A powerful aura emanated from Russell, rich in earth Qi. Russell controlled the earth that he had uprooted from the arena, which continuously revolved around himself like a small storm. The boulders within his control were quite large, and if John was not careful, he would take damage being hit head on by them.
As the tempest of rubble and boulders continued to expand around Russell, John suddenly felt his feet rooted to the ground, as earth wrapped around his feet.
"Hmm?"
John looked down at his feet to confirm what was happening, and saw his feet slowly dig deeper and deeper into the arena grounds.
'This is quite annoying. He's not only controlling those massive boulders in the air, but also the very ground beneath my feet. This is going to slow me down considerably.'
Bang! Bang!
John sent a surge of power into his legs and forceful uprooted them from the hard ground, making two loud explosive sounds in the process.
After breaking his legs free from the ground below, John once again felt them begin to sink.
'I can't stay in one place for long. I'll need to keep moving.'
John suddenly began to dash about, not towards Russell, but in random patterns, throwing off Russell's ability to root him down.
'I don't know exactly what this battle art of his does, so I'll test it out first.'
While Russell's body was weaker than John's, his essence power was stronger due to his higher cultivation. John was unable to look down on it like he did before.
"Stop dancing about!" Russell shouted as power erupted from his body.
John suddenly came to a sudden halt as a tall and thick earthen wall suddenly rose up before him. He quickly turned around, and another tall wall appeared. John frowned at he continued forward and punched out with all his might.
Boom!
His fist collided with the thick wall, and a shower of rocks and debris rained outwards as he punched a large hole directly through the wall. He began to leap through to the other side, but was slowed down considerably by his effort of destroying the wall.
John suddenly turned around and sent his fist outwards.
Bang!
His fist collided with a massive boulder which was thrown over by Russell's battle art. The collision knocked him backwards into the wall, causing him to rebound off it. As he regained his balance, another large boulder was hurled over rapidly.
Che!
A sharp blade suddenly sliced through the boulder, completely bisecting it in two. The parting boulder revealed John on the other side, scythe in hand.
'I've given him far too much initiative. I need to take back the advantage.'
While John wanted to play the waiting game to see what Russell was capable of, he realized he could do it no longer. His immense speed was neutralized by the constantly appearing walls, and so a direct confrontation with Russell was the only way forward.
John sent an even stronger surge of Qi from his body dantian into his body, powering his Supreme Battle Art to its peak state. He turned to stare at Russell, his face cold and calm.
"You're not running anymore? Good!" Russell yelled as he sent out another boulder towards John.
John could feel his feet begin to bog down, but he moved before it could take hold. He narrowly dodged the approaching boulder, which crashed violently into the earthen wall behind him.
Lightning Finger!
John suddenly pointed towards Russell, and in instantaneous beam of lightning quickly shot out fo it.
Boom!
The sound of thunder echoed throughout the arena, and the lightning strike reached Russell in the blink of an eye.
Having also been in the classes, Russell recognized the attack as the one they had just learned recently. He scoffed as he watched John attack him with such a meager and simple attack. Just based on the strength of his body alone, Russell was more than confident in completely neutralizing such an attack.
Bang!
Lightning struck Russell's body, and his eyes opened wide in surprise as he was launched back several yards. He skidded backwards on his feet, finally coming to a stop. His surprised face looked down towards his chest, and his hand slowly hovered over the blackened flesh that had been charred by John's attack.
Lightning continued to dance over his skin, and it took some effort from his own Qi to neutralize the lingering destructive lightning.
After neutralizing the lightning, Russell looked back up towards John and spoke out to ask him about it.
"Just what the hell was tha-"
Russell's words caught in his throat as he noticed John had nearly reached him, and was sending his scythe directly towards his chest.
"Earthen Barrier!"
An earthen barrier suddenly appeared in front of Russell, blocking the attacking scythe that John had just struck out with.
Boom!
The earthen barrier exploded as the scythe continued forward, but the slight delay was all the time Russell needed to retreat and dodge the attack.
Lightning Finger!
John suddenly shot another lightning finger out at Russell, which was blocked by a hastily formed earthen barrier.
"I won't fall for that again. I don't know how your lightning finger is so strong, but it won't work again!"
Suddenly, an even more powerful aura flared from Russell, and the tempest of boulders and earth magnified three fold. Boulders as large as a small house began to float around in the air around Russell, at which point they were constricted down into a smaller but much denser boulder.
"It seems like Russell is finally going all out!" one youth commented.
"It seems like it. That attack of John's seems to have raised his guard a lot!"
"Yeah, but how was a simple lightning finger that strong? It doesn't make sense!"
Heated discussions broke out throughout the crowd as they watched the intense fight below.
John felt the ground beneath his feet become even more constrictive, and he required his full power to break free from it.
One of the large boulders was suddenly hurled towards John with great speed, and John prepared to dodge it as it was much stronger than before. However, three earthen walls suddenly appeared in front of him, allowing his only route of escape being towards the boulder.
Che!
John's sharp scythe attack sliced through the boulder, but stopped half way due to the boulder bing incredibly hard and dense. His body was hurled back towards the earthen wall behind him, and he was violently sandwiched between the boulder and earthen wall.
Boom!
The earthen wall exploded, and John was sent tumbling through it with great force. The crowd gasped as they watched John take that attack head on.
"Is..is he dead?" a first year asked.
"If he's not dead, then he must be half dead," another replied.
However, their eyes widened in surprise as John quickly regained his wits and bounced back to his feet. His legs were shaking somewhat, and blood was flowing from several shallow wounds on his body. The combined attack from Russell has been quite brutal and effective. Had it been any other cultivator, they would have been seriously injured and unable to continue fighting.
