THE MARTIAL KING - Season 9 Episode 49

Powerful warriors at the Soul Sea Realm only emerged from sacred places and divine kingdoms.

Once a sect had a member at the Soul Sea Realm, it would gain the right to establish a sacred place. If an independent warrior reached the Soul Sea Realm, then he or she would gain the right to establish a divine kingdom.

Central Region never had a warrior at the Soul Sea Realm.

Establishing either a divine kingdom or a sacred place required an endless amount of time and resources, and only a warrior at the Soul Sea Realm had the necessary qualifications to become a ruler.

Above war fighters were war generals, above war generals were war lords, and above war lords were war sages. The warriors at the Soul Sea Realm were much stronger than war sages. Zen was a mere level ten war fighter, and there was no way he could be a match for a warrior at the Soul Sea Realm.

Those at the Soul Sea Realm had the ability to split heaven and earth and could choose to ascend to the Upper World. A warrior at Soul Sea Realm needed to only raise a finger if he or she wanted to kill someone like Zen.

Was the difficulty of the ultimate test truly this high?

“Do not worry. These Soul Symbols are just the memories of the departed. They will suppress their cultivation to the same level as yours,” the weapon spirit said.

Zen nodded in understanding.

Testing a war fighter’s potential by setting him up against a warrior at Soul Sea Realm was unreasonable. If that had truly been the set-up, then there was no doubt that Zen wouldn’t even be able to touch his opponent’s sleeve before he was exterminated.

However, despite the suppression of the warrior’s cultivation, Zen’s chances of winning were still very low.

Whether it was combat experience, law comprehension, or the mastery of life vitality or forceful energy, a warrior at Soul Sea Realm was just simply incomparable.

Even if the warrior was suppressed to a level ten war fighter, he would still be able to easily defeat an ordinary war lord.

Zen’s chances of victory were very slim.
However, he was still determined to do his best.

Pushing his thoughts of impossibility to the side, Zen took out his long sword from his space ring. Holding it in his hand, he suddenly dashed toward his opponent to strike.

The Taoist priest raised his jade sword as well and effortlessly blocked Zen’s strike with a “ding.”

The block did not faze Zen, who immediately lifted up his sword in order to deflect the priest’s jade sword.

However, the jade sword seemed to have a mind of its own as it gently swayed along with Zen’s, shadowing its every move.

“Excellent defense! Wonderful swordsmanship!”

Zen remarked, awed by his opponent’s skills.

He had never lost to anyone in swordsmanship after he had comprehended that the greatest truths were the simplest.

The priest, however, easily blocked Zen’s attack.

And while the priest was a Soul Symbol, it seemed as if he still had emotions. The trace of mockery on his face both surprised and slightly irked Zen.

“Break it!”

At that moment, Zen had already exhausted his basic swordsmanship to the limit. His strikes grew more desperate and disordered as he attacked the priest constantly.

However, the hand that wielded the jade sword was extremely dexterous. It successfully blocked all of Zen’s moves.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

Within seconds, Zen had already managed to rain down a hundred strikes upon the priest who merely used one move to block all of it.

Try as he might, Zen was just unable to deal with the priest’s move.

His frown deepened and he immediately felt insecure with the flaws in his swordsmanship that he had only realized.

The greatest truths were the simplest and each of his moves was streamlined to the extremes but it was still lacking in flexibility.

Sword moves were originally created by humans and basic swordsmanship served as the foundation of all other branches of swordsmanship. However, one couldn’t remain stagnant and only focus on the basics forever.

Zen had realized that he might have failed to innovate when it came to his sword moves.

There should be another level after his current swordsmanship since his basic swordsmanship was not simplified to the extremes.

The greatest truths were the simplest while true enlightenment was in nature itself!

After the sword moves had been simplified to the extremes, they would then lose their entire meaning of existence.

The faint ridicule on the priest’s face struck a chord with Zen. He took a few steps back and maintained a certain distance from Zen. A light emanated from Zen’s eyes and glowed brighter and brighter as he looked up at his opponent.

“Comprehension…”

He felt his breathing quicken as a sense of joy and realization suddenly filled his mind.

Ever since he had simplified his basic swordsmanship, Zen hadn’t bothered changing it again. However, he felt that his comprehension of sword moves was slowly nearing a new limit as a thin barrier appeared in his mind and prevented him from continuing.

But, at that moment, Zen had finally been able to break through that barrier.

“The extremes of simplified sword moves are nothingness. In other words, no sword moves are stronger than sword moves.

Let’s see how you’ll block this one.

No Move!”

“No Move” meant there was no sword move. It shouldn’t have had a name since there was technically no move to name anyway, but Zen rolled with it.

He held his sword as if he was a child casually stabbing a cushion and did not have any inkling of what true swordsmanship was. This change in method quickly erased the scornful expression on the priest’s face, his brows now furrowed in concentration as he faced Zen.

Ding!

The priest’s jade sword blocked Zen’s once again.

However, Zen casually stabbed his opponent and was able to pierce through his defenses. The point of his sword aimed straight for the priest’s heart.

The priest retreated a few steps back to avoid Zen’s otherwise deadly stab.

He hadn’t stepped back ever since the fight began, but Zen’s “No Move” seemed to be turning the tide around.

“You can’t block it anymore!”

Zen had figured out the strategy and immediately seized the opportunity. His sword zigzagged its way towards the priest in an extremely weird angle.

The priest’s jade sword once again blocked the attack, but this time, Zen was able to force his way through the defenses.

Both jade and iron swords continued to clash against each other with the priest now continuously being pushed back, unable to stop the tirade of Zen’s attacks.

After retreating and being shoved into a corner, the priest had one more trick up his sleeve. A soul-stirring Law Power erupted from the jade sword along with a sharp burst of lighting that shot right towards Zen’s head.

The Thunder Law Power that had been contained in that lightning strike had probably been at the third level and it caused Zen’s heart to beat wildly.

His guess was that the priest came from the Upper World and, with his cultivation of the Soul Sea Realm, it was natural for him to have comprehended the third level of Thunder Law.

Fortunately, the priest’s cultivation had been suppressed. Otherwise, Zen would’ve dropped dead the moment the lightning strike hit him.

“Break it again!”

Zen was once again back on track as his iron sword danced in the air, forming a strange line without any rules or restrictions. It looked weird, chaotic even, but it was able to avoid the priest’s block and successfully pierce through his heart.

Plop!

As the iron sword pierced through him, the priest cracked and shattered into fragments before dissipating completely like fine, white ash.

Zen inhaled deeply. “Did I win?”

Another pattern fell on his head.

“The test isn’t over yet.”

Defeating the priest had greatly increased his confidence. He wasn’t as apprehensive, nor was he as pessimistic with fighting another suppressed warrior at the Soul Sea Realm as he had been before.

While Zen took the ultimate test inside the Talent Tablet, the creatures waiting outside were feeling extremely confused.

The test was taking too long!

The longest it had taken someone to take the test was two hours. Yolande’s name had climbed up to first place in less than an hour.

But Zen had been inside for three hours now.

“What the heck’s going on? What did he encounter inside the Talent Tablet?”

“Could something have happened?”

“It’s already been three hours. What’s taking him so long?”

Olivia was already beside herself with worry. Surely Zen did not encounter some kind of mishap, did he?

Meanwhile, Elder Jing remained calm and unbothered by all of this. However, he did notice that the number of ogres on the tenth floor was increasing.