THE MARTIAL KING - Season 7 Episode 51

Zen felt power course through his veins. The legendary beast’s blood mingled with his own, his body flushing at the sudden surge of strength. He could feel his flesh stretch and tighten, like a wall trying to contain the energy threatening to burst forth from within.

It was a long time before his skin went back to its original complexion.

“Whew…” Zen heaved. Inside him, there was an unmistakable warm glow, as if every pore in his body was opening.

With the drop of genuine dragon blood in his vessels, Zen was, in a sense, a Dragon Lineage Human.

He came out of the practice room and was face-to-face with the old man once again, his age-wizened eyes boring into his. After a long look, his face broke into a calm smile and he remarked, “You look much better.” The old man took a step back and continued, “Now you are one of the Dragon Lineage Humans. Come with me!”

Following the old man’s steps, Zen walked past the building and saw the obelisks in the distance. Countless practitioners sat behind the stone pillar, their faces wrought in concentration, as if deciphering a puzzle.

They were some distance away from the obelisks, but Zen had sensed an aura of mystery about them.

“Those obelisks–” Zen had just opened his mouth, but was cut short by the old man.

He already knew what Zen was about to ask. “Those pillars that you see are obelisks of souls that contain the power of various Original Laws. Visualizing them enables one to grasp the old teachings more deeply.”

Zen gasped as he looked at the massive obelisks towering over them.

On Cloud Road, he had obtained a broken stone carving about the size of a palm. And yet, right here in front of him were so many obelisks, each one of them a thousand times larger than the stone carving, and they stood in glorious completion.

“In the process of grasping the old laws, you will have to put your soul on the obelisk of souls. It would grant you a deeper connection to spiritual energy, but a word of caution,” the old man paused, throwing a short but meaningful glance to Zen before continuing, “Do not take on too much. Otherwise, there will be irreparable damage to your soul. Such a short-sighted gain would be all for naught.”

Zen nodded in understanding. Then, he approached the obelisks and walked around, taking in their forms one at a time. Each of the huge pillars was hundreds of feet high, all of them shrouded in a gray, mysterious aura.

Zen marveled at the obelisks. No two were the same. Some of them emitted a scorching smell, and Zen recognized the inscriptions on one hard surface. It was the script of the Fire Law. The heat dissipated as he moved along to others.

This time, a freezing mist emanated from the obelisks. ‘These must be the Ice Laws, ‘ Zen thought to himself.

His heart was pounding as he continued to circle the obelisks, understanding dawning upon him. On these surfaces were recorded various Original Laws! The pillars stood over him in their grandiose strength, almost forbidding in their power.

These laws were the purest forms of intent. Zen’s sword intent, for instance, was an extension of the Metal Law. The Extreme Thunder Sword Intent, which Rocher had mastered, was the fusion of the sword intent and the Thunder Law.

The connections between intents and the Original Laws were deep and inherent. However, it was much easier to master intents after grasping Original Laws. After all, all kinds of intents sprung forth from these laws.

Eventually, Zen paused at a cyan obelisk. There was an uncanny feeling of familiarity that drew him to the pillar.

‘There is the power of space within this obelisk, ‘ Zen thought to himself, surprised even at his own certainty. When he first passed through the space windstorm, he was able to have a small grasp of the Space Law from it. Then, through the broken pieces of the space on the Cloud Road and the stone carving, he was able to understand even more, but his knowledge was fragmented, like small pieces hovering in his mind without him understanding where the different parts connected. Now, standing in front of the obelisk containing the Space Law, he was filled with desire to understand it fully. It was as if the obelisk was calling out to him. He could almost taste its power, and his body thrummed in anticipation.

Zen sat on the ground and closed his eyes in meditation, like the other practitioners in the field.

The old man of the Dragon Lineage Human had been watching him since he approached the obelisks and was surprised at his choice. ‘How interesting, ‘ he thought to himself. “The boy chose the obelisk that records the Space Law.

If time is king, space is ruler… The two laws are the most powerful among all the Original Laws, but they are also the most difficult to master. For this boy to choose this… He definitely has courage,” he spoke to himself.

