CHAPTER 216 BAD NEWS

Darren found a person who was ranked relatively high in the Talent Roll. He was twenty-one years old

and had reached the primary stage of the Wonder Realm. He had killed a demonic monster whose

strength was equal to a master who had reached the middle stage of the Wonder Realm. This guy

ranked 158th.

'So the age indeed plays an important role in the ranking, ' Darren thought to himself.

With that in mind, Darren then started to scan the other names, looking for the person who ranked one

hundredth in the Roll. He was interested in knowing more about the guy.

The guy's name was Barnett Xiao. He was nineteen years old and was at the primary stage of the

Wonder Realm. He was ranked as the one hundredth in the Talent Roll because he had killed a master

who was at the top level of the middle stage of the Wonder Realm.

It was becoming more apparent to Darren that all the superior talents in the Talent Roll were extremely

powerful cultivators. They were capable of killing masters who were in a higher realm than theirs. They

clearly possessed some excellent skills.

"This one will be my next target. With my current strength, it's possible for me to defeat him," he said,

analyzing his would-be opponent.

Darren's body was tough enough to withstand even the most adverse conditions, therefore he was not

afraid of facing off against a master at the middle stage of the Wonder Realm. When he completed all

the stages of body refining, his strength would greatly improve. However, it only meant that he would

not be killed by the master. If he wanted to defeat a master, he still needed to put more efforts in his

practice and improve his other skills.

As Darren browsed through the Talent Roll, there was suddenly a loud noise that came from outside

the palace. It seemed to be calling out to him.

He went outside to investigate what the noise was about. The disciples of the Dragon Sect had

surrounded a muscular man, and that man was Bruce.

"Stop. Let him come up there," Darren shouted his order at the men. The disciples then whipped their

heads around to see who roared out the order. To their astonishment, they saw that Darren was at the

palace entrance and gaped at them. When they came back to their senses, they immediately stepped

away from Bruce in big strides.

Scott had ordered each elder to show Darren's portrait to every disciple in the Dragon Sect, instructing

them to obey Darren's orders unconditionally.

One of the disciples stepped forward. "Sir. That guy just barged in here, saying that he needed to

speak to you. We halted him and were planning to report him to you first to avoid any trouble, but he

still insisted on forcing his way in," he explained. It was a wise decision on their part not to use too

much force in stopping the intruder. Otherwise, they might have risked offending someone who was

possibly a friend of Darren.

"It's alright. He's my friend. You guys can let him go," Darren casually ordered.

The disciples turned to Bruce and humbly bowed their heads. "Sir, we're so sorry for the trouble." They

then proceeded to leave with their heads still bowed down.

Bruce hurriedly flew towards the palace. His brows were furrowed and small beads of sweat peppered

his forehead. "Darren, thank goodness you're here. Something terrible happened. Elsa went to the

Blade Holy Land!"

Darren was glad to see that Bruce's speech had improved—it was great news. The news he brought

along with him, however, did not seem good at all.

"What? How could that happen?" A deep furrow appeared between Darren's brows. He thought of all

the possible reasons why Elsa would decide to go to the Blade Holy Land.

Bruce then gave him a rough explanation of the situation.

About a fortnight ago, Elsa found out that her father, Thomas, had been taken by the people of the

Blade Holy Land. They said that if Thomas refused to tell them who was responsible for killing the Holy

Lord's son, they would cut him up into indistinguishable pieces.

After Elsa heard about the news, she tried to hold back her emotions. She appeared to be very

sensible and composed despite the stress she was under. She understood that if she made a rash

decision to recklessly go after her father's captors, even if she could come out of the pursuit alive, the

whole situation would still become a burden to Darren.

She planned to wait for Darren to come back and see if he could think of a better solution before she

made a move. However, once she heard the news that a martial arts competition would be held in

Blade Holy Land, she completely changed her mind. She was not able to wait any longer and decided

to enter the competition herself. Bruce was smart enough to know that Elsa was not only planning to

enter the competition, she was also going to try everything she could do to rescue her father. He

thought it was such a risky thing to do.

Just a few days ago, the Holy Lord of the Dragon Holy Land ordered his men to deliver the news to the

Lotus Holy Land. Bruce knew that Darren was in the Dragon Holy Land, so he rushed to look for him in

order to tell him about the news.

