Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 441: Three Fat People

Lady Poison-blood from Bloodwood Cliff and Raven from Black Mountain Sect could be easily dealt with. They were good, yes, but not ones who could scare a warrior off. Although belonging to the fourth-grade sects, both Bloodwood Cliff and Black Mountain Sect were still very different from Cloud Hall, because the latter was well known as the best fourth-grade sect, housing some of the brightest warriors with huge potentials to be honed.

The fifth-grade sect, Ethereal Spirit Sect was different. It was the largest, and most influential force in the Central Region apart from World Commercial Alliance.

Lady Poison-blood's and Raven's faces lit up at the sight of Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit coming to them.

At the Martial Arts Contest, tension rose high as the belonging of Dragon Soar Arena would be decided there. Bloodwood Cliff, Black Mountain Sect, Mysterious Luna Hall as well as some independent warriors would have a chance to get it.

However, Dragon Soar Arena wasn't the key problem here. Investigation results showed that runes on the Dragon Soar Arena had already been altered and Zen was the only guy who was able to use it to fly to the Upper World. What on earth did Zen do to those runes? Because of this commotion, the focus was shifted from the Dragon Soar Arena to Zen. What could he be hiding? Zen was nervous, his eyes averted every single one of the other warriors who were in the area.

If Zen didn't tell the truth about Dragon Soar Arena, it would be useless even though those warriors had got it. They needed the arena to enter the Upper World, and that was the only thing that mattered. Its functions for martial arts refining weren't that important to them.

Nobody expected that a disciple from Cloud hall knew the Dragon Soar Arena best. They could not let Zen go, after all, their ultimate goal was to go to the Upper World through the arena.

Everyone was confused on how such a warrior of low cultivation level be able to understand those complicated runes. Where did he get the knowledge? Who taught him? The people in the area were so quiet, but their thoughts were so deafening. To everyone's knowledge, only one sect was capable of making Zen stay at the scene--the Ethereal Spirit Sect.

Their words were the orders which couldn't be defied. The most powerful warriors dictated the rules in the world. They were the gods. Anyone who would dare defy the words of the gods would suffer terrible consequences.

Lady Poison-blood's and Raven's eyes rolled. 'Cloud Hall warriors will never be at the same level as Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit!' they thought. They gloated over the idea that Cloud Hall would find it hard to deal with Ethereal Spirit Sect which was more powerful and influential. What was more, there were still two extremely powerful and strong people in the Ethereal Spirit Sect. Even Letitia's master couldn't beat them easily. They were very skilled. In fact, they were two of the most feared in the competition.

They wanted to know how Letitia would respond to their presence. Lady Poison-blood and Raven wanted to intimidate Letitia.

The frown on Letitia's forehead began to melt. Her eyes seemed to be as deep as sea. She was in trouble. Would she, the leader of all the disciples in the Cloud Hall, fail to protect one of her disciples? A leader would do anything to protect her members. Letitia looked over her shoulder and saw that there were snowflakes falling from the sky. She just shrugged it off.

“Zen serves the Cloud Hall. I don't know how's he related to the Dragon Soar Arena, but he's one of my people and I feel obliged to protect him. Bloodwood Cliff, Black Mountain Sect and Ethereal Spirit Sect, none of you will succeed in forcing me to give up my disciple.”

At this moment, Letitia sounded calm, with a regal aura. She was revered as a leader in the sect and she announced her decision with a look of grim determination.

Suddenly, a loud quack was heard from the sky.

There was a pause with what everyone was doing. People all looked up and saw the icy phoenix flying across the sky. The phoenix was bigger and more mature than ever before! Everyone noticed that it had already grown up. Spanning ten feet in length, its body, which was made of ice, showed the shivering beauty of frost in every angle.

As soon as the icy phoenix appeared, it flew towards Letitia and landed in front of her. The phoenix burst a loud quack, tucked its wings, and gazed at Letitia as if it were waiting for her to react.

Letitia raised her head, and looked up to the phoenix. She felt her body was shrouded by the icy light radiated by the icy phoenix. Inside the light, Letitia's small body was hugged by the opaque ice, her visibility cut in half. Light grew brighter and brighter. A few moments after, icy crystals gradually formed around her. Inch by inch the crystals covered her whole body, nothing was spared.

The icy crystals fused together and finally became an icy armor covering Letitia's body. Every part of her body was protected, which made her figure flattering. Even if a thousand arrows were to be set free, she would still be alive with this kind of armor that she had.

The icy light slowly disappeared, leaving her whole body visible to the naked eyes. To everyone's surprise, even phoenix feathers started to grow on her back like wildfire.

Letitia blinked, and she noticed icy crystals hung on her eyebrows. She stretched out her hand, looking at all the other things that had changed since her metamorphosis. Then everyone noticed that an icy blue halberd had appeared on her hand.

This halberd, made of unknown kind of ice, was as long as the phoenix. It was so long that two Letitias could measure it up.

Zen raised his eyebrows, confused. Last time on the Cloud Road, he had never seen Letitia using this halberd. He couldn't imagine that such a tiny girl had the strength to wield it in a battle.

Was this the warrior Letitia? Zen looked at her with great interest.

The stone-faced Lady Poison-blood and Raven felt disappointed. They had wished and expected Letitia to behave herself and stay out of it. But she was never ready to give up Zen. Although Cloud Hall could never succeed in defying Ethereal Spirit Sect, Letitia still wanted Zen to grow even more under her wings.

