Chapter 716: Chapter 716: The Spirit Container

Before Dillon could stop the two of them from fighting, it was already too late. Zen was already bursting with rage.

Fernandez had initially told Zen to take the wiser route of coaxing a woman first to please her but his quick temper rendered the advice useless.

Zen did initially plan to persuade Letitia but she did not listen and even said a few scathing words that made him really angry.

Letitia sneered upon seeing the morose look on his face, “What's the matter? Am I not right?”

“Right? Right!” Zen exclaimed, forcing a cold smile on his face, “What you said is right! You may be the supreme leader of Cloud Hall. But from now on, I am no longer a member of Cloud Hall!”

There was a collective gasp from Zen's declaration. The situation had now deteriorated to such a horrible state with a fight brewing between Zen and Letitia.

Owen figured that he didn't really have a say in this issue so he chose to remain quiet by the corner. Zen's actions stunned him. He couldn't believe that the young man actually dared to speak to the Cloud Hall's leader in such a rude manner.

Letitia scoffed at Zen's words. “You're no longer a member? Do you think it's that easy? Do you think the Cloud Hall is a place you can come and go as you please? Those who leave without permission will be chased down by the entirety of Cloud Hall's forces!”

It was at this point that Dillon, Hobbes, and Haber physically formed a human barrier between the two. Dillon even made a “hush” gesture that signaled Zen to stop talking.

Of course, the young man refused to give in. “I'd like to see just how the Cloud Hall will chase me down and kill me!”

As soon as he said those words, Letitia's face crumpled up in sadness. Her eyes were evidently full of tears but, instead of prolonging her quarrel with Zen, she suddenly released her life vitality and turned into a flash of light that flew out of the Oracle City.

“Miss!”

“Miss!”

Her sudden departure greatly worried the elders. Although her injuries were not severe, she would still need to stay in Oracle City to recuperate her health for a few days. Morphens was quick to transform into a streak of light to chase after Letitia.

Zen, on the other hand, only snorted angrily before leaving the hall in a huff. Margaret, of course, followed closely behind him.

The rest that stayed behind could only look at each other in dismay.

“Do you know what they were arguing about? What kind of conflict does Zen have with Letitia?” Dillon shook his head, also unable to understand the situation. Letitia was the strong leader of Cloud Hall and never once cried in front of so many people. To think that an argument would send her to tears in front of so many people was inconceivable.

“I don't know what happened. But somehow, I feel that these two were arguing like children…” Hobbes remarked.

Haber silently stood beside them but it was evident that he was also thinking hard about what happened.

“Right? But I don't think that they quarreled like children. It felt more as if they were lovers bickering about something!”

The moment Dillon uttered these words, the three leaders' faces suddenly brightened in realization.

It wasn't a monumental revelation. The members of the World Commercial Alliance just weren't aware of it before. From the very beginning, Letitia did not bring Zen with her. After they met, they quarreled in childish ways. The only possibility they could come up with was that the two might be lovers.

The three leaders shook their heads in disappointment. They faced a great enemy but those two youngsters chose to fight at such a sensitive period. They were really too… willful.

Zen walked ahead with Margaret following closely behind him.

They arrived at a beautifully decorated courtyard which was the place that the World Commercial Alliance specially arranged for Zen.

Zen sat down in a huff while Margaret fussed around to brew him a pot of tea. She dutifully poured him a cup and set it down in front of him.

His distressed expression concerned her as she suddenly leaned against his back. “Zen!”

“Hmm?” Zen hummed, looking at the ceiling morosely.

“You are not magnanimous nor kind enough,” Margaret told him.

Zen did not answer and merely flashed her a smile, nodding in agreement.

She was right. He was indeed not magnanimous nor was he kind enough to Letitia.

He was only twenty years old. He had just transitioned from a teenager to a young man. He was someone with the spirit of a natural-born warrior.

However, when it came to relationships, his youth was extremely evident with his attitude. He was not mature enough and, as Margaret had said, extremely lacked the kindness and maturity that were required of him when dealing with Letitia earlier. Ṝ𝐚ɴο𝖇Еꞩ

At that moment, Lavender suddenly appeared beside Zen and gave Margaret a cold glare. “Isn't this what you wanted?”

Lavender did not mince words and this was the reason why Margaret feared her. Her bluntness often made Margaret a nervous, fumbling mess.

But this time, Margaret nodded and even replied, “Yes, I did want this but Zen is not happy.”

“How do you know whether he's happy or not?”

Lavender asked.

Margaret merely shrugged, “He is definitely unhappy right now.”

And she was right. Zen continued to be depressed for the next two days.

In the past, Zen's free time would often be spent cultivating. However, he spent the next two days being lost in thought and moping.

As he thought of Letitia's face back then, he couldn't help but sigh. 'Does this woman love to cry so much? I just told her a few words. Why did it make her so sad?'

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became, leading him to drink twenty jars of wine in one go.

