THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 4 - Season 12 Episode 11

An ordinary flame’s heat dissipated in all directions. When one made a fire, it would often burn wild and unpredictable, and that made it weak.

The Genuine Phoenix’s Sun Flame Attack was different because the blazing white flame bound and centered the heat to its core. This made it hotter, better, and far more accurate when launched.

As the white fireball came flying towards him, Zen only had one thought in his mind: it seemed that his clothes were about to be burnt once again.

Just as this thought flashed through his mind, the flames immediately enveloped him and set his body aflame.

“Hooo… hooo… hooo…”

Despite the horrifying sight of Zen burning alive, he was calm. There was no need to worry for his own safety given that he had an immunity to most flames, save of course for the black flame within the mysterious furnace.

The Genuine Phoenix’s Sun Flames looked terrifying but, in the end, they only contained the power of the first three layers of Fire Law which caused no harm to Zen.

Now if the Genuine Phoenix had been a grown-up one, then he’d have a problem.
A mature Genuine Phoenix was a fourteenth to fifteenth level super legendary beast comparable to a world lord or a supreme lord. Its size was also no joke given that it could grow to a thousand miles long in length. Never mind its flames, Zen would be smashed into smithereens with just a lift of its claw.

The temperature began to reach an uncomfortably hot range and Zen’s body had turned as red as a hot-iron poker. Zen looked at his body expectantly, ‘They should appear any minute.’ One thing he hoped would come out of his willingness to burn himself was for his body to finally become a sacred weapon.

With the combined power of several thousand dragon scales and forceful energy, his strength would be boosted to the point that he’d be able to defeat Life and Death Realm warriors with ease once he entered the late stage of the Virtual Tribulation Realm.

However, this wasn’t what happened. After the Sun Flame Attack had continued for about a minute, nothing had come.

“Eh? Why didn’t they appear?”

Burning himself in phoenix flames wasn’t enough. Golden runes should’ve appeared in order for Zen to completely absorb the flames into his body.

‘The flames aren’t powerful enough, ‘ he quickly concluded.

This was troublesome. It seemed not even flames from the first three layers of Fire Law would be enough.

‘That phoenix shouldn’t have just comprehended three layers of Fire Law, ‘ he thought to himself.

The Sun Flames couldn’t be the phoenix’s most powerful attack. Ever since it appeared, Zen had already felt a mysterious power of Fire Law hidden within the beast. The power was much more complex than the power contained within these Sun Flames and Zen assumed that it should come from a higher layer of the Fire Law.

He looked back at Fiona and an idea suddenly struck his head. He immediately turned against the Sun Flames’ current and walked slowly towards her.

Meanwhile, sparks from the Sun Flame Attack had spread to the edges of the enchanted barrier that protected the spectators from the battle within the plaza.

As the Sun Flame Attack continued, the enchanted barrier gradually became unstable. It began to shake and there was a ripple in the enchanted barrier from the intensity and heat of the Sun Flames.

This enchanted barrier was created by a Soul Sea Realm master so it would look really bad if it was destroyed by a mere Virtual Tribulation Realm warrior. The Soul Sea Realm master immediately waved his hand and an azure light immediately reinforced the enchanted barrier.

“Why didn’t he just admit defeat? Why is he so stubborn? Is he truly willing to die for the sake of saving face? He will be burnt to ashes and lose his life because he did not cherish himself. That would’ve been fine but he made our princess feel bad and that is his greatest sin!”

“That’s right! Thad’s nothing more than vermin. Even his dead body would disgust anyone who sees it. Princess Fiona didn’t want to kill him but he forced her to do it. He asked for this himself!”

“He should be killed a thousand times more for being like this!”

Fiona’s sad face had driven the Wind Divine Kingdom warriors into a frenzy. Nobody made their princess sad!

Zen was sure to have died in the flames but, as a consequence of his death, Fiona would be miserable. Their simpleminded brains could only show concern for their princess who indirectly cast the flame. And their hate for Zen who got burned to death because of his pride was obvious.

