Chapter 1218: Chapter 1218: Death Chain
As Zen released the Eight Smoky Melodies, his entire body tumbled backwards!
The Crescent Blade left a bloody scar several inches long on Zen's face in almost the same instant that the barrier of the Eight Smoky Melodies threw him backwards!
The tumble motion was Zen's sharp reaction to the impending crisis, and it was this movement that had saved him from calamity.
If he hadn't thrown himself backwards, Lucille's attack would have crushed Zen's head with that Crescent Blade.
Huff! Huff!
Both of them had flipped in the air! Lucille was repelled backwards by the smoky barrier which Zen had created.
When Lucille saw that she did not manage to do anything other than scratch him with her formidable attack, she coldly snorted. With a sweep of her golden wind, her figure disappeared again. She appeared again and assumed a station another hundred feet from Zen, and stood on the top of the Magnetic Sacred Mountain!
'This guy's reaction is really fast...' she thought, secretly impressed.
In the eyes of the bystanders, Lucille had launched an attack right after she had recovered. It could be said that she seemed to be in a hurry!
However, she knew very well that, whether it was its timing or angle, this move had already reached its limits, and she still had not managed to do more than give Zen a close shave! She hadn't expected that Zen would still have been able to dodge the sudden attack which all of her other opponents had been unable to defend against in time.
As for Zen, he was quite speechless as he looked at the small embroidered shoes on Lucille's feet and the Crescent Blade concealed under them. Gingerly, he wiped away some of the blood which was trickling from the cut along his face. Zen was not overly concerned by this superficial injury as his body would heal swiftly.
'This woman has so many tricks up her sleeve!
Even something as mundane as a pair of embroidered shoes could hide such a cold killing intent!
Are all the female cultivators in the Upper World talented like this?' he wondered, still somewhat surprised. Lucille was like this, so was Layla. They used all sorts of methods, and every single one of their methods could have become a great killing tool in the hands of any normal warrior. To these female cultivators it seemed that these methods were mere tinkering and not their only means of attack. Zen wondered darkly what else was still in store for him!
While he was left feeling helpless, Lucille, who was standing on top of the Magnetic Sacred Mountain, was shining with the golden light again! Zen knew by now what that meant.
“Here it comes again,” he muttered warily.
Zen turned over again in the air, at the same time, he drew out his chaotic energy and circulated his cultivation method. The amount of white fog that condensed on the surface of Zen's body had also increased. He was fully surrounded by a dense fog screen which made it difficult to determine his exact location.
Even though Zen had activated the Eight Smoky Melodies to its limit, her Crescent Blade was still a bit faster. As she kicked out like a lightning strike, her weapon easily passed that three-inch distance and was once again slicing towards Zen!
Puff!
This time, Zen was still unable to completely dodge Lucille's kick, and the Crescent Blade instantly cut into the flesh of his upper arm!
'Now is the time!' Zen shouted in his heart.
He already knew that he could not keep dodging. He resolutely twisted his body to use his left arm to block. The moment his arm was cut, his right hand reached out swiftly to grab Lucille's foot. ȐάΝОΒƐS̈
If binding and killing this woman at the cost of only one arm was Zen's chance to win, then he would accept it gladly!
However, just his fingers touched Lucille's instep and, before he could grab her, a golden light flashed and he felt his fingers close on nothing but air!
Lucille's figure once again disappeared from in front of Zen, returning to appear on her vantage point on the top of the Magnetic Sacred Mountain. Although her attack had succeeded, her face was a bit unnatural and strained now. Her foot was almost grabbed by Zen! Never in all her time in the Illusion Battlefield had this happened.
That unnatural expression only remained on her face for an instant, but Zen identified it as fear.
The golden wind roared and she once again attacked Zen without the slightest hesitation or warning!
She knew that with her incredible speed, it was impossible for Zen to catch her. As long as she could maintain this status quo, he would definitely lose to her. Therefore, she wasn't willing to give Zen the slightest bit of time to prepare a strategy to deal with her!
Whoosh!
Puff!
Every time Lucille advanced and appeared, a deep bloody gash would appear on Zen's body! The evidence of her proficiency abounded and Zen was soon crisscrossed with bloody cuts.
The problem Zen was facing right now was almost the same as the situation when he had dealt with the Celestial Mice. Though both the Celestial Mice and Lucille were gifted with exceptional speed, those Celestial Mice had been stupid, and they didn't deal as much damage to him as Lucille had already done.
It was obviously impossible to also trap Lucille with Heavenly Tribulation as Zen had done with the Celestial Mice! She was so much more powerful than that already.
While Zen was being attacked by Lucille, his mind was also working hard. He knew that if he couldn't break out of this situation, he would lose sooner or later!
Puff!
Puff!
Streams of blood sprayed out again, as Lucille kept advancing her swift attacks and then retreating again.
“Ha-ha, Lucille becomes really serious now. Look, her attacks are as smooth as flowing water, one after one. She doesn't allow her opponent a chance to catch his breath!”
“With her strength and speed, I'm afraid that she could easily kill a warrior at the middle stage of the Spirit Supreme Realm.”