Zen took a deep breath and focused. His senses were awake. He could feel the air on his skin, and the Earth vibrating under his feet. “Soul visualization is using the soul to touch the obelisk,” Zen said to himself calmly. Then, a thread of his soul came out of his body and stretched out like a wisp of smoke, gradually approaching the obelisk in front of him.

Once the strand touched the surface, his soul was suddenly pulled into the pillar.

“Huh?”

Zen was startled at the sudden happening. He was now attached to the obelisk as a simple soul.

Looking up, he saw that the souls of other practitioners were climbing up the obelisk. Some of them were already at the middle.

“It shouldn’t be too hard to climb the obelisk.” Without hesitation, Zen followed suit and started to climb.

The soul was weightless, so Zen speculated that it would not take much to reach the top. However, as he took a step upward, the inscriptions on the obelisk extended a repulsive force, as if trying to push him away.

“This must be from the Space Law! It is testing me,” Zen reckoned. “With my understanding of the Space Law, this would not be enough to push me away!” Steeling himself, Zen gripped the obelisk and slowly moved upward.

After scaling ten feet, he felt the force from the obelisk grow. Against its repulsive force, the slightest distraction would cost him and he would be pushed down.

Zen furrowed his brows, slowing his ascent. “I never thought it would be so difficult to climb the obelisk!” Zen gritted his teeth against the force, realizing that his earlier guess was definitely wrong.

Just then, a soul above him was pushed down. The moment the soul was pushed away, one of the practitioners sitting on the ground fell forward with a violent tremble. When he got up, there was a faint trace of blood on the corner of his mouth, and his face had a hollow look. It seemed that his soul was badly hurt.

“He must have forced himself too much. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up just like him.” Witnessing the cruel scene, Zen felt a small seed of fear growing in him.

However, he had never been someone who cowered, even in the face of cold terror. There was no way he would pass up the opportunity that many could only dream of.

Cautioning himself, he began to ponder on how to overcome the repulsion. If the force kept getting stronger, there was no way he could stay on the obelisk.

Just then, the lines on the obelisk caught his eye. He noticed that the haphazard lines seemed to be arranged in a regular pattern. His eyes flickered with realization. The obelisk and its inscription existed to be comprehended by a practitioner. Without proper understanding of the law, one would not be able to climb it.

With this newfound insight, Zen took another glance at the other souls. He watched as some stayed in their position, their eyes glued to the writings on the surface.

“I see now,” Zen nodded slightly. He was no longer in a hurry to climb. Taking his time to observe the obelisk, he was soon immersed in its dense lines.

Zen began to meditate, and his mind was freed from all thought. At that moment, all that remained was only his soul and the intricate lines of the pillar. At this point, he heard the cyan dragon’s voice echo in his mind. “This boy… He truly possesses remarkable understanding.”

A dragon of his stature was rarely in awe of anything, but he couldn’t help but admire Zen’s persistence.

The Space Law flooded Zen’s mind as he focused on the mysterious lines, trying to disentangle the string of words and symbols as they filled him.

Five minutes passed… Then ten… Then fifteen…

Zen’s soul had been lying motionless on the obelisk, trying to grasp the law in it. After what seemed to be an eternity, Zen sensed the gradual waning of the repulsive force from the obelisk.

“I was right!” He said to himself. “The deeper the understanding of the laws, the higher a soul can climb,” Zen concluded.

By the time Zen almost fully comprehended the Space Law, he could barely feel the obelisk’s repulsion.

“Now!”

Feeling much lighter, Zen started to climb up again! This time he picked up his pace, climbing up fifty or sixty feet at a stretch.

Along the way, he passed the souls of many other practitioners.

One of them was at the Internal Elixir Realm, and he relied on his understanding of the Space Law to resist the repulsive force. When he saw Zen pass himself so quickly, he looked astonished. “Is this guy crazy?” he muttered in bemusement.

And perhaps Zen was, indeed. At his speed, the twenty or thirty practitioners above him were left behind almost instantaneously.