CHAPTER 875 BATTLE AMONG THE CORPSES

Briefly, there was an uncertain glimmer of light in the endless darkness.

Trying to shake off a headache, Darren opened his eyes—not that there was anything he could see.

"Where am I?"

Though his eyes were of little use in the dark, he had other ways of finding that out; he unleashed his

spiritual sense. After spending a moment probing his surroundings, he found that he was in an

enormous cave, one that stretched dozens of kilometers in every direction.

The whole place was silent and devoid of life. Aside from Darren, nothing so much as breathed.

In a way, though, he wasn't alone. There were many, many dead bodies.

His spiritual sense detected them easily.

'What is this place?' Darren wondered. 'These seem to be the corpses of the senior holy warriors.'

There was a great variety to them. Many were humans, but many others were of races Darren had

never seen before. Most of them seemed to have been dead for many long years. There was little left

except their bones, the tatters of their garments, and weapons or armors if they had any.

Darren speculated that these corpses must have been collected from all over the world by the Space-

time Palace.

The purpose of that palace was to resurrect dead warriors in order to expand its own strength.

Taking some time to explore, Darren flew about the cave, choosing several corpses to examine more

closely. There was an uncanny power that fluctuated around them, somehow altering the flows of time.

It was strange, as though time itself had become a living entity, quietly shifting and moving about before

Darren as though watching him. But really, the feeling was impossible to describe.

'Are these people left here because of the failure of resurrection?' Darren guessed.

He continued his investigations, inspecting what felt like thousands of corpses. In the course of it all,

two in particular caught his attention in a special way.

'These two corpses exude a strong aura of ancient times, and the aura of thunder punishment, ' he

observed silently.

Upon sensing the auras, he knew instantly that the two had once been tribulation holy warriors of

ancient times.

Curious but careful, Darren released his blade and sword intents, hovering them over the remains.

He wasn't quite ready for what happened next.

There was a swirling whoosh, as of a sudden gust of wind.

Then a current of lightning, the color of blood, flashed from one of the bodies. It illuminated Darren's

macabre surroundings for a split second, and a potent crackle of thunder bounced against the distant

walls of the cave.

"What was that?!"

Darren was more than a little impressed. This person had surely died tens of thousands of years ago,

and yet the thunder punishment aura that clung to his bones could still summon lightning.

What was even more interesting was that Darren had seen the same blood red lightning before.

This incident reminded him of the first lord of the Mythological Palace. The holy emperor with red hair in

the portrait had released blood red lightning to punish an old man with his remaining spiritual sense.

'It is rumored that the first lord of the Mythological Palace was extremely powerful, so much so that he

could even do battle with immortals.

Is he the holy emperor who once survived the tribulations?'

The mere thought of this and its implications set Darren's heart racing.

Barnes the Holy, a seven-tribulation senior holy warrior, possessed incredible combat power of his own.

How terrifying it would be if a holy emperor, someone who had entered the Emperor Realm by

surviving the tribulations, really existed in this world?

But in a moment Darren's awe passed, and he shook his head. 'I don't think so. An eight-tribulation

senior holy warrior would be able to kill the genuine emperor, and level nine- or ten-tribulation ones

might be able to kill the immortals. If there really was a warrior who had entered the Emperor Realm by

passing through the tribulations like that, how could he have died at all?'

Setting the matter aside, Darren released his blade and sword intents again, holding them over the two

bodies as before.

This time, the other corpse emitted the aura of tribulations.

A glowing blue rune shone above it, casting a warm glow to some distance, then faded away.

It wasn't as startling or as dramatic as the blood red lightning, but Darren could still feel that it was

somehow stranger and more terrible.

'Was this one a tribulation holy warrior and also the rule cultivator?

Well, whoever he was, I should keep them safe.'

Darren put the two corpses in his Space Ring and made a mental note to study them later.

At this point, he was starting to think about how to get out of that cave.

However, he soon sensed that it was covered by a restriction, one far too powerful to break through. It

seemed impossible for him to escape—at least, by any direct or obvious means.

'All right. Well, if I know I can't leave, I may as well cultivate here, ' Darren thought.

Since there seemed to be nothing hostile inside the cave with him, he was not in a hurry. The reason

that the Misty Emperor, the Lord of the Space-time Palace wanted to capture him, was to threaten the

human race into handing over the dark-spirit crystals. But those very crystals were being kept by

Darren himself. If he found there was no other way, he could always hand over some of them while

hiding the rest, and perhaps create a chance of escape that way.

