THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 6 - Season 14 Episode 71

The Purification Pool was also a place to gauge the strength of martial artists of the thirteen palaces.

In the previous few hours, thousands of cultivators had jumped into the pool and made a show of their abilities.

The pool was an important aspect of Passing the Torch. The leaders also informed the warriors of their own palaces to exhibit their strength.

Among the warriors of the thirteen palaces, Layla from Mist Palace had previously sunk into the bottom of the Purification Pool the fastest and the most effortlessly.

In just a few seconds, she had quietly sunk twenty feet into the depths of the Purification Pool. The resistance of the water in the Purification Pool seemed not to hinder her in any way.

Zen was also from Mist Palace but he had arrived late. In the end, he had not put up an extraordinary show.

Whether or not Zen used his full strength, he was floating at such a shallow depth right now that he could only be ranked below average with his current performance, or even among the most incompetent martial artists of the thirteen palaces.

“I was wondering what kind of an extraordinary talent he was. It seemed I have waited in vain!”

“The boy could not be so intelligent since he actually believed the mystery left behind by Supreme Lord Sword.”

“All right, we can seal off the path of Passing the Torch now!”

“I still want to check on how the little ones in my palace are doing?”

Some of the leaders of the palaces were dissatisfied when they heard the announcement.

The voices passed through the clear pool of water and reached Zen’s ears, but he looked calm and indifferent. It was then that he noticed Yolande looking at him. He grinned at her.

The two of them smiled at each other knowingly at the same time, neither of them knowing what the other was so amused about…

After that, Zen turned back to what he had to face. Immersing himself in the water of the pool, Zen felt his spirit become more refreshed. He became quicker in thinking.

As Zen left the Purification Pool, the old man in the cotton clothes clapped his hands. A huge word—’seal’—appeared in the sky.

When the word appeared, it immediately locked them out from the Orange Sea World on the outside. It was as if an independent space had formed within the scope of the word.

‘What a powerful technique!’ Zen was somewhat surprised to see the old man’s skills.

This old man in cotton clothes must be halfway into becoming a world lord, or at least had the strength equivalent to that of one. The great theurgy he had displayed through his cultivation amazed Zen.

After the path to Passing the Torch was sealed off, Zen followed the crowd and entered a square. A few square stones were placed in the square.

Each of the stones was about two feet in length and was engraved with densely packed words the size of mosquitoes or flies.

At the end of the square were thousands of warriors sitting on the side. They held a square stone carving in their hands, contemplating on the contents with their heads lowered.

“You, choose a stone carving yourself! Go sit over there and meditate!” the old man in the cotton clothes said coldly.

Zen had not left a good impression on this old man. Naturally, the latter did not sound pleasant while talking to him.

At the moment, Yolande was looking at the few stone carvings scattered on the square. She said to Zen, “The stone carvings that are easy to comprehend have all been taken away. The remaining ones might be very difficult to understand…”

There had originally been thousands of stone carvings at this square and the difficulty level of these were also varied. The few stone carvings that were left over were the relatively complicated ones.

Zen nodded before walking off into the square. His eyes began to sweep over the stone carvings.

As Zen’s gaze immediately moved across the area, his eyes suddenly flashed. ‘Isn’t what is recorded on these stone carvings the Law Power?’ he wondered.

Soon after, he walked toward a stone carving and lowered his head to carefully examine it.

‘This is the power of the four layers of the Metal Law…’ Zen had comprehended three layers of eight Law Powers, but he had not comprehended the fourth layer of each law.

However, it was not that Zen could not find the fourth layer of the laws to comprehend, it was just that he did not have enough time to do so.

It would take a lot of time and energy to comprehend the fourth layer of the laws, even if Zen had experienced the baptism by laws.

‘No, this isn’t the pure power of the Metal Law!’ Zen’s eyes flashed in confusion.

There were a total of six sides on this square stone carving. The central part of each side contained a type of Law Power. So, the entire stone carving contained six kinds of Law Power.

However, at a juncture where two types of Law Power overlapped, they would fuse together…

‘How does one comprehend six kinds of Law Power at the same time?’ Zen was deeply curious. What exactly the Passing the Torch aimed to test in the warriors?

