Chapter 675: Chapter 675: The Transmission Arrays Of The Ethereal City

A myriad of emotions crossed through Margaret's face as she looked at Zen. “Tell me your name!” she demanded through gritted teeth.

Margaret rarely left her home, but she was more or less well-informed about the young elites of the Central Region. She had not participated in the Martial Arts Contest of Oracle City two years ago, but she had lent Brent a hand in studying and forming strategies against his potential opponents.

This man in front of her was undoubtedly young, and yet he had already reached the Virtual Tribulation Realm. He was no ordinary warrior.

Earlier, Robin had sent word for her to go out to meet him, but without telling her anything about this man. Conflict had immediately arisen between her and Zen at their first contact, leaving no space for Robin to properly introduce them to each other.

“Why? So you can find an opportunity to take revenge afterwards?” Zen asked with a smile, seemingly unaffected by her obvious aggression.

“That's right!” Margaret answered him quickly and without any trace of hesitation. She had no intentions of hiding anything. Granted, she was only a beginner of the Internal Elixir Realm, but she had the Purple Power Body. Once she had trained enough, her strength would be unmatched. A cultivator with the Purple Power Body would be able to stay in the Purple Power World for a period of time after reaching the Internal Elixir Realm. The length of the duration would increase more and more by cultivating herself to the Virtual Tribulation Realm. Finally, it would then be possible to summon the 99 billion huge swords and the true spirit from the Purple Power World. However, the cost of such power would be extremely high.

Marilyn had previously tried to summon the true spirit upon her encounter with Zen at the Martial Arts Contest. According to the cyan dragon's words, if Marilyn had been successful, Zen would have undoubtedly met his end.

Zen did not even flinch at Margaret's threats. With a small smile, he said, “I look forward to it. My name is Zen Luo.”

“Zen Luo?” Margaret repeated his name slowly, her eyebrows knitted together as the sound of his name recalled a familiar ring from her memory. After a brief pause, a look of recognition and astonishment dawned on her face. Turning to Brent with her eyes blown wide open, she exclaimed, “Brent, is he that same Zen you've been talking about?”

She had never been outside of the Ethereal City, but she had heard of Zen's name no less than one thousand times!

Ever since the end of the Martial Arts Contest, his name had been on Brent's lips. He had talked of him endlessly each time he returned home from the Ethereal Spirit Sect. Brent had deeply regretted not having been able to fight Zen, and it was as if this lost chance haunted him to no end.

Day by day, there were only more and more stories about Zen — each one more extraordinary than the last. Word had spread around that he was even a greater talent than Brent in martial arts. Furthermore, he had enough mastery of the runes to have set up an impenetrable sect-protecting array that held off even the arrogant Eddie's attacks!

People speculated that Zen had far more superior rune skills over Arnold.

Arnold was originally a disciple of the Ethereal Spirit Sect, and so he had quickly gained attention and later on, great fame in the Ethereal City. In the south, people had erected a giant statue in his honor. Endless talk about this legendary figure resounded on the streets of the southern district, and his great achievements never failed to reach Margaret's ears whenever she went there, and for good reason — the sect-protecting array that he had built protected the Ethereal Spirit Sect up to this day.

However, here was a man who, according to rumors, possessed skills that surpassed even that of the legendary Arnold.

At the beginning, such talk seemed incredulous to her. Words travelled quickly, and the stories that circulated were not always as close to the truth as they seemed. It was impossible that Zen surpassed Brent's talent. After all, her younger brother had always been the most gifted disciple in the entire Central Region. His genius was a divine gift from the gods! It was only a matter of time before he reached the Soul Sea Realm. The Ethereal Spirit Sect had regarded him as its most valuable treasure! It was simply impossible that there existed a more talented person than her younger brother.

But Zen's skills did not stop at martial arts. He also showed promising potential as a runic expert. No one in the whole Central Region had ever displayed such skills and growth as him. What was even more unbelievable was that he had only been a mere youth, not even reaching 18 years of age at that time.

Stories about him and his incredible feats only multiplied as time went by, and even Margaret, who rarely cared about the outside world, was filled with curiosity towards such a character. She had begun to think that if there was a chance, she would like to meet this Zen and see just what kind of person he was. However, after his journey to the Immortal Mist's celestial tomb, Zen had disappeared.

Brent himself, who had participated in the journey, presumed him dead.

Margaret had always regarded this as a pity. Now, she had lost all chances of ever meeting the man that her younger brother had endlessly talked about.

She eyed him from head to toe as he stood before her in the flesh. He was most likely around 20 years of age, as he was only 18 years old two years ago. The man in front of her matched that description, but was he that same Zen? Hadn't he died in the celestial tomb? How come he was here in their midst?

Brent blinked his eyes at his sister and sighed. “Yes, sister, he's exactly that Zen.”

At that moment, the reason of his appearance dawned on her. She now understood why Zen had offered her two difficult choices. No one in the Central Region was unaware of the fate that had befallen Yan, his sister. Eddie had her in his grasp. Some of Margaret's irritation slowly dissipated and was replaced by quiet respect as she realized that Zen would stop at nothing to save his sister. He would sacrifice everything, if necessary.

