Chapter 354: Darius Brings Better Loot

Darius stared at Varos’s corpse in disbelief, never imagining that a Nascent Soul elder of the Morath Clan could be killed so quickly.

Varos had even activated a forbidden art, yet in the end, Cassandra had still killed him with frightening ease.

For the first time since arriving, Darius finally pushed aside his greed and became completely serious.

Meanwhile, Cassandra turned toward him with a bright grin, casually brandishing her bloodstained claws. "Hehe... now that one’s done. You’re next."

Darius frowned and quickly pulled a long dark-gold halberd from his storage ring.

The moment it appeared, a heavy aura spread across the battlefield, immediately making Cassandra’s eyes brighten.

She looked the weapon up and down with obvious appreciation before grinning. "Oh? What a nice weapon. Master will definitely like this gift."

Darius tightened his grip on the halberd, his face twitching with anger. "You think you’ve already won?"

He pointed the weapon directly at her as its King Grade aura surged across the battlefield. "I’ll kill you first, then take every treasure your faction owns!"

Cassandra raised her bloodstained claws, her crimson-black eyes gleaming with excitement. "Then come on. Let’s see if you can actually do it, or if you’re all talk."

Meanwhile, on another battlefield, the fight had already reached its most intense moment.

Elder Toren’s entire body was covered in wounds, yet his aura suddenly surged as he activated his strongest martial art.

[Ninefold Earthbreaker Fist]!

Nine massive fist projections crashed toward Helena one after another.

She blocked the first three with her axe, shattered the fourth, but the remaining strikes forced her backward.

By the time she regained her footing, blood was already seeping from several wounds across her body, adding to the injuries she had suffered earlier in the fight.

Toren laughed harshly. "Golden Core trash! You may have a King Grade weapon, but in the end, you’re still nothing more than a Golden Core cultivator."

He pointed at himself with a sneer. "Against a Nascent Soul cultivator like me, you wouldn’t have lasted this long without that weapon."

Helena wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. "You’re really annoying, you know that? All you do is talk, and I’m still standing."

Toren frowned because, irritatingly enough, she was right. In the end, he could only grit his teeth. "Fine, you win, bitch."

His expression turned serious as his hands began forming a strange seal. "Be happy. You actually forced me to use this. Now you can die knowing you pushed me, Toren, this far."

He immediately activated his forbidden technique. His skin hardened into a greystone texture, his muscles swelling as his strength rose sharply.

[Forbidden Art: Stoneheart Overdrive]

Toren charged straight toward Helena with his newly strengthened body.

Seeing him coming, Helena tightened both hands around her [Titan Mountain Cleaving Axe].

She was already injured and exhausted, so this time, she stopped trying to conserve anything.

She gritted her teeth as she poured all of her remaining energy into the weapon. "Fine then... if you’re using a forbidden art, I’ll use everything I have too."

Her eyes locked onto the incoming Toren as she roared, "Let’s end this once and for all!"

The sky above seemed to darken as an enormous phantom mountain formed overhead.

Helena raised her axe, and the moment Toren appeared in front of her, she swung it down with everything she had left. "Now take this fucking mountain... BITCH!"

[Heaven-Pressing Titan Mountain]!

The massive phantom mountain descended together with the axe, crashing toward Toren with overwhelming force.

Toren’s expression changed instantly, but he still refused to retreat.

His forbidden art had pushed his body to its absolute limit, and he believed there was nothing Helena could do to break through it.

Unfortunately, that confidence was a mistake.

The technique came directly from a King Grade weapon, and with Helena’s special physique amplifying its power even further, Toren had already lost the moment he chose to face it head-on.

BOOOOOOM!

The battlefield collapsed beneath the impact as Toren’s body was violently compressed and crushed beneath the overwhelming force.

When the dust finally cleared, Toren was no longer moving. No... he was basically dead.

His body had been flattened into little more than flesh and blood, with almost nothing of his original appearance remaining.

Helena remained standing for several seconds, breathing heavily, before the massive axe finally slipped from her fingers and crashed into the ground with enough force to make the battlefield tremble.

Her knees buckled a moment later, but before she could fall, Evelyn suddenly appeared beside her and caught her under one arm.

Helena looked at her and managed a tired smile. "Thanks for catching me, Evelyn. Damn... I actually feel pretty refreshed now."

Evelyn looked at Helena and, for once, gave her a faint smile. "Good job. Now sleep. Leave the rest to me."

Helena smiled and nodded, storing her axe back into her storage ring before her eyes finally closed and she fell asleep in Evelyn’s arms.

The moment Helena lost consciousness, Evelyn shifted her gaze toward the watching cultivators, many of whom were already becoming restless.

She carefully lowered Helena to the ground before raising her [Glacial Starfall Bow] toward the sky.

Several frozen arrows formed at once. A second later, Evelyn released them all.

The arrows shot high into the air before multiplying into dozens of icy streaks that rained down across the surrounding forest.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every arrow that struck the ground released a violent wave of frost.

Ice rapidly spread between the trees, swallowing the earth and turning the surrounding forest into a massive frozen field.

Several cultivators who had been preparing to move immediately stopped in their tracks.

Evelyn lowered her bow and calmly stored it away before speaking in a cold voice. "Stay where you are... or else."

The hidden observers immediately went quiet, none of them daring to take another step.

Satisfied, Evelyn gave a small nod, picked Helena up, and calmly carried her back toward the base.