Chapter 248: The Legendary Jacques
Winning the competition against Dick was not easy for Zen. He didn't try his best during the fight and merely relied on the skills from the Heavenly Ogre Fist, so he was still fortunate to have won.
The fighting effectiveness of the demonic phantom, one of the skills of the Heavenly Ogre Fist, was so surprisingly good that even Zen was startled by it. While he had planned to use it when he entered the next round of competition, fighting with someone of Dick's ability by depending only on corporeal body and absolute power was no guarantee for victory.
As for the disciples of Drizzle Peak, while it came as a great surprise when Zen beat Dick, they were becoming numb to his victories because of his successive wins and his consistency in overthrowing their speculations.
Thus, when Zen descended from the ring, Master Wen found himself at a loss for words appropriate and sincere enough to congratulate the warrior's astounding victory. Instead of platitudes, he only laughed, grabbed Zen by the shoulders, and said, “You're clearly the lucky star of Drizzle Peak!”
Perhaps, because of Zen's efforts alone, the fate of Drizzle Peak would completely change. From the last place among the 33 Peaks, it might be able to jump to the front rank, much like Yan who, at that time, led the Lady Peak to surpass the other peaks all the way and pushed her team to the second place among the 33 Peaks.
With Zen's victories, none of the disciples of Drizzle Peak doubted his strength.
Dick was a completely different warrior from Cecil, whom Zen fought previously.
While also a powerful warrior of the Illuminating Soul Realm, Cecil was a relatively weaker one.
How did he differ from Dick?
Dick was the top disciple of Blackrock Peak.
And it was this team that ranked second among the 33 Peaks. Beating Dick in the competition was an indication that Zen had the strength and power to make the top ranking among inner disciples of the Cloud Sect.
Despite his achievements, there were still those who doubted Zen.
“Maybe Dick allowed Zen to win on purpose,” one disciple proposed.
He was among those unwilling to acknowledge Zen's victory.
But as soon as he uttered the words, a large group of people cast disdainful glances at him and thought of the disciple as an idiot.
How could Dick even do that on purpose? And just supposing he lost deliberately, how could the warrior be stupid enough to lose to a disciple whose nature level was merely at the second grade?
It just was not possible. Plus, Dick was practicing the art of righteousness. It was quite unthinkable for him to deliberately let Zen beat him and accept his defeat in front of a very large audience.
Besides, Dick even used his strongest and deadly skill, the Righteousness Song, but still couldn't defeat Zen. So, it was not hard to imagine how powerful Zen was.
After several rounds of competition, the group tournament finally drew to a close. Zen participated in two other matches, one against an opponent whose nature level was at consummation grade, and the second against a disciple with the strength of the Illuminating Soul Realm. Without any suspense, both parties chose to admit defeat directly, and actually they didn't even start the fight.
These two opponents were smart enough not to tangle with Zen. 'Are you kidding me? Even Dick couldn't defeat him! If I competed against him, I would certainly suffer a crushing defeat.' Such similar thoughts crossed both their minds.
Besides, if it was an encounter with Dick, they would directly admit defeat. So with Zen, Dick's conqueror, who was much stronger, they opted to concede immediately.
At the end of the group competitions, more than 600 disciples were eliminated. Of those who made the cut, the number was fewer than 200.
The next round was a round-robin competition.
Rules of the round-robin phase were similar to those of the group competition. The main difference, however, was that at this stage, personal disciples would participate in it.
The strength of personal disciples had always been a legend in the Cloud Sect.
Records showed that in a good number of All Peaks Competitions organized by Cloud Sect, personal disciples almost often took the first place. And sometimes, what was more exaggerating was that the first to tenth places were all won by personal disciples! Considering all these facts, it was not hard to imagine how powerful and horrible personal disciples actually were!
After the fierce competitions earlier, Zen was sitting in situ to meditate and get a well-deserved rest.
Although Zen was in excellent physical condition, and his ability to recover was high, he still needed to get rest to be able to fully display his strength at every match of the All Peaks Competition. With his string of recent achievements, there was a big possibility that he would compete against the legendary personal disciples.
