Chapter 1304: Chapter 1304: Rocher's Rise

Margaret didn't bother replying to Nathan—not even perfunctorily.

Being so proud and arrogant by nature, Nathan felt rather embarrassed by her indifference, although he wouldn't admit it.

As he watched her stare lovingly at the statue, Nathan's curiosity was piqued—he wanted to find out who this person was.

Since seeing Zen's statue put Margaret in a generous mood, she exercised some patience with Nathan.

“He… is someone I like.”

Her eyes turned gloomy as they remained fixed on the statue.

In truth, she wanted to say that Zen was her husband.

But because they hadn't had any formal wedding ceremony, they weren't officially married.

Most martial artists didn't care about such formalities.

However, Margaret thought differently. Initially, she didn't care much for the formalities either, having accepted Letitia's status in Zen's heart.

But the circumstances had changed—Letitia might not have ascended yet, but she was here with Zen and she could always stay at his side.

Margaret had to rely on her own efforts to get Zen to make her his wife.

Such thoughts ran through Margaret's mind.

If anyone else knew what was running through the mind of her, a warrior who ranked in the top 50 of the Illusion Battlefield, their jaws would drop to the ground.

In the meantime, Nathan was growing more and more curious about the statue Margaret was fixated on.

“Miss, what is this person's name?”

In spite of his intentions to befriend Margaret, he didn't even know her name yet. Instead of finding that out first, he asked for the name of the man's statue—even he found his actions strange.

With a cold look, she offered an answer, “His name is Zen Luo.”

The name made Nathan's eyes light up.

It was actually Zen Luo, who ranked 77th.

Never did Nathan think the statue would be of Zen Luo, someone with quite a reputation across the universe.

Nathan didn't know much about Zen and he didn't want to. In Nathan's world, among the young generation, only the few Godly Geniuses were qualified to be his opponents. 𝐑ἁℕỌＢĘṥ

Even some powerful ace talents were no match for him.

As for Zen…

This guy had been talking incessantly in his ear. Even if he didn't want anything to do with him, he couldn't avoid the Roaring Token's sound.

Never did he imagine that this guy would enter the top 100 as well.

At 77th place, though, his rank wasn't something particularly special.

The few people like Lawson and some other Godly Geniuses were qualified to face Nathan, so to him, all the others were nothing.

“So he is Zen Luo.” Nathan's expression came up indifferent. The haughtiness in his heart instantly surfaced once again.

How could Margaret not recognize the hint of disdain in Nathan's tone? Still, she ignored him and continued examining Zen's statue.

Meanwhile…

in another blood-red castle, a handsome young man walked briskly around the pyramid. Every time he passed a statue, his brows raised slightly—he would carefully examine and take note of every statue's features, analyze their temperament, and age.

This young man was none other than Rocher.

Back then, after Zen ascended to the Upper World, as a hero who had contributed to the suppression of the revolt, Rocher was then highly valued by the Cloud Hall.

But with Rocher's vision and talent, he wasn't destined to be stuck in the Cloud Hall or Central Region.

The path of martial arts was limitless and there would always be stronger warriors. Many martial artists managed to achieve a certain degree of success before settling down and continuing to live a stable life. But Rocher was remarkably ambitious.

In this aspect, he was much like Zen—he craved for something higher.

Standing at a higher place, he didn't care for looking down on all living things, but instead, he wanted to seek and explore the origin and truth of the world.

After the Cloud Hall stabilized, Rocher chose to go out and cultivate.

In the past six years, he had passed through the Chaotic Ocean of Stars, the four divine kingdoms, finally arriving at the northernmost region of the Divine Kingdom Continent, the largest savage land!

Here, Rocher had gone through life and death situations, all to gain experience. Along his path, he encountered several unique species, the ancient wild beasts with strength comparable to that of the Soul Sea Realm warriors

After everything, he discovered a huge secret on the savage land.

Even when Zen had merged with the world's will, he hadn't been able to find this secret among the vast memories. This secret didn't belong to this great world, after all. The memories of the world's will covered only the matters within this plane.

And with that, Rocher found quite a fortune.

