Chapter 328: Two Pupils
Doug's spiral attack only lasted for one second before Zen smashed it with one punch that ended the fight.
Their sparring in this kind of occasion didn't need to be brutal. The winner would be decided when he prevailed over his rival, and Zen was showing overwhelming superiority now.
Though he was defeated, Doug was sincerely convinced that Zen possessed great power. His eyes were filled with reverence as he stared at Zen.
Zen hadn't used any weapon or any life vitality during the fight, and he hadn't even moved a step from his original position. With that, Doug was convinced that Zen's real strength was unfathomable.
Despite his frustration, Doug felt a yearning for the Cloud Sect. He was a newcomer to the Illuminating Soul Realm, and he thought he could still join in the Cloud Sect if he became stronger.
But he didn't know that a talent like Zen was quite rare to see in the Cloud Sect.
In the competition from three years ago, the only talent who had attracted much attention was Evan. This year, Cloud Sect was fortunate enough to witness several talents in the All Peaks Competition.
Rocher, Patrick, and Zen were some of the talents from this year's All Peaks Competition.
“Please forgive me, Your Highness. I let you down. I was defeated in this challenge,” Doug turned to Ray and said respectfully with cupped hands.
Ray nodded and said, “Don't mind it, Doug. A talent like Zen is rare to see even in a thousand years, so it's not a shame to be defeated by him.”
'In a thousand years? Is it just an exaggeration?' many people thought to themselves, doubtful about Ray's words. After all, there were millions of people who could be born into the Eastern Region in one thousand years and it was not possible that only one of them could be this gifted.
Although Zen had defeated Doug quite easily, there were still many cultivators at Ray's disposal who were much stronger than Doug that felt ill-affected.
“Your Highness, please allow me to fight with him!” a man called Perry Song stood up and offered to fight Zen after Doug returned to his seat. This was a strapping, intimidating man who looked like a vicious bandit with a black patch over his left eye. Zen couldn't tell whether it was just an ornament or was to cover a blind eye.
“Do as you wish,” Ray nodded in approval. He then looked at Zen.
As far as Ray was concerned, everything in this world had a price and could be bought.
He was aware that Zen showed antipathy towards him and wasn't willing to join his camp.
Nonetheless, he believed that Zen would change his mind if he could provide the latter with enough benefits. Zen was undoubtedly a great talent, yet he still needed many resources to strengthen himself before he became powerful enough.
The Cloud Sect might do its utmost to satisfy Zen's needs, yet a refiner would always try to get as many resources as possible. And Ray planned to use this fact to draw Zen over to his side.
Ray had taken part in the competition for the throne with his control over a great number of resources. Even the crown prince would seem poor in comparison with him. And Conn, the seventh prince, possessed far fewer resources compared to Ray.
'Zen, show me what your real strength is now. The stronger you are, the more I will consider offering you, ' Ray thought to himself.
The ferocious look on Perry's face twitched as he stood in front of Zen. He took out a saber from the sheath hanging on his waist. It was a black saber which appeared to be extraordinary.
“Hey, young man! You have managed to hog the limelight with your strong body, right? Can you defend yourself merely with your body from my saber?” Perry asked with a cold sneer.
“No,” Zen said emotionlessly as he shook his head. Even though his body was already a top-grade spiritual weapon, he wouldn't just stand there and get slashed like an idiot for no reason.
His brief, unexpected reply left Perry dumbfounded.
“Then show your real strength in front of me now!” With that, Perry jumped into the air and slashed the black saber at Zen with unstoppable momentum.
“Earth-breaking Slash!”
Facing Perry's aggressive attack, Zen showed no intention of dodging it at all. With his feet standing firmly at his original position, he took out his Streamer Sword. With his arm against his chest, he turned his palm outwards and lifted the sword over his head horizontally.
“The Basic Swordsmanship, Raise Sword!”
This was the skill in the Basic Swordsmanship which could be used to defend and to reverse the attack at the same time.
Zen didn't use this sword skill when he fought with Evan in the past because it was half defensive and half offensive. It was used to fend off the rival's sword while returning with a slash. Evan's Falling Flowers Sword attack was too quick. Even though Zen could defend one attack from him, he could barely catch up with the succeeding attacks.
