Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Chapter 443: The Secret Of A Thousand Years

The fact of the matter was, what Dillon was actually intending to say was that as Zen got increasingly powerful, eventually, even Arnold would end up being no match for him. Besides, Zen had already grasped the Perfect Brushwork at such an early age. On the other hand, Dillon had examined and analyzed the meditation runes presented by Michael painstakingly. Perfect Brushwork was not just the focal point of those runic textures. Their brand-new composition was just truly awe-inspiring as well. An adolescent wouldn't have a ghost of a chance of drawing them, but Michael wasn't really the type to fool around and make fun of things of this sort. So, Dillon had no choice but to take his word for it.

“Mr. Shi, did you show up alongside Zen just to trick us?” Lady Poison-blood questioned him in utter bewilderment.

Raven was also shaking his head. If they hadn't witnessed it with their very own eyes, there was probably no way they'd ever trust Dillon's words that Zen could rival Arnold at all. What did this entail?

All of Arnold's unparalleled and never-before-seen rune accomplishments had already been deeply ingrained in the hearts of the citizens. How could Zen's runes ever hope to hold a candle to Arnold's?

“Dillon isn't trying to deceive you. As strange as it might seem, it's the truth!” Hobbes, wearing a vicious expression on his face, spat.

These three mighty fat men were worlds apart in regard to their temper. Dillon was quite unpredictable but still knowledgeable. As for Hobbes, he was much like a bear with a sore head.

“Hobbes, pull yourself together,” Dillon said, shaking his head and feeling a bit irritated. “If you're having a hard time accepting that fact, why don't I just go ahead and show you the runes that were drawn by Zen? You might think that your eyes are playing tricks on you, but you'll be satisfied once you see them personally. He's only the second ever runic expert who has grasped the idea behind the Perfect Brushwork in the Central Region!”

Just as Dillon was about to dispatch someone to get a hold of Zen's runes, Zen suddenly let out a heavy sigh. These powerful men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm seemed like they really had a loose screw. A little irritated, he blurted out, “It would be such a bother. As I've mentioned before, the Dragon Soar Arena has gone back to how it originally was. Why don't you just go send someone there to check it out?”

Upon hearing Zen say that out loud, all the strong men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm had been left dumbfounded.

For sure, they weren't really dimwitted. However, they became stiff from being at such a loss for words because of what Dillon had just told them. As he said, Zen's skills were in the same league as Arnold's. This lit a fire under the warriors, piquing their curiosity in Zen's runes as they reflected on whether Dillon was telling the truth or not.

With their memories jogged by Zen, they recalled what had transpired on that day.

“That's a good idea. We can ask someone to verify Zen's claim! Jordan, you go ahead and give it a go!” Raven opened his mouth before anyone else, and then he tossed a dragon-shaped jade pendant he was holding to a warrior belonging to the Black Mountain Sect.

Jordan also attacked Zen just moments ago. But Raven's words made his spirit soar that he almost sprung up immediately.

For Jordan, this was, without a doubt, the perfect chance. Most warriors, including the ones at the Virtual Tribulation Realm, had no access to the Dragon Soar Arena to reach the Upper World to train themselves, let alone those who belonged to the Internal Elixir Realm.

“Very well! I shall leave at once.” At Raven's behest, Jordan marched toward the arena.

The other green-eyed sect leaders could only watch from afar as Jordan stepped foot into the arena. If Zen was speaking the truth, Jordan was in for an unbelievable deal.

The warriors were silently biding their time down at the arena for the reason that it would take quite a while to make one's way up from the first to the sixth floor.

After approximately one hour, Jordan ultimately passed the trials within the arena and scaled the summit.

“Buzz!”

A moment passed by and a ray of white light emanated from the topmost portion of the arena.

Now, the gaze of the bravest and mightiest in Oracle City had been fixated on the light. Even those elders who hadn't shown themselves before focused their attention on it as well. ȑ𝖆ɴộΒΕS

“Shoot!”

A towering pillar of blinding white light ascended from the arena and pierced right into the sky, vanishing into the farthest ends of the heavens!

“Was he able to pull it off?”

The leaders were raging with excitement. Jordan arrived at the arena and flew away, proving once and for all that Zen's claims were indeed true.

Witnessing all of that with her own two eyes made Tia even more doubtful, feeling like something was quite amiss. Could Zen really be that good? Why would he be so considerate as to repair the rune on the sixth floor without asking for anything in return? Could he have some ulterior motives?

Most of the other leaders were thinking the exact same thing. After Jordan took off from the arena, Raven was actually holding an extra jade card in his hand. “This right here is Jordan's life jade card. If Jordan ends up dying, this is going to be shattered.”

Stating that, he then nonchalantly tossed the jade card onto the top of the arena, leaving it there to spin continuously. It would actually take so long before they could find out whether Jordan was safe or not, but they weren't really aware that there was a good chance Jordan wouldn't ever be coming back.

