Chapter 263: Angry Leader
Born with innate superhuman strength, Zen had a super strong corporeal body. Even if he were hit by a spiritual weapon, he wouldn't be hurt. No matter how much the other disciples envied him, it didn't matter.
But what if his soul was also that powerful?
That would be totally unfair. Why did God favor Zen that much?
Every warrior had their own special strength and style. Swordsmen were dexterous; blade-men were domineering with destructive power, while assassins had strong hidden abilities, not to mention the ability to kill with a single hit.
Those who claimed they were strong in every skill simply meant that they were weak in every aspect. If you had a lot of different talents, you'd be mediocre, because specialization was the key to success. If you put in a lot of time practicing one skill, your other skills would suffer.
But Zen was an exception. He was perfectly well-rounded.
It was almost an impossible dream. And it was hard to believe it happened to Zen. He was only a boy of seventeen, and he had only achieved the second grade of the nature level!
If people did not believe it, that was understandable. In other words, they admitted that Zen just defeated Johanson in the spirit level, but didn't want to believe that someone of his age was so well-rounded.
Seeing the disbelief on people's faces, the disciple shut his mouth. They didn't want to hear more about it, so he said no more.
But another disciple backed him up. “He's right. Johanson lost to Zen in the soul battle, because he was weaker. I don't know how strong Zen's spirit is, but I'm sure Johanson's spirit is far less powerful. It's easy to tell the powerful from the weak.”
The result of spirit competition between two warriors could be easily and immediately determined. And it would hardly change.
Hearing another disciple say the same thing, the rest of the disciples took a deep breath, dumbfounded and lost in silence.
When you're comparing goods, get rid of the poor quality one. When this was applied to people, the poor ones could not survive. The saying was not to judge, but simply to say that a man should be happy with what he already had, and not compare himself to others.
As time slipped by, Zen went from the little disciple of Drizzle Peak that nobody knew to the man with extraordinary talents, a superstar in the All Peaks Competition. He overshadowed the vast majority of the disciples! Now that Zen was a superstar they looked up to, they would never challenge him.
That was how it always was. If someone was a bit better than you, you might challenge him. But if he were much stronger than you and had earned all kinds of accolades, then you'd never think to compete with him.
The image of Zen in their hearts was like an insurmountable mountain, which they would not be able to conquer even if they tried with their whole life.
Kenneth, head of the Cloud Sect, knitted his eyebrows as he watched the fight in the arena.
Based on his strength and judgment, it was easy for him to figure out that the Zen-Johanson fight was risky, so risky that it might result in the death of one or both of them, especially if any of them didn't properly control their strength.
The warriors were not the delicate flowers in the greenhouse. To be strong warriors, they had to go through their baptism of blood and fire. That was why Cloud Sect would assign so many dangerous missions. That was also why so many warriors chose to join the military to gain more experience. Only walking on the edge of death could they push their potential to the extreme and know what they were truly capable of.
However, Kenneth still had a hint of doubt deep inside.
'Why is Johanson fighting so hard, so ruthlessly? It seems like he's not fighting to win but to kill. Is it because he hates Zen so much?' he thought quietly and doubtfully.
Kenneth did encourage disciples to give full play to their own strengths, but he didn't want to see any of them die as both of them were Cloud Sect's genius disciples. Besides, Zen's talent and strengths were considerable, so he cared about the boy more. Kenneth even had plans for the boy, if he survived. Thus, if Zen were killed by Johanson, he would be a little sad.
Just then, a steward showed up. He was ordered by Elder Xu to find out Zen's information in those practicing places recently. This man now handed Elder Xu a jade slip.
Elder Xu took the slip, turned around and handed it to Kenneth directly.
Kenneth took it, unfolded it and began to scan it. After finishing reading it, he furrowed his brows more tightly.
When seeing Kenneth's heavy face, Elder Xu asked carefully, “Your grace, what did it say?”
Kenneth threw the slip to him and said in a pissed tone, “Check it yourself!”
Elder Xu unfolded the slip and had a quick scan. Then, his face also grew heavy abruptly.
“On Fire Day, in the month of November, Zen practiced at the Lake of the Magical Fish for the first time. He dived in, and attained a depth of one hundred and thirty meters under water. He's only at the first grade of the nature level. Yet he could do such an amazing feat. So he is a rare genius of our Cloud Sect. If he could be well trained, he would be capable of miraculous achievements. Written by Steward Cao.”
“On Water Day, in the month of December, Zen entered the Seven Star Sword Light Platform, and resisted 100 waves of Magnetic Aurora at the trial with the eighth difficulty and also grabbed the sword intent. From the founding of our Cloud Sect till now, I have not seen such a disciple. He is a rare talent that comes along once in a million years. Written by Steward Song.”
