John had not expected to run into any disciples of the three other Great Sects this soon. The Four Great Sects were spaced equally distant from each other around the Qi Whirlpool, and so these Bloodfiend disciples had strayed quite a far distance away from the optimal path towards the center of the wastelands.
The three Bloodfiend sect disciples began walking towards John and Adam with little regard for their opponents, as if the battle was a foregone conclusion. Since both John and Adam were also at the Late Qi Condensation Realm, the Bloodfiend Sect disciples outnumbered them. Not only that, but Bloodfiend Sect disciples were bathed in conflict and combat on a daily basis, and life and death battles were the norm for them.
Due to this constant battle-filled lifestyle, Bloodfiend Sect disciples usually had higher combat prowess against those in the same realm. These two factors gave them complete confidence in the battle to come.
A panicked expression appeared on Adam's face as he watched the three approach. He was a formations expert, and his battle prowess stemmed from being prepared before the fight started. In a straight up fight against the Bloodfiend Sect disciples, he knew he would lose.
He turned to John to ask what they were going to do, and saw John's completely relaxed expression. Adam's panic soon faded away quickly as he regained his composure. John had fought against Russell who was at the Half-Step Core Formation realm, and had still won. A fight such as this posed no threat to him.
"Haha, I almost lost myself there for a moment. Such a thing is unbecoming from a man such as myself," Adam said to John while laughing slightly. He quickly regained his prideful persona, as if nothing had just happened.
John only shook his head, slightly disappointed in Adam's initial panic.
'Seems like I need to battle harden him quite a bit, or that panic will be the death of him.'
The Bloodfiend Sect Disciples, who had expected John and Adam to panic, were surprised to see them calm and even laughing at each other.
"Oh? Does the Heavenly Lightning Sect finally have some disciples with a bit of guts? Or are you just so stupid that you don't know the situation you're in," the front disciple asked.
"They're clearly stupid. I mean, look at that one, he's clearly all brawn and no brain," the girl of the group said while pointing to John. Even below his robe, his muscular physique was clear for all to see.
The Bloodfiend Sect disciples stopped when they were twenty yards from John and Adam, and eyed them carefully. They noticed the lingering formation runes on the ground, and wanted to make sure they were no longer active.
"If I'm stupid, then you must be completely braindead," John replied in a mocking tone.
"What did you say?" The three youths all growled as they glowered at John.
"I called you stupid. Everyone knows that the best opportunities within these lands most likely exist at the center, and yet you strayed all the way over here, far away from the center. If that's not brain dead, then what is it?" John replied.
He was still quite confused why they were all the way over here, and wanted to find out more about the reasonings.
"Shut up. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about," one of the boys yelled back, clearly irate.
"Oh? Then enlighten me? Why are you all the way out here?" John asked.
"You're going to die here soon, so why does that information matter," the girl replied, as she took out a long whip.
The other two took out their weapons as well, and powerful auras began to emanate from the three of them. Their sect used the blood of others to cultivate, and while it was normally mortals, cultivators were much more beneficial. This was why the Bloodfiend Sect was so dangerous, as they were always looking for opportunities such as this.
John brushed off the dust on his robes, and a scythe quickly appeared in his hands.
"Give me a few minutes, and then we can get back to clearing out this cave," John said as he turned to Adam.
Adam nodded, and stepped back to the edge of the cave, wanting to avoid any of the attacks to come.
The three youths noticed John was the only one fighting, and an amused expression appeared on their faces. One of them was about to speak out, when his eyes suddenly went wide.
Before the three of them could even react, John had appeared right next to them. He had utilized both his Thunderflash Steps and his powerful body to move to them in an instant.
His scythe was already slashing forward violently towards the boy at the front. The boy hastily raised his sword to block the attack, and barely managed to do so at the last moment. His hastily raised sword had no power behind it, and the boy's weapon crashed powerfully against his own body, sending him flying violently towards the cave wall.
Boom!
The boy's body collided against the wall, and the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the cave. He fell down to the cavern floor, and began to cough up blood.
Just as John had finished his attack, the other two youths were already attacking him.
"Die!" the girl screamed out in rage.
'Hmm, not bad. Even with such a surprise attack, the two others instantly attacked me. Their battle instincts truly are honed.'
The two attacked John from opposite directions. John scoffed, and let go of his scythe as he did not have enough time to swing it around for an attack. He outstretched his arms in opposite directions, one towards each opponent.
Lightning Ruin!
An incredibly quick and powerful beam of lightning burst out of John's fingers, piercing directly towards the other boy in the group. The boy had not expected John to be able to counter attack so fast, and was unprepared to block it. He hastily twisted his body to the side, but was slightly too slow.
