CHAPTER 440 BACK TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Once the Giant Ape realized that Darren was not questioning his master, his expression immediately

eased back to normal.

"This world is not as simple as what you imagine. Just as you've seen in the depiction in that mural on

the wall, the Nine-headed Serpent is very powerful. My master had been battling the serpent for as

long as thirty years before finally being able to kill it. But I have to tell you that according to my master,

even though it took that long for the Nine-headed Serpent to be defeated, it was merely just an

unimportant pet out of many other lackeys of an extremely powerful cultivator.

The reason why my master had been trapped had something to do with the master of that Nine-headed

Serpent, the powerful cultivator. Anyway, enough about that. You don't need to know much about it.

What you need to do is to focus on your cultivation and reach the top level.

Of course, I won't let you help me if it will all just end up being in vain. After all, it's such a dangerous

task,"

the Giant Ape disclosed.

"Don't worry, sir. Since I've promised to help you, I will do the best that I can." Darren cupped his hands

together and bowed his head at the Giant Ape. At that moment, what he mainly wanted to do was to

leave. Therefore no matter what the Giant Ape asked him to do, he was willing to say yes.

"Hmm. The reason why you quickly agreed with me is that you're eager to leave this place, isn't it?"

The Giant Ape had been living in that world for so many years that had become perceptive—he was

able to easily see the motive behind Darren's intentions.

"To tell you the truth, I do want to go back soon. I have several friends who are trapped in here. I want

to help them return home and let their families know that they're safe. I know their families must be very

worried about them," Darren admitted.

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. You can rest assured that you'll soon be able to go back unharmed.

But before you leave, I want to offer you something as a reward," the Giant Ape said.

"No, no. There's no need for you to do that. It's more than enough for us that you allow us to leave. I

don't need any reward." Darren shook his head, declining the Giant Ape's offer.

"You don't want any reward? But you have to accept it. The Purgatorial Tripod must be partially

controlled by you. As long as you are sincere in the task to help me free my master, it will definitely be

beneficial for you." To Darren's dismay, the Giant Ape seemed like he was not going to take no for an

answer.

The Giant Ape waved his hand and a flood of strange and unusual runes flew towards Darren's chest.

Darren soon felt an equally strange sensation spread throughout his entire body. He then gradually felt

a sense of connection to the world he was in. He did not know how much time had passed, but he felt

the connection become stronger when the process was finished. He was able to sense everything in

the Purgatorial Tripod in a similar way he did in the Ancient Void Battlefield.

"What? Have I become in control of the Purgatorial Tripod?" Darren rapidly blinked his eyes. It took him

a while to take in what had just happened.

"Yes and no. You only have half the control of the Purgatorial Tripod. You can control it freely but I can

easily take that control away from you if I want to.

You have the opportunity to haul in the corpse, blood, and soul of demonic monsters. Your Spirit Power

will be greatly improved after you refine them. One word of warning though. Since your force of control

isn't very strong, you cannot let in grand demonic monsters that are three-stars and above. Your body

won't be able to bear it. There's a great chance that you will explode."

Darren bobbed his head slowly as he held his gaze at the Giant Ape. "I have a question though," he NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

blurted out. "Let's say I somehow let a three-star grand demonic monster in, can't you just help me

refine it?"

The Giant Ape shook his head and answered, "I don't have much force of control to the Purgatorial

Tripod. I'm only in control of you. If you let a three-star grand demonic monster in, I'm afraid I won't be

able to help you to refine it unless I take your force of control back. But once I do that, you'll never be

able to control the Purgatorial Tripod ever again. Aside from that, there's also the possibility that you'll

get badly hurt and bear the consequences for the rest of your life."

"I see. If that's the case, I will remember to be cautious. Now, please let Aaron and I leave now." Darren

cupped his hands and bowed his head to the Giant Ape.

"You have control over the Purgatorial Tripod, do you still need me to free you from this place?

However, as for Aaron, the son of a holy emperor, I have sealed him here and I can't let him go with

you," the Giant Ape said.

