Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 8 The Barren Wasteland (Part Two)

"Our efforts have finally paid off! A cardiac core of the level five beast is worth three thousanddollars."

A growl echoed through the forest.

An unexpected change happened.

A beast covered in flames jumped out from the bushes.

The team was startled to see this beast. They didn't know what this strange creature was.

"It's Flame Tiger!"

Elsa Gongsun, the girl who had been quiet all this while, spoke.

"What? Flame Tiger! It is at least at level eight! We'd better run now!"

"No! Flame Tiger is a sadistic beast. It would hunt each of us if we ran," Jared said calmly.

Darren looked at the Flame Tiger as well. The fire around it accented its imperial aura, thus making itall the more terrifying. Darren was not scared, but he did wonder how much his talent wouldupgrade after he absorbed such a powerful beast's talent.

But a level eight beast was far beyond Jared's cultivation base, the top cultivator in the team, not tomention Darren's. The current situation put all of them in danger.

"Miss Elsa, could you give me a hand? We might have a small chance of winning if we worktogether." Jared looked at Elsa Gongsun and asked for her help.

"Nope! I can deal with it alone,” Elsa Gongsun answered, coldly.

"But..." The others were all too shocked to answer. None of them knew what stage she was at, butthey guessed that Elsa's stage was lower than Jared. Did she have secret weapons to empowerherself with? Is that why she was so confident?

A level eight beast, especially a strong variant, was impossible to defeat.

Jared wanted to discourage Elsa Gongsun from fighting along. But before he could speak, she hadrushed toward the Flame Tiger.

"She's like lightning! Is her cultivation base higher than Jared's base?" Corrine Gu marveled.

"How can we compare with a disciple of the IImen Sect? They are the top sect.” Jared shook hishead. Although he was the best in his sect, he had no way to compare with a disciple of the limenSect.

"Elsa is a disciple of the Iimen Sect? That explains so much! Every disciple of the top sect is also atop cultivator.”

But some of them couldn't figure out why a disciple of the limen Sect had joined them on this hunt.An limen Sect disciple didn't lack money or cultivation resources. Then what did she need?

The intense fight between Elsa Gongsun and the Flame Tiger began. The strong force around thetwo compelled the others to step back.

The Flame Tiger released an angry roar.

Its fury forced Elsa Gongsun to back down several steps.

"Oh, no! The beast is angry now! Elsa needs our help! Let's go!" Jared shouted.

Then he and the others, except Marvin Zhou, rushed forward together.

Darren, as a cultivator of the third stage, could offer no help. So, he made no move.

This scene, however, annoyed Darren. He could not compare with any of them in terms of hiscultivation base. While the upgrade in his talent enabled him to grow stronger, it did not allow himto make immediate progress.

Darren, unexpectedly, sat cross-legged and began to meditate.

Spiritual energy gathered into Darren's body, nourishing his energy meridians and bones.

“What's happening? The spiritual energy I can absorb has increased tenfold since yesterday.’ Darrenwas surprised. Although he was at level four of the Yellow Degree, the speed with which he couldabsorb spiritual energy was much faster.

Darren wondered during his meditation.

His keen senses gave him the answer after a while. Eighty percent of the intensive spiritual energycame from the bag behind him.

"I got it! I can absorb the spiritual energy from the cardiac cores!”

Darren opened the bag at once and held a few cardiac cores in his hands.

He restarted his meditation and the spiritual energy of the cardiac cores, like brooks, trickled intohis body.

In the blink of an eye, Darren could feel an obvious upgrade in his talent.

"It's the fourth stage! And it's continuing to upgrade!"

After an hour, Darren had consumed dozens of cardiac cores. Only some residue was left from thecores.

"The fifth stage! The sixth stage!"

The powerful energy in his body shocked Darren. His punch could smash a mountain now."Finally, I've reached the sixth stage of the Primary Realm!"

Darren could not believe that he had achieved such a quantum leap in such a short interval. It wouldshock everyone if they knew Darren's talent had upgraded three times in succession

At this very moment, he found that the fight had become more intense. Everyone had been injuredfrom the fight, and Elsa Gongsun looked exhausted as well. But the Flame Tiger was still vigorous,and its attack was even fiercer.

Marvin, however, stood aside with a poker face. It seemed that he had no interest in joining thefight.

Fortunately, Marvin Zhou paid no attention to Darren, so he didn't see that Darren had absorbedthe energy of all the cardiac cores.

"Lotus Sword Attack!"

Elsa Gongsun summoned her martial arts skill. The next second, thousands of swords, like raindrops,enveloped the Flame Tiger and stabbed it simultaneously.

The injured teammates summoned their martial arts skills as well and rushed toward the tiger.

The Flame Tiger whined painfully.

The flames around the tiger extinguished, revealing deep gashes all over its body.

Meanwhile, the injured teammates jumped backward. The cultivators at the fifth stage, like KyleZhang, could not stand the pain anymore and passed out. Jared could not even stand straightbecause of his serious injury. And blood was oozing from Elsa Gongsun's mouth.

"It's time!" Marvin smirked. Then he jumped into the air in a flash and flew toward the Flame Tiger."What?" Darren felt as though something was strange. "How is he so powerful?"

Darren could tell that Marvin Zhou was higher than the sixth stage.

The Flame Tiger, who was now severely injured, died after one strike from Marvin Zhou'spalm.00000000000000