Chapter 275: Down On Your Knees
In Zen's inner mind, there were nine giant dragons that lay on a mysterious smelting furnace. Each appeared as natural as a living creature.
The nine dragons seemed like engravings on the surface of the furnace. However, Zen was highly suspicious that they were not decorations at all, but real dragons with their own consciousness.
For now, though, only one cyan dragon seemed to be gradually regaining consciousness as Zen's heavenly essence had infiltrated its body. But from the moment it started to move until now, it had not communicated with Zen.
So how did Zen realize the dragon's awakening? There had been two occasions when he was in crisis, and the dragon roared to help him get through those predicaments. The first was during the selection of the cultivation method at Heavenly Library, where he had to face the dominant pressure of Vengeful Beast. The second was during a fight against terrifying and angry ghosts in fairy palace.
Other than those two occasions, the nine dragons usually seemed like decorations, lying quietly on the furnace without any smell of living creatures.
But today, that one cyan dragon took the initiative to communicate with Zen. Why?
It even told him about wanting to devour Jacques' bone spear.
t was true that the mysterious smelting furnace had provided an undeniably large contribution to his current achievements, which he attained with great effort one step at a time. Without the furnace's support in forging his body and spirit at the beginning, and improving his martial arts skills tremendously, it would have been hard for Zen to leave the Luo family home.
While Zen was not aware of the origin of the furnace, he understood that the mystical equipment, with the nine dragons on it, as well as the black flame it produced, was highly valuable and powerful beyond his imagination, and should never be shown to anyone else.
Even after using the black flame in the smelting furnace to melt his weapons and extract the heavenly essence, Zen would still carefully entrust Wurth with its auction. He never dared market it himself, for fear that should a setback occur during sales, someone watching might use it against him to plot something evil.
He once heard an old maxim that said the precious stone landed its innocent possessor in jail. Zen took this to mean that an innocent man could get into big trouble because of his well-known wealth. Based on Zen's present strength, once the secret leaked out, any advantage it might have would be lost and instead, it would only endanger his life because of those who would be after his treasure.
So why was it that the cyan dragon was now sending him a message, asking for help to devour the bone spear?
A very low-grade dragon, the flood dragon was only a subspecies. Despite its low grade, it belonged to the dragon family.
After some thought, Zen came to the conclusion that the dragon smell hidden in the flood dragon's spine attracted the attention of the cyan dragon, making it extremely look forward to devouring the bone spear, so it had to communicate with him.
But in doing so, the cyan dragon left Zen in a dilemma.
Without a doubt, Jacques was powerful. Although Zen used the power of dragon scales to knock him down and drive him out of the battle ring earlier, it didn't mean that the young disciple had more advantage over him. Jacques just underestimated his opponent's power, and in trying to crush Zen with brutal strength, he did not expect to get a dose of his own medicine.
Because of arrogance, Jacques failed to display his real strength.
Now with the dragon bone spear in hand, he got ready for a real fight. Examining the weapon in his hand made him sigh. This bone spear constantly exuded a sense of majesty, which was a deterrent inherited from its ancestors and born in its blood.
Meanwhile, Zen was unsure if he could defeat Jacques considering his top-grade power and weapon, which gave the man all the right to be arrogant.
Under such circumstances, it would be quite tricky to snatch the bone spear so the cyan dragon could devour it.
While Zen was contemplating on an efficient attack, Jacques launched his offensive against Zen. The fighter gently put the bone spear on the ring, as it was being infused with his life vitality continuously. Glancing at his foe, Jacques sneered.
“Supreme dragon power!” he shouted to announce the movement he was about to make.
Though a nonliving object, the bone spear was still made from a dragon's spine. The formidable power of the dragon blood hidden inside it suddenly increased by a hundred times shortly after it was stimulated by Jacques' life vitality!
"All dragons are created to be formidable!
