Chapter 401 The Legendary Jacques (Part One)
Chapter 401 The Legendary Jacques (Part One)
Winning the competition against Dick was not easy for Zen. He didn't try his best during the fight and merely relied on the skills from the Heavenly Ogre Fist, so he was still fortunate to have won.
The fighting effectiveness of the demonic phantom, one of the skills of the Heavenly Ogre Fist, was so surprisingly good that even Zen was startled by it. While he had planned to use it when he entered the next round of competition, fighting with someone of Dick's ability by depending only on corporeal body and absolute power was no guarantee for victory.
As for the disciples of Drizzle Peak, while it came as a great surprise when Zen beat Dick, they were becoming numb to his victories because of his successive wins and his consistency in overthrowing their speculations.
Thus, when Zen descended from the ring, Master Wen found himself at a loss for words appropriate and sincere enough to congratulate the warrior's astounding victory. Instead of platitudes, he only laughed, grabbed Zen by the shoulders, and said, "You're clearly the lucky star of Drizzle Peak!"
Perhaps, because of Zen's efforts alone, the fate of Drizzle Peak would completely change. From the last place among the 33 Peaks, it might be able to jump to the front rank, much like Yan who, at that time, led the Lady Peak to surpass the other peaks all the way and pushed her team to the second place among the 33 Peaks.
With Zen's victories, none of the disciples of Drizzle Peak doubted his strength.
Dick was a completely different warrior from Cecil, whom Zen fought previously.
While also a powerful warrior of the Illuminating Soul Realm, Cecil was a relatively weaker one.
How did he differ from Dick?
Dick was the top disciple of Blackrock Peak.
And it was this team that ranked second among the 33 Peaks. Beating Dick in the competition was an indication that Zen had the strength and power to make the top ranking among inner disciples of the Cloud Sect.
Despite his achievements, there were still those who doubted Zen.
"Maybe Dick allowed Zen to win on purpose," one disciple proposed.
He was among those unwilling to acknowledge Zen's victory.
But as soon as he uttered the words, a large group of people cast disdainful glances at him and thought of the disciple as an idiot.
How could Dick even do that on purpose? And just supposing he lost deliberately, how could the warrior be stupid enough to lose to a disciple whose nature level was merely at the second grade?
It just was not possible. Plus, Dick was practicing the art of righteousness. It was quite unthinkable for him to deliberately let Zen beat him and accept his defeat in front of a very large audience.
Besides, Dick even used his strongest and deadly skill, the Righteousness Song, but still couldn't defeat Zen. So, it was not hard to imagine how powerful Zen was.
After several rounds of competition, the group tournament finally drew to a close. Zen participated in two other matches, one against an opponent whose nature level was at consummation grade, and the second against a disciple with the strength of the Illuminating Soul Realm. Without any suspense, both parties chose to admit defeat directly, and actually they didn't even start the fight.
These two opponents were smart enough not to tangle with Zen. 'Are you kidding me? Even Dick couldn't defeat him! If I competed against him, I would certainly suffer a crushing defeat.' Such similar thoughts crossed both their minds.
Besides, if it was an encounter with Dick, they would directly admit defeat. So with Zen, Dick's conqueror, who was much stronger, they opted to concede immediately.
At the end of the group competitions, more than 600 disciples were eliminated. Of those who made the cut, the number was fewer than 200.
The next round was a round-robin competition.
Rules of the round-robin phase were similar to those of the group competition. The main difference, however, was that at this stage, personal disciples would participate in it.
The strength of personal disciples had always been a legend in the Cloud Sect. Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.
Records showed that in a good number of All Peaks Competitions organized by Cloud Sect, personal disciples almost often took the first place. And sometimes, what was more exaggerating was that the first to tenth places were all won by personal disciples! Considering all these facts, it was not hard to imagine how powerful and horrible personal disciples actually were!
After the fierce competitions earlier, Zen was sitting in situ to meditate and get a well-deserved rest.
Although Zen was in excellent physical condition, and his ability to recover was high, he still needed to get rest to be able to fully display his strength at every match of the All Peaks Competition. With his string of recent achievements, there was a big possibility that he would compete against the legendary personal disciples.
In the first match of the round-robin competition, a personal disciple showed up on the ring.
It was a young man with sharp triangular eyes, garbed in a yellow robe, with short hair and a clear forehead.
"Oh my God, it's Jacques!" someone, who recognized the young man, yelled excitedly while a hand covered his mouth.
"Wow, they even arranged Jacques to participate in the first match! This year's All Peaks Competition is truly full of fun and surprises," another disciple commented while looking very thrilled.
"Since Jacques joined the All Peaks Competition with the strength at the second grade of nature level three years ago, he disappeared in the Cloud Sect. Now, three years later, he's back!
I'm quite curious as to how much improvement he's made during the three years of practice," another one added with curiosity, eager to know more about Jacques.
"Ho, ho, ho! Even if he's made improvements, so what?
If Zen didn't show up, Jacques, who was at the second grade of nature level and included among the top 100 rankings, would stay as a legend. That's a rather rare situation in the Cloud Sect. However, at the same level, Zen could even beat Dick and jump into the top 50. I'm saying the gap between the top 100 and top 50 is quite huge. It's quite easy for anyone who enters the top 100 to make a few improvements in their rankings. But for those entering the top 50, they have great difficulty in improving even one place. In my opinion, Jacques' strength three years ago was much inferior to that of Zen's today," a senior disciple gave a more specific analysis.
"You're right about Jacques not being as good as Zen three years ago. But now, after three years of hard training, Jacques has also stepped into the Illuminating Soul Realm. And since he's been able to compete with those beyond his level, and now that he's entered the Illuminating Soul Realm, won't his strength be supposed during the competitions to be even more terrifying?
How can Zen be an equal opponent?" another senior disciple added his own positive analysis.
Those disciples were making comparisons between the two men because both Zen and Jacques participated in the Competition while they were at the second grade of nature level.