THE MARTIAL KING - Season 9 Episode 63

The origins of Lily had always been vague to Zen. He had his suspicions and little theories about her.

Generally speaking, sword spirits could only act according to their masters’ orders, like puppets controlled by a puppeteer, where they could only carry out simple, mechanical commands.

However, Lily herself possessed a sword dance technique that even Zen couldn’t put his finger on. As a sword spirit, how could she know a martial skill that her master had never encountered? Even to the knowledgeable cyan dragon, it was a mystery. Now, even more so for Zen.

Connecting the dots, Zen now came to an understanding that perhaps, his own sword spirit had the soul of the Demon Night queen, which meant that she had her own consciousness.

Attaching one’s soul to the sword spirit wasn’t that difficult. When Zen first entered the Killing Sword Mountain, he chanced by Iceni who integrated a wisp of his soul into his sword spirit.

According to Iceni, it didn’t take him much to achieve such.

This Demon Night queen somehow managed to sneak her soul into the sword spirit. However, Zen was unable to detect it, no matter how hard he tried. If he wasn’t able to detect it himself, would the circumstances be the same for the cyan dragon?

Looking at his sword spirit, Zen barely got his words out of his mouth. He only wanted to know who she was. The curiosity was enough to keep him up most nights.

“My name isn’t Lily. It’s Lavender. That’s what I’m called,” the sword spirit answered, looking uninterested towards Zen.

“Lavender like the flower?” Zen asked.

Then reminded of two particular people in the first row of the Talent Tablet, he recalled their names. One was called Fire, and the other Cliff. He let out a low sigh, trying to piece some more pieces of the puzzle together.

It was rare for humans to name themselves after nature. For this reason, Zen assumed that Fire and Cliff might have come from the Demon Night race as well. Just like Lily… Or Lavender.

However, in the Upper World where there were countless races, there was no guarantee that those two people really came from the Demon Night race.

Although rare, it wasn’t impossible for the other races to name themselves this way.

“Can you please explain to me how you became my sword spirit?”

At that moment, Zen had managed to control his mixed emotions. If anything, it was a relief to know that his sword spirit didn’t show any animosity towards him.

“For the time being, I am unable to explain this to you. I hope you understand. For now, I’m going to need you to go to the Demon Night’s sacred place,” Lavender told Zen, and then turned to Elder Mei and Madeline to ask, “What’s your sacred place called? What is its grade?”

“Your Majesty, it’s called the Heavenly Feather Sacred Place. It is one of the most powerful sects on the Sea God Continent and it’s a seventh grade sacred place,” Elder Mei respectfully replied.

Their sacred place was the only seventh grade sect on the entire Sea God Continent. Amber, along with her extraordinary talent, had made it all possible.

If the two sacred places of the ogres were to be combined, they could possibly be a little stronger than the Heavenly Feather Sacred Place, and could also be considered as seventh grade. If separated, however, they were still only sixth grade, regardless if it were the Dread Ogre Sacred Place or the Flaming Ogre Sacred Place. It took a lot to achieve such grade.

Meanwhile, the Purple Heart Sacred Place of the humans was of the top fifth grade because of their powers and resources. Since they had astounding war lords of the Soul Sea Realm at the Tower of Sin, they might as well be considered as sixth grade, but that would make them the weakest on that grade.

“To achieve seventh grade in such a desolate land is quite impressive. Now, you lot will take me there,” Lavender said calmly, with a hint of solemnity on her voice. The reason she invited Zen to the sacred place of the Demon Night race was that she was his only sword spirit at that moment. They had yet to figure out what secret skill she used to hide inside Zen’s sword, as both he and the cyan dragon were of no help in the matter.

“It would be our pleasure to take you there, Your Majesty,” Elder Mei and Madeline said at the same time.

The members of the Demon Night race believed their Queen’s existence to be of supreme importance. Lavender, if only it was in her nature, could order both Elder Mei and Madeline to kill themselves on the spot. She had such ability, but there was still more to explore and make sense of.

The Demon Night was considered to be an orderly race. They didn’t have many taboos surrounding their race, and their construction and faith revolved around the three Soul Statues of their three queens. And it was a grave sin to disrespect their queens.

“Wait!”

Malcom’s deep voice rang throughout the entire place, surprising everyone in sight.

To him, everything was just confusing.

Having allowed the divine-level talent, Cheryl, to challenge Zen, Malcom believed that he had already shown ample respect for the Demon Night.

It was uncertain whether Cheryl could defeat Zen, so at the end of the day, it felt like it was still his responsibility to finish the boy. That was his ultimate truth. However, he was unable to make out what was unfolding right in front of him. Why exactly did Cheryl fall before Zen?