Naturally, she also understood that if she were to fall into Eddie's hands, Zen's sister would be in great danger.

However, despite her understanding of the situation, Margaret still couldn't forgive Zen. She would not let him off so easily after having treated her so rudely, and in front of her family! Margaret was proud by nature. Reining in her resentment, she wore a stoic expression in her face and said, “Well then. Even if you are that Zen, you be sure that I will pay back your rudeness in full some time in the future,” she said, her voice still laced with anger.

Zen merely gave her a brief smile. “I'll wait,” he replied calmly.

Robin let out a sigh of relief from the side, grateful that the tension had not exploded into full-blown hostility. “Since you've already made your decision, then it's fine. In fact, the leader of Cloud Hall has already invited Margaret, to keep her away from here, but this child is so stubborn that she has kept on refusing to go to Cloud Hall,” he said, letting out another huff of air. Then, he added, “It's already noon, and the servants have finished preparations for lunch. You can set off after you eat.” ŔАℕổ₿Ë𝐬

A transmission array connecting the Ethereal City and the Cloudy City allowed for a direct passage, so going from there to Cloud Hall would be no trouble at all.

Zen gave them a slight bow and said politely, “I am grateful for your kindness!”

All of them moved towards the dining room, except for one figure. Margaret stalked off to the other direction, leaving behind with only one sentence. “I'm not going to eat with this man. I'll be out after lunch!” she declared, then walked away.

A wry smile appeared on Robin's face. He turned to Zen and said apologetically, “Please forgive her. My daughter has always been like this.”

Margaret's hostile attitude did not matter one bit to Zen. What he did not know was that this lunch would bring about a huge change in his plans.

The transmission arrays of the Ethereal City were located at the western district, the busiest, most bustling area of the city. Two transmission arrays were built in the open space beside the Sky Worm River to the western border of the city. Of the two, one provided a passage to the Cloudy City, while the other one led to the Oracle City.

A huge fortune was expended in constructing the transmission arrays. It was not comparable to the massive transmission arrays that allowed travelling back and forth between continents, but it still covered a considerable area — spanning across half of the Central Region. In addition to this, these three cities were the largest in the Central Region, and so they had the largest number of warriors. Every day, there would be countless of them who would need to use these two transmission arrays to get to Cloudy City or to Oracle City.

Even some ordinary merchants would pay a high toll to transport valuable goods through the transmission arrays.

The frequent use of the transmission arrays led to the high costs in maintaining them.

Today as usual, there was a long line by the bank of the Sky Worm River, with people waiting their turns to use the arrays.

This month had been especially busy for the two transmission arrays. There was word going around that Eddie was plotting an attack on Ethereal City with the warriors of the Heavenly Evil Sect. The seeds of fear had taken their roots in the city, and people were hurrying to leave in order to escape from the impending disaster. They had a choice between the Oracle City and the Cloudy City to ensure their safety.

With the relentless demand, the cost of transportation through the transmission arrays had risen greatly, doubling the amount of the usual price. Even so, a great number of people who were willing to spend paid such a high price, if it meant their safety. Money mattered little in comparison to their lives.

Today, the atmosphere around the crowd was uncharacteristically tense. The air was burdened with a growing impatience from the waiting people.

Martial cultivators stood stiffly as they waited their turn to use the passage, and the civilians grew anxious for their own survival as threat of Eddie's attack loomed closer and closer each day. Some of them had been waiting for about half a day.

The pressure was a ticking time bomb, and the heightened frustration exploded when two men tried to cut in line. The other cultivators were immediately annoyed. One of them reproached the two men furiously, shouting out, “Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing? Why are you cutting in line? Even if you have something urgent to attend to, you should still obey the rules! Everyone here has been waiting for a long time.”

The others soon followed, throwing criticisms at the two. “You two have no manners!. Have some shame!”

Hearing the crowd's scolding, the two warriors turned around and said with a sneer, “Yes, I'm cutting in line and ignoring the rules, but so what? Some of us have more important jobs to do. What? You want to fight us?”

The other warriors fell silent at their intimidation. Most of them warriors were nature creatures, of which only a handful had reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, while the two warriors cutting in line were at the Internal Elixir Realm. There was too great a gap between the two groups. Provoking the two warriors further would only result to the other group's loss.

The silence of their surrender only served to fan the two warriors' insolence. “That's right. You lot should know your place. Weigh your own strength before you sputter out your nonsense!” they jeered.

A quiet discontent settled over the crowd as the line slowly moved forward. The transmission arrays flashed white every time someone entered the space channel. As the two Internal Elixir Realm warriors approached one of the transmission arrays, one of them said in a lazy tone, “Alright, let's do it!”

The other person threw back a haughty glance to the others behind, as if challenging them to stop him. Then, he took out a purple-black bead from his chest and threw it towards the transmission array. The next moment, they both abruptly retreated.