THE MARTIAL KING - Season 7 Episode 58

It didn’t cross Zen’s mind that another soul would try to kill him while his soul was in the black ball.

Now, Zen had to deal with the Owl Beast’s evil spirit which was suppressing him while simultaneously dodging Christopher’s attacks.

“You can go to hell!” shouted Christopher passionately as he lunged at Zen, swinging his sword.

As agile as Zen was, he was able to weave and dodge around the place, not only narrowly escaping the strikes as Christopher came at him, but, Zen also healed his soul in between attacks by quickly getting closer to the oil lamps.

The second circle of the black globe was ring-shaped. Christopher chased Zen in the ring, and after several rounds, Zen acclimated to the ring and suppressed the forces. A few times, he noted, he could even skip an oil lamp and wait to mend his soul at the next oil lamp.

When Christopher failed to catch Zen, he became infuriated. He raised his blades that were transformed from his two hands as he growled, “Spiritual fighting skill! Ghost Fighting Blades! Let’s see how you escape now!”

Christopher was a refiner at the ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm, and had used this precise technique before to slay the soul of a master in the Internal Elixir Realm.

Burning green sparks shot from the two blades and Christopher’s shadow snuck up on Zen. While he lunged forward, he swung his blades at Zen’s soul.

He came towards Zen at lightning speed, making it impossible for Zen to dodge the blades. If they struck him, they would slice his soul to pieces.

“Oh? Spiritual fighting skill? I can do that!”

Since Zen couldn’t shake the incoming assault off, Zen focused, changing a portion of his soul into a sharp thorn and sending it at Christopher.

“Spiritual Thorn!”

Strictly speaking, changing a soul into a thorn was similar to turning a soul into a blade which was a skill employed by Christopher, and it was not considered a spiritual fighting skill. It was used to transform part of his soul to attack.

But, since Zen had spent his time evading Christopher’s attacks, steadily, he hadn’t taken the time to employ his Spiritual Thorn which left Christopher with the impression that Zen was a coward, unable to fight and unwilling to do more than run.

From the moment he employed the spiritual fighting skill which he took great pride in, Christopher was determined to destroy Zen’s soul and focused his full attention on maintaining his blades.

Suddenly, Zen countered Christopher’s attack with a violent onslaught which left Christopher no time to dodge the sharp soul thorn headed at him.

It took only a second from the moment he saw the soul thorn for it to pierce Christopher’s soul.

“Aaahh!”

Christopher howled in pain as his blades crumbled, and turned to dust. He had held off using his spiritual fighting skill until he thought the time was perfect, but only to find it to be a complete failure.

Instead of continuing his assault, Zen put some distance between himself and Christopher as he dashed over to the next oil lamp to mend his soul.

Christopher’s soul had a severe wound, leaving him no choice but to locate another small oil lamp to heal himself. He glared angrily at Zen like a large cat hunting prey.

With his back to Christopher, the corners of Zen’s mouth turned upwards in a slight grin.

The majority of warriors in the black globe weren’t practicing anymore. They squatted under oil lamps watching the show.

As Christopher utilized his spiritual fighting skill, the warriors discussed the fight. Basically, they thought Zen would lose. And the only way Zen would escape was to withdraw his soul from the black globe and return it into his body.

They didn’t expect Zen to conjure a sharp thorn out of the blue. His move not only saved his life, but also knocked his opponent out, turning the tide of the fight.

“That guy was so calm and from the start all he did was run. It appears he was saving a trump card for the time after his opponent used spiritual fighting skill. How smart!”

“He has the foresight to think ahead, and surprise his opponent. He made his opponent look like a fool!”

“Maybe that’s a good thing. He can use this chance to take on the challenge and temper his soul…”

“Oh, no! Is the suppression from Owl beast evil spirit not enough for him? It’s unimaginable that he has another one chasing him.”

Although the warriors didn’t think Zen could devise strategy, they were agreed that Zen was really very special. Who knew? Zen might intentionally stir up a fight and temper his soul.

After Zen’s attack, there was an unbearable amount of pain in the huge hole torn into Christopher’s soul. He managed to heal traumatic wound under the oil lamplight, but, the fact that he suffered the gash at the hands of such a brat, was depressing!

Christopher was most proud of his soul. While he was in the Lower World, he had slain the soul of an Internal Elixir Realm warrior with his spiritual fighting skill!

