John's eyes trembled ever so slightly as he heard Allfiend mention his clan, but he maintained his composure as best he could.
"Fenix Clan? I'm not from any clan," John replied with a disdainful tone, as if he considered Allfiend to be a moron.
Allfiend smiled as he stared at John, as the very small tremble did not go unnoticed. He turned around and walked a few steps away from John before he turned around once again.
"Whether you admit it or not, I already know you are from the Fenix Clan. We've dug into your clan's history, and it seems as though a certain youth named John of the Fenix Clan went missing about a year ago, right before the meteoric rise of John Fenix started in the Heavenly Lightning Sect. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I think we all know better than that," Allfiend replied, the sinister smile still lingering on his face.
"We've already confirmed you're from the Fenix Clan, so there's no use hiding it anymore, not that it matters anyways," Allfiend said to John.
John grit his teeth as he heard this, as it seemed as though Allfiend knew for certain that John was part of the clan.. Any future charade would be useless.
"What are you planning to do to them?" John asked through gritted teeth.
"Do to them specifically? Nothing," Allfiend replied as he began to stride back and forth in front of John. "Other than wipe every single one of them from the face of this world. They somehow gave rise to a talent such as yourself. We can't chance that happening again, no matter how unlikely it is," Allfiend explained.
John's eyes turned incredibly icy upon hearing that, as his bloodlust exploded from his body. Allfiend stopped his pacing for a moment as he looked at John in slight surprise.
"That bloodlust is quite impressive. It's a shame you didn't grow up as a member of our sect. If you did, you truly could have helped us dominate this world in the future," Allfiend said to John. "However, we still have plans for you."
"What plans?" John asked through still gritted teeth.
"You don't need to know the specifics, as you will be dying soon. I just wanted to let you know that your clan will be a part of it. Let's just say that this continent will be drawn into quite the nightmare in the near future," Allfiend replied.
John's thoughts instantly snapped to the cauldron of blood, and what Elder Praxx said about a summoning.
"It's the summoning, isn't it? Well I can tell you now, its not going to work," John replied.
Allfiend looked at John with slight surprise on his face, before he turned to look at Elder Praxx. Elder Praxx had a look of slight embarrassment on his face, as he knew he was outed.
"Apologies, Sect Leader Allfiend. I had no idea I was telling our plans to a spy when I revealed them. However, he knows nothing else, other than its a summoning," Elder Praxx spoke out.
Allfiend continued to stare at Elder Praxx with slight anger in his eyes before his face returned back to normal and he once again turned to look at John.
"You are quite correct. Our plans do involve the summoning, but you won't be alive to see it take place. I'm guessing that since you know its a summoning, but that Thunderzen hasn't shown up yet, that you have yet to inform him of this matter. Good, but enough of that," Allfiend said as he gestured to the formation below their feet.
"This formation you are on cost us an absolute fortune to employ a Formations Grandmaster to create. Do you know what it does?" Allfiend asked.
John recalled what Allfiend had offhandedly mentioned before, as well as the fact that Chase was on a similar platform as himself.
"If I had to guess, I would imagine you're going to have Chase take over my body," John replied.
"Correct. You are quite clever it seems," Allfiend replied. "This formation will slowly erase your consciousness over the course of several weeks, while slowly infusing that of Chase's into it. When this is done, he will obtain your incredibly talented body, and use it to soar through the world of cultivation," Allfiend explained.
"Fuck off. I don't want any of this," an angry cry suddenly interrupted Allfiend.
Both John and Allfiend looked over to Chase, who had nothing but hate and anger in his eyes as he stared at his father.
"Regardless of if you want it, it will still happen. As I told you before, when you inherit his body, and the might of forbidden cultivation arts floods your veins for the first time, you will realize that I was right all along. Until then, keep quiet."
Allfiend flicked his wrist, and a stream of powerful Qi wrapped around Chase's mouth, silencing him from speaking again. After doing so, Allfiend looked back to John with great curiosity.
