"Take out your weapon," the Vice-Sect Leader instructed. Against her expectations, John had passed the initial training agendas she had in place, and had even exceeded them.
John followed the instructions, and his battle axe appeared in his hands.
He could choose between the battle axe or the scythe, but decided to use the axe. While his Divine Reaping Scythe was his most powerful and profound essence attack, he only had the first three stages to it. The last stage he had was for Core Formation attacks, and so it would soon become obsolete unless he found the additional stages somehow.
As such, John wanted to get as powerful with the battle axe as he could, as he had already started to infuse three Dao's into it. While he could infuse the Dao of Annihilation into his scythe attacks, as they would mesh incredibly well, the Dao of Power and the Dao of Destruction did not mesh well with a scythe.
With this in mind, his battle axe was his highest priority right now.
John stood there, battle axe in hand, as he awaited further instruction from the Vice-Sect Leader.
The Vice-Sect Leader stood there and closely inspected John. She nodded her head in approval.
"You have quite a formidable battle intent. I can tell you've been through many life and death battles so far in your cultivation journey," the Vice-Sect Leader said to John, his voice tinged with approval.
"Now, I want you to attack me with your utmost ability."
John's ears perked up at hearing this. He would take any opportunity to attack the woman before him.
His battle axe was steadied at his side, while John took a moment to calm himself and entered a focused state. Lightning immediately coated his legs, and he quickly dashed forward.
Thunderflash Ste-
Bang!
A simple wooden stick suddenly struck John on the side of the head, and his body was launched sideways, tumbling over the mountaintop for several dozen yards before coming to a stop.
He quickly stood up while rubbing his aching cheek.
"What the fuck was that for?" John yelled out towards the Vice-Sect Leader.
Just as he had started his attack, the Vice-Sect Leader appeared before him, and slapped him in the face with a simple wooden stick. However, the power behind the attack was immense, and it sent John flying with ease.
"I never said I wouldn't strike back," the Vice-Sect Leader replied. "Besides, with the way you telegraphed your movements, even someone weaker than you would have been able to do the same thing just now."
"What are you talking about? How did I telegraph my moves?" John asked in a disgruntled tone.
"Figure it out yourself, but for this training, every time you telegraph your move to me too early, the same thing will happen. Again."
John frowned upon hearing this, but assumed his attacking stance once more. His mind calmed down, and he focused on the Vice-Sect Leaders words.
'Maybe the Thunderflash Steps gave it away, lets try it with only using my body speed, amplified by my unlocked Limiter of Speed. Lets go!'
Bang!
John once again found himself slapped by the wooden stick as soon as he started moving. His body was once again thrown to the side, tumbling in the dirt before righting himself.
"What the hell! You're just using your superior cultivation to do this shit. There's no way I telegraphed my movements there," John yelled out at the Vice-Sect Leader.
"Oh? Is that so?" An amused look appeared on the Vice-Sect Leaders face as she listened to John's outburst.
"Fine. I'll limit my cultivation to the Late Core Formation Realm. Try it again," she replied.
John felt the Vice-Sect Leaders cultivation be forcefully restricted to the Late Core Formation Realm. While her instincts and battle arts would still be amazing, the amount of power and speed she could explode out with was limited now, and would restrict her to the Core Formation Realm.
John smiled as he saw this.
'I don't believe her lies. There's no way she can do this in the same realm as me.'
John instantly dashed forward, attempting to catch the Vice-Sect Leader off guard. However, his eyes widened as the Vice-Sect Leader appeared directly before him in an instant. Her expressionless eyes stared at him, while her hand travelled in a graceful arc towards his face.
Bang!
The wooden stick once again found John's face, knocking him back several yards. However, since the Vice-Sect Leaders power was restricted, the blow was much less severe.
John instantly turned around and stared at the Vice-Sect Leader, unsure of what had just happened.
'Her movement speed was not anything a Late Core Formation cultivator couldn't do, but she appeared before me, before I could react, and landed that blow. Maybe my movements are too obvious. Let's change it up a bit.'
John once again dashed towards the Vice-Sect Leader. She appeared before him once more, and John internally scoffed as he saw her hand with the wooden stick start to swing towards him.
'Too obvious!'
John ducked down at the last moment, intending to duck under the stick and land an attack from below. His axe began to swing out with a low arc, slicing up towards the Vice-Sect Leader's waist.
Bang!
A loud sound echoed out as John was once again knocked backwards. A thin red line appeared on his face, indicating that he had once again been struck. He looked back towards the Vice-Sect Leader, unsure of what had happened.
His movements had been extremely well timed, and he thought he would be able to get away with his schemes.
'Just what the hell is going on?'
The Vice-Sect Leader's movements were not all that quick, and were most definitely something a Core Formation Cultivator was capable of, but still John was not able to dodge her attacks.
"Again," the Vice-Sect Leader commanded.
John grit his teeth as he once again dashed towards her.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The sound of wood hitting face continuously rang out on the mountaintop for many many hours, as John was flung backwards over and over. His face was now red and slightly welted from the amount of face attacks he had taken.
'How the hell can the Vice-Sect Leader keep up with me, despite being slower than me? Also, I can't seem to dodge her attacks either.'
John wracked his mind for solutions, and came up with a few as he once again dashed towards the Vice-Sect Leader.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The next few hours played out the same as before, with John being made a fool by the Vice-Sect Leader. John's face was almost unrecognizable by now, and his anger was reaching its boiling point.
Despite asking many times, the Vice-Sect Leader refused to elaborate how she was able to predict his movements so easily.
'Motherfucker. I'll hit this old wench if it's the last thing I do!'
John's anger reached an absolute peak, but he did his best to suppress it.
John suddenly sat down and entered a meditative position, calming his mind and completely forgetting about the Vice Sect Leader. The Vice-Sect Leaders eyebrows raised slightly at his actions, but she decided not to disturb them.
'Calm down! Calm down! I can't do anything to her if I'm wearing my emotions on my sleeve. Let's think. What could she possibly be doing....I don't feel her divine sense on me, so she must be predicting my movements visually. What can she see visually when I attack her. She can see my movements, my angle of attacks, but she reacts to them even before I start them. There has to be something she's seeing before I start my attacks.'
John began to think about everything that had happened so far, and for any solutions he could think of. His mind quickly entered a meditative trance as he attuned with his palace realm, increasing his comprehension and learning speeds greatly.
"Oh? He entered a meditative trance this easily? Quite impressive," The Vice-Sect Leader mused to herself in surprise.
John continued to play the fights with the Vice-Sect Leader from today, as well as all the fights from his life thus far. Every inch of the battles were analyzed in great detail, looking for any and all clues he could find.
An hour later, John's eyes finally opened slowly, his eyes calm and relaxed.
'So that's what it was. I can't believe I was doing such a thing the entire time.'
John shook his head at himself before slowly standing up. His calm eyes stared at the Vice-Sect Leader who stood before him, and his body quickly seemed to meld away. Despite being visible to the naked eyes, John's aura had completely vanished, making him appear like a mortal. Not only that, but his movements became incredibly relaxed, as he slowly began to walk towards the Vice-Sect Leader.
The Vice-Sect Leader once again raised her eyebrows in surprise, and slight shock as she watched John slowly approach her.
"Interesting," a smile appeared on her face, and she opened her arms wide as if welcoming John towards her. "Show me what you've got."