The falling dust faded, revealing John standing there on the shattered ground below. His body was bloodied, with several small wounds visible, indicating that he had taken quite some damage in that last attack.
However, the Elder didn't even notice the wounds, as his eyes were locked onto John's. John's blood red eyes stared back at him, as if he were a predator staring at his prey. On top of his head, two small blood red protrusions stuck out. An aura of red and black surrounded him, exuding a dense bloodlust.
Faint red rune lines were visible on his exposed skin, while his body surged with absolute power.
"What the hell is this?" the Meridian Forging Elder couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
Not only the Elder, but Elder Rein, as well as the other Bloodfiend Elder also took a second to take a look at John, completely shocked at what they saw and felt. Not only had he gone through some kind of transformation, the power and aura he was displaying right now was not something a Late Core Formation cultivator should be capable of.
In the far distance, the Heavenly Lightning Sect Disciples, who were still fighting with their lives on the line, noticed John's reappearance and increase in power. Although they had only known him for a short time, they had come to like him quite well.
Their fighting spirits ignited even further as they saw John appear from that terrifying attack, and their assault on their Bloodfiend opponents intensified greatly.
After a moment of pure shock, the Bloodfiend Elder recovered his wits. He looked down on John from above as he spoke out to him.
"No matter. While your power is impressive, you're stil-"
His words cut off as John pressed off the ground, rocketing towards him like a bullet from below. The ground shattered beneath John's feet, as a wave of earth radiated outwards. He reached the Bloodfiend Elder in an instant, and his axe cleaved out with incredible power.
The Elder noticed the attack, but scoffed at it. Unlike before, John wasn't even using his Sky Sundering Axe, and was only using a physical attack. The Elder considered such an attack an insult to him, and slashed his sword out powerfully in response.
Bang!
Weapons collided, and the Elder's eyes widened quickly as his body shot back like a cannonball into the distance. The power of John's normal axe attack had been far beyond his expectations, and was not something even a body cultivator should be capable of.
After being knocked back hundreds of yards, the Elder finally managed to stabilize his body. He looked back towards John, and grit his teeth as he slashed out with all his might. John had appeared before him against in an instant, and was cleaving down towards him with his axe.
This time however, the axe was exuding the aura of John's Sky Sundering Axe.
"Crimson Blade Slash!"
The Elder countered with his Crimson Blade Slash, which had been the powerful move he used before to injure John. However, he did not have as much time to prepare the attack, and so its power was reduced. Not only that, but the Elder was used to attacking with sword images and not his sword directly, as most essence cultivators chose to do.
Weapons collided, and an absolutely horrifying explosion radiated outwards. Two bodies shot out of the explosion, each followed by a trail of smoke. John's body flew back several hundred yards, while the Elder flew back even more.
John recovered his balance first, and pointed his finger towards the distant Elder. The Elder had underestimated John, allowing him to take the initiative in this battle. John was not about to let that advantage slip away from him.
Lightning Ruin!
A powerful lightning beam exploded out of his fingers, piercing directly towards the Elder. John shot off a dozen more lightning beams in the span of a few seconds, each with incredible power.
The Elder finally managed to control the tumbling blood and Qi within his body, and stabilized himself in the air. He looked back towards John, and noticed a barrage of lightning beams already upon him. The power of the lightning beams were not something the Elder could ignore and take head on.
The Elder slashed his blade out rapidly, each one meeting a lightning beam and neutralizing the attack. His body was knocked slightly backwards with each exchange, but he had taken no damage. His head suddenly snapped upwards as John appeared directly above him, his speed incredible due to his Limiter of Speed and Thunderflash Steps.
John's battle axe cleaved down on the Elder, who raised his sword to block the attack at the last moment.
Bang!
Blood slightly escaped the Elder's lips from the force of the blow, as his body shot down to the earth below like a bullet. The Elder fell into the forest below in an instant, his body snapping each and every tree he collided with.
The Elder's body flew through a small wooden cabin, destroying most of it, before colliding into the earth a short distance away. His sword fell out of his hand and landed a short distance away from him.
Boom!
A small crater formed from the impact. The Elder quickly bounded to his feet, blood trickling from his mouth as he did the best to not allow John to take the initiative any further. While John had been overwhelming in his assault, it was mostly because the Elder had underestimated him. Now that he had regained some distance, the battle would become much more of a stalemate.
John quickly appeared near the Elder, landing on the ground. He prepared to dash forward and unleash yet another attack, when a small sound appeared to the side of him.
Both John and the Elder paused their battle, as they looked towards the source of the sound. It was incredibly soft, but for some reason, it caught both of their attention.
The sound came from the nearby cabin, which the Elder's body had flown through and broken half of it. The roof and most of the walls had been destroyed, revealing the interiors of the cabin. The cabin was mostly empty, save for a wooden chair, desk, and simple bed.
On the chair, a lone man sat, holding an item in his hands. The man's face was shrouded by a hood, which obscured his face in darkness. His shirt was sleeveless, revealing two incredibly powerful looking arms.
The man, who sat there motionlessly, seemed to blend into the very world itself, as if he was a natural part of it.
"Someone's here?" John couldn't help but muse out loud in surprise. The battle between the two sects had been incredibly intense, and he was surprised that someone would still stick around in the area.
His divine sense quickly scanned over the man, but he could not detect a cultivation at all. When he tried to see what his face looked like, John was unable to do so. It was as if something was blocking his divine sense from inspecting the man.
'Is he a mortal? Or is he like the Vice-Sect Leader, whose cultivation is too high to detect?'
However, it was different than the Vice-Sect Leader. With her, he couldn't directly detect her cultivation, but he could still tell that she was a cultivator. However, this man exuded absolutely no aura at all, as if he were a mortal.
His divine sense washed over the item in the man's hands, which was revealed to be a simple picture frame. The picture frame held a portrait of someone, seemingly a woman, however, it was half destroyed, most likely from the Elder crashing through the cabin.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the hooded man slowly stood up. Although there were no Qi disturbances or powerful aura's coming off the man, John felt as if an ancient, slumbering volcano, was awakening before him.
The man looked towards the Bloodfiend Elder, who finally gathered his wits. He too inspected the man, and found him to have no cultivation. The Elder frowned as he stared at the man.
"Get lost, or don't blame me for killing you as well," the Elder said to the man in a cold voice.
The hooded man, whose features were still obscured, looked at the Elder, and then the Elder's sword lying a short distance away.
"Pick up your weapon," the mysterious man's voice sounded out. The voice was deep and gruff, and exuded a sense of calm and rising anger at the same time, confusing John at how such a thing was possible.
"What? You dare command me?" The Bloodfiend Elder rebuked, incensed that a mortal would tell him what to do.
"Pick up your weapon," the man instructed once more. "Every man deserves the honor of dying with a weapon in their hands."
The Bloodfiend Elder exploded in a rage, absolutely incensed that a mortal would command him twice.
"Die!" he cried out, as the Elder pointed towards the mysterious man, about to unleash a Qi attack.
The Elder's angered face instantly turned to shock, and then pure fear, as his body suddenly disintegrated in less than a second.
John took a step backwards at this sight, as without warning, the Elder who had been fighting had disappeared from the world. He was about to flee, when the mysterious man turned to look at him.
He felt as if death was staring at him.