Chapter 252: Flower-Picking Pointing
All Zen did in defence was to take a mere step backward. The lotus in the forefront burst abruptly and with that burst, preternatural fire like a red lotus shot up in its place. The temperature of the preternatural fire was so high that it could have easily burned everything in the world!
Even though Zen had jumped back in time to avoid the core of the explosion, the fire still affected him through heat and shockwave. He was pushed back about another twenty feet by the explosion of the lotus and hit the enchanted barrier heavily.
“I know that your life vitality is strange, and totally different from regular ones. You seem to have that weird capacity to engulf my lotus and win even against that move. Last time on Mountain, you have shown me your abilities. Did you honestly expect me to make the same mistake a second time?” Vale remarked with a cold smile. “Are you seriously under the delusion that you can defeat me only with your weird life vitality? Let me tell you this: you are day dreaming! I said that I would give you three years, and I agreed to do that because you weren't qualified to challenge me then, and you aren't qualified to do so now. Defeating you was a piece of cake for me then! Today as well, you are going to be defeated in a second!” Vale continued his monologue.
While he was talking, Vale had been calling out extra lotuses continuously. The lotuses collided with Zen's six demonic phantoms. And even though he himself was speaking slowly, his homicidal killing intent focused into the lotuses was growing stronger and stronger. Suddenly, amidst the ones fighting the phantoms, another lotus appeared and bloomed slowly in the middle of the fighting platform.
These flowers Vale was calling out were normally as large as a man's hand, and bloomed in several different colors, with each color possessing its own different, unique feature and power. For example, the red lotus could afflict great damage by an explosion; and the icy lotus had an overwhelming capacity to freeze things. However, the one which had just appeared in the middle of the fighting court was totally different. It was white, and much larger than its fellow lotuses fighting the phantoms.
The white lotus began to grow fast. It had started off smaller than a penny, and had reached the size of a fist; then it grew as large as a barrel. And after a while, it transformed itself into a huge white bloomer about ten feet wide and five feet high.
Vale smiled as he stared at Zen and walked casually on the huge white lotus step by step, without the least bit of effort showing up on his face. When he reached the center of the white lotus, his spirit suddenly grew ten times higher than before. Now, he looked even more overwhelming and his aura seemed to have been multiplied.
It seemed as if his spirit was bursting out and impressing others with his great power as if it had turned into a substance that could be touched, instead of an abstract phenomenon.
“Clap, clap, clap...”
Several stone plates on the fighting platform were crushed into pieces by his spiritual force, as if they had been stamped on by numerous elephants.
What the audience were witnessing was just the power that Vale's spirit possessed.
Standing high in the middle of the white lotus, he looked much like an emperor! And the aura he gave whilst ascending atop the lotus was a reminder of a powerful ruler ascending onto his throne.
“To defeat you, I really don't need to do all this. But I want to show you just how puny you are, and force it deep into your mind. You should know that giving you three years was me thinking better of you than you deserve. You could develop a lot in that time. But don't forget that I also make progress every day. You will never defeat me in three years, or even in thirty years!” Vale looked down at Zen while he was making his speech.
The stones which were used to build the fighting court were specially made and there was a magical strengthening force to make them even harder than regular stone. Although they looked normal, their strength and tensile strength was more than that of several metals.
Crushing the stone into pieces meant the enchanted barrier of the fighting court had been crushed as well. The audience were totally awed to see that Vale had managed to destroy the barrier of the fighting court.
Under this huge force, Zen felt that his body had become several times heavier than usual. The gravity he felt was even greater than that on the Great Gravity Road where he took the initial exam.
"It's only a few dozens of times heavier than ordinary gravity.
You are such an arrogant cock! I think I should conquer your array first!" Zen replied coldly. Following his intention, over a hundred dragon scales in his body turned bright suddenly. At this moment, his force increased to an extent close to water bursting out from a dam. With this huge force, Zen rushed towards Vale against the gravity he had called.
“Is this tiny amount all the gravity you can muster?” Zen chided him. Vale smiled but didn't reply. Slowly, he raised his hand and one of his fingers pointed towards Zen gently.
“Flower-Picking Pointing with One Finger!”
With his motion, all the gravity of the fighting court disappeared and Zen felt as if all of it had been focused on him.
At Vale's command, the gravity inside the fighting court had been gathered into one point together and put on Zen's body! That essentially meant that the gravity he was already experiencing had been multiplied by Vale by a hundred times more!
“Boom...”
Zen's body fell onto the ground heavily much like a mountain sunk in an earthquake. He was forced to fall on the fighting court, and a deep crater appeared beneath his body due to his great weight, increased by Vale, making him unable to move.
Vale shook his head and said, “I can stop you from standing up only by using gravitational force. You are even not strong enough for me to have to use my weapon!”
Zen stood up from the crater and Vale, who was still standing in the middle of the white lotus, pointed at him again. And once more, Zen was pushed into the crater. All the disciples heard the booming thud again.
The fight between Zen and Vale had attracted the attention of all the disciples of the Cloud Sect and they were paying more attention than that they had to pay to anything else.
“Vale is so powerful... But Zen has innate superhuman strength. We have seen how strong he was previously. But now Vale is using only one of his fingers and he has successfully pinned Zen in the crater. That guy isn't human, I am telling you!” One disciple remarked in awe.
