Chapter 264: A Way To Defeat Zen
It was Saint Zara who had spoken through his life vitality.
Her original plan was to let Johanson pretend to kill Zen “unintentionally”.
An unintentional killing was likely to happen in the matches between the Kung Fu masters. With Johanson and Zen being both amazingly powerful, the first move must not falter. Otherwise, Zen could find an opportunity to fight back and defeat Johanson.
Amidst a heated battle, it would be difficult for someone to stop mid-attack, especially when using full force.
And with Johanson's sword that aimed to kill at first strike, unintentional killing would be a reasonable excuse for Zen's death in the battle ring.
Saint Viana's plan would have been perfect, however, no one expected that Zen had concealed his real strength all this time.
Johanson thought that his soul attack could defeat Zen, but instead, it was Zen's soul attack that caused the first much damage.
Even his snake-shaped short sword was completely defeated by Zen's broken flying knife.
How was it even possible?
It was only then that they realized that Zen had concealed his real strength.
And since Zen's strength was far beyond Johanson's, the unintentional killing plan had failed.
Johanson felt Zen's killing intent. He would die if he wouldn't concede now.
But Saint Zara told Johanson not to concede.
“Keep on fighting, Johanson!”
Johanson's face turned gloomy. How could Saint Zara expect Johanson to keep fighting with this crazy guy? Zen's broken flying knife alone had inflicted great damage to Johanson. What more could Zen's other attack do to him?
“Master, if I don't concede, I will die in Zen's hands!” Johanson wailed through his life vitality.
Zen was now breaking Johanson's shadow covering. It was only a matter of time before Zen could completely break the shadow covering, and by then, it would be too late for Johanson to escape.
“Don't worry, Johanson. I have another plan! I can control the magic array on the stage and form an attack to Zen using it. What you need to do is disguise it as your own and let others believe it is from you. I'm confident that we can kill Zen with just one hit!” Saint Zara continued.
“Can you really do that? Aren't you afraid the other elders will discover our tricks?” Hesitation was clouding Johanson's eyes as he saw Zen continuously destroying the shadows.
There was indeed no absolute fairness in the All Peaks Competition. Take for example what Tracy did. She had broken the rules of the competition but was not disqualified by the judge, because what she did was still tolerable by the elders.
However, Saint Zara's idea was somewhat impractical because he wanted to take advantage of the magic array to kill Zen intentionally. If the elders found out, he would face grave consequences.
Johanson wasn't sold in the idea, but he didn't know how to tell Saint Zara that he refused.
His birthright as a member of the Shadow Group had greatly contributed to his present achievements.
But the group had been living a miserable life since they were defeated, so when Cloud Sect learned that Johanson was a member of Shadow Group, he wasn't allowed to join the sect. But if it weren't for Saint Zara's support, he wouldn't have the chance to be a disciple of the sect. Moreover, he had become an inner disciple with Saint Zara's support.
The kindness that Saint Zara extended to Johanson was the reason the latter couldn't refuse.
“Quit worrying! They won't notice! Besides, it doesn't matter if I kill Zen. There are many people who will be happy to see him dead. Perhaps no one wants to see him alive. Just get ready and do as I tell you!” Saint Zara uttered again.
Saint Zara wouldn't take the risk of this plan if it wasn't for Saint Viana having his back.
This was one risky step to take, but they were willing to do it.
Johanson was about to convince his master not to do it, but before he could say anything, Saint Zara had already launched the attack.
The stage of the All Peaks Competition was surrounded by a huge magic array which provided various energies and enchanted barriers. Some of the enchanted barriers divided the whole stage into several parts, allowing more than a pair of competitors to battle at the same time. The most important function of the magic array was to keep everything in the stage to avoid hurting the audience with battle debris.
But this wasn't clearly the only function of the magic array.
As saints of Could Sect, Saint Zara and Saint Viana knew how to deliver an attack to the stage through the magic array.
“Go to perdition, Zen!” Saint Viana created access through the magic array, and then Saint Zara launched his attack.
All of a sudden, a vortex emerged beside Johanson. Since the black shadows covered them completely, everyone on the stage didn't notice it.
At that moment, they were still in shock of Zen's counterattacks.
But Zen perceived a strong power in the black shadows.
“Now what?”
