After exploding out of the water at great speed, John was a nearly dozen yards in the air. However, his momentum stopped, and he began to descend back into the water.
The massive and powerful tentacles pierced directly towards him. John steeled his resolve as he knew he only had one opportunity to survive this predicament against a late Core Formation beast.
He waited for the perfect opportunity, just as the first tentacle was about to hit him.
'Now! Immortal Asura Transformation Art!'
An incredible amount of body Qi surged into his body to feed the transformation art, and John felt his body rapidly increase to its maximum strength. He could feel the very nature of his body subtly change, filling him with incredible power. This was his first time unleashing the technique while having a cultivation at the Late Qi Condensation Realm, and John felt overwhelming power flow through him.
His eyes turned blood red as he focused on the tentacle directly in front of him. It reached him in an instant, and John struck his scythe out with all his might.
Boom!
Scythe and tentacle collided, and John felt like his arms had nearly shattered from the force of the blow. His organs trembled, having taken some damage as well. Pain rushed through his entire body, and John was sent flying backwards like a broken kite.
However, a small smile broke out on his face as that was exactly what he had wanted to happen. John was not egotistical enough to think he could fight evenly with a Late Core Formation beast, even if he used the Immortal Asura Transformation Art.
Despite this, it was enough to survive a head on attack from the creature, and use the backwards momentum to his advantage.
John's body shot backwards like a cannonball, and he reached the beachfront in an instant.
Boom!
His body crashed violently on the sand, forming a small crater where he had landed. A large cloud of sand and dust was kicked up, obscuring the vision of the creature. John took a second to recover from the blow, before he instantly dashed towards Adam several dozen yards away.
Adam was still in a daze, but finally came about his wits. He turned to run, but John knew he was not fast enough to escape the creature on his own. John grabbed Adam's arm, and without missing a stride, continued to run forward with all his might. Adam felt his arm nearly separate from his body, but was unable to do anything about it.
John's speed was incredible, as he was using his full body power, combining the Supreme Battle Art, Immortal Asura Transformation Art, and recently unlocked Limiter of Speed. John looked like a blur as he sped away from the creature with Adam in tow. He ran in the direction still obscured by the debris cloud, hiding his trail for as long as possible.
Boom!
A tentacle struck down where the cloud was, shattering the land beneath its power, and the creature frantically searched for John on the beach. However, the creature realized that John was no longer there, and its attack had only made the situation worse.
Roar!
The creature roared out incredibly loud, shaking the nearby lands from its power. The water surface rocked back and forth, appearing as if it was in the middle of a large storm. Its anger was fully ignited, but it knew it had lost its prey, and also its treasure it had cultivated around for hundreds of years.
It was a creature of the water, and its speed was quite subpar on land. It would not be able to catch John on land, and so it didn't even try.
Roar!
The creature roared out in anger once more, before retreating into the water's depths. Many nearby youths were attracted by the commotion, but when they arrived, all they saw was a monstrous creature returning to the depths of the lake.
After a while of running at his top speed, John was confident that they were safe. He stopped by a nearby rock formation, and took out his scythe.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Multiple booms echoed out as John struck down on the dirt below with his strongest attacks, clearing out a cave. After making a small cave, John threw the dazed Adam inside, and moved some nearby boulders towards its entrance. He entered it as well, and covered the entrance with boulders, making it appear the same as the rest of the nearby land.
"Whew!"
John sighed out in both relief and fatigue. His run in with that creature had been incredibly stressful, as a single mistake would have cost him his life. John sat down on the ground next to Adam, who was recovering from his daze of being violently dragged for many miles.
John began to release his Immortal Asura Transformation Art. He had used it for several minutes already, and felt quite drained. His body ached greatly from both the attack of the creature, as well as using the transformation art.
'It's a good thing my beast blood essence reserve is so large, or else I would be in trouble after using this transformation art just once or twice.'
The Qi requirements for the technique was immense, and only by converting his beast blood essence into body Qi was John able to utilize it repeatedly. However, the strain it placed on his body was equally immense, and John knew he would need to recover for a few days before he was back in top shape.
The technique filled him with so much power that his body could hardly withstand it, despite being so tough.
He had made the cave for this reason, so that he could recover without threat from other cultivators or youths.
