Talented Martial Hero

Darren returned to the yard where in his childhood he had had played with his younger sister. The familiar scene and nostalgic memories somehow saddened him.

He had suffered too much humiliation and affliction here.

Remembering all this, Darren shook his head. His hatred was no longer as intense as before. It was rather ironic consider how he had amazing strength now.

He took a deep breath and strode over the threshold. The house was spotless. Someone must have been cleaning it regularly.

“Now, I have to think about how I should put into use the Omnipotent Talent Skill I gained from assimilating the diabolic beast,

he thought, recalling that he had obtained the Omnipotent Talent Skill of "Blood Dragon Phantom". The descriptions of this talent skill came rushing back as he focused on this matter at hand.

"What is the Avatar Rule?"

In his memory, the Avatar Rule that connected heaven to earth was frequently mentioned. Apart from that, many more names of rules were clear in his mind's eye. These included the Fighting Spirit Rule, Bloodshed Rule, Speed Rule, even Life Rule and Death Rule, but he obtained no description of them.

"This sort of talent skill requires the involvement of the forces of the nature," he said softly to himself.

Finally, he managed to pin down the Avatar Rule.

With this, he began to practice the diabolic beast talent skill according to the methods in his memory.

"Ah, what happened?"

The moment he attempted to do this, his head swam with dizziness and everything blurred.

Before long, everything turned black. He was completely unable to see anything.

'Am I blind?" he thought. He felt severe shooting pains in his eyes.

The pain didn't stop Darren's practicing. Instead, he tried to delve deeper into the descriptions in his mind

"Well, I would have become a real blind man if I had stopped just now. I'm connecting the forces of the heaven and earth after all,” he muttered.

Afflicted by extreme pain, Darren began to assimilate the spiritual energy in the heaven and earth. It was akin to assimilating spiritual herbs with his current talent. Fortunately, this huge amount of spiritual energy didn't turn into blade and sword internal force. Otherwise, all of his energy meridians would be shattered by the fierce collision between opposite blade and sword internal forces.

As his assimilation process commenced, the pain in his eyes diminished.

But he felt something go wrong when he opened his eyes.

He found himself in a silvery-white world that was completely unfamiliar.

All the objects around him were made from strands of silvery silk threads.

“Does this have anything to do with the Avatar Rule described in my memory?* Darren speculated. He tried to find a way to connect with those silvery silk threads. Somehow, he had the intuition that he would attain the skill of "Dragon Blood Phantom" if he could attach himself to these silvery silk threads.

"Too complicated!"

Darren sighed. Tangled like a mess, those silvery silk threads sent his head into a chaotic tizzy. He wracked his brain but couldn't find any clues at all.

After a brief moment, he felt rather cloudy-headed and fatigued, as if he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for ages. It was hard to carry on.

Immediately, Darren stopped his practice because it was beyond his tolerance.

"Those silvery silk threads seem to have some strong power that has prevented me from connecting with them. I will take my time in the future when I try again,” Darren sighed, exhausted.

He gave it up temporarily. It was the same as martial skill cultivation process-- forcing a cultivation would only do harm to one whose talent was insufficient to support the corresponding cultivation. “That diabolic beast could have gotten this sort of talent from blood lineage. That means I should get my Earth Degree talent improved before comprehending its skill, * Darren thought.

He was confident that his talent could improve greatly as long as he could enhance his strength and kill more powerful beasts or even humans. Once he did that, he would be able to comprehend the "Dragon Blood Phantom".

With a squeak, the door was pushed open.

An old man stepped inside, screeching to a halt. He was amazed at the sight of Darren in the room. "The guard of the Martial Skill Library?” Darren blurted out.

"Ha-ha, it is you, Darren! I came here to check because I felt a great amount of spiritual energy emanating from this place,” the guard of the Martial Skill Library said, happiness radiating from his skinny face.

"Nice to see you, Sir. Long time no see,” Darren bowed and cupped one hand in the other before his chest as a sign of respect.

"I kept this room for you and saw to it that it was cleaned every day. I knew it! I knew you'd come back someday! Stay here since you are back now. Nobody will dare to bully you even the Chu Clan has the new chief. I have your back!" the guard promised emphatically.

"Thank you for your kindness. I must leave here after this election. This place is really not meant for me," Darren gave him a thin smile. Truth be told, he was more interested in the outside world. Even more pressing was his need to look for his younger sister Belle. The election for a chief of the Chu Clan had scant appeal for him.

"Hey, Darren, don't worry. Nobody will mess with you under my watch." The guard of the Martial Skill Library had caught wind of Darren's misfortune once he entered the limen Sect. He had been waiting for Darren's return ever since.

"Not this reason.” Darren shook his head and said, "Do you really think I am done?"

The guard gave Darren a puzzled look as he heard his words. The news from the IImen Sect was truthful, wasn't it? He had made every endeavor to ask about Darren's situation, which all the people in the limen Sect knew details about.

Seeing the guard's puzzled look, Darren flexed his finger and made a flip to the wall, breaking into pieces a saber that hung on it.

The guard's aging eyes brightened immediately. "Good boy. Catch my blow!" he said softly.

He dispatched the third move of the Profound Nine Sword Skills.

Darren made no effort to evade it. He simply extended his fair palm and pressed the huge sword edge with his two fingers. Immediately, all its power was gone and it could make no more moves. The guard's mouth hung open in great astonishment. "Why are you so, so strong?" He couldn't believe his eyes!

"Ha ha, take a look!" Darren said, smiling mysteriously.

He put his fingers together in the air, calling forth continuous sword internal force which burst out as the first eight moves of the Profound Nine Sword Skills were shown with perfect tracks.

The guard of the Martial Skill Library was too surprised to utter a word. Only after a long while did he snap out of his shocked daze and burst into laughter.

"Ha-ha-ha, you are really an extraordinary talent to comprehend eight moves of the Profound Nine Sword Skills! Wonderful, oh, this is so wonderful!” The guard of the Martial Skill Library smiled widely, earnest pride in his eyes.

"You are overestimating me, Sir,” Darren said in a flat voice, hanging his head a little.

"Don’t be so humble. Your strength is no less inferior to mine now. Oh, goodness! It's simply unbelievable!" he said, patting Darren's shoulder. "I need to prepare for tomorrow's grand election, have a good rest."

He left, immensely pleased. "I wonder how the other Elders will react when they witness Darren's strength. How frightened will they be?".

Before daybreak the next day, a noisy din began in Chu Clan's manor.

Darren got up and came out to the training ground. It was now crampedly crowded with countless people, including many members of visiting clans.

"I heard every side has invited masters at least at the second stage of the Spirit Realm to compete for this grand election. This is in fact a contest of backers of different sides.”

"Correct, several other major clans in Valmar have also sent their masters here. I think they are going to pick fights, we'd better keep away from them.”

"Why are you so afraid? I heard the Chief Elder has invited some masters from the Governor's Office to keep peace here. Moreover, the Governor's Office has invited an extraordinary powerful man to come here to maintain order. Those spectators from other clans dare not act foolishly here!" Several young men of the Chu Clan's collateral line talked about the matter.

Around two hours later, thousands of people from all entities that had high status and strength had gathered on the Chu Clan’s training ground.

Darren himself stood motionlessly in an inconspicuous corner. He wondered how the other people would react when Toby from the Governor's Office introduced him. Yes, him, Darren! He was the extraordinarily powerful man!