THE MARTIAL KING - Season 7 Episode 4

Fernandez looked at Zen and pondered for a while. He took a deep breath, then he said, “Zen, I will respect your decision to honor your oath and I won’t force you to tell. But I must ask, who is the disciple who dragged you down that flood dragon’s mouth? Is he really a Cloud Hall disciple?”

Zen knew that it was imperative that he told Elder Fernandez about the identity of the said disciple because it concerned the safety of the whole Cloud Hall.

“He said that he was from Cloud Hall and I believe it. But as to his real identity, I’m afraid he didn’t tell much,” Zen said as he shook his head.

Fernandez sighed and said, “You know that the Cloud Road is the place where our elite disciples are tested and selected. But I also believe that everyone has his own secret, and we must respect it. I will drop this matter, for the time being, Zen. But I hope you can give us an answer in the future.”

Zen nodded and smiled. He was relieved that Elder Fernandez didn’t push more about the issue for the time being. As he stepped aside, he swiped a look at Frank.

Frank was dismayed. He saw the proud look at Zen’s face as Elder Fernandez politely dismissed the issue. Frank felt indignant seeing that Zen got away with it easily.

But what Frank didn’t know was that Zen was now Elder Fernandez’s apple of the eye. After the Cloud Road test, Zen’s future potentials and importance had already surpassed Frank’s. With this, Fernandez was unwilling to offend Zen by pushing him to tell the truth. For Fernandez, there was a time for everything, and that matter was none of his business for now. Moreover, now that Zen was a Cloud Hall elite, Elder Fernandez wanted to be on his good side.

Elder Fernandez’s words were final. The topic was finally put aside for the moment, and no one would know what really happened to Zen inside the flood dragon.

After everyone had settled, the disciples stood behind their leaders and waited for the rest of the disciples to get back from the Cloud Road.

After a few hours, a dark figure suddenly flashed from a distant ruin. With its speed, no one could tell who it was.

Fernandez nodded when he saw the dark figure. He smiled and said, “Well, this is a surprise. I didn’t expect Emanuel to come anyway.”

Upon hearing it, Frank looked carefully. When he finally recognized who the dark figure was, he shouted, “Father!”

Judging from his restrained imposing manner, it was hard to tell how strong he was. But it was safe to assume that he was at the same level as Elder Fernandez.

“Fernandez!” As he arrived, Emanuel made a fist-and-palm salute to Fernandez. The latter immediately returned the salutation.

Other leaders also acknowledged the presence of Emanuel and made their salutations, “Master Zhuo!”

“I’m glad to be here, everyone,” Emanuel gave them a slight nod. Then he immediately turned to his son and asked, “Frank, how was the trial? Tell me, what place are you in this time?”

Before he could even greet his father, Frank’s face turned clouded upon hearing the question. He could not afford to look at his father as he said, “I only take the third place.”

“What? Did I hear it right?” Emanuel was surprised knowing that his son only made it to the third place. For so many years, Frank had always made it to the first place, and Emanuel was never expecting any less from his son.

Frank was born into a wealthy family. Everything was specially supplied to his family. They even had the red rice called dragon blood rice which contained vital energy which if you had eaten for ten years, its benefits would show up.

The dragon blood rice was so expensive that it was impossible even for the emperor from the Burning Sky Palace in the Eastern Region to eat it in every meal.

But Frank always had dragon blood rice in every meal. It was common for their family.

Frank had all the best things in life–from the rice and other food, to the cultivation methods, and the people who taught him. It could be said that Frank had lived an abundant life from the day he was born.

Emanuel had poured all his heart into his son. He made sure that Frank would get all the best things to help him become better. And Frank, in return, had not disappointed him. He had inherited Emanuel’s talent in learning the consummate spear intent.

With such excellent cultivation base, it was expected that Frank would always win the first place. He did for the past years. But something unexpected happened this year, and Frank had finally had the bitter taste of failure for the first time in his life.

Emanuel was quite concerned about this year’s trial at the very beginning. However, with his busy schedule, he couldn’t arrive in time. But as soon as he got things done, he rushed here to hear the good news from his son. He could even taste the pride of being the father of the most elite Cloud Hall disciple and could not wait to see that envy in each sect leader’s eyes. But to his dismay, his son only made it to third place.

Emanuel was rather disappointed. It was as if cold water was poured on his head when Frank told him the bad news.
He was confused at that time. He couldn’t think of any other disciple who could outshine his son if that kind of disciple ever existed in this lifetime.

Could it be Lennon from the South Wang-Zhao Family? But how was it possible? No one in the Cloud Hall could outperform Frank. Even if they tried their best to improve, Frank was still way ahead of them. How could any disciple from those second-level sects have such strength?

“Tell me, who made it to first place?” Emanuel asked.

Frank pointed to Zen who was standing not so far away from them.

Emanuel looked at the direction his son was pointing at. He was expecting someone at his same level. But to his further dismay, it was only a disciple at the fourth grade of nature level and his name was Zen.

Watching from his position, Fernandez sensed that something bad was about to happen. He knew Emanuel’s temper and that the latter was not a magnanimous person to allow others to outperform Frank. Fernandez was worried that Emanuel might try to embarrass Zen.

Kenneth had also noticed that, but as a steward of Cloud Hall, he had no say in Emanuel’s presence. He had only hoped that Fernandez would intervene in time.
Then Frank whispered something to Emanuel, then everyone saw a subtle smile crossed Emanuel’s face. He then made his way towards Zen with that smile on his face.

He could still not believe that the disciple who outranked his son was only with the fourth grade of nature level. It was the most ridiculous thing he had heard so far in his life. With what Frank had told him about the trial, Emanuel was now pretty sure that Zen won the first place with just mere luck.

“So, Frank told me that your name is Zen. Is that right? I owe you congratulations on winning the first prize. Now that you have become one of the elites of Cloud Hall, we will focus on training you,” Emanuel said. “But my son has told me something about the Cloud Road that concerns me. And I believe, for the sake of the Cloud Hall, you should explain to us everything that has happened during the test and how did you become the first one out of the Cloud Road.”