Chapter 504: Chapter 504: Sect-protecting Array
At the end of it all, Eddie had abandoned the skirmish and given up on the competition for the Dragon Soar Arena.
That being said, there were still lots of warriors belonging to different sects as well as independent ones present in the arena, ones who didn't have any intention of letting the chance on fighting for the Dragon Soar Arena slip away.
With all of that in mind, Dillon let out a smile and commented, “Eddie's two disciples have both been taken out. The remainder of the matches would have to proceed as planned, but as you may well see, the arena is currently in ruins...” As he gave those remarks, Dillon motioned to Hobbes with nothing but a simple nod.
Hobbes then promptly exited the venue of the Martial Arts Contest without delay. And after some time, the crowd suddenly heard the thud of a couple of heavy clomps moving closer and closer.
Thump! Thump!
Everyone focused their attention over toward the direction where the sound had been originating from, and a handful of onlookers were surprised to see Hobbes transporting the sizeable combat platform with his rotund frame and approaching them.
This actual battle stage was close to being two hundred feet wide. For the purpose of resisting the power of the masters from the Internal Elixir Realm, it had been fabricated utilizing a method which was much too intricate. A few of the components were even heavier than gold and metal. And as for the weight of the whole platform, it was something quite breathtaking. Taking all of that into consideration, Hobbes just casually lifted it over his shoulders and moved it here solely with his pure brute strength.
A loud sound reverberated in the area.
And with a single intense earth-shattering thump, Hobbes had set the platform in place.
The various sect leaders didn't even bat an eye upon seeing such a scene. For most of the masters from the Virtual Tribulation Realm, a feat like that wasn't out of the ordinary. But every single warrior watching from the stands had been left dumbfounded, causing the area to be overtaken by screams and squeals.
The sect leaders proceeded to come back to their respective places on the high platform, each of them pondering deeply.
Truth be told, a lot of people's wishes had been brought into fruition the moment Zen got rid of Marilyn for good.
The prestige which some of the large sects had been enjoying in the past couple of years was only superficial. The truth was actually quite far from it. Due to Eddie's rapid progress and rise into fame, all of those aforementioned big sects felt as though they had been caught in a cataclysm. On top of that, even the World Commercial Alliance itself had been affected by it to some extent.
Eddie possessed immense strength, and it would generally take about two to three sects' joint effort just to be able to take him down. And there wasn't actually just a single instance where he had clearly expressed his desire to build a divine kingdom. But given the complexities of the circumstances they were in, these great sects simply turned a deaf ear toward him.
If Eddie were to have really put in place the Lustful Demon Array and stepped foot into the Soul Sea Realm, then none of those warriors in the entire Central Region could ever hope to stop him. During that period, be it was the Ethereal Spirit Sect or the World Commercial Alliance or the Cloud Hall, they would be forced to choose between one of two things:
surrender to Eddie and live or stand up against him and meet their inevitable doom.
With all of that in mind, Xander of the Ethereal Spirit Sect and the three leaders of the World Commercial Alliance probably should be thanking Zen instead.
Having said that, all the pressure had now fallen on Zen and the Cloud Hall.
Meanwhile, on the high platform, Imogen still had gloom written all over her face, and her wrinkles looked as though they had been carved into her face with a knife.
Noticing Imogen's furious expression, Letitia closed her eyes and came up to her and grabbed her arm. With such a sheepish voice, she told her, “Master, please don't be upset.”
“You don't want me to be angry?” Shaking her head, Imogen then said, “Of course! There's no use getting upset over such a thing. When the time comes that Eddie finally decides to come and to get even, how do you think the Cloud Hall would retaliate? How am I supposed to break it to the people residing in the Cloud Hall? What am I going to tell the millions of followers we have in the Cloud Hall?”
With the strength of the entire Cloud Hall combined, it still wouldn't suffice to be a match for Eddie. As the highest ranking cultivator in all of the Central Region, Eddie could singlehandedly lay waste to the Cloud Hall with great ease.
Imogen herself was a master of the Life and Death Realm, but all her life, she had only been through one Heavenly Tribulation, and there was no telling if she would be able to make it through the one that was about to come. In addition to that, she would not measure up to Eddie in any way. If Letitia were to somehow become fortunate enough to finish practicing the Sutra of Empyrean Goddess, make her way across the line between life and death, and then finally end up being the master of the Life and Death Realm, she might have the chance to fight head-to-head with Eddie.
But pulling off a stunt like crossing the line between life and death would be beyond any person's wildest imaginations. The things that lasted could never happen overnight. It would take too long for her to accomplish something like that.
Letitia certainly understood that it was unwise to offend Eddie.
The second she quickly moved to defend Zen, she had instantly been having second thoughts. What more could possibly become of the Cloud Hall if she displeased Eddie? When all was said and done, her feelings still got the best of her as she stood proudly in front of Zen despite the odds being completely against her. At that point, Letitia truthfully couldn't care less if it would be worth all the trouble for the Cloud Hall just to keep Zen away from harm.
Letitia's eyes went dark, and a pang of guilt crept onto her face, “Forgive me… Master, maybe I am just really not worthy of being called the leader of the Cloud Hall. Maybe I'm not good enough.”
At the sight of the guilt embedded onto Letitia's face, Imogen heaved a heavy sigh and said, “Ahh, I'm well aware that you can be a bit too passionate when it comes to certain things, but one thing I know for sure is that the talent you possess is a cut above the rest. When you finally finish the cultivation of the Sutra of Empyrean Goddess, you would then be on par with the Life and Death Realm warriors even if you're still at the Virtual Tribulation Realm. Once you make it through the Life and Death Realm, I have faith that you would be capable of leading the Cloud Hall into being a fifth-grade sect, and potentially even helping the Cloud Hall to be counted as one of the sacred places.” ṞΑNОᛒËṩ
If a sixth-grade sect did not long for dominance, then it had the possibility of becoming a sacred place. If it competed for authority, then it would lay the foundations for its own kingdom of warriors. The kingdom would be known as the divine kingdom. Cloud Hall had no aspirations to fight for dominance. Its main goal was to become a sacred place, and that, more than anything else, would be the ultimate distinction one could ever hope to attain.