Darren absorbed the news with a heavy heart. He began to feel anxious about Elsa's safety.

"This is my fault. I should have gone back sooner." Darren felt an overwhelming guilt and lamented his

mistake.

"I've heard that there was another elder who got involved in this matter. But that man acted like a

lunatic. He couldn't say anything even though he underwent excruciating torture and nearly lost his

mind. He was killed about a month ago," Bruce said, enunciating every word like a normal person now.

"How did you know that?" Darren was alarmed to hear the news.

"The news had been spread all over the Holy Lands. The disciples of the Blade Holy Land probably did

it on purpose in order to lure you out," Bruce replied in a glum tone. Bruce had known from Elsa that it

was Darren who killed the Holy Lord's son.

"When will the competition be held?" Darren asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Alright. We should head there as soon as possible." Despite the distress Darren was feeling, there

was still a determined look on his face.

He summoned an elder of the Holy Dragon Land and asked him important details that he might be

needing for the competition. It was a huge competition and the Dragon Holy Land would definitely send

someone to represent them. Darren asked the elder to make two tokens for them, representing that

they were the main disciples of the Dragon Sect. Darren also asked him to write letters of

recommendation to the Blade Holy Land. Soon after that, they immediately left for the transmission

array and headed towards the Blade Holy Land.

For safety, Darren took a pill that he got from the auction. He got two pills from the auction. He had

already given one to Bruce back then and kept the other one for emergencies and other important

situations. Today, he was finally going to use it. The pills could change one's appearance, and the

effects were permanent.

Although the effect could be permanent, Darren was not worried about it. Since he had reached the

eighteenth level of the Spirit Power, it would be a piece of cake for him to break the rule power

contained inside the pill and regain his original appearance without using much effort.

Darren and Bruce stepped into the transmission array and, in the blink of an eye, were delivered to the

Blade Holy Land.

As soon as Darren set foot into the Blade Holy Land, he was completely overwhelmed by the intense

blade intent that was emitted from the vast land. It even triggered the blade intent inside his body.

'Everyone is blade cultivator in the Blade Holy Land. I wonder how strong the Holy Lord's blade intent

is, ' Darren quietly thought to himself.

"Bruce, I feel like you've gotten stronger. Am I right about that?" Darren had been noticing the changes

while he walked with Bruce.

"Well, that's thanks to Colin. After he found out about our relationship, he gave me an abundance of

cultivation resources to improve my strength. I've already reached the Wonder Realm just recently,"

Bruce beamed at Darren.

"The Wonder Realm? Your strength was already extremely terrifying before. How much have you

improved since reaching the Wonder Realm?" Darren was really happy for him.

Under normal conditions, it would take a longer time for a disciple of the Ancient Families to improve

their realms, so it was extremely exceptional of Bruce to make such significant progress at the age of

nineteen.

"I'm not certain. But I do feel like I would probably be able to defeat at least a middle-staged master of

the Wonder Realm if I use my bloodline force." After reaching the Wonder Realm, Bruce had not gotten

much chances to fight, so he had no idea how much his strength had improved.

"That's great! Let's show off our strength at the competition." Darren wore a faint smile on his face.

"Ha-ha, yes!" The two let out a few chuckles, then flew towards the Blade Holy Land palace at full

speed.

After an hour of flying, they finally arrived at a splendid palace. Its structure resembled the shape of a

blade.

"Halt! Who are you two?"

The two disciples who were guarding the entrance to the palace glowered at the two as they took out

their battle blades. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Darren and Bruce lowered themselves onto the ground and scanned the two disciples from head to

toe. Darren found that they had reached the top level of the primary stage of the Wonder Realm. He

also sensed an intense blade intent emitting from their bodies. 'Hmm, so their strengths are actually

good enough, ' he thought.

"We are the main disciples of the Dragon Holy Land. We are here for the Holy Land's martial arts

competition. Please let us in." Darren handed them the recommendation letters.

One of the disciples took the letters from his hands. After he cast a glance at the letters, his expression

suddenly changed. "Humph. How dare you pretend to be main disciples of the Dragon Holy Land!

Arrest these two!"

Several other disciples who also reached the Wonder Realm then dashed out of nowhere and

surrounded Darren and Bruce.

"Huh?" Darren's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. 'What the hell is happening?' he thought.