocher is, he is not a personal disciple. He still needs to start from the earlier stages of competition.”
“Just keep watching. We'll benefit from watching the fight between those strong contestants. It's also a good way to improve ourselves as we can learn a lot about martial art skills from them.”
The appearance of Rocher Hua had given rise to much discussion.
“Rocher...” Zen shook his head. He knew nothing about this man. It looked like this man was very famous in the Cloud Sect. But whatever his fame or popularity, Zen had never heard of him. He was thinking that if he didn't know about this man, it would imply that he was ignorant.
When it came to the master hands in the Skytop Peak, Zen only knew Lenard Zhu. The real strength of the Skytop Peak could never be underestimated. Lenard was not the top disciple of the Skytop Peak, but he had the kind of strength which had enabled him to confront a demon general. Rocher Hua, on the other hand, whilst standing in the arena, had a commanding manner in his every movement, which put Zen on high alert.
However, there was no visible reaction on Zen's face, seeing which, Master Wen explained to him, “Rocher is from a humble origin. But he has special talents, which have rarely been seen for the past five centuries or so. He has reached the consummation of nature level at the age of eighteen. Furthermore, he grasps the sword intent more deeply than anyone else, and once, successfully broke a record which had been set by a master from the Illuminating Soul Realm. If you encounter him in the arena, you'd better give up.”
As Yehudi had been defeated rather badly, Master Wen was greatly discouraged. From his point of view, all his hopes were pinned on Zen but the chances of winning the competition were extremely thin.
Rocher was a swordsman of the finest degree. Anyone who came to fight with him risked losing their lives as they were sure to be as easily killed by his sword as a chicken. The greater threat was that they couldn't resist and death would find them swiftly. No superficial injuries, or minor wounds; just a single, deathly blow and Rocher was done with you.
“I see, Master Wen.” Despite saying so, Zen smiled. He knew that Master Wen was saying this with the good intention of protecting him from losing his life. But the good old master didn't know what was on Zen's mind.
A large number of powerful masters had gathered in the All Peaks Competition. Some of them were so powerful that Zen wasn't one hundred percent sure that he could beat them. However, since he had participated in the competition, he would do his best to move forward and would not stop until his last breath.
So when he saw Rocher's real strength, his heart trembled strongly. But not out of fear, no! It was the tremble of excitement that he could hardly control.
In the face of deafening cheers from the crowd, Rocher stood in the center of the arena.
His opponent was Damion Zhuge from the Skywrath Peak, another contestant at consummation of nature level.
Compared to Fren, Damion was a mild and calm person. Powerful as he was, he was not as famous as Fren.
So while facing his opponent Rocher, he acted very cautiously. He took out his sword and coldly asked his opponent, “Rocher, come on! Show me your sword!”
Rocher shook his head and smiled lightly, having no intention to take out his sword. “Huh! Show my sword to You? I don't need a sword to fight you.”
Rocher was going to fight this man with his bare hands!
Damion gnashed his teeth. As a member of the Zhuge Clan, and a top disciple of the Skywrath Peak, he hadn't expected that Rocher would be so arrogant and confident that he would beat him without a sword.
“You don't want to use a sword? Then I will make you use one!” As soon as he finished his words, Damion lifted his sword and rushed towards Rocher.
“Triple Swords of Absolute Annihilation!”
The sword techniques that Damion had practiced could emanate prodigious power. Moreover, he knew that his opponent was not easy to deal with. So he employed his strongest skill first. There were only three movements in the Triple Swords of Absolute Annihilation, but its power became stronger with the advance of its movements.
Facing Damion's unique skill, Rocher suddenly moved. His technique was unfathomable. It looked as if he was standing there motionlessly, but in reality, he was actually rushing straight towards Damion. At the very moment he reached Damion, he suddenly stretched out two fingers towards him and
pressed them on the handle of Damion's sword.
A clinking sound was heard, loud and clear even over the hubbub and cheers of the crowd.
The ferocity and speed of this attack was such that Damion didn't even realize what had happened. Rocher had used only two of his fingers to gently tap on the handle of Damion's sword, and then it had dropped on the ground.
Within a second of this move, Rocher's fingers immediately pointed themselves at Damion's forehead.
Damion stood still when he realized what was going on. Given that Rocher was able to shoot his sword down with the intent of just two of his fingers, Damion had no doubt that the same two fingers could as easily blow up his head.
“I... I surrender...”
The gap between their real strength was too immense. And it was useless for Damion to continue the fight. So he surrendered without hesitation.
Rocher turned around and left without even taking a look at Damion.
The judge who was monitoring the round was also stupefied. It was not until Rocher had stepped out of the arena that he remembered that he had to announce the result. “Rocher won and Damion lost.”
The crowds cheered with loud applause.
While his excellence compared to all the other disciples of the Cloud Sect was yet to be decided, one thing was for sure; Rocher was undoubtedly the most popular disciple in the Cloud Sect.
The popularity was largely attributed to his humble origins. From an anonymous boy to a powerful man who reached such a high level that he had broken the record set by a master of the Illuminating Soul Realm, his story was legend everywhere and contributed to his fame deeply.
The competition continued in the arena.
The group fights were supposed to eliminate three-fourths of the disciples. Every disciple had to fight at least two or three rounds. This was a long and tiring process.
Later, another three disciples of the Drizzle Peak entered the arena to contest in the rounds. But it seemed that their overall performance was not so encouraging. Except for Zen who won in the second round, all the other disciples ended in failure.
When it came to the eighth round, it was Zen's turn to fight again.
“Zen of the Drizzle Peak Vs York of the Sea Peak!”
The judge's voice came loud and clear. Master Wang from the Sea Peak suddenly laughed upon hearing this while Master Wen's face darkened.
York was in the good graces of Master Wang. Master Wen obviously sensed that York was a seeded player of the Sea Peak and his strength should not be underestimated. The Sea Peak had stayed silent in the past few years. They were actually accumulating their strength and lying in wait to surprise everyone in the All Peaks Competition.
Zen Vs York, God bless Zen!