“Otherwise, I’d take you on as an apprentice and teach you everything I know. I’d even give you my energy.” The old woman shook her head. However, her murderous intent grew beneath her pity.“You’ve advanced so quickly that it’s scary. It hasn’t even been two months since you became enlightened, yet you already found the shortcut to meditating. In fact, that’s a strange method you’ve discovered. Normally, such methods come with evil connotations, but I don’t sense anything evil in you. I have to admit that you’re a powerful character.” She smiled, but it wasn’t a kind one. “I honestly feel it’s a pity that you’re going to die—you would’ve become an extremely powerful existence. I doubt any of the people I know would’ve been your match; your current level is one that many people strive and fail to achieve in their lifetime.”She sounded conflicted as she spoke, but Darius was sure that her murderous intent had never disappeared. Since she hadn’t changed her mind about killing him, he

Darius didn’t voice his opinions. Instead, he focused on the man. “You did a great job concealing your presence—I almost didn’t recognize you. Also, I’m shocked by the fact that you can adjust your appearance at will!” He smiled. “Now, I can understand why your leader feels it’s a pity for us to be on opposing sides. I, too, feel it’s a pity that we’re opponents and not allies.”Darius’ arms were still outstretched, and he was still making circling motions. He did not stop channeling his energy while constantly absorbing more from the people around him. Because of this, he didn’t mind chatting with these people, even if there was no point in this conversation.Unexpectedly, someone else seemed to be more worried about the situation than him—it was the man who looked burly but actually had a small stature. “Cut the crap and just ask whatever questions you have. If you keep this up, I won’t hold myself back anymore.” Darius was surprised by two things. Firstly, the man’s words weren’t

The man’s face darkened, and he stopped attacking.Darius raised an eyebrow, feeling that he was up to something. He took the opportunity to lunge at the man, but in the next second, he was enveloped in complete darkness. He immediately skidded to a stop because he couldn’t even see his opponent. He was sure of one thing—if he were to continue with his attack, he could injure anyone, whether they were enlightened martial artists or normal, innocent bystanders. He couldn’t act rashly when he wasn’t sure what he was up against, and his actions would accomplish nothing aside from depleting his energy.He bit his lip and tried to find a way out of this. He felt pissed off by the fact that he hadn’t landed a single blow on his opponent since the start of this duel, and this was a first for him. He couldn’t accept this outcome, but his opponent obviously didn’t care. The man’s voice was as rough as sandpaper, and it seemed to be coming from all around Darius as he said, “Darius, you’ve al

By the time his brain processed what had happened, it was too late. Darius’ attack came at him faster than he could react, and all he could feel was a blast of cold air. It seemed to stab him, and the darkness slowly started to lift. The man had built a globe of darkness around Darius with his energy, and when he saw that Darius was starting to break out of it, he had no choice but to give it up. If he didn’t, Darius could follow the trail of his energy to its source.This was a highly dangerous thing. All enlightened martial artists stored their energy in the same spot, and under normal circumstances, one wouldn’t be able to access the other party’s energy. He couldn’t allow Darius to do anything of the sort, so he waved an arm and forcibly broke off the connection between his energy and the globe of darkness. Then, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and the globe of darkness wrapped around him, forming a dark cloud.He slowly raised his head to look at Darius, who returned the look

A deadly mix of dread and frustration filled Darius’ mind. Chest sinking, he mused, “I shouldn’t believe what these people in black robes have to say. After all, they’re unable to exercise free will. Besides, they have no contact with the world, so their worldview is dictated by the mysterious figure behind Dream Investment Group. It’s crystal clear these people in black aren’t the good guys.”He sighed deeply, placing both hands behind his back. Then, he inhaled the rich air around him through slightly parted lips. Many skills and abilities were oozing from the men that Darius could easily absorb into his body, so it did not take long for his strength to recover. That set off a wave of panic in the two clad fully in black robes. They were both running toward Darius. Their figures darted ahead so fast that their shadows multiplied behind them. The figure that stood furthest away from Darius was now nearing him. Meanwhile, Darius held his ground with both hands behind his back, gazin

