THE MARTIAL KING - Season 6 Episode 85

The two of them kept on doing that repeatedly, and as a result, the demonic life vitality surrounding Zen was gradually getting bigger and bigger.

Even though the volume of the demonic life vitality which they transformed this time paled in comparison to the previous one that was made by swallowing up the Dark Devil Phantoms in the small world of the Death Road, it could be said that it was still rather massive.

As all of that was happening, the fiery dragon became much, much more agitated, and its striking power just got even more aggressive. She quickly caught on that she couldn’t afford to get distracted any longer, so Tia decided to focus on the battle between her ice phoenix and the fiery dragon spirit.

“Go now, quickly! Smash the enchanted barrier into smithereens. I pray that you succeed!” Tia wished Zen luck with a voice filled with anticipation.

During her last attempt to do it, she had failed miserably. As she was trying to break the enchanted barrier, the fiery dragon spirit suddenly appeared to throw her into disarray. She brought Zen with her this time as she couldn’t handle it alone. She was determined to succeed with his help.

Zen stretched out his hands upward and went about condensing the demonic life vitality.

The tremendous force that was going to be transmitted by such a rich life vitality should be quite massive. With its help, Zen’s power had the potential of becoming stronger than even those of the masters at higher levels of the Illuminating Soul Realm, and it might also achieve the strength of those at the lower levels of Internal Elixir Realm.

If he got supplied with enough life vitality continuously, the power resulting from it could last for an indefinite amount of time and be enhanced.

Of course, that was what you’d call the ideal state, or at least it was, in theory. This was something that wouldn’t really be practical to use in an actual combat though, because rarely would anyone be able to get an opportunity to siphon life vitality from another person, and then there was also the lengthy period of time one would need to spend during the process. And no opponent would ever be foolish enough to just sit back and relax as you prepared for your attack.

Nevertheless, that option just so happened to be the perfect one for them to take for the situation they were currently in.

Zen was under the assumption that Tia must be quite familiar with how the demonic life vitality worked. His demonic life vitality had been condensed to the extreme, that even the star lights he had been carrying with him got compressed into sparkling diamonds.

“Break it this instant!” Gathering up all of his strength into his arm, Zen darted toward the enchanted barrier as fast as he could.

Witnessing this much awaited moment, Tia’s heart was pounding like a drum and her breathing pattern had been thrown off due to so much anticipation. This was the moment she had been waiting for. It was a matter of utmost importance in order for her to be the one to inherit the treasures of the sixth-grade sect.

But Zen’s movements suddenly came to a halt while he was still in mid-air.

“What’s the matter? Why did you stop all of a sudden?” With her eyebrows deeply furrowed, Tia questioned him.

“There’s something I’ve almost forgotten about,” Zen replied, appearing to be a bit concerned.

“And what might that be?” Tia pried further, raising her voice. The abrupt change in her mental state caused the form of the ice phoenix to go unstable and start shaking all over. She just didn’t have the time to deal with any other problems at such a crucial moment.

“What if you still decide to kill me once I finally get the key for you?” Zen wanted to make sure with a serious tone.

“You…” There was an instantaneous change in Tia’s facial expression. She was visibly quite agitated.

However, the question Zen asked was a reasonable one. The warriors’ world was well-known for its cruelty. You could kill someone for even just a small gain and still no one would even bat an eye, it was nothing out of the usual. What was more, this was a crystal she wanted to get a hold of to acquire the inheritance of a sixth-grade sect, something that the cultivators of Central Region would dream to get their hands on?

It wouldn’t be surprising if Tia tried to kill Zen when she finally got the key. In her eyes, that could be the best course of action to take since dead men told no tales.

Zen was just going along with whatever she said, but he was in no way a mere fool, he was far from that. There was no logical reason for him to easily trust a stranger.

“You don’t have to worry about that, I won’t kill you. I can even give you something in return to make it worth your while, because I am…” Tia stopped in her tracks before she could finish what she was trying to say, a hint of skepticism appeared on her face.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what it is that you’re offering to give me. You have enough reasons to kill me, so it wouldn’t be able to guarantee my safety, unless you swear with the will of martial arts,” Zen insisted.

No one in their right mind would just carelessly swear with the will of martial arts unless it was a matter of utmost importance.

Swearing with the will of martial arts was even more powerful compared to swearing to God. An oath, pledge, promise, swear, vow or whatever it was that one might refer to it as, God had no interest in such nonsense.

But once a warrior had sworn with the will of martial arts, an inner demon would manifest in his heart. If the oath got broken for whatever reason, he could end up being devoured by his inner demon one day. Even if he could somehow manage to hold back the power of the inner demon, it would make it quite difficult for the warrior to improve and attain any further progress in martial arts in the long run.

For that very reason, the thought of mindlessly swearing with the will of martial arts scared a lot of warriors because it could very well bring ruin unto themselves.

“Who do you think you are? Do you see yourself as someone qualified to make me swear to the will of martial arts?”

Tia’s glare was fixated on Zen, jeering at him coldly. Who would’ve thought he’d be able to come up with such an atrocious idea?

“Well then, does that mean you don’t need me to break down the enchanted barrier anymore?” Zen heaved a heavy sigh.

“How dare you say that to me?” Tia yelled at him out of frustration.

Shrugging his shoulders to annoy her even further, Zen blurted out in a cold tone, “There is nothing I wouldn’t dare do.”

He was aware that he could stay safe inside the flood dragon puppet’s body for as long as he didn’t do things so hastily. ‘I shouldn’t be wasting my time here with her. It would be better for me to just look for a way out and leave as soon as possible, ‘ he pondered.

Upon noticing that Zen was planning to leave, while still having to deal with the fiery dragon spirit, Tia was thrown into a state of confusion in a blink of an eye. The goal was already within reach, but there was always something that could go wrong along the way.

Just a second after watching Zen take a few steps away, Tia clenched her jaw and declared, “Okay, you win this time. You said your name was Zen, right? Now that I remember your name, I will make sure you’ll regret this. But now, you can rest easy. I promise that I won’t kill you. I swear this to the will of martial arts!”