THE MARTIAL KING - Season 8 Episode 57

As Saint Morphens had compliantly traveled together with the Cloud Hall’s elite disciples, he felt that he was capable of explaining the situation completely to the crowd Letitia had left behind. Scanning his eyes over the elders’ questioning and despairing expressions, he exasperatedly sighed before opening his mouth to speak. “This time, the Cloud Hall’s enemy is Eddie.”

Surprised gasps echoed throughout the area and some felt faint at the news Saint Morphens revealed to them.

“What?!” Emanuel shouted as he jumped up. “Why did you offend this monster?” Dubbed as the Evil East Lord, Eddie was one of those individuals that made ordinary people tremble in fear just by merely mentioning his name. The man could be righteous at some times and terribly evil at other times. This was due to the fact that if one did not directly provoke him, Eddie would not care for their existence. However, no one would come out alive after facing the consequences once they had done something to anger or insult him.

The people of Cloud Hall never would have thought that participating in the Martial Arts Contest would earn them anything other than a better reputation. However, what they brought home instead was a terrifyingly powerful opponent who was probably already on his way to destroy them.

“What exactly is going on? What happened back there? Morphens!” As Emanuel demanded for the full explanation, he stepped forward and crossed his both arms against his chest. “I need you to give us an explanation, and do not leave any detail behind!”

The elder’s demanding tone made Saint Morphens frown. Even though there was a clear show of disrespect from Emanuel, the matter at hand was more significant and he debated to himself that showing anger towards the man was wasteful of his energy. The existence of the Cloud Hall was in danger and so Saint Morphens unquestioningly repeated everything that happened back in the Martial Arts Contest.

After the elders heard the entire story without interruption, they all immediately burst into an uproar. Reactions of displeasure as well as indignation echoed throughout the chamber where they stood. Some of them palmed their forehead and muttered out curses at their misfortune. With gloomy expressions and tight-lipped fraught faces, they stared back at Saint Morphens.

“We are doomed. This is too outrageous!” one of the people in crowd cried in a miserable tone. “Cloud Hall has been standing strong for ten thousand years. I could not believe that it is nearing its end just because of a bastard at the Illuminating Soul Realm!”

Pacing back and forth, another person echoed his thoughts. “Why did Master Ning offend someone like Eddie just for the sake of some kid at the Illuminating Soul Realm?”

“Is she treating the millions of disciples in our Cloud Hall as collateral damage? Are we nothing to her?” an elder asked impatiently, in disbelief of their current situation. “Does she want to bring the Cloud Hall to an irrecoverable situation?”
“I told all of you before! It’s basically ridiculous that a little girl is qualified to be the leader of Cloud Hall!” another elder hissed. “So what if she has an amazing talent? It was naive of us to support her back then!” some protested.
At the negative grumbles of the people and the sounds of complaints wavering in the air, Emanuel’s face darkened. After a moment of deliberation, he slowly said with solemnity, “According to Morphens, all of this has happened because of Zen, and as such, Eddie will attack the Cloud Hall for Zen.” The man paused before he was sure all the attention was on him. “If so, there is a simple way to resolve this matter.” His voice had a grim and tenacious timbre.

“What method are you talking about?” an elder near Emanuel implored.

“All we need to do is hand Zen over!” Emanuel said through gritted teeth. Clenching his fists tightly, he was certain of his statement just now. ‘We give one life to save all of us. It is the only way, ‘ he thought bitterly, determinedly staring ahead at the horizon.

When Saint Morphens heard what the man had uttered, he smiled cynically but did not bother contributing to the conversation. Partially agreeing with Emanuel internally, the man pondered that the idea might really be able to help the Cloud Hall through the crisis they were facing. By handing Zen over to the enemy, it should be enough to quell Eddie’s anger.

The question remained to be if Letitia would agree to his proposition. As they all contemplated on the actions of their leader, most despondently concluded that the woman might refuse to do such a thing.

If Letitia was willing to sacrifice him, she would not have stood in front of Zen and defended him in the first place. Sighing to himself, Saint Morphens wondered about the possibility of them fighting back and surviving the inevitable war caused by Zen’s actions and how Letitia would protect the Cloud Hall from it.

Although Letitia was appointed to be their leader at a young age, she was as stubborn as a rock once she made a decision. Due to this, it was a moot point to discuss among themselves a way to prevent the impending confrontation because the elders, and even the previous leader, Imogen, would not be able to change her mind or pull her back.

As Saint Morphens remained silent, he truly thought that maybe there was something only Letitia knew when she spoke for Zen at the match. Deep down, his loyalties lay on Letitia and he had an inkling that Zen was worth the investment from the Cloud Hall.

As for this group of elders wanting to cause a scene and embarrass themselves in front of the elite disciples as they planned, Saint Morphens merely walked away and placed his hands in his pockets, uncaring of their plot to deal with the situation. In the end, it all depended on Letitia to deal with their bothersome attitudes.