Letitia had already made up her mind to protect Zen as well as any of her disciples. Whoever tried to put her warriors in trouble, she was ready to fight for them even if she was going to fight such unfriendly and vicious warriors. Was she crazy for doing this?

The icy halberd on Letitia's hand made the atmosphere fiery. Her eyes began to flash light, ready to destroy anyone who would want to mess with her people. Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit showed no emotion on their faces as they moved forward. Each of them took a fighting position, and they together set a battle formation and drew their swords all at the same time.

Leader of Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit asked in a tone of disbelief, “Letitia, do you want war with Ethereal Spirit Sect?”

“No, I want nothing but peace from you. But I have to protect Zen. He's a disciple of Cloud Hall,” Letitia said coldly, showing no emotions at all.

Hearing Letitia's words, Zen was touched. He was very much unwilling to drag the Cloud Hall into war. He never meant to start it, and never meant to have anyone clean up his mess. He started this, and he should be the only one to end this. As touched as he might be from what Letitia was showing him, he did not want anyone to be in trouble for defending him. He then thought of a plan that would settle this dispute by himself. 𝐑𝒶ΝôʙЕ𝘚

“Cloud Hall has been developing well and rapidly over the past years. A lot of improvements have been made by you and your people. In ten years, I believe Cloud Hall will have an equal position with the Ethereal Spirit Sect,” leader of the Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit announced. “But... Letitia, you're overconfident and proud. If I were you, I would keep a low profile and keep my head down. Cloud Hall is going to pay for fighting with the Ethereal Spirit!” he added threateningly.

“Don't be a fool. I know Cloud Hall is looked down upon by Ethereal Spirit Sect. But don't think you can defeat us easily. You'll have to take Zen over my dead body. But you must have forgotten, there're more than dozens of sects in the Central Region. When you're weak because of our fight, I'm afraid that other sects may harbor malicious intentions towards you. By then, can you keep yourself and your sect safe?” Letitia replied coldly and smugly. She did make a point.

There had been a delicate, but beautiful balance between sects in the Central Region. No sect was a hundred percent sure that it could defeat all of other sects without itself being destroyed first. It was an unspoken truth. Even if Ethereal Spirit Sect could destroy the Could Hall first, it would be seriously weakened. With weakness oozing out of their sect, they would be hunted by the more power hungry ones, the fourth-grade sects. Ethereal Spirit Sect would end up with a more miserable destiny than the Could Hall.

“Letitia, I think you have some wrong ideas about us. If Ethereal Spirit Sect deigns to teach you a lesson, how will Bloodwood Cliff dare to take advantage of this and hurt Ethereal Spirit Sect?” Lady Poison-blood hastened to vow.

Raven echoed and added, “I totally agree with Lady Poison-blood. Ethereal Spirit Sect has the full and complete support from Black Mountain Sect. We'll keep it safe. Black Mountain Sect and Ethereal Spirit Sect will be allies in the future.”

Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit were not naive, and didn't believe any words or vows from Raven or Lady Poison-blood. Warriors were connected by nothing but profits, gains and interests. To gain profits, both of them would break their promises without hesitation.

Letitia's warning reminded Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit of the possible consequences of this fight between them. Their faces changed. They talked using their life vitality to avoid any words coming out of their mouths. Suddenly, their faces exuded assurance, and their concerns or doubts completely disappeared. Leader of the Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit shook his head and said, “Letitia, there's no need for you to worry about the future of my sect. No matter who protects Zen, we'll take him. Whoever is protecting him is fighting a losing war.”

With those words, Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit changed their stance, and lights appeared beneath their feet, through which they were connected together. The shape of a glowing Big Dipper was formed around them. They raised their hands at the same time, with the exact same gesture and movement. They seemed to have become one existence.

This vital battle was about to erupt. No matter who won, a general war between Cloud Hall and Ethereal Spirit Sect would still happen. The tension between the two sects was so visible that they could light a campfire when they crossed paths.

Letitia didn't cower or retreat. She wielded her halberd bravely, and the icy lights began to coagulate around her body, giving her the protection against those possible shots from the Septuplets of Ethereal Spirit.

At this moment, three fat people appeared from out of nowhere and walked to them.

They didn't fly or use martial arts. They were like regular people. They just simply walked up a long path of Oracle City, panting for breath. Their bodies were jiggling as they ran up to meet them.

Those three fat guys had big and round head, more like bald. They had bellies as big as a pig's. They wore clothes with copper cash, and walked in such a funny way that you would think them as three clowns or some silly sons of a wealthy landlord. They were bouncing as they walked.

Although all of them were fat, nobody would confuse them with one another. You could still tell them apart.

The first fat guy seemed to be weak and lovely, with fair skin as smooth as silk, with eyes that would sparkle when you called his name. His eyelashes were so long, so full and so elegant.

The second guy was dark skinned, and he looked like he was sun kissed. He had a fierce-looking face. He would look like a ferocious wild boar if he had a pair of tusks. Anyone who would meet him would initially be threatened and scared.

As for the third guy, he had a fine color in his rosy cheeks, like he had so much joy in the world. He seemed to be as kind as a Maitreya Buddha, willing to do anything to help others. He had a smile plastered on his face wherever he went.

They were catching their breath from all the walking. After all, they weren't really physically fit.

They stopped before the Dragon Soar Arena, extremely tired. Clearly, their huge bodies had been their great liabilities. Every step took them a lot of effort, making them sweat.

The fat guy, with the lovely expression on his face, took several deep breaths and rested his arms on his hips, before saying, “Stop, stop!”