Chapter 300: Breaking The Diamond-like Body
In breaking a record, Zen had made a man as prudent and calm as Patrick pissed and even resort to cursing.
Worse, things looked awkward in the arena.
From everyone's point of view, it appeared as though Zen was at a disadvantage. He ended up getting beaten most of the time. He only fought back occasionally, after taking three or four strikes.
But what was strange was that the more blows Zen took, the more excited he became. His eyes brightened up and glowed with radiant vigor. On the other hand, Patrick, though he did most of the beating, seemed upset and depressed, as if holding a bear by the tail.
What no one knew was that warm currents steadily streamed into Zen's body. That was why he didn't suffer. On the contrary, the flow of currents made him feel content. How could he not be excited with such a stimulus of joy?
It was thrilling for audiences to watch the two fight hand-to-hand. But for Patrick, he thought it a dull game and only felt bored. Still, he had to endure the match and continuously beat Zen.
After a while, the golden light around Patrick dimmed, especially in areas where Zen repeatedly hit him, like his chest and arms. The light around these points slowly faded, revealing the natural color of the flesh.
The Body in the Diamond-like State was said to make one's body indestructible, but in fact, it mostly depended on the golden light surrounding the body. After the golden light barrier suffered excessive blows, the life vitality forming the barrier would scatter. And that meant the Body in the Diamond-like State was rendered useless.
“Oh my goodness! It's broken, The golden light barrier has been broken by Zen's physical strength, barehanded. I was right. Zen is indeed a monster!” someone cried out.
"No, he's not a monster. He's a magic weapon, a magic weapon in a human form!
He is foolproof against beatings!"
The disciple who made the last comment couldn't believe what he was seeing. He unwittingly praised Zen when he described him as a human-form magic weapon. Actually, he hit the nail on the head. Beyond that, Zen was a magic weapon constantly being refined through every battle, tempered by the beatings he sustained from every foe.
In the final attack, Zen thrust himself on Patrick and shattered the golden light shimmering over his enemy. With a painful moan, Patrick backed away a few steps before halting. It was evident he had suffered an internal injury.
However, Patrick disregarded his injury. What he cared about was losing to Zen in their hand-to-hand fight. That made him a failure. And it irked him that Zen still had that cheerful smile on his face as if he didn't get beaten enough.
By this time, Patrick even entertained illusions that Zen specially put on that smile to entice him to beat him up more. But it was a whimsical thought that Patrick knew he should never feel proud to voice out. After all, there was no one in the world who was crazy enough to invite beatings to themselves. He was sure Zen was not a masochist.
Still, there was no way of ever knowing if what was running in his head was the truth.
Meanwhile, Zen felt that he didn't get beaten enough. Had it not been for fear of arousing suspicion about his remarkable body, Zen hoped that Patrick would throw several more punches at him.
Shaking his head, Patrick mocked, “It seems that I overestimated myself. I thought I could defeat you with my corporeal body, but I guess I was overly naive.”
The battle was not over. A golden shadow appeared behind Patrick as he released all the life vitality from his body. Slowly, the shadow took on the form of a Buddha.
Acalanatha had two forms.
The first was called Wrath Manifestation, where the Buddha showed an angry face. Patrick had used this to defeat Rocher's Heavenly Punishment Sword.
The second form was called Bodhisattva Manifestation, where the Buddha wore a smiling face.
Although the Wrath Manifestation had an angry face, it was not the most powerful dharma-laksana. Acalanatha's strongest form was actually the Bodhisattva Manifestation.
The shadow behind Patrick was becoming a clear shape as his life vitality gathered strength and condensed.
What appeared was not the same Buddha that Patrick had used to fight Rocher. The truth was that the Acalanatha had a Buddhist allegorical expression. There was a gentle smile on his face, as if enjoying a warm spring breeze. But this was really the Bodhisattva Manifestation of the Acalanatha.
Patrick meant business this time.
“The Buddha is different this time. He's smiling. And he's not as intimidating as the Buddha Patrick used to defeat Rocher the last time,” one disciple observed.
“Yes, I agree with you. In the last fight with Rocher, the Buddha had a vicious look, and he gave us the shivers even with a mere glance at him. But the smiling Buddha right now doesn't look intimidating at all!” another one said.
“You idiots! That is the Bodhisattva Manifestation!”
The discussion among the crowd reverberated in Zen's ears. Staring at the lofty shadow of the Acalanatha, Zen's face turned more serious.
The disciples all talked like a bunch of idiots. How could they even think that the Buddha's strength had anything to do with his expression? Whether he smiled or not, wasn't the point.
