Chapter 402: The Fist
Zen's words ensued an uproar from the martial artists present.
They instantly exploded in irritated shouts like a busted warehouse full of gunpowder.
“Jerk! He is really as arrogant as he is said to be. I'm afraid he has forgotten who he is.”
“Go ahead! Let's tear this guy to pieces!”
“Yeah! Let's finish him off!”
More shouting had ensued as the disciples clamored for Zen's destruction. If looks could kill, he would be dead by now.
Even Fred wasn't pleased with Zen's words. His eyes scanned Zen up and down in an attempt to see through him. He felt something strange when he first met Zen, but he couldn't put it into words.
Morphens' strength was powerful enough to manipulate puppets as he wished since he reached the Fusion Realm. He could almost do anything he wanted. Even if Fred was at the consummation of the Illuminating Soul Realm, he could only smell out a rat in a suspicious situation but not know everything about it.
Footsteps echoed as Zen strode forward. He suddenly felt the energy threads being drawn out of his body for a moment, then he regained control again.
However, at that moment, he'd rather not have it. It meant that he had to face the group of elite disciples by himself. They were so livid that they wanted to finish him off now.
“Zen, I challenge you to a duel,” a disciple said. He was at the sixth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm. He stepped forward and faced Zen.
A light smile crossed Zen's lips as he tried to calm himself. He shook his head. “I will accept your challenge, but I want to make a rule,” he said.
“Haha! That's funny. Since you're so insolent, why do you still need a rule?”
“Aren't you an expert in martial arts? Even if we all fight together against you, we're no match for you. I believe you don't really need a rule. Do you?”
“Quiet down, let's hear what he has to say,” someone said.
With those words, the people calmed down. “I only accept three challenges each day, and I have the right to choose the challengers,” Zen said.
He came up with the idea just now. He didn't want to offend the elites of the Cloud Hall, but he knew Tia wouldn't stop until she got the results she wanted. Thus, he had to find a middle ground. If Tia and the elites refused, then he would rather stand there and let them beat him up to death.
“Are you joking? Didn't you say that you wanted to challenge all the disciples of the Elite House? Why did you say you would only pick three of us now?” one of the disciples was upset. “Just let it be. Anyway, is there any weak person in our Elite House?” another disciple asked.
The elites looked around the area to find their weakest member. “We shall just give him the right to make the choice. Let's see how powerful a nature creature could be,” another disciple urged. The rest of the disciples swelled in chorus. They thought that it was impossible for Zen to find an opponent he could match with.
After the crowd calmed down again, Zen looked around in silence. His eyes finally landed on one disciple. He held out a finger and pointed at the disciple who was at the fourth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm. All of the elites present were at high levels, and the one he chose might be the weakest.
“Haha! This guy has cleverly chosen his opponent. He chose Warren!”
“Warren, he picked you! Does he think you're a pushover?”
Meanwhile, Warren Shangguan's face darkened. He flexed his wrists and did some stretches to warm up. He looked at Zen defiantly and said, “Did you pick me because I'm only at the fourth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm? Did you think I'm a weakling?”
Zen only grinned at him and nodded. He actually didn't want to rock the boat, so he didn't choose the most powerful one of them. At that moment, he could only blame that wretched Tia. He mentally cursed her, but he couldn't tell the disciples the truth.
“Well, you've shown that you can choose wisely, but you will regret your decision. Even if I'm only at the fourth grade of Illuminating Soul Realm, I've killed people who are at higher levels than I. You can't turn back once you've taken a dark path,” Warren said. A grim smile appeared on his face after he finished his words.
“Let's cut the garbage and get down to business,” Zen simply said. He was tired of talking nonsense. He had no other choice, so he wanted to end the fight as soon as possible. He thought that Tia wouldn't let him die, and her real intention wasn't hard to guess: she just wanted to train him through a series of intense fights. However, her method was so harsh that it ruined Zen's reputation.
The elite disciples of Cloud Hall spared an open space for Zen and Warren. Then, they stood face to face in the middle of the open grounds.
Warren's weapon was a pair of metal gloves, which looked quite ordinary. He put them on and then stared at Zen. “What's your weapon?” he asked.
“This is enough,” Zen said and waved his fist.
“Haha!”
“He must be mad!”
