Chapter 327: Horizons And Sensibility
Today, they got together at the prince's banquet to promote their relationship and the fight was to enliven the atmosphere. However, many of them were infuriated, because they thought Zen was too arrogant and rampant. Seeing that Doug Zhuo made his move to fight Zen, all others exclaimed loudly.
“Doug independently invented body tactics of his own. He called his body tactics after his own name. Using these tactics, Doug can move and dodge elusively that his opponents can't track where he is. Just wait and see. He will enlighten Zen's horizon and Zen will know what martial arts achievements truly are!”
“It will be better if Zen bleeds. He will clearly realize that no subordinate of the third prince is weak!”
“I agree! I hope everything you say will happen. At the third grade of nature level, Zen will be unable to react against Doug's assault. Thus, his cultivations are not worth mentioning at all for Doug.”
It was believed that Doug moved quite fast. In addition, he was as agile as a flying swallow. He could move from one place to another and it would be extremely difficult to anticipate where he was.
Zen didn't move and remained calm like a mountain, his eyes squinting and trying to find out where on earth Doug was.
Since his opponent fought him barehanded, Zen didn't use his sword either. He swung a fist at Doug immediately when he detected the infinite residual shadows left by Doug from his swift movements.
At this critical moment, Doug's wings suddenly trembled. He moved along an inconceivable trajectory, thus dodging away from Zen's attack. Soon enough, his sharp claws scratched Zen's right side.
“He got hit!”
The claws left three little marks on Zen's clothes.
“Well done! Doug's move is awesome and illusionary like shadows!”
“That guy can't counterattack against Doug at all. In the beginning, I was not sure how powerful he was. But is the Number One disciple of Cloud Sect that weak? How shameful!”
“Cloud Sect? The holy place for acquiring martial arts? This will be a big laughingstock! Doug didn't even give full play to his strengths!”
Amidst those people's scornful looks, someone stood out and spoke up for Zen. It was Gale Huo. Like Zen, Gale was also a disciple of Cloud Sect and ranked top on the Skywrath Peak. However, he was born into a poor family, so he had been drawn by the third prince to his side. Despite his extraordinary strengths, he considerably lacked resources for cultivation. It was the third prince who could offer him all these resources, so he chose to stand by this prince's side.
But since he could no longer withstand others' contempt for Zen, Gale, who had ever taken part in the All Peaks Competition, retorted while shaking his head, “As you have mentioned, Doug hasn't given full play to his strengths. Zen didn't either. Disciples of Cloud Sect are not as weak as you think. You can change my family name if Doug could defeat Zen!”
“Gale, how can you boost an outsider's morale? Is Zen really that strong?” someone said with great anger.
“I am not boosting his morale. What I said was based on facts,” replied Gale with his gaze fixated on Zen. In the recent All Peaks Competition, Zen's performances were amazing and breathtaking. Deeply impressed by how Zen defeated his opponents in the All Peaks Competition, Gale could hardly forget about Zen's strength.
On the other hand, it was Doug who was more shocked than anyone else at this moment.
The dark red sharp claws in his hands were condensed by his life vitality. Using these claws, he initially thought that he could tear up or at least leave three deep notches on Zen's shoulder. However, Doug discovered that Zen's body was as hard as a steel plate.
But the comparison didn't make sense, because even a steel plate could be torn apart by his claws. It was difficult to describe how strong Zen's body was. For the sake of describing it, it could be said that Zen's body was as hard as some high-grade defense spiritual weapons.
How could a body be that strong?
Was it possible that this guy was a monster?
Doug was not a disciple of Cloud Sect but a vagrant cultivator.
In the Eastern Region, cultivators generally developed in three paths. The most excellent ones such as Zen and Rocher naturally joined Cloud Sect.
Some cultivators had joined the imperial army and improved themselves through blood and fire. Cultivators such as Jon, Floyd, and Spencer were soldiers of the imperial army.
The weakest cultivators were born as vagrants. They lagged far behind the disciples of Cloud Sect in terms of tactics they learned. Unlike the imperial army, these cultivators were not always on the verge of death. Even though they had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, their strengths were just mediocre.
They differed more significantly from disciples of Cloud Sect in terms of horizons and sensibility.
For instance, Doug was totally confused and didn't know what he should do next when he discovered that he couldn't completely diffuse Zen's body defense using his shrewd blow, although he had given Zen a heavy blow at a fast pace.