Zen held the stone carving in his hand and walked to a corner of the square. He planned to sit down to study the stone carving.

But as he walked over, Layla suddenly waved at him, shouting, “Zen, this way!”

Her voice was dynamic and pleasant to the ear, but the rest of the square was quiet. None of the thousands of martial artists ever made a sound when they were so completely focused on comprehending the stone carvings in their hands. Anyone who spoke with such a loud voice certainty disturbed the others.

However, this was how Layla was like. When she had first entered Mist Palace, she immediately used the Tiger Roar Token. She never cared how the other warriors at the palace felt.

However, her performance in the Purification Pool had attracted the attention of the martial artists of the younger generation from the thirteen palaces. She had been most outstanding in the Purification Pool and could be considered their biggest competitor in Passing the Torch.

In private, many warriors had investigated on Layla and learnt about her background. Moreover, she was such a beauty that some of the male martial artists were very attentive toward her…

Therefore, her loud clamor did not cause any public reaction.

Previously, many warriors who had been keeping an eye on Layla realized that she had saved a place for someone beside her, but they did not know for whom. Now, everyone finally knew that it was for Zen.

For the moment, all eyes were fixed on Zen.

When they found out that Zen was only at the Life and Death Realm, their expressions varied. Disdain, contempt, curiosity, and other feelings were obvious on their faces, but none of the warriors looked very friendly.

It was not like there were no other Life and Death Realm warriors here, but most of them were at the ninth level. They were all on the brink of reaching the tenth level of the Life and Death Realm.

Those warriors were no weaker than those at the Soul Sea Realm.

Someone at the fifth level of the Life and Death Realm, however, was too ordinary. He was not worth their attention at all. Why would Layla reserve a spot for someone like him? He did not deserve it.
Zen felt helpless as he read their unfriendly faces. ‘It’s not me who made a ruckus, so why does it feel like everyone is blaming me?’ he thought bitterly.

He ignored Layla and sat down in the corner he had chosen.

But he did not know how stubborn Layla could be. Seeing that Zen ignored her and sat by himself in a corner, she raised her voice even more. “Zen, come over here! I have something to ask you!”

Hearing this, Zen was speechless. He lowered his head and began to contemplate the laws on the stone carving. He knew how infuriating the woman could be. He was in no mood to bother with her.

Layla saw that Zen did not react as if he had not heard her at all. She carried her own stone carving and stood up. Walking past the warriors, she crossed half of the square to reach Zen’s side. She gently lifted up the hem of her dress and sat with her knees on the ground. After placing the stone carving beside her, she asked him, “I’m talking to you, can’t you hear me?”

“I heard you,” Zen replied indifferently as he read the laws of the stone carving.

“So then why didn’t you respond?” Layla persisted.

Zen shrugged. “No reason. I just didn’t feel like it.”

“Why? I don’t remember doing anything to irritate you!” Seeing Zen’s perfunctory attitude, Layla did not relent.

Zen suddenly felt a headache coming. He just hoped that she would not make a commotion just to disturb him, but he was not a man who could be rude to a woman. He exhaled and stared at Layla. “All right, what do you want to ask me?”

Layla rolled her eyes at him before asking with a smile, “What did you figure out from the words Supreme Lord Sword left behind?”

Zen shook his head. “There are people who haven’t comprehended anything after having meditated for tens of thousands of years. What secrets can I figure out?”

“You haven’t figured out anything, yet you have stayed there for so long?” Layla continued, baffled.

She would not stop nagging him.

Zen could not help but roll his eyes heavenward. “Could you stop talking, please? I still need to contemplate on this stone carving!”

He had already been late here for a few hours, and now that Layla kept pestering him non-stop, Zen was unable to contain his frustration any longer.

“Oh…” Layla wore a resentful look on her face. “In fact, if you want to comprehend the six kinds of Law Power on the stone carving, you need plenty of time. The Law Storm is a fusion of many different Law Powers, so the more you comprehend now, the further you will go…”

“Law Storm?” Hearing this, Zen raised his head.

Layla knew that he would be curious about that, so she smiled, choosing to keep him in suspense. “Don’t you wish to figure out the stone carving by yourself? Why are you asking me?”