This blessing caused his strength to increase dramatically. He didn't even have time to return to the Central Region before the great world produced a powerful force of expulsion, forcing him to ascend to the Upper World.

Where he reached the Upper World was completely different from where Zen or Letitia did.

Rocher had ascended to a supreme world that belonged to the Thoughtless Minds. Two years after ascending to the Upper World, he had been highly valued by some sacred place, allowing him to enter the core house of the sacred place. Before getting the chance to display his strength and talent, the Illusion Battlefield was already opened.

When it was, the martial artists of the tenth-grade sacred place had advised Rocher to be prepared before entering the Illusion Battlefield.

But Rocher stepped into the battlefield without so much as a blink.

And here, Rocher's ranking skyrocketed.

His name rose from the top ten million to the top one million, to a hundred thousand…

The martial artists from the sacred place that Rocher had joined, including the Saint Lord of the sacred place, were all stunned by his performance.

While the sacred place did have some powerful talents, in the end, they only ranked around 120, 000th. But this unknown sword cultivator suddenly charged up into the top 100, 000. How could they not give him their attention?

But Rocher didn't just stop there.

He quickly entered the top ninety thousand…

Eighty thousand…

Seventy thousand…

Compared to Zen, Rocher didn't have a strong desire to get Illusion Points. His motivation to participate was different from Zen's—he wanted to see just how powerful these talents of the supreme worlds were.

At the last moment, after Rocher returned from the Hall of Causality, his Illusion Points increased rapidly, pulling his ranking up to the 2000th, bringing him right into the second stage of the Illusion Battlefield.

This made Rocher's original sacred place cheer with joy.

And so Rocher's glory was also that of the tenth-grade sacred place he belonged to.

Top 2, 500…

This was an unimaginable feat, something could only be achieved by either an ace talent or someone only second to that.

For an ordinary tenth-grade sacred place, it simply didn't have the ability to nurture an ace talent.

It made perfect sense that Rocher's outstanding achievement brought about such shock. When his name was first reported to the Saint Lord of the sacred place, the Saint Lord was left dumbfounded—he was simply unaware that his sacred place had such a talent.

Carrying a sword on his back, Rocher climbed up the pyramid, his gaze faintly sweeping over the statues.

“I found him, Zen, 77th!”

There wasn't the slightest trace of surprise in Rocher's eyes upon locating Zen's rank.

Naturally, Rocher was aware of Zen's deeds in the past two years. He had even heard stories from Zen in the universe, some of which he was quite familiar with.

From his point of view, Zen was bound to enter the second stage. What would be truly shocking was if he didn't reach it.

After Seeing Zen's statue, the light in Rocher's eyes glistened even more brightly. The sword he carried on his back trembled slightly.

He was excited.

Aware that he was falling behind, he knew he had to strive harder to catch up.

Since the beginning, Rocher had poured his best efforts into catching up with Zen.

Even though he was still far behind Zen, Rocher wasn't discouraged in the slightest.

In his entire life, he had one goal. If he lost, he would persevere.

Whether or not he could achieve the goal in the end didn't really matter to him—he valued the process.

But in the end, he still managed to achieve the goal that seemed so impossible in the beginning.

After being left far behind by Zen, he finally caught up to him. He just couldn't gauge the gap between his and Zen's strength.

'Don't worry, we'll meet each other in the end, ' Rocher thought as he reached out a hand to press down the sword hanging on his back until it stopped trembling obediently.

He and Zen were just as much friends as they were rivals.

With that, Rocher gave a nod toward Zen's statue and went on, continuing to climb up the pyramid.

But just as he took a few steps forward, he came to another halt. Suddenly, his expression froze. Just like Zen, he stopped before Margaret's statue in surprise, though his shock wasn't as hefty as Zen's.

“I didn't expect her to reach such a ranking,” he said flatly as he gazed upon the statue. Thinking about her relationship with Zen, the corners of his lips curled up into a smile—he wondered what kind of expression Zen would wear if he met Margaret.

Soon, a voice rang out across the three blood-red castles.

“Everyone, please stand in front of your statues…”

This mysterious young girl called the shots in this Illusion Battlefield—when her voice resounded, no one dared disobey.