Now that they had concrete proof that the arena had been brought back to its original state, the strong men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm decided to just relax and take it easy. Time was on their side, so there was no need to be in a hurry to check whether the arena was secure or not.

In fact, they weren't as excited to fly into the Upper World. On the contrary, what they truly wanted was to gain possession of the arena and simply prepare for themselves an easy way out.

The stronger the warriors had become, the more terrified they were of death. Despite the fact that they lived a long life, they would still have to die at some point. Time, much like a sharpened knife, would be the enemy who would end up giving them a fatal blow at the final moment of their lives.

Meaning to say, as soon as they reached the moment when they started feeling as though they had one foot in the grave already, they would go to great lengths to seek treasures, desperate to extend their lives by any means possible, or even dive into the jaws of death just to reach the Kingdom of God and train themselves.

If they, for whatever reason, failed to get a breakthrough in their training, they could still place their hopes and dreams on the Upper World and look for chances to make a breakthrough. That was precisely the way of thinking of most of the strong men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm.

“There you have it. So, can I go now?” Zen asked, tipping his head and looking over at Dillon.

Dillon just bobbed his head and said, “Given that the dilemma of the Dragon Soar Arena has been solved without a hitch, I don't think there's anyone who could stop you in Oracle City.”

The strong men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm who were silently watching simply chose to pay Zen no heed. The fact of the matter was, to embarrass an innocent young man at the Illuminating Soul Realm wasn't an honorable thing to do. Be that as it might, the problem of the arena was just a little too complicated that they ran out of other options and had to do it.

Letitia, glaring at Zen with a grim expression, huffed in revulsion, and took off.

Zen, wearing an aggrieved smile, went after her without delay.

“What reason could you possibly have for fixing the arena?” Letitia channeled her indifferent voice to Zen through her life vitality, akin to that of a cold breeze whistling.

Zen couldn't help but laugh and answered sincerely by also using his life vitality, “All of that is a lie!”

“A lie? You mean a trap?” Letitia was at such a loss for words. Knowing Zen's personality to such a great extent, she was certain that he wasn't someone who would do something to benefit those he didn't know. For that very reason, she just couldn't wrap her mind around his motive for fixing the rune.

Zen appeared as though he had been deep in thought for a moment before going on and stating, “The arena is actually connected to the Genuine Dragon World. That is also the location where the Dragon Lineage Human resides. Any human without Genuine Dragon blood running through their veins will be imprisoned for a thousand years.”

“What? What did you say?” Letitia's jaw dropped as she looked at Zen in utter disbelief. “Is that true? Are you serious?”

“Mm-hmm.” Zen nodded in response.

Those who did not possess Genuine Dragon blood in their bodies would be imprisoned for 1, 000 years.

Even those strong men at the Virtual Tribulation Realm were able to live for over a thousand years. Raven had already been living for more than 400 years as of the moment. If he were to rise up above toward the Upper World, it was highly likely that he would die there!

“But how on earth were you able to come back here from the Upper World? This doesn't make any sense at all!” Letitia threw in her question out of confusion. Her otherwise perfectly sculpted eyebrows had been knitted all of sudden because of that.

Zen, as luck would have it, was able to avoid the imprisonment of a thousand years with the aid of the cyan dragon, but there was no way he could tell Letitia the truth as easy as that.

He was deeply moved with Letitia defending him just now. With that in mind, he spoke softly, “It's not something we should be discussing out in the open. Let's go somewhere safe.”

Taking into consideration the fact that the Martial Arts Contest was about to begin, a lot of the elders with elongated ears in the Central Region had gathered in Oracle City.

Letitia bobbed her head in agreement and said, “Understood. Follow me.”

Consequently, Letitia led the way as the two of them flew all the way into an opulent palace in Oracle City. As one might expect, it was constructed by the World Commercial Alliance to accommodate VIPs. Letitia, evidently, was a VIP.

As soon as Zen stepped foot inside the palace, Letitia waved her hand over to him, and a huge snowflake pattern materialized on the ground. As it expanded, an enchanted barrier emerged to envelop them.

“Now, no one will be able to eavesdrop on our conversation in here. Be honest with me. You mentioned that the warriors who flew into the Upper World would beyond doubt be imprisoned for a thousand years. How did you make your way back here?” Letitia queried.

Grinning from ear to ear, Zen brought out a little container he got from the space ring and tossed it over to Letitia. “As stated by the rules of the Dragon Lineage Human, every human who has a drop of Genuine Dragon blood in their system shall become one of them. Take this. This one is for you!”

Letitia examined the bottle, inside of which was a drop of blood pulsating rhythmically. In spite of the fact that she was rather capable and well-informed, she gulped instinctively struggling to come up with a response. “So, you're telling me this is what Genuine Dragon blood looks like?”