Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 663 Task Completion

At this moment, Darren found it difficult to move. No matter how hard he tried, his muscleswouldn't respond. It was as if he were paralyzed.

He swayed helplessly in the sea of fire, not knowing where it would take him. In such a wretchedstate, even moving an inch seemed an unachievable task to him.

Deep in his soul, the pain that he bore had exceeded his limit. Darren felt as though his soul wasonly one step from collapsing.

The orange robe he had donned had more or less weakened the power of the black flame. Had henot protected himself with the robe, his soul would have long been dispersed and turned intonothing.

"Boy, hold on, or I will kill you!" Jordan exclaimed. The anxiety coursing through him reflected in hisexpression.

He became worried when he saw that Darren was trembling and not moving. He was afraid thatDarren would fall and that his efforts would be in vain.

Although he was intimidating Darren with his threats, he had also released a healing rule power toassist Darren.

"Boy, you are only one step away from success. If you dare to pause, I will kill your friends!" Jordanthreatened again.

How could Darren have the strength to heed Jordan's words when he was consumed by torment?He desperately hoped to take the first step forward and escape this disaster as fast as he could.Time went by achingly slowly. Darren had been still for an hour! All this time, he had beenstruggling to move, only to end up with failure.

"Damn it! If you don't move, I will kill your friends!"

Jordan threatened out of exasperation. He was not bluffing; he genuinely meant it. A rune whistledover Darren's head and flew toward his friends, who were standing at the edge of the fire sea. In asecond, one of them was reduced to ashes.

Although it happened in the blink of an eye, terror paralyzed everyone. Darren's heart beat violentlyat the sight. Sorrow and fury coursed through him. However, he could do nothing except curse themurderer, Jordan.

"Why don't you move? Do you want me to kill more?"

Jordan released another rune and blew up another man's head.

Now, only Hobson and the other young leader remained.

Darren's heart was full of anger, but he knew that he could not stop Jordan. He realized that theonly way to prevent Jordan from killing further was to go forward with all his might and get him thebead.

Finally, with great effort, he managed to move a little forward. But even so, his hand was a fewinches away from the bead.

"Let's get it over with!"

He was resolved to advance. Although agony coursed through his soul, Darren pretended to beunaffected by the pain. He was determined to leap forward, even if it meant falling into the sea offire so that he could grab the bead.

He plunged forward with outstretched arms. However, just as his fingers grazed the bead, Darrenfound that he was unable to hold on because his fingers would not respond. The harrowing twistingin his meridians had made him unable to clasp anything.

The bead slipped right through his fingers. As a result, instead of getting the bead, he fell into thestrong black flame, face first.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Jordan's eyes widened with shock, and he cried out frantically.

Both the Crimson Sea Sect leader and the Heaven Lake Sect leader turned as pale as death. Theyknew that Darren was their last straw. If he didn't succeed, their plan would be a failure as well.

The situation did not get any better, however. As Darren lurched forward, the orange robe began tofray again. The black flame was gradually dissolving the runes that had been supporting the robe. Amoment later, the robe had been reduced to ashes.

It was a truly disastrous moment for Darren, for Jordan, and the two sect masters.

"There's no hope for us.” Darren smiled bitterly. It seemed that there was no way for him to survivethe black flame in which his soul was being burned.

To his surprise, the pain in his soul seemed to fade away. Although Darren assumed it meant that hewas getting closer to death, something surprised him.

"Assimilate it!"

A spiritual voice suddenly echoed through Darren's head.

"What?" Darren was stunned. All this while, he had not thought to assimilate the black flame. Hewondered who had given him that advice.

"Silly boy, I have gone through great lengths to accumulate this tiny wisp of spiritual intent to helpyou resist the soul attack. This time, you forced me out. You won't get a second chance, though. Youwill have to rely on yourself from now on," the gruff voice of an old man echoed through Darren'smind again.

"Sir, who are you?" Darren asked in his mind, but he received no answer.

Gradually, he became aware that a cold stream was flowing deep in his soul, and the pain in hisbody had begun to wane.

