Apotheosis

Since passing the Cloud Road challenge, Zen hadn't used his sword spirit.

Seeing a fully formed sword spirit was unusual, and only a few possessed one, even amongst martial artists at the Internal Elixir Realm, but, Zen's sword spirit was already fully formed.

Zen knew next to nothing about his sword spirit.

Typically, after someone went to the Killing Sword Mountain, he'd get a large amount of unformed sword spirit. After that, the warrior had the challenge of forming the mass.

What Zen achieved, when he molded his sword spirit in one sitting was an unprecedented feat that happened because of the Demon Night. The sword spirit formed after Zen defeated the young girl from the Demon Night, without him having time even to meditate before the sword spirit took the shape of the girl from Demon Night.

Unsure of the reason, Zen had asked the cyan dragon about the sword spirit, but all the cyan dragon could tell him was that the Demon Night was mighty enough to command a divine realm, which meant the race wasn't inferior to the Genuine Dragon. And the secrets of the powerful Demon Night were unknown by any other.

At the moment, Zen couldn't deduce the mystery.

Up until now, Zen hadn't seen Lily's true power, but since their encounter with the giant sword of the Blood Fiend Emperor, her power grew rapidly.

As the black turtles charged at them, Zen gave Lily a command and watched motionlessly. Lily looked like a ribbon of red crimson silk streaking as she darted at the turtles with the massive sword of the Blood Fiend Emperor slung over her shoulder effortlessly.

Each turtle was one hundred feet long, and the four-foot thick shell made each turtle a challenge for Zen to slay. Being that thick shelled made the black turtles hardy. Though they moved quite slowly, it was still a big challenge to kill them before they were close to the pagoda.

Whereas, quite the contrary, Lily sliced through the sluggish beasts as easily as hacking into watermelon. The thick shell was nothing more than a piece of paper under the might of the sword of the Blood Fiend Emperor. Lily's lithe form gracefully flexed as she swung the colossal, sharp sword, and slaughtered every turtle in short order.

After completing the task she was ordered to do, Lily stood expressionlessly and still, looking like a gorgeous, carved puppet.

As he sat quietly on the pagoda, Zen issued a command mentally. In response to Zen's summons, Lily instantly turned into a red shadow and returned to the pagoda.

Confused, the middle-aged martial artist's eyes widened as he stared at Lily's slender figure, and said, "Zen's sword spirit is extraordinary!!"

"Extraordinary? How so?" Although Xiao and Michael were at the Virtual Tribulation Realm and were both quite powerful, more powerful than the middle-aged martial artist, they didn't know more than it was a sword spirit, since neither of them wielded a s

l man in the Central Region! Even the World Commercial Alliance, Ethereal Spirit Sect, Cloud Hall and the other grade four sects didn't dare offend him because he was the mightiest man in all of the Central Region.

Allegedly, Eddie had demanded the head of the Cloud Hall to give him a female martial artist that possessed a Purple Power body. Cloud Hall had no choice but to obey.

It was unusual for men as powerful as him to not be ambitious. There was word on the street that Eddie's goal was to unite all of the Central Region and found an eternal kingdom!

If he achieved his goal, the World Commercial Alliance and Ethereal Spirit Sect would be the first to fall!

Given their long life spans, it was highly plausible that powerful men such as Xiao and Michael would witness the storm that would ensue when Eddie accomplished his goals. No one could be sure how the World Commercial Alliance would end.

At the mere mention of Eddie's name, everyone fell silent, as they felt the dark cloud descending on the World Commercial Alliance. As a matter of fact, Eddie was trouble for the Ethereal Spirit Sect, the sole fifth grade sect, too!

"Xiao, you mean to say that Zen will rise up like Eddie did?" questioned Michael.

Xiao shook his head thoughtfully and said, "I cannot say if that will happen. There are hundreds of thousands of martial artists with the ability to become someone like Eddie. Although Zen is more powerful compared to his peers and he is remarkably talented, it'd be virtually impossible for him to be as mighty as Eddie. But, still, he's far more likely to become that mighty than his peers!"

Michael laughed nervously and added, "Even if that's true, the World Commercial Alliance cannot use any help from him. Though he is here for the pre-qualifying match, he is a disciple from Cloud Hall, not the World Commercial Alliance. However, he's still someone who likely won't fail to garner our favor."