Besides, Zen could sense hostility in the Buddha's smiling eyes. And he looked more horrifying than the angry Acalanatha!
Taking out the Streamer Sword from his space ring, Zen was determined to go all out in this fight.
There was a wicked gleam in Patrick's eyes. He clasped his hands and held his palms together. After several seconds, he suddenly opened his hands and clapped at Zen.
At the same time, the Bodhisattva Manifestation of Acalanatha that was behind him reached out his two palms to swat Zen!
Alongside the Buddha's huge hands, Zen was about the size of a mosquito. The disciple had no doubt that he would either be flattened or crushed if those palms slapped him.
A loud clapping sound rang out.
A thunderous sound echoed in the field once the Buddha's huge golden palms slammed together.
But Zen reacted quickly enough. The second before the Buddha's palms met in an attempt to squash him, the disciple soared upward like a shooting star and leaped high into the air.
Unfortunately, flying wasn't one of Zen's skills. And no matter how high he rose into the air, the young man would eventually fall. There was nothing for him to hold on in the air, so there was no way to escape Buddha's fury.
Through all this, Patrick's eyes never wavered from Zen. In a flash, he raised his hand and gestured a backhanded slap. Buddha mirrored the movement and was ready to swat Zen.
“Bam!”
This time, the palm caught Zen. The tremendous force of the hand hitting Zen sent him back into the air. The momentum slammed the disciple into the light enchanted barrier. He bounced off the barrier and fell heavily to the ground.
Created by several elders of the Cloud Sect, the enchanted barrier was as solid as a rock. But a large hole was left after Zen rammed into it.
“Patrick should have used this strategy earlier so the fight wouldn't last so long. He could have manipulated the shadow of the Acalanatha to attack Zen at the start. That way Zen would have no chance to come near him,” one disciple said.
While others agreed with his comment, most did not.
These disciples remained silent. What they were more concerned about was whether or not Zen would be able to rise again.
Being hit by the Buddha shadow with such force from his huge palms meant hitting the ground hard, and most likely not being able to stand up again. Worse, there was the risk of losing one's life due to the impact or getting bones crushed and it would even result in a body explosion.
In this case, that person was Zen, so no one in the audience dared to draw any conclusions. They accepted that Zen was a unique being. He was nothing like any human they knew, so they couldn't judge the current situation using the usual common senses. People would find it hard to believe if Zen would easily be killed by Patrick.
Right now, they stood transfixed while watching all that was happening.
After suffering a violent attack, which to an ordinary person would have been a fatal blow, Zen slowly got to his feet. His eyes remained firmed. It looked as if Patrick didn't hurt him too much.
But while he was not badly injured, Zen realized he was still in a lot of trouble.
The shadow of Acalanatha moved too fast. The Buddha's palms moved simultaneously with Patrick, and at the same speed. Thus, when Patrick waved his hand, the Buddha would make the same movement at the same time.
What made matters worse was that while Patrick's hands were only a few inches long, Acalanatha's palms were seven to eight times bigger! As Patrick maneuvered his hands almost in a flash, the two huge palms mirrored the same movements just as swiftly.
It all happened too fast. Zen could hardly dodge the attacks, let alone approach Patrick.
He knew that if he couldn't get close to Patrick and attack him, he would definitely lose this battle. And while Zen had the stamina, his energy was consumed through the protracted fight. Patrick, meanwhile, could easily attack him with a simple wave of his hands. If it would take him the whole day, and through the night, to defeat Zen, Patrick would only be very pleased to repeat the same movements, probably even without batting an eye.
While Zen was racking his brains to find a solution to his problem, the huge palms came at him again. Patrick was relentless in his attacks, refusing to give his opponent time to think and regroup.
While thinking, Zen continued to dodge the assault against him. Only this time when he swerved, the disciple made a surprising move. Zen tossed his sword up in the air!
The Streamer Sword circled the air several times before falling.
The move had everyone in a daze, when suddenly, a blood red shadow soared out of Zen's body. The shadow instantly condensed into a shape as soon as it was released. It was Zen's sword spirit, Lily.
Once Lily was out, she rushed towards the Streamer Sword, grasped it, then accelerated and pointed the weapon at Patrick.
As Lily was a swordsman herself, she was capable of using the sword in the fight. However, Zen only had one metal blade at this time and needed it to ward off an attack by Buddha. Thinking quickly, he tried dodging the huge palms of Buddha while manipulating Lily into attacking Patrick at the same time.