THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 5 - Season 14 Episode 58

As speculated, the waves of life vitality quickly erupted outside his residence. Under the pressure of the intensely hostile atmosphere, the doors and windows of Zen’s small palace began to shake continuously, as if a violent storm had begun outside.

After a few seconds, a miserable scream was heard from outside the palace. Soon after, Zen heard a sound of wind. He frowned. Without a moment’s pause, his palace’s door was smashed open by a heavy object with a thud!

It was Ryker’s body that had smashed open the door effectively crumbling the door to pieces.

He had smashed through the front door swiftly. The momentum of his body did not weaken by the slightest extent. Hence, his body crash landed on the ground and left a messy ditch. After invading through the palace wall and creating a large hole, he flew out of Zen’s small palace.

Zen stood there alone and felt perplexed as he curled his lips helplessly. This was the second time that such a thing had occurred.

The warriors outside the palace sighed.

“Alas, even Ryker has been defeated so easily!”

“Could it be that this woman in the Life and Death Realm is so invincible that she can defeat the warriors of the entire Swallow Cloud House all by herself?”

“I really hope that’s just a rumor and someone can defeat her!”

They sighed as they glanced at Zen constantly.

Both Layla and Zen had just joined the Mist Palace, and they had almost blossomed into neighbors.

Both of them were Life and Death Realm warriors, but Layla’s cultivation base was slightly higher than that of Zen, as she was at the ninth level of the Life and Death Realm, while Zen had just reached the fifth level.

Seeing the warriors of the Swallow Cloud House being defeated by Layla, they couldn’t help but compare Zen with Layla.

The duo were extremely powerful, and those warriors couldn’t help but wonder the result of a duel between them.

It was a pity that Zen seemed to focus solely on his cultivation and didn’t have any intention of challenging Layla.

When he first arrived here, he caused a spontaneous chaos only because he took away the Thunder Wind Divine Sword. But the disturbance quickly subsided. Everyone was well aware that Zen wasn’t the type of a warrior who would constantly stir up trouble.

“Is there any way to persuade Zen to challenge Layla?”

“No. Don’t you see that Layla is doing this deliberately? She has quite intentionally smashed Ryker into Zen’s palace. This was a blatant provocation. Zen was able to tolerate it during the previous attempt. This time, he might still tolerate it, yet again…”

“Our Mist Palace is filled with talented individuals, but now we are suppressed by a woman. What a disgrace…”

Zen followed the ditch on the ground and walked to the door. At this moment, Layla, who was dressed in cyan, also came over.

Before Zen could say anything, Layla uttered, “I will compensate you for the damaged items…”

Zen frowned. “Your meagre sum of compensation is not the principal matter of concern here. This is the second time this sort of an incident has occurred here. I’m inclined to believe that you did it on purpose.”

Layla smiled lightly, but refused to admit to his allegation. “I didn’t do that deliberately. During the challenges, it would be hard to avoid mistakes and I might cause some collateral damages. I’ll get someone to fix the palace for you immediately. Don’t worry.”

Before Zen could muster some words to reply, the other warriors had already begun expressing themselves.

“This woman is so shameless to lie so confidently!”

“Obviously, she did that deliberately with devious intentions!”

“Earlier, she singlehandedly lifted Ryker and threw him over here. I saw that with my own eyes!”

After the warriors finished talking, Zen stared coldly at Layla. “Did you just hear their opinions?”

“No,” Layla replied with a carefree smile.

“The Mist Palace has its own Illusion Space which is specially designed for battles, so you will not get injured while fighting, and you can even unleash your full strength. However, you fight in front of my door every time and disturb my cultivation. What’s your original motive behind all this?” Zen asked, his eyes fixated on Layla.

Noticing that Zen was furious, she curled her lips. “It’s simple. If you’re willing to fight me, I naturally won’t bother you any longer!”

“I’m not interested in that,” said Zen. How could he not read this woman’s mind to deduce her aim? However, he really didn’t have the interest to indulge in a battle right now.

Layla smiled faintly. “Then I’ll have to continue disturbing you. I’m afraid I can’t avoid mistakes in the challenge and may end up destroying your palace in the process…”

Hearing this, Zen immediately felt morose. This was like getting into trouble for no reason at all!

As she had promised, a craftsman came over to help repair Zen’s palace without further delay. Layla’s challenge continued without any significant interruption. She would often damage Zen’s house during the fighting solely ‘by mistake’.

However, after Zen endured her for a few days, the disturbance seemed to have finally subsided.