Due to his strong physique, not even two hundred or two thousand jars would be enough to make him drunk. Nevertheless, the twenty jars were enough for the entire courtyard to be pervaded by the strong smell of alcohol.

Margaret, ever the neat freak, couldn't stand the smell. She had wanted to go to Zen's room and comfort him but realized that he was like this not because of her. She couldn't really solve the problem for him nor make him feel better. She just wasn't that important or close to him.

After the two days, Zen registered himself into the World Commercial Alliance. He immediately accepted the task assigned to him and quickly formed himself a small team. Afterwards, he left Margaret in Oracle City and headed towards the east.

The Heavenly Evil Sect was slowly expanding, from east to west.

According to the experiences of other sects, the strategy for a sect war would often be like this: lower-level warriors from both sides would usually fight first and one side would often gain a slight advantage. Once the scales tipped slightly towards one side, the middle-level warriors would be sent out, and eventually the upper-level warriors. Once the best had come out for last, the sect war would not last long and would end with a decisive victory.

There was also something called “lightning war” wherein all the sect masters would come out in the beginning and directly behead the top warriors of the other sect, thereby ending the battle quickly.

All sorts of tricks and tactics were also employed for these wars.

However, with the Heavenly Evil Sect, everything was different.

Firstly, they made use of this type of weird fighting technique wherein they did not even send out their upper-level warriors to take part in the battle. Only the lower-level warriors were sent out and they would be enough to suppress the allied forces of the Cloud Hall and the World Commercial Alliance.

This was the case wherein the upper-level warriors of Oracle City had to fight against the lower-level warriors of the Heavenly Evil Sect.

All Internal Elixir Realm warriors and Virtual Tribulation Realm warriors were separated into small teams. Each team moved in batches, raiding the Heavenly Evil Sect's army and constantly trying to prevent them from total invasion and occupation. This strategy had been decided jointly by the Cloud Hall and the World Commercial Alliance.

The method had proved very effective, in the beginning. The Heavenly Evil Sect was still in the stage of saving-up their strength so no upper-level warriors could be sent out to counterattack.

However, recent events had seen more of the Cloud Hall and the World Commercial Alliance's forces being decimated in greater numbers. Many of those who perished were at the middle and even late stages of the Virtual Tribulation Realm.

While on his way to accept a mission, Zen coincidentally bumped into Rocher and the others.

Rocher, Patrick, and Lewis had just finished a mission issued to them half a month ago and were on their way of accepting a new one.

Thus, at Zen's request, the four of them naturally formed a team.

Lewis was very happy that they had Zen in their team. He still remembered how brave and remarkable the young man had been in the past.

All three of them had long since agreed that Zen's strength was already equal to that of a Life and Death Realm warrior. With a talent like that in their team, they knew that any difficulties they would face out in the field would be solved very easily. In short, there was a higher probability of survival in their team. Such thought pleased them very much.

“Now that Zen has joined us, we have to change our team name! I think we should call it Red Maple Team!”

Lewis declared with a smile.

Rocher, however, did not really agree and sent him a cold glare, “It's an awful name.”

“Awful? How is this possible? Well, if you don't like it, we can call it… Lewis Team!” he suggested once again with a grin.

But Rocher shook his head in disappointment. “That's even more terrible!”

The four of them were currently flying at a low altitude but Zen slowed down and interrupted the brewing argument. “How about Eudemon Team?” he suggested.

“Eudemon... It's a good name!” Patrick said, nodding his head in agreement. The word meant guardian angel and benevolent spirit. Lewis, however, was a bit unhappy, “The name is too strange. I don't understand it at all and it's not as great as the ones I came up with...”

Before he could finish, he heard a loud 'whoosh' sound behind him. Rocher had drawn out his sword which made Lewis immediately shut his mouth.

Three days later, the newly formed Eudemon Team arrived at a place one thousand four hundred miles to the east of Oracle City.

The Heavenly Evil Sect had initially expanded from the east and invaded most of the northeastern area. However, the siege of Ethereal City effectively made them the main occupier of the Central Region's entire eastern area.

The four of them stood on top of a mountain overlooking a nearby city.

“This city is called Melody City,” Rocher said, taking out his map and comparing it to the city in front of him. ��It's small and only has a population of less than four hundred thousand.”

To compare to the population of other cities, Oracle City, a super city, had a population of over one hundred million while Ethereal City and Cloudy City, which were considered just large cities, already had tens of millions of mortals and warriors living within their walls.

Thus, Melody City, with a population of just four hundred thousand, was indeed small.

“Although it has a small population, it has an important military base,” Patrick spoke. “The Heavenly Evil Sect is currently building a transmission array here since the city is located in such a strategic area.”

The mission this time was not to bring down the Heavenly Evil Sect's forces but to destroy the said transmission array. The construction would not be completed in just a day but it was expected that many powerful warriors of the Heavenly Evil Sect would be stationed there as guards.

