THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 4 - Season 12 Episode 60

“How did Zen get injured? I haven’t seen anyone attack him!”

“It is indeed very strange… What is going on with him?”

“I have seen similar things before. When a martial artist absorbs too much power that his body is unable to withstand it, this is what happens! But Zen’s body is so strong. What kind of power would make this happen to him?”

Zen gasped heavily, his expression betraying nothing. His body was on the verge of collapse. If he continued to increase the power of the dragon scales, his physical body might not be able to hold out against the strong pressure.

Had the power of five thousand dragon scales touched his limits?

He took another step forward with great difficulty. Even though he had entered into a state of forgetting himself and couldn’t feel the pain in his body from the pressure of this immense power, he was still a horrible sight to look at.

‘Do I need to activate the power of six thousand dragon scales?’

he wondered, a look of hesitation appearing on his face. However, he quickly gave up on this idea. Even though he had only taken one step forward, three to four blood arrows shot out from his body…

‘Let me try this out with five thousand dragon scales.’

Since he had already reached his limit, Zen wasn’t foolish enough to try to activate the power of six thousand dragon scales. If his physical body really collapsed, no one would be able to save him.

Zen spread out his legs, his toes pointed and buttocks clenched. He stood firmly on the golden leaf, right above the spot where the pickaxe was located. Slowly, he clenched his fists.

“Puff! Puff! Puff…”

The power within Zen’s body drifted into his arms, each of the pulses in his arms bulging out like little snakes. At the same time, blood arrows continued to erupt from his skin. In an instant, the sleeves on his arms had been torn apart by the blood arrows.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and slowly raised his fist.

Zen didn’t dare use his life vitality or forceful energy. Now that Zen’s body had been thoroughly activated to its limits, it could be that just a little more strength would be enough to disintegrate his body and cause his body to explode.

‘Let me release all the power!’

Zen’s fist landed on the light golden leaf with a profound impact.

The speed of his strike wasn’t fast. Since it contained such formidable power, he didn’t need to increase the speed to boost his power…

As his fist approached the leaf, the immense force from his body began to pour out onto it.

Zen’s body too began to shrink rapidly at this moment. Moments ago, his physical body had doubled in size. With his strength now released, it shrunk back to its normal size.

Clang!

A dull and heavy sound rang out.

A few seconds after, the golden leaf began to sink. It stopped moving after being pushed down by about ten feet. However, there were no signs to indicate that it was broken. The golden leaf, pressed down by ten feet, was like a tightly drawn bowstring. In the next moment, it quickly rebounded, bouncing Zen into the air!

Like a fish in a frying pan, Zen was thrown high into the air by the golden leaf. He flipped over and fell back on top of the golden leaf…

The huge vibration quickly spread over the entire tree. Some warriors had been lying on the edge of the leaves in order to get a better view of Zen. The leaves vibrated violently, because of which they couldn’t hold on to the edge of the leaves they were on. As a result, they straightaway fell off the leaves and into the light circles…

“He failed. Zen’s power has shaken the entire mineral tree…”

“His power is incredible. I’m afraid that even a mighty warrior of the Soul Sea Realm could not have such terrifying power.”

“It is such a pity! Although Zen and our York Divine Kingdom are not on good terms, I really look forward to him smashing this golden leaf and extracting the Black Star pickaxe!”

The many divine-level talents fell silent, sporting disappointed looks on their faces.

They didn’t care if Zen could take out the Black Star pickaxe or not. But at the same time, they were shocked by Zen’s move. Even the warriors of the York Divine Kingdom felt pity for him.

Lying on the golden leaf, Zen panted heavily. Right now, he stepped out of the state of forgetting himself, clearly feeling the pain in every part of his body.

He had failed. The power of the five thousand dragon scales seemed not enough.

It looked like the power of six thousand of the dragon scales would not be sufficient, either.

The golden leaf was supported by a root that was not so thick. Someone could not smash a leaf on the tree with a hammer because the stem of the leaf had a certain elasticity.

This was also the reason why Zen had failed. The root of the tree was extremely tough, but it was its elasticity that had offset much of Zen’s strength.

‘If I want to smash this golden leaf, I’m afraid I will need the power of more than ten thousand dragon scales. I have already lit up fourteen thousand, but my body is unable to withstand such power. What should I do?’ Zen was at a loss for the moment.

Excruciating pain shot through Zen’s body, but it was nothing compared to his dejected mood.

“Give up, Thad!” The voice of Randy suddenly echoed.

Randy had been standing on a leaf at the thirty-third floor, two floors below the floor Zen was on. He faced the south-east direction, which was a good spot to watch over Zen.

In fact, many of the martial artists outside had also entered, including Callan and Fiona. Fiona was quite far away from Zen. She sat quietly on a leaf of the thirty-sixth floor, her legs dangling over by the side. A look of pity reflected in her eyes as she followed Zen’s every move.

Hearing Randy’s voice, Zen slowly stood up from the leaf. “I’ll help you get the life stones!” Randy continued. “The majority of the life stones excavated every year have been used, but there will still be some scattered around the four divine kingdoms. We can certainly collect some of them.”

As soon as Randy finished speaking, Fiona’s voice came through. A little far away from them, she amplified her voice through her life vitality. “My father still has some life stones. Thad, how many life stones do you need? I think if everyone gathers some, we should be able to achieve the number you need.”

“Thad… I have gathered another eight life stones…” Camilla looked up at Zen as she spoke. She was the last to come into the pyramid and was now sitting on a leaf on the thirty-second floor.

Zen was glad of their warm words and kindness.

Indeed, his main target was the life stones, which could be used to save Letitia’s life.

However, that did not mean that Zen’s goal was only the life stones.

He did not forget about the young man he had met in the Ethereal Spirit Sect. Even though the man did not show the slightest hostility toward him or Yan, he understood that if he wanted to see Yan again, he would need to practice tens of thousands of times harder than others.

That was also one of Zen’s goals.

Zen knew that if he advanced steadily, there would still be a long way to go in his life. There was a lot of time for him to grow, but Zen could not afford to waste a single second. He had to grow as fast as possible and challenge every peak he faced until he once again stood in front of that young man.

Zen would not give up in the face of the light golden leaf and the Black Star pickaxe sealed within it.

“Thank you!”

Zen said faintly, pouring his life vitality into his voice.

He said this to Randy, Fiona and Camilla who had been so kind to offer their help.
Zen sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes once again, trying to think of a way to break the leaf beneath his feet.

His physical body was unable to withstand any more power. It seemed like a predicament with no solution in sight.

Time passed by. The warriors on the leaves stared fixedly at Zen. The scene was dull as Zen now sat still doing nothing, but every martial artist seemed to harbor a lot of patience. It felt like a movie where the climax was incoming, although for the moment it was uninteresting. The audience still waited with bated breaths. They wanted to know what kind of solution Zen would come up with.

“There is no solution. He can’t make it!” “For over ten thousand years, the powerful masters at the Soul Sea Realm have received many ideas to solve this problem. They tried every possible way they could think of! None of them ever succeeded!”

“It’s true that Thad is a rare genius, but every warrior who has reached the Soul Sea Realm is the best among all,” another spectator commented.