Two weeks later…
"Che!"
A small sword light traveled through the air before colliding into the body of an early Mist Creation level beast.
"Roar!"
The beast howled in pain as a large wound was opened up on its side. Seizing the opportunity, John dashed forward quickly. He evaded the attack of the wounded beast before plunging his sword deeply into the beast, killing it.
John stored the beast's body away before continuing on.
"That's the 10th early Mist Creation level beast I've killed so far. All this battle experience has really helped me comprehend the essence of the Mountain Crushing Sword."
After two weeks of continuous battle, John had reached a new level of comprehension regarding both the Mountain Crushing Sword and the Five Step Movement Technique. Although he was still stuck on the second step, he was much closer to successfully executing the third step than before.
Additionally, he cultivated the Immortal Asura Body every night, as well as studied the Celestial Lightning Script jade piece. John would also send his soul into the palace every night to temper his will in front of the sinister gate and strengthen his soul in front of the holy gate.
Although John could only last a few minutes in front of the sinister gate, it was enough to slowly temper his will. Standing resolutely in the face of pure evil helped John steel his nerves and resolve.
"Every single aspect of my cultivation is improving rapidly. At this rate, I should be able to reach the late Mist Creation realm before the tournament" John said with an excited expression.
John walked for some time before coming to a stop as a thought crept into his mind.
"Although my greatsword is still useful, it's still a Body Refinement grade weapon. The only Mist Creation grade weapon I have is the scythe, but I don't have any techniques for it. I wonder if I can use the Mountain Crushing Sword while holding the scythe?"
A black scythe appeared in John's hands as he took the attacking position required for the Mountain Crushing Sword technique.
"This is still pretty damn heavy" said John as the weight of the scythe caused his body to dip down a bit. He strained his muscles to support the weight of the scythe.
Having practiced the Mountain Crushing Sword Technique quite extensively, John had become very proficient in correctly guiding his Qi through the required meridian channels and into his weapon.
John focused for a bit before sending his Qi through the required meridian channels in accordance to the Mountain Crushing Sword. His scythe started to glow slightly as more Qi was poured into it, at which point John swung his scythe forward with all his might.
"Bang!"
The ground in front of John was violently upheaved as a large crater appeared. John was sent flying backwards violently from the force of the attack, his face completely pale.
John lay on the ground completely dirty and bloodied. He winced in pain as he gasped for air over and over. Using his remaining strength, he took out a Life Mist Healing Pill and popped it into his mouth.
John crawled into a seated position and focused on guiding the medicinal healing properties of the pill throughout his body. Several hours later, John finally opened his eyes. His pale white face had once more returned to normal.
"I almost just killed myself! I'm lucky that no strong beasts came here after all that noise, or I might have died. Good thing I've also strengthened my body with the Immortal Asura Body cultivation art, or I might have actually died there. Cultivating both essence and body sure is amazing!"
John calmed his mind before thinking about the attack that had severely injured him.
"My Qi control was flawless, but as I poured my Qi into the weapon, I could feel the technique become disharmonious. Instead of pouring my Qi into the blade of the sword, I had to first channel it through the handle of the scythe and up to the curved blade at the top. That was when I felt myself lose control of the technique. Half of the power ended up being used properly while the other half exploded outwards violently in front of me."
"I suppose this technique really is only suitable for a greatsword. I have to say though, the power of this attack was monstrous. Even with half the power being wasted, it's still far more powerful than when I use my greatsword. The difference in weapon quality really does make a difference."
"If I run into a situation where my greatsword isn't enough, this attack will be a great fallback. The only problem is that it causes damage to myself, and uses up almost all my Qi. I'll only be able to use it as a last resort."
John focused on recovering to his peak state before standing up and continuing on. Several hours later, John came to a sudden stop, his breath caught in his throat.
"That's a Tree Baloth!"
As John was walking through the forest, he just barely managed to spot a Tree Baloth sleeping on a tree branch. The Tree Baloth was two hundred yards in front of him, and hadn't yet noticed John's presence.
"It's at the late Mist Creation realm."
John made as little noise as possible as he silently retreated.
"There's no way I can fight that."
John retreated for several miles before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I guess I've traveled a bit too far into the forest. Let's see where we are" thought John as he pulled out his map.
Based on his movements over the last several weeks, John surmised he was about halfway between the Fenix Clan and the Dreadel Kingdom.
"If I turn north from here, I'll eventually run into the Dreadel Kingdom after several hundred miles. There appears to be a few towns and villages on the way as well. I guess I'll head that way since it was my original goal to make it over there."
Putting away the map, John turned north and started walking in the direction of the Dreadel Kingdom. Night came before John decided to set up camp. After setting up the perimeter formation disk, John took out a corpse of an early Mist Creation realm beast he had slain earlier in the day.
He made a cut between the brow of the animal and extracted the blood essence. Following the Immortal Asura Body diagram, John guided the blood essence into the sphere. As the blood entered the sphere, John could feel the energy within grow slightly stronger before coming to an abrupt halt.
"Hmm? It stopped absorbing the blood? What's going on?"
Just as John was about to send his divine sense to the sphere to investigate, a muffled boom echoed throughout his body. A shocked expression appeared on John's face.