CHAPTER 1194 THE BLOOD POOL

Aaron cried out in surprise, which alerted Finley and the others to Darren's presence. They turned

around and rose some weapons.

After all, Darren was in disguise now, so he was a stranger to them.

"Stay away from Aaron!" Finley yelled, pointing a blade at Darren's chest.

"Ha-ha. I don't think I need to." Darren smiled.

Barnes thought Darren was provoking them, so he swung his stick vigorously. Darren didn't flinch even

when the stick got super close to hitting him.

"Do you want to be beaten into a heap of meat by me?" Barnes growled, revealing his sharp teeth that

gleamed in the low light.

"Barnes, you are still so impulsive. Look carefully. Who am I?" Darren asked. Now that they were in the

test space, there was no need to hide his identity.

With a slight spin, Darren transformed back into his original look. His clean, purple robe and handsome

appearance stunned the others.

"Darren... Ha-ha. It's Darren!" Aaron cheered, jumping up and down.

"What the hell! Darren? It's you! I thought you were a stranger. That's why I panicked when a stranger ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

keep talking to us."

"You bastard!" Barnes and Finley dashed towards Darren. They scooped him up and squeezed him in

the middle of a big group hug.

"It's been ten years. What happened to you?" Darren asked them once they had released him and

calmed down.

"Well, it's a long story. In short, it's been hard for the past ten years. How about you?" Minor flashbacks

occurred from the day that Darren had been expelled and they remembered that they were so worried

about him.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about me. Let's get past the test first."

"Okay. But we'll talk about it after the test."

Trying to stay focused, they continued to move forward.

After a lot of walking that caused tired feet, the long and dark path came to an end. In front of them was

a large pool boiling over with dark red blood.

"I think this is the first obstacle," Darren said, reaching out his arms to stop the others in front of the

blood pool.

At the edge of the pool, thick blood mist rose up and condensed into skeletons which roared at them.

"Okay. Let me try first," Barnes offered. He started to fly over the blood pool.

However, when he had reached less than ten feet from shore, a blood wave burst upwards and hit him.

Barnes immediately felt shackled by it, and then a murderous intent rushed along his meridians into his

elixir field.

"Howl!"

Barnes lifted his stick and used it to push the blood waves down his body. His stick went straight into

the wave of blood. However, the wave of blood split up and went around it, continuing to trap him.

Whoosh!

From shore, Darren released god-level blade and sword intents and sliced off the blood wave.

Barnes panicked. He took several steps back and finally landed back on the bank.

"Wow! That was a close one!" Barnes said as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"Let me have a try." Now that Darren had cut off the blood wave using the blade and sword intents, he

believed that he could easily pass over the blood pool.

"Please be careful. It's still very dangerous," Finley reminded him.

"Don't worry. I have the confidence."

Darren flew upwards and then straight to the center of the blood pool.

Clatter...

Below him, waves of blood surged into the sky and transformed into large bloody palms. The palms

slapped together like they were trying to catch a fly and Darren just escaped them in time.

"This thing will change its attacking methods and strength based on the strength of whom is trying to

pass it." As he dodged the palms, Darren could feel that the power of the blood wave this time was

much stronger than when it had attacked Barnes.

The power of the blood wave had increased to a higher level because of the blade and sword intents

that Darren had used against it.

Seconds later, the bloody palms broke through Darren's sword and blade intents and crashed over him.

The killing intent and malicious spirit of the blood waves rushed to Darren's meridians and elixir field.

"What?" Darren could feel the killing intent of the blood waves pushing into his body and trying to

destroy his meridians and his soul.

But Darren collected his thoughts and remained calm. He had another trick up his sleeve. Once he

released the black god's power, he would be able to dispel the killing intent that had rushed into his

body.

"I can try to assimilate them first." Instead of immediately dispelling the killing intent, he thought of

another way to deal with it.

Darren remembered the first time he came to the Starry Tower. He had absorbed the sword intent in a

lake. And the killing intent in the blood pool was the same. It didn't seem to belong to anyone, just like

the sword intent in the lake of the Starry Tower.

Raising a little higher above the blood pool, Darren activated the Assimilation Skill and wrapped up the

killing intent that had rushed into his body.

The killing intent was shattered by the assimilating power and the remains went straight into Darren's

elixir field.

After the shattered killing intent had entered Darren's elixir field, it circled the Blade and Sword God

Characters and attached to them.

"Awesome! It really works." Darren smiled and punched the air in celebration.

Darren didn't know what would happen when he allowed the killing intent to attach to the God

Characters, but he knew that if he consumed a great deal of the killing intent in the blood pool, his

companions could easily pass through this test.

"Darren? Are you okay?" Finley asked after he noticed how long Darren had spent in the middle of the

pool without moving.

"Don't worry. I'm fine," Darren said to them through spiritual sense.

That immediately reassured them and they stood and waited patiently for him to be finished.

Becoming completely silent, Darren concentrated everything on assimilating the killing intent. Slowly,

the killing intent gathered in his body and the Blade and Sword God Characters turned light red in color.

After a month, Darren was found standing quietly in the center of the blood pool. The killing intent of the

blood pool had condensed into a storm surrounding him.

After another three months, the storm in the blood pool had calmed down enough to almost pass by it.

"You guys, I think Darren is trying to assimilate the killing intent of blood pool," Finley said. He knew

Darren very well. He had actually figured out what Darren had been doing earlier than anyone else.

Now Darren's God Characters had become dark red. In his eyes, a glimmer of bloody light could be

found.

Whoosh!

Darren flew out and landed on the bank.

"Ha-ha. Impressive. It seems that you have gained a lot," Barnes said with a grin.

"You bet!" Darren smiled.

"Darren, you're amazing! We can't pass this test without you!" Aaron complimented, looking up at

Darren with intense admiration.

"Well, let's go together. The test isn't over yet." Darren didn't say anything more. He gestured for

everyone to fly forward.

There was not much killing intent left in the blood pool. As a result, they flew past the pool easily

without any attacks.

"Darren, if you hadn't had the assimilating power, we wouldn't have even passed the first test," Barnes

said with some disappointment after they walked into a tunnel.

"That's not necessarily the case. In fact, there are other ways to pass it," Darren said.

"How? Weren't you trapped too?" Finley chimed in.

"I was trapped because I haven't used any other powerful means yet. If I use my black god's power, it

will be very easy for me to escape as well."

"But we're not like you. We can't make it," Finley said.

"My original plan is to let you fly above the blood pool together, and then I'll use my god's power to split

the blood waves that will trap you so you can pass safely."

There was no doubt in his mind that his plan would work. The strength of the blood waves coming out

of the blood pool were determined by the strength of people flying over it.

Darren's strength far exceeded his companions, so it wouldn't take them much effort to pass while he

was distracting it with his powers.

"Yes. But now I'm worried about what we will encounter next." With such a difficult first test, it was scary

to imagine what was to come.