After the brief yet explosive battle between John and Aaron, only silence remained as everyone fell into a stunned stupor. Aaron, the youth that had been rampaging with absolute power within this trial had just been defeated in the blink of an eye by someone who had a lower cultivation than him.
In fact, it didn’t even look like John had really tried, as all he did was beat Aaron with his incredibly powerful body before Aaron could react. Aaron had not gone all out either, as he had been defeated before he could even pull out his weapon, but such a thing could only be blamed on Aaron himself. Any cultivator treating a fight with such a half-hearted attitude didn’t deserve to win in the first place.
“Wha….what the hell just happened?” a stunned youth asked his nearby friends.
However, all he received in response was silence, as almost everyone else was too stunned to speak.
The sounds of cheering suddenly filled the area, as those from the Yuan Continent branch finally got to vent their frustrations at Aaron’s overbearingness throughout this trial. Watching him get beat savagely by John’s arms and legs was beyond refreshing, and even Mason Light, who still had his badge on him couldn’t help but softly cheer.
Their entire branch sect had been looked down upon this entire week, and so having a victory such as this, even if it wasn’t their own personal victory, was more than rewarding.
“You would have put up a better fight if you had taken me seriously,” John said to Aaron, who laid on the ground below him, barely conscious. “Although the outcome wouldn’t have changed. You only have yourself to blame for making yourself such an enticing target.”
John clipped the bag of identification badges to his waste, thoroughly securing it, before he prepared to hop out of the crater. However, a sound from beneath him caught his attention, and he turned to look at what was going on.
“Ow…my head…what the fuck just happene-“
While rubbing his head in a pained manner, Adam suddenly crawled out of the ground before John. John couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise at the sight of Adam crawling out of the ground, as such a thing was beyond unexpected.
“Adam? What the hell are you doing down here?” John couldn’t help but ask as he reached out to help Adam stand up.
“John?” Adam replied in a dazed manner as he accepted his help and stood up out of the rubble which had been on top of him. His gaze swept around in all directions, and his eyes slightly widened as he noticed the absolute carnage around him, before his gaze settled on the barely conscious Aaron below him.
The destruction, the crater, the barely conscious Aaron. Everything came together and painted a picture for Adam, who suddenly reached out and punched John on the shoulder as hard as he could.
“First you abandon me earlier in the trial, and now you destroy my hiding spot! Are you trying to get me killed?” Adam cried out in unhappy protest, although he did so mostly in a joking manner.
“I had no idea you were down here,” John replied. “In fact, why the hell are you hiding like a rat down here?”
“It might be a newsflash to you, but some of us don’t have abnormally freakish strength, and need to do other things to ensure our survival,” Adam replied, his voice slightly disgruntled.
“Maybe you would be stronger if you tried a bit harder, instead of running away at every slight inconvenience,” John replied as he rolled his eyes at Adam’s antics.
Adam opened his mouth to argue once again, but quickly silenced himself as he tried to think of a good counter argument. However, no matter how he thought about it, John was right.
“Just go join the others up there,” John said as he pointed to the top of a nearby mountain. Adam looked over to the mountain, and spotted a large group gathered there, which consisted of youths from their branch sect.
Chase, June, Mason, and other strong disciples were there, and Adam nodded his head in silent agreement. However, he glanced at Aaron below him for a moment as a frown appeared on his face, before he kicked him in the ribs once as hard as he could.
“That’s for chasing me earlier in the trial. I nearly died because of your attacks, you bastard.”
After venting his frustrations, Adam turned and climbed out of the crater, leaving only John down there with Aaron. John raised a single eyebrow as he watched Adam leave.
‘He was chased by Aaron and actually managed to successfully evade him. It seems as though his running and hiding skills are without equal.’
John shook his head once again at Adams’ antics, as he had clearly designed formations to help him run and hide instead of fight.
‘If only he used that big brain of his to come up with attack formations, he could most likely be one of the strongest disciples here.’
John shook his head once more at his incredibly smart yet incredibly dumb friend, before he too jumped out of the crater.
Boom!
John landed with a thud just outside the crater, and his vision quickly turned to the next person on his list.
Just a few dozen yards away, Iris still stood there, looking at John intently. She carried none of the arrogance as Aaron did, but instead seemed to be looking at John with intense curiosity. John couldn’t tell what she was thinking, which was a rather strange feeling to him.
Most cultivators wore their emotions on their sleeves, and one could quickly identify what they wanted or thought. However, Iris seemed to be an enigma to John. Her eyes subtly changed color, becoming an even deeper and more piercing color of blue as she stared at John.
John suddenly felt as if he was being seen through completely, leaving no secrets behind.
‘She’s strong.’
Iris’s vision shifted to John’s abdomen, where his dantians existed, and lingered there for a short moment as a look of confusion appeared on her face.
After the brief moment of confusion, her expression seemed to become one of determination and commitment as she slowly started walking towards John.
“As I said to Aaron, I’ll say the same thing to you. Give me your bag of badges, or suffer the same fate as Aaron,” John said to Iris, cutting straight to the most important topic at hand.
Iris continued to calmly walk towards John, and John detected no hostility from her at all.
‘She’s not actually going to just hand