In the first match of the round-robin competition, a personal disciple showed up on the ring.
It was a young man with sharp triangular eyes, garbed in a yellow robe, with short hair and a clear forehead.
“Oh my goodness, it's Jacques!” someone, who recognized the young man, yelled excitedly while a hand covered his mouth.
“Wow, they even arranged Jacques to participate in the first match! This year's All Peaks Competition is truly full of fun and surprises,” another disciple commented while looking very thrilled.
"Since Jacques joined the All Peaks Competition with the strength at the second grade of nature level three years ago, he disappeared in the Cloud Sect. Now, three years later, he's back!
I'm quite curious as to how much improvement he's made during the three years of practice," another one added with curiosity, eager to know more about Jacques.
"Ho, ho, ho! Even if he's made improvements, so what?
If Zen didn't show up, Jacques, who was at the second grade of nature level and included among the top 100 rankings, would stay as a legend. That's a rather rare situation in the Cloud Sect. However, at the same level, Zen could even beat Dick and jump into the top 50. I'm saying the gap between the top 100 and top 50 is quite huge. It's quite easy for anyone who enters the top 100 to make a few improvements in their rankings. But for those entering the top 50, they have great difficulty in improving even one place. In my opinion, Jacques' strength three years ago was much inferior to that of Zen's today," a senior disciple gave a more specific analysis.
"You're right about Jacques not being as good as Zen three years ago. But now, after three years of hard training, Jacques has also stepped into the Illuminating Soul Realm. And since he's been able to compete with those beyond his level, and now that he's entered the Illuminating Soul Realm, won't his strength be supposed during the competitions to be even more terrifying?
How can Zen be an equal opponent?" another senior disciple added his own positive analysis.
Those disciples were making comparisons between the two men because both Zen and Jacques participated in the Competition while they were at the second grade of nature level.
After hearing those disturbing remarks, Jacques slowly walked to the edge of the battle ring, with his sharp eyes staring at Zen, and loudly and firmly said, “I want to launch a challenge against you!”
The dare made the audience sit up in attention. They didn't think Jacques could be so intense and straightforward. The disciples were merely comparing the two warriors and did not expect Jacques to issue a challenge to Zen.
Many of the spectators shared the same though. 'Zen is at the second grade of nature level, while Jacques has broken through the Illuminating Soul Realm. Presumably, his strength will be superior among disciples with the strength of the same realm. But for him, to challenge Zen is quite brazen and almost a form of bullying.'
In a low voice, Master Wen said, “Zen, don't say yes!”
He was afraid to offend Jacques. Although he was a master of Drizzle Peak, Jacques' mentor was either a saint, or an elder, whose status was far higher than his.
But Zen looked at Jacques without fear and dispassionately said, “Whether we fight or not, I follow Cloud Sect's arrangement. If according to the rules of All Peaks Competition, you and I are assigned to have a match, I will certainly not refuse.”
His tone and attitude riled Jacques. “Are you afraid? Ahhh, don't worry. I won't let anyone say I am trying to bully you because of my more superior power. I will adjust my strength to the nature level and fight you fairly!”
He looked at Zen squarely, determination and pride burning in his eyes.
To his surprise, Zen burst out in laughter.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Jacques' words ignited his fighting spirit. Sharply, he jeered, "Me, afraid? Jacques, do you know what fairness is?
I still stand by what I said previously. If we are to be assigned to the same match to fight each other, don't worry for my sake, or control your power because I promise to defeat you!"
Zen's pronouncements made the disciples of Drizzle Peak and all other peaks inhale sharply and hold their breath for several seconds.
At the same time, tens of thousands of disciples sitting in front of the Picture Slab also took a deep breath. While these disciples only had a view of Jacques on the Picture Slab, Zen's words were delivered clearly, and everyone heard this.
After Jacques challenged Zen, no one expected Zen to speak fearlessly or even say something as crazy as he did.
After all, he was only at the second grade of nature level. How confident was he to speak that way to Jacques?
