Chapter 966: Chapter 966: Pushing His Limits

At this time, Margaret walked over to him and took out a dainty, white, silk handkerchief that she used to wipe the sweat off Zen's brows.

A pat here and there was all it took to ruin the pristine silk fabric, staining it with gunk and blood.

Margaret smiled as she lightly wiped his face. “Come on!”

She wasn't as worried compared to Letitia and Aura. It wasn't because she didn't care but because she liked seeing Zen struggle every now and then. For Margaret, a man was the most attractive when he struggled through adversity.

Zen nodded to Margaret, his hands reaching for his chest to take out some pills. Meanwhile, Letitia was prepared with a milky white pill beside them. This pill was extremely valuable and guaranteed to be effective since it came from Cloud Hall. She handed it over to Zen immediately.

Zen took the pill from Letitia's hand and swallowed it. The medicinal pill, coupled with Zen's lightning-fast recovery rate immediately healed all wounds on his body. Though each bloody gash looked serious, they weren't that deep and in the end, Zen emerged good as new. The only indication that he was ever wounded was the holes left on his clothes from the blood arrows.

Zen finally realized that this road was meant to test his limit of strength. Mighty Soul Sea Realm warriors or even formidable Spirit Supreme Realm warriors would undergo the same thing if they set foot on this path.

It was only by pushing himself to the limit would Zen be able to advance!

Retreating was easy, all he would need to do was turn back and leave. However, that would mean throwing all his hard work down the drain.

“I'm not afraid of some little test,” he murmured firmly. The edges of his vision darkened, tunneling his focus on the several thousand steps ahead of him. The road ahead was difficult to go through, but he didn't flinch a bit.

“Go!”

Zen let the power of the dragon scales surge through his body once again. Blood spurted out of him with each step he took.

This time, Zen had taken ten steps. The price he paid for ten steps was twelve wounds on his body.

The moment he stopped, Letitia was already beside him, stuffing another pill into his mouth. “This is the Ice Muscle Pill. I've got about forty along with around fifty Rejuvenating Pills. I don't know if it's enough since there are at least three thousand footprints...”

she mumbled worriedly. Would these elixirs be enough to help Zen walk down to the end of the road? she wondered.

Hearing this, Margaret quickly checked her space ring to see what she had. Unfortunately, instead of pills, all that was in there were neatly folded clothes of varying styles and a few unimportant trinkets. No pills were found there.

“I still have some pills…” Aura offered meekly.

Letitia scoffed, her eyes flashing dangerously. “Your pills wouldn't be of any help.”

And it was true. Aura's pills could never be compared to Cloud Hall's. The best she had were only of the fifth grade while Letitia's were at the seventh or eighth grade caliber and they were the top elixirs in the Central Region. One Ice Muscle Pill could probably cover an entire year's expenses for Cloud Sect - that was how valuable and precious Letitia's pills were.

“It's all the same! I'll be okay. I will get through this. Besides, I still have some pills with me,” Zen said, breaking up the awkwardness of the situation before it escalated further.

Immortal Book remained silent. Saul shook his head and said, “It's a pity that the pill refining room is closed. I can't get any pills for you. The pill refining furnace in the room has been there for countless years. There are still some unfinished pills in the furnace from when Master left. I don't know how they are now after so many years of refining…”

When Zen heard this, a smile appeared on Zen's face. It didn't necessarily mean that the longer a pill was refined, the better it would be. In fact, there was the danger of a furnace exploding if it was left to work too long. ℞аℕóᛒΕŠ

However, the theurgy that the owner of the fairy palace had was beyond anyone's imagination. There was no way that a pill refined by him would be no good. Zen was certain that whatever was inside the pill refining room would benefit him greatly.

But that was something for later. Right now, he needed to focus on the difficult path laid out in front of him.

Just as Letitia's pill took effect and healed him, Zen took a deep breath and activated his powers once again. This time, he summoned the power of more than six thousand dragon scales! Then he continued to advance!

