CHAPTER 248 SECOND KILLING

The three injured people healed their wounds with the help of the magic spiritual herbs Darren gave

them. Not only had they been healed, but their strength had been improved as well.

Billy lay on the ground, motionless like an abandoned dog left to die. Crippling fear rose from the

bottom of his heart, spreading through his limbs like poison.

"Please," Billy begged, his voice trembling. "Please don't kill me." He would have wept if he had the

energy to do so, but he was so drained that he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Remember what you made us feel when you tried to kill us? Well, have a taste of your medicine. Are

you enjoying it so far? If Darren hadn't come along to help us, you would have shown no mercy and

killed us. So what makes you think that we'll let you go?" Norris asked with a bitter smile on his face.

His bones had been broken by Billy and there was no way he would forget how that felt like.

The cold anger that took hold of his heart grew more intense as he looked at the person responsible for

putting him through so much pain. He then extended his hand and grabbed a handful of Billy's flesh,

ripping it apart like a piece of meat for the long-awaited dinner.

Billy screamed in pain. Quite desperately, he grabbed Darren's leg to beg for mercy.

But Darren remained unfazed. He was usually generous, but Billy was a man who didn't deserve any

mercy. He answered Billy's pleas with an icy smile.

One after another, the three took turns to torture Billy within an inch of his life. Even when Billy lost

consciousness, they managed to wake him and continue the torment. They did not let any second go to

waste.

"I think we have hurt him enough. Should we kill him now, Darren?"

"Not yet. We may find ourselves needing a dead dog. So let's keep him breathing for now. We need to

focus on getting through the test," Darren casually replied as he looked at the pitch-black cavern. An

extremely horrible odor was coming from it, as though it was from an existence akin to a beast.

"Take him over there."

Without further ado, they flew over and stopped in front of the cavern. As for the endless magical

herbs, they had all been rendered immobile by Darren's breath, so there was no real harm anymore.

"Wait for me here. I will go in and have a look," Darren said.

"Take care, Darren. The thing inside the cavern is very powerful."

Although they knew how powerful Darren had grown over time, they couldn't deny that the energy

coming from the cavern felt so powerful and overwhelming. They wondered if Darren could actually

defeat it with his own strength, but they decided to just believe in his capacity. The concern in their

voices didn't go unnoticed by Darren.

"Trust me, I will be fine," Darren reassured with a smile. With a flash, Darren's figure disappeared and

flew into the pitch-black cavern.

"Darren is a true genius. He managed to improve his strength to a level we can only look up to within

such a short time."

"I agree. Even Billy didn't stand a chance against him. That meant his strength had surpassed Billy's a

lot, and he could very well pass this test with flying colors."

Bowen only listened quietly as he stared into the darkness. His eyes flashed with alarming concern, but

he chose to keep his mouth shut. Could he have been concerned about Darren's well-being, or was he

more concerned about the fact that he might not be able to reach Darren's level no matter how hard he

trained?

BANG!

A fiery figure was thrown out of the cavern while they were waiting for Darren to come back. The figure

flew so fast that it passed them in a split second and landed somewhere afar. It was just a haze lost in

the wind. Nobody could see what it really was.

"This is... Wait, what just happened? Something flew out of the cavern due to a force so powerful we

couldn't even see it with our naked eyes!"

They had a gut feeling that the power alone could smash ten strong cultivators at the advanced stage

of the Wonder Realm.

SWOOSH!

A ghostly figure appeared beside the three.

The figure was charred and ragged. They could barely identify its appearance.

"Fuck, there's such a powerful being in that cavern," the charred figure grumbled.

"Darren!" Bowen exclaimed in shock. "You... You got thrown out of that cavern like you were nothing

but a bag of herbs! What the hell is in there? How could it be so powerful?"

"I don't know what it is, but its strength should be equivalent to that of a strong cultivator at the top level

of the advanced stage of the Wonder Realm," Darren said in a low voice, his face solemn.

The other three gasped. If what Darren said was true, the strength of that creature was beyond their

imagination. However, what surprised them more was that even though Darren had been struck out of

the cavern with such force, he was intact and mostly unharmed. How strong was his body to withstand

an attack like that?