Doug's move failed because of his poor sensibility, inadequate inheritance of cultivation methods, and too unitary assaults.
The best examples of sensibility were Rocher and Patrick. When both of them discerned that Zen was physically overbearing, they changed their tactics to deal with him. Dick, on the other hand, could adapt his ultimate skill Righteousness Song when he was challenged with Zen's demonic phantoms.
Except his wings and sharp claws, Doug really couldn't think of a better way to unravel the mystery of Zen's body which was like a spiritual weapon.
Doug was upset about the current situation. Now, he found himself in a dilemma that he could hardly retreat. He had actively provoked Zen, but at this moment, he was incapable of breaking down Zen's body defense. He realized that he would bring great shame to himself if he failed.
“Doug, come on! Go ahead! What are you afraid of?”
“Go for his torso next time!”
Doug was deeply infuriated in his mind upon hearing those urges. 'Dang it! You all do nothing but yell on the side! Try it yourself if you can!' At this moment, Doug wanted to surrender.
However, he had a strong feeling that the third prince was watching his fight with Zen. If he acted over rashly, the prince would surely be disappointed. Thus, Doug could do nothing but grit his teeth and dash towards Zen again. This time, he gave his best and harnessed all his strength. At last, he ran so swiftly like a wind that his entire body moved in a spiral motion with an intent to strangle Zen.
“Doug's spiral!”
This was also a tactic created by Doug himself.
Staring at the direction of Doug's spiral, Zen slightly nodded. This martial tactic seemed to be a little like the “sword dance” of Lily. It could be reckoned as prototype of the “sword dance”. Nevertheless, there might be considerable differences in might between this martial tactic and the sword dance. Lily drove a spiral dependent upon the malicious aura, whereas Doug relied upon his own life vitality to impel the spiral.
While “Doug's spiral” approached him, Zen didn't dodge. After his battle with Patrick, the third spiritual texture had appeared on Zen's body, and from that moment on, his body had become as mighty as a top-grade mysterious weapon. As a result, it was totally impossible for Doug to hurt Zen's body.
Anticipating that Doug's ten sharp claws were going to strangle him, Zen suddenly stretched out his arms and made a pose to defend himself from the sharp claws.
All bystanders burst into laughter as soon as they saw Zen's defense pose.
“Zen was already scratched once, but it seems that he forgot what it felt like. Doug's claws are extremely sharp. Even a thick steel plate can be drilled and penetrated in a flash by Doug's sharp claws when combined with his spiral. Am I right?”
“This time, Zen's arm will be badly injured or perhaps broken!”
“I have never seen such a stupid cultivator before. Can you tell me how he has been listed Number One in Cloud Sect?”
When all bystanders were indulged in their reckless gloat and discussion, Doug's spiral finally swirled around for Zen's arm.
“Biff, biff, biff, biff...”
But to the bystanders' surprise, Zen's arm wasn't smashed by Doug's spiral.
Doug's claws stopped on Zen's arm and couldn't penetrate Zen's skin at all.
At the sight of this, the smile on all bystanders' faces vanished.
All guests of the banquet had the same thought with Doug – 'Is Zen really a monster?'
In general, one would be deemed physically strong if he had overbearing physical strengths. However, one's physical strengths were limited no matter how strong he or she was. After all, human bodies were only covered by a thin layer of skin, beneath which there was flesh. A beast's body, on the other hand, was covered by a thick and hard shell. Human bodies couldn't be that rigid.
It was not until today that they had realized that one's body could be so strong and rigid that it couldn't be hurt at all. Zen proved that for them when he stood there still even after withstanding a forceful attack.
This was no longer a mere fight but a taunt.
Only if one's strength was much greater than his opponent's could he taunt his opponent.
As they noticed the flat smile on Zen's face, many guests understood that Zen had never cared about their opinions because all their strengths meant nothing at all for Zen.
Meanwhile, Ray's eyes gleamed. From his current situation, he realized that Zen was really a rare talent. This made him more determined to rack his brain to recruit him.
At the very beginning, Ray didn't show much curiosity about Zen's strengths and all he cared about was the latter's reputation. In his opinion, if he could have Zen, the top disciple of Cloud Sect, knock-on effects would occur in that sect. Zen was just like a key for Ray to develop sound relationships with Cloud Sect.
But now, Ray realized that Zen was also like a sharp sword. Besides, Zen was only 17 years old. With his strength and everything he had achieved so far, he would have a bright future!