Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 180 Big News About The Fire Cave

Darren fixed his eyes on Elsa, who was lying on the bed. Dressed in purple, with a delicate flush on her cheeks, she looked beautiful. After she had reached the Wonder Realm, Elsa exuded an unworldly aura. In his eyes, she was a goddess.

He intended to play a joke. But at this moment, he was attracted to Elsa and couldn't take his eyes off of her. Slowly, Darren made his way toward the bed.

Perching himself on the corner of the bed, Darren leaned forward to touch her long black hair fondly.

“Ahem!”

Someone coughed, ruining the moment.

Darren jumped to his feet instantly. When he turned, he saw that an old woman stood in the room. "I didn't want to disturb you, but I have something important to tell Elsa. I hope you will not be upset with me, Darren," the old woman said. When she smiled, her wrinkles deepened. Darren noticed that she had no teeth.

"Excuse me, but may I ask your name?" Darren asked, looking bewildered.

Before the intruder could speak, Elsa's voice resounded in the room.

"M... Master?” Dumbfounded, she asked, "What happened to you? How did you end up like this?" She was certain that the old woman was her master. “Master used to look like a beautiful woman in her early thirties. How did she grow old suddenly?* she thought, confused. All of a sudden, a thought occurred to her. Tears welled up in her eyes immediately.

"You saved me when I almost lost my life in the process of breaking through into the Wonder Realm," Elsa said with mixed emotions.

"Don’t feel bad about what happened. It was my fault. I shouldn't have let you integrate that sword core. I was so excited to find a genius like you that I ignored the risk of integrating the sword core. I didn't expect the yellow sword core to possess such strong power that it could take your life,” Elsa's master responded with self-reproach.

Darren's eyebrows rose as he figured out what was happening.

"I'm sorry, Master," Elsa said with guilt as she looked at the old woman's wrinkled face. Elsa's nose twitched when she recalled what happened before she lost consciousness during the breakthrough. "Child, I'm fine. I am over 500 years old, and I am supposed to look like this. I have no regrets in this lifetime as I have met you and accepted you, a disciple who has a talent for swordsmanship. Although the remaining half of my sword core broke, it doesn't shorten my lifespan. I can live another 100 years. So don't be upset,” the old woman comforted Elsa. Then she walked toward the bed and patted Elsa's back reassuringly.

"But..." Elsa mumbled, still feeling guilty.

The day Elsa had been accepted as an inner disciple of the Lotus Holy Land, Brenda, the old woman in the room, had been overjoyed to find that she had formed the sword core.

Soon after, Brenda offered to help improve Elsa's sword core. To do so, Elsa needed to integrate a yellow sword core.

Brenda had acquired a yellow sword core by chance years ago. But since half of her sword core had been destroyed when she was young, she couldn't integrate the sword core she had found.

Hence, Brenda had been searching for cultivators talented in swordsmanship. She was curious to see how strong a cultivator's sword intent could be once he or she had successfully integrated the yellow sword core.

She had spent a lot of time and energy to find a way to integrate different sword cores. However, the method only applied to those who hadn't reached the Wonder Realm. So Elsa's appearance was a great delight to Brenda.

Integrating sword cores was a complicated process. Halfway through the integration, Brenda found that Elsa was unable to handle the surging sword intent inside her body. With no alternatives, Brenda had to take her half sword core out of her body and put it in the Cultivating Pool where Elsa was to counteract the aggressive, powerful sword intent. Only by doing so could Brenda save Elsa. After Elsa managed to integrate the yellow sword core into hers, her new sword core changed. Her new sword core had the tendency to evolve, and soon, it became the green one which was more powerful than before. Meanwhile, the valuable natural sources in the Cultivating Pool that Brenda had collected for decades released their spiritual energy. With all this, Elsa had broken through to the Wonder Realm

When the increasing sword intent appeared inside her, Elsa lost consciousness. The only thing she remembered was that someone had helped her when her life was in danger. But she didn't know that Brenda had saved her until now.

After she finished her closed door training, Elsa immediately looked for Brenda but couldn't find her. So she inquired about Darren's quarters and came to him.

To her shock, Brenda now looked like this, and Elsa thought it was her fault.

"Don't feel guilty. I have come here to tell you something important. You can't completely control the yellow sword core for you have just entered the Wonder Realm. Don't use your Omnipotent Talent Skill unless your life is in jeopardy, or you might get hurt. Several months from now when you get steady at this realm, you can use your new skill freely. Do you hear me?" Brenda urged.

"I understand, Master," Elsa replied with a nod.

"That's it. I have something to take care of now, so I will leave you alone," Brenda said before turning and leaving the room.

When Elsa cooled down, Darren started a conversation.

"Elsa, now that you have the yellow sword core, your sword intent must have been more powerful,” Darren said.

"Yeah. You must have sensed its power. Actually, I have only released thirty percent of the power of my sword intent," Elsa responded.

"Thirty percent power? It looks like your sword intent has been significantly enhanced!" Darren remarked, nodding his head. He could sense that the sword intent Elsa had unleashed was much stronger than his.

"Oh, one more thing. Who is that black ape? He is incredibly powerful. Before I used my sword intent, he and I were tied," Elsa asked abruptly.

"Ha-ha. He is my friend. His name is Bruce Wei. He activated his Inherited Bloodline so he could be on par with cultivators at the beginning stage of the Wonder Realm, like you," Darren explained. Darren shared with Elsa how he met Bruce and what had happened to Bruce.

"He has had many unfortunate experiences,” Elsa said after hearing Darren's story. She felt sorry for what had happened to Bruce. "But he has you now. No one will dare to bully him."

“Sure,” Darren responded with a smile.

He held Elsa in his arms, and the two fell asleep soon.

The next morning, the two were awakened by noises coming from the yard in Darren's residence. Darren walked out of his room and saw that Bruce had been stopping several disciples of the Lotus Holy Land from entering. One of the visitors had been injured, and there were bloodstains on the corner of his mouth.

"Stop, Bruce," Darren said as he saw Bruce dashing at them.

Bruce stopped in his tracks when he heard Darren.

Darren looked around and recognized that the people Bruce tried to stop were the inner disciples who had proposed to team up with him.

"Guys, don't be mad at him. He bears you no evil will. He is introverted,” Darren explained as he walked toward his visitors while asking Bruce to go back to sleep.

"Darren, your friend is so savage. I would have taught him a lesson if he had nothing to do with you," the injured disciple responded. Despite that, there was a dash of fear in his eyes as he stared at Bruce's retreating figure.

Darren smiled and asked, "So what brings you here?"

"We came here to inform you that we are leaving for the Fire Cave. We have been waiting for you. You left so many days ago. We thought we had missed the deadline. But, today we heard some big news about the Fire Cave. Many superior talents are headed there.”

"I heard that some geniuses of the top 100 on the Talent Roll were going to the cave. So we planned to go there as well. We came to invite you to join us. If the cave has treasures, perhaps we can get what the other talents missed,” another disciple added with a grin.

"Don't be so optimistic,” said the strongest youth among the four visitors. "I heard that there was an explosion in the Fire Cave a few days ago, and some rare treasures appeared. Several Wonder Realm cultivators left to investigate after hearing the news. But, no one has heard from them since. It's still unknown whether they are alive or dead.

It is also rumored that someone saw a weird man in black armor killing others madly. If we are going there, we must be well prepared.”

"A weird man in black armor?" Darren repeated. After hearing this description, Darren speculated that the person the disciple referred to was the terrifyingly powerful fiend that had left that bronze coffin.