Hearing the Great Ape's first statement, Darren immediately used his spiritual sense to see if he could

really freely get in and out of the Purgatorial Tripod. But as soon as he heard the next part of the

statement, his face suddenly fell.

"Sir, why do you want to keep Aaron here?"

"It's for assurance. I can't fully trust that you'll do as you say. I'll be keeping him here as a hostage for

the meantime. Moreover, you'll be in more danger if you have the son of a holy emperor with you when

you get out of here. He's more valuable than anything, so you'll have seven-star grand warriors or even

inferior holy warriors come for you and kill you. Keeping him here would be good for all three of us. I

think you should understand that," the Giant Ape said in a flat voice, expressionless.

Darren fell silent for a while.

He had to admit that the Giant Ape was reasonable. Aaron could be unpredictable and it would only

cause trouble if he got into a fight or maybe even accidentally killed someone, which would call the

attention of some more powerful law enforcers. Even if Aaron did not go and kill anyone, powerful

cultivators might still come after them, just as the Giant Ape said.

"Well, it seems like I have no other choice. I will try my best to free your master. Please don't hurt him,

sir." Darren finally agreed after considering for a while.

"All right. Don't worry. I will not hurt him. After all, he is the son of a holy emperor. And I believe that you

will try your best. But we must agree on a time limit. Say how about three hundred years? If you do not

reach the expected cultivation base as a rule cultivator in three hundred years, I will not go on waiting

for you."

It was clear to Darren that the Giant Ape would kill Aaron if he would not be able to successfully free

his master.

Darren felt unhappy about being threatened like this, but as the Giant Ape was extremely powerful, he

had no other choice but to accept the deal.

"If that's what you've decided, then I have to try my best to improve my cultivation. If you don't have

anything else to tell me, I'll be going now," Darren said, his face blank. Before the Giant Ape could say

anything else, Darren disappeared as he used his force of control with his spiritual sense to get out.

Once Darren had left, the Giant Ape approached the stone coffin that was holding Aaron and said, "I

won't actually be able to kill you, but I was afraid that the human would not try hard if I don't threaten

him." He burst out laughing.

Darren soon arrived in the outside world. Soon after that, the Purgatorial Tripod under his control slowly

shrank down and went into his body.

Looking back at his whole ordeal, he realized that the Giant Ape was really a cunning one.

First, Darren did have control of the Purgatorial Tripod, but just as the Giant Ape said, he would suffer

for the rest of his life if he took back the force of control from him. Second, if Darren did not push hard

to improve his cultivation base, the Giant Ape would not be pleased and he could kill Aaron to get back

at him.

Darren felt displeased at seemingly receiving the short end of the stick in the situation. But he had

promised the Giant Ape that he would free his master and he would surely do that—he was a man of

his word. For the most part, the Giant Ape was gauging Darren's backbone with the firm hand of a

villain.

"All right. Let's do this. Three hundred years is really a long time," Darren said, trying to hype himself

up.

Just then, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound.

He whipped his head around to see what it was. An aged man wearing clothes that were made of

rough linen appeared in front of him, staring at him in surprise.

'This is a powerful cultivator, ' Darren immediately thought when he looked at the older man.

"You... Did you just get out of the Purgatorial Tripod? " the aged man exclaimed, his voice low and

raspy.

Darren was stunned and just stared at the older man, not quite knowing how to respond.

He raised his head and looked at the older man, carefully taking note of his clothes. Seeing the clothes

gave him a somewhat familiar feeling and he soon calmed down.

Suddenly, loud noises pierced through the air.

Along with the noises, several figures emerged out of nowhere.

"Hah! We've actually gotten out!"

"Darren, you did it! You brought all of us out! I can't possibly show my gratitude enough!" Abelard was

shaking in excitement, tears of joy almost falling down from his eyes. After nearly experiencing death,

he had gained a rapturous appreciation for being alive.

When the aged man saw Abelard, his hand started to quiver, barely able to contain his delight.

"Abelard, you didn't die... You're alive! Thank goodness you're alive!" Tears were running down the

aged man's cheeks.

"Ah! Master!" Abelard got down on his knees and fell to the ground at once.