"Darren you are too powerful! We are small, rotten potatoes compared to you."

They shook their heads. They could hardly believe Darren had become so strong. They could only look

up to him now. His cultivation talent was a miracle for them.

"Humans, you are far from going through the second round, so piss off and continue your cultivation!"

A giant man made of stones with a height of hundreds of feet bellowed as he strode out of the cavern.

His whole body was covered with fire. This belongs to - ©.

"Who are you?" one of them blurted out, unable to stop himself from asking.

"I come from the ancient Stone Clan, and I am the guardian of the second space. I want to remind you

something, tiny humans. You may have a ghost of chance to beat me if five of you work together. But

now that one of your teammates is already useless, you will never beat me. Cultivate here for three

years and then piss off,"

he said in a voice that sounded like stones scraping against each other.

"Ha ha, you are just a pile of stones. I can kill you in a second with my real strength!" Darren sneered,

getting to his feet.

He thought there must be some reason why there were five people in a group. He understood that now.

The guardian made of stones was at the top level of the advanced stage of the Wonder Realm.

Normally, a man could reach the advanced stage of the Wonder Realm after three years of cultivation,

so five cultivators with such strength could kill the guardian if they worked together closely.

Simply out, going through the second space required teamwork. But how could the space guardian

expect that he would meet an extremely powerful cultivator like Darren?

"You are talking big, human. I have guarded the second space for countless years, yet nobody has

killed me alone in such a short time. You are too arrogant for your own good."

The stone guardian was formed by the spiritual intent of the ancient Stone Clan so he could never die.

Even if he did, he would only get resurrected to face new challengers in the very same spot. It was an

endless cycle.

And like he said, nobody had been able to face him alone so far. What remained in his memory was the

two talented cultivators who had gone through the test after the other three teammates died from

conflict.

After those two, nobody had been able to pass through.

"Let's see, then. I will go through the test alone," Darren replied. With a light roar, he drew out his

sword and cut open Billy's throat first, rendering him useless.

"Darren, are you sure you want to fight it alone?"

Currently, Bowen, Quinn and Norris were at the top level of the middle stage of the Wonder Realm, but

they were well aware that they wouldn't be much help to Darren. Still, they needed to ask if Darren

really wanted to go through this test alone. Even though their combined strength wasn't much, there

must be something they could do, like a split second distraction that could change the course of the

battle. If they could tip the scales in their favor even by just a millimeter, they would not hesitate to do it.

In the Ancient Void Battlefield, three years ran like ten days outside. They had three years for going

through each of the first nine realms, so it was around three months outside of the Ancient Void

Battlefield. That meant they would not be teleported back to the outside world if they succeeded in

going into the tenth round in three months' time.

"Fight him?" Darren glanced at the stony guardian with a smirk. "No, I won't fight him. I will kill him in a

second.

You step back as far as possible!" He let out a battle cry, his surging blade and sword intent hushing

out of him like all the pores in his body had been opened. He aimed it towards the stone guardian.

Feeling Darren's horrible breath smothering the air, Bowen and the other two all flew back as fast as

they could to avoid accidental injuries that they might sustain from watching the fight. They had no

doubt that they would be cut into pieces if they so much as touch a wisp of the powerful blade and

sword intent that Darren was wielding right now.

"Cocky human, you will pay the price for your words." The guardian acknowledged that Darren's sword

intent was powerful, but he believed that it was not powerful enough to damage him.

"We'll see about that." Darren dashed towards the stony guardian at full speed, exercising his Blade

and Sword Domain skill on the way.

It was at this point that the guardian felt Darren's strength for what it truly was. The smug look in his

eyes was immediately replaced by fear, realizing that Darren's sword intent and blade intent weren't the

only weapon he had.

"Domain...You have mastered the domain skill!"

Darren's face split into a cruel smile. "You should have realized it sooner. Now die!" Darren was

invincible in his domain. He struck the guardian continuously and he didn't stop until the guardian was

nothing but a pile of smoking rubble on the ground. The fire had died out.

And with that, the stony guardian was killed in a second, just like what Darren promised.