At this moment, Darren found it difficult to move. No matter how hard he tried, his muscles wouldn'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 wretched state, 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 was only one step from collapsing.
The orange robe he had donned had more or less weakened the power of the black flame. Had he not protected himself with the robe, his soul would have long been dispersed and turned into nothing.
"Boy, hold on, or I will kill you!" Jordan exclaimed. The anxiety coursing through him reflected in his expression.
He became worried when he saw that Darren was trembling and not moving. He was afraid that Darren 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 to assist Darren.
"Boy, you are only one step away from success. If you dare to pause, I will kill your friends!" Jordan threatened 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 been struggling 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 whistled over Darren's head and flew toward his friends, who were standing at the edge of the fire sea. In a second, one of them was reduced to ashes.
Although it happened in the blink of an eye, terror paralyzed everyone. Darren's heart beat violently at the sight. Sorrow and fury coursed through him. However, he could do nothing except curse the murderer, 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 the only way to prevent Jordan from killing further was to go forward with all his might and get him the bead.
Finally, with great effort, he managed to move a little forward. But even so, his hand was a few inches away from the bead.
"Let's get it over with!"
He was resolved to advance. Although agony coursed through his soul, Darren pretended to be unaffected by the pain. He was determined to leap forward, even if it meant falling into the sea of fire so that he could grab the bead.
He plunged forward with outstretched arms. However, just as his fingers grazed the bead, Darren found that he was unable to hold on because his fingers would not respond. The harrowing twisting in 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 the strong 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. They knew 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 to fray again. The black flame was gradually dissolving the runes that had been supporting the robe. A moment 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 survive the 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 he was 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. He wondered who had given him that advice.
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