How did this so-called Demon Night queen have the audacity to just claim Zen?

It was unbelievable how Malcom had allowed such things to occur.

Upon landing her eyes on Malcom’s enormous figure, Lavender nonchalantly looked at him and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t care who you are, and it’s not the ogres’ business to meddle with your plans. But I demand to leave that guy here! We have some unfinished business, in case you haven’t noticed,” Malcom said harshly, pointing his finger at Zen.

During that time, Malcom had not a single clue with regards to the important part that Lavender played. Even if she was calm as the sea on a good day, Malcom secretly felt inferior standing before her. However, that was a world where strength was the superior measurement of capacity, and Malcom’s would never lose to Lavender’s.

Killing Zen was his life’s purpose, and he surely had no intention of allowing him to step out with Lavender unscathed.

“How dare you?

You’re courting death!”

Just as Malcom had finished his sentence, Madeline and Elder Mei began to charge towards him from both sides.

Hearing the offensive words Malcom had thrown to their queen, the two Demon Night seat owners didn’t hesitate to attack the ogre directly.

It was to Malcom’s disadvantage, as combined powers from Madeline and Elder Mei were not to be trampled with.

White petals emerged from Madeline’s palms. Her pale and tender fingers possessed a frightening power that Malcom was about to experience for himself.

Simultaneously, a black dagger appeared from Elder Mei’s hand, fiercely thrusting it into Malcom’s direction.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Malcom’s face twisted of anger. He clenched his fist as if packing up all of his rages in a punch.

If he were to decide, Malcom could have just killed Zen right then and there, but it was a matter of world war if he failed to control his urges. It was very likely that the Tower of Sin would be put in jeopardy if he let his anger get in the way of the order of things.

Therefore, Malcom moved with extreme caution.

It was to his dismay that two of the seat owners from the Demon Night race didn’t even think twice and just attacked him. They had totally ignored the rules just because the ogre was talking smack.

A fight between the seat owners, then? Seat owners were set to spar one another at the Tower of Sin once every year. The seat orders were arranged in accordance with the results of their performance in the fights. Among all of the 128 seat owners, there definitely was a difference in strength.

But a spar was a spar. It was a part of the natural order, how things normally worked. If they continued fighting, other seat owners would begin to interfere. Hence, a war of the races.

Even Malcom himself didn’t act harshly at that heated moment. He knew the dangers of meddling with the seat owners all too well.

However, if his opponents would be weaklings from the human race, he wouldn’t hesitate. Ogres always stood up for themselves. After all, that was what they were known for.

“Bam!”

“Thud!”

Out of slight panic and confusion, Malcom also let out some punches towards Madeline and Elder Mei in efforts of dodging their attacks.

In a total of 128 seat owners, Malcom was at the 45th place, and that said a lot about his strength. However, Madeline also took pride in her place which was 42nd, and Elder Mei in 37th.

It was not a joke, facing this two. Malcom was certainly at a disadvantage because their attacks were in sync. One of Malcom’s punches managed to fend off Madeline’s attacks. His other punch was able to push Elder Mei back a little, but she was still able to hit the ogre with her dagger. Malcom was injured. A stream of thick, green, ogrish blood streamed down from his right shoulder.

Covering his wound with his palm, Malcom tried to put a stop to the bleeding. What he didn’t know was that Elder Mei’s dagger possessed a blade that had an ability to delay one’s healing. The ogre failed to heal himself on time.

“Is this what I think it is? Has the Demon Night race started a war against us ogres?”

Malcom blurted, his face filled with disdain. He couldn’t help but wonder how they got to that certain situation. Those two Demon Night fellows were definitely out of their minds. How could they just attack him without thinking of the consequences? Lavender’s origins had also preyed its way into Malcom’s head.

“Anyone who dares to humiliate my queen deserves nothing but death,” Madeline said coldly.

“If we can easily wipe out two of your sacred places just to please our queen, how could you doubt our desires for a war against your kind?” Elder Mei confidently added.

“Crazy! The members of the Demon Night race are mad! They are all going nuts!’

Malcom’s mind was filled with nothing else but these thoughts. He found it difficult to wrap his head around the possible results of their carelessness.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have agreed to let Cheryl challenge Zen. Now, his chances of defeating the human had decreased.

It was a pity that Malcom was not a prophet. If he were, he could’ve seen such things coming. In fact, even Zen himself could not have predicted this, too.

Whether or not Malcom had agreed to allow Cheryl’s request, the fight that was going on between him and those seat owners at that time would still be happening. It would not have changed a thing. But, as long as the fight in arena could last a little longer, Elder Mei should still have a shot in putting a stop to Malcom’s plan to kill him in due time.