A look of cowardice crossed Lewis's features. “Can the four of us really destroy the transmission array?”

Patrick and Rocher simply ignored Lewis's fears. They were already used to his timid nature and cowardice. Besides, despite his fears, Lewis was someone who constantly accepted new missions so it could be that he was someone who merely pretended to be cowardly.

“Let's go!” Rocher declared and the whole team followed.

Although Melody City was under the Heavenly Evil Sect's control, most of the residents were mortals and warriors were rarely seen. They figured that the transmission array was secretly under construction since sending out too many warriors could arouse suspicion from the Oracle City members.

However, what the Heavenly Evil Sect did not know was that news of their construction plans had already spread. Zen now led the mission of destroying the transmission array.

As soon as they entered, their entire team was immediately smothered by peddlers offering their specialties. Zen and the others did not travel to the city for relaxation and effectively ignored these mortals.

The four of them immediately set out to explore. The city wasn't too large and Zen was able to spread out his senses in order to find any space fluctuations that would indicate the location of the transmission array.

However, even if all four of them had spread out their senses, not one of them was able to discover any space fluctuations.

“Something is wrong,” Zen said.

“I also feel that something is wrong!” Lewis agreed. He had been feeling extremely nervous ever since they entered the city and it was said that cowards had the innate talent of sensing trouble to run for their lives. Lewis was a person with such high cowardice skills. As long as he sensed something wrong, he would maintain constant vigilance against his surroundings.

Rocher quickly glanced around. A lot of mortals abounded the streets when they entered the city.

These mortals were indifferent to the sect war currently happening between the Heavenly Evil Sect, and the joint force of the Cloud Hall and the World Commercial Alliance. No matter who came out victorious or controlled their city had nothing to do with them.

“Those people have disappeared,” Rocher muttered in realization when he saw the now empty streets in front of them.

Patrick was also vigilant. Suddenly, he pointed at the low city wall. The three others looked up and noticed a light blue enchanted barrier that had suddenly appeared and enveloped the entire small city.

At this time, the mortals that had disappeared earlier suddenly opened their doors and walked out of their homes.

“What's wrong with these people?” Lewis muttered in curiosity.

More and more people had come out and filled the streets. All of them were glassy-eyed and kept walking back and forth. They were clearly still alive but looked like zombies devoid of any vitality.

“We might be in trouble,” Zen said before looking at Rocher. “Stay here!”

Even though there was no formally designated leader, it was apparent to everyone that Zen was the key figure of their team.

Rocher obeyed, unsheathing his sword and sitting crossed-leg in the sidewalk. He closed his eyes tightly and began to gather his strength.

He was well aware of how extra cautious Zen had been acting, which probably meant that he was about to meet extremely formidable enemy. Rocher would naturally also be on high alert.

Patrick and Lewis were the same. They both knew these mortals posed no immediate threat but they kept their guard up just in case.

Zen suddenly shot out of the sky and rushed towards the blue enchanted barrier. However, before he could even approach, a faint chuckle stopped him.

“Hahaha! It seems today is my lucky day! Who would've thought I'd be able to catch a middle-stage Virtual Tribulation Realm warrior with the cage I set up in Melody City!”

a loud, sharp voice remarked.

It was the voice of a child, probably three or four years old.

“Who are you?” Zen asked, staring up at the blue enchanted barrier with caution.

Not long after, a faint figure materialized hazily on top of the barrier. It had the outline of a person but it didn't feel like one. Zen could only guess that what he was seeing in front of him was a soul, or rather, the projection of a soul.

It was a skill that even Zen had never seen before in the Sea God Continent.

Of course, within the Heavenly Feather Sacred Place, Lavender had used a similar technique to talk to the Demon Night queen from the Upper World. However, that happened beyond the scope of the Sea God Continent.

“Who are you?” Zen repeated. “Answer me!”

The hazy figure grew clearer and revealed a small boy with tender skin and an incredibly cute face. However, his appearance did not match with the sheer cruelty that emanated from his eyes.

“You don't need to know who I am. Once you enter my Spirit Container, you will just have to die, just like those guys,” the child spoke viciously but his face looked extremely innocent.

“The Spirit Container?” Zen asked calmly.

The boy nodded and smiled coldly, “I don't mind telling you. If I gather the soul power of several hundred thousand mortals in this small city, I can project my soul! And I have the Fighting Soul!”

Zen quickly ruminated from the boy's words. It seemed that most of the Virtual Tribulation Realm elders who died in the war had been killed by this boy whose Fighting Soul made it difficult for even Life and Death Realm masters to resist him.

“You're not from the Central Region, right?” Zen suddenly asked.

The boy snorted, “Does it matter? Just go die. Then I'll tell you!” The boy gave Zen one of his cold smiles before suddenly rushing into his mind. He obviously wanted to use his Fighting Soul to directly exterminate Zen's soul.