John had received a sound transmission from Elder Ragur when he had first arrived, telling him to do what he wanted, and that he would protect him.
Sound transmissions were direct communications of the mind, and it became possible to transmit sound transmissions once one ascended to the Heaven Tribulation Realm.
"Thanks to your help, I was able to reach this realm quite quickly," Elder Ragur replied with a smile on his face.
John inspected the Elder closely, observing his power increase. While he was not actively emitting his aura, John could tell that Elder Ragur had leaped forward a great deal in power. Faint fluctuations of the heavens itself lingered around the Elder, making him even more profound.
"You just ascended to the Heaven Tribulation Realm. There's no way he's become your direct disciple already," the Elder watching John and Elder Ragur scoffed.
He wanted John's life, here and now.
"How could you possibly know about our business, Elder Wren. Besides, words are useless. If you want John, you'll have to deal with me first," Elder Ragur replied.
"Deal with you?" Elder Wren scoffed. "You just ascended, while I have been in this realm for hundreds of years. I would crush you in an instant," Elder Wren replied.
"Oh? Then try me," Elder Ragur rebuked.
Elder Wren narrowed his eyes as he stared at Elder Ragur. While it was true that he had been in the Heaven Tribulation Realm for much longer, they were both in the Early Heaven Tribulation Realm.
Not only that, but Elder Wren was a formation's expert, who toiled away on non combat related things. Elder Ragur however, was an Elder of the Enforcement Hall, and specialized in combat first and foremost.
While the Elder's were arguing, John felt the gaze of someone familiar fall on him. He turned his head to the direction he was feeling the gaze come from, and his eyes quickly lit up as he spotted who it was.
He laughed loudly before yelling out loud for the entire crowd to hear.
"Haha, Hunter, why are you hiding in the crowd like that? Come out here and let's finish what we started, or should I say, what you started but could not finish."
All eyes turned to where John was looking, and quickly spotted Hunter doing his best to mingle with the crowd. However, as a Direct Disciple, almost everyone knew what he looked like, and they soon picked him out of the crowd.
Hunter felt the gaze of everyone fall on him, and could tell that those eyes were full of judging and ridicule. John had claimed to have beaten him despite being a major realm lower in cultivation, and despite being in the crowd, Hunter had not rebuked this.
If it was not true, everyone knew that Hunter would have stepped forward and disparaged the claim, but he had not done so. The eyes of all in the crowd lit up as they thought of the possibility of John' story actually being true.
If that was the case, then John was even more of a monster than anyone knew, and the Heavenly Lightning Sect had an absolute prodigy in its midst.
With all the eyes on him, Hunter knew that he could not run away from this, or he would confirm the rumors about him and John. His usual prideful look once again appeared on his face as he began to strut from out of the crowd towards John.
"I wasn't hiding. I was waiting to see how my master makes you beg like a dog, but I guess I can be the one to do that instead," Hunter replied.
However, John could see uncertainty in Hunter's eyes as he approached John. Hunter knew that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but he could not back down now, or he would be ridiculed for life.
"Is that so? Then why don't we finish what we started right now," John replied.
Hunter was a loose end that he had to tie up, no matter what.
Hunter looked at John as if he was looking at an ant, making sure to keep up his act of confident bravado.
"Hmph," Hunter scoffed as he finally reached John and stood before him. John's face was slightly pale, due to having no body Qi, and this fact was not unnoticed by Hunter.
Hunter's eyes slightly lit up at this sight, as he assumed John was in a bad combat shape from something that happened within the realm. While he was not wrong, he was only half right, as John's potent essence Qi was still filled to the brim and ready to go.
Boom!
A loud boom echoed behind John once more, and he quickly turned around to see Elder Ragur standing before him once more. Elder Ragur's eyes were burning with anger now.
"Elder Wren, if you try that again, I will cut you down where you stand. Do not test my patience."
Elder Ragur wanted nothing more than to kill Elder Wren right now, but an Elder killing another Elder was a serious matter. He could not just go about it willy nilly, even if Elder Wren was targeting John.