“Don't say such nonsense if you don't understand what is going on!” Another disciple beside him rebuked. The he continued with a pause, “One finger? Do you think Vale can press Zen and make him not stand up only with one finger? Is Vale a supernatural being? The force pressing on Zen's body is not Vale's strength. He is using the white lotus under his feet to change the gravity distribution of the fighting court! In other words, Zen has been pressed by the gravity of the whole fighting court!”
“Even if what you say is true, it would take immense amount of skills on Vale's part to do it. Both of them are outstanding warriors. With his powerful strength, Zen can still stand up once again. If I were Zen, I probably have been crushed into dust...” The first disciple sighed.
While other disciples were discussing and murmuring, Zen didn't panic at all. Although he had been pressed into the crater again and again, he had been able to stand up every time successfully. Actually the gravity on him could not hurt him at all. On the contrary, his body was growing stronger under the high pressure as the warmth inside his body revitalized his power! So Zen remained calm and was not worried at all. It just looked like he was in a very awkward position for the time being. In Zen's eyes, appearances didn't matter. The most important thing was to make his body stronger and win the fight in the end!
Vale, at the same time, was also patient.
Previously he had been chided by Zen and he felt humiliated. Now, he just wanted Zen to lose his face for a longer time. In this way he could let other disciples see that Zen was not qualified to be his opponent at all! He felt pleased at this moment and hoped that this could last as long as possible.
“Zen Luo, didn't you always boast that you were very powerful? Didn't you think I was not qualified to be your opponent?. Why then, can't you compete against my single finger?” Vale asked in an ironical tone and an arrogant smile appeared on his face.
But to be honest, his remark that Zen couldn't compete against his single finger was exaggerated. After all, to maintain such a strong gravity was not a piece of cake for Vale himself. However, he was still very pleased to see Zen pinned down horribly!
When Vale felt happy, he forgot that he had actually regarded Zen as tiny as an ant. It was not a great achievement to defeat an ant. Now he was feeling happy to gain the upper hand in the fight against Zen. This meant that in his mind, Zen at least had the strength to compete with him and he had regarded Zen as his opponent.
He seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that Zen was only at grade two of the nature level.
“Bang, bang, bang...”
Zen stood up again and again, and was crushed into the earth every time.
“Don't you have an extraordinary flying knife? Why not use it?” Vale sneered while keeping the motion of his fingers constant.
"You can attack with soul, can't you? Why don't you use that power?
I thought you were strong. But now you are just so so. Do you still remember the big words you so proudly uttered a moment ago?"
Vale sneered while he kept his pressure towards Zen.
Now the other disciples started another discussion that if Zen Luo possessed other methods of attack!
“He actually has a weapon! A flying knife? He hasn't used it since the very beginning!” a disciple said.
“According to Vale, Zen seems to have the ability of attacking with soul. But attacking others' soul is a difficult skill even to a warrior at the Illuminating Soul Realm, isn't it? How come Zen can do that? He is only at grade two of the nature level! Zen is really powerful beyond our imagination!” a second disciple answered.
Some disciples turned vigilant. It they could know the attacking method of Zen, they could do something in advance and get themselves ready for that attack once they had the chance to fight against Zen.
Vale had said these things deliberately. He wanted to discover all the secrets that Zen had. He hated him for everything he had said just now. Being one of the most powerful personal disciples, how could he be scolded by an inner disciple like that?!
Even Wing and Sheeny dare not do that, let alone someone as puny as Zen.
Zen walked out of the crater once again, and smiled. There wasn't a trace of panic on his face. “You are right about one thing. I am not strong enough. But I am not as weak as you are. Did you just count on the gravity to defeat me? You will be surely disappointed!”
Zen bounded up to his feet, and at the same time he began to dodge and avoid Vale's finger, which was responsible for the gravity redistribution.
“Boom...”
Vale pointed with his finger again but all he got was a disappearing Zen. The huge gravity made another crater in the ground but it was in vain. Zen had moved faster than Vale could react.
Vale couldn't believe what was happening. He pointed towards Zen again. And the same thing happened every time he did.
“Boom...”
“Boom...”
“Boom...”
As Vale pointed in different directions, the big craters appeared one after the other. Soon, the whole fighting court became completely uneven. Now, it looked more like a construction field than an arena.
While the disciples were amazed at their fighting, Zen's Sword Step had become extremely fast. But since he had hidden his sword intent, his Sword Step could not be used to attack his opponent like Rocher's.
Vale was a stout opponent, but Zen had other powerful rivals too. On the way to the top of All Peak Competition, there would be more than one tough competitors for him, so he had to preserve his secrets to the last moment.
“Is that all you can do? Escape? You are a coward!” Vale shouted to Zen. However, he didn't stop tracking Zen and still kept using his skill of Flower-Picking Pointing.
But this time, just as he released the force by one finger, Zen suddenly became twice as fast as he already was. He jumped highly towards Vale and the six demonic phantoms also ran at him. They had been waiting for a long time on the fighting platform. Zen, together with his six demonic phantoms, was trying to surround Vale in a circle.
“Oh I can do more than just running away!” Zen finally graced Vale with a reply. In a mere second, Zen had arrived closely to Vale with a slight smile.
His giant fist of life vitality suddenly formed and pushed towards Vale swiftly!