Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 432: Cyan Dragon's Request

The mighty oppressing force subjugating the soul in the third ring was twice as powerful as that in the second ring, and thus fourfold as that in the first ring.

The moment Zen crossed the threshold of the third ring, the unseen force almost knocked him off and dominated his body at once. He gritted his teeth as he felt the push and pull against his soul, which was being tightly pressed and squeezed into an irregular shape like a piece of rag. The intensity rendered him barely breathing, but he didn't resist. As a small smile was seen slowly forming on his lips, he embraced the massive force in total surrender!

Surely, he was a really bright spark. He silently thanked himself up for being wise enough to get well prepared. He had anticipated that this was bound to happen anyway. So the moment he gained access to the third ring, he braced himself hard and dashed straight towards the tiny oil lamp emitting a soft light in the center.

Christopher never slowed down a bit in chasing his target. As a strong and determined opponent, he followed Zen closely at his heels, no matter how fast the latter could run. And there wasn't much difference in time which they took to burst into the third ring.

In contrast to Zen's calmness, Christopher wore startled expression on the sudden impact of the strengthened force emanating from the third ring.

The strong cyan light shield surrounding Christopher's soul was comparably weaker against the mighty oppressing force in the third ring. The layer of cyan light, which wrapped his soul perfectly to protect it from any harm, cracked unexpectedly!

His soul was characteristically more powerful than Zen's soul. But having it exposed directly unprotected now against the mighty oppressing force that was quadrupled in strength, he felt he was close to the limit of his endurance. He grimaced as he focused his gaze towards the nearest oil lamp. Under the massive oppressive force, he gathered an ounce of his strength and advanced towards the direction of the soft light strenuously with clenched teeth, determined to reach it.

The area of the domain was mapped out of having the outer rings larger than the inner rings. Therefore, the third ring was much shorter than the first ring in terms of circumference.

Since there were 32 oil lamps in the first ring, the number of oil lamps would be lessened gradually as the ring turned smaller and smaller. As a result, there were only 16 oil lamps in the second ring, 8 oil lamps in the third ring, 4 oil lamps in the fourth ring, and 2 oil lamps in the fifth ring. As for the sixth ring that was the nearest to the owl beast devil spirit, there was only one oil lamp in it.

Gearing himself up, Christopher watched Zen closely. However, his cyan light was becoming weaker and weaker under the attack of the mighty oppressing force, and its power was slowly dwindling away. When his shielding light had finally lost its ability to protect his soul, he was as vulnerable as Zen. They were on an equal footing now.

Zen dashed for the next oil lamp at the same time when Christopher rushed out of the protection range of his oil lamp. Both of them had to recover their soul energy with the power of the oil lamp.

In this way, they moved forward strenuously, with Zen always ahead of Christopher to occupy the next oil lamp. Each oil lamp had become their rest station to replenish their energy for the next one. Christopher felt the urge of annoyance as he was always one lamp behind of Zen. And in spite of all his effort, he was unable to narrow the distance.

Admiration filled the hearts of all those warriors who were watching the fierce contest under the oil lamps. They respected Christopher for his perseverance in following Zen and his ambition to overtake him. But what stunned them the most was Zen's surprisingly rapid progress. No one among the spectators had expected that Zen would enter into the third ring at so fast a speed!

The soul energy would be promoted fast and dramatically if the soul could practice in the black ball. Once it reached the sixth ring, it would enter the Fighting Soul Realm.

The word “Fighting” in the Fighting Soul Realm indicated that it was a realm in which the soul could directly participate in the fight. The soul would have the extreme fighting ability once it passed into the Fighting Soul Realm. Instead of being weak and in need of some protective measures, it would grow much stronger, and thus could be filled in as a weapon to kill enemies.

The most ordinary leaves and flowers would be much stronger than some fairy weapons and even some sacred weapons, once they were filled with the fighting soul in the Fighting Soul Realm. That was the most powerful ability of the fighting soul in the Fighting Soul Realm!