“Warren has his own fists as his weapon because he's excellent in fist fighting techniques. Even people with weapons in their hands are no match for him. I can't believe someone dares to fight Warren with only his bare hands!”
Laughter erupted throughout the open space at Zen's words. Warren also laughed in disbelief and said, “I have to remind you that ever since I started learning martial arts, I have been using my gloves. They call me the Iron Hand, because my fists are very hard. Even if I do not wear gloves, they are comparable to the spiritual weapon.”
Zen just looked at him disapprovingly and pursed his lips. 'So what? My whole body is just a top-grade spiritual weapon, ' he thought. Of course, he didn't say such offensive words in public. He simply nodded and said, “I see, thanks for the heads-up.”
After Zen spoke, he still didn't draw out his sword. Angry as Warren was, he didn't bother to argue with him. He just wanted to send the guy to perdition as quickly as he could.
Warren Shangguan raised his fist, lowered his body, then charged like a dragon towards Zen. “By the way, once I've initiated a combat, I can't stop until the fight is over. So even if you're very weak, I won't pull my punches,” he said with a wicked smirk.
Upon finishing his words, he struck a vicious punch surrounded by bronze life vitality towards Zen.
“Take him down, Warren!”
“Warren, show him your Swelling Fist! Knock him out!”
“It seems that Zen's body is just as fragile as glass to Warren. It wouldn't be a problem for him to kill Zen in just one shot.”
The spectators chattered ceaselessly among themselves while Zen remained calm as ever. Ever since he knew about Eddie's real power and status, he kept telling himself that he must put in more effort if he wanted to improve his martial arts skills and save his sister. He must practice even a thousand times harder than the others.
Although Tia had a violent training approach, it was for his own good. She hoped that the variety of intense fights would harness his potential, so he could become stronger.
The opponents he would face in the future weren't just at the fourth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm, but at the ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm or Internal Elixir Realm. Maybe some of them would even be at other higher realms.
Thus, he practiced his cultivation day and night. Just a few days ago, dozens of dragon scales within him had woken up because he had absorbed some of the heavenly essence into his brain. Thus, the cyan dragon's scales gave him more strength and power.
However, he didn't wake too many dragon scales up. Each scale already had immense power on their own. Although Zen's body was like a spiritual weapon, it could only contain a limited amount of power. If he awakened too many dragon scales, his body wouldn't be able to handle it and he would probably die.
With his current power and superior flesh body, it wasn't impossible for him to fight Warren with only his bare hands.
“Swelling Fist!” Warren roared.
He finally used the much awaited fist fighting technique. His fist burst with a golden light as it instantly powered up.
“Come on! Blow him up to pieces!”
“Punch his head off!”
“Beat him to ribbons! Let's see if he still dares to be so arrogant in the future!”
Warren felt his morale getting boosted up by the crowd when suddenly, Zen's two hundred dragon scales lit up and flashed a bright light. All his muscles immediately swelled up which made him look stronger than ever. They bulked up so much that his veins popped out under his skin, and his body looked like it was about to burst.
At the same time, he quickly released the energy of the Phoenix Crystal from his right arm. Therefore, his blow had the maximum impact in both speed and strength.
“Heavenly Ogre Fist!” Zen roared as he shot out his fist.
“Bang!”
The fight between the two men now became a match of strength. Martial arts movements became irrelevant now as what mattered more were strength, speed, and the capacity to bear blows.
Warren and Zen hit each other's bodies at the same time. However, when their punches had landed, Warren looked fearful, while Zen just smirked.
Although Warren was called Iron Hand and his fist was on par with a spiritual weapon, it was still just a fist and his flesh body was only a bit stronger than the other cultivators. However, Zen was different. His whole body was a top-grade spiritual weapon, and he had three spiritual textures on his chest. Just one more advancement, and his body would become a fairy weapon. How could Warren compare to him?
When Warren's fist landed on Zen, he only backed a few steps because of the punch's impact. He then felt a gush of warmth that coursed throughout his body and flooded his belly. It brought him a lot of comforts.
On the other hand, Zen's fist powered by two hundred dragon scales had thrown Warren away.
Warren's massive body hit several elite disciples before it finally hit the wall. He had lost consciousness and lay in a heap in one corner.
A wave of silence suddenly filled the whole hall, as if there were not a single soul in it.