Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 3848: Rescue

Ever since he came into existence, the brush-wielder had regarded himself as the God of the Wall World, and he had a very strong obsession with it.

If the downgrader would really turn the entire world into a Wall World, then he couldn't be any happier. It was what he wished all along.

Originally, Zen wanted to persuade the brush-wielder into helping him.

However, as he heard all the crazy words that the brush-wielder had spouted, Zen knew that it would never happen. He was so disappointed and angry at the same time.

“Even if he really turns everything into a Wall World, what do you think would happen to you? Do you think he would let you live? Can't you see that you're just being manipulated too? Did you even see the miserable state that Cornelius ended up with?!” Zen wasn't able to contain his emotions as he tried to drill some sense into the brush-wielder.

“I don't care if I'm being manipulated! All I ever wished is the establishment of the Wall World!” the brush-wielder shouted as he closed his mind to everything that Zen was saying. “Too bad for you, I won't let you leave this place! You shall die here today!”

He knew that Zen possessed the ancestry-level bloodline, thus he didn't dare underestimate him. But right now, he would do everything in his power to eliminate him within the bounds of the Eternal Scroll Painting.

With that, a huge ink brush emerged above the Eternal Scroll Painting, which quickly sent down a stroke that sharply slashed towards Zen.

Whoosh!

As the brush slashed, a long trail of ink swept across the snow-white painting scroll.

At the same time, Zen instantly sensed that the strong force was about to slash his waist.

Fortunately, the Eternal Scroll Painting was not a real Wall World yet, meaning that Zen's body maintained its strength as it was in the third-grade world.

Before they waged the war against the Snake Spirit Sect, Zen's body had already been greatly strengthened by the ancestry-level bloodline. He could withstand even the most powerful physical attacks.

Slash! Swish! Whoosh!

The brush-wielder threw vicious attacks in rapid succession. He kept on slashing Zen over and over with his sharp strokes.

The black ink almost covered the entire white scroll due to the number of attacks hurled at Zen, but it appeared that his body was still unscathed.

“What is this? Is this the power of the ancestry-level bloodline? How could your physical body withstand such attacks?”

The brush-wielder temporarily halted his attacks as he saw that all those strokes didn't even cause a scratch on Zen's body.

With that, he changed his approach. The ink brush was held high in the air, and beams of golden lights emerged from the shaft of the brush. The ink at the tip of the brush was tinged with golden yellow, making it look even sharper.

“Take this! Demonic Strokes!”

At his command, the ink brush started violently smearing Zen's body.

Wisps of golden yellow strokes began covering the previous black stains, creating a messy artwork on the surface of the scroll.

With the abundance of ink spilled everywhere, it was actually hard to tell where Zen was if he remained still.

Only when he moved slightly to dodge the attacks would his form separate from the ink marks on the scroll.

No matter how savagely he was attacked by the brush-wielder, Zen still kept his calm, knowing that his superior physical strength would overcome every attack thrown at him. Soon enough, the brush-wielder trembled in anger and frustration at the sight of Zen's undamaged body. ȓ𝐚Ɲ𝘖𝔟Ës

He was exasperated by the fact that he already poured a lot of effort, but it didn't affect Zen at all.

“Don't think that I'm done yet! You will die by my hands. You'll see!”

As he finished speaking, the ink brush that was floating in the void suddenly disappeared, and what surfaced in place of it was a huge graver.

At a glance, its appearance might look simple and austere, but Zen perceived that it should be something extraordinary.

At this moment, Zen couldn't see anything outside the scroll painting, but he could clearly sense the sharp aura that the graver was emitting.

However, since he was trapped inside the painting, he couldn't do anything except dodging attacks. He was currently at the mercy of the brush-wielder. Although he might be able to dodge some of his attacks, he couldn't totally escape from him.

Swoosh!

Without any warning, the graver slashed down towards Zen.

Splat!

A trail of blood appeared on the scroll, covering the previous black and golden ink marks.

As Zen looked, he saw that a deep wound was inflicted on his body. His flesh was ripped open that the surface of his bone was already visible.

“Ha-ha! Did you feel that? This is my Life-energy Graver. Every time I use it, it consumes my life energy. Can you imagine that? I'm attacking you at the cost of my own life!” The brush-wielder was acting crazier this time. It was as if he was laughing, crying, and madly yelling at the same time.

“Then, why do you have to do this?” Zen couldn't help but shake his head as he pitied the mental state of the brush-wielder.

“Shut up! I don't need your opinion!”

Swish!

Splat!

The Life-energy Graver just inflicted a second wound on Zen's body.

Splat!

And a third one.

Swoosh!

The brush-wielder continued to slash at Zen using the graver, but the ancestry-level bloodline started to gather more life energy in order to repair Zen's injuries.

This cycle continued for over five minutes on the Eternal Scroll Painting.

The attacks of the graver became more and more ferocious, but at the same time, the rate of regeneration of the ancestry-level bloodline also became faster and faster.

