Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood Chapter 143: The Trial In The Fairy Palace

Chapter 143: The Trial In The Fairy Palace

Generally, it would be quite hard for Zen to defeat an Illuminating Soul Realm master, simply because being half-step into the nature level was far from an Illuminating Soul Realm master's skills. In the battle to the death, Zen wouldn't have won if Seymour hadn't been badly injured.
Even for today, it was a pyrrhic triumph for Zen. But in any case, no matter how hard it was, Zen had persisted until the end.
Just in that moment, a series of dull sounds came from the Eight Diagrams. Zen looked up at the source of those sounds and saw that the statues had slowly moved away from the characters, and finally returned to their original forms.
When Zen didn't sense any danger from the statues' movements, he sat still on the ground to recover. After a short while of rest, he stood up.
His eyes scanned all the bodies of the Illuminating Soul Realm masters, and a sigh couldn't help but escape from his lips. If only they had believed him, the situation wouldn't have escalated out of their control.
'Ah, time can't be reversed. They might never believe me in such a zero-sum game anyway, ' Zen thought as he sighed again. He bent down and started to pick up the weapons in their unmoving hands. These weapons were of high value and strength and among them were quite a lot of low-level spiritual weapons, a small number of medium-level spiritual weapons, and even a top-grade one!
Since all of them were dead, the weapons now all belonged to Zen.
He carefully collected all the weapons and other valuable items and stored them into his space ring. Before he proceeded to the statues, he bent over the deceased bodies of his rivals and stood in silent tribute for a while.
After a few moments, he went and moved the statues based on the method recorded by Chase.
'Three for Heaven, ' murmured Zen, and then he pushed three statues to word 'Heaven'.
'Six for Earth, ' then, he pushed the other six statues to word 'Earth' accordingly.
'For the Water is...'
'For the Fire is...'
'The last one is...'
One by one, Zen had pushed all the statues to their corresponding pisitions as stated in Chase's record. After all of the movements were completed, the Eight Diagrams engraved on the ground slowly started to turn.
The outer ring of the Eight Diagrams turned several times until a clear sound of gear transmission could be heard.
“Brum!” At this point, it seemed that the outer ring's cogwheel had geared towards the inner ring of the Eight Diagrams.
After the gassy sound stopped, the inner ring started to rotate this time.
“Brum!” The other sound of the gear resonated again from the inner ring.
The two sounds had Zen withhold his breath. And his eyes were closely transfixed on the Eight Diagrams. He was so engrossed in the observation that he didn't even blink. It didn't take long before the Eight Diagrams flashed rays of white light.
'Oh yeah! I made it!' Zen mentally exclaimed.
He couldn't hide the utter delight that sparkled in his eyes.
When the euphoria passed, he started to wonder what would happen next after the Eight Diagrams had been opened. His heart fluttered wildly in his ribcage as he scrutinized every movement of the Eight Diagrams. Although he closely monitored its actions, he was still on high alert for any potential attacks.
The white light gradually faded away after a while, and then a human-shaped figure appeared in the center of the Eight Diagrams.
Zen watched the figure carefully and upon closer look, he found that this human-shaped figure was not a real human. It was a puppet, but as far as Zen was concerned, this puppet was the only normal thing in this fairy palace. It looked like the human-shaped puppet was of a human's average height, much like Zen.
He finally stopped watching the puppet closely and waited for its next move. After a while, the puppet began to speak in a low but excited voice.
“Three thousand years! I haven't seen a human for three thousand years! Finally, one person appeared and opened the Eight Diagrams!”
His rich tones echoed throughout the rocky walls.
The puppet's words took Zen by surprise. 'The puppet can speak!' he thought. Even though the puppet didn't seem to show any aggressive behavior, Zen stayed alert and kept his distance. It seemed that aside from being able to talk, the puppet could also express excitement.
“Who are you?” Zen asked carefully in a calm, polite manner.
Although Zen guessed he was a puppet, he still chose to show his full respect to him.
The puppet was mildly astonished before he answered.
“Me? Wow, my name? Oh! You can call me Saul. Yes, I am Saul. I am the servant of this fairy palace,” he said.
