Apotheosis

Jacques had just woken up and he was confused. Unconsciously, he reached for his dragon-bone spear, only to discover it was missing.

"Now, where is my spear?" questioned Jacques feeling the panic welling up.

His dragon-bone spear was extremely important to him, and he had a connection to it after owning it for such a long time, which was why he discovered so quickly that it had gone missing.

"Is it in your space ring?" asked Elder Xu curiously.

Elder Xu and Kenneth had glanced around and didn't see Jacques' dragon-bone spear either and wondered if he had put it away.

"No," responded Jacques, but, then he wondered if he could be wrong, so he searched his space ring, and still didn't find it. "Impossible! How could my dragon-bone spear just vanish?!" exclaimed Jacques, giving Zen a suspicious glimpse.

Zen motioned to Jacques with a wave indicating he didn't have anything to do with it.

"Jacques, what happened when you and Zen were battling? Why did I hear a dragon roaring?" Elder Xu enquired about the incident again, even though he'd asked Zen earlier. What Zen told him hadn't made him feel any better.

Jacques racked his brain trying to think, 'Where did I put my dragon-bone spear?' He remembered that he was stunned by the roar of the dragon as soon as he started fighting with Zen, so, the details of his fight with Zen were fuzzy.

"I... I don't recall. I can remember the deafening sound of a dragon roaring, and the fight with Zen, but, beyond that, everything is a blur. I don't even know what happened later," Jacques said, shaking his head as he tried in vain to remember anything more.

Jacques' account of what happened relieved Zen because he would've been in trouble if Jacques told them it was Zen that made the dragon roar. Zen had previously used his demonic life vitality to block their vision, and that would raise suspicions since Elder Xu and Kenneth were both pretty smart guys. It wasn't easy to fool them.

"The roar comes from within your dragon-bone spear, right? Why's it so powerful? Is it because the explosion of your dragon-bone spear caused such a powerful dragon roar?" Since Jacques couldn't remember any details, Elder Xu offered some suggestions.

"That's right?" What Elder Xu said made Jacques hesitate. Although he couldn't remember what had happened, the final roar was far louder than what the dragon-bone spear had done previously. The shock of the roar was like a red-hot iron poker being seared into his heart, and he'd probably never forget how it felt.

'But, where did that last roar come from?'

Jacques remembered that Brady, the great weapon refiner who built the dragon-bone spear told him that there was still a remnant of a dragon soul within the bone. However, this dragon spine and its soul were tens of thousands of years old. Over time, this soul had almost disappeared, so, its power was feeble.

Brady hadn't completely destroyed the sou

previously.

So, even if the final results weren't out yet, everyone was excited at Drizzle Peak already.

Both the inner and outer Drizzle Peak disciples had a gleam of excitement. Having been selected as members of Drizzle Peak had been very trying for the disciples because it was the worst of the thirty-three peaks. None of them had expected that a disciple who single-handedly improved Drizzle Peak, brought it up until it was one of the top two. And more surprising was that he was still only at the second grade of natural level.

The Drizzle Peak disciples never dreamed there would be such a great achievement, and still had a difficult time believing it, even though they were there, and witnessed it!

Zen's best friends, Wurth, Sean and Nory were all excited. Like the other Drizzle Peak disciples, they were proud of Zen's achievements, and even felt honored to know Zen.

They had all seen Zen's strength and thought Zen to be an extraordinary person, so they believed he could win! When the All Peaks Competition had begun, they thought Zen would at least make it into the top one hundred. However, when Zen made it into the top one hundred with ease and then the top eighty, fifty, twenty, five and now the top three, they felt he could make it to the number one ranking.

Every improvement was a miracle. If the competition was a play, then the ending would reveal that Zen was the son of a miracle.

Master Wen's eyes were filled with pride. He was content seeing how much Zen had achieved. He would be satisfied if Drizzle Peak became the second ranked of the thirty-three peaks.

"During the last competition, Yan, Zen's sister, miraculously brought the Lady Peak up to rank two by herself. Now, three years later, Zen is performing the same miracle," said one of the Drizzle Peak masters as he sighed admiringly.

Master Wen shook his head as he said, "It's a miracle, but, then again, Zen's much stronger than Yan!"