THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 4 - Season 12 Episode 52

As he stared at the round stones hidden under the leaf beneath his feet, Zen’s mind was in turmoil. He wondered at how he could take out the stones.

“Just give it a try!”

Zen told himself as he took two steps back and put pressure on his legs to gather his life vitality and forceful energy. At the same time, the power from the dragon scales flowed into his body continually. He activated all the dragon scales to summon his utmost strength.

With his current formidable physique, the power of the dragon scales couldn’t burden his body as much as before.

In addition, Zen closed his eyes and began to communicate with the stars.

“Double Stars-”

The moment Zen muttered to himself, starting a line of communication with the stars, the sky above the Feather Emperor Secret Land flashed with the brilliant light of two stars.

Their immense power blended into Zen’s life vitality.

“-Brilliance!” he shouted out the last word as he leapt up from the ground.

Since he was on a leaf, he was not affected by the powerful gravity of the place. As he jumped into the air, his body rose to a height of about ten feet. He then rolled once before diving down toward the leaf below.

His fist gathered powerful momentum and struck the huge leaf.

The punch had gathered all the power that Zen could use up. He had also activated his Stellar Body alongside. It was infinitely stronger than the punch he had used to injure War Emperor York.

Boom!

As soon as his punch landed on the leaf, a violent sound reverberated around him. It was as if thunder itself had struck the ground. Anyone positioned on the huge tree would have heard it clearly.

Below Zen were several scared stiff mineral-devouring bugs. Spreading their wings, they flew off in panic.

Zen’s fist was still pressed tightly against the leaf. Traces of blood trickled from between his fingers and along the huge leaf.

Even though Zen possessed a physique as strong as a sacred weapon, the toughness of the leaf under his feet far exceeded it. The heavy punch that he landed on it was like smashing an egg against a rock. Although the leaf containing the ores did not crack even a bit, his fist still hurt.

‘The last three layers of the leaves are sturdier than the golden leaf below. No wonder even the Soul Sea Realm masters failed to take out the ores from within them, ‘ Zen reflected, however he was not too disappointed. He had already expected this and had only wanted to confirm the fact.

The pickaxe — that was what he needed to solve this problem.

If he could get the Black Star pickaxe, he should be able to dig out the ores from within these leaves. However, the pickaxe itself was wrapped within the golden leaf. Nobody from the four divine kingdoms had managed to extract it, and Zen knew it would be a near impossible task for him to do so as well.

Failing to figure out any solution to this deadlock, Zen decided to leave the leaf at the forty-fifth layer.

As he plummeted, two purple mineral-devouring bugs on the forty-first and forty-third layers noticed it, wanting to chase after him. But Zen was too far away and his falling speed too quick, so they had to return to their original leaves.

On his way down, Zen thought about what he could do next.

With Zen’s current strength, he was indeed unable to break the golden leaf, but it was still easier compared to smashing the leaves of the forty-fifth layer. In other words, his last prospect was to get the Black Star pickaxe within the golden leaf. If he could obtain that supreme divine weapon, probably he could break even the top-layered leaves.
Since he couldn’t do it alone, how about forming an alliance with others? If a few of them gathered on one leaf and attacked at the same time…

However, Zen quickly rejected this idea.

When Zen got out of the pyramid, Randy told him that only one warrior was allowed to enter through a narrow door at a time. If a number of them passed through the same narrow door simultaneously, only the first of them would land accurately on the leaf, while the other warriors would automatically be driven out. It made it impossible for them to climb onto the same leaf at the same time.

Zen wasn’t surprised at Randy’s answer. After all, it hadn’t been difficult for the Soul Sea Realm masters to think up similar solutions in the past.

Several powerful warriors of that realm had also previously tried stationing themselves on the nearby leaves to together attack a leaf. However, their methods had been restricted by the rules of the huge tree. It was something that a warrior of their level couldn’t fight back.

Anyone who wanted to get the pickaxe could only obtain it with the help of his own strength.