“Damn it! Your body's already extremely sturdy, but it also has such formidable regeneration ability. Let's see how you handle this one though!”

Whoosh!

In an instant, the aura of the Life-energy Graver became even sharper.

The overwhelming aura that it was emitting almost penetrated directly into the scroll.

Before the intense aura of the graver, Zen felt a shiver shot down his spine. His body started trembling as if telling him that he might not be able to withstand the next blow.

However, at this crucial moment, a flock of beasts from the scroll painting suddenly rushed over to them.

On one of the beasts sat a graceful woman. It turned out that she was actually the fox girl who lived in the Eternal Scroll Painting.

As she reached Zen, the fox girl waved his fingers around him, and a hexagram array instantly enveloped him. When the array was completely formed, she immediately told Zen to get out of that place.

Buzz! Buzz!

The moment that the array was activated, Zen's body was also released from the Eternal Scroll Painting.

As he stood on the surface of the Eternal Scroll Painting in his normal form, he saw the huge face of the brush-wielder floating in the sky, along with his fast-approaching Life-energy Graver.

“What the hell have you done?! Are you out of your mind? Why did you save him?!”

The brush-wielder couldn't believe that the fox girl would betray him during such a critical moment.

Folding her arms over her chest, the fox girl stared coldly at the brush-wielder and said, “I don't think you should be the one asking questions here. Why don't you answer my question first? What the hell are you really trying to do?”

At this point, the brush-wielder realized that the fox girl must have heard the earlier conversation between him and Zen.

However, he didn't have time to deal and argue with the fox girl right now. His priority was to eliminate Zen as soon as he could.

But now that Zen was finally set free from the Eternal Scroll Painting, there was no way that he was going to stand idly and wait for the brush-wielder to attack him again.

Just now, it seemed that he remained still as the sharp graver came right towards him. But when the graver was about to land on his body, his figure gradually blurred and turned into a shadow that eventually dissipated.

The next moment, the brush-wielder was shocked as Zen appeared in front of his face. “Well, it seems that she also doesn't agree with you,” Zen said in a mocking tone.

Crash! Boom!

Right after finishing what he said, Zen suddenly threw a massive punch on the huge smiling face before him.

Then, the smiling face instantly disappeared and turned into a crying face.

As soon as the crying face emerged, Zen threw another punch at him again.

Smash! Boom!

It was Zen's turn to launch his own strikes. He threw lightning-fast massive punches towards the brush-wielder's face, making it rapidly shift between the crying face and the smiling one. Soon enough, the huge face began to break apart, and the cracks quickly extended to all directions.

Generally, the brush-wielder was the one in charge of all the passageways leading to the secondary worlds, and his abilities were supposed to only serve this purpose. Thus, his fighting abilities were not that strong enough.

As he faced Zen, who was now able to exhibit all of his skills without restrictions, the brush-wielder definitely had no chance to fight back at all.

Floating above the Eternal Scroll painting, the fox girl displayed a conflicted expression across her beautiful face.

She was actually surprised that she had chosen to save Zen on a whim.

For countless years, she had been totally obedient to the brush-wielder because of her dream. She wished that one day, she would be able to return to the main world and regain her previous life.

With Zen's appearance, she thought that her dream was being slowly brought to reality. The brush-wielder was the one who told her that Zen was the key to completing their goals.

However, when she heard the conversation between Zen and the brush-wielder earlier, the fox girl almost went mad.

She realized that all this time, she had been living in a lie. Her dream immediately shattered before her.

That was the reason why she chose to save and release Zen from the Eternal Scroll Painting.

As Zen continued his menacing attacks, the cracks had completely covered the brush-wielder's face.

Crash! Boom!

Finally, the brush-wielder's face collapsed and broke into countless pieces.

The shattered pieces dropped onto the Eternal Scroll Painting and could no longer make any move.

After ensuring that he already vanquished the brush-wielder, Zen descended onto the Eternal Scroll Painting and slowly approached the fox girl.

“Thank you for saving me…” Zen cupped his hands towards her.

“No need to thank me. Just go ahead,” the fox girl answered in an indifferent tone as she waved her hand, motioning for him to leave.

“Okay then.” Zen nodded as he quickly walked towards the exit of the Eternal Scroll Painting. He needed to hurry now because he wasted so much time dealing with the brush-wielder.

But as he was about to step out of the Eternal Scroll Painting, the fox girl suddenly asked, “How confident are you that you can defeat the downgrader?”

Zen paused for a moment before he turned around, wearing a bitter smile on his face. “I actually don't have the confidence.”

After the downgrader obtained the mighty sword that once belonged to the Cinnabar race, Zen couldn't even start imagining how powerful he already became.

“What?” The fox girl was almost rendered speechless, obviously dissatisfied with his answer. Even her charming face faded in an instant.

“Nonetheless, I'll still try my best.”

Zen just smiled at her before he went straight to the exit of the Eternal Scroll Painting.