Chapter 332: The First Place
Aura found Zen's response strange and wondered why Zen looked a little uneasy. She had misunderstood Zen. It was a mistake on her part to take it for granted that Zen had thrown himself into Ray's lap.
“But I heard that you had been placed under house arrest. I came here to free you today!” Zen finally recovered and declared in a firm tone, with his gaze fixated on Aura.
He was confused as to why Aura was so cold and unkind to him. But right now, thinking of his purpose for coming here, he decided that he had to make every possible effort to achieve his end. Even though Aura was reluctant, Zen wasn't going to rashly change his mind. This was just who Zen was.
“Free me from house arrest?” Aura questioned back in a daze. Very soon, she added, “Will you be able to do so?”
In Aura's opinion, it was improbable that Ray was going to put Zen in an important position even if Zen had decided to stand by Ray's side and become his subordinate. After all, too many talented and capable people served Ray, so Zen was not indispensable for the prince, especially since he was only a nature creature.
“How would I know if I don't try!” Zen smiled.
Upon hearing Zen's calm and sure reply, Ray chuckled all of a sudden, strolling over to him. He told him, “Zen, it is not impossible for you to take Aura away!”
'It is not impossible?' mumbled Aura. She was shocked by the prince's words. She was even doubting her ears right now.
In political conflicts of a royal family, attention was particularly paid to ruthless attack against opponents. Aura couldn't believe it at all that Ray was going to let go of her so easily.
So why had he said something like that? How could it have been possible for Zen to make Ray concede?
Ray nodded and continued with his gaze fixated on Aura, “But with one condition!”
Zen's face turned gloomy when he heard the words coming out of Ray's mouth. Without any thought at all, he could easily guess what condition this guy was going to propose.
Zen was able to figure out the condition, but Aura couldn't, and thus, she asked, “What condition?”
“My sister, I will allow you to leave the Shine Hall and be free if Zen agrees to join me!” Ray stated in a simple tone.
'What?' Aura grumbled. Ray's condition astounded Aura, who mumbled deep in her mind, 'Hasn't Zen thrown himself into Ray's lap already? Are they play-acting? Why is he saying that he will free me if Zen joins him? What on earth is going on?' Aura was totally confused. She was lost in her complex thoughts and couldn't clear up her mind.
Of course, Ray turned a blind eye to the fact that Aura was deeply indulging in her own wild thoughts. He had his own viewpoints.
In fact, Ray believed that Aura was not critical for his cause. Perhaps she had developed some interpersonal relationships with the top seven noble clans, which might be helpful for the crown prince. However, right now, the top seven noble clans had already taken sides. The crown prince was just in name only and like a puppet. Thus, it was completely impossible to reverse the situation.
Therefore, it wouldn't matter at all even if Ray let Aura out. No problems would be caused further as long as the crown prince was still under his control.
However, it would be a great deal for Ray if Zen was willing to join him on the premise that he let go of Aura. Based on Zen's strengths, Ray would have a greater chance to gain support from Cloud Sect. If that really ended up happening as Ray had planned, it would be beyond doubt that he would win very soon.
However, Aura was not satisfied by Ray's condition at all. She stood there in bafflement for quite a long while. As she snapped out of her daze, she suddenly switched her gaze towards Zen and asked, “Zen, I still don't know your ranking in this All Peaks Competition. How did you score? How far did you go?”
The only thing that made sense to Aura was that Ray's condition might be associated with the All Peaks Competition, or else how could it be possible to exchange her freedom for Zen's loyalty! 'Unless... Zen has made some amazing achievements in the All Peaks Competition. His achievements were so amazing that Ray feels satisfied with his fighting tactics, ' Aura guessed.
'But it would mean nothing for Ray at all even Zen has been ranked among top 100. Did Zen manage to land in the top 50?' No, wait! That was not enough for Ray to pay so much attention to Zen. If Zen had been put in the list of top 20, there was a small likelihood that Ray would speak highly of Zen's tactics, but it was still impossible for Ray to let Aura go just because of that rank. Did Zen win one of the top ten places? Or top five? Or top three? Aura's guesses kept on inching closer, even though
she herself felt that her guesses were rather ridiculous. Since all her guesses were absurd, she had no choice but to ask Zen.
However, contrary to all of her expectations, Zen touched his head and responded gently, “Master Su, I won the first place!”
“The first place...”
Aura's voice faltered before she could finish her sentence. Perhaps she was the last one to have come to know about this and also the one that was the most shocked to hear the news.
After all, she had always been the one to show the greatest concerns for Zen. In addition, she had been placing the greatest hope on Zen for getting good results. And even if she hadn't been, she was Zen's master.
