Chapter 255: Losing Martial Arts Spirit
As an Illuminating Soul Realm master, if Vale lost to a second grade of nature level disciple, he would undoubtedly lose his face.
Even though Zen was as strong as Hercules at that moment, it would be impossible for him to punch off Vale's sword by only his mere strength.
The cultivators at the nature level or above realms held their weapons not just by their own physical strengths but with the help of life vitality. For a swordsman, the effective wielding of a sword was a fundamental skill. The methods of wielding a sword were generally divided into two: the three-point sword-wielding method and the six-point sword-wielding method.
The three-point sword-wielding method was commonly used by the nature creatures. This method was used to fix the sword hilt in the swordsman's hand with the help of three streams of life vitality transmitted from three acupoints: one from the thumb and two from the little finger.
The six-point sword-wielding method, on the other hand, was used by Illuminating Soul Realm masters. From the three acupoints of the three-point sword-wielding method, the six-point sword-wielding method added three acupoints: forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger. So the sword hilt was tightly enveloped with life vitality in the six-point sword-wielding method. The Illuminating Soul Realm masters possessed thicker and stronger life vitality than that of the nature creatures which made it easy for the first to master the six-point sword-wielding method.
The ultimate swordsmanship was the so-called union of swordsman and sword. And it was based on the close connection between swordsman's life vitality and his sword. That was why when some people wielded a sword, there was an impression that the sword and the man had integrated into one.
Vale was an Illuminating Soul Realm master who could use the six-point sword-wielding method. And his Gentleman Sword was as light as a feather to sustain no forces, so it would be difficult for Zen to knock it down even with full strength.
But then again, Zen almost succeeded.
Zen's last punch wasn't very powerful because he had only turned on the Phoenix Crystal but hadn't mobilized the strength of dragon scales.
However, there was terrible vibration energy contained in his punch. And the moment Zen's fist touched the sword hilt, the sword began shaking heavily.
Although the amplitude was small, the frequency was quite high. The six streams of life vitality connecting to the sword were disrupted which almost made Vale drop his Gentleman Sword.
The violent vibration was transmitted to Vale's body through the sword hilt. His blood churned inside him, making him feel uncomfortable.
The audience was shocked once again by the scene.
Though they were not all swordsmen, most of the people in the audience had their own weapons. The wielding method of almost all weapons was the same. For example, wielding a spear required the warrior to use the life vitality from both hands but the acupoints were different from those of a swordsman.
If Vale's Gentleman Sword was a broad-bladed sword, Zen might have hit easier. But luckily, his sword was extremely thin and light.
But they couldn't figure out why Zen's punch had caused such effect.
Masters and disciples of Drizzle Peak were deeply relieved to see that Zen not only dodged Vale's sword but also launched a fierce counterattack.
Meanwhile, Elder Xu watched nervously at Zen's encounter with Vale. Seeing the effect of Zen's punch, he stared at Kenneth speechless.
“This boy always has a way to reverse the situation,” praised Kenneth with a casual smile on his face.
Though they were sitting far from the combat ring and couldn't clearly see what was happening, Kenneth was able to guess the whole story more accurately with his unfathomable skill.
Zen didn't stop a second and punched at Vale frantically.
Zen could not afford to be sloppy. He had to seize every opportunity he had to attack.
Vale's reaction was swift too. Grasping his Gentleman Sword, he retreated quickly but Zen was stuck to him like chewing gum. Vale wanted to stab Zen with his sword, but the latter was almost attached to him that he couldn't use his sword. Moreover, Zen's every punch brought a strong vibration in his body that he couldn't concentrate his life vitality to form a lotus flower.
“Bam bam! Poof!”
It was raining punches on Vale. If he hadn't defused the force with his life vitality, he might have been severely injured.
After enduring a violent beating, Vale felt that the blood churning in his body upwelled to his throat. When he started to vomit blood, he realized that Zen had beaten him up well.
“Bang!”
Vale got another blow from Zen and finally had a chance to wield his sword. But Zen was quick to retreat. Taking advantage of this breathing time, Vale immediately condensed a lotus flower to protect him.
Vale thought that he could now have time to think about how he could cope with Zen, but the latter didn't give him any chance. Vale saw another punch coming right at him.
However, Vale was glad that he had got the countermeasure. He thought that he just needed to release his red lotus fire to burn Zen's life vitality and that could increase the distance between him and Zen.