"Tell me, how did you become so powerful. Surely you have some amazing secrets. If you reveal them to me, I'll make your death painless. However, if you deny me these details, I'll make it so that you wish you were dead one thousand times over," Allfiend said to John menacingly.
Hearing this, John drooped his head down as he looked at the ground. Allfiend took this as a sign of defeat, and his smile began to grow larger as he waited for John to reveal all his secrets.
After a moment of silence, laughter began to fill the air.
"Hahahaha."
The laughter grew louder, and was clear for all to hear. Allfiend looked at John with slight ire, as John lifted his head to look at Allfiend while laughing at the top of his lungs.
"You find all this funny?" Allfiend asked with a voice of growing frustration. "We'll see how long you can keep this laughter up for."
"Of course I find this funny," John replied with a tone of complete mockery. "You've gone through all this trouble, and I'm about to ruin every single aspect of this plan."
"Oh?" Allfiend asked with an amused tone. "And how do you plan to do that? I'm sure that bastard Thunderzen gave you some sort of talisman to crush to inform him of any danger, but I've restricted all your movements. You're trapped, and have no way to escape this formation. So do tell me, who is going to help you get out of this?" Allfiend asked.
Boom!
An explosive power suddenly emanated from John, and all those nearby felt his power surge to incredible heights. It was as if he had gone through a metamorphosis, and his power had grown to even make some of the Elder's feel threatened.
This process continued for several minutes as Allfiend and the Elder's watched on, and they even felt a tinge of the heaven's descend before quickly retreating. Several minutes later, the violent energy exploding from John's body subsided, returning the area to normal once again.
Allfiend studied John closely, and quickly noticed what had happened.
"You broke through to the Meridian Forging Realm? That was your plan? Are you truly so stupid as to think that this little bit of power is enough to break the formation that binds you?" Allfiend asked.
After he was captured, John had allowed the pill he had isolated from his stomach to once again be absorbed. Slowly but surely, he infused all the energy into his dantian, and at the very end, had ascended to the Meridian Forging Realm.
He instantly felt his power increase several fold, and he quickly guided the remaining energy through his meridians, reinforcing them and expanding them, making them much more formidable.
At the same time, astral meridians, gifted from the heaven's themselves, fused with his meridians, making them stronger once more. With all this done, John's power exploded to incredible levels, and his meridians were capable of withstanding much greater energy flows. John also felt his soul advance an entire realm as well, ascending from the Soul Condensation Realm to the Soul Sea Realm.
His soul space, which was a condensed sphere of soul energy, instantly expanded to incredible proportions, expanding to a sea of soul energy. He felt his soul grow much more powerful, and his divine sense climb to new heights.
Allfiend was also initially shocked at the power John had displayed, as it had been quite incredible, and far beyond what a newly ascended Meridian Forging expert should be capable of.
However, as Allfiend had mentioned, it was still not enough to break free of the formation that bound him.
John relished in his power for a moment before he looked up at Allfiend with a look of absolute confidence.
"No, I'm not stupid enough to think this bit of power is enough to help me escape," John replied, his voice tinged with mockery. "You asked me who I'm getting to help me break free of this formation? Well you're right. It's not Thunderzen, but something much, much stronger."
Allfiend had a look of confusion on his face as he heard John's explanation. He was about to mock him further, when another muffled boom echoed out from within John's body.
Just like before, a wild energy surged from within his body, bathing the nearby area with incredible power. The robes of Allfiend and the nearby Elders fluttered violently as an incredibly demonic and bloodthirsty aura exploded off from John with absolute power.
Even someone as powerful as Allfiend took a slight step backwards, as he was unsure of what was going on. To them, it was as if John was going through a second Meridian Forging ascension, but they all knew such a thing was impossible.
Boom!
An extremely loud crack exploded up above the heads of everyone, drawing all their attentions. The eyes of all the Elder's, as well as Allfiend's, widened with shock and horror.
Tribulation Clouds!
