’So it turns out my uncomfortable feeling earlier was due to someone spying on me the entire time.’

Darius felt a bit more at ease seeing this scene. He had felt quite uncomfortable earlier and even wanted to head back as he went to watch Shen which made him think that he had a personality that of a coward and such a thing would be difficult to overcome,

Thankfully it wasn’t the case.

A golden finger that explodes with power harvesting whenever you slay demons and fiends through either missions or personal attacks and methods.

Darius frowned slightly; his Golden Bell Shield hadn’t reached entry level yet. If he tried slaying this guy right now, he’d just end up getting killed. He needed a bit of time for the system to add power, if he wasn’t wrong.

His eyes suddenly narrowed as he thought,’ System, add the entire two years into Golden Bell Shield and one year into the Nine Sword Technique.’

As Darius willed it, the system panel flickered:

[Deducting two years’ power--adding to Cultivation Technique: Golden Bell Shield!]

[Your talent is decent—one year of power, your meridians and body heal after using several high-quality medicines with the Golden Bell Shield breaks through to first Layer!]

[Two years’ power—immediately breaks through to Third Layer!]

[Golden Bell Shield (Third Layer)]

[Deducting one year’s power-adding to Martial Arts: Nine Sword Technique!]

[Your talent in martial arts is rather crude given your upbringing—one year of power, yourpractice with the Nine Sword Technique breaks through to Entry Level!]

Darius quickly put the man’s arm off and distanced himself for a bit, the man’s earlier strong grip seemed as though made of paper after his progress.

"Friend, in case you didn’t hear me, I said come with me." In that moment, the man’s eyes flashed with killing intent.

With his last word, a whoosh sound traveled and the burly man disappeared.

Darius’s eyes narrowed, somersaulting backward. When he looked forward, a trace of blood flowed down his face.

As blood dripped from his cheek, the man now occupied Darius’s previous position.

"Humph, so you’ve managed to dodge it." The man eyed him evilly, as if he was toying with him.

He just kept his eyes fixed on the man...and the scene before him shifted again.

[Derik: True Qi First Layer Warrior, Practices Demonic technique]

[Kill him to harvest three years’ power!]

Darius squinted and smiled, "Interesting."

When Derik attacked like a demon, if Darius didn’t place the two years into his cultivation technique and became a True Qi third layer, it would’ve killed him. But this revealed this man’s nature and the people who were spying on him, that of a demonic faction.

If another met such a problem, he’d have a hard time coping.

It was known from all the information he had that demonic cultivators gained power by any means, were filled with danger, and had ruthless natures. Righteous cultivators took the opposite approach, taking it one step at a time. They weren’t as impressive as demonic cultivation experts, but they hardly encountered problems in cultivation.

And this explained why despite only in his first layer, Derik was far more dangerous given the explosive speed he just displayed. Yet Darius was in the third, if the roles were reversed and he was the one at the first layer and practicing as a regular cultivation technique, he would indeed be hard-pressed.

Luck had it though that Darius had the system, elevating his cultivation and martial arts. This was his only hope of success.

He wiped the blood and showed an excited smile. It wasn’t that he was a lunatic who didn’t fear death, but this was his first fight, and he felt a surge of happiness. This was even his first encounter with a demonic cultivator in this world and he began to enjoy the novelty of it.

"Fight!"

Even if the man didn’t approach him, Darius would have soon went looking for these kind of people to fill his mission board so it was still important to go through with this fight for the sake of his meticulous schemes. This fight followed no logic, as his boiling blood dictated his movements.

The bloodthirsty look in Darius’s eyes caught Derik off guard, he didn’t quite understand what changed in the young looking man he was following for a while that he became a bloodthirsty hound.

Common sense told him his first move should have robbed Darius half of his life, and even if he escaped by some miracle, he’d be scared witless and follow him like a good boy. But instead of fear, Darius showed thrill and thirst for battle.

"Can it be..."

Derik thought of something but was forced to block.

Bam!

A Golden palm exploded in his hand, pushing him back again and again. When he finally stopped, his hand was dripping blood.

Derik frowned, his casual expression turning grave, "This is going to be a pain. Never thought I’d meet someone like him..." He suddenly realised what was going on, and his body shivered.

"You were hiding your cultivation to lure me in here? You knew I was following all this while didn’t you? Tell me who you working with, how do you know about us and how do you know about the tiger demon lineage and their plans," Derik barked, his eyes showing a bit of fear.

The man before him was full of mysteries.

He suddenly had second thoughts about dropping the command and fleeing this place as soon as possible. He felt that the man’s network was much more complex than theirs and they were in his trap instead.

He saw Darius sporting a grin and he sighed inside, while also raising his vigilance.

’If I had known, I wouldn’t have caught myself in this...’