In the past few days, the challengers had higher rankings, including warriors ranking 60th, 32nd, 17th, 9th…

The last fighter was ranked fourth in the Swallow Cloud House. The fight between him and Layla lasted for about two hours!

The warriors at such high level would undoubtedly be a cause of great devastation even if they were to launch a small strike. The reason why Layla had not caused such a great damage in the previous battles was because she had the overwhelming advantage over those warriors, which meant that she had always won with one strike. The fourth ranked warrior of the Swallow Cloud House was indeed not at all a cakewalk for her and the damage caused during the two hours of combat was unbearable.

Zen’s small palace was completely annihilated. Not only his house, but the dozen or so palaces where some other warriors lived had all been demolished and crumbled into sawdust. Only Layla’s house was still standing strong and alone, as if she had used some kind of secret divine texture technique to consolidate her own house…

Zen sat on the only intact floor, but he felt regretful. If he could have anticipated this earlier, he would have duly accepted this woman’s challenge.

The warrior who ranked fourth in the Swallow Cloud House was defeated by Layla, ultimately.

After Layla clapped her hands, she looked at Zen who was sitting on the floor not far away with an innocent face, and smiled faintly. Her toes lightly touched the ground, and like a little bird, she floated over to Zen. Then she said apologetically, “I’m sorry… I’ll compensate you.”

Zen rolled his eyes as he chose to remain silent.

However, Layla’s efficiency of repairing houses was quite high. The palaces which had been destroyed were rapidly repaired within a few hours.

Because of her fight with the disciple ranking fourth in the Swallow Cloud House, her status had risen rapidly in the entire Mist Palace!

Everyone now understood that Layla was probably a strong competitor during the Passing the Torch!

She had already challenged and defeated the disciple who was ranked fourth in the Swallow Cloud House. And the challenge was finally over for good.

The top three warriors of the Swallow Cloud House were unequivocally exemplary talents from the supreme worlds. In order to perform well in the Passing the Torch, they all began cultivating in seclusion. Hence, they weren’t available to challenge Layla amidst the cultivation.

Zen also enjoyed a peaceful coexistence during this period of time, without any further disruption of his life from any other source. Layla had finally ceased being a nuisance…

Another month passed like the blink of an eye. During this month, all of the warriors had concentrated fiercely on their cultivation, preparing for the Passing the Torch that was just around the corner.

During this month, the Mist Palace too was relatively very peaceful and quiet. But recently, the sky was abruptly lit up by the light of six stars, which aided in getting the curiosity level of many warriors skyrocket.

Normally, when a phenomenon related to the stars unfolded, some warrior would probably be practicing the cultivation methods related to the stars. As for the cultivation methods related to the stars, they were all extremely powerful and volatile. However, no one was able to wholeheartedly guess exactly who was practicing such a cultivation method at that particular moment…

Zen didn’t neglect the Stellar Body either. During the last period of time in the Lower World, Zen still attempted to establish communication channels with the stars, hoping to trigger a few more stars eventually. However, it was very difficult for him to activate those stars. Hence, he was determined to make as many attempts as necessary.

While he was in the Lower World, Zen would have to spend almost an entire night letting his senses separate from his body. Thus, a day would often pass in a blink of an eye.

Now that he had ascended to the Upper World, the distance between him and the stars was much closer and the time it took to cultivate was even shorter. Thus, whenever night fell, Zen would patiently attempt to establish a communication with any of the many stars that caught his attention.

Owing to his perpetual and frequent efforts, the number of stars that had triggered due to Zen’s efforts increased to six.

The only Transcendent Divine Might he had was a fragment of a book, but Zen would still work hard to cultivate it. His determination was unmatched. The opponents he had to face in the future would be stronger than all the ones he had to face so far. Elena, the Queen of Punishment of the Demon Night, was one of his prospective opponents, but her strength was so powerful that he feared facing her in direct combat.

Moreover, if he wanted to rescue Yan, he had to face even more enemies who would pose an even dangerous threat to his own very existence. Thus, Zen was left with no option but to continue cultivating without a moment’s pause.

One month later, a frightening voice was heard throughout the entire Mist Palace.
Yolande’s figure was like that of a pristinely white lotus, floating all alone in the sky. She said bluntly, “The Passing the Torch begins!”

After she had proclaimed the commencement of the event, a few more figures floated out. It was none other than Timothy and the other vice leaders of the Mist Palace.

“All the warriors in the Mist Palace who can pass through the Red Cloud Ring, please follow me!” Yolande then gently pointed her finger upwards and a ring appeared in her hand. It immediately spread downwards. That crimson ring was over a hundred feet wide and occupied a position above the heads of many warriors.