John wiped the blood from his lips, as a cold look appeared on his face.
'Russell truly deserves his spot as one of the top disciples in the sect. I won't be able to beat him without showing a few of my trump cards…'
John wanted to keep as much as he could a secret, including the Divine Reaping Scythe, Immortal Asura Transformation Art, and the other attacks he had just recently learned. However, it seemed that was not going to work when battling with Russell.
'If only I was in the same realm, then I could hold back more, but things aren't that way, so there's no point in brooding over it. I think its about time I turn things around.'
As he regained his balance, John once again found himself trapped by three quickly rising earthen walls, and a rapidly approaching boulder. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the boulder approaching.
John suddenly raised his finger, and pointed it at the boulder.
"Haha, these boulders of mine have been compressed several times over, and are as hard as steel. There's no way a Lightning Finger will stop them!" Russell yelled as he watched John.
Bang!
Thunder suddenly clapped out throughout the entire arena, as a blindingly bright beam of lightning exploded out of John's finger. It was far more powerful and intense than before.
Boom!
The lightning beam struck the boulder, and the boulder exploded into a shower of rubble.
"What?"
Russell yelled out in surprise. He had not expected such a thing to happen, and neither did the crowd.
"What just happened?" a youth asked.
"I don't know, but there's no way Lightning Finger is that strong," another replied.
"That's not Lightning Finger," a voice spoke up, and the first years turned to the source of the voice. A nearby third year who was watching the fight had spoken up. "That's Lightning Ruin, one of the sects top quick use battle arts. Just how did he obtain it already, and not only that, it's quite a hard technique to unleash, as its quite stressful on the body and its meridians. How can he do it so effortlessly?"
Understanding washed over all the first years as they heard the explanation. However, based on the words of the third year, it wasn't an easy attack to use.
Russell finally came to his senses after a moment of being stunned. It didn't matter what attack John had just used, only that his attacks were able to neutralize his strongest boulders. Another boulder flew rapidly towards John, and John once again sent out a Lightning Ruin, neutralizing the attack completely. The two attacks were at a complete stalemate.
"Fine, lets crank it up a notch!" Russell yelled out.
John aimed his finger towards Russell, and was about to unleash another Lightning Ruin, when all of a sudden, his eyes darted downwards, and he jumped off the ground with all his might.
Che!
A sharp patch of earthen spikes suddenly erupted from the ground, just where John had been standing. Had John not dodged in time, his legs would have been impaled by the spikes, or at least injured. They suddenly shot up into the sky after him. John slashed his scythe down hastily, blocking the attack at the last moment. However, one spike managed to slip through, and it pierced his shoulder.
The spike stopped after only going an inch deep, thanks to John's incredibly sturdy body. It would have normally pierced directly through the shoulder of a normal cultivator, and caused a serious wounds. However, John's wounds were starting to add up.
He landed on the ground, and just as he did so, he jumped again, narrowly dodging another spike attack. Earthen walls suddenly began to appear around him, and John knew Russell was attempting to attack him with the spikes when he had nowhere to go.
The three walls fully enclosed around John's position, and the ground spikes violently erupted upwards.
The crowd gasped, fully expecting to see John impaled, but after a moment of panic, they noticed that John was nowhere to be found.
Russell turned his head to the side, and his cold eyes stared directly at John, who was now standing in a completely different position. However, a lightning beam was almost upon him, and Russell hastily created an earthen shield with as much defense as possible.
Boom!
The shield exploded, and Russell was sent flying backwards dozens of yards. Due to his Innate Variant Body, Russell was mostly unharmed from the explosion of lightning and rock. He regained his balance, and looked back towards John.
"How did you move so fast?" Russell asked.
He was sure that John would fall victim to his combined attack, but John was able to escape the wall prison by moving faster than they could rise. He was so fast that Russell could hardly believe it. Russell's eyes lingered downwards on John's body, and he noticed lightning continue to dance over his legs.
"Thunderflash Steps as well?" The third year chimed up once again. "How did he afford all these techniques, and learn it in such short notice as well?" However, he quickly remembered that John had a Lightning Attribute Body, and it all started to make sense. Such a thing truly wasn't fair at all.
John stared coldly at Russell without saying a word.
'If I use my Thunderflash Steps and Lightning Ruin, I might be able to land some blows on him. But now that he knows both of these battle arts, I'm sure he'll be on guard for such a thing. That earthen barrier of his is incredibly sturdy and can be raised in an instant, so he'll be able to block such attacks. Not only that, but when he does, I'll have to worry about his earthen walls, boulders, and spikes….I didn't want to use it, but it seems like I have no other choice.'
John sighed as he realized he would have to use another one of his trump cards. However, as long as he kept the Immortal Asura Transformation Art hidden, John was fine with anything else. However, he wasn't too upset. Russell truly was an incredibly powerful opponent, and John knew it would be an extremely close battle if he decided to fight using only Thunderflash Steps and Lightning Ruin. In fact, with Russell's higher cultivation, John would most likely not win by using only those two attacks. He would need to use nearly his full essence power, and also combine it with his superior body power to overwhelm Russell.
Russell was using his ultimate battle art, and so John would have to respond in kind.
"Your placing in the top five in the entrance exams was not a mistake. You truly are powerful, and should be proud" John suddenly said to Russell, as if he was an Elder praising a disciple..
Russell narrowed his eyes as he stared at John. "So far in this fight, you've been on the defensive the entire time! Why are you sounding like you're an Elder talking down to me?" Russel asked in a cold tone. He didn't like other's looking down on him, or treating him like a child.
John smiled as he heard Russell's question. "Well, that's because I'm about to teach you a bit of a lesson!"
"Heavenly Lightning Domain!"