CHAPTER 871 THE HALF-STEP EMPEROR

Darren was struck with great wonder and horror.

The atmosphere around the man was so horrible and invincible, making Darren have a hard time

restraining his pounding heart. Recognizing the aura, he was in extreme awe.

He knew that this was an aura of a holy emperor.

So far, he had only sensed this kind of aura from the Primitive Emperor.

Before, Darren thought that the Primitive Emperor was the only holy emperor in the world, although he

was only a remained soul.

With the appearance of this man, Darren realized that his cognition had been proven ill-founded.

Darren realized that both the black-armored man and himself were pressed too hard. They were having

a hard time breathing and nearly falling on their knees.

"You can't be the true holy emperor," Darren shouted as he recovered from his trance-like state.

He sensed that the man came from the Space-time Palace. If he had really reached the Emperor

Realm, he would have brought his army with him and slaughtered the human race. It would be

unreasonable not to use such a valuable and incredible resource. This made Darren think that the man

must have some flaw he didn't know of.

"You don't know for sure, boy! No matter what, I can just knock off your head with just one finger," the

shadow arrogantly said.

Darren uttered no words and simply sneered. But despite the man's arrogant manner, Darren felt

helpless and sulky. He knew in his heart that the man meant the words that he had just said.

"As I said, you can kill me. But you won't get the dark-spirit crystals," Darren said after being silent for a

while.

The shadow remained silent for a few moments. Belongs © to .

He suddenly said, "It doesn't matter. It's useless for a human being to take that thing. I believe that the

superior leaders of the human race will take the crystals in exchange for you."

"I see that you think highly of me." Darren sneered. "I don't want to disappoint you, but there are so

many human geniuses. I am not merely a percentage of what they are. I am not as important as you

think. After all, we are talking about the safety of the entire human race," he said.

"Don't belittle yourself like this," the shadow laughed. "A talent like you can be considered a miracle in

the history of human race. If you can harness more potential, you can be as mighty as Hiram the

Great," the shadow said, implying that human beings would never give Darren up because of the dark-

spirit crystals.

After speaking, the shadow released a great wave of power and charged towards Darren.

Darren immediately felt his head getting woozy. His head was swaying as if an earthquake had just

struck.

Soon after, Darren couldn't fight the feeling anymore and fainted.

Outside the space Darren was in, the other members of the company had also been trapped in the

respective similar spaces. Same as Darren, each of them were also dealing with their own enemies.

Chandler and Luther were the strongest of the company. Without exerting much effort, they had taken

out their opponents, who were three-tribulation junior holy warriors.

Meanwhile, Scott, Mathew, and Hanson were battling against two-tribulation inferior holy warriors. Their

enemies were relatively weaker, so they cast them down after some fight.

Boom!

Suddenly, the spaces in which they were trapped collapsed and formed back into one big space.

"Is the array down?"

one of them cried as he saw the presence of the other members.

A shadow flew down and landed before them as they stood and wondered about what was happening.

Chandler frowned as he felt the great potency of the shadow.

"Chandler, you can leave now," the shadow ordered.

"Who are you? And why do you want me to leave?" Chandler growled as he looked at the shadow with

puzzled and irritated eyes.

"Go back and exchange your human genius with the dark-spirit crystals!" As the shadow spoke, a

powerful force emerged from his body and knocked everyone out except for Chandler and Luther.

"You!" Chandler furiously roared. He was shocked and horrified as the force of the shadow pressed him

backwards and rattled his robe.

Both Chandler and Luther looked panicked and astonished. Luther was fumbling as he gathered his

sword intents.

He couldn't remember witnessing such a great power except for the Primitive Emperor. He felt that the

shadow in front of him could be a holy emperor, too, especially with such a formidable power.

Luther finally calmed down after a short while of stunned silence.

"I don't care who you are! You'd better let my friends go!" Luther threatened the shadow.

The shadow quickly turned to Luther and moved towards him. The shadow was intrigued that Luther

didn't faint like the others.

