Chapter 364: Space Teleportation
In the past, Zen didn't absorb all the heavenly essence because he had already decided to sell the rest of these to accumulate more cubic crystals.
When he was in the Eastern Region, his strength from more than a hundred dragon scales was already sufficient to fight off the few opponents matched against him. He could easily beat his foe whether he was of the same level as Zen or if he was a master of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
But at the moment, this strength seemed inadequate for fighting off the puppet. Zen wished he had some idea about the puppet's combat style earlier so he could have absorbed more heavenly essence. If it were only possible to light five hundred dragon scales now, or even more, he would be able to tear the puppet into pieces by hand.
However, each time Zen thought about his physical strength, he almost always forgot certain considerations.
Because of the tremendous strength of dragon scales, the young disciple needed to consider how much of it his body could bear. If his body was unable to withstand the power of five hundred dragon scales, he might be torn apart before he could tear his opponent into pieces.
Although his body as a spiritual weapon was extremely strong, there was the danger it could collapse if there was too much power in it.
Coming back down to earth, Zen couldn't break away from the puppet's claws now, but he noticed one detail about the puppet.
It seemed to be fixing itself with only two sharp blades on its feet, which meant that it wouldn't be easy for the puppet to stand firmly and keep itself from falling.
Looking at the awl as it inched closer to his heart, Zen moved backward with all his strength, and the puppet suddenly began to sway. Then he leaned slightly towards the puppet with a swaying angle, which forced his opponent to pull the two sharp blades on its feet out from the stone platform to balance its body!
Suddenly, the harsh sound of blades rubbing at the stone platform assaulted Zen's senses.
Grabbing Zen's hands, the puppet retreated a few steps and reeled right and left as it took each step, while the sharp blades in its feet bored holes one after another into the stone platform.
Standing firmly on the blades was awkward for the puppet, and Zen's intense struggling to escape made it shake even more violently.
As the puppet kept on retreating, Zen was getting closer and closer to the silver treasure box, and as soon as he touched this, the combat would be over. And it seemed he was very close to succeeding.
What happened next took Zen completely by surprise. When the puppet couldn't hold its balance as it continued to retreat, a long hook suddenly darted out from near its foot and shot straight into the platform. Aside from the hook, there were two spikes at its end that were firmly embedded on the stone platform.
“Dang it! Its...”
Flustered, Zen couldn't help but let out expletives.
When an opponent was so powerful that he couldn't win by strength alone, Zen could only turn to his ingenuity. But under the present circumstances, it was difficult for him to make use of creativity. And the last thing he expected was for the puppet to quickly figure out a way to deal with the situation.
'This puppet is very smart!
Does it have inherent wisdom?' Zen wondered. 'Or, is there a human soul behind it?'
The young disciple remembered a servant named Saul in the fairy palace. He was also a puppet but with a living soul in him. More significant was the fact that Saul made three puppets and implanted these with human souls when he was grounded in the fairy palace for a long time.
Since the technology for implanting human souls into puppets existed in the fairy palace, Zen thought it might also be in use in Cloud Road.
But at this time, it made no difference to Zen even if he figured out that there was a human soul in this puppet. After regaining its balance, the puppet's awl began to buzz again and headed straight into Zen's chest.
“How can I avoid this awl?” Zen murmured. His brows furrowed tightly as he thought of his predicament.
During critical moments, such as life and death situations, keeping calm was necessary because only a clear mind would recognize opportunities that opened in an instant.
So, Zen took a deep breath to keep himself calm. He knew that death would come faster to those who panicked.
There was a glimmer of hope when Zen took advantage of the puppet's temporary instability and pushed it several steps away. But the audience was disheartened once the puppet was able to position itself securely on the platform. At that moment, they thought the young disciple would be dead soon.
There was no possibility of escape for Zen when the puppet firmly locked him on the stone platform. Everyone who watched couldn't figure out what else Zen could do to escape the puppet.
All of a sudden, Zen caught a glimpse of a black line not far from his right hand.
These black lines were visible everywhere in the broken space of Cloud Road. The Cloud Road had begun to shatter, and this space was no longer as solid as the world. Also, several flaws were becoming evident.
In time, these space flaws would eventually become space cracks after thousands of years, and by then, the Cloud Road would likely fall apart and break into pieces.
However, Zen was unaware that these black lines were the weakness of space, nor did he know of the space flaws.
What he did know was that by using these lines, he could perform an act of teleportation.