It is the fate of thousands of creatures to end up prostrating themselves before the feet of dragons. I suggest that you prostrate yourself before me!" It was with a faint smile that he confidently made this declaration. A moment ago, Zen drove him out of the ring with such a strong force that embarrassed him in front of so many people. In fact, it cost him far more than shame. Therefore, he wanted not only to win this competition but also to humiliate Zen in equal measure.
After the formidable dragon blood power activated by Jacques' life vitality was suddenly released, it flowed towards Zen without warning, like a tsunami with enough power that could topple mountains and overturn seas!
In fact, such daunting power of the dragon race was very similar to the momentum of a human race. The top-grade power of the human race, like Kenneth's power alone, was enough to weaken the stamina of the hands and feet of an ordinary person, and even made him drop to his knees.
Compared to human race, the dragon race's power was more terrifying, and sharper.
Ninety percent of the power was pouring itself into Zen, while the remainder was headed to places around the battle ring.
When disciples from each peak sensed the horrendous pressure coming from such power, everyone's face turned dreadfully pale, and disciples with lower cultivation base looked as if they were standing on ice and snow, teeth chattering from the cold, and making loud noises.
'Poof!' came the sound of a body collapsing.
One disciple, without any warning, fainted and fell to the ground.
Casting a glance at Elder Xu, Kenneth said, “I seem to have witnessed too many of the unexpected in this year's All Peaks Competition. This time, unexpectedly, Jacques could even get the spine of a flood dragon.”
The spine of a flood dragon could be used to forge weapons and refine pills. After taking this pill, a person's body would be reborn with a trace of the flood dragon's blood!
Such a valuable treasure would arouse even Kenneth's interest.
Of course, because of who he was, Kenneth naturally would never do anything such as stealing Jacques' bone spear.
“Three years ago, I said that Jacques was a man of great luck. As he develops further, he may be able to get more chances and draw even more good luck. I'm afraid this time Zen might be defeated,” Elder Xu commented.
Kenneth laughed and asked, “When you said Jacques was very lucky and will likely have several other chances, does that mean that Zen could not obtain such good fortune?” He pointed at the flying knife in Zen's hand and said, “Look at his knife, the Heavenly Ogre Fist he displayed, and the basic swordplay methods he mastered by himself! Which one would you say is ordinary?”
“Your grace, you are right. I may still have some prejudice against him, knowing that Zen's strength is only in the low grade. The overwhelming force of the flood dragon has had adverse reactions on many disciples. I shall go down to help them!” Elder Xu said hastily. He made the remark after seeing the painful expressions on lower grade disciples' faces. After quickly jumping down from the high platform, he waved a wrinkled hand gently in the air and watched as emerald green life vitality transformed into a curtain of light, shrouding areas around the battle ring.
The flood dragon's power made many disciples feel like lingering in the ice and snow, naked, and there was no way for them to resist the lure of the cold. If this continued for an extended period of time, it could damage their spirits.
But as soon as the light curtain from Elder Xu's hand lightly swept over them, everyone suddenly felt as if they were dressed in thick cotton clothes and were warm enough to withstand the extreme cold.
If a mere ten percent of the power released from it could cause so much pain for many disciples, what was the effect on Zen, who was absorbing the remaining 90 percent? Everyone was now curious how the young disciple was dealing with it.
With Elder Xu's help, the crowd resisted the flood dragon's power and began to watch the situation in the battle ring. They desperately wanted to see what happened to Zen at that moment.
Compared to regular mortals, Zen's spirit strength was far stronger. When he entered the Tier 4 Cultivation Method Hall of the Heavenly Library, he did not need the help of the cyan dragon, but instead, relied on his own spirit to resist the pressure generated by the intent of the Vengeful Beast. But as he entered the hidden room behind the Tier 4 Cultivation Method Hall, he was attacked head-on by the spirit of Vengeful Beast. The cyan dragon in his mind helped Zen resist this surprise attack.