The path to advancement was bloody, literally. His robe, once pristine white, had now been dyed a deep, blood-red from all the wounds he had sustained. The road behind him was also a casualty, being stained red from the blood from his body.

A change of clothes was in order. However, after he took another hundred steps, his fresh clothes had once again been drenched in blood.

It took Zen two hours to reach the middle section of the bookshelf. Immortal Book couldn't help but shake his head. “The test set by the master is too cruel.”

Saul couldn't help but agree, “I know it's meant to test his limits, but aren't there too many footprints? One or two hundred should've been enough. Why are there so many? It would be impossible for an ordinary martial artist to withstand the pain!”

A warrior's potential was realized under extremely trying situations. One's survival in the path towards the very top depended on his willingness to endure hardship during life and death trials. Now, this was all well and good for Zen, who had limitless potential. The only problem was, each step he took on this path was like one, huge, extremely difficult trial that exhausted his strength to the limit. The path had several thousand steps laid out for him. To get through this meant he must have strong willpower.

He might have covered half the distance, but the possibility of him giving up was still high.

His face was growing paler by the minute.

All of Zen's advantages and abilities were put to the test. He had a sacred weapon-like body, the pills provided for him by his wife were all top-grade but the blood he had shed along the way was also too much. His body was heavy and his legs felt like lead. Not even the power of the dragon scales was enough to help him take that one step forward.

But he had already gotten so far. He had already accomplished one thousand and seven hundred steps.

Was he really giving up now? He was now halfway through his goal. His body was exhausted and his mind was addled, but all he could think about was how each shallow footprint only brought him closer to the end.

The remaining footprints extended all the way to the front of the huge book. Each footprint looked like a fiend, mocking him and causing more suffering to him.

He could feel it. He could feel how his body was giving up on him. There was no strength left in him to continue.

Zen breathed deeply. He stood still on the spot, back hunched over as he looked at the path in front of him.

The sight sent a pang to Letitia's and Aura's hearts. They'd bear the pain for him if they could. It hurt them so much seeing him suffer this way. However, other than encouraging Zen, they didn't know how to help him

The two stood quietly to the side, frozen with the dilemma of not knowing how to help him. Margaret, however, was different. She rushed towards Zen and hugged him. The blood on his body soaked her chest red. She sniffed the air and the bloody smell filled her nostrils. “You smell of blood,” she remarked.

“What are you doing?” he asked her weakly, leaning on her embrace.

Margaret smiled. “I'm just giving you a warm hug to cheer you on.”

Zen couldn't help but chuckle. “Do you think I'll give up?”

Margaret shook her head, her eyes shining with confidence as she looked up at him. “No. How could my husband, a mighty warrior give up so easily?”

It was true that she felt bitter about the grand wedding ceremony Zen held for Letitia back in Cloud Hall, however, Margaret comforted herself with the thought that her wedding ceremony would be a thousand times grander once she accompanied Zen to the Upper World. Any displeasure on her end was hidden with her grand vision for the future.

She would invite all the powerful masters in the universe and all her guests would be famous people with great reputations such as Nameless and Apeiron. Moreover, she would invite all the Supreme Lords to her wedding ceremony. Her wedding ceremony must be a thousand times, or ten thousand times grander than the one of Zen and Letitia…

Margaret had set herself to invite all the Supreme Lords despite not really knowing what rank they belonged. It wasn't a title she had heard of until she met Elder Apeiron. The creatures of the Upper World would no doubt be shocked if they knew Margaret's plans for this grand wedding ceremony.

Zen smiled down at her. “Of course I will not give up,”

he said, patting her head before walking away from her embrace, taking on the path once again.

There were no dangers on this path. It was only an arduous test that required him to push himself to the limit at every step. Three thousand footprints meant pushing his limits over three thousand times.

Even a sacred weapon would probably turn to dust under this sort of repeated torture…