Yan was undeniably a superb talent of Cloud Sect. An idea of her talent could be taken from the fact
that she had bested Zen in both grade and speed. When it was time for the All Peaks Competition, she
had already reached the Illuminating Soul Realm, and if that wasn't enough, she was only 15 years old
at the time.
On the other hand, Zen was 17 years old at the moment but was merely at grade two of the nature
level. So compared to Yan, Zen was quite slow in cultivation speed. However, that did not mean he had
been totally overtaken.
When it came to fighting capacity, he was several notches above Yan.
Not only her, he was above almost all personal disciples. In the previous All Peaks Competition, the
performance of disciples which were competing on behalf of some peak was not so good.
The top three, and even the top five places were all occupied by personal disciples, who had easily
outwitted the disciples from the peaks.
But this year, the competition had been fiercer than ever and of the top 3 contenders, two were fighting
on behalf of peaks. They were Zen and Rocher. What was more, neither one of them was at the
Illuminating Soul Realm. This was the first time in history that such a result had been seen and until
today, such a result was beyond anyone's imagination.
Zen and Rocher weren't the only black horses to break the record. The top inner disciples from other
peaks like Wing, Sheeny, Jason, and Jill had also managed to defeat the personal disciples quite
easily.
So this time, the peak disciples had prevailed over the personal disciples in the All Peaks Competition.
Among the personal disciples, only Patrick had managed to land a spot amongst the top five. It was up
to him now.
As the pillar of the personal disciples, he had mastered the mysterious Buddhist cultivation method and
his real strength was too deep for common men to predict. It was all on him now to defend the dignity
of the personal disciples. If he lost too, then the year was going to be remembered forever as one when
the personal disciples failed completely.
"Zen, Zen.." Master Xu of the Skytop Peak murmured the name, lost deep in some thought.
Master Xu had a good memory, and even if he hadn't, Zen wasn't the sort of person he would have
forgotten easily. He still remembered the time when Zen had entered the Bloody Mountain for the trial
practice. Not only had he managed to defeat a master like Ryan, he had also killed the only grade five
unreal beast of the Bloody Mountain in the end. That way, he had earned the only black crystal
fragment for his practice. This was a remarkable achievement, because ever since the time the Bloody
Mountain was established, no disciple had ever earned the black crystal fragment.
From that moment onwards, Master Xu had become determined to get Zen on his side. He wanted to
invite Zen and ask him to join the Skytop Peak. For this sole purpose, he had even gotten into quite an
argument with Aura.
Unfortunately, not only did that argument go south for him, Aura had also won Zen's heart first. He
didn't know what kind of method she had used to persuade Zen, but he was completely devoted to her
now.
Foiled in his attempts, all Master Xu could do was think viciously, 'Although Zen is a potentially
expensive diamond in the rough, does this Drizzle Peak which ranks the last possess any ability to
carve him into a shining jewel?'
Zen had swept everyone aside and stood aloft in majesty. He had shown extraordinary talent in the All
Peaks Competition and had even become the key opponent of the strongest disciple of the Skytop
Peak - Rocher.
If Master Xu was given another chance, he would have definitely made another offer to him at a higher
price when he was at the Bloody Mountain. As it turned out, Master Xu's initial assessment was wrong.
A diamond needed to be polished. Zen... Zen was Platinum. He shone everywhere! There was no need
to polish him. He seemed to be gold replenished with ever growing spells.
But alas! Master Xu had already missed him and that much could not be changed. Aura had already
beaten him and enlisted Zen first. Master Xu heaved a sigh and shook his head. Fortunately, Rocher
was there fighting for the Skytop Peak. His strength and potential was not lesser than Zen. It was yet to
see who was going to be declared the final winner.
The round robin continued. More and more disciples whose names were in the lottery box were wiped
out. With each passing round, the probability of Patrick, Rocher, and Zen getting pitted against each
other increased.
Under every one's gaze, the steward went on drawing lots to decide the competitors of the next round.
Finally, after numerous rounds, when he gave the names of the next contenders to the referee, the
referee immediately announced, "Rocher of the Skytop Peak Vs. Zen of the Drizzle Peak!"
"Finally it happens!"
"The showdown between two super talents of the Cloud Sect! I feel like my blood is going to rush out
any moment!"
"Will Rocher use the sword? I really want to see his sword. What does it look like? Draw the sword!"
Rocher looked very calm. He slowly walked towards the arena. Against his graceful steps, Zen also
ambled inside, looking calm and relaxed.
After they had arrived at the center of the arena and were now facing each other, Zen smiled and
asked, "Everyone wants to see your sword today, Rocher. Is it really your plan to let it hang at your
back during the entire competition?"
Rocher shook his head and smiled as well, "I said this before, I didn't use my sword because there was
no need to. I never wanted to make a mystery out of my sword."
"But what about now?" Zen asked.
"Of course I am going to draw my sword." The crowd hooted after Rocher finished his words, Rocher
reached out his slim fingers and grasped the sword on his back. He slowly drew it out from the sheath,
inch by inch, each unit making the crowd go wild.
"Rocher is finally drawing his sword! We have waited for the moment for so long. It looks like Zen is the
opponent that he is really worried about!"
"What kind of sword on earth is that? I really can't wait to see it!"
All the disciples gazed at Rocher's hand without batting an eyelid, curious about what the weapon was
going to look like.
When Rocher finally took the sword completely out of the sheath, all the people were amazed.
"What's this? A rusty sword? Hang on, do swords rust?"
"No silly. They don't."
"So what, is that a common iron sword? My God! The sword that Rocher has kept with him all the time
is turning out to be a load of crap!"
"Huh! Only a narrow-minded person like you is going to think it's crap. With Rocher's strength and
knowledge, do you honestly think he is going to put a piece of crap on his back?"
"Okay, you're smart. So tell us what kind of precious sword would rust."
The sword Rocher had taken out was indeed covered with red spots.
The weapon refining skills of the Eastern Region had made it possible for any weapons, even the
mysterious ones, to get preserved for decades. If well maintained, the spiritual weapons were
supposed to last several hundred years without rusting out or losing their shine and sharpness. As for
fairy weapons, they could last as long as a span of thousands of years.
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