Chapter 668 Entering The Pce


    It needed hardly be said that, of the four elders, the strongest one was the Chief Elder who had


    acquired seventy percent of the power of Fringe Holy Will.


    The Chief Elder raced for Darren with the swiftness of a howling wind and struck him with both palms.


    The mighty blow sent Darren hurtling like a meteor down toward the Sea of Sand and Fire.


    Not satisfied, the Chief Elder snorted with contempt and followed him down.


    He had no interest in ying fair or in prolonging the fight. If he could simply throw his victim into the


    sea of fire and incinerate him in an instant, that would satisfy him.


    Without hesitation, the Chief Elder fell through the air with the speed of an arrow.


    Despite the speed at which Darren was falling, his assant nimbly caught up to him in a matter of


    seconds.


    "That bastard," said one of the onlookers, dismayed. "Here''s the greatest Chief Elder of the Dragon


    Chasing Sect, stooping to the level of killing an ordinary disciple!"


    The others who were present agreed and murmured among themselves. The Chief Elder''s conduct


    struck them as petty and unbing of a man of his station. "That young man is doomed, no matter


    he is in dragon form or not," another one remarked. "It''s unfortunate for him that he had to cross paths


    with this merciless old freak."


    Standing with the observers, Hobson watched the spectacle with a sinking heart. He hadn''t expected


    the Chief Elder to attack with such lethal intent. ''Damn it! Darren doesn''t stand a chance of surviving!''


    he thought ruefully to himself.


    The knowledge of his own helplessness tormented him. He wasn''t strong enough even to fly above the


    raging fire, let alone to help his friend. There was nothing to do but watch.


    Just then the Chief Elder closed the distance between himself and Darren, mming him with a blow


    even more terrible than thest one.


    An awfulttice of chinks and cracks spread across the armor of Darren''s dragon scales.


    The air rang with his ear-splitting scream.


    Desperately, he spun, lifting his tail tosh the Chief Elder right in the face.


    There was no time to dodge. The strike hit the Chief Elder so hard that he cked out for a brief


    moment and fell limply toward the awful fires below. With only seconds to spare, he recovered his wits


    and swooped away from the hazard.


    Meanwhile, the rebound force of the tail strike had propelled Darren away, but he quickly swerved


    around and came at the Chief Elder again, picking up speed.


    While still approaching, Darren intensified his dragon blood aura and his demonic internal force,


    pushing them to their limits.


    The Chief Elder saw this, but was too haughty to notice the terrible ck me at Darren''smand


    as well. ''His skills are insignificant, '' he thought to himself. With his seventy percent of the Fringe Holy


    Will, he thought he had nothing to be afraid of.


    Thinking it was time to finish the duel for good, the Chief Elder concentrated all his power into a single


    palm strike and flung it at Darren as they crashed together.


    All the spectators staggered as a thunderous boom smote their eardrums.


    Their eyes, too, were dazzled by a terrific ze as the Fringe Holy Will struck its target.


    With the noise of the impact, however, there was another sound.


    It was a terrible, blood-curdling scream.


    "So much for that young man—poor thing!" bewailed one of the onlookers.


    "Indeed," agreed another. "You don''t see a dragon very often these days. But in any case, he''s dead


    now. What a shame!"


    The other disciples chattered much the same thing, for they all believed it was Darren who had made


    that scream.


    Only Ivan was silent, standing among them with an ashen face and trembling lips. He alone recognized


    that the voice had been none other than the Chief Elder''s!


    Finally the light began to ebb, revealing a sight that took everyone''s breath away. The dragon was still


    up there, looking unscathed and as invulnerable as ever. Before that fearsome form hovered the Chief


    Elder. They could barely recognize the man, however—he was scorched from head to foot like a hunk


    of meat. Gasping wretchedly, he rolled about in midair with his head in his hands.


    After a few futile seconds of clinging to life, the man atst went stiff, fell, and vanished into the fire.


    Darren watched dispassionately, temporarily preupied with his own thoughts. ''It seems the ck


    me loses some of its original potency after being transformed. Otherwise, the Chief Elder''s soul


    would have been obliterated on impact.''


    Meanwhile, the stunned silence continued to reign on the edge of the sea of fire.


    Not in their wildest dreams had anyone there ever thought that Darren, an ordinary cultivator, could be


    so mighty as to kill the strongest elder of the Dragon Chasing Sect.


    Ivan and the still-wounded Queena were more shocked than anyone, though, for they had watched


    withplete confidence that their Chief Elder would win.


    After such a dramatic reversal as this, their chances of survival looked slim indeed.


    As though to confirm all their fears, the very next thing they saw was a gust of ck me, surging out


    of Darren''s dragon body and straight toward them.


    With nowhere to hide, the two frantically summoned their Fringe Holy Will, perhaps hoping they had


    some slim chance of warding off the attack.


    But the mes went through their defenses as easily as through air, roasting their flesh and burning


    their very souls away.


    Before either could so much as scream, it was over. Nothing remained except an ashen ck stain on


    the earth where they had stood.


