"Soul Sage, why would I care about a Soul Sage? Your Soul Sage can't reach us in these wastelands," John replied.
"Our..Soul Sage...is in these….wastelands," Emma replied. Her face was turning more and more red.
"Your Soul Sage is a disciple of your sect?" John asked in an amused manner. "First the Three Emperors, and now a Soul Sage? Why are your sects naming your disciples like they are gods? It's quite tasteless."
In his Heavenly Lightning Sect, the top disciples were just known as the five Direct Disciples. They hadn't been given any gaudy names like Emperors or Sages, and so John was amused to see such a thing be common for the other sects.
Even with her neck tight in John's grasp, Emma still managed to force out a smile. "You'll find out...soon enough...why he's...called that."
John narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared into Emma's eyes. His grip began to tighten even more, and she was unable to breathe at all. The slight fear in her eyes vanished as she accepted her death.
A small smirk broke out on John's face as he loosened his grip. "Not bad."
Emma fell to the ground, gasping for breath. John looked at her for a moment before walking off.
"Our sects have no animosity towards each other, so I'll keep it like that for now. If you target me again though, not even your Soul Sage will be able to save you," John said as he walked back towards where Adam was standing, not giving Emma a second glance.
The three other Divine Soul Sect disciples rushed over to Emma to help her.
"Emma, are you alright?" one of the boys asked in a concerned tone. They had thought for sure that she was about to die, and so did Emma herself.
Emma struggled to breath for a short while before she finally recovered. She rubbed her red neck and slowly stood up.
"I'm fine," Emma replied with a hoarse voice. She looked over towards where John and Adam stood, and noticed John was once again wading into the water. She grit her teeth, but said nothing as she began to walk away.
"We're going to leave? What about the fish," the other girl in the group asked.
"The fish have all been scared to the middle of the pond by his actions, so there's nothing for us to do here anymore," Emma replied. The others nodded, and they all decided to leave and seek other opportunities. Besides, with a madman like John around, none of them felt safe.
Adam watched the four Divine Soul Sect disciples begin to leave, before turning back to look at John. Curiosity filled him as he touched the water. He instantly recalled his hand as he felt his Qi begin to be forcefully taken from him.
"How frightening," Adam murmured, before looking back up at John walking deeper into the water.
'Now, lets see if I can store this water.'
John began to pull the water around him into his palace realm, directing it into the water fountain in the main hallway. The weird water instantly began to fill the fountain, but John's expression changed quite quickly.
'Hmm? The Qi absorption nature is gone? What's going on?'
John was disappointed to find that the water had become normal water as soon as it entered his palace realm. He tried a few more times, and the same thing continued.
'What a shame.' John shook his head as he stopped trying. Water with that nature truly would have been quite a reward.
"John, will you be alright in there? I won't be able to save you if you drown," Adam called out.
"I'll be fine. Just stay here and wait for a bit," John replied as he walked deeper and deeper into the water. "Oh, in the meantime, if you can form a quick formation that speeds up essence Qi recovery, that would be great," John called out before he took a deep breath dove under the water.
Adam shook his head as he watched John, as he never knew what John would do. He took out some of his formation materials, and began to work on what John had requested.
John dove down in a quick manner towards the center of the lake. Due to him being in the Qi Condensation Realm, and also because he had a powerful body with powerful organs, John was able to hold his breath for nearly an hour under water.
He paused for a moment, as his essence Qi was draining even faster as he approached the center of the lake. However, his body Qi remained unaffected, and so John continued to swim forward once again.
'How strange.'
The waters were crystal clear, and so John was able to see all the way to the center of the lake. Other than the Soulspirit Carp and a few other smaller fish, nothing else was visible. The Soulspirit Carp had all gathered in the center of the lake at the very bottom, and were grouped quite closely.
'This should be relatively easy with them so close together.'
A spear suddenly appeared in John's hands, one that he had obtained from one of his victims. His powerful soul spread out over the fish, attempting to calm them. The fish felt the aura and gradually calmed down.
Che!
John pierced forward with his spear, spearing two fish in one go. He immediately sent them into his palace realm, and pierced his spear forward once again.
Che! Che! Che!
His spear continuously struck out, spearing nearly a dozen Soulspirit Carp. However, by this time, his soul aura effect had become nullified, and so the remaining fish quickly swam away. He tried to calm them again, but was unable to do so.
'Damn, they are far faster in the water than me, so I guess I'll have to make due with what I have so far.'
John turned around and prepared to swim back to the shore, when a flash of light at the bottom of the lake caught his eye.
'Hmm? What's that?'
Now that the fish were gone, John was able to see that something existed at the bottom of the lake. Her probed it with his divine sense, but was surprised to find that his divine sense was interfered with by something.
'Since I can't inspect it, I'll just go take a look personally.'
By this time, John was completely drained of essence Qi, but was still full of energy due to his robust body Qi. He quickly swam down to the depths of the lake, towards the shining light. Light flickered occasionally from whatever was down there.
After a moment of swimming, John finally arrived at the bottom of the lake. The suction force on his Qi was the strongest here, and John could see a very small Qi whirlpool form just above the object.
'What is this thing?'
John reached down, and brushed some of the sediment away, revealing the object below. The object was a small disk, which was half fragmented. It contained many amazing runes on it, which were unlike anything he had seen before. Even the runes in the Heavenly Lightning Sect weren't as impressive.
'This seems to be what's causing the water to forcefully take Qi.'
John reached down and picked up the item. The second he touched it, John could feel an extremely strong absorption of his essence Qi, but such a thing could be ignored by him. However, he could tell that this item was a real treasure, despite being broken. He put the item away in his palace realm, intending to inspect it closer after leaving the lake. A large smile hung on his face from finding such a treasure.
'My luck seems to be quite good in these wastelands so far.'
Suddenly, he spotted something moving to his side, and quickly looked over. Shock covered his face as he noticed a massive eyeball appear from out of the sand floor. The eyeball was the size of a horse, and looked around for a moment before locking directly onto John.
The sand began to shift, as a massive creature began to emerge from the lake floor.
"Shit!"
Supreme Battle Art!
Boom!
John punched out with all his might directly on the eyeball, and used the rebounding force of the punch to retreat as fast as possible.
Roar!
The creature roared out in pain, as its body began to emerge.
John used his powerful body to swim through the water as fast as possible. He sped through the water like a bullet, using every ounce of energy to move as fast as he could.
Roar!
A powerful roar echoed out from the creature, shaking the entire lake.
"What the hell was that?" Adam quickly stood up and looked around. He didn't know what it was, but he could tell that it wasn't anything good.
Tentacles began to emerge from the lake floor, and John looked behind to spot the creature fully emerged from the floor. It looked like an octopus, and was dark purple in color. Its body was several dozen yards wide, and each of its tentacles were incredibly powerful.
It emanated the power of a Late Core Formation beast, shocking John greatly.
Boom!
The water exploded as John propelled himself out of it like a bullet. However, he was still quite deep into the lake, and would fall back into it, right into the monsters clutches.
Adam saw John erupt from the water, and knew it wasn't a good sign. He blanched as he saw a massive set of tentacles explode out of the water, piercing directly towards John.