Chapter 45 Assimilate Black Smoke

A cloud of black smoke came towards Darren. He instinctively summoned his sword and blade internal force to defend himself from the attack. However, the power of the black smoke was proven to be too strong for him to handle as he felt sharp pinpricks of pain as the black smoke penetrated his body.

'This is not good. Am I going to die?'

he wondered, feeling desperate.

A few moments later, Darren felt a sensation inside his head. The black smoke was flowing to his head through the meridians.

'What? The smoke has been assimilated?'

Somehow, Darren was certain that the mysterious stone in his head was responsible for this.

'It is not only able to assimilate talent and spiritual energy but also this eerie black smoke? Just what in the world is this stone in my head?' he thought curiously.

Darren was pleased about this new discovery.

However, after he had fully absorbed the black smoke, he felt a strange ominous power course through him. A deep, dark, aggressive feeling took over.

In the instances that he had assimilated talent or spiritual energy, he had never felt something quite like the one he just felt.

As Darren examined his surroundings, he slowly started to notice that dozens of people around him were now lying on the ground. He soon realized that some of the bodies were already desiccating mummified corpses while some were letting out deafening cries of pain. It was like a horrifying scene straight out of hell.

Several guys who were madly dashing towards the wall suddenly caught Darren's eye. The wall they were heading for had a cave and inside it were a dozen panic-stricken young men.

Just near the edge of the cave about a few meters away from the entrance, there were stone structures with glowing golden runes that acted like some sort of force field preventing the black smoke from reaching the cave.

Seeing that the cave seemed to be the only safe place to hide, Darren rushed towards it as well.

'The black smoke isn't able to harm me because I somehow have the power to assimilate it. But if the fiends nearby or whatever it is inside the bronze casket were to find me, they would most likely attack me and I would be as good as dead.'

At that thought, Darren quickened his pace towards the wall.

In front of him, a group of several people led by Dalton had already reached the cave. Just as they were about to enter, a man who stood guard at the entrance waved his sword, attacking them.

"Go away!" he said scornfully.

The power that was released from the sword forced all of the men to stagger backwards into the black smoke, turning them into dried up corpses except Dalton.

He wielded his blade and withstood the attack. It was evident that he was able to match the man's power.

"You're quite strong,"

d with a wretched smirk.

He disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of the man. With just one punch, he sent the man flying out of the cave. The man was instantly wrapped up in a cloud of black smoke and suffered the same fate as everyone else who got devoured by it.

"Ha-ha! I'm in charge now, got that? Anyone who refuses my order will die!" Dalton smugly declared.

Now fully aware that Dalton was a ruthless and powerful cultivator, the rest of them did not say one more word against him.

"Boy, you're a good runner, aren't you? You little bastard." Dalton leered at Darren as he walked up to him. "I'm going to make you regret that you're alive. Kneel before me!" he demanded.

He then released a strong internal force and proceeded to beat down Darren.

Gritting his teeth, Darren activated all his internal force to fend off the attack.

"Kneel down, you piece of shit!" Dalton cried out as he released more pressure into his attack.

"Screw you!" Darren defiantly said. The internal force flowed violently inside him and materialized into a sword and a blade. The rays of light that came out of them just barely missed Dalton.

Dalton hissed. "Damn it! It seems like you're so eager to get yourself killed!" he bellowed, ferocity and fury written all over his face.

With a wave of his blade, an enormous power came out of it and dashed towards Darren.

"Rest assured, little bastard, I will not kill you immediately. I'm going to chop you off little by little to make you suffer. First, your arms, and then, your legs..." He roared with laughter, with face twisted in a look of madness.

Suddenly, Darren felt that the strange ominous power from earlier had returned, surging through his body, threatening to come out. It rapidly swelled up in his meridians and fused with the sword and blade internal force.