But then Zen had spit out the words already. As the saying goes, spilt water cannot be gathered again.
Hearing Zen's words, an odd expression appeared in Jacques's face but soon vanished. Inhaling deeply, he replied, “All right! If you are not eliminated in the round-robin competition, we will have a chance to compete. But if you are eliminated before I can compete with you, you will not be qualified to play with me!”
Pride and arrogance made Jacques lay down his condition. Everyone was aware that Jacques had competed against several personal disciples and emerged triumphantly. His remarks were meant to tell Zen that he would never be defeated.
The personal disciple had the right to be arrogant. After all, three years ago, he displayed his impressive fighting ability while at the second grade of nature level. At that time, however, Jacques also experienced a sense of powerlessness with his second-grade strength as he faced the masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm. Now he was equipped with the strength of Illuminating Soul Realm that previously gave him that sense of being powerless. So, it was only natural for him to feel confident about facing opponents with the same level as his.
“Jacques!” A voice behind him boomed. “Please pay attention to the fact that your present opponent is me!”
As Jacques was busy talking to Zen, the man, with a low and serious voice, stood behind the personal disciple, his face gloomy.
The man was no other than the famous Stanley Pu, Azure Peak's top disciple, at the same time, a master of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Among the 33 peaks, Azure Peak ranked fifth. This meant he was one of those possessing the most powerful strength, and as a top disciple of Azure Peak, Stanley was naturally proud and even arrogant.
So it was infuriating that when Jacques stepped on the ring, he completely ignored Stanley's presence and instead went on to challenge someone at the second grade of nature level.
To Stanley's mind, Jacques' behavior showed he had no regard for his present opponent at all, but rather saw Zen, at only the second grade of nature level, as an adversary. So how could the arrogant Stanley take this kind of disrespect?
Dick lost to Zen, but Stanley was certain he would never lose to the Zen!
When Stanley's words finally penetrated Jacques' ears, he turned around, grinned and said, “You're my opponent?”
“That's right!” Stanley nodded to acknowledge.
As he prepared himself to face his opponent, Stanley reached out for a golden fan, a top grade spiritual weapon. It was an ordinary-looking object except that it stood out because the fan glowed with golden light. A layer of gold covered its surface, giving it a delicate and elegant appearance. Once it was unfolded, its edges became sharp as knives. A cut by the fan would be more painful than being sliced by a blade.
“All right,” Jacques said. Inhaling deeply, he suddenly walked towards Stanley.
Although still annoyed for being ignored by Jacques, Stanley never let his guard down as he got ready to begin the match. In his mind, he acknowledged Jacques' reputation. With the strength only at the second grade of nature level, he challenged and defeated over half of the disciples on the Cloud Sect list. Now, with the strength of the Illuminating Soul Realm, the man was even more difficult to read.
So Stanley chose to launch a preemptive strike. By tossing his gold fan lightly, he completely unfolded the fan, enabling him to wave it around him randomly.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!” The sound of the fan whipping the air had everyone's attention.
As Stanley's hand flipped the golden fan rapidly, one streak of life vitality after another was being released by the spiritual weapon at the same time.
Stanley's life vitality was extremely special. He would always think of something very sharp so the life vitality pulled out by the golden fan did not transform into a particular object. Instead, it released a kind of gold thread as thin and fine as a hair strand. Had it not reflected a little golden light under the sun, it would have been hardly visible to the naked eye.
Like everyone else, Zen had his eyes wide open and glued to the battle ring, watching the match unfold. Once before, he experienced a similar attack. It was at the trial of Bloody Mountain, where Ryan used his spiritual weapon to draw out a kind of indestructible line of energy. During that test, Zen suffered scratches all over his body from the thin lines of energy that struck him.
Looking at the gold thread pulled out from Stanley's fan, Zen saw it was more powerful than the thin lines that came out of Ryan's spiritual weapon. Everyone in the audience waited curiously at how Jacques would deal with this.
And just as they began thinking of how the personal disciple would deal with the attack, Jacques simply walked towards the gold threads coming from Stanley's fan.