It seemed that the puppet hadn't talked for a long time. So, his words came out a little too excitedly and he appeared quite talkative.
In turn, Zen nodded courteously.
“Saul? Thanks. Would you mind if I ask, are you a human or a puppet? I am sorry if my question would offend you,” Zen said. Now, it wasn't the first time that Zen saw a puppet. However, even those best craftsmen could only make puppets that could only walk and move under their masters' commands. Such a puppet that could speak and feel like a normal human was indeed rare to see or hear. So, it was no wonder that Zen suspected Saul was a human in disguise.
The human-like puppet Saul's eyes were slightly downcast before he spoke. “Me? Of course, I am a puppet…but how I wish I could be a real human. Then I can become old with time and die when the life ends. Not like now, living for ever and ever is the greatest torture,” he lamented.
His previous excitement was now replaced by sorrow and grief, and Saul's mood became sour and gloomy.
Upon hearing his answer, Zen felt a little confused. “We practice martial arts to seek immortality, and you have reached our ultimate objective and now live in this fairy palace. Why are you looking for death? I could not understand that,” he asked.
In turn, Saul only smiled sadly and sighed. “If you were trapped in one place, every day without company--you could only talk to yourself, you would finally not want to talk or even just forget how to speak. I have been alone for thousands of years and would live lonely for the next few thousand years or even longer. Will you still want to live immortally? Or will you look for death, which might be a relief and an end to your current lonely life?”
Saul's gripes made Zen fall into silence. He did have a fair point. To be alone for thousands of years like Saul would make immortality a great torture. And death might be the next best thing. However, Zen was a human who understood the feeling of loneliness, but Saul was a puppet. So, he asked again, “Saul, you are only a puppet, how could you feel lonely?”
Saul just shook his head. “Even though my body was made to be a puppet, my inner soul was an abstract from a human soul. Thus, in some words, I am also a human, with human feelings and soul,” he answered.
Abstract human soul to refine a puppet!
That was so strange that Zen had never heard about it. Such technique was so magical that it was almost unbelievable.
When Saul saw Zen's shocked expression, he didn't mind as if he was used to such a thing. "Anyway, I have finally seen you after three thousand years…
I finally saw the fourth person appearing here after waiting for three thousand years," he continued.
“The fourth one?” Zen asked. Even though he was still in shock, he did not miss the key words in Saul's words. “So there are other people who have also been here? In the fairy palace?” Zen asked some more.
Nodding in agreement, Saul explained, "Of course, there were other people who had been here and opened the Eight Diagrams. But they all failed and died.
So, I hope that you can succeed. I do not want to wait any longer. I've had enough of it."
“All failed? All died? What does that mean?” Zen asked with a frown on his face.
It would seem that he would not like the things that were about to happen.
“If you want to be the master of the fairy palace, you have to pass the test. Of course, there are many dangers in the test--and if you fail, you will die naturally...” Saul explained slowly.
Zen's eyes slowly widened, and a lump formed in his throat.
“I will die if I fail? Then, can I choose not to attend the test and leave now?” Zen stared at Saul and asked hopefully. At this, Saul simply smiled.
“Hah, hah, hah,” he chuckled. “It is okay to give up according to the regulations. My powerful master won't force others to become the new master of his fairy palace. Besides, only a truly qualified and contented man could inherit his property. However, I do not want to wait any longer,” he added.
Zen pondered over Saul's words for a bit.
'Ah... in that case, I have to attend the test anyway. It seems that Saul has had enough lonely time and he would definitely force me to attend the test, even though the master of the fairy palace provided two options, ' he thought.
The hesitation in Zen's face did not escape Saul's gaze, and he went on to say, “Rest assured! In order to make sure you can pass the test, I will try my best to help you and give you guidance when I am permitted. I have waited for thousands of years and finally got you here. Even though the test is very dangerous, I will do my utmost to help you!” Saul said.
When Zen felt that he had no other choice, he simply sighed.
“Well, okay. I understand now. And how can I pass the test? When can I start? Where is the test place?” Zen asked.
With a wave of his hand, Saul said, “Come with me!”
He turned around and walked to the back. Just then, those pink enchanted barriers around the pavilion slowly faded away.