"What's going on here?" An ancient voice suddenly sounded out across the massive courtyard, filing the ears of everyone present.
Everyone instantly recognized the voice.
"The Sect Leader!"
As if summoned, the Sect Leader suddenly appeared within the courtyard. His movements were so fast that no one had seen him arrive, but only that he now stood within the courtyard. He emanated absolutely no aura, and appeared to be just like a mortal, but everyone knew better.
Elder Wren immediately stepped forward and bowed to the Sect Leader before quickly replying.
"Esteemed Sect Leader, John attacked Hunter within the formation lands a month ago, and thanks to a strange item he found within the realm, nearly took his life. I am here to get justice. The Sect rules are clear. If one targets another member of the sect with the intent to kill, then their life is forfeit. Please help me get justice."
Elder Wren had changed tunes immediately once the Sect leader arrived. He made sure to mention that John had won due to a strange item he had found, in order to maintain Hunter's status as a top disciple.
"Is that true? Did he only win due to an incredible item he found?" several in the crowd asked.
"Who knows. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not," another replied.
"Is that so?" the Sect Leader replied with a calm voice as he suddenly looked towards John.
John stood there calmly, as if none of these things were related to him. The Sect Leader smiled slightly as he noticed John's improvement, but was quick to hide that smile.
"I merely tried to cut down a useless fool who targeted me first is all," John replied nonchalantly as he shrugged his shoulders.
"See, he admits to his crimes," Elder Wren quickly chimed up.
Sect Leader Thunderzen remained quiet as he stared at both John and Hunter. "You two, come to me," he suddenly chimed up.
John immediately began to walk towards the Sect Leader, while Hunter paused for a moment before approaching as well.
Both of them stood before him, awaiting his instructions. "I want you both to focus on the fight you had in the wastelands, and only that fight," Thunderzen suddenly instructed.
Both John and Hunter didn't know the reason for this, but followed along anyways. They thought back to the fight.
Thunderzen suddenly grabbed the heads of both John and Hunter on each of his hands.
"What is he doing?" the crowd couldn't help but ask.
The eyes of many Elder's suddenly went wide, Elder Wren included, as a thought crossed their mind.
"He couldn't be doing a targeted memory search, could he? One's cultivation would have to be in the Wor-" One Elder mused out loud, but his musings were soon confirmed as an incredibly profound energy emanated off the Sect Leader.
"World Expansion Realm! The Sect Leader is actually in the World Expansion Realm!" several Elders exclaimed in surprise.
The Sect Leader had not revealed his full cultivation in thousands of years, and so no one truly knew where it stood. However, today it was confirmed, shocking all those within the sect.
While the crowd and Elder's were completely shocked, John and Hunter felt an energy invade their souls. This energy locked onto the memories they were focusing on, and began to read them.
Targeted memory searches were much harder than normal soul searches, and could only be done when reaching a certain realm. Normal soul searches were brutish, like kicking a door down to get inside. While this would work for getting inside, one would leave much damage in its wake, and the soul would be greatly harmed.
Targeted soul searches were much more gentle, like picking the lock to a door and opening it the proper way to get inside. However, they were much harder to do, and required an incredibly powerful cultivation and soul to do so.
'So that's why he wanted us to focus on the fight we had!'
John finally understood the intentions of the Sect Leader. The Sect Leader quickly read their memories of the fight, his face going grave at the sight of Hunter using his Soul Banner. Hunter began to become a nervous mess, but was unable to break away from the Sect Leader. All he could do was stand there in silent panic.
When their memories got to the mysterious girl, the Sect Leader's eyes narrowed for a moment, as a thought of who it may be crossed his mind. He eventually got to the end of the fight, as which point he let go of both Hunter and John.
"Sect Leader...I can explain!" Hunter suddenly exclaimed in a panicked voice.
His panic and words shocked the crowd, as they could immediately tell that Hunter was attempting to justify himself.
"Fuck your explanation," John suddenly interrupted. He looked at the sect leader before him.
"Sect Leader Thunderzen, now that you've seen the truth, I have a request. I request a life and death duel with Hunter, right here, right now!"