    "Hobson, let''s go!" Darren shouted.


    Transforming back to his normal body, he dropped to the ground.


    Hobson gawked at him, still amazed at what had just happened. "My friend... I have no words! Your


    strength is unbelievable."


    "Don''t be so impressed," Darren replied. "These elders'' cultivation bases were suppressed before the


    fight even started. If they hadn''t been, I''d be dead right now. But enough of this. We need to get to the


    bronze pce."


    The other man''s look changed from admiration to perplexity. "The bronze pce?"


    "Yes. Come with me."


    Saying this, Darren grabbed Hobson by the shoulder and took off, soaring over the raging fire.


    The onlookers watched the pair shrink into the distance, more astonished and confused than ever


    before.


    "Why is he going that way?" one of them asked. "Doesn''t he know of the danger?"


    "Even the leader of the Dragon Chasing Sect can''t fly to the bronze pce," said somebody else. "But


    he''s going to try and go, dragging that poor sap along with him while he''s at it?"


    After seeing Darren''s fight with the Chief Elder, the people had held him in awe and respect. Now,


    though, seeing him rushing straight toward certain death rather than trying to get away, they started to


    have second thoughts. It seemed now that Darren was just as foolhardy as he was brave.


    A momentter their chatter ended, giving way to dead silence yet again.


    They saw that Darren and Hobson had reached the Spiritual Boat.


    The Spiritual Boat was supposed to be protected by an aura of scorching heat which would melt


    anyone in the vicinity. Yet they saw both Darren and Hobson standing inside, safe and sound.


    In fact, among all of these people, the cultivators from the Divine Mountain Sect were the most


    astonished ones. They had special methods to maintain their strength so even in this ce, their


    strength was not suppressed much. In addition, they had various kinds of magic weapons to protect


    themselves. But even so, the possibility of their making to the Spiritual Boat was still doubtful. Who


    would have guessed that Darren would seed?


    "Look closely!" one of them observed. "They are wrapped in faint ck mes."


    "Indeed!" eximed another. "That''s the soul ck me! The fiercest me of the burning sea of fire."


    At this point, they finally understood that the ck me was protecting Darren from being burned.


    It seemed, then, that he would indeed be able to enter the bronze pce.


    Suddenly one of the elders from the Heaven Lake Sect called out to Darren. "Young man, please take


    me with you!"


    "Take me with you too!" someone else added hastily. "I will repay your favor one day!"


    Still others spoke up, adding their own pleas, some of which were quite shameless. "Brother, let me go


    with you!" cried one of them as if he had known Darren his whole life. "I will give you a million magic


    herbs. No, wait, ten million!"


    They continued to beg and humiliate themselves, but Darren refused to pay them any attention. Instead


    he made for the bronze pce with Hobson at his side.


    "Hobson," he said. "Take out your blood essence. We''ll use both of ours on the pce."


    "Okay!" Hobson was too excited to say anything more.


    As their blood essence spilled out and sprayed against the pce, two streams of gentle light


    emanated from it and enveloped them. Gradually, the light over the sea of fire faded.


    Soon enough, Darren and Hobson could see ckened ruins in front of them.


    "Even this pce had been destroyed?" Darren murmured.


    He knew no more than anyone else about what had happened in the ancient times. But judging from


    the scattered Holy Will Crystals outside and the barren, ravagedndscape, he could guess that the


    war of annihtion there had been truly unprecedented in its cruelty.


    Still, he hadn''t expected to find that its effects had spread to the inside of the bronze pce as well.


    For a long time Darren and Hobson simply stared at the devastated remains, unsure of what to do next.


    In fact, there was little even that was recognizable, except for a huge, lone pir that loomed off in the


    distance.


    For some minutes, Hobson studied the ground. "Darren, look at this!"


    Saying this, he took a multicolored crystal out of the dirt.


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    Darren took the rock from his friend and studied it. He soon recognized it as a Holy Will Crystal, clearly


    one from ancient times.


    "I have no use for this. You can keep it," he said, handing it back.


    Hobson epted the crystal dly, regarding it as a great treasure. "What should we do now?" he


    asked, staring into its mesmerizing glow.


    "We fly north," Darren said after thinking it over.


    "Why? Did you sense something up there?"


    Darren shook his head and pointed at the earth. "Look, there are no tracks going that way. That means


    that the five sect leaders who came here before us all went in other directions. So we need to go north


    if we want to avoid running into them."


    "Oh, I get it," replied hispanion. Hobson smiled awkwardly, realizing he ought to have noticed


    something so obvious himself.


    Without trading any more words, they confirmed the direction and took flight, aiming north.


    After several days of travel, they seemed to reach the boundary of thatnd. Before them they caught


    sight of a great, lofty wall. On closer inspection, though, it appeared to belong to the outskirts of a


    pce.


    Then, without warning, Hobson cried out in pain and fell from the air.


    He struck the ground and rolled about, covering his eyes as though he was in great pain there.


    Without wasting a second, Darren hurried down to his side. "Hobson, what''s wrong?"