After hearing those disturbing remarks, Jacques slowly walked to the edge of the battle ring, with his
sharp eyes staring at Zen, and loudly and firmly said, "I want to launch a challenge against you!"
The dare made the audience sit up in attention. They didn't think Jacques could be so intense and
straightforward. The disciples were merely comparing the two warriors and did not expect Jacques to
issue a challenge to Zen.
Many of the spectators shared the same though. 'Zen is at the second grade of nature level, while
Jacques has broken through the Illuminating Soul Realm. Presumably, his strength will be superior
among disciples with the strength of the same realm. But for him, to challenge Zen is quite brazen and
almost a form of bullying.'
In a low voice, Master Wen said, "Zen, don't say yes!"
He was afraid to offend Jacques. Although he was a master of Drizzle Peak, Jacques' mentor was
either a saint, or an elder, whose status was far higher than his.
But Zen looked at Jacques without fear and dispassionately said, "Whether we fight or not, I follow
Cloud Sect's arrangement. If according to the rules of All Peaks Competition, you and I are assigned to
have a match, I will certainly not refuse."
His tone and attitude riled Jacques. "Are you afraid? Ahhh, don't worry. I won't let anyone say I am
trying to bully you because of my more superior power. I will adjust my strength to the nature level and
fight you fairly!"
He looked at Zen squarely, determination and pride burning in his eyes.
To his surprise, Zen burst out in laughter.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Jacques' words ignited his fighting spirit. Sharply, he jeered, "Me, afraid? Jacques, do
you know what fairness is?
I still stand by what I said previously. If we are to be assigned to the same match to fight each other,
don't worry for my sake, or control your power because I promise to defeat you!"
Zen's pronouncements made the disciples of Drizzle Peak and all other peaks inhale sharply and hold
their breath for several seconds.
At the same time, tens of thousands of disciples sitting in front of the Picture Slab also took a deep
breath. While these disciples only had a view of Jacques on the Picture Slab, Zen's words were
delivered clearly, and everyone heard this.
After Jacques challenged Zen, no one expected Zen to speak fearlessly or even say something as
crazy as he did.
After all, he was only at the second grade of nature level. How confident was he to speak that way to
Jacques?
But then Zen had spit out the words already. As the saying goes, spilt water cannot be gathered again.
Hearing Zen's words, an odd expression appeared in Jacques's face but soon vanished. Inhaling
deeply, he replied, "All right! If you are not eliminated in the round-robin competition, we will have a
chance to compete. But if you are eliminated before I can compete with you, you will not be qualified to
play with me!"
Pride and arrogance made Jacques lay down his condition. Everyone was aware that Jacques had
competed against several personal disciples and emerged triumphantly. His remarks were meant to tell
Zen that he would never be defeated.
The personal disciple had the right to be arrogant. After all, three years ago, he displayed his
impressive fighting ability while at the second grade of nature level. At that time, however, Jacques also
experienced a sense of powerlessness with his second-grade strength as he faced the masters of the
Illuminating Soul Realm. Now he was equipped with the strength of Illuminating Soul Realm that
previously gave him that sense of being powerless. So, it was only natural for him to feel confident
about facing opponents with the same level as his.
"Jacques!" A voice behind him boomed. "Please pay attention to the fact that your present opponent is
me!"
As Jacques was busy talking to Zen, the man, with a low and serious voice, stood behind the personal
disciple, his face gloomy.
The man was no other than the famous Stanley Pu, Azure Peak's top disciple, at the same time, a
master of the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Among the 33 peaks, Azure Peak ranked fifth. This meant he was one of those possessing the most
powerful strength, and as a top disciple of Azure Peak, Stanley was naturally proud and even arrogant.
So it was infuriating that when Jacques stepped on the ring, he completely ignored Stanley's presence
and instead went on to challenge someone at the second grade of nature level.
To Stanley's mind, Jacques' behavior showed he had no regard for his present opponent at all, but
rather saw Zen, at only the second grade of nature level, as an adversary. So how could the arrogant
Stanley take this kind of disrespect?
Dick lost to Zen, but Stanley was certain he would never lose to the Zen!
When Stanley's words finally penetrated Jacques' ears, he turned around, grinned and said, "You're my
opponent?"
"That's right!" Stanley nodded to acknowledge.
As he prepared himself to face his opponent, Stanley reached out for a golden fan, a top grade spiritual
weapon. It was an ordinary-looking object except that it stood out because the fan glowed with golden
light. A layer of gold covered its surface, giving it a delicate and elegant appearance. Once it was
unfolded, its edges became sharp as knives. A cut by the fan would be more painful than being sliced
by a blade.
"All right," Jacques said. Inhaling deeply, he suddenly walked towards Stanley.
Although still annoyed for being ignored by Jacques, Stanley never let his guard down as he got ready
to begin the match. In his mind, he acknowledged Jacques' reputation. With the strength only at the
second grade of nature level, he challenged and defeated over half of the disciples on the Cloud Sect
list. Now, with the strength of the Illuminating Soul Realm, the man was even more difficult to read.
So Stanley chose to launch a pre-emptive strike. By tossing his gold fan lightly, he completely unfolded
the fan, enabling him to wave it around him randomly.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The sound of the fan whipping the air had everyone's attention.
As Stanley's hand flipped the golden fan rapidly, one streak of life vitality after another was being
released by the spiritual weapon at the same time.
Stanley's life vitality was extremely special. He would always think of something very sharp so the life
vitality pulled out by the golden fan did not transform into a particular object. Instead, it released a kind
of gold thread as thin and fine as a hair strand. Had it not reflected a little golden light under the sun, it
would have been hardly visible to the naked eye.
Like everyone else, Zen had his eyes wide open and glued to the battle ring, watching the match
unfold. Once before, he experienced a similar attack. It was at the trial of Bloody Mountain, where Ryan
used his spiritual weapon to draw out a kind of indestructible line of energy. During that test, Zen
suffered scratches all over his body from the thin lines of energy that struck him.
Looking at the gold thread pulled out from Stanley's fan, Zen saw it was more powerful than the thin
lines that came out of Ryan's spiritual weapon. Everyone in the audience waited curiously at how
Jacques would deal with this.
And just as they began thinking of how the personal disciple would deal with the attack, Jacques simply
walked towards the gold threads coming from Stanley's fan.
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