Occasional flashes of light from the clouds above illuminated John's figure, revealing his face for all to see. None of them recognized him, but they could tell he was a young boy by his features.
The sky suddenly opened up, and rain washed down on the entire sect, as if a waterfall from the heavens had opened up above the sect.
The clothes and hair of all those within the sect quickly became soaked, and a howling wind chilled them to their core. Trees toppled from the might of the winds blanketing the sect, while streets quickly became flooded. It was truly as if the apocalypse had arrived for the sect.
"Who is that?" a petrified disciple mustered the courage to ask.
"Is he a god? How did he survive that lightning?" another disciple muttered in fear.
Most of those within the sect looked up at John as if he were some fabled god, but several Elder's scrunched their eyes as they closely inspected him.
"Who are you!" an Elder loudly barked out at John. "What is the meaning of this? Is this some sort of illusion formation?"
John's vision shifted to the Elder, his cold eyes staring causing the Elder to take a slight gasp before he composed himself. It was as if a demon was staring at him.
"Come up here and find out," John replied, his voice full of cold mockery.
"You little brat," the Elder spat out. "I don't know what games you're playing, but your cultivation is clearly at the Meridian Forging Realm. This must be an illusion of some sorts."
"The only illusion here is you thinking you'll survive this night," John replied with an indifferent tone, as if talking to the Elder was beneath him.
"That's enough. It's time to end this pathetic charade!"
The Elder, clearly incensed by John's words, yelled out in anger as his body suddenly shot up into the sky. John stared at the approaching Elder with disinterest, as if such a thing was only a temporary nuisance. The Elder only had a cultivation at the Late Meridian Forging Realm, further lessening John's interest in him.
"That's Elder Jaypee! He should be able to stop whatever this is!" an excited disciple exclaimed.
The Elder took out his sword, and it began to glow powerfully as he reached John and began to swing it down on him.
Bang!
The back of John's hand slammed across the Elder's face before he could react, shattering his cheekbones and rocketing him down to the ground below faster than he had sped up towards John. The Elder's body slammed into the crowd below with incredible force, the force of which shattered the bodies of dozens of disciples before the Elder eventually came to an unconscious stop.
"Annoying," John spat out disdainfully.
With his essence and body cultivation both in the Meridian Forging Realm now, a Meridian Forging Elder was a trivial thing to handle for John when he utilized his full power. It would take a Heaven Tribulation Elder to challenge him at this point.
The crowd looked at John with stunned terror on their faces, as his power slowly subsided. He had exploded with the might of his Immortal Asura Transformation Art for the briefest of instants to deal with the Elder, before returning to his normal state.
The crowd was frozen in confusion and fear as they watched a trusted Elder broken with a single slap from the boy above. Several screams of agony and pain cried out for the disciples who had been mowed down by the Elder's violently crashing body.
Without a word, John suddenly rocketed down to the ground below, landing within the crowd of disciples, Elders, and other sect members. The force of his landing caused a small crater to form in the streets, the exploding debris knocking back the stronger cultivators while shattering the bodies of the weaker disciples.
Before anyone could react, the sky once again lit up brightly, as another apocalyptic beam of lightning struck down on John.
BOOM!
Just as the strike before it, this strike was even stronger than the previous, indicating that the tribulation would only get harder and harder to withstand. A massive explosion of lighting radiated outwards after striking John, washing over the nearby crowd and shattering the ground beneath their feet.
A brief moment of silence descended on the sect as the hearing of those nearby slowly came back from being deafened by the thunderous explosion. The sound of torrential rain and howling winds became audible once again.
Those who were close to the lighting strike were silenced permanently, while cries of anguish, fear, and pain spread through the crowd that was farther away. The shattered remnants of the street came into view, revealing a large crater a hundred yards wide. The crater was filled with ash and the charred bodies of those unfortunate enough to get caught up in the lightning strike, and the crowd instantly descended into panic upon seeing this.
The crowd finally realized that what was happening was far beyond their ability to stop, and everyone instantly began to flee in fear.
"Run!"
"Flee for your lives!"
The panicked cries of the crowd echoed out as they began to scatter in all directions like scurrying rats.
"Heh, it's too late for that," John snickered as he took out his scythe and dashed forward with insatiable anger and bloodlust.
The Bloodfiend Sect had tried to kill him numerous times. The Bloodfiend Sect had killed his good friend Russel. The Bloodfiend Sect had killed his fellow Fenix Clan members, and aimed to exterminate them forever.
Tonight....Tonight was the night of unbridled retribution.
His aura towered high into the sky as his scythe cleaved out rapidly, every slash reaping a life. After reaping dozens of lives with a single slash each, John dashed forward and grabbed the head of another disciple, slamming it into the ground and exploding it like a watermelon.
His finger pointed outwards immediately afterwards, as lighting snaked off of it and launched into a dense cluster of the crowd.
Lightning Ruin!
An incredibly strong beam of lightning pierced through the bodies of over two dozen disciples before eventually fading away. Without looking at the outcome of his attack, John sent off a dozen other Lightning Ruins in other directions, each one piercing towards a dense cluster of fleeing disciples, merchants, and weaker Elders, and each beam taking the lives of dozens of Bloodfiend members.
Boom!
John's fist connected with the head of a disciple he caught up to, which exploded into a fine pink mist. He raced towards another nearby cluster of disciples, who were tripping over each other and pushing their fellow members behind in an attempt to flee faster. He quickly reached them, and each swing of his scythe cleaved a person in half.
Divine Reaping Scythe!
John swung out his scythe immediately after, sending an incredibly sharp and fast horizontal attack towards another cluster of Bloodfiend members.
Che!
The Divine Reaping Scythe carved through the group like butter, separating their bodies into two.
"Die you brat!"
An angered cry rang out behind John, as a Heaven Tribulation Elder appeared behind him, daggers in hand. John scoffed and pressed off the ground, narrowly dodging the attack. The Elder prepared to send out another attack, when he suddenly looked towards the sky with absolute fear in his eyes.
BOOM!
Another beam of lighting crashed onto John, charring the Elder and dozens of other nearby disciples to ashes. John groaned as the strength of this last lightning strike was quite powerful, and rendered some of his flesh apart.
The Lightning Origin Essence Runes on his flesh glowed brilliantly, as his Lightning Attribute Body did the best to negate the damage.
With his current strength far above the other disciples, and the tribulation lighting dealing with all the powerful Elder's, John was unstoppable during this rampage of his within the sect. However, even he was starting to find it harder and harder to bear the power of the tribulation lighting in his current state.
His flesh was starting to be rent apart, revealing a small amount of muscle beneath. His flesh was seared all over as well as the damage began to accumulate. Even with his strong body and Lightning Attribute Body, the power of the tribulation lightning was immense.
"I guess I need to kick it up a notch."
Supreme Battle Art!