The two fell into deep thought. “So what if our duplicated selves are nothing more than blurry figures? Our skills are an entire ocean compared to Darius’, which resembles only a drop of water. He shouldn’t have been able to defeat us! Yet, a minuscule water droplet like him managed to ruffle our feathers and cause discord to us—the entire ocean!” At that point, Darius’ attention was on his body. His eyes widened slightly in shock when he could see through his flesh, his vision zooming in on the microscopic details inside him. Moreover, he could see better than a hospital x-ray machine, which could only pick up images of blood vessels and organs; he noticed vague luminous pipes containing a golden gas that followed throughout his body. They were breathtakingly beautiful as they glowed within him.Darius’ eyes locked onto the golden gas with the utmost interest. A voice then sounded in his heart, saying the gas was a force that could warm his body. Not only that, but if he could some

“What’s going on with you? That’s not the kind of attack someone at your skill level is supposed to have,” Michelle snapped before immediately adding with a relieved tone, “Although, you’re lucky that you’ve already wounded Darius badly. Otherwise, there’s no telling what would happen if we had fought on.”Darkness shrouded Darius’ vision once more. However, he had shut his eyes this time because he had gotten injured and not because he wanted to focus better. He could still hear the voices of everyone around him, so he was more than aware of what was unfolding. That included Michelle’s footsteps taking a big turn before pacing toward him. Darius wanted to open his eyes and stand on his feet, but much to his dismay, he could not move a muscle. It was an unprecedented situation; before, when Darius got severely injured, he lost all his senses. Yet, for some unknown reason, he heard everything and could even think this time around. He could clearly feel the stinging pain from every wo

“—Besides, maybe one of your body parts will end up in his body, just like what happened with Shelvin.”Darius’ heart pounded against his chest with greater ferocity upon hearing that. His heart beat so fast that he forgot about the pain in his body. He now knew what had become of Shelvin, and the truth horrified him. It turned out that Michelle and the other man in black robes had given Darius the complete opposite impression, which meant they had been deceiving him from the beginning.The golden gas gushed faster throughout his body and rose to higher temperatures in no time. It set off a raging ache that snapped Darius out of his thoughts. At the same time, he unknowingly opened his eyes and saw everything that happened deep within his body. This time, though, a pleasant shock flickered in his eyes. Darius even hoped the pain would last a little longer because he realized the golden gas’ high temperatures made his body recover much quicker than before. Likewise, his misshapen or

Michelle remained kneeling on the ground. Beside her, Darius could sense the hesitation in her downcast gaze. Still, she did not say anything and only stood before strolling further away. Her answer was crystal clear to Darius.Meanwhile, Darius heard the man in black robes approaching and knew the latter was about to kill him. Refusing to die at all costs, Darius opened his eyes. Neither he nor the man did not plan for that to happen. When the harsh sunlight shone into Darius’ eyes, Darius froze dumbfoundedly for two seconds. Immediately after, the pain he felt became so overbearing that he shot to his feet at once. His body had not fully recovered, and because of his drastic movements that used up some of his life force, Darius inadvertently injured himself again. However, he healed much quicker this time. Following that, he examined the internal wounds beneath his skin, knowing no one else could see them. Even so, Ford, who stood opposite Darius, could still accurately detect a

On top of Ford’s newly formed crater being so deep that others could not see the bottom, large soil particles like gravel and dust burst into the air, staining the scene with a shade of sepia. According to the law of motion, Ford’s blow bore a hole so deep in the ground that the soil particles flew out equally as far and with the same force. They swarmed toward Michelle, whose mind had blanked from the shock of witnessing everything. Layers of rubble crushed onto her body.Such a situation felt like a miracle yet also a dream to Darius. A whirlwind of emotions filled his body while he widened his eyes, realizing his bare hands were more than enough to cause Ford massive damage. Sensing no inhales nor exhales from Michelle, Darius wondered if she had died from the impact. His breathing then quickened as he tried to process the alarming news as a regular human would. Still, he was unsure whether his actions had actually caused Michelle’s death; everything happened so quickly and succe