THE MARTIAL KING - Season 7 Episode 84

“What? He passed the test?”

“Something has to be wrong with the magnetic stone! He couldn’t have passed otherwise! Does World Commercial Alliance have such low prestige?”

“Is this a joke? Maybe I’ll try it too! For all I know, I could pass.”

The old man’s announcement regarding Zen’s passing of the examination caused quite a buzz in the atmosphere. Most onlookers were not convinced by the verdict.

The vast majority of warriors present were at the Illuminating Soul Realm, with their grades ranging from seven to nine.
They had come to join in the fun of the pre-qualifying match. At the same time, they also wanted to see the strength of other warriors to estimate whether they could defeat them, and to gauge their chances of qualifying.

To their disappointment, even being on the eighth or ninth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm seemed a bit weak, especially in competition against those who had reached the consummation.

Not all the warriors were from large families. Many independent warriors, or those who were from minor sects, had very little money in their pockets. But a number of them carried a supreme life vitality crystal, which they were reluctant to give to the old examiner.

After all, the passing rate was too low. It was very difficult for the warriors at the Illuminating Soul Realm to earn a supreme crystal, so they didn’t want to take a risk. It was very likely they would lose their crystals and never get anything back.

A fellow at the third grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm had somehow appeared among these people. The power of thunder and lightning in his weak punch was low, but due to this very punch, the magnetic stone’s color had changed for a total of 5 minutes!

It was hard for them to believe what their eyes showed them, so they began to wonder if the stone had broken.

Who could this young man be? It was Zen. Whether he passed or not had nothing to do with these warriors. Still, when the old man announced Zen’s passing, they were jealous enough to complain. “Why? Why and how did he pass?”

“If he passes, all of us pass!”

“The World Commercial Alliance has lost all of its credibility. This is obviously cheating!”

“What are they even thinking? It is impossible for a guy at the third grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm to pass the pre-qualifying match! He is sure to die at the Martial Arts Contest!”

As the warriors complained and whined, the old man rebuked, his cold face frowning with displeasure. “Shut up!” he said.

The warriors’ ears buzzed at the sound of his voice. The look he gave was so cold that it could’ve turned water into ice. It only made sense for them to quiet down sensibly.

The old man’s eyes scanned the place as he tried to hide a deep sense of contempt. ‘How stupid these people are!’ he thought. Zen’s power of thunder and lightning was indeed very weak, but it was incomparably pure. It also seemed to contain very strong power of Thunder Law.

“Warriors! Don’t forget that I have the final say! If I say he passes, he does. If you can perform the same way, then do it!” said the old man in a frigid voice, not bothering to give any explanation. He then turned to Zen, and asked with a pleasant smile on his face, “What’s your name, young one?”

“Zen Luo,” Zen answered in his usual deadpan voice.

“Zen Luo,” the old man repeated the name, wrote it down on a nameplate with his brush, and handed it to him.

Zen didn’t stay any longer. He had signed up and could attend the pre-qualifying match. Taking the nameplate, he took his leave.

As soon as he left, a bunch of warriors rushed up to the old man and gave away their hard-earned supreme crystals. They thought the World Commercial Alliance had either done something to the magnetic stone or that the stone itself had just behaved wrongly.

Some smart warriors believed the stone had gone wrong, because the World Commercial Alliance wouldn’t pull off frauds in such a flagrant way. It seemed completely unnecessary for the alliance to change the color of the magnetic stone. What benefit could they have out of it?

The old man hadn’t even imagined that the income at the registration table would soar so highly after Zen’s passing of the examination.

More and more warriors lined to sign up, presenting their supreme crystals willingly, hoping they could pass the examination too.

Before Zen passed the test, they were all hesitating as they weren’t confident in their own strength and abilities. Without confidence, how could they pass? The truth was most of them didn’t pass.

The old man, however, went wild with joy! As the elder of the World Commercial Alliance, he was upset to have been appointed to be in charge of the registration. But now, he felt like thanking Zen for the sudden increase in his income due to the supreme crystals that came his way.

After his successful registration, Zen traveled through Oracle City, and soon found the place where the pre-qualifying match was to be held.

It was a gigantic, distinct palace with walls inlaid in gold and jade, denoting the powerful financial resources of the World Commercial Alliance.

About 400 warriors were standing in small groups in the hall.

The pre-qualifying match had been going on for 10 days. All of them knew well about the forthcoming examination. Clearly, they were soon to compete against one another. They had proved their strength by passing the test of the magnetic stone, and couldn’t let down their guard in front of other powerful competitors.

Zen arrived at the gate and showed his nameplate to the guard, who in turn gave him a peculiar look but then let him in.

He attracted the attention of most warriors as soon as he entered the hall. Their eyes zeroed in on him in surprise.

The warrior named Owen was also among the crowd. He too stared at Zen, scanning him from top to bottom before he heard people mumbling about how he had succeeded although he was only at the third grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm.

Owen was one of the few warriors who had passed the examination at the consummation of the Illuminating Soul Realm. That itself was enough to fill him with pride. Most of his peers couldn’t change the color of the magnetic stone even slightly, while he did it dexterously.

He turned the color of the stone to scarlet red for a total of nine seconds. He had also outshone many warriors at the Internal Elixir Realm.

That was why he couldn’t even expect a warrior who was only at the third grade to pass the examination.

“Well, he’s marvelous,” Owen said coldly with his head down, smirking.

He only knew that Zen had changed the color of the magnetic stone, but not that he had done so for 5 minutes!

None of the other warriors of grades much higher than him had even reached near this duration.

Certainly, Owen wasn’t the only one keen about Zen.

In this palace, even the weakest warriors had reached the consummation of the Illuminating Soul Realm. Most of them had reached the early-stage Internal Elixir Realm and a small group had reached the middle-stage Internal Elixir Realm.

These were some of the best independent warriors. They were all earth-level talents or higher. They had gotten what they had without using the resources of influential sects.

Two warriors at the middle-stage Internal Elixir Realm stood leaning against the wall, their eyes closed. Neither of them opened their eyes, but they had sensed the unusual restlessness in the hall.

One whispered to the other, “Don’t you find it strange that this fellow is only at the third grade of Illuminating Soul Realm and still qualified?”

The other warrior opened his eyes, looked around lazily, spotted Zen and then closed his eyes indifferently. “Yeah, he is at the third grade. But it seems like he has some special gifts. Maybe he just understands some laws deeply.”

“Do you want to play tricks on him after the match starts?”

Contrary to the other warrior, this one showed a keen interest in Zen.

“Meh… Don’t bore me. Our goal is the main draw match. Don’t cause any trouble,” the other one replied, still not bothered.

In the face of all these warriors that were obviously talking about him, Zen stood with a calm face. He was as normal as he was before he passed the examination. He was a warrior.

Occasionally, he suffered from violent mood swings, which was when his will of martial arts shook a bit. But when he was determined to achieve his goal, he would always stick to it no matter how difficult it was.

And now, to kill Marilyn, which he was determined to do, he needed to pass the pre-qualifying match.