John prepared himself to attack at any moment. Although he knew which power the four were from, he still didn't let down his guard.
The four were surprised that John was able to neutralize the bewitching soul art used by the girl. Although she wasn't an amazing cultivator within their sect, they were still used to such a thing working, at least for a moment. The three of them were Outer Disciples, while the girl who had used the soul art was an Inner Disciple.
"There appears to be a misunderstanding," the girl replied in her calm voice. "Our Divine Soul Sect and your Heavenly Lightning Sect have never been enemies. Our arrows were meant to prevent your friend from disturbing the waters, and the soul art I used was to persuade you to leave the area."
"Then tell me, why are you so concerned about us disturbing the water?" John asked.
"Soulspirit Carp are incredibly sensitive to any movement, and so your friend entering the waters would have scared them away to the bottom of the lake. Only by using your soul power to calm them into a sense of ease can you have a possibility of catching them," the girl replied.
Clearly, these carp were important to them, as they had nourishing effects for the soul. Being from the Divine Soul Sect, such a thing was of tantamount importance.
"Or, I can just go in the lake itself and catch them at the bottom," John replied.
The girl shook her head, as they had already tested the waters and found it to be quite strange. "I'm afraid such a thing isn't possible. These waters are quite strange, and they drain your essence Qi as soon as you enter it. It only takes a few minutes for one to become completely empty of Qi."
John raised his eyebrows slightly. "There's such a thing?"
"There is," the girl confirmed.
His eyes trailed back towards the lake.
'If I can store this water in my palace realm, perhaps it can be of use to me later.'
He immediately thought of a place to store it. In the main hallway of the palace realm, there was a massive water fountain, majestic and grand. However, it was empty, and no water flowed in it. It hadn't been of use to him before, so John had ignored it, but now there was a purpose for it.
'If I can get some carp, as well as this water, this will be quite a worthwhile expedition so far.'
John turned to look back at the Divine Soul Sect group above them. Despite being primarily soul cultivators, soul cultivators also cultivated their essence power. These two systems did not conflict like essence and body did, and so they were free to do so. Soul cultivators used their powerful souls for fearsome soul arts, while they used their essence cultivation for everything else.
However, since they focused primarily on their soul power, their essence power was lacking compared to essence only cultivators.
"It affects essence Qi huh?"
A thought crossed John's mind. If he had to use his soul power to lure the carp over to them before catching them, that would take a great deal of time. John was unwilling to waste such precious time.
"In that case…."
John began to walk towards the water, surprising all with his actions.
"Didn't you hear me, it will drain your essence Qi!" the girl exclaimed once more. She was not concerned for John's safety, but did not want him scarring the fish away to the center of the lake, where their soul power could not reach.
John reached the water and paused for a moment, before placing his hand in it. He immediately felt a strange energy invade his body, and just like the girl had said, his essence Qi was rapidly beginning to drain from his body. At this rate, he would be empty of essence Qi in less than ten minutes. However, a small smile appeared on his face.
'It doesn't affect body Qi, or at least my unique body Qi. Perfect.'
While John would feel quite fatigued being drained of all his essence Qi, he still had his immense reserves of body Qi. With his body power unaffected, he could freely enter the lake without too much danger.
'With this being the case, I think its time I go swimming.'
John suddenly took off his robe, leaving only his undergarments on. He didn't want it to get wet. Surprise appeared on the faces of the youths above.
"What are you doing?" the girl yelled out.
"Going for a swim," John replied as he began to wade into the water.
The Divine Soul Sect group began to panic. If John disturbed the fish, all their efforts would be for naught. A cold look appeared on the lead girls face.
She suddenly touched the center of her forehead with her right pointer finger, and closed her eyes for a moment. A brilliant glow began to emulate from her forehead, and the glow intensified for a few seconds until it was incredibly bright yet ethereal, like mist.
Suddenly, an almost translucent beam of light pierced directly towards John. The beam glowed in a holy fashion, making all those nearby want to worship it. The beam of light entered John's head from behind, and his steady pace suddenly stopped immediately.
"John!" Adam called out as he witnessed the attack, but was too late to stop it.
"I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen. You only have yourself to blame," the girl said out loud. Clearly she had attacked him with a soul art, one which was much more potent than the one she had used before.
John still stood there motionless for a short while. He suddenly turned around, and his cold eyes looked directly at the girl at the top of the cliff above him.
"What? How?" the girl reacted in surprised fashion. This soul attack of hers was her most powerful attack, and should have rendered John unconscious for days if he was lucky, or damaged his soul and rendered him stupid if he wasn't.
However, John was completely unaffected due to the immense power of his soul's strength. While he did not know any soul arts to utilize this soul strength, it was more than enough to act as a defensive shield against such soul arts.
Boom!
The water at John's feet suddenly exploded in a small tsunami as he used his greatest body power to leap from the water. Before the Divine Soul Sect disciples could react...
Boom!
Another loud boom exploded out as John landed violently on the cliff above, where the four disciples were standing. The ground shattered from the force of the landing, and the cliff crumpled beneath the feet of all those standing on it.
"Ahhh!"
The four Divine Soul Sect disciples screamed out as they fell from the cliff to the ground below. They were soul cultivators, and so their body defense was the weakest of all cultivators. A fall such as this, while not lethal, would definitely hurt.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Continuous booms echoed out as the cliff rubble crashed into the ground below. Dust kicked up into the air as the large rocks crashed into the beach below.
Adam stood on the beach some distance away, watching the whole scene dumbfounded. He thought John had been ambushed by that attack and injured, but before he could react, John had brought the whole cliff down with him.
The dust finally settled, and the three Outer Sect disciples from the Divine Soul Sect slowly stood up, rubbing their sore spots. They had been lucky that none of the large pieces of rubble had fallen on them, or they would have been quite injured.
All three looked around, and their eyes went wide open.
"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," John asked in a cold voice. The girl who had attacked him was in his outstretched arm, as he gripped her directly by the throat. She struggled to break free, but was surprised to find that John's grip was like steel.
"Emma," the three of the youths called out. They prepared to attack to save their friend and leader.
"Stop!" Emma suddenly commanded. "You're no match for him!"
The three stopped, and stared at Emma in a helpless manner. Emma turned her eyes to look back at John, who stared at her with cold emotionless eyes. A slight shiver went up her spine being looked at in such a manner. She grit her teeth before replying.
"That attack of mine... wasn't meant to kill... you. You obviously... have great soul strength, so it should have….only immobilized...you," Emma replied as she struggled to speak through the tight grip John had on her throat.
"Even so, your attack was with no regard for my life, so why should I care about yours?" John asked. He wasn't convinced by her explanation.
The girl noticed that John had not been convinced, and did not know what else to say. Normally she would use a soul art to get out of this situation, but clearly such a thing was useless against her opponent. Normally the Heavenly Lightning Sect disciples she had met were quite reasonable, but the boy before her was much different.
Resolve appeared in her eyes. "Kill me...if you must. But...if you do so….your death won't...be far behind," Emma replied. John's grip had become even tighter, making it hard for her to speak.
An amused expression appeared on John's face, as he had heard these lines all too many times. However, each time, he had defied such words.
"Oh? And why is my death so certain?" John asked in an amused tone.
His grip on the girl was so tight now that she was struggling to breath. Her expression hardened, impressing John slightly. Clearly she wasn't afraid of death.
"Because...if you kill a member of...our Divine Soul Sect…you will draw the wrath...of our Soul Sage...you might be strong...but before our Soul Sage...you are...nothing!"