Time passed, and Darren practiced in the dark by himself without being disturbed. C0pyright © 2024 Nôv)(elDrama.Org.

But after one month, someone finally came to him.

It was a man covered in a suit of black armor, clutching a halberd in one fist.

"Come with me!"

he ordered coldly.

"Where are we going?" asked Darren, inspecting the man carefully.

"The master wants to see you."

That wasn't a very helpful explanation. Darren said, "You should be dead—dead many years. I'm

curious about how they managed to keep you alive, or bring you back to life. Besides, you are a four-

tribulation junior holy warrior. Why should you choose to be a servant to some master? Haven't you

ever thought of resisting and following your own will?"

The black-armored man was stunned for a moment. A trace of hatred and cruelty flashed within his

aura, but it quickly disappeared.

"Enough!" he barked. "Stop talking such nonsense, or else you may regret it."

Deciding that he wanted to see what this guy was made of, Darren put aside all restraint and laughed

at him. "Nonsense? Maybe I should just be blunt—you're a loser. They brought you back from the dead

just to be somebody's errand boy. If I were you, I would rather die than rise."

Hearing this, the black-armored man's anger finally boiled over.

A murderous howl rang from his helmet and echoed through the cavernous chamber.

"I told you to shut that mouth of yours!"

His voice was low and gloomy, but there was no mistaking his violent intentions.

With that, he lifted his halberd and thrust it at Darren.

The turmoil in the space around the weapon was fierce, and it made Darren stagger backward.

'A four-tribulation junior holy warrior is indeed extraordinary!' he thought. He growled with exertion as

he resisted the attack, which was much more potent than the strength of Luther and Chandler.

Both Darren and the black-armored man were junior holy warriors. However, Darren had become a

junior holy warrior by comprehending the Holy Will, while the other by surviving the tribulations. Even

though Darren was a top talent of his level, he was still inferior to the tribulation holy warrior.

Facing such a strong master, Darren naturally decided to use his strongest strength.

Drawing back out of the halberd's range, he bellowed, "Shura!"

A fierce red glow enveloped him, illuminating the cave, and the many corpses strewn about cast long,

black shadows.

Simultaneously, two more rays of light flashed from the helmet of the black-armored man.

He hesitated, surprised by Darren's Shura Force.

It was true that tribulation holy warriors were powerful, but once the Shura Force reached a high level,

it would not be inferior to the power of a tribulation holy warrior.

In fact, it might even be stronger, and this had been proven in the ancient times.

Back then, the Bloody Shura race had slaughtered many senior holy warriors, as well as genuine

emperors and tribulation holy warriors. It was clear, therefore, that Darren was not going to be a

pushover.

"Good! Use your greatest power!" bellowed the black-armored man with bloodthirsty enthusiasm. Once

again he hefted his halberd, and arcs of lightning roiled up and down its length.

Darren transformed into a shadow and flew towards the black-armored man.

Blade and halberd collided in slashes and sweeps, parries and thrusts, and the clangs of steel filled the

air.

Power shook the cave, and the bones of long-dead warriors rattled and clattered about.

The two combatants exchanged blows yet again, until the black-armored man rammed Darren in the

gut with the blunt end of his halberd.

Glowing red, Darren sailed over the ground for a moment like a shooting star until he smacked into the

wall of the cave.

Though he was careful not to show it, he was shocked by how this fight was going. The physical

strength of this four-tribulation junior holy warrior was beyond his imagination.

After several exchanges of blows, his blood was surging, and he knew this was going to be one tough

fight.

"I must admit that you are not as weak as I thought you are," his opponent called to him. But the

loathing and arrogance in the black-armored man's tone made it clear that his words were meant as

anything but praise.

Scoffing, Darren got to his feet. Withdrawing his Shura Force, he walked toward his foe. "You're not too

bad yourself, becoming a holy warrior after surviving the tribulations. But that's nothing to be proud of.

You are only a four-tribulation junior holy warrior. After I have cultivated on the path of surviving the

tribulations, I'll be able to kill you in no time."

"What?" blurted the man in black armor.

The next moment, though, he gave a mocking laugh.

"Don't even think about trying to survive the tribulations! You are just dreaming, little man."

The way he saw it, there were no words more ignorant or childish than what Darren had just said to

him.

'He has entered the Holy Realm by comprehending the Holy Will, ' the black-armored man thought. 'But

now he believes he can cultivate on the path of surviving the tribulations? That will never happen.'