At this point, Zen abruptly butted in and said with a stern voice, “Master Yu, I think I may have found a way to go against Eddie.”
Imogen instantaneously sneered at Zen and shot him a scornful glare, “Do you honestly think he won't be able to do anything to you even after what you've done? You killed Marilyn right in front of his very eyes. Were it not for the World Commercial Alliance, you would have already been reduced to ashes by now and breathed your last breath! If a warrior would be foolish enough to believe that he has the capability of doing something just because luck has fortunately been on his side at one time rather than pin his hopes on his own strength, all I can say is that you won't be as lucky the second time around.”
“I consider luck to be one of my strengths as well. Master Yu, could you please let me continue what I was trying to say?” Zen tried his best to politely ask for permission.
“Okay then, you may continue,” Imogen calmly responded. It was so apparent that she did not have a good perception of Zen. His sister had been taken away, but he still had the audacity to blame all of it on Letitia. A young warrior at the Illuminating Soul Realm, that was all that he was, and he had the nerve to unreasonably put the blame on her apprentice. How did anyone expect her to put up with this?
In any case, Imogen was able to notice clear as day how Letitia appeared to have been harboring some feelings for Zen. She had been quite partial to him in whatever he did and so fond of him. For that reason, Imogen felt like she had to hold herself back with anything that had to do with him. Apart from that, everyone had an inkling that Zen had somehow been blessed with good fortune. Imogen was a being who had experienced crossing the line between life and death and had a thorough comprehension of life and death. How could she possibly fail to see Zen's great destiny?
To be completely fair, when it came to warriors, their destiny was something much too arduous to put to words.
People who had been blessed with great destiny found it relatively hard to die and they even had the power to engulf other people's destinies. If a crowd of people were to journey off into a hazardous place, the one with the mightiest destiny could end up devouring everyone else's destinies, leading them all to their demise. Only the one blessed with great fortune would be able to make it out alive, take home with different kinds of treasures, and keep himself away from harm.
What Imogen had been truly terrified of was that Zen's destiny could end up being much too strong that he might unfortunately end up consuming the destiny of the entirety of Cloud Hall, thus, bringing desolation toward the Cloud Hall.
However, Zen had no way of knowing that Imogen had actually been worrying about something to that extent. When he spoke again, he simply stated, “I'm planning to forfeit in the Martial Arts Contest.”
“Why would you do that?” The deep folds and creases on Imogen's forehead wriggled as she gave Zen a confused look.
The final results of the competition had become much clearer at that point. The winner could probably be either Zen or Brent. Anyhow, right next to the Venerable Starry, there sat a female disciple who had her face hidden behind a mask all throughout, and she also hadn't shown her strength yet. That only kept some people on their wit's end trying to take a guess.
Taking everything into consideration, Zen had such a high probability of standing on top of the other competitors.
Letitia's eyes instantly dilated with her eyebrows raised as she stared at Zen in utter confusion, left totally dumbfounded.
“I intend to lend the Cloud Hall a hand in constructing a sect-protecting array,” Zen carefully told them.
The Dragon Soar Arena was something of so much importance to Zen, but he was the sole person who had knowledge of the secret of the Dragon Soar Arena. Frankly speaking, any person who stepped foot in the Dragon Soar Arena would have only reached an impasse. The person not only would end up being unable to gain anything for himself, he would also end up being confined there for a thousand years. This was no laughing matter, and for most of the people, spending a thousand years in prison was synonymous to receiving a death penalty.
“Sect-protecting array…” Those words seemed to have piqued Imogen's interest based on the look she had on her face.
Just moments prior to then, everyone was able to feast their eyes on the strength of the enchanted barrier Zen had constructed, and it should be noted that this was the power of just more than a hundred runes. If the Cloud Hall could successfully put up an array utilizing thousands of runes somehow, then it might just be able to protect itself against Eddie!
“Is it for certain that you would be able to construct an array that's powerful enough to block Eddie?” Imogen curiously questioned him.
“Yes, I'm about eighty percent sure,” Zen bobbed his head along.
Truth be told, Zen was actually one hundred percent certain that he could pull it off, but he just wanted to avoid giving others the impression that he was so way over his head. Just to be sure, he wanted to leave some room for error. Right after the cyan dragon consumed the Owl Beast's evil spirit, he finally got his soul power replenished. In the event that Zen would run into some sort of trouble, he could still call out to the cyan dragon for assistance.
The cyan dragon had the capacity to construct a Grand Marvellous Array, one type of grand array that had enough force to lay waste to both heaven and earth. To put up an array for a fourth-grade sect to shelter it against masters of the Life and Death Realm shouldn't prove to be too difficult for someone like him to carry out.
Imogen possessed vast experience up her sleeve. It shouldn't be too hard for her to see the merit of Zen's suggestion.
She lightly bobbed her head and remarked, “If that is indeed true, then there should be no need for indecision. Once you construct the sect-protecting array, our Cloud Hall will take care of all the materials and fees! You have my word!”
Upon hearing Imogen's remarks, Zen deeply thought to himself, 'Well, isn't that just a foolish thing to say? If I lend you a hand in setting up the sect-protecting array, it is a given that you would be the one to shoulder the cost of the materials. After all, who else was she expecting to pay for everything? That is quite a peculiar old lady...' Needless to say, there was no way he could ever dare say that out loud though.