THE MARTIAL KING, VOLUME 8 - Season 23 Episode 53

After entering the Hall of True Gods, Zen won three consecutive battles, and his ranking steadily increased by more than a hundred places.

However, his ranking could only be seen within the Hall of True Gods by the ranking of his room door. Since he hadn’t lost even a single battle, it was impossible to find him on the Jade Wall of Legends.

Now that he had put a space of a hundred ranks between himself and the low-rank True Gods just now, he had shattered all their expectations. There was a rule that participants could only challenge warriors within a hundred rankings from themselves, so these low-rank True Gods were no longer qualified to challenge Zen.

Moreover, Zen had already shown his strength by defeating three low-rank True Gods in a row.
People could claim that Zen’s first victory had been a matter of luck. They could explain his second victory away as well by claiming that his opponent had taken him lightly. But after Zen’s third victory, it would be downright stupid to downplay his skills and take him as a mere proving godly warrior.

No one took the initiative to challenge Zen again, and Zen also tried to choose his opponents randomly. Anyway, they were selected according to their rankings, so at his current level, Zen wouldn’t face any opponent who was ridiculously strong.

His fourth opponent turned out to be Fletcher Li, a disciple of the Li Clan which ranked 17th among all the Floating Islands. His Godly Way was the Great Manipulating Way. The Great Manipulating Way could help one manipulate everything in the world. It was similar to the puppet techniques that Zen had seen before. It could also be considered the peak method of the puppet techniques. However, the Great Manipulating Way was much more overbearing, and one could exert thousands of invisible silk threads to break into an opponent’s mind and manipulate their soul.

This time, Zen didn’t let the silk threads enter his mind. He knew that Fletcher would make every effort to turn him into a puppet. If he allowed that to happen, he would face a lot more than a defeat. Once his soul was invaded, his opponent would be able to see his true identity and his deepest secrets. It would be his biggest problem.

The Great Manipulating Way was indeed very special, but its combat effectiveness was not very strong. Perhaps it was because there was no powerful puppet in Fletcher’s hands. Some of the golden puppets he was using could not block Zen’s attacks at all.

In the end, after a cautious battle, Fletcher was defeated and he left the Arena of Legends unwillingly. Because of the special nature of the Great Manipulating Way, Zen was unable to absorb this Godly Way.

If the Infinity Ruler could be activated freely, Zen would not be in such trouble. With the Infinity Ruler, he did not need to take any risks to take in the internal momentum of his opponent; he only needed to use his golden pupils to see through the internal momentum of his opponent. Just thinking about it made him feel depressed.

There was no day or night in the Hall of True Gods. All the disciples of the Floating Islands were picking opponents to battle. The spiral doors would occasionally emit blue lights while changing their positions. If a door went up, it meant that the warrior had won; if it slid downward, it meant that he or she had been defeated.

After the fourth battle, Zen received an extra reward of more than 500 points. What Joy had told him was right; the extra reward for challenging higher-level warriors was really huge. According to his calculation, he would probably get an extra reward of thousands of points in his tenth battle.

The higher the rank of his room was, the stronger the opponents he would encounter, and the harder it would be to obtain points.

Zen did not continue to challenge a new opponent, but instead returned to his room and left the Jade Wall of Legends.

Letting the Infinity Ruler take in the Godly Ways was a crucial thing for Zen. As he pondered over the Infinity Ruler, he hoped that he would be able to fill all the scales of it while earning points in the Arena of Legends.

To his surprise, as soon as he left the Jade Wall of Legends, he saw Joy standing behind him, crossing her arms and staring at him with a pair of soft and beautiful eyes that looked like they held deep meaning behind them.

Seeing her eyes made Zen feel embarrassed. He turned his head and saw Laquisha standing in plain clothes at one side of the hall. Judging by her red face, Zen guessed that she’d been talking about something with Joy just now.

“The Princess Royal of the Han Clan has come to see you in person. Why don’t you come and greet her?” Joy asked teasingly with a smile.

Hearing that, Laquisha complained with a shy smile, “Aunt Joy! Isn’t it too much for you to say that he should greet me? It’s not necessary.”
Joy was not actually Laquisha’s aunt. But since Joy was a Demi-holy Being and much older than her, Laquisha had to respect her by calling her “Aunt Joy”. However, in terms of seniority in the family, Laquisha was in fact Joy’s grand aunt. After all, Laquisha was the first daughter of the Holy Emperor. Although she was much younger than Joy, she was Joy’s senior in the Han Clan. Laquisha didn’t know her rank clearly, and anyway, no one cared about it.