"If you are threatening me because you think that you could get help from those old men, then you will

be disappointed given that they have long fled away."

The shadow was talking about the masters of the human race, who had been hiding and cultivating in

the void.

The masters were much stronger than Luther, but still, they couldn't match the shadow's strength. As

soon as the masters sensed the shadow's power, they stealthily fled away.

"Even though you have the holy emperor's breath, you are definitely not in the same level as the

Primitive Emperor. By contrast, you could be accounted as a half-step emperor."

Luther firmly planted his feet apart and challenged. He had known the Primitive Emperor for years and

had gotten along with him for a long time. He could easily tell the difference between them.

For a moment, the shadow was stunned. "So to speak, there is really a holy emperor among humans?

But it doesn't seem to matter much. Even if you have an emperor, he can't protect you and come to

provide you help right now. Also, I am not afraid of anyone at all," the shadow said.

"I don't even care if you are afraid or not." Luther gave the shadow a cold look. "If you dare hurt Darren

and the others, you will surely die! The Primitive Emperor thinks highly of Darren," Luther grimly said.

"Ha-ha-ha..."

The shadow started to laugh. The sound was so earsplitting that Luther turned pale and blood started

to trickle from his mouth.

The shadow continued to yell in his menacing, evil smile. "If what you are telling me is true, I will

definitely keep them here. Tell that Primitive Emperor of yours to come. It is exciting to kill him, too.

What a perfect plan!" the shadow laughed.

Luther's face was ghastly pale. Chandler was also suffering the same torturous screams.

While attempting to suppress his pain, Chandler said, "I see! You're the lord of the Space-time Palace.

You've been hiding for so many years, and finally, you're here.

If you want to threaten the human race by detaining us, I advise you to give up. It's simply impossible

for you to succeed."

"Should I kill you because you are useless to me?" The shadow was irritated. As a result, the impact of

his blow intensified. Both Luther and Chandler felt their bones starting to crack.

"Just kill us as you please!" Chandler held his head high, refusing to show signs of concession.

"Good! If that is what you really want!" The shadow was extremely annoyed. For him, all humans had

the same character. They all believed that it was righteous to die as an honorable sacrifice.

The shadow released Darren after realizing that it was no use torturing them. He then put Darren afloat

in the air, who was still unconscious.

"Well, I'll deal with him," the shadow threatened.

"How dare you!" Luther was extremely furious knowing that the shadow had taken Darren in custody.

Driven by a sudden burst of anger, he released his sword intent towards the shadow.

As frightening and mighty as the sword intent was, it still failed. Like a mounting smoke driven by the

wind, it faded into nothingness.

"You do really have some strength. If you grow more powerful and become more prominent, you might

really threaten me in the future. I might have to end you right now so that the threat won't happen."

The shadow swept away Luther's sword intent and extended his own killing intent, spreading his power

over the whole space.

"Sizz!"

Suddenly, they heard a hissing voice.

Even though the sound wasn't loud, it was clear enough for everyone to sense that it was coming from

all directions, mingling with a strong and extreme dark aura.

"Who is it?"

The shadow transformed into a man's shape and roared towards the sky. Everyone saw the shadow's

horrific and distorted face.

The shadow didn't dare to move again. Like a terrified animal, his glance shifted from side to side,

trying to catch sight of his predator.

As time went by, the shadow remained alert and wary.

The voice shocked both Luther and Chandler as well. The dark aura seemed to be so deep and

ominous that they clearly felt more terrified.

The air was filled with silence until a black figure appeared in the distance, slowly walking towards their

direction.

As the black figure was getting closer, its shape began to grow and became more distinct. Although still

blurry, they felt the figure hopping and prancing. It had a shining stick imprinted with runes on its

shoulder. Its hand was constantly scratching at his face and neck.

"I heard that there is a half-step emperor. I have come here to take a look!"

To everyone's wonder, the black figure suddenly hastened forward and reached the lord of the Space-

time Palace in just a blink of an eye. What astonished them more was the fact that they found out it

was a black monkey.