Talented Martial Hero

"Yes, sir!" Darren answered, humbly. "But, sir, can I ask for your permission to borrow the two books for two months? I will give them back as soon as the time expires.”

"Are you out of your mind? Get out of here! You little bastard! I'm kicking you out for your own good. As someone inferior to the ninth stage of the Yellow Degree, the only result of learning top martial skills is death. Of course, I want someone of our family to learn the two top skills, but it's not you. Have you understood what I mean, you naive fool? You will be a heap of useless pulp if you try to understand the two skills, even only one of their moves!" The elder barked at Darren.

Darren shook his head with resignation. The possibility of him borrowing the two books today was zero, so he sat down and crossed his legs with the two books in hand. Then he opened the two books and began reading them carefully.

Darren was trying to remember every move in detail.

He copied every picture in his mind, which was not a risk for him as long as he wasn't actively trying to learn what he was copying.

"What a helpless idiot!" The elder gave up in the end. He thought, 'You little bastard, if you want to make such a stupid mistake, I will not stop you. It's none of my business anyway. I have never given you the permission to borrow the books. It will not be my responsibility if you die because of this." Time flashed by. Sixty hours passed.

"Finally!" Darren took a deep breath and said with relief, "I'm finally done with it."

Darren copied every move of the two top skills. This included nine moves of the Profound Nine Sword Skills and thirteen moves of the Grand Thirteen Blade Skills.

Darren found no omissions during his final check of what he remembered and the scrolls themselves. Then he went downstairs.

"I will come back two months later, sir. Then you can check my progress then, sir." Darren made a bow towards the elder.

That was the rule of the Martial Arts Skill Library. Every disciple who had read or borrowed the skill books had to come back two months later to get checked by the elder. And the ones who made poor progress would get punished.

The elder, still scowling, didn't even look at Darren as he said, "Two months later? I'm afraid I'd only meet your tombstone by then. Now get out of here, you fool!"

Darren smiled with resignation and walked out of the Martial Arts Skill Library.

Although the two top skills were hard to understand, Darren had the Assimilation Skill. That was his biggest advantage. He was confident that he would be qualified to have a grasp of them sooner or later. At least, his talent would be upgraded in two months to the degree that allowed him to practice the first move of the top skills.

Darren even began wondering how the elder would react to his progress two months later.

After Darren left the Martial Arts Skill Library, he chose a fast horse from the stable. Then he rode over to the west side of the city.

As the sun was going down, barren hills retreated at his backside. Darren now approached a black forest as wide as the sea.

"I've arrived, but I didn't expect it would be so crowded.”

Darren got off the horse. There were lots of people outside the Barren Wasteland although it was late and the sun was setting.

Darren knew that they were from other clans and infamous sects. They were here to seek improvement in cultivation and to hunt for wild beasts or treasures along the way.

"Hey guys! Liu Clan needs you to join us! We welcome all the cultivators who are superior to the fourth stage of the Primary Realm. We offer a very generous deal. Come on, guys! Who wants in?" "Listen here! We need teammates who are superior to the fifth stage of the Primary Realm. We will welcome you as one of the Luna Sect!"

More than ten teams were recruiting teammates. It was dangerous even outside the Barren Wasteland because it was highly possible that the beasts superior to level five would appear at night. It would be risky to stay late without teammates.

Darren observed that the basic requirement to join any of the teams was a cultivator superior to the fourth stage of the Primary Realm, but he was only at the third stage. No teams would want him as a member.

It would be too dangerous to stay here alone. Darren had no choice but to casually pick a team that was still recruiting teammates.

"Hey guys. May I join you?"

There were four members in this team. They were looking for one more teammate before they set off.

"What's your cultivation base, man?" a young man asked humbly.

"The third stage of the Primary Realm," Darren answered

The young man's expression darkened at once.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Haven't you heard what we want is a cultivator of the fifth stage? Go away, trash!"

Darren became angry as well, and he retorted, "Watch your mouth! You don't have to turn me down in such a rude manner."

"Fuck off! Trash! I say you are trash. Do you have a problem with it? If you do, you can discuss it with my fist. Go to hell!”

The young man raised his fist towards Darren.

"Wait! Would you like to be our teammate, man? We need a helper to pack dead beasts," a graceful young man in luxury clothes said to Darren.

"Who the hell-" Once he saw who had spoken, the arrogant young man swallowed down all the vicious words he was ready to spout just moments earlier. He apologized at once, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, my lord! I didn't realize who you were, Mr. Jared.”

The graceful young man shot a fierce look at him, and the man turned tail and ran.

"Yes!" Darren answered without a second thought.

Then Jared Qi leaded Darren to his party. Darren found that there were five members in Jared's team, including two beautiful girls.

"Let me introduce everyone! This is Kyle Zhang, Marvin Zhou, Phil Li, Corrine Gu, and Elsa Gongsun,” Jared said to Darren.

"Hello everyone, my name is Darren Chu."

"Nice to meet you, Darren! Welcome to our team. We need you to pack dead beasts and carry some necessities for us,” the girl named Corrine Gu said to Darren with a smile.

"Okay! No problem," Darren answered with a nod. He didn’t mind doing the manual labor for them. His real purpose was not the dead beasts for sale but to absorb the wild beasts’ talent. The five members were all strong cultivators. The team leader, Jared Qi, was at least a cultivator of the sixth stage of the Primary Realm. And the other four were all at least at the fifth stage.

There was no harm for Darren to follow them.

"All right, guys! Let's set off right now. Your work will pay off after we leave here safely," Jared Qi, the strongest cultivator in the team, said to Darren. Then they followed Jared's lead and headed into the black forest of the Barren Wasteland. 00000000000000