“Take this first!” Billy flicked a pill towards Raul Duffy.
“What is this?” Raul Duffy was startled.
“Poison!” Billy replied, “And it’s extremely toxic!”
“If you don’t get the antidote from me, you’ll die in excruciating pain in a month.”
“The pain will be ten times worse than what you just experienced.”
“You can choose to take it or not. If you take it and follow my instructions, I’ll give you the antidote in a month.”
“If you don’t take it, I’ll send you to meet your master right now!”
Raul Duffy exhaled heavily.
He knew he had no choice and believed Billy wasn’t bluffing.
“What do you need me to do?” Raul Duffy asked after swallowing the poison.
“A few things,” Billy paused before explaining.
Twenty minutes later, their conversation ended.
“If I do these things for you, will you really give me the antidote?” Raul Duffy asked after taking a deep breath.
“You don’t seem to have any other choice but to trust me,” Billy said calmly.
“Kyree Whitney’s skills aren’t particularly strong, but his master Noah Knapp is far superior to mine. If you want to deal with Kyree Whitney, I’m afraid…” Raul Duffy continued.
“That’s not your concern!” Billy interrupted. “Just do as I say!”
“Alright,” Raul Duffy nodded.
In the following days, Billy and Opal stayed at their residence to train.
With the resources from Princeton Lopez and Maison Compton’s storage rings, plus a batch of spiritual fruits and beast cores sent by Matthew Lawrence, everyone spent less than half a month refining these resources. They all saw the dawn of the next level, just one step away from breaking through.
As for White Feather, with Billy’s help, his spirit recovered significantly, and his combat power increased substantially.
It’s worth mentioning that Matthew Lawrence and his group stopped investigating Princeton Lopez and Maison Compton.
Half a month ago, Raul Duffy had visited Matthew Lawrence. According to Raul, Princeton Lopez had gone out and was no longer in the city. He didn’t know where they went. He also produced a sound transmission stone with a message from Princeton Lopez saying he was going on a trip with Maison Compton.
That morning, while everyone was chatting in the courtyard, Elder Xavier walked in.
“Elder Xavier!” Billy led everyone to greet him.
“I heard you almost got into trouble?” Elder Xavier released his spiritual power to check Billy’s condition as he spoke.
“Thank you for your concern, Elder Xavier. It was nothing serious,” Billy smiled.
“Is Matthew Lawrence dead? Someone got kidnapped right under his nose, and he didn’t know?” Elder Xavier frowned deeply.
“It happened suddenly. You can’t blame Elder Matthew for this,” Billy smiled again.
“Come with me. I’ll take you somewhere,” Elder Xavier changed the topic after confirming Billy was fine.
“Elder Xavier, where are we going?” Stout asked.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
Elder Xavier turned and walked out the door, with Billy and the others following closely behind.
About an hour later, Elder Xavier led them to a cliff on the southern outskirts of Institute City.
“Elder Xavier, why did you bring us here?” Judge asked.
“Down there!” Elder Xavier responded and led them down the cliff.
The cliff was very deep, at least two or three hundred meters by their estimation.
Soon, they saw a ten-meter-wide and several-thousand-meter-long chasm in the mountain below. It looked like it had been split open by a sword, bottomless.
“Who goes there?”
A voice echoed in the void as two black-robed elders approached. From their aura, it was clear they were in the mid-stage of Otherworldly Realm.
The taller elder looked at them and spoke again, “This is a restricted area of the Institute. Leave immediately or else…”
Before he finished speaking, his eyes fell on Elder Xavier. He hesitated before asking, “Are you… Elder Xavier?”
“Am I considered an outsider?” Elder Xavier asked calmly.
“My apologies for not recognizing you!” The elder bowed deeply after getting confirmation from Elder Xavier.
“Greetings, Elder Xavier!” The other elder also bowed.
“I’m taking them down. Do you need to report this?” Elder Xavier asked.
“No need. The dean has instructed that Elder Xavier can come and go freely,” the taller elder replied.
“Please proceed,” the other elder gestured respectfully.
“Let’s go,” Elder Xavier said to Billy and the others before leading them into the chasm.
As they entered the chasm, it became pitch black. However, flying in such darkness posed no difficulty for them now.
When one’s spiritual power reaches a certain level, eyes are only needed to distinguish beauty from ugliness.
After about fifteen minutes, faint light appeared below. Descending another hundred meters, they emerged from the crack into a vast space with a height of about a hundred meters. The light here was weak but better than inside the crack, allowing them to see hundreds of meters ahead.
The space contained some unnamed plants and oddly shaped rocks but nothing else of note. However, they could feel a pervasive sense of hostility in the air.
“Elder Xavier, what is this place?” Stout asked.
“Sword Hill, one of Canyon View Institute’s forbidden zones,” Elder Xavier replied.
“Sword Hill?” Billy and the others were puzzled.
“Yes,” Elder Xavier nodded and led them to the ground.
“Elder Xavier, shouldn’t there be some swords here if it’s called Sword Hill?” Stout looked around and asked skeptically.
Azure Dragon and White Tiger also looked around but saw no swords.
“Follow me,” Elder Xavier said and led them forward.