Talented Martial Hero novel Chapter 223

Panting, Darren dragged himself through the darkness with Elder Thomas on his back. He could not run away with Elder Thomas in his current state—if they were found, they would get themselves into an incredibly difficult situation. The only option he had left was to go locate Bruce and Elsa in hopes that he would find a way out.

After having carefully avoided several patrolling disciples of the Blade Holy Land, Darren eventually found the living grounds where the disciples from the Lotus Holy Land were staying.

He then released his spiritual sense and soon felt a familiar aura of sword intent coming from one of the rooms.

Darren walked straight towards the room where the familiar aura came from and pushed the door open. Inside the room was Elsa. Her face was pulled into an uneasy scowl as soon as she saw the unfamiliar man.

"Who the hell are you?" She pursed her lips, wary of the stranger. However, also sensing something familiar about him, she did not try to attack.

"Elsa, it's me." Elsa paused at the voice.

"Darren? Is that you?" She hesitated for a moment, but as soon as she saw the face of the man on Darren's back, she immediately ran up to them.

"You saved my father!" Her face lit up and she hugged Darren, barely able to contain her delight.

She had been trying to track down her father in secret, but Bruce suddenly appeared and stopped her. Bruce told her that Darren was back, so she resisted the strong impulse to find her father, and waited with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

Seeing the two people she loved the most back, she sobbed uncontrollably on Darren's shoulder.

"Elsa, I think you need to check on Elder Thomas immediately. There's something wrong with him. As for me, I have an internal injury and I need to adjust my breath," Darren weakly said, still panting.

Elsa quickly took her father from Darren's back and laid him on the bed to examine him. The results of the examination gave her a jolt.

"Darren..." Her voice started to shake. "My father... He's not... M-my father's not breathing, he's..." She then started to cry before she had even finished.

At that point, the door suddenly creaked open.

Darren and Elsa exchanged nervous glances, and then immediately went on full alert mode.

Had they been discovered?

The people at the door were not disciples from the Blade Holy Land, but was rather the beautiful figures of two girls—one dressed in green garments and the other in purple.

Sensing the sword intent that Darren and Elsa simultaneously released, the girl in purple chuckled. "Aren't you going to welcome us?" she asked mockingly.

"And why should we welcome you? Get out of here this instant!" Darren shouted as he gave them a cold stare.

Standing next to the girl in purple, Hailey, the veiled girl in green did not speak.

"Alas, we are not welcome here. Hailey, let's go. The man whose soul has been stripped will die soon." The girl in purple breathed out an exaggerated sigh. She did not seem to be intending to leave any time soon.

"Callie, stop talking." The girl in green stepped forward, staring intently at Darren. "Darren, Elder Thomas' soul has been taken away by a rule cultivator. He is in urgent need of treatment. You can leave him to me. I will take him back and ask my master for help. Perhaps, he can still be saved."

"You can save my father?" The girl's words suddenly pulled Elsa back up from the brink of despair—she didn't even seem to care who the stranger was.

"Hold on... Who are you? Why do you know me? Why do you know Elder Thomas?" Darren, on the other hand, was not willing to let his guard down. After all, the girl in purple he encountered last time had tried to kill him with an illusion. He was curious why these two were being so kind to offer him help.

Not wanting to spend too much time to explain, the girl in green gently pulled away her veil, revealing her beautiful features.

"It's you."

Darren's eyes widened as he recognized Hailey at once.

"Please trust me, Darren. I couldn't help the Ilmen Sect before, so please allow me to help Elder Thomas this time."

Overnight, the number of masters patrolling around the Blade Holy Land increased. Each entrance and exit was guarded by masters at the advanced stage of the Wonder Realm. Many of the disciples were inexplicably terrified as none of them had any clue as to what happened.

Darren initially wanted to leave with Elsa in the middle of the night, but the whole place was tightly guarded. Although he did try to do a few test runs, he eventually gave up and just stayed in his room to heal up instead of running the risk of being discovered. They had no choice but to play it by ear when the time came.

By dawn the next morning, the disciples who had come from different Holy Lands received the message that the day's competitions would continue as usual. Before the sun was fully up, all those disciples then gathered in the training ground of the Blade Holy Land.

Everything was ready—the disciples of the various Holy Lands were all fired up and ready to display their capabilities in the competition—when suddenly, waves of terrifying blade intent washed over the entire training ground. A dozen masters at the advanced stage of the Wonder Realm and three super masters at the premium stage of the Wonder Realm stood above them in mid-air.

Soon after them, the Holy Lord of the Blade Holy Land himself appeared. Beside him stood a rule cultivator in a purple robe.

"What's the matter?" "What happened?"

"Why are all the powerful elders of the Blade Holy Land here? Did anything important happen last night?"

All the disciples in the training ground were growing uneasy and were starting to feel a sense of foreboding.

Darren didn't want to come to the training ground, but there was an ordinary elder above the middle stage of the Wonder Realm, going door to door to each room and ordering everyone to come out. He could not avoid it and had no choice but to blend in with the crowd.

Darren immediately sensed the huge aura as soon as he arrived at the ground. Once he was certain that no one was looking at him, he hurriedly mobilized his Spirit Power to undo the effects of the elixir that changed his appearance, returning him to his original appearance. He then performed the aura concealing skill, altering his aura and cultivation base down to the common level. This way, his aura and strength were close to that of the majority of the disciples present.

"Mr. Wan, is that guy here?" the Holy Lord asked the rule cultivator in the purple robe, scanning the crowd with his icy stare. "Yes, but his aura has changed. Hmm, and he seems to have changed his appearance as well.

Look for him yourself first." Now that the rule cultivator had obtained the Eight Corners Tripod, he did not see any reason why he should bother to help the Holy Lord of the Blade Holy Land.

"Very well. As long as he is here." He then looked at the crowd of people.

"You bastard! Come out now or I'll kill everyone in here!" the Holy Lord of the Blade Holy Land threatened with a sneer. The thousands of disciples from various sects were then suddenly shrouded with the Holy Lord's icy killing intent.