Without knowing how it had happened, John realized he had become separated from Adam.
"I'm not too concerned about being alone, but how did he vanish without me even noticing. Just what is going on?"
John spread out his divine sense as wide as it could go, but was unable to detect any other signs of life other than the creature in front of him. The creature stood directly in the middle of the road, blocking his path forward.
The creature stood ten feet tall on six insect-like legs, which ended in sharp blade-like tips. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth, and its body exuded a foul smelling substance that was clearly venomous. Six beady eyes stared at him as if he was food. Although John wasn't sure exactly what type of beast it was, it was clearly some sort of venomous spider.
Its power was at the mid Qi Condensation stage, and would be a nightmare for any average mid Qi Condensation cultivator. However, John was no average cultivator, and the spider in front of him gave him no concern.
"Something strange is going on here. First everyone disappears, and now this spider appears. Maybe we're separated into individual battle trials? Let me kill this spider and see if that solves anything."
John took out his scythe and calmly walked towards the spider. The spider stared at him for a moment before opening its mouth and shooting a venomous substance at him at great speed.
John quickly dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the venom attack. The attack landed on the ground behind him and faded away. John turned his head back to where the attack had landed, and a frown appeared on his face.
Several more venom attacks shot out at John, causing him to use his Five Step Movement Technique to rapidly dodge the attacks. He continued to study the attacks and approach the spider, and his suspicions grew as the fight dragged on. He continued to send attacks towards the spider, wearing it down slowly but surely.
"I don't want to use too much Qi in this fight, as I don't know what the future holds for me in these trials."
Myriad Annihilation Scythe!
John rapidly approached the spider and attacked out with the Myriad Annihilation Scythe. Although its power had grown quite a bit weaker in the Qi Condensation Realm, it was more than enough to deal with the spiders weak legs.
The spider cried out in pain as several of its legs were severed. It crashed to the ground and attempted to stand up, but was unable to do so. John studied the spider for a few seconds before his scythe quickly struck forward, the blade of the scythe piercing into its head.
The spider struggled for a brief moment before it died. The venom of the spider was quite valuable, so John attempted to place it's corpse in his palace realm. However, John was unable to do so, and the corpse remained where it was.
"There's definitely something strange going on in this city, although I can't say for certain what exactly."
John had his suspicions of what exactly was going on, but he wanted to gather more information before he could be completely sure. Since he was unable to collect the spiders corpse, he left it in place and began to walk down the road once more.
By now, John was about halfway through the city and had still not found another cultivator. He continued to walk forward, when a sound of music and laughter down an alleyway to his side caught his attention.
"Hmm?"
It was the first sign of life that John had found since the spider, and so John stopped to peer down the alleyway. The alleyway extended for several dozen yards, and at the very end of it, he could make out a group laughing while playing music. The group consisted of many beautiful women, dressed in luxurious and exotic clothes. John had never seen such a group of beauties before.
Harps, lyres, flutes and more were being played in melodious harmony, causing him to nearly fall into a trance. The music was the most beautiful music he had ever heard in his life, and he felt as if his soul was being cleansed just by listening to it.
The women continued to play their entrancing music, and before long noticed his presence. They all turned to look at him, and beautiful smiles appeared on their faces as they called out to him.
"Hey you, come over here!"
"Come join us!"
"Come play with us!"
The women all started to call out to John, hoping to draw him over to them. Their seductive calls, along with the entrancing music, made John feel as if walking over there was the correct decision.
"The Sect trials can wait, right? There's seven whole days to complete the tria-"
"Wait, no no no, this isn't right!" John quickly snapped out of the trance he was in and backed away a few steps. Sweat trickled down his face as he stared at the women.
"Whew! My mind was almost ensnared by that music. How frightful."
John had felt his soul's defenses slowly erode as he listened to the music, and had nearly fallen victim to it. His soul power had flared at the last moment as he noticed himself being ensnared, which allowed him to break free from the enchanting lure.
John slowly backed away and returned to the main road. The music and enchanting calls from the women continued to play out behind him, but he paid them no more attention. His mind was steeled as he continued to walk down the main road once more, this time much more careful for any traps that existed.
"I suppose not all traps are physical. There are traps that can target the soul itself, so I'll have to keep my eye out for that in the future. Thankfully my soul is much stronger than the average cultivator, or I might have fallen victim to such a trap. But after all this, my suspicions are mostly confirmed. I believe...that this entire city is one giant illusion formation."