Whenever the direct descendants of the Han Clan met Joy, they would all call her “Aunt Joy” due to respect.

Obeying Joy’s words, Zen bowed to Laquisha with his hands clasped in front of his chest and said, “Thad Luo from the Purple Soul Hall paying his respects to Your Highness.”

A hint of displeasure flashed in Laquisha’s eyes when she heard these words. The formal way Zen was addressing her drew a distance between them. With her lips curving up into an evil smile, she blinked and said, “I don’t know who Thad Luo is. I only know…”

Zen immediately became nervous. He knew that if he let her continue to speak, she would probably let the cat out of the bag and reveal his true identity.

When she paused, he winked and hurriedly changed the subject. “Your Highness, I’ve already participated in battles of challenging warriors at a higher level in the Jade Wall of Legends. If I meet Your Highness someday in the future, please show mercy.”

Laquisha sulked as she glanced at Zen. She hadn’t really been about to expose Zen’s identity in front of Joy. After all, she would never do anything to annoy Zen. Instead, she cooperated with him and talked about other things.

Joy didn’t know that Zen and Laquisha had known each other in the Divine Refinement Forbidden Land.

Before Zen had arrived, Joy had been teasing Laquisha. She had told Laquisha that if it weren’t for her marriage with the Leng Clan, she could consider Thad Luo to be her fiance. She hadn’t avoided talking about the matter at all and had kept talking about how excellent Zen was.

But what Joy hadn’t known was that she had said Laquisha’s thoughts aloud, and that was why Laquisha’s face had gone red.

Laquisha had never had feelings for Langston. And after the incident this time, she hated him for being self-centered. How could she agree to marry him? She had made up her mind and had the courage to move forward.

Laquisha looked gentle and lovely, but once she made a decision, it was impossible for anyone to change it.

When Laquisha had told her that she’d come here today to pay a visit to Zen, Joy had thought that Laquisha just wanted to show her gratitude to Zen. But now her strange conversation with Zen raised Joy’s doubts.

“Thank you for saving Aleyna a few days ago. This is my gift to you,” said Laquisha. With a light flick of her finger, she made a small brocade box appear. The box was crystal clear and exquisite, and there was a light green pill inside.

“Laquisha, you are so generous. The seven times refined God-turning Pill. It’s a rare thing.” Joy smiled when she saw the light green pill.

The God-turning Pill could be integrated into the cinnabar field to activate the life vitality sea in the body, which would make it easier to atomize the seawater and also accelerate the condensation of the Godly Tile. However, these kinds of pills were usually two or three times refined; few people would make the seven times refined God-turning Pill. The seven times refined God-turning Pill was used only to accelerate the condensation of the Godly Tile. Only wealthy clans like the Han Clan would refine these pills for direct disciples. And since it was specially refined, it was, of course, rare.

Even Master Evil gasped in admiration at the extravagance of the wealthy clans when he noticed the seven times refined God-turning Pill.

“Thank you.” Zen politely took this delicate brocade box from Laquisha’s hand.

As their hands brushed against each other, Laquisha pinched his finger with great force. However, she’d forgotten that Zen’s corporeal body was much tougher than a supreme primordial weapon. Zen didn’t show any reaction whereas she felt a dull pain in her fingertips.

And although Laquisha had tried to be subtle and secretive, this gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Joy’s keen eyes. But Joy didn’t want to question Laquisha about it now.

“May you prove a Godly Way as soon as possible and make a contribution to my Han Clan,” Laquisha said to Zen.

“Now that I have become a disciple of the Han Clan, I must make a contribution…”

After exchanging a few conventional remarks with Zen in front of Joy, Laquisha said goodbye and left. As soon as she turned around, the smile on her face disappeared without a trace. It was replaced by an expression of extreme disappointment, and even a little anger.

When she had come to see Zen, she had been hoping to have an opportunity to talk to him alone. She hadn’t expected Joy to directly bring Zen to her palace.

Laquisha had even implied that she would have a talk with Thad alone, but Joy had pretended not to understand her words and had shown no signs of leaving. In addition to giving the gift to Zen, Laquisha had wasted her time.

After Laquisha left her palace, Joy stared at Zen with great interest and asked, “Thad, have you ever met Princess Royal outside the Floating Island?”

Seeing Joy’s strong desire to get the truth out of him, Zen sighed in his heart. Even though Joy was a Demi-Holy Being, she still liked to gossip. This was very abnormal.