John's face slightly soured at hearing this from the temple spirit. He knew the final trial would be the most difficult, but he didn't think it would be impossible.
"Didn't you say that these divine talents all had Late Meridian Forging cultivations? How the hell am I supposed to survive this trial?" John couldn't help but ask. He was hoping the creature would scale the trial to his cultivation, like he did on the last one.
"As I said before, your cultivation is far too low. However, it is in my power as a guardian of this trial to adjust it, as long as I keep it a divine talent difficulty for the participant. For this particular trial however, it is automatically scaled to the cultivation of the participant. Since you will be fighting a divine talent, fighting above your realm would be impossible. As such, your opponent will be the same cultivation as you," the creature replied.
John breathed out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. With this being the case, at least he had a shot at passing the trial.
"However, do not think that this trial will be easy as a result. Your opponent will be one of the most gifted geniuses this universe has seen in countless millennia. You'll find out soon enough why," the creature continued.
John nodded his head in agreement with the creature's words. He did not think this trial was going to be easy. He had just managed to pass the last trial by the skin of his teeth, and although he had received a slight body upgrade and power boost due to the creature's healing energy, he still knew it would be an immense struggle.
"Do I need to win against my opponent?" John asked the creature.
"No," the creature replied. "If you could win against a divine talent, then you would be above a divine talent. We are not testing for such a thing. The last trial is governed by my judgement alone. You will fight with all your power against your opponent, and if you are fit to be called a dvine talent, then I will bestow that upon you. However, if you are too far below your opponent in power and talent, then you will not pass this trial."
"That sounds fair enough," John responded with a head nod.
'This trial would have been impossible if I had to win, but if its fighting somewhat evenly against my opponent, then I should be able to manage. The only problem is I do not have a weapon battle art right now, so my combat prowess is a bit lower than I would like.'
Despite his battle axe being incredibly strong, and the three profound Dao's equally strong, John did not have a true battle art for his battle axe. This hampered his battle prowess by quite a bit, and would put him at a disadvantage against the youths.
'If I had a battle art for my battle axe, I probably would have been able to pass the previous trial a bit easier as well. I'll need to obtain one as soon as I leave this trial realm.'
John put such thoughts in the back of his mind, as they served no purpose right now.
"When does the trial start?" John asked.
The creature, which towered dozen's of yards above John, looked down at him and replied. "You can rest and gather your strength for the fight to come. Let me know when you are ready to take it."
He sat down on the ground and began to meditate.
'Is there anything I can do to raise my strength quickly?' John mused internally.
He had exhausted all the quick powerup options unfortunately.
'I can meditate on the three profound Dao's I recently learned, and see if I can improve my comprehension on one of them, but I doubt I'll make much leeway now.'
John's mind went to his Celestial Lightning Script.
'The Celestial Lightning Script! While I've been cultivating it this entire time, I haven't made any progress with it recently. However, I think I'm pretty close to breaking through to the next layer, once again improving my lightning comprehensions.'
The Celestial Lightning Script was condensed in the Jade Piece which John had. By sending his divine sense into the piece, John was slowly but surely able to learn about the Celestial Lightning Script, and its incredible profundities.
He had managed to obtain a Lightning Attribute Body the last time he truly focused on the Jade Piece, as well as Lightning Origin Essence Runes on his body. The runes covered every inch of his flesh, amplifying his control over lightning.
However, ever since that breakthrough, John had not been able to push his comprehensions to the next layer on the Celestial Lightning Script. However, he had never tried once he had advanced to the Core Formation Realm, as he had been too busy to do so. Now, he had the perfect opportunity to revisit that treasure of his.
A Jade Piece, glowing in the center, suddenly appeared in his hands. The creature's eyes instantly locked on the piece, as it emanated an extremely profound aura. While the creature had never seen this jade piece, it could extrapolate what it most likely was based on the rich lightning aura it was emanating.
"Is that….just how many treasures does this boy have?"
John's divine sense entered the Jade Piece, and lightning comprehensions instantly began to flood into his mind. However, he had already learned these portions, and was seeking to push his comprehensions to the next layer.