Before he stepped foot on Cloud Road, Zen had been able to comprehend some of the Space Law, so he could see the black lines and tried moving along these lines. He knew that he was not technically moving then but was teleporting himself with the help of these lines.
Teleportation using the space rules referred to the act of disappearing from one place then appearing in another location almost instantly.
And when Zen moved using these lines, he was actually teleporting through space. He was thrilled by the fact that it took him almost no time to move from the front of the line to the end.
And as excited as Zen was with this magical way of moving, he thought it was not practical at the moment. The main reason for this was because he had to rely on these black lines if he wanted to teleport. However, the black lines were not long enough to allow him to move far away. The longest black line was only dozens of feet long, while the shortest only measured a few inches.
The length of the black line in front of Zen was only one foot, although this would be sufficient for him to escape the puppet's claws.
With four sharp claws firmly gripping Zen's wrists and ankles, it was fortunate that he still had a little room to move. But at that moment, there was hardly time to think of other ways to escape because the awl was less than half a foot away from his heart. If the pointed tool pierced his heart and crushed it, Zen's strength would hardly matter because he was sure to die.
Once again, Zen gathered all his strength and unexpectedly stretched out his hand, although it was not enough to reach the black line. There remained a considerable gap between the tips of his fingers and the black line.
“Only two inches away!”
“Come on, you're almost there!”
By now, the awl was almost on Zen's chest, and its tip had already pierced his skin. Zen felt the power of the tool's constant rotation and penetration.
“Come on! I can do this!” Zen gnashed his teeth as he pushed himself.
He was straining so hard to hold out his finger so it would finally reach the black line.
The moment Zen touched the black line, his body stretched out and dissolved into thousands of tiny shapes that traveled along with the black line. Finally, he was free of the puppet's claws.
The four claws used by the puppet to catch Zen all ended up empty as if Zen vanished into thin air.
What indeed happened was Zen successfully teleported himself by using the Space Law that he learned.
And while he didn't teleport to a long distance but only two feet away, he had escaped the puppet's claws!
The puppet was so stunned to see what had just happened that it was rooted to its spot and forgot to attack Zen.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zen rushed to the silver treasure box without a moment's hesitation. As soon as his hand touched the box, the metallic luster, which made the puppet's structure shimmer, faded slowly.
Instantly, the rasping sound of blades rubbing against the stone platform was heard again.
The puppet retracted the hook, so its body returned to its original form, and went back to the cave. But as it reentered the cave, the puppet seemed to turn around and gave Zen a last look.
Placing his hand on the silver treasure box, Zen smiled at the puppet and asked, “You are in the puppet, aren't you?”
At the question, the sound of blades rubbing the stone platform suddenly stopped.
And the puppet halted all of a sudden and stood still.
“I know you're in this puppet. If you have any way to release yourself from the puppet, I can help you, as long as you tell me what I can do for you,” Zen continued.
After a few seconds, the puppet started to move again and walked towards its cave.
As long as a human soul remained implanted into a puppet, that person would become indestructible and even immortal. And while it sounded good, it wasn't all that great. After all, living in a puppet was a terrible experience for human beings. At that time, death wasn't what the human soul feared anymore. Instead, what was more dreadful for them was being alive.
What came to mind was Saul. Zen remembered how excited Saul was to see him when he got into the fairy palace. The disciple eventually learned from Saul that living as a puppet for tens of millions of years was terrible! So Zen was quite aware of the horrors of living as a puppet.
And this made him think that the soul inside this puppet could be having a problem similar to Saul's. Unfortunately, it seemed that this puppet was only programmed to kill, but not communicate with Zen. If indeed there was a human soul inside the puppet, it should be able to communicate with others, unless the soul was also sealed.
“Hahaha!” Kenneth broke into laughter. He was standing beneath an arch at the entrance of Cloud Road, shaking in laughter.
Joining him in laughter was Fernandez, who shook his head at the same time. “Unbelievable! Unbelievable! There is always a way out! As soon as he got into the space, Zen had the ability to find these black lines, so he was able to save his life now by taking advantage of it. It's amazing!”
“Zen is one lucky boy! Imagine being able to escape the puppet's clutches!” Kenneth excitedly declared. Just a few seconds ago, he believed that Zen would certainly meet his end this time. He didn't expect there to be a space flaw for the young warrior to use. It was fortunate that Zen had mentally grasped the Space Law and managed to escape from the puppet when he took advantage of this knowledge.