Apotheosis

If it were up to Dick, Mack would be called a great talent as he was well accomplished in terms of magic arrays. The problem, however, was that he was also known to be a bloodthirsty butcher with a cruel propensity to kill.

The Cloud Sect valued its disciples' compliance with the sect's rules and submission to its strength without having any moral constraints on their behavior. Despite his dislike of the sect's doctrine, Dick felt powerless to change it. Instead of acting out against it, he would make sure to stick to his own principles when faced with a moral dilemma.

After some pondering, Dick thought to be grateful for Master Yu's mentorship in Blackrock Peak and it helped him make the choice to not directly refuse his Master's request. Nonetheless, he could still avoid a full-on fight with Zen by persuading him to surrender—he didn't want to hurt his rival so cruelly just to win like what Mack did.

A hint of surprise flashed in Zen's eyes as he never would have expected Dick to be such a righteous man. With a gentle nod and smile, he said, "The Cloud Sect is gathered with practitioners from all over the world. This is a place where the strong speak without any regard for moral conduct. Though many fellow disciples are talented and powerful, many are also as cruel and murderous as beasts. Compared to them, your righteousness is admirable. You're a diamond in the rough, truly. Still, I won't surrender to you!"

"But if you don't give in, I might have to hurt you after I defeat you…" Dick insisted.

Unable to refuse Master Yu's request, Dick promised him that he would teach Zen a lesson unless he surrendered beforehand.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. After all, we don't know who will come out the winner before we have a real fight. Besides, even if I start losing to you during the battle, you can pull your punches and leave chances for me to give in. I don't believe your master would blame you for that," Zen explained carefully.

Upon hearing his words, Dick replied with a smile. "Well, sounds like a good idea. Alright, let's get this over with."

With that, he pulled out an ink brush from his sleeve.

In the world of martial arts, there were many kinds of weapons. Only a few practitioners would choose a pen to specialize with, and among those who did, most of them used a "Judge's Brush"—a metal pen in the shape of a writing brush, similar to a piercer, and could be used to stab enemies.

As for Dick's weapon, it had a wooden stalk and a bundle of wolf hair at the tip—a real ink brush.

It was astonishing in Zen's eyes. Seeing a writing tool be used as a weapon was quite rare.

Still, Zen didn't dare lower his guard. After all, Dick was a top disciple of the Blackrock Peak—the second strongest peak among thirty-three peaks—and he was undoubtedly powerful, having defeated several people consecutively.

Being a strong contender himself, Zen understood that underestimating his rival would lead to deep regret.

After Dick pulled out his weapon, his black life vitality began flowing from his hands and drifting in the air around him. Gradually, it concentrated together and slowly transformed into a dense cloud of mist before turning into some mysterious black liquid.

When Dick held up his sleeve and dipped the brush into the matter, Zen realized that it was his ink.

His opponent just transformed his life vitality into a kind of magical ink.

Zen'

ted towards the words.

Over the course of the battle, Dick proved to be a troublesome rival for Zen. With all the spells of defense he set up around himself, Zen had to attack several times before smashing through a single shield. Still, even if he was able to, Dick could easily replace the words while the defenses were under attack.

Even with solely his 'defense song, ' Dick was nearly an invincible enemy for Zen.

As he dealt with Dick's 'kill song, ' Zen's mind was distracted with thinking of how he could successfully break through the other's defenses.

Bang!

When he punched the first "kill" approaching him, he immediately felt a great counterforce from the solid word. Instantly, the huge word suddenly exploded and the impact pushed Zen backward.

Standing in the center of the field, Zen lost his balance under the immense power and his body was knocked from the ground only to be smashed against the enchanted barrier around the area.

Although the enchanted barrier was a part of the Cloud Sect's great array and could supposedly take an enormous amount of damage, when Zen knocked into it, the barrier visibly trembled under the pressure.

All the enchanted barriers had their limitations of impact they could take in while maintaining their shape.

Naturally, with the counter force of Zen's punch paired with the power of Dick's spell, the force had approximated the limitation of the barrier and a crack already started to form in its corner.

The referee was left astonished having noticed the damage. Enchanted barriers were meant to separate the competition field from the auditorium and protect the audiences.

No one would have expected the barrier to split from the force of a single attack between the two rivals. Zen and Dick's opposing strengths were beyond anyone's imagination.

Given the uncommon occurrence, the referee looked at an old man sitting in the auditorium—an elder of the Cloud Sect. Understanding the referee's questioning look, he simply waved his hand. Life vitality began flowing from his hand and injecting into the barrier which then became intact again.

After the hard crash into the barrier, Zen slid down the surface. For a moment, he sat quietly on the ground, downcast because of the blow he just took.