The Sword Emperors eyes instantly locked onto the sword in John's hand, his expression turning grave.
With his newfound ascension, John was just strong enough to wield this Meridian Forging grade ancient weapon. His body was even more powerful than he expected after advancing to the Core Formation Realm, and he could wield the sword now, although with great effort and Qi expenditure.
The sword slashed right towards the Sword Emperors head, seeking to take his life in one blow. The Sword Emperor realized the overwhelming might of the attack, and didn't hold anything back for defense.
Eight more swords suddenly appeared in the air around him, signifying that he had not used his full sword domain power before. The swords were all incredibly fast, and pierced directly towards John's sword, looking to block the blow.
At the same time, the Sword Emperor slashed out with his ancient Core Formation grade sword, adding to the blocking power.
Peng!
Peng!
Peng!
The flying swords collided with John's sword one after another, seeking to slow the attack. However, John's sword was far too powerful to be slowed, as it slashed through each of the eight flying swords.
The flying swords shattered upon contact with John's sword, revealing its overwhelming might.
Booom!
John's sword finally collided against the Sword Emperors ancient sword.
"Gah!"
The Sword Emperor, despite his best efforts, was sent flying backwards like a broken kite. Blood escaped his mouth from the force of the impact.
Bang!
His body collided against the formation wall, causing it to rebound off it. The formation wall dimmed slightly, revealing it was starting to run out of power.
John dashed forward with his greatest speed, looking to follow up his attack. His speed was slowed, due to holding the incredibly heavy sword, but he still moved quite fast.
Damon and the other King suddenly appeared before the Sword Emperor. Based on the outcome of the previous attack, they all realized that John's current attack power was something only the three of them could block together.
"Block his attacks together. That sword seems to weigh an incredible amount. He'll run out of energy before us!" Damon instructed.
The Sword Emperor slowly stood up from the ground, holding his ribs in pain from the previous exchange.
John finally reached the three of them, and slashed his sword out sideways directly toward the weakest of the three, the Bloodfiend Sect King.
Crimson Blood Sword!
Bloodfiend Sword Domain!
Parting Blood Slash!
The three Bloodfiend Sect youths all used their most powerful attacks, which they sent outwards to meet John's attack.
Booom!
The attacks collided violently, sending an incredibly powerful explosion outwards. The three youths were all knocked backwards from the force of the attack, unable to withstand both its power.
John's body suddenly appeared through the radiating explosion, blood slightly trailing down parts of his body. However, he ignored the wounds as he bounded forward, appearing in front of the other youths once again.
Che!
His sword slashed out downwards towards Damon, who was still getting up.
Bloodfiend Steps!
Damon instantly activated his fastest movement technique, narrowly dodging John's attack.
BANG!
John's sword collided with the incredibly sturdy floor below, sending out an incredibly loud echo. The ground shook from the force of the attack, revealing to all in the crowd just how heavy and powerful that attack was.
John picked up the sword to his side once more, his cold and ruthless eyes once again locking on Damon. His breathing was heavy, as wielding the sword was hard even for him. Each swing of the sword consumed a great amount of strength and energy, sapping his Qi reserves incredibly quickly, and putting an immense strain on his body.
At the same time, his three opponents were also breathing incredibly heavy, their faces becoming more and more pale. The fight was clearly exhausting them, and they too seemed to be running low on Qi reserves.
Bang!
Bang!
Lightning domain attacks rained down on the three youths, giving them no reprieve to catch their breath. Each slashed out with their swords, blocking the domain attacks. John appeared in front of them like a ghost once more, his sword slashing out with incredible power.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Continuous blows were exchanged, with John slashing his sword out with incredible power, and the three Bloodfiend youths using their full power for defense. The battlefield continuously shook as the four continued to exchange series after series of attacks. Each time John's sword was blocked, one of the youths would fly backwards violently, unable to withstand his powerful assault.
John's aura continued to climb even higher, his bloodlust and battle-will pressing down on the youths like a guillotine on their necks. Even with their cruel and blood filled history, they had never felt a bloodlust like John's right now.
John's barrage continued to overwhelm the three Bloodfiend youths, although their attacks used for pure defense allowed them to slow his assault. Despite John being the one pressing the assault, his face was becoming more and more grave.
'At this rate, I'll run out of blood essence reserves in the next minute or two. I need to make an all out gamble.'
John could no longer waste any time. His assault had whittled the three youths down to their last legs as well, and each of them were extremely injured from John's nonstop assault.
'I'll do what I do best, exchange attacks using my body to land a fatal blow.'
John had done it several times in the past, allowing his opponent to land a blow on his body unblocked in order to land a crippling blow himself. With the fight proceeding as it was, John realized this was his only hope to end the battle.
John's aura continued to climb, and his incredibly strong battle-intent seemed to solidify, as if he was ready to throw his life away.
John rested his sword on his shoulder as he stared at the three youths. He lowered his stance, ready to push off the ground with his full power to unleash his ultimate attack.
Flash!
A flash of light appeared behind John, surprising him, his opponents, and the entire crowd. John quickly turned around to the source of the flash of light. The fourth arch.
"It's the Soul Sage! The Soul Sage actually survived the fourth arch!" A Divine Soul Sect youth exclaimed with happiness and pride.
Against all odds, the Soul Sage had actually managed to survive the sure-death trial.
The Soul Sage stood in front of the arch, his gaze looking every which way. His vision landed on John, noticing his incredibly ruthless and rage filled eyes. However, the rage and ruthlessness instantly evaporated as a slightly confused look appeared in John's eyes.
"Miko?"