Apotheosis

In breaking a record, Zen had made a man as prudent and calm as Patrick pissed and even resort to cursing.

Worse, things looked awkward in the arena.

From everyone's point of view, it appeared as though Zen was at a disadvantage. He ended up getting beaten most of the time. He only fought back occasionally, after taking three or four strikes.

But what was strange was that the more blows Zen took, the more excited he became. His eyes brightened up and glowed with radiant vigor. On the other hand, Patrick, though he did most of the beating, seemed upset and depressed, as if holding a bear by the tail.

What no one knew was that warm currents steadily streamed into Zen's body. That was why he didn't suffer. On the contrary, the flow of currents made him feel content. How could he not be excited with such a stimulus of joy?

It was thrilling for audiences to watch the two fight hand-to-hand. But for Patrick, he thought it a dull game and only felt bored. Still, he had to endure the match and continuously beat Zen.

After a while, the golden light around Patrick dimmed, especially in areas where Zen repeatedly hit him, like his chest and arms. The light around these points slowly faded, revealing the natural color of the flesh.

The Body in the Diamond-like State was said to make one's body indestructible, but in fact, it mostly depended on the golden light surrounding the body. After the golden light barrier suffered excessive blows, the life vitality forming the barrier would scatter. And that meant the Body in the Diamond-like State was rendered useless.

"Oh my god! It's broken, The golden light barrier has been broken by Zen's physical strength, bare-handed. I was right. Zen is indeed a monster!" someone cried out.

"No, he's not a monster. He's a magic weapon, a magic weapon in a human form!

He is foolproof against beatings!"

The disciple who made the last comment couldn't believe what he was seeing. He unwittingly praised Zen when he described him as a human-form magic weapon. Actually, he hit the nail on the head. Beyond that, Zen was a magic weapon constantly being refined through every battle, tempered by the beatings he sustained from every foe.

In the final attack, Zen thrust himself on Patrick and shattered the golden light shimmering over his enemy. With a painful moan, Patrick backed away a few steps before halting. It was evident he had suffered an internal injury.

However, Patrick disregarded his injury. What he cared about was losing to Zen in their hand-to-hand fight. That made him a failure. And it irked him that Zen still had that cheerful smile on his face as if he didn't get beaten enough.

By this time, Patrick even entertained illusions that Zen specially put on that smile to entice him to beat him up more. But it was a whimsical thought that Patrick knew he should never feel proud to voice out. After all, there was no one in the world who was crazy enough to invite beatings to themselves. He was sure Zen was not a masochist.

Still, there was no way of ever knowing if what was running in his head was the truth.

Meanwhile, Zen felt that he didn't get beaten enough. Had it no

he was still in a lot of trouble.

The shadow of Acalanatha moved too fast. The Buddha's palms moved simultaneously with Patrick, and at the same speed. Thus, when Patrick waved his hand, the Buddha would make the same movement at the same time.

What made matters worse was that while Patrick's hands were only a few inches long, Acalanatha's palms were seven to eight times bigger! As Patrick maneuvered his hands almost in a flash, the two huge palms mirrored the same movements just as swiftly.

It all happened too fast. Zen could hardly dodge the attacks, let alone approach Patrick.

He knew that if he couldn't get close to Patrick and attack him, he would definitely lose this battle. And while Zen had the stamina, his energy was consumed through the protracted fight. Patrick, meanwhile, could easily attack him with a simple wave of his hands. If it would take him the whole day, and through the night, to defeat Zen, Patrick would only be very pleased to repeat the same movements, probably even without batting an eye.

While Zen was racking his brains to find a solution to his problem, the huge palms came at him again. Patrick was relentless in his attacks, refusing to give his opponent time to think and regroup.

While thinking, Zen continued to dodge the assault against him. Only this time when he swerved, the disciple made a surprising move. Zen tossed his sword up in the air!

The Streamer Sword circled the air several times before falling.

The move had everyone in a daze, when suddenly, a blood red shadow soared out of Zen's body. The shadow instantly condensed into a shape as soon as it was released. It was Zen's sword spirit, Lily.

Once Lily was out, she rushed towards the Streamer Sword, grasped it, then accelerated and pointed the weapon at Patrick.

As Lily was a swordsman herself, she was capable of using the sword in the fight. However, Zen only had one metal blade at this time and needed it to ward off an attack by Buddha. Thinking quickly, he tried dodging the huge palms of Buddha while manipulating Lily into attacking Patrick at the same time.