But Perry's case was different. Obviously, Perry's attack pattern was violent yet simple. Although it looked overwhelming and powerful, it had no flexibility at all and could only beat the enemy with one attack at full strength.
“You want to defend my black saber with this slender sword? You're nuts! You'll surely be defeated this time!” Seeing Zen used the Raise Sword of the Basic Swordsmanship, Perry hesitated for a second whether he should exert all his strength or not. If Zen couldn't defend his attack, it was very likely that his saber would cut Zen's sword in half and then his body.
However, when he saw the aloof look on Zen's face, instead of reducing his strength, he added more power into his hands. There was a violent and savage aura surrounding him, and it seemed as if he would really break the earth with this slash.
“Bang!”
With a loud bump, Perry's saber knocked heavily on Zen's sword but didn't cut it broken as he expected. His violent attack had no influence on either Zen or his sword. Unexpectedly, Zen pushed Perry's saber away with a spinning of his body and then quickly pushed his sword towards Perry.
Perry was taken aback by Zen's counterattack. Contrary to his expectation, Zen had such great power that he not only fended off his attack but also returned him with one stab. Perry wondered, 'How is it possible that he defuses my attack so easily with the Basic Swordsmanship?'
In desperation, Perry tumbled to a side hurriedly to avoid Zen's sword. His swarthy face turned pale as he got up from the ground.
'Why is the Basic Swordsmanship so powerful in his hand?'
At that moment, Perry couldn't help but doubt whether all the years he had spent on his saber were wasted. If it wasn't the case, he couldn't understand why Zen could defend his attack so easily with the Basic Swordsmanship.
Ray suddenly clapped his hands at his seat.
He praised, “I have heard the story that you defeated Evan merely with the Basic Swordsmanship. To be honest, I had high doubts about it when I first heard it. But now, seeing it with my own eyes, I know it's true. I really appreciate your simple way of using the sword!”
Many sword refiners who were present also nodded in agreement. There was something special about Zen's Basic Swordsmanship. Everyone had learned about the Basic Swordsmanship as a required course, but no one would dare to employ it in a fight. Maybe Zen was the only one in this world who had done that.
Though being praised by Ray, Zen still had no expression on his face. He stood still where he was and never moved one step.
As for Perry, it was hard for him to accept the fact that his “Earth-breaking Slash” was fended off by Zen's “Raise Sword” so easily. Perry was a very righteous man, but one of his shortcomings was that he was usually too proud to admit failure and today was quite a big failure especially in front of a large audience.
He fell silent for a while. Gritting his teeth tightly, he eventually lifted his hand and took off the black patch covering his left eye.
It was the first time that Perry would take off his patch in front of other people, the followers of Ray. Most people had thought that it was a blind eye, so they never asked about it to avoid irritating Perry. However, to their surprise, Perry's left eye was in good health. There was only one odd thing about it.
“Two pupils!” some called out in astonishment.
There were two pupils in Perry's left eye, and it looked weird.
It was also the first time for Zen to see a man with two pupils in one eye. Two pupils–where one pupil appeared larger than the other.
It was said that a man with two pupils in one eye could see through his enemies and find out their weaknesses.
But it was hard to say whether the rumor was real or not because people with two pupils in one eye was rarely seen by others. But since Perry showed his eye in this circumstance, it must have some special functions.
Zen held his sword tightly in his hand but remained extremely calm. He didn't think it as a bad thing if Perry could really find out his weakness because it would help him know better about himself.
Perry's left eye narrowed a bit before radiating a ray of faint light which shot towards Zen and covered the latter's body.
It was true that Perry's two pupils could help him find out his enemies' weaknesses. The only downside of this function was that it would cause a severe headache for many days after he used it. That was because it required a powerful soul while Perry had no means of strengthening his soul.
For that troublesome reason, Perry never used it under normal circumstances.
But today was different because he didn't want to suffer from a dismal failure in front of Zen. He had lost his face because of Zen, and he wanted to earn his reputation back.
However, he didn't expect what he saw as he glanced through Zen's body with his left eye. He was totally stunned. 'What on earth has happened to this young man?' he wondered.