Just at this time, a spark of black flame gushed straight toward the strange stone in his head. In aflash, the stone absorbed it.

Darren remained unharmed and motionless in the air. After a long time, an indistinct shadowpopped out of the stone in his head. Before Darren could see the shadow's face, it disappearedwithout a trace.

After the strange stone had absorbed the black flame, it transformed into streams of black internalforce and flew into Darren's meridians until it gathered in his elixir field.

As the flame crystal core had been condensed in his blade core previously, when the black internalforce entered, it also gravitated toward his blade core and joined the flame crystal core inside."How stupid am I? I have assimilated flame intent before. Why didn't I try to assimilate the blackflame in the first place?" Darren realized that if he had used his assimilating skill, he would havebeen able to absorb the black flame by himself.

"Maybe I was just too tense to think of alternatives.” Darren shook his head. The black flames werestill roaring around him, but they could no longer harm his soul.

"I wonder what would happen now with the black flame in my blade core. I will experiment it later.”After regaining a little strength, Darren slowly rose from where he had fallen. He pretended asthough the effort to stand cost him a lot of energy.

He had his reasons to do so. If he got to his feet quickly, Jordan would inevitably suspect somethingwas amiss and question him about it.

"What? That brat is still alive?" the elder in the black robe exclaimed in surprise.

Not only was the old man in the black robe astonished, but also were the other three leaders.

'He is alive after being in the black flame for such a long time? It is unbelievable!" they all thought.However, Jordan was too overwhelmed with happiness to think. He simply stared at Darren for fearthat he would get into more trouble.

Slowly, step-by-step, Darren moved forward till he was able to reach the glistening bead. In a flash,he grabbed it. Then, he left the fire sea and flew toward the jade sword above.

It was not until Darren had placed the bead on the jade sword's hilt that Jordan allowed relief towash over him.

"Ha-ha-ha. I am lucky today. Who would have thought that the boy would succeed? If I were him, Iwould have failed! Besides, I wouldn't have dared to try because it would endanger my life!" Jordanlaughed, unable to refrain his delight.

After finishing his task, Darren returned to his companions.

"Brat, you did a good job. I will keep my promise and release your two friends," said Jordan with acunning smile on his face.

Darren's face darkened. Jordan had already killed two of his people. There was no way that hewould keep his promise.

However, Jordan was so powerful that Darren could neither provoke him nor show any hatredtoward him. He understood that a blind, thoughtless impulse would only bring him danger. Only bystaying alive would Darren have the chance to kill Jordan one day!

"Master," the elder in the black robe called out to Jordan before turning to look at Darren. "This guysurvived the soul black flame. Is he hiding another powerful treasure from us?"

Only after being reminded by the elder in the black robe, did Jordan realize that something wasamiss. The thought entered his mind that if Darren had grasped some powerful treasure with whichto overpower the soul black flame, then he'd better take it from him.

"Well." Looking at Darren, he bargained, “Lad, for the Holy Will Crystals that you have hidden fromme, I have decided to let you have them. But I have one condition. You need to hand over the souldefense weapon that you used to resist the black flame."

Hearing Jordan's condition, Darren felt an impulse to kill him. “He had the cheek to say that hewould leave the Holy Will Crystals to me? And now he is coveting my other treasures?’ Darren'sheart could not help but boil with anger.

"That's enough! I almost died while helping you to complete that task. If it weren't for a strangeaura that protected my soul after the robe was burned, I would be on the road to hell. What else doyou want from me? Why don't you just kill me instead of making up excuses such as requestingsome soul defensive weapon that never exists?" Darren countered coldly. He felt that the angrier hisexpression was, the more convincing he would sound

"Shut up! How dare you speak to our master like this?" the elder in the black robe thundered as ifhe would charge at Darren any minute.

"Hold on!" Motioning to the elder in the black robe to stop, Jordan said with great interest, "Well,you have a terrible temper. For the time being, I will believe that you have no magic weapon.”"Hum!" Darren snorted coldly and said nothing more.

As Jordan had something more important to do, he did not continue to pressure Darren.