Adam noticed John's demonic looking red eyes begin to turn back to normal. He had never seen such a thing from John, and felt an instinctual fear from it. The aura John emitted chilled him to his bones.
The only reason he could keep his nerves was he knew John was an friend, otherwise, he would be scared stiff. He wanted to ask about it, but decided against such a thing. Everyone had their secrets.
"That was a close one," John suddenly said as he collapsed on his back, lying spread out on the ground. He breathed heavily as he tried to catch his breath, and he popped one of the healing pills he had bought from the sect into his mouth.
"Close one? You almost got us killed," Adam replied in a raised voice, as if he had completely forgotten about John's previous demonic-like presence.
"I mean, I guess, but how was I supposed to know that that creature lived in the lake?" John rebutted. He had checked the lake carefully, but the creature had been living beneath the sands of the lake floor, making it impossible to detect.
"What was that creature anyways? And why did it look like it wanted nothing more than to kill you?" Adam asked.
John slowly sat up and looked towards Adam. His ragged breaths has become slightly more even.
"I'm not sure what it was, some kind of water-beast, but it was most likely chasing me because of this," John replied as an item suddenly appeared in his hands.
Adam's eyes instantly darted towards the item in John's hands, and they lit up immediately. The half broken disk, etched with incredibly complex and brilliant runes, mesmerized Adam. John smiled slightly, as he had expected such a reaction.
"Can...can I see that for a second?" Adam asked in a mesmerized tone.
"Sure, but be careful, its quite strange," John replied as he tossed the item over to Adam.
Adam carefully caught it, but his expression quickly changed as he immediately dropped it.
"What the hell? It was draining my Qi as soon as I touched it!" Adam exclaimed in surprise.
"Yep. I'm pretty sure the reason that lake water was so strange was because of this disk. It seems to be some broken formation disk from long ago. I wonder what it was used for."
"I'm not sure," Adam replied in a daze as he inspected the item closely. John had never seen Adam display such a level of focus or caring before.
"Say, if I let you study this disk, do you think you'd be able to make a formation that could utilize it?" John suddenly asked.
He had thought about it carefully, but couldn't really find a use for the item other than smacking someone directly with it. While that could work, the item drained Qi over time and not instantly, making such a thing worthless.
On the other hand, Adam studied formations extensively, and John was wondering if he would be able to make a useful formation for them using this as the core.
Surprise appeared on Adam's face as he looked up towards John.
"You're...going to let me have this?" Adam asked.
"Sure, if you can make something good for us out of it. Otherwise, I'll take it back," John replied.
An emotional expression appeared on Adam's face for a moment, before it was quickly washed away. Pride soon replaced his previous expression as he puffed out his chest.
"I'm a formations expert afterall. Of course I can make something amazing out of this. Just wait. Before long, you'll be dazzled by my creation," Adam replied in a prideful tone, as if he was doing John a favor.
John smiled and shook his head, expecting such a reaction from Adam.
"We'll stay in this cave for a few days while I recover my Qi and also rest my body. Once that's done, we'll head out deeper into the wastelands."
John sat in a meditative position and closed his eyes, focusing on recovering as fast as possible. Adam once more looked down to the formation disk on the ground and began to study it, eager to include its mysterious powers to his formation arsenal as fast as possible.
…
A group of three youths were attracted by a loud noise, and quickly rushed towards it. The group consisted of three boys, all in the Late Qi Condensation Realm. They wore blood red robes, signifying their status as Bloodfiend Sect disciples.
After surmounting a nearby hill, the group spotted a massive lake in front of them.
"What the hell is that?" one of the boys suddenly pointed out in the far distance.
The two others followed his gaze, and spotted a massive octopus-like creature swim back into the depths of the lake.
"I'm not sure, but its power is far beyond what we can handle. Lets move to a different area, as this lake won't hold any treasures for us," the boy leading the group replied. The two others nodded and began to follow the boy.
If John was here, he would recognize the face of the leading boy.
"Where do you want to go next, Jason?" one of the boys asked?
Jason looked in all directions, and noticed a small trail of dust kicked up away from the lake, leading into the far distance. A small smirk broke out on his face as he pointed in that direction.
"That way. It seems as if someone escaped from the creature, and are most likely injured. If they obtained something from the lake, we can snatch it from them!"