THE MARTIAL KING VOLUME 2 - Season 10 Episode 69

Naturally, she also understood that if she were to fall into Eddie’s hands, Zen’s sister would be in great danger.

However, despite her understanding of the situation, Margaret still couldn’t forgive Zen. She would not let him off so easily after having treated her so rudely, and in front of her family! Margaret was proud by nature. Reining in her resentment, she wore a stoic expression in her face and said, “Well then. Even if you are that Zen, you be sure that I will pay back your rudeness in full some time in the future,” she said, her voice still laced with anger.

Zen merely gave her a brief smile. “I’ll wait,” he replied calmly.

Robin let out a sigh of relief from the side, grateful that the tension had not exploded into full-blown hostility. “Since you’ve already made your decision, then it’s fine. In fact, the leader of Cloud Hall has already invited Margaret, to keep her away from here, but this child is so stubborn that she has kept on refusing to go to Cloud Hall,” he said, letting out another huff of air. Then, he added, “It’s already noon, and the servants have finished preparations for lunch. You can set off after you eat.”

A transmission array connecting the Ethereal City and the Cloudy City allowed for a direct passage, so going from there to Cloud Hall would be no trouble at all.
Zen gave them a slight bow and said politely, “I am grateful for your kindness!”

All of them moved towards the dining room, except for one figure. Margaret stalked off to the other direction, leaving behind with only one sentence. “I’m not going to eat with this man. I’ll be out after lunch!” she declared, then walked away.

A wry smile appeared on Robin’s face. He turned to Zen and said apologetically, “Please forgive her. My daughter has always been like this.”

Margaret’s hostile attitude did not matter one bit to Zen. What he did not know was that this lunch would bring about a huge change in his plans.

The transmission arrays of the Ethereal City were located at the western district, the busiest, most bustling area of the city. Two transmission arrays were built in the open space beside the Sky Worm River to the western border of the city. Of the two, one provided a passage to the Cloudy City, while the other one led to the Oracle City.

A huge fortune was expended in constructing the transmission arrays. It was not comparable to the massive transmission arrays that allowed travelling back and forth between continents, but it still covered a considerable area — spanning across half of the Central Region. In addition to this, these three cities were the largest in the Central Region, and so they had the largest number of warriors. Every day, there would be countless of them who would need to use these two transmission arrays to get to Cloudy City or to Oracle City.

Even some ordinary merchants would pay a high toll to transport valuable goods through the transmission arrays. The frequent use of the transmission arrays led to the high costs in maintaining them.

Today as usual, there was a long line by the bank of the Sky Worm River, with people waiting their turns to use the arrays.

This month had been especially busy for the two transmission arrays. There was word going around that Eddie was plotting an attack on Ethereal City with the warriors of the Heavenly Evil Sect.

The seeds of fear had taken their roots in the city, and people were hurrying to leave in order to escape from the impending disaster. They had a choice between the Oracle City and the Cloudy City to ensure their safety.

With the relentless demand, the cost of transportation through the transmission arrays had risen greatly, doubling the amount of the usual price. Even so, a great number of people who were willing to spend paid such a high price, if it meant their safety. Money mattered little in comparison to their lives.

Today, the atmosphere around the crowd was uncharacteristically tense. The air was burdened with a growing impatience from the waiting people.

Martial cultivators stood stiffly as they waited their turn to use the passage, and the civilians grew anxious for their own survival as threat of Eddie’s attack loomed closer and closer each day. Some of them had been waiting for about half a day.

The pressure was a ticking time bomb, and the heightened frustration exploded when two men tried to cut in line. The other cultivators were immediately annoyed. One of them reproached the two men furiously, shouting out, “Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you’re doing? Why are you cutting in line? Even if you have something urgent to attend to, you should still obey the rules! Everyone here has been waiting for a long time.”

The others soon followed, throwing criticisms at the two. “You two have no manners!. Have some shame!”

Hearing the crowd’s scolding, the two warriors turned around and said with a sneer, “Yes, I’m cutting in line and ignoring the rules, but so what? Some of us have more important jobs to do. What? You want to fight us?”

The other warriors fell silent at their intimidation. Most of them warriors were nature creatures, of which only a handful had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, while the two warriors cutting in line were at the Internal Elixir Realm. There was too great a gap between the two groups. Provoking the two warriors further would only result to the other group’s loss.

The silence of their surrender only served to fan the two warriors’ insolence. “That’s right. You lot should know your place. Weigh your own strength before you sputter out your nonsense!” they jeered.

A quiet discontent settled over the crowd as the line slowly moved forward. The transmission arrays flashed white every time someone entered the space channel. As the two Internal Elixir Realm warriors approached one of the transmission arrays, one of them said in a lazy tone, “Alright, let’s do it!”

The other person threw back a haughty glance to the others behind, as if challenging them to stop him. Then, he took out a purple-black bead from his chest and threw it towards the transmission array. The next moment, they both abruptly retreated.