What extraordinary glory! His tale had shocked all the citizens of the continent he hailed from!

Now, using the same spiritual fighting skill, he failed, and worse, a nature creature had hurt him!

He turned his soul into a thorn? What the hell? That was complete crap!

True, in the Eastern Region, the Spiritual Thorn was seen as a mysterious refinement method of tier four. However, the reason it was a tier four cultivation method was purely because it concerned the soul. To Christopher, it was a controversial method kept outside mainstream refinement techniques. After all, the technique involved a single thorn.

It might work the first time, but, the second time someone used the skill, his opponent would have learned and been fully prepared.

Christopher was exasperated, and he ignored something about the Spiritual Thorn’s judgment. When a warrior fought another, whether he lost or won, was momentary. The Spiritual Thorn was meant to be a surprise attack. The technique was never created to be used a second time during an attack. From this perspective, the Spiritual Thorn could take an opponent by surprise and damage his soul greatly. In fact, it was very practical at the soul level.

It was only Christopher who thought in such a limited manner.

Mostly because he was the one who was beaten.

“I’ll chop you up, Zen!” seethed Christopher through gritted teeth. His body flashed green and he dashed at Zen again.

This time, Christopher was ready! He assumed that Zen’s Spiritual Thorn would be useless against him and he thought, ‘Let me see how you escape my spiritual fighting skill this time!’

While Christopher was healing his soul, Zen was seizing the moment to practice. When he saw Christopher heading his way, he ran along the second ring.

Christopher was in hot pursuit of Zen. His strength returned as if he had taken a powerful pill. He didn’t give Zen any respite, and within a short time, he caught up to Zen.

“Keep running! I’ll see how you can escape. Ghost Fighting Blades!” As Christopher flailed his two blades, his eyes firmly focused on Zen, on guard against Zen’s soul thorn attack.

But, as Christopher’s Ghost Fighting Blades was about to slice into him, Zen blinked and smiled smugly at Christopher. In a flash, Zen vanished.

“Where? Where did he go?” Christopher had been excited and thinking about how he would take Zen’s life soon. However, his target suddenly left his sight. He was dumbfounded and for a moment, he didn’t react.

“Look out! Christopher! He pulled back his soul!”

“His soul left the black globe and returned to his body already!” shouted the two female warriors who were near Christopher.

“Damn it! I see now!” Christopher howled furiously. He wasn’t an idiot, so, how possibly he hadn’t known? In the next instant, Christopher pulled his soul back from the black globe, taking it back into himself.

The moment Christopher’s soul was in his body, his eyes flew open, and he saw Zen, not too far away, stretching his arms and neck. He was pissed!

Taking a large big stride forward, Christopher rushed toward Zen as he screamed, “You! You can go to hell!” He balled his hand into a tight fist, ready for a fight.

Facing a master at the ultimate level of the Illuminating Soul Realm, Zen was calm and smiled gently, “Are you sure you want to fight me, here?”

Christopher’s face fell as he glanced around and noticed the armed guards. He paused, holding his fist mid-air.

Since arriving, Christopher was still unable to see the armed guards’ and elders’ strengths, and he found that very odd! But, needless to say, the level of strength that the Upper World masters possessed was beyond imagination. It definitely wasn’t a good idea to fight in front of the armed guards.

“Hey! What are you doing? No one’s allowed to fight here! Anyone violating this rule will be sentenced to a thousand years in prison!” chided an armed guard.
Christopher loosened his fist in resignation. He pointed at Zen and said, “Sooner or later, I’ll get you! If you don’t want that, you had better stay out of the dark globe forever!” Afterward, Christopher took a step back.

In the face of idle threats, Zen smiled, and flexed his muscles. Then he jumped back into the black globe.

The minute he was back in the first ring of the black globe, Christopher jumped in from the other side. Zen quickly went to the second ring and according to his plan, began practicing.

However, Christopher was persistent, and was set on defeating Zen. As long as Zen was in the second ring, Christopher would stalk him!

Zen seized every chance to practice. He planned that if he found he wasn’t able to dodge Christopher’s spiritual fighting skill, he would pull his soul out of the black globe.

Christopher was obstinate beyond reason. Even knowing it was in vain, he went continuously after Zen. They played mouse and cat many times. When Zen’s soul finally was able to withstand the suppression of the second ring, he went to the third ring without hesitating.