“Like I said, an ace talent is an ace talent. How could this guy hope to defeat her? What's more, Lucille has only displayed half of her power so far, right? I heard that Lucy has also entered the Illusion Battlefield. Lucille has actually entered the Illusion Battlefield under two identities at the same time! She must have divided herself to be able to achieve that feat. But I wonder if she will become one with Lucy in the later battles?”
...
Lucille's repetitive attacks were becoming much more skillful, and definitely more ferocious!
She had specially focused her attacks on Zen's vital parts, and every move of hers could kill him. At the speed of light, she slashed and cut at his eyes, throat and abdomen, hoping to blind, decapitate and disembowel him.
It was because Zen's ability to predict danger was so extremely accurate that he could always avoid the most serious injuries at the last critical moment, but the wounds on his body had still continued to increase! She was slicing him up bit by bit.
“Die!”
Another golden wind gathered momentum and swept over!
A murderous smile appeared on Lucille's face and there was a twinkle of expectation in her dark eyes now.
She had found an unexpected flaw in Zen's defenses, and after this attack, she would be able to end his life!
Being in a stalemate with this insignificant person for so long had forced her to use the Crescent Blade, and Lucille couldn't help but sigh in her heart that this universe was truly marvelous. It was a wonder that such a powerful yet insignificant person had shown up from nowhere, while she had not noticed him at all. She then realized that earlier she had underestimated the difficulty of the Illusion Battlefield. This display of prowess had been both entertaining and challenging and Lucille was feeling contented at this opportunity to really display her talents.
However...
This time, her attack missed Zen. The warriors on the wall gasped in puzzlement and looked at each other with confused faces. How could Lucille miss?
Zen had deliberately shown that flaw.
Lucille did not care overly much that she had missed in her attack on him. This kind of duplicitous action could only be described as boring trickery in her eyes. She only valued strength and skill, not deception.
Since Zen was, in her opinion, destined to be unable to catch her, she might as well repeat the attack a few more times. With a flash of the golden wind, she planned to avoid any possible retaliation from him again.
But at this moment, a chain appeared in Zen's hand!
It was a bright silver chain that looked shiny and new. However, when Lucille focused on the chain, a hint of doubt flashed on her face. Something was not as it appeared here, but she could not figure it out.
'What is this guy planning to do?
Does he want to use this chain to lock me? Is that even possible…'
However, as this thought appeared in her mind she began to draw into the golden wind, preparing to quickly step through the distance between her and Zen.
While she was busy gathering her strength, one end of the chain had suddenly turned into a silver ribbon of light, and it instantly spread towards Lucille. This end of the chain suddenly locked onto her foot at a speed that exceeded Lucille's imagination! She was caught!
The other end was locked onto Zen! He had her tethered to him!
Upon seeing this, Lucille immediately became anxious and she began to pull at the chain, hoping to find a way to escape this bond.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not figure out how this chain could have been so fast. How had it attached itself to her with such speed? Why couldn't she escape using the profound mysteries of the Wind Law? It was a talent that she had always relied on, and it had never failed her, until now!
Whoosh!
Her figure was still flashing crazily as she tried to beat a retreat!
However, no matter how hard Lucille tried to escape, she was unable to throw off the chain on her foot. Despite flashing, she simply appeared next to Zen again and again.
She was like a tied up bird. No matter how she spread her wings to soar into the sky, she could only fly to the end of the chain and would then be pulled back to her original position. She was leashed!
Lucille naturally couldn't have imagined that Zen's Death Chain would even be able to lock down a Supreme Lord. Although she was an ace talent of the Ji Clan, her strength couldn't be stronger than a Supreme Lord's, could it?
This Death Chain had been obtained from the few pieces that Zen's master had bestowed upon him. He had been waiting for an opportunity to test it, and now he had been able to successfully tether an ace talent!
The formidable weapon could be considered a mini version of the Desperate Melee!
The Desperate Melee could lock dozens of people together, and only one would survive!
As for the Death Chain in Zen's hands, it could lock the user together with his opponent. After being locked by the Death Chain, the two of them only had one option for escape, and that was to kill the other one!
If the opponent's strength was greater than Zen's, then using the Death Chain was absolutely courting his own death. It would bring a dangerous foe within reach and there was no space to dodge or hide from attacks now.
However, the Death Chain belonged to Zen after all. He was the one who had to choose to lock or not, and could lock whoever he wanted!
This Lucille in front of him was surprisingly fast. Zen had dodged and retreated while pondering on how to break the situation, then he suddenly remembered that he still had this magic weapon and he wondered if it would work. He had actually never used it before!
Whoosh!
Streaks of golden wind were flashing.
Lucille's silhouette kept appearing and disappearing in the golden wind. However, no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't get more than ten feet away from Zen as the chain held her locked in place.
No matter how fast she was, she still couldn't break free from this chain.
Although Zen looked miserable with his multitude of bloody cuts, he knew that he had already won when the Death Chain had locked onto Lucille!
The Death Chain could only extend a distance of ten feet. With a slight tug from Zen, Lucille was yanked back by Zen's immense power.
Realizing that she was unable to escape from his chain, a determined look appeared on Lucille's face. She no longer struggled meaninglessly; instead, she once again drained all of the life vitality in her body. Accompanied by the brilliant luster of the Five-element Finger Chain, the life vitality turned into a five-colored palm print and rushed towards Zen with murderous intent!