Zen readied himself for anything that would come his way with the flying broken knife in his hand. His face had a trace of doubt in it.
He started to feel fear by the presence of that unknown strong power. 'Is this Johanson's real strength? Was he just toying with me all this time and decided to show what he is really capable of?' he wondered.
This situation was becoming unfavorable for Zen.
He felt danger all around him and his heart started to pound harder.
Johanson had been hiding behind those black shadows for a long time. If he had such a powerful martial arts attack, why didn't he use it earlier?
Zen couldn't comprehend how Johanson could possibly make this frightening attack.
But there was no time to think as a purple light suddenly came out from the black shadows!
The light rapidly hit Zen and its momentum almost stifled his breath.
There was no way this strong power was from Johanson.
Someone else was helping him!
Was it Saint Zara or Saint Viana? They were bold to dare play a trick in the All Peaks Competition. They really had the nerve to break the rules of the competition.
“Wow! Johanson started to strike back!”
“This attack is powerful! When did Johanson become this powerful? Was he just concealing his real strength all this time?”
“He was just promoted into the Illuminating Soul Realm. It's impossible for him to make such a powerful attack with his current level!”
The top disciples of Cloud Sect were also in their early stage of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
The early stage of the Illuminating Soul Realm ranged from grade one to grade three. Once the disciples reached grade three of the Illuminating Soul Realm, the sect would choose the most talented disciples to join the Cloud Hall through various works. Those who didn't make it would choose to join the Burning Sky Empire to temper themselves through wars. Floyd, or also known as the Flying Dragon General, belonged to the second category. Since he was not qualified to enter the Cloud Hall, he chose to take part in the army instead.
The most ordinary disciples, on the other hand, would be part of the sect staffs. With further cultivation, they could be promoted as hall chiefs, then saints, then elders, and then vice leader in the future.
Johanson was only at the grade two of Illuminating Soul Realm, but the strike he just made contained the power equal to the ultimate grade of Illuminating Soul Realm.
At the sight of the immense attack, the poker-faced judges showed signs of surprise and disbelief.
All the genius disciples of each peak were shocked as well. They did not expect that Johanson could produce such a terrible blow. The question now was-how could Zen defend himself this time?
Zen was stressing out at this moment.
If he had expected the attack, he would have summoned his demonic life vitality to devour those black shadows and strike back. However, it would be useless now. There was no way he could defend himself.
In the Commandment Mount, Zen once blocked the attack of Saint Viana just because he wasn't thinking clearly and just made random blows. Zen also considered that Saint Viana didn't give his all because the first was just a junior level disciple. There was no way a Saint would waste his energy for a low-level disciple.
But today was different. Saint Zara had been saving up his strength and intended to kill Zen with one hit.
It would be impossible for Zen to block that attack from a master in the ultimate grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
But no matter what, he must defend himself.
Zen's martial will was firmer than any other disciples.
Even if he suspected that someone was helping Johanson and he felt like a rabbit being chased by a lion, he was fearless and determined to win.
Fear was just a useless emotion adopted by the weak to defend themselves from the shame of losing.
Zen summoned the six demonic phantoms and formed a straight line to block the purple light.
Crack, crack, crack!
The powerful demonic phantoms were instantly penetrated by the purple light.
'It's no use! I can't handle this attack…"
With the demonic phantoms broken, Zen resorted to his flying broken knife. He threw it directly into the light.
Whoosh!
The sharp flying knife cut the powerful purple light into two parts.
But it was still useless.
The purple light was cut into two parts but continued to shoot toward Zen.
Without any idea left, Zen chose to evade from the purple light.
The audience was becoming anxious and worried about Zen. They held onto their seats tightly, trying to comprehend what was happening.
“Oh no! Zen can't withstand it!”
“Johanson's desperate! Did he make the attack at the expense of his own life?”
“If it's Johanson's real strength, he can become the Champion of this year's All Peaks Competition! After all, who can really defend and defeat Johanson's attack? Rocher? Patrick? Tracy? Wing? None of them can! No one in this competition can block that attack!”
However, just when everyone thought that Zen would die from the attack, a huge roar sounded not from afar.
“How dare you?”
“How dare you!!!”
The voice echoed through the valleys.
It was like the snoring of an ancient beast from far away!