Regretfully, she had been put under house arrest inside the Shine Hall and couldn't receive any news of the outside world. As a result, she could only guess and infer in her mind whenever she thought about how well Zen would be able to perform in the All Peaks Competition.
But upon hearing her question, Zen had immediately replied to her that he had won the first place. Although he had responded in a low voice, Aura felt as if a streak of lightning had flashed across her brain and hit her. It was evident how sensational that piece of news was for her.
Aura was sure that it was impossible for Zen to lie to her, but the news was really unbelievable, since she hadn't seen the announcement made by the Cloud Sect, and hadn't personally looked at the list of rankings released by the Cloud Sect or witnessed the fight.
Zen's strengths seemed to have been improved and reached the third grade of nature level. Aura could easily detect all these improvements and changes in Zen. But what if Zen had reached the third grade of nature level? How could he have battled with the top disciples of all thirty three peaks? How could he have fought and won the disciples who had directly learned skills from elders and saints?
In spite of her great doubt, Aura could do nothing but believe in the news. Only when she believed could she understand why Ray had put forward such a condition to set her free.
Thinking from Ray's standpoint, Aura confirmed that she would surely make the same choice as Ray had if Zen had really won the first place among all disciples of Cloud Sect.
In fact, Zen's words had been proven true by what Ray had stated.
When she had been feeling rather bored in the Shine Hall, Aura had calculated that perhaps Zen would have been able to climb onto the list of top 100 contestants. But which place could he exactly win? Top 90? Or top 80? Aura was even not sure how many times she had made guesses about that. Now, she had realized that she had never guessed right.
'Is Zen's great achievement in the All Peaks Competition enough for arousing great concerns of Kenneth Shi?
Can Zen take me away from here since he has come to the Burning Sky Palace?'
As Aura was overwrought by different questions, her heart was beating very fast. She could even hear her own heartbeat.
On the other side, Zen turned around towards Ray and replied, “Your Highness, I have already told you very clearly that I will not take any sides in this battle!”
Ray seemed to have expected this answer from Zen's mouth and questioned calmly in response, “Then, Zen Luo, do you think that you can take the princess away without giving anything in return?”
As if Zen had discerned the threats in Ray's words, he unsheathed his long Streamer Sword. “Shiiiiing”. The sound of Zen's sword being drawn from a sheath was heard clearly across the hall. Then, he declared sternly, “I never thought of taking Aura away without a fight. Since your highness seems to consider that I won't be able to make it, I would like to prove it!”
Hearing that Zen was calling her name so intimately, Aura throbbed a little and some unusual feelings crept into her mind. 'Didn't this guy always call me Master Su? Now, why is he calling me by my name directly?' she thought to herself.
Zen carried his sword in one hand, walked over towards Aura and took her by her hand. Then, he said, “Let's go!”
It would have been rather offensive to directly hold the princess' hand, but for some reason, Aura didn't seem to have any aversion towards it. Instead, she followed closely behind Zen.
But when they had just taken two steps, an old man stopped them near the entrance of the Feathery Star Hall. This old man was not tall, but his nose was sharp and aquiline. He looked deadly ferocious, and some domineering pressure could be felt from his very posture.
“Zen, I really admire you. But my admiration can't be the excuse for you to look down upon me. You were able to challenge masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm dependent upon your strengths as a nature creature. And today, all those guests present in this banquet are no match for you. In spite of this, do you think that you can take her away safely?” Ray said, spreading out his hands.
“Ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm?” Zen asked, his eyebrows knitting as he stared at the old man.
Standing at the entrance emotionless like a robot, the old man was still blocking their way. He was a master at the ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm, so even other masters present in the great hall had a strong sense of oppression from him even though he was just standing there. It was almost as if he could kill them just by his looks. As this old man firmly gazed at him, Zen felt beads of sweat transpiring on his back.
It had been a long period of time since he felt such a strong sense of oppression last time.
“Ray, do you dare to try and kill me?” Zen asked coldly.
Ray shook his head very calmly and responded, “To be honest, I do not. Now, you are ranked Number One in Cloud Sect. How would I be able to explain it to Kenneth if I kill you?”
“Since you dare not, then why do you... try to stop me today?” As Zen was saying that, he turned back and moved forward with a flick of his sword. Immediately, the energy of the Phoenix Crystal on his right arm fully emancipated by itself. In the meantime, all dragon scales inside his body lit up, as he had almost exerted all his strengths!
Evan hadn't stepped into the ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm yet, but Zen had been only capable of battling him in terms of sword play. Although this old man's gift and even his foundation were not as awesome as Evan's, he was not weak. Zen significantly lagged behind this old man in terms of cultivation levels.
To confront with such a strong master, Zen had no choice but to adopt his mightiest tactic.