All the warriors who were able to practice in the black ball would hope for their souls to enter into the Fighting Soul Realm. But to reach the Fighting Soul Realm, it was by no means an easy job! The forging of soul, however, had nothing to do with a forger's accumulation of energies. So it was natural that some practitioners who had entered the later stage of the Internal Elixir Realm, and even some capable practitioners in the Virtual Tribulation Realm, were unable to have any opportunities to knock the door of the Fighting Soul Realm.

“Christopher seems to have lost his mind! There's no way for him to overtake his opponent!”

“It's useless. Zen is ahead of him all the time. Christopher is just wasting his energy. What he could do to Zen if he really surpasses him?”

“Hey, do you know who Christopher is in the Lower World? A talent! A big name! He has no choice! He must win his face back since he was defeated by that guy. It's understandable why he is unwilling to lose again in this contest.”

The three companions of Christopher continued to discuss, feeling somewhat ridiculous for Christopher's stubbornness in catching up with Zen. He had never relaxed a single moment in chasing Zen, as he had a strong desire of overtaking Zen and killing him. He didn't know, however, that after so many circles of run-and-chase, Zen's soul was getting stronger and stronger.

At the very beginning, when they came into the third ring, Zen felt the pain extremely unbearable under the mighty oppressing force once he left the protection range of an oil lamp. So he must move swiftly to every oil lamp ahead basically for protection. But then, as he was able to stop at every other oil lamp, and then every other two oil lamps, the distance between them widened.

At last, Zen had finished his first circle in the third ring and was just closely behind Christopher. It was only then Christopher came to realize what the distance there was between him and Zen. Upset and disgraced by the fact, Christopher turned around all of a sudden to pursue Zen in the other direction. ŕÄŊօᛒË𝘚

The funny scene provoked a loud fit of laughter and howling cheers among all the warriors watching. Christopher seemed stupidly confused at Zen's tricks.

The two of them had played the game of run-and-chase in the third ring for nearly four hours. At last, Zen seemed to have had enough fun in this game. He flashed a brilliant smile at his opponent before he casually slipped into the fourth ring.

In this circle, the oppressing force was eightfold as powerful as that in the first ring!

With Zen infiltrating the fourth ring, Christopher was burning with anger in eagerness to follow him as well. He was determined not to lose his face at this round. So he fixed his mind solely on how he would exact revenge with Zen. Only then would he give up! At the spectator side, all of his three companions were observing him keenly. They started to feel uneasy as they stared at him, giving Zen a black look. Anticipating his intention, they yelled at him. He needed to be stopped. “Christopher, what are you doing? There's no way for you to bear the oppressive force in the fourth ring. Do you understand?”

Christopher had suffered exhaustion under the attack of the mighty oppressing force in the third ring. His cyan light, a powerful shielding weapon that he was so proud of, had become useless in front of the fourfold oppressing force. How could he deal with the massive force in the fourth ring that was eightfold as powerful?

Approaching the tiny oil lamp for Zen in the fourth ring was as easy as falling off a log, so Christopher followed suit, totally ignoring the warnings from his companions. Never did he expect that a disaster was waiting for him as his soul began to collapse swiftly soon after he had set his feet into the next ring.

Audible gasps were heard from his companions as their faces turned ashen. They became dazed as they stood motionless, frightened at such a catastrophic accident. Panic gripped them, but they were unable to do anything. They had no abilities to enter into the third ring, how could they reach the fourth ring to save Christopher?

They were left with no choice but to helplessly watch Christopher's soul shatter into fragments in front of them.

The sharp, throbbing pain from his soul finally awakened him. His obsession with defeating Zen and killing him had landed him in a blinded irrational state. He was so furious at his ruin and at Zen himself. So he had sworn to defeat him no matter what it took him—even at the cost of his life. The catastrophic incident brought back his rationality. Now, it registered to him that the fourth ring was indeed a cruel realm, with a very slim chance of survival. More so, if he would be unsuccessful in his attempt to reach any oil lamps or he failed to return to the third ring, his soul would definitely shatter into pieces. Then his body would become nothing but a soulless shell.