At this point, Zen looked at Saul who walked slowly ahead of him and thought about whether it would be better for him to use this opportunity to escape. As long as he could run to the jade path with his fastest speed, he could return back to the outer world. Those nature creatures waiting outside would not pose any great threats to him.
However, after having thought about it for one more time, Zen gave up his idea of escape. It had been hard for him to get inside the fairy palace and even harder for him to survive after the desperate fight with those powerful foes a while ago. How could he go back without anything gained? That would be very disappointing for him.
After he had collected his thoughts, Zen stepped forward and kept pace with Saul. It seemed that the human puppet didn't notice Zen's inner mental struggle and simply took Zen to the other jade path. This particular jade path led to another area in the fairy palace.
When Zen and Saul stepped on the jade path, those fishes gathered once again.
“Whap!”
One of the large fishes jumped out of the water and lunged towards the two of them.
“Look out!” Zen warned.
His eyes darted left and right to spot any attacks.
He had seen the strength of these fishes before. The way they tore and completely ate up one powerful man of the Illuminating Soul Realm in just a few minutes was still fresh in his mind.
However, his worries turned out to be useless. Saul turned his head towards the fish coming at him. He stretched out his hand, and then his fingers elongated like withered wood to a few meters long.
When his fingers made contact with the fish, he clenched his fingers and abruptly inserted them into the fish's body. The goldfish could only helplessly flap around its tail in the air but couldn't escape from Saul's hand.
Saul then slowly wrapped his hand around the fish and sliced it into pieces. The once huge, powerful Koi fish now looked like small, normal fish in Saul's hand. After that, he threw away the fish's remnants into the water.
“These goldfishes have lived here for such a long time that they have forgotten the rules. Several thousand years ago when master was still here, these goldfishes were much more obedient than they are now,” Saul said as he slowly withdrew his fingers.
To see such a scene filled Zen's heart with fright. He felt lucky that he did not choose to escape. Otherwise, he might have been torn to pieces by Saul, just like the goldfish .Although Saul was a puppet, the strength he showed just now indicated that it would be easy for Saul to kill him in few seconds. Even the powers of those Illuminating Soul Realm masters could not match that of Saul.
That goldfish that was cut to pieces immediately attracted other goldfishes. They fought each other for the flesh and bones of the dead goldfish, even though this fish was their companion just few minutes ago. For a time, the originally small and calm pool waters rippled and rose up in waves, like the sea during a tsunami.
Fortunately, these goldfishes were not so stupid to challenge Saul and Zen again, after seeing that their compatriot had been cut into pieces just now. They just stayed beneath the water on both sides of the pool but dare not jump out to attack Saul and Zen.
Without the goldfishes' attacks now, the travel along the jade path became safe just like it was a normal path. However, as Saul walked rather slowly, it still took them some time to reach the end of the path until they crossed a door to another yard.
The door creaked a bit when Saul opened it. Upon stepping inside, the courtyard, Zen noticed that there were three puppets laid on the edge of the courtyard. However, these three puppets were not so delicate as Saul.
When Saul saw that Zen's eyes were focused on those puppets, Saul explained, “You can select anyone of these puppets. They are made for you!”
One eyebrow shot up in Zen's forehead.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“If you fail in the test, I will save you and take your soul out, then seal your soul in this puppet. Then you can stay with me for long time, as if you were not dead,” Saul said as he pointed to the three puppets.
"Those souls of the failed challengers had lived here too.
However, my craftsmanship is not as good as the master's. I could only keep the soul alive in the puppet for a thousand years, but I could not make it immortal, just as what my master did to me," he finished.
Now, Zen had finally understood what Saul meant. In order to have a companion with him, Saul had made some puppets here.
Those who previously broke into the fairy palace and failed the test were made into puppets.
Even though Saul was not as good as his master in making the puppets, the appearance of these three puppets weren't so bad. They looked like they didn't have any major damages. However, the souls within the puppets had faded away after thousands of years.
When Zen thought about being sealed in the puppet by Saul if he failed the test, he couldn't help but feel scared. He swallowed nervously. It would be miserable to live a lonely life in puppet for a thousand years.