When he finished reading this, his face grew heavier.
Kenneth sneered and said, “The first time at the Seven Star Sword Light Platform, he could pass the trial at the eighth level. Hum, since the establishment of our Cloud Sect, I believe that there has not been such a strong disciple. What's more, he even had an epiphany about the sword intent. It seems that Zen is still hiding his real strength now. If it hadn't been for the All Peaks Competition, I wouldn't even have known about him! It is one of the duties of the stewards to find out Zen's rare talent. If they can do this, they will be richly rewarded.”
After a pause, he continued slowly, “But such reports, which should be delivered to me, were intercepted by several saints! It was done by Saint Viana and Saint Zara, right? So these guys, who reached the top grade of Illuminating Soul Realm by virtue of the resources of Cloud Sect, now think they can do whatever they want?”
As Kenneth said, he stared at the match and raised his eyebrows. “I don't know how the two old men and Zen are connected. But now it seems that they are trying to kill him, and at the All Peaks Competition of all places! Johanson is Saint Zara's personal disciple, right? No wonder his first attack against Zen was a deadly action!”
Elder Xu's face suddenly changed again when he heard Kenneth's words.
It was true that Saint Zara and Saint Viana did have beefs with Zen, based on the slip. But, requiring their own personal disciple to kill Zen at All Peaks Competition? Would they go that far?
And after Kenneth said that, Elder Xu also noticed that Saint Zara and Saint Viana were actually trying to kill Zen through Johanson's deadly attacks!
“Your grace, should I stop the competition now?” asked Elder Xu earnestly. Although it wasn't a good thing to stop the competition abruptly, this was necessary.
“No!” Kenneth said. He refused directly, waving his hand, which startled Elder Xu. He then explained his reasons, “Johanson is likely weaker than Zen. He probably won't succeed. Let's just wait and see!”
The fierce battle between Zen and Johanson in the battle ring still raged.
Now that Zen's broken flying knife had made its debut, he didn't have to hide it any more.
Johanson was hiding in one of the shadows. It was a brilliant move, but the arena was only so big, and there were only a hundred or so shadows in the arena. It was just a matter of time before Zen found the right one.
“Demonic phantom!” Zen shouted to summon his skill.
Six demonic phantoms answered his call, and he directed them to penetrate the shadows. The phantoms did so, one by one. If Johanson stayed hidden, one of them would definitely find him.
At the same time, the broken flying knife in Zen's hand revolved around him madly. Every time the broken flying knife flew out, it would pierce a dozen shadows in an instant.
By using both methods, Zen could force Johanson out of the shadow sooner or later.
Just after Zen's phantoms had swept through a corner, his broken flying knife rushed towards the shadows ahead.
Johanson jumped from a black shadow, his hiding place exposed. Once again, he brandished the snake-shaped sword in his hand, and rushed Zen.
At the sight of the snake-shaped sword, Zen scoffed coldly and directed his broken flying knife to block the attack.
“Ding!”
The flying knife and the short sword collided, notching the snake sword.
Both sides of the sword's blade had been cut, weakened. Another direct clash like that would make the sword completely destroyed.
Johanson was experiencing a hardship, but he couldn't complain loudly. Now, he was chased around the ring, Zen's knife nicking him here, slashing his uniform there. He seemed to have performed worse than Zen's previous rivals.
Yet, in fact, he was stronger than Vale and the other disciples, at least better than most personal disciples!
Johanson was at least ranked in the top five disciples of Cloud Sect, possibly even higher.
He was absolutely deadly with his two main tactics, defeating most of his foes easily.
Six months ago, Zen used a spiritual attack together with the broken flying knife and almost killed Vale. And now, Johanson, with the strength of Illuminating Soul Realm, executed two powerful moves, and the results weren't hard to imagine.
His two moves, however, were completely blocked by Zen.
His spiritual attack not only failed to kill Zen, but instead, Zen took control of the situation.
As for Johanson's short sword, well, it was just useless. He had no idea where Zen got his broken flying knife, but even the broken knife was ten times more powerful than his sword!
Johanson really couldn't figure out why he was in such pain now.
As a result, he was desperate and wanted to give up. Moreover, he even had a hunch that if he didn't admit defeat now, Zen would probably kill him.
Just after he was forced out, he again quickly ducked into another shadow. Meanwhile, as he was about to admit defeat, he heard a voice delivered secretly to him by life vitality.
The voice gave him an order, and his expression changed all of sudden.