THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 4 - Season 12 Episode 68

The Black Star pickaxe clanked as it was knocked against the giant leaf.

Cracks continued to surface on the azure blue leaf, a number of life crystals popping out one after another.

Zen smiled faintly and waved his hand, gathering the life crystals into his space ring.

He had felt somewhat disappointed after obtaining the Black Star, for it could only dig up things. However, since it was a pickaxe, that was its only function.

Now that he possessed the life crystals, his most urgent goal at this place had been accomplished.

Nonetheless, after investing so much effort in getting the pickaxe, he wouldn’t mind digging up some more ores.

Just as Zen looked for his next target, he heard Turner speak to him politely. “Thad, now that you’ve obtained the Black Star pickaxe, I need a favor from you!”

All the Soul Sea Realm masters wished to seek Zen’s help, but the one most qualified to make the request was Turner.

After all, Turner had stepped in to help Zen quite a few times, and Zen was now regarded as a member of his divine kingdom. There was no reason for Zen to reject his demand.

“Your majesty, please don’t hesitate to speak your mind. I will grant you everything that you wish,” Zen replied, respect evident in his voice.

Turner nodded his head in satisfaction. Since Zen recognized him as the king and had regard for him, it would be easy for him to put forth his request. “In order to enter the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land, the four divine kingdoms need a type of ore from these leaves. It is called…”

“Soul Core, correct?” Zen had already heard about it from Lord Randy, so he immediately made a guess.

“Yes, and there’s one about ten feet away to the left of your feet,” Turner said politely, a smile lingering about his mouth.

There happened to be a number of Soul Cores on the forty-fifth, forty-sixth, and forty-seventh layers. However, in the past years, they had placed all their hopes of getting the Soul Cores on the purple mineral-devouring bugs. For that reason, the four divine kingdoms had only obtained a total of a hundred or so Soul Cores thus far.

That would have been fine if they still had all of those Soul Cores, however they had lost most of them along the way. This year, they only had thirty-six Soul Cores in their possession.

Anyone who wanted to enter the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land would need to use a Soul Core to obtain a corpse of the Dragon Lineage Humans. The four divine kingdoms had so many Soul Sea Realm masters that the numbers of Soul Cores were far from enough. Because of that, each year the four divine kingdoms clamored over the allocation of Soul Cores.

Fortunately, they might not need to struggle over that this year.

The powerful warriors of the Soul Sea Realm shared this sentiment, all owing to this young man who was only at the Virtual Tribulation Realm!

Following Turner’s instructions, Zen moved around, soon finding an ore under his feet. The ore had a perfectly round shape and thumped quietly like a small heart.

“So this is a Soul Core? After obtaining this, I’ll have the right to enter the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land?” Zen’s eyes flickered with excitement. He finally had the chance to enter the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land. He had agreed to help the cyan dragon take the Ancestral Dragon’s egg from there.

Quick as a wink, Zen brandished his Black Star pickax and shattered the leaf. He then bent down and took out the Soul Core which was still beating silently.

Seeing this, the powerful warriors at the Soul Sea Realm smiled gladly. Turner turned to them. “Go look for them quickly!” he ordered. “Everyone, record the locations of the Soul Cores around you. Thad, I’m afraid we will have to trouble you for some time!”

“Wait a minute, sir. Please hear my request first,” Zen chipped in.

Turner smiled. “Feel free to convey it, Thad.”

“May I participate in your journey to the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land?” Zen asked straightaway.

Hearing this, Lucien, who stood on a faraway leaf, snorted. “The Heavenly Stellar Secret Land is the most important place of our four divine kingdoms!” he said in a cold voice. “We won’t allow any outsiders in.”

Some of the other Soul Sea Realm masters scorned at Zen as well. Ever since they had found the way to enter the Heavenly Stellar Secret Land, none of the talents from the younger generation under the Soul Sea Realm had been allowed in. To them, Zen’s request was ridiculous!

But before Turner could say anything, Scott, who had been silent all this while, spoke up. “Thad is not an outsider. He is a member of the Harlen Divine Kingdom. In the past, our number of Soul Cores was limited, but now with Thad’s help, we won’t have to worry about it any longer!”

Turner too agreed with him. “That’s right. The number of Soul Cores in these three layers probably exceeds two hundred. There won’t be any issue if Thad joins us.”

War Emperor York sneered but didn’t say anything else. Now that the other two had agreed to Zen’s request, he had no choice but to accept it. Besides, they still needed Zen to dig out the Soul Cores for them.

After the kings gave their assent, Zen got to work.

He jumped off the leaves and entered again through the narrow doors.