Standing below the pyramid, Zen stared at its peak indifferently as he repeated this one word to himself, “Strength…”

He needed more strength to turn the situation around. But how could he increase it quickly?

Suddenly, he saw a dozen or so warriors returning from their way on the left side of the pyramid, complaining to each other loudly.

“Damn it, everything valuable from the rubbish in the armory has been stolen over the years. There is nothing left for us! We might as well come back and dig for ores in the pyramid!”

“I’ve searched for treasures there for so long, but I only got two spiritual weapons. They’re both fucking low-grade!”

“I wonder if the mineral-devouring bugs have returned to the higher layers yet. If they are gone, we should continue mining in the pyramid.”

They were a group of warriors who had gone to hunt for treasures in the debris. Although there were many weapons in the armory, it still required some luck to pick out weapons that weren’t cursed.

Moreover, there were other warriors every year who tried their fortunes in the armory, so the number of weapons that weren’t cursed had decreased over time. The chances of finding a sacred weapon among them had become increasingly smaller.

Weapons… Could they be of any help? Zen raised his eyebrows as an idea occurred to him.

The heavenly essence in a weapon couldn’t just dissipate into thin air unless it was destroyed.

Why not just go and smelt the massive weapons in the armory?

Zen’s heart thumped with excitement as this thought came to his mind.

Previously Zen had been in no hurry to absorb more heavenly essence because his body couldn’t withstand any greater power. His fairy weapon physique nearly reached its limit after he had activated the one thousand dragon scales.

But now that his body had improved to the level of a sacred weapon, he could withstand the power of more dragon scales.

With the power of one thousand dragon scales, Zen was unable to break open the golden leaf and take the Black Star pickaxe within it.

However, he had the opportunity to activate more dragon scales now… What if he could activate five thousand dragon scales? Or even ten thousand?

Even when his strength was far from enough to carry out a mission, Zen still tried his best to achieve things. Right now, there was a feasible plan in place. Obviously, he couldn’t let go of this opportunity.

The only question now was whether those cursed weapons still contained the heavenly essence within them. Would the heavenly essence disappear because of the curse?

In any case, he could just go and see it for himself. Zen made up his mind, saying to Randy, “Lord Randy, I would like to go and try my luck in the debris as well.”

Camilla was guarding the pile of ores when she heard Zen’s words. Her face bloomed with curiosity. “Why would you do that? You already know it’s just rubbish. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find one or two sacred weapons at most among the cursed weapons. You could as well go on mining here.”

If Zen sold the mountainous pile of ores beside Camilla in the four divine kingdoms, the money would be enough to purchase five or six sacred weapons. That was far more than the value he could possibly get from the rubbish.

“Camilla is right. With your strength, there’s no need for you to do something so foolish,” Randy stated, agreeing with Camilla. Still, for some unknown reason, he felt that Zen wasn’t just going to the armory to pick undamaged weapons.

“It’s fine. I’m just curious. I’ll come back later to mine!” Zen replied with a smile. Just as he finished speaking, he raised his head and happened to meet Fiona’s eyes.

Although he had been busy going in and out of the pyramid, he hadn’t forgotten to pay attention to those around him. His sharp gaze was always aware of everything. He knew that Fiona’s gaze had been closely focused on him.

As they locked eyes, Fiona showed him a soft, gentle smile and jumped down along the pyramid. Because of the suppression of the blood sacrifice’s power, no one was able to fly at this place, so she had created a fiery red barrier around her body with her life vitality and glided several dozen feet down before arriving in front of Zen.

“Let me go with you! I would like to take a look as well,” she suggested to Zen.

Her goal for exploring the Feather Holy Sea and entering the Feather Emperor Secret Land wasn’t to obtain the ores and treasures. She had come here to gain experience.

Zen smiled and nodded in approval. He turned around and led the way, going around the pyramid and following the straight path to its left. There were quite a few divine-level geniuses who were returning from the armory one after another. Their gazes fixed on Zen and Fiona with curiosity as they passed by the two.