Fiona tightly gripped the feathers of her Genuine Phoenix, Fiery Shine. She was indeed miserable, and her heart sank to the bottom. There had been no need to set him aflame, she knew that best of all.

The world of martial artists was very cruel, but why couldn’t the battle come to an end when one was defeated? Why did he choose to risk his life? Was it worth it?

She knew that Zen was someone who had limitless potential and there was no doubt that he had a great future ahead of him. The fact that he died just like that and by her own hands nonetheless made her feel really sad and miserable.

However, she also understood that she had a duty. She could not let her father down, after all.

But, just as she was about to wallow in her misery even more, a head suddenly emerged from the flames.

“Stupid bird!” Zen barked, shocking Fiona to the core. “Work harder! Is that all you’ve got?!”

“Eh? Thad! You’re fine?!” The sight of her unbothered opponent should’ve made her angry but Fiona was a weird girl. She was actually quite relieved to see that he had survived.

Even the audience was stunned.

One warrior willingly set himself aflame. The other was glad that, despite setting her opponent aflame with the goal of killing him, he was still alive and kicking. The two were really just so strange.

Zen’s survival truly shocked many of the warriors. However, what surprised them even more was the way he had provoked the phoenix, a mighty, super legendary beast. A super legendary beast was surely something not to be trifled with.

Was he, perhaps, a masochist? Meanwhile, Fiona had a stupidly beautiful smile on her fair face.

“They are… fighting against each other?”

“Honestly I don’t know at this point.”

The sight in front of them subverted some kind of concept or fundamental understanding they had of the world but they couldn’t point out specifically what it was. They just knew that it was weird.

Fiery Shine was Fiona’s contractual beast but it had a mind of its own. It was a super legendary beast and an extremely intelligent creature.

The relationship between Fiona and the phoenix was similar to that of friends. Fiery Shine thought and acted separately and sometimes against Fiona’s wishes, especially if it was angry. When enraged, not even Fiona would be able to control the phoenix’s fury.

And furious was exactly how the legendary beast felt after hearing Zen’s rude provocation. How could a mere human trample over a super legendary beast’s dignity? Its eyes began to blaze a fiery red.

Fiery Shine suddenly stopped spitting out Sun Flames, exposing Zen’s body to the crowd. As expected, not even a trace of ash remained of his clothes.

“Ah!” Fiona cried out, immediately averting her eyes at the scene.

When he had turned against the current of the flames, Zen had walked over to Fiona and was actually quite close to the princess. Right now, his entire body was completely in full view of the pure, innocent girl.

Some of the female martial artists in the square also averted their eyes but there were a few who shamelessly ogled at him and enjoyed the view.

Zen felt a bit embarrassed at his current state but he had to have thick skin. Besides, there was another matter he should be concerned with.

“Aoo…”

His provocation had worked and the phoenix was now preparing a whole new wave of attacks for him.

Fiery Shine’s feathers had spread out, informing every one of its anger. It emitted a wave of heat that was so strong, not even Fiona could withstand it.

“What were you thinking? Why did you provoke it? Fiery Shine is truly angry now!”

she blamed Zen, head still turned to the side.

He did not answer given that he didn’t really care about the fight with Fiona any more. There was a more important matter that needed his attention. The heat wave was strong but he still wasn’t sure if it would be enough for him to advance.

A fire ring suddenly appeared around the phoenix and Zen swore he felt some kind of special Law Power in that attack.

His heart rejoiced, ‘That’s it! That’s the attack I need!’ This was the mysterious Law Power he had sensed upon the phoenix’s appearance. This power was entirely different from that in the Sun Flame Attack earlier.

The sight of the fire ring immediately alarmed Fiona. Her father, War King Wind was also greatly concerned to the point that he actually entered the arena through the enchanted barrier and forcefully pulled his daughter out.
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