“There’s a Soul Core here! Here it is, on the forty-sixth layer!”

“I found three here on this leaf!”

“Come over when you’re done. I have two here as well…”

As he dug out the Soul Cores one by one, Zen did not forget to extract the other ores as well. The ores of these layers were invaluable, so Zen accumulated them all into his space ring.

The powerful warriors at the Soul Sea Realm watched with envious eyes as Zen took the precious ores. They wanted to take their shares of the spoils but were too embarrassed to ask for his favor.

Zen, on the other hand, had already decided what he would do with the ores. He only needed one Soul Core for himself. If the warriors wanted the rest, Zen would give them away appropriately as gifts. After all, he was just a Virtual Tribulation Realm warrior. He needed to get along with the emperors if he wanted to gain a foothold in the divine kingdoms. The warriors would not allow him to take away treasures from their continent without a price anyway, even though they couldn’t dig them out by themselves.

Through Zen’s sustained efforts, many leaves at the top three layers were shattered into pieces, revealing the hidden ores inside. After Zen reached the top layer and began digging the three leaves of the layer, his gaze turned to the exquisite flower at the top of the tree.

When Zen had been at the forty-fifth layer, he had observed the dazzling flower for a long time. There was no doubt in his mind that the flower was the core of the tree.

“Smash it open, Zen,” the cyan dragon’s voice rang out in Zen’s head.

“This flower…” Zen muttered as he studied the flower thoughtfully.

The cyan dragon chuckled and said, “It’s the Tribulation Flower of this Earth Tree.”

“The Tribulation Flower? What’s that?” Zen’s eyes flashed with curiosity. The flower looked so beautiful, but its name sounded strange to his ears.

“The Tribulation Flower can expand the power of a Heavenly Tribulation. It can strengthen the power of a life-and-death tribulation to the maximum,” the cyan dragon replied.

As he heard this, Zen’s eyes widened with surprise. “Strengthen the power of the life-and-death tribulation?” he repeated with interest.

After reaching the Life and Death Realm, warriors were bound to face the life-and-death tribulations, same as the small Heavenly Tribulations that Lavender had mentioned. They could reach the Soul Sea Realm only after facing several Heavenly Tribulations. However, the dangerous life-and-death tribulations had sealed the fates of most Life and Death Realm warriors.

There were tens of thousands of Life and Death Realm warriors in the four divine kingdoms. That number would have been countless times more if all the Life and Death Realm warriors in the past thousands of years were to be included. However, there were few who had reached the Soul Sea Realm, or would make it there in future.

It was widely accepted that about ninety-nine percent of the Life and Death Realm warriors had been killed by the life-and-death tribulations.

Warriors were always afraid that the life-and-death tribulation was too difficult to brave through, but this Tribulation Flower could even make the life-and-death tribulation even harder. Zen doubted the flower would do him any good.

“Anyone in the Lower World is qualified to ascend to the Upper World after reaching the Soul Sea Realm,” the cyan dragon elucidated. “But in the Upper World, the Soul Sea Realm is just the beginning; the first step for a warrior to embark on his journey! As for the Small Heavenly Tribulation of the Life and Death Realm, it is not only a tribulation but also like a baptism of fire for all warriors. Whether it is in the Genuine Dragon World or any other supreme worlds, the Small Heavenly Tribulation in the Life and Death Realm has always been regarded as an important event. The more Small Heavenly Tribulations a warrior can get through, the greater his potential in the future.”

Warriors who had been promoted to the Soul Sea Realm after experiencing five or six Small Heavenly Tribulations belonged to the lower ranks in the Upper World.

Similarly, warriors who had gone through seven Small Heavenly Tribulations to reach the Soul Sea Realm were considered as second-rate warriors.

And among all kinds of forces, the warriors who could undergo eight Small Heavenly Tribulations were considered to be the top warriors, worth all efforts of the forces to train them.

However, someone who could undergo nine Small Heavenly Tribulations was decidedly exceptional. Such a character would undoubtedly shake the status quo with his name and go down in the history books of the era. In every ten million years, there were only five or six people of any great race blessed to be such chosen ones.

Zen was taken aback by the cyan dragon’s words. It seemed that there were no titles such as the heaven-level or divine-level talents in the Upper World.

With the methods of the great races above, it would perhaps be quite easy for a warrior to reach the Soul Sea Realm. Nonetheless, it was almost impossible to change the number of the Heavenly Tribulations one was to undergo.

“If that’s the case, the Upper World should also be keen on this Tribulation Flower, yes?” Zen asked.

The cyan dragon smiled. “There are no Earth Trees in the Upper World. This Tribulation Flower is in fact a fortune for you warriors of the Lower World!”