At this critical moment, he seemed to be at a crossroads. He remained kneeling on the ground while he made up his mind. Contemplating that his decision would have a long term consequence, he immediately engulfed himself into silence.

Soon after, his body went rigid as he summoned his inner core to use his family's secret method to burn his soul.

With a crackling noise, a light flame was ignited on the surface of his soul. That was the flame of the soul!

This method of burning the soul would bring much severe damage than the burning of the blood in the body. But he had no better choice. He had to do this to survive. By burning the soul, the flame of the soul could produce massive energy to resist the overwhelming power from the intensified oppressing force in the fourth ring. Taking this opportunity, Christopher retreated to the third ring, where he fixed his soul with the help of the healing power of the oil lamp.

Although the oil lamp could heal the damaged part of Christopher's soul, the burned part of it could never be recovered. Therefore, this kind of self-salvage through the burning of the soul would bring substantial damage to him forever.

His face turned pale after such a disastrous accident. Though he was deathly frightened, he quickly masked his fear. He continued to gaze at Zen. The oil lamp that Zen occupied was not far away. But the power of the intensified oppressing force was far beyond his ability to bear. If he had kept going on regardless of all the risks, his soul would collapse before he could reach the oil lamp.

A bad sense of frustration surged in Christopher's heart when he looked at Zen's smiling face.

He had already been defeated by Zen when they competed with each other in comprehending the Law Power. As a capable practitioner in the field of the forging of soul, he was confident that Zen was by no means his match.

But he lost again, in such a demeaning way in the field he was capable of and in everyone's presence. The sharp gap between him and Zen disgraced him to the extreme. And nobody could ever understand how frustrated he was at this shameful moment! Christopher let out a sigh in helplessness. That was the only thing he could do at the most humiliating moment in his entire existence.

Zen paid no attention to his opponent after he had entered the fourth ring. He focused on his sole purpose—to forge his soul.

The fourth ring was quite close to the owl beast devil spirit. Its body looked like a bear, but the length of its face closely resembled that of a dragon. And a sharp beak was protruding replacing its mouth. The fierce-looking ugly creature fixed its gigantic eyes on Zen, watching his every move.

Suddenly, the owl beast devil spirit opened its huge beak to let out a strange wild scream.

“Ga...”

With that loud piercing cry, a group of black smaller devil spirits rushed into the fourth ring in quick succession.

Those devil spirits were not too big and seemed like a miniature version of the owl beast devil spirit that had let out the scream. They ran and wandered about in every corner of the fourth ring.

“What...” exclaimed Zen with a frown at this unexpected sight.

The fourth ring was strategically situated near the owl beast devil spirit. On top of that, its mighty oppressing force had grown to eight times as powerful as that in the first ring. He had conquered this great challenge by channeling his utmost attention and energy in dealing with this massive force. What could he do now with so many devil spirits swirling?

The devil spirits dared not approach nearer him because they were fearful of the oil lamp illuminating the sphere, making Zen safe as long as he was within its protection range.

But whenever he tried to walk out of it, the devil spirits would rush over him like overwhelming water. Zen shook his head, realizing he was in a difficult situation now.

Unpredictably, the cyan dragon, who had kept in silence all the while, spoke in Zen's mind.

The cyan dragon had sunk into silence the moment when Zen began to practice. Zen didn't think his sudden utterance would be a good omen.

“Zen, I'll devour that owl beast devil spirit after you run into the sixth ring,” the cyan dragon said unexpectedly.

“Eat that owl beast ghost?” Zen exclaimed with a doubtful expression splattered in his face, as the cyan dragon's words had startled him. The owl beast devil spirit possessed a farfetched and unimaginable power. It was already hard to burst into the Fighting Soul Realm, but it would be harder to cope with the owl beast devil spirit which was in a realm higher than the Fighting Soul Realm in power.

“How is it possible?” Zen prompted.