Bang!
The lighting blast pierced directly through the boy's shoulder. Blood splashed everywhere, as the boy fell to the ground in agonizing pain. Destructive lightning coursed all throughout his body, which he did his best to suppress.
John smiled, as he knew he had made the right decision in obtaining Lightning Ruin. He was able to instantly unleash it without any build up time, and its power was impressive as well. The destructive nature of his lightning, due to his Primordial Extermination Lightning cultivation technique, made it all the more deadly.
Crack!
The crack of a whip echoed out as the girl struck out at the same time. She was surprised that John had managed to counter attack the other boy so quickly, but it was too late for him to do the same to her.
"Wrong choice!" the girl shouted out as her attack was about to land on John. Her whip glowed bright red as she channeled a battle art through it.
She had the strongest attack power of the entire group, and figured John had made the wrong choice in his targets. John smiled as the whip crashed down on him. He outstretched his hand towards the whip.
Boom!
John caught the powerful whip in his hand, and the cave floor below John exploded from the power of the attack. His legs buckled as he braced against the attack, and he sent a surge of the Supreme Battle Art into his arms and legs to resist the attack. John's body sank several feet into the cave floor before it finally came to a stop.
"What!" the girl cried out as she couldn't believe her eyes.
Her attack had struck John directly, but he had managed to catch it. She had scoffed when she saw him attempt this, as this attack would make a normal essence cultivator's hand explode into bits. However, John's expression was calm and his hand intact as he tightened his grip on her whip.
"Get over here!"
John pulled on the whip, and the girl, who still had a tight grip on her whip was quickly flung towards John.
"Shit!" The girl let go of the whip, but it was too late.
Boom!
John's fist crashed against her face, and the girl was flung back like a broken kite into the far cave wall. Her body brutally crashed into the cave wall before falling to the floor below. Silence descended on the cave, and the only remaining sounds were the agonizing cries of three youths.
Adam stood there dumbfounded as he watched John end the fight as soon as it began. He quickly came to his senses.
"That...was….awesome! You ended that fight in less than ten seconds!" Adam shouted out excitedly as he ran towards John.
"They had barely just broken through to the Late Qi Condensation Realm, so they were nothing. If they had gone all out from the start, the battle would have taken much longer, but they underestimated me by far too much. If I'm not mistaken, they are either Outer Disciples, or barely Inner disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect," John replied.
He had seized the opportunity, and had culled their numbers by one from the first attack. The other two had been forced to hastily attack him, which was easy for John to counter. If they had used their strongest battle arts from the start, John would have had to expend more energy to win the fight, although the result was never in question.
He turned to Adam.
"Can you make a formation to seal the entrance of the cave?" John asked.
"Uhhh, sure, but why?" Adam replied.
John turned to look at the three Bloodfiend Sect disciples still writhing on the ground.
"We need to ask these three some questions, and I don't want their screams to echo out of the cave," John replied.
Adam gulped as he understood what John was intending. "I'll get right on it."
A little while later, Adam had hastily constructed a formation. The formation formed a solid wall at the cave entrance, making it look like a dead end to all those who entered. John nodded his head in approval at the formation.
During Adam's formation construction, John had gathered the three Bloodfiend Sect disciples at the far side of the cave. They had finally managed to stabilize themselves, but were still quite injured.
Che!
Suddenly, a powerful attack of blood red Qi pieced straight towards John as one of the boys sent out a surprise attack.
Boom!
The attack landed directly on John's chest, and he was knocked back several yards from the force of the attack..
"Let's get out of here!" the boy shouted as he attempted to seize the opportunity. He quickly dashed forward towards the exit, but his eyes suddenly widened in horror. He looked down at his chest, and saw a hand piercing directly through it.
Bang!
John flung his arm around with all his might, and the boy was violently thrown against the cave wall. His body nearly exploded from the force of the impact, and the remaining life soon faded from his eyes as he died on the spot.
John turned to the two other disciples who still lived, who both had terrified expressions on their faces. They figured that attack that landed on John would do some damage, but he stood there as if it only tickled him.
"Now, I have some questions to ask, and you're going to answer them. If you don't..well, you'll find out soon enough what happens then," John said as he crouched down in front of them, looking them straight in the eyes as they sat on the ground. His cold eyes seemed to pierce into their souls.
The two of them felt like they were looking into the eyes of a demon. Even coming from a blood and strife filled background, they had never experienced a look like this.
For the next few hours, many screams echoed throughout the cave, until finally all became silent.