THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 5 - Season 13 Episode 42

Ailsa had kept her head down all this time.

However, Amber’s voice made her raise her head and they all saw how her eyes glowed with a strange azure light, like otherworldly fireflies on a dark, summer night.

She immediately rushed towards Zen, hands outstretched and ready to snatch the Soul Nurturing Wood from his hands.

Her actions shocked him and he was immediately on guard. He had never thought a Demon Night member would endanger Lavender like this!

The queen’s soul was extremely weak and fragile. Any slight attack towards the Soul Nurturing Wood held the possibility of destroying Lavender’s soul completely.

With a flick of his wrist, Zen quickly threw the Soul Nurturing Wood into the air.

Ailsa’s eyes were trained onto the brown branch and she immediately launched herself into the air to grab the Soul Nurturing Wood. Zen, however, was quick to catch Ailsa by the ankle and pull her down forcefully.

“Come down!”

He threw the azure-eyed girl to the ground while he caught the Soul Nurturing Wood safely in his hands.

The two guards beside Amber were immediately onto Ailsa and forced her onto the ground.

“Ailsa!” Amber fiercely berated the girl. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Ailsa ignored Amber and instead sneered at Zen. “You’re Zen, right?”

Zen frowned. “This voice…” he murmured to himself. He had heard this voice before in the Holy Tree Hall from the queen statue that he had smashed into pieces.

The members of the Demon Night immediately knelt on one knee upon hearing Ailsa’s voice.

“Queen!”

Their race had a total of three queens. Lavender was the queen of killings while the one in front of them was in charge of punishment… It seemed this queen had used some kind of secret technique to temporarily occupy Ailsa’s body with the intent of harming or perhaps even killing Lavender.

Amber had a rough guess why the Queen of Punishment wanted to harm Lavender but it was a dispute that she couldn’t really meddle with. Right now, she had to maintain a neutral façade and see how the situation unfolded.

Zen, on the other hand, was not part of the Demon Night race. For him, the dispute between the queens did not matter. If anyone wanted to harm Lavender then he would do whatever it took to eliminate that person.

Zen sneered coldly, “Yes, I am Zen and you’re the Demon Night’s Queen of Punishment, right? May I know your name?”

“You are not qualified to know my name,” Ailsa said haughtily. “I advise you to hand over that Soul Nurturing Wood and let Lavender’s soul dissipate in this world. If you do that, I’ll consider letting you off.” Zen suddenly froze, quite unsure of what he had just heard. However, once he realized that the queen was serious, he couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh.

Ailsa frowned at his reaction. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

Zen wheezed for a bit more before walking towards Ailsa. He coldly sneered at her as he looked straight at her glowing, azure eyes. “No wonder…”

“No wonder what?” Ailsa asked, the annoyance obvious in her curt tone. “No wonder Lavender said you were a bitch,” Zen cursed mercilessly. “Her soul is extremely vulnerable right now but you actually want to take advantage of her situation and kill her. You’re indeed merciless!”

Normally, a rude and insulting remark towards a Demon Night queen would be dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly. Amber, for one, would not hesitate to behead anyone brave enough to disrespect their beloved queens. However, the other party could be considered as an affiliate of another queen, so Amber could do nothing but keep her head down and let the circumstance work itself out.

Zen’s remark struck a nerve but Ailsa merely smiled. “You’re very daring, aren’t you? So what if you have the fate to lead the world of chaos? The opening of the chaotic world is not for you alone. Every time a chaotic world comes, many warriors with your fate die, and believe me, you will definitely be one of those who shall perish…”

Her statements were strong but Zen remained calm and collected in front of the queen. “It doesn’t matter whether I’ll perish or not. What matters is that you’re a bitch.”

Ailsa frowned in displeasure at his words but she decided to use her honeyed voice to try and tempt Zen. “If you give me the Soul Nurturing Wood, I can use the power of the Demon Night to let you…”

“You’re a bitch!” Zen rudely interrupted.

“My status is higher than Lavender’s and my abilities far surpass what you can imagine…”

“You’re a bitch!”

“I…”

“You’re a bitch!”

Zen probably repeated himself around seven or eight more times before the queen finally snapped and dropped her attempt of tempting the youth. She quickly controlled Ailsa’s body and roared, “Amber! Kill him!”

Amber, however, did not try to kill Zen. She merely continued kneeling respectfully on the ground, along with the rest of the Demon Night members. None of her subjects were willing to go through with her order which meant that the Queen of Punishment had to kill Zen herself. However, such a feat wouldn’t be so easy. For one, Ailsa was a mere third-level war sage so she wouldn’t be able to kill Zen. Besides, since the queen merely controlled Ailsa’s body, her original strength would be greatly reduced. It was the same case as when Zen had controlled Brianna’s body with the Soul Core but was unable to employ Brianna’s full strength.

“Bang, bang…”

With a frustrated roar, Ailsa rushed towards Zen and attacked. However, a few strikes were all it took for Zen to completely overpower her.

That wasn’t the end of it though. Zen quickly shot himself towards the Holy Tree Hall and went inside. One of the Demon Night members lowered her voice and quickly informed Amber, “Zen has entered the hall…”

Amber merely shushed her, “Just pretend you didn’t see that.”

As soon as he entered the hall, Zen walked up to the blue queen’s statue and carelessly patted it twice. “What else do you want to say?” he asked with a smile.
The Queen of Punishment’s statue trembled and opened her eyes. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Zen beat her to it. “You’re a bitch!”

The teasing had become too much and the statue’s exquisite face twisted in anger. “How dare you insult me like this! If one day, you ascend into the Upper World I’ll…”

“Clang!”

It was already too late. Just before she could finish her sentence, Zen had already thrown a strong punch and shattered the statue into pieces. “You’re really a pretentious bitch!” he shouted, shaking his fists with a smile.

Satisfied with the result of his handiwork, Zen exited the hall and returned to Amber’s side. None of the Demon Night members gave any indication of having acknowledged the events that had just transpired, seemingly determined to pretend nothing had happened. Miguel and his men though were obviously dumbfounded, not really sure of what was going on.

Zen’s expression was relaxed but deep inside he was already boiling with determination. Once Lavender’s soul was recovered, he vowed to quickly find a body for her and help her regain all that she had lost. As for that Queen of Punishment, he swore in his heart to punish and torture her for her despicable deeds.

Now that the matter was taken care of, everyone went about their ways and the Heavenly Feather Sacred Place was left to recover.

Its healing rate was actually incredible. The holy tree’s trunk was scorched black but the roots were fortunately untouched.

These roots ran several thousand feet underground with a few extending over a hundred miles horizontally. It constantly absorbed nutrients from the earth and was a vital factor in speeding up the tree’s recovery process.

As it healed, the tree also nourished the Heavenly Feather Sacred Place. Green seedlings had already sprouted all around which meant that it would be able to fully recover in no time at all.

Meanwhile, Miguel and the rest members of the Purple Heart Sacred Place had teamed up with Lacey and the other Soul Sea Realm masters to attack the two ogre sacred places.

After the ogre race’s expulsion from the Tower of Sin, it was obviously only a matter of time before they declined.

What the other races did not expect was the swiftness of their extermination. In less than a year, the two imposing ogre sacred places would be wiped out by humans and the Demon Night!

The ogre’s downfall was considered good news for the other races. The previously powerful race had been too brutal and tyrannical compared to the gentler human race and Demon Night race. Even after the humans took control of the Tower of Sin, they did not abuse their position to break any rules or annihilate other races.

Within two days, the Demon Night members were finally able to gather all the materials Hank had requested.

Once he had all the materials, making the puppets was a piece of cake for Hank. In just half a day, he was able to fashion eight puppets for them to use.