THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 5 - Season 14 Episode 20

Riyad’s face darkened upon hearing Chen’s words.

Back in the Lower World, Riyad was incredibly famed and feared for his power. The reverence given to him by others made him proud and unyielding.

He was a hardened warrior who did not tolerate insults. Anyone who dared to offend him suffered instant death.

Zen’s humiliation wasn’t something he was ever willing to let go and he had already thought of so many ways to retaliate against the young man. But here was Chen warning him not to go after Zen. Riyad was immediately enraged.

“Why?!” he exclaimed, not understanding the logic of Chen’s words.

Huang shrugged. “No reason. It’s just a warning. If you listen to me, then that’s good. If not, then that’s on you.”

They were about to leave when Chen hesitated and leaned into Riyad’s ear, “It had taken that kid only a few seconds to adapt to the Vitality Pressure on the day of his ascension.”

With this information, the two armored warriors left without looking back.

Their departure left Riyad conflicted. He could easily ignore the advice of other people but those two warriors had a close relationship with him. They might have been blunt but he knew they only told him those things for his own good.

He briefly wondered if what Chen said was true. Did Zen really only take seconds to adapt to the Vitality Pressure after he left the Ascending Well? A deep frown was entrenched onto Riyad’s face.
He remembered how he had taken a full five days to adapt to the Vitality Pressure after ascending to the Upper World. These five days were already considered fast since Riyad had shown great adaptive capacity upon his ascension. But a few seconds? This feat was highly likely a reason for the Spiritual Force Sacred Place to notice Zen.

Many of the warriors born and raised in the Upper World had a slight prejudice against those who merely ascended from the Lower World. However, this prejudice was nonexistent to the Spiritual Force Sacred Place which was always hungry for more talents. Breeding and birth origin did not matter to this tenth-grade sacred place.

Zen’s quick adaptation to the Vitality Pressure was immediately reported by the armored warriors shortly after the young man left the Ascending Well.

There was a gap in strength between Lower World and Upper World warriors but every now and then, an extraordinary ascended individual would emerge.

From the exact moment Zen started mining, the Spiritual Force Sacred Place had already dispatched a couple of eyes to observe this young man closely.

It was fortunate that Zen had set-up a divine texture yesterday before using the Roaring Token. The divine texture served as a temporary screen from these prying eyes, hiding him away from the world.

Meanwhile, the object of Riyad’s rage and intrigue currently sat in the open field, meditating with his eyes closed.

Zen felt a strong sense of urgency every time his warrior spirit rose. His mind was always occupied with the list of things he had to do: helping Lavender regain her strength and glory, helping the cyan dragon and other dragons, finding Yan…
He had so many things to do, so many goals to accomplish, but he had to get stronger first.

The warriors around him currently sized him up. They all knew how this kid had pretended to be insane to tease Riyad. It was a wonder if he was still going to be alive tomorrow.

So long as he stayed in this gathering place and veered away from the mines then he would probably be safe. Riyad would definitely have his head if he ever stepped foot into the mineral vein again.
At least, that was what they all thought. Zen and Freya had gone to the mine the next day but came back unharmed and untouched.

It was the same for the third day.

And on the fourth day, Riyad actually came out of the mine and greeted Zen with a smile when he passed by him in the gathering place.

It was then that the warriors realized that Riyad must’ve finally given in though none of them were quite sure why. They could only speculate what made the fearsome boss be like this to Zen.

Zen, meanwhile, was flourishing in the mine. The bottom layer of the mine was extremely dangerous but it was no problem for him so long as he kept running fast and avoided all the dangers.

If he ever got cornered, all he would need to do was to use his trump card: activating the ‘Mountain’ token and escaping into the fairy palace.

Fortunately, he hadn’t gotten around to using it yet.

But it wasn’t always great mining for the two. Just the other day, Zen and Freya found a pile of around fifty to sixty life vitality jades.

Unfortunately, this pile was guarded by three twelfth-grade vicious beasts. It was a waste but Zen valued his life more than those precious jades. The two were then forced to retreat.

Between constant mining and cultivating, time passed by very quickly in the mineral vein.

