The group quickly dashed towards the edge of the cliff and looked down. A massive whirlpool of energy surged below, and John was nowhere to be found.
"We let him get away!" one of the boys dismally stated. John's last words still lingered in his mind.
"Get away? Do you see how far this chasm drops? Or that whirlpool down there. He's dead," Jason responded, and Parker nodded his head in agreement. Neither of them were confident in being able to survive such a fall or endure the intense energy of the whirlpool, let alone a Mist Creation junior weaker than them. Although they knew John had a strong body, they still believed he was unable to survive this fall.
Jason looked away from the chasm and towards Parker. "You know, I was still doubting whether you were truthful, but now I'm convinced. I'll make sure you get into our sect. But as an entry for getting in, I'm sure our sect will be asking you to do many things regarding the Fenix Clan."
A small smile crept up on Parker's face. "Don't worry, I'll fulfill any tasks given to me."
"Good. Let's get going. Now that this is settled, we still have about a month to look for more opportunities."
The group left the battlefield and walked back into the forest, not giving the dark chasm a second glance.
…
Darkness overwhelmed John as he jumped into the chasm. The gigantic whirlpool of pure multi-colored energy grew closer in his vision, until he eventually entered it.
Supreme Battle Art!
John unleashed his peak supreme battle art, leaving nothing behind. His body was strengthened to its maximum state, but even so, he found it incredibly hard to withstand the terrifying whirlpool. Small pieces of skin and flesh continuously ripped off his body as he plunged further into its depths, and his bones began to creak from the pressure. If not for the lightning trial, John was sure this pain would have rendered him unconscious, resulting in his death.
John continued to plummet for minutes on end, growing increasingly shocked at the depth of the chasm. The massive torrent of energy was almost viscous, slowing his descent, prolonging his fate within its powerful currents. After fifteen minutes of falling in constant pain and suffering, John felt like he was at his end. Just when he thought he would be able to hold on no longer, the whirlpool ceased, and John found himself falling rapidly once more.
Boom!
John landed violently on the chasm floor, causing dust and rock to kick up from the heavy landing. His vision began to fade, and before long, John found himself fall unconscious from the lack of energy and pain.
…
An unknown amount of time later, John slowly opened his eyes. Darkness filled every direction, while directly above, John could see the massively whirlpool of energy continue to revolve.
"Ow, it feels like I don't have a single part of my body unharmed," John mumbled as he struggled to sit up. He popped a healing pill in his mouth, and was dismayed to find that his healing pill stash was almost empty.
"I guess I have been using them quite generously," John grumbled.
After taking the pill, John took out a piece of cooked meat and bit into it. His stomach was growling out in protest, and he desperately needed his body to get to full energy and health quickly. While eating, John looked all around the dark depths of the chasm. The multi-colored whirlpool of energy above gave a faint light to the chasm depths, but it was still mostly shrouded in darkness.
While eating, John noticed that in one direction, the whirlpool of energy seemed to taper downwards, like a tornado touching down on the ground.
"What is that? Is there something over there?"
John wanted to explore, but his body was nearly broken from the damage it had sustained from the whirlpool and the fall.
"If not for my incredibly powerful body and Supreme Battle Art, I would have died in that whirlpool. In fact, even someone as powerful as Jason, with his normal body, would most likely have died several times over. I guess this is one of the amazing advantages of being a body cultivator. But the whirlpool did slow my descent as well. Without that, I might not have survived that drop. So I guess it was a blessing and a curse."
John continued to eat his leg of cooked animal meat while he stared all around, but nothing other than the one direction where the whirlpool touched down revealed anything of note.
"I'll have to heal for some time before I can move. I'm guessing I was out for a few days, and it will probably take a week to heal. That should leave me with about two weeks before the pocket realm closes."
John had no idea how he would get out of here, but according to his father, the realm automatically expelled all those within at the end of the two weeks.
"I guess I'll just have to survive down here for that long," John grumbled.
After spending an entire week on healing, John finally stood up with a body full of vigor and energy. Power exploded out of his body, indicating that it was at its peak state once again.
"Now, lets go explore that area."
John started walking towards the area in the distance where the whirlpool tapered down to the ground. The low light allowed John to see slightly, but his guard was raised to the maximum as he carefully proceeded forward. The area John wanted to explore was dozens of miles away, and it would take quite a few days of cautious travelling to reach it.
The journey forwards was a rather uneventful one, as John did not run into a single sign of danger.
"Nothing so far, not even a beast or formation or anything. Not that I'm complaining."
After having faced all the struggles and battles in the pocket realm, John was quite refreshed to have a breather for once. As he approached the area over the next several days, the whirlpool reaching downwards grew larger in his vision. Eventually, when he was just a mile from it, the whirlpool was like a giant tornado violently crashing down into the ground.
John strained his eyes to look where the whirlpool met the ground, and eventually spotted an object at its base. A large object was illuminated by the concentrated light of the whirlpool above.
"Is that..another temple? Really, is that all this realm is about? More temples?"
Once again, John found himself standing in front of a large, majestic temple, The temple was several hundred yards tall, and was pure marble white in color. The whirlpool of energy streamed violently onto the roof of the temple, and seemed to be continuously absorbed within. Large white gates at the front of the temple stood open, as if inviting all to enter.
"I've entered every temple I've come across so far, so why not add another one to the list."
John proceeded forward towards the open gates. Intense energy radiated high above his head as it crashed into the roof of the temple and exploded outwards. John's body shuddered as he felt the intensity of that energy, which was hundreds of times stronger than where he had fallen into.
"If I had fallen into the chasm at this point, and not at the outskirts of the whirlpool, I would have surely died."
John shook off the terrifying feeling and proceeded into the temple. The marble white temple opened into one expensive room in the interior, which was also completely white. At the very center, a ball of soft white light floated dozens of yards in the air. Its power and profundity was unlike anything John had ever experienced in his life, rivaled only by the profound auras radiating from the gates within his own palace realm.
"What….is that?"