Vale's plan was quite good, but he didn't expect that there would be a sudden change in the situation before the plan could even materialize.
As Zen's purple-black fist approached Vale's lotus flower, he noticed that there were bunches of starry lights sparkling around it.
Vale had already noticed these hidden sparkling lights in Zen's life vitality, but he chose to ignore them.
At that moment, the starry lights suddenly burst into a strong light, emitting tremendous energy. Vale's lotus flower was swallowed up by the energy before it could release the fire.
The light was so bright that it almost blinded Vale's eyes.
As Vale's eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Zen coming at him again and started beating him.
Vale was furious that he couldn't fight back. He spluttered, “Do you think I would back down in hand-to-hand combat?”
“Bam bam bam!”
Zen didn't say a word but responded with his fist.
Zen's fist was getting faster. His strength was at the maximum with all the dragon scales in his body lit up.
Vale's life vitality was indeed firm in protecting his body. But Zen used his shaking fist skill to shatter his life vitality and the power went directly into Vale's internal organs.
Even if he was made of iron, after subjecting himself to series of heavy punches, Vale spewed out a mouthful of blood. He felt his body becoming weaker as he leaned against the light curtain of the enchanted barrier.
The disciples who placed their bets on Vale couldn't believe what they had just seen. They never imagined that Zen would win the competition in a strange way.
In a round-robin competition, there were only a handful of disciples who would choose the hand-to-hand combat at All Peaks Competition.
It was because for the masters at the Illuminating Soul Realm, their life vitality grew faster than their physical strength. With mere physical strength, it was almost impossible to break opponent's body protection life vitality and attack him directly.
However, Zen was not like any other normal disciples. Aside from having a tough body, Zen also had tremendous strength. But his key to success was that he used the skill of vibration that he had comprehended during his practice in the Lake of the Magical Fish. That broke Vale's life vitality of body protection.
It was getting difficult for Vale to endure more blows and he nearly collapsed due to internal injury. Good thing he was able to lean against the enchanted barrier.
“I still haven't used the Lotus War Body. If I use that skill, you're no match for me,” panted Vale, rubbing the blood off his mouth with his hand. Despite the physical damage, Vale wouldn't want to admit defeat.
Zen stepped forward to Vale and sneered, “You can use your Lotus War Body or whatever trick you still have. Take your time.”
Hearing Zen's words, Vale barfed another mouthful of blood. With the injuries he had suffered, Vale might not be able to take part in the subsequent round-robin competition, let alone continue his battle with Zen. “I, I...” muttered Vale. The pain and shame left him speechless. In his current physical state, he knew he could no longer summon the Lotus War Body.
“Give up! You're no match for me now! Even if you use your Lotus War Body, what makes you think that I don't have any other skill to use against you?” asked Zen. Six months ago, beating Vale was just a farfetched dream for Zen. But today, at the All Peaks Competition, Zen defeated him only with his fist in front of entire Cloud Sect.
Vale raised his head feebly and looked at Zen with dead grey eyes.
'He's probably right. He hasn't used his flying knife yet. If Zen threw his flying knife when I was blinded by the strong starry light, I would have already lost my life.
During the combat, Zen hasn't even used his soul attack. Although I specially prepared a jade pendant to defend against his soul attack, I don't think it will work given the progress he has made from the last time we've met.
Despite being an Illuminating Soul Realm master, I can't even compete with a second grade nature creature. Am I really a genius or just being arrogant?' Vale dazed as he stood still on the same spot.
Vale had always been arrogant. But now, he couldn't hide his frustration and sadness. Zen noticed in Vale's eyes that the latter's spirit of martial arts had already collapsed.
Zen stared at Vale blankly, but he felt pity for Vale at the same time. Some people had a tenacious spirit of martial arts, and even if they had lost it a thousand times, they would always make it come back. But Vale was of noble birth and haughty in character and had never suffered hardships in his childhood. So now that he had become a master of Illuminating Soul Realm, any setbacks would be a great deal and he couldn't easily accept any failure. His spirit of martial arts instantly weakened, and this could result in some syndromes of martial arts cultivation going wrong.
Once Vale lost his spirit of martial arts, he would be hopeless to practice any further.
If he went wrong in martial arts cultivation, he could become a madman.