What made Jacques' flood dragon bone spear more dangerous was that a secret cultivation method strengthened its power. So the spear produced 30 percent more power compared to energy released by the Vengeful Beast!
Under the attack of such overwhelming power, and to that extent, it was not very hard to imagine the situation faced by Zen at the moment.
But unexpectedly, Zen gritted his teeth and chose to bear the hardship.
Through the cultivation method written in the Spiritual Thorn, Zen exercised his spirit and entered into a state where he forgot himself enough to deepen his spirit strength step-by-step.
As a result, even if the flood dragon bone spear's power was daunting, Zen still managed to resist its attack successfully for the moment.
But its effect on the warrior was not good. His usually ruddy face was as pale as a sheet at that moment.
“Well, I must say it's a surprise that you can resist my attack for quite a long period, so now, I want to see how long you can hold against it!” Jacques challenged Zen.
After delivering the threat, he pounded the bone spear hard on the ground, which awakened the flood dragon that began to roar.
The first roaring sound echoed throughout the arena.
Furious, Jacques demanded, “Get down on your knees!”
“Roar!”
“Get down on your knees!”
Then, the dragon roared once more.
“Get down on your knees!”
As Jacques pounded the bone spear on the ground thrice in a row, the dragon answered back with a furious roar every time.
As a consequence, the dominant power of the spear kept pouring into Zen like a surging wave three times as well, each wave stronger than the previous one. Meanwhile, the words “get down on your knees” that Jacques kept barking at Zen, were likewise filled with indisputable majesty as if demanding him to come before the order of the king in heaven and on earth!
“How can Zen resist such power? If it were me, I'm afraid my spirit would have been destroyed and my body would already be a pile of dust at this moment,” one disciple, fear written on his face, said.
“My goodness! Jacques is a monster. How could he launch such dangerous attacks? Even if Elder Xu helped block the pressure, my knees are still quite weak, and I would want to get down on them...” another one added.
“Alas, Jacques' previous attacks using that white bone armor were quite bold but simple. And I did not expect him to launch his spirit attacks in the same manner. What's more, such brutal attacks are so powerful that it's impossible to resist!” said another disciple, who was awed by everything he witnessed.
Even though Elder Xu was helping disciples seated among the audience resist the pressure, they continued to quiver in fear upon seeing the situation on the battle ring.
Patrick, seated on the ground, heard loud dragon roars that urged him to open his eyes slightly. There was a grave look on his face. But after a few moments, he shut his eyes calmly this time. The Buddha cultivation method was broad and profound, and perhaps, he already had a way to deal with Jacques' bone spear.
With the long sword on his back, Rocher heard the three roars of the dragon. His fingers trembled at the sound and had to touch the sword handle behind him. As the disciple felt his sword, he heaved a gentle sigh. His eyes reflected the flickering light as he closely watched the ongoing competition in the arena.
Meanwhile, in the arena Zen felt as if his spirit was shaking under a big storm, like a leaf hanging precariously on a tree branch, which at any time could be swept away by the wind to any place.
But oddly, even with his perilous situation, Zen was tenacious in resisting the attacks.
This competition was undoubtedly the most dangerous one for Zen. Earlier, he had won all the way and had never been so close to being defeated.
In truth, the strength gap between Zen and Jacques was not so wide. But rather than his own strength, Jacques depended on the power of the dragon bone spear that was in his hand. Zen, on the other hand, only trusted his own spiritual strength to combat the offensives.
This was because he wanted to see the extent of his resistance.
Not long after, a trace of blood was slowly oozing from the corners of Zen's mouth. While spirit attacks made idiots out of people or broke their brains into pieces, they would never hurt people intentionally.
In order to stay awake, he bit his tongue so hard that blood trickled out his mouth.
Taking a deep breath, he said in a cold tone, "Who do you think you are?
You think you can order me to get me down on my knees?
You? Humph! You're not competent enough to demand that!"