Both Zen’s and Freya’s registered life vitality jades had reached eighty which meant they only needed to hand over twenty more to gain their freedom and join the Spiritual Force Sacred Place.

The thought overjoyed Freya. As soon as she joined the sacred place then she could rely on her uncle for further development.

Zen, on the other hand, quickly informed her that he had no desire to join the Spiritual Force Sacred Place.

He wanted to be an independent warrior which meant he would have to hand over two hundred life vitality jades.

Freya was quite shocked upon hearing his plan. The Spiritual Force Sacred Place was, after all, a tenth-grade sacred place. Why on earth would Zen ascend into this world only to become an independent warrior?

She was curious but Zen didn’t explain too much, nor did he want to.

They were only temporary partners so after making it known that he wasn’t going to tell her anything, Freya thought it best to just leave him alone.

But of course, destiny had a way of playing with people. A few months later, both Zen and Freya finally accumulated their one hundred life vitality jades. At this time, the Spiritual Force Sacred Place sent two people to the mine.

The armored warriors were quick to welcome these two guests respectfully, signifying their status as important figures of the Spiritual Force Sacred Place.

“Greetings Master Shen and Master He!” They all bowed in unison.

All armored warriors guarding the mineral vein had mobilized to clear away the gathering place and now stood in a neat, straight line to greet the masters.

The Spiritual Force Sacred Place was actually ranked last among the three great sacred places of the Spirit Reading World. It occupied only a few regions but due to the enormous area of the supreme world, it was still unimaginably large…

They had a total of thirty-six halls that each governed a thousand large cities. To put it into perspective, that meant that the Spiritual Force Sacred Place had a total of thirty-six thousand large cities!

And these two people that just arrived were two leaders from two of these thirty-six halls.

The warriors who managed the newly ascended were mostly at the Soul Sea Realm. If they remained stuck and were unable to progress with their cultivation, they could only ever hope to become a city lord which was an extremely difficult task considering the number of fifth-grade and sixth-grade families within cities. There were also numerous small sacred places within cities.

For two mighty leaders to make an appearance in the Spiritual Force Sacred Place spoke volumes!

They were only below the top leader, the core figures, and the elders when it came to the hierarchy of power.

The armored warriors had to show their utmost respect for these two masters that went out of their way to visit this remote mineral vein.

The armored warrior that led everyone came forward. “Masters, what can we do for you? We will try our best to offer any assistance…”

“There’s a person named Zen Luo that has recently ascended to the Upper World,” Master Shen said, cutting off the warrior’s words. “He’s in this mineral vein, right?”

The armored warrior immediately nodded his head. “Yes! He is indeed in our mineral vein!”

“Where is he?” Master Shen asked.

The armored warrior fumbled and made an effort to crane his neck around. He couldn’t really keep an eye on Zen all day long so he currently did not know where the young man was at the time being.

“Master Shen, Zen entered the mineral vein today,” another warrior helpfully supplied.

Master Shen nodded his head in understanding. “Then we shall wait for him here.”

Two mighty leaders of the Spiritual Force Sacred Place were willing to wait for a young, newly ascended warrior! It was shocking and mildly disturbing. Just what kind of background did Zen have to warrant such special treatment?

They remembered how the higher-ups issued an order for them to keep an eye out for Zen due to his fast adaptation to the Vitality Pressure just after he came out of the Ascending Well. They kind of knew he was someone whom the Spiritual Force Sacred Place prospected for but could such small achievement actually warrant such a special kind of treatment from the two masters? The armored warriors would be lying if they said they weren’t envious of Zen right now. True, they were superior to these ascended warriors but there was no doubt that the achievements of the ones they enslaved were often set to be much greater than any of them could ever hope to imagine.

Roughly guessing the intention of the two masters’ visit, the armored warrior in the lead quickly spoke, “Master Shen and Master He, since you two have come for Zen, I think there is something you must know.

“What is it?” Master Shen asked.

“Zen already handed over one hundred life vitality jades. He could have left the mineral vein but he still chose to continue mining. He wants to gather two hundred life vitality jades to obtain his freedom and become an independent warrior!” he said.

Master Shen was silent but Master He let out a sinister laugh. “An independent warrior? Ha! I’m afraid that’s not up to him to decide.”