There were many layers to the Celestial Lightning Script, and each layer needed a certain lightning comprehension level to break through to.
John's divine sense surged forward, eventually coming to a halt as it reached the next layer's barrier. A thick layer obscured his ability to move forward. John studied that layer for quite some time, before his eyes opened in understanding.
"It's the profound Dao of Lightning, just like the three I recently learned about! The Dao of Lightning is obscuring my ability to study the next portion, and I need to at least reach the layers profundity with the Lightning Dao before I can move forward.'
John had already started his journey regarding the Dao of Lightning. It was the first thing he had to learn to be able to generate lightning Qi. However, that Dao level was the absolute minimum, and was only used to generate that Qi.
However, the Dao layer before him was much more advanced. It was similar in overall profundity to the battle axe Dao's he had learned.
John's mind instantly focused on that Lightning Dao layer, probing its secrets as best he could. Flashes appeared in his mind, depicting lightning attacks. Some were unleashed by cultivators, some by creatures, and some by nature.
Similar to what he had experienced with the battle axe trial, John closely studied this images that were appearing in his mind, doing his best to understand the profundities behind each attack.
The attacks he saw were awe inspiring, and with every lightning burst, mountains would crumble and oceans would empty.
He sat there in silence for quite some time, quietly ruminating on the Celestial Lightning Jade Origin Piece. The creature sat there in silence as well, closely studying John.
"He fell into a full meditative trance already. Whether his talent allowed him to do so, or if he had a heavenly treasure aiding him, it doesn't matter. Such an ability will surely allow his comprehensions to soar to terrifying levels in the future."
…
John slowly opened his eyes, a profound gleam appearing in them, as if lightning was flickering within them. A small smile appeared on his face, as his endeavor had been a success.
He quickly stood up, and a layer of dust fell off his robes. John noticed this, and quickly looked up to the creature.
"Just how long was I meditating for?" John asked curiously. He lost track of time every time he did so.
"Two weeks," the creature replied.
"Two weeks?" John slightly grimaced at this. There were those still waiting outside the trials for him. With this much time having passed, surely they would figure he had died inside these trials.
The creature, noticing John's expression, quickly understood the reason. It chuckled slightly before replying once more.
"Do not worry, the flow of time within these trials is far different than the flow outside. Only a few hours have passed in the real world."
He breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this.
"That's good then. I've done all I can to raise my strength, so I'm ready for the final trial," John said to the creature.
The creature nodded his head, and waved his hand. John felt spatial power instantly wrap around him, and a new area soon came into his vision. It was a large open platform, several miles wide and long. The platform was made of white tiles, each with many runes on it, making it look quite regal.
At the edge of the platform was emptiness. John quickly walked to the edge and peered over it. A slight shiver went up his spine, as it was an endless void below.
"I'm guessing if I'm knocked off, I die?" John asked the creature.
"Yes," the creature replied, not sugarcoating anything.
A thought crossed John's mind, as he spoke out to the creature once more.
"I'm assuming I'm fighting some formation recreation of the divine talent youths. You said there were quite a few that have passed this trial, so do I get to choose who I fight?" John asked curiously.
If he could inspect the youths beforehand, maybe he could get some clues as to who would be his best matchup.
"Normally yes," the creature replied. "However, I have given you far too many concessions so far in this trial, and so I will be choosing your opponent for you."
John frowned at this response, but didn't argue. It was true that the creature had helped him out already, and so he didn't see grounds to argue back. A small smirk appeared on the creatures face for the first time, giving John a bad feeling.
"You should recognize your opponent," the creature said in an amused tone. It waved its hand, and a flash of light appeared on the other end of the fighting platform.
John quickly turned to the source of the light as it began to fade. A figure was quickly revealed.
It was a boy who appeared about fifteen years of age. He held a thin, light blue sword in his hand, which rested at his side. Long black hair flowed down to his shoulders, framing his handsome face. An incredibly sharp and profound aura emanated off the boy.
John's face instantly became grave as he looked at the youth before him. Although the face was much younger, it still bore a resemblance to someone he had seen before. However, he clearly recognized the aura, as it was unmistakable.
"The holy aura!"