Chapter 67 Sword Killer

"His talent is at the Earth Degree!" Mathew cried out excitedly.

"What?!" Elsa's eyes widened as she exclaimed. She could not believe what she was hearing. 'How's that even possible? I remember that his talent was at level one of the Black Degree when he entered the Ilmen Sect. How did his talent upgrade so much? That's impossible! But, Mr. Xiao is a cultivator of the Grand Realm. He would not make such a mistake. Then how to explain it?' Elsa racked her brain for a logical justification.

Their discussion didn't distract Darren. He was absorbed in the sword marks carved on the wall. He brandished his sword and chiseled the sword moves he understood from the patterns.

When he finished the fifth one, Mathew nodded with satisfaction. Mathew was not surprised any longer as he had learned that Darren's talent was at the Earth Degree.

Why was Mathew astonished to learn that Darren's talent was at the Earth Degree? Mathew, a legendary being, had met tons of martial arts talents over the years, including several cultivators who had talents at the Heaven Degree. But Darren's presence was beyond his expectation.

He had never met a cultivator whose talent was superior to the Earth Degree in over three hundred years. The most talented person he had met was a cultivator whose talent was at level eight of the Black Degree. Since he was very gifted, the boy was chosen to come here thirty years ago.

When Darren finished the sixth one, there were no more pictures of sword moves in his mind.

Darren uttered a sigh of relief. When he turned to the cliff wall, he looked at the six patterns he had carved and shook his head. There were one hundred and eight marks on the wall, but he had been able to grasp only six. He felt disappointed with himself.

"The sword intent on the wall is so complex. I can only understand six," Darren said with disappointment.

"You've done a great job, kid!" Mathew said to Darren, as he pointed his finger at him. He then continued, "The best cultivator I've witnessed took three days and finished eleven patterns. And his talent was at the Heaven Degree. He passed away about seven, no, eight hundred years ago. I can't remember how long it has been. But, anyway, you have done well."

The information Mathew shared with Darren astonished him. A cultivator with a talent at the Heaven Degree could only grasp eleven patterns, which proved how hard it was to understand sword intent.

"Darren, why's your..." Elsa stammered.

As she looked at Darren, complex emotions reflected on her face. Elsa could tell that Darren had many secrets, especially his upgrade in martial arts talent. She could not figure out how Darren had improved his talent. She had also witnessed a dark aura, like a demon, around Darren

need to do is to jump into the lake and kill anything you see. The more you kill, the higher your score will be. When you take down thirty-six targets, you will pass the first test. Got it?

One more thing, the second you are in the lake, all of your cultivation bases will go back to zero."

After Mathew finished, he pointed Darren toward a giant stone tablet. When Darren looked in the direction Mathew was pointing at, he saw many words closely carved on the tablet. Mathew continued, "You can look at the tablet first. It's where I usually make notes about the participants. I have listed their names and relevant information on the tablet. I also wrote down the names of the cultivators who died in the lake during the test. I hope that would be helpful for you."

"Thank you so much, sir!"

Darren then walked closer to the tablet. There was information on the hundreds of participants, like their name, talent level, the number of targets they had killed, and so on.

"Name: Roy YanAge: 21 Cultivation Base: the second stage of the Mysterious Realm Talent Level: level four of the Black Degree Target Amount: 86 PASSED"

"Name: Jonas WuAge: 18Cultivation Base: the ninth stage of the Mysterious RealmTalent Level: level one of the Earth DegreeTarget Amount: 1DIED"

"Name: Elvis JuAge: 20 Cultivation Base: the ninth stage of the Spirit RealmTalent Level: level one of the Black DegreeTarget Amount: 97PASSED"

...

Darren frowned as he read more. He could tell that talent level was not the key to pass the first test. Then what was the crucial condition to kill as many targets as one could? What was the secret to pass the first test?

But Darren was left with no time to think about that. He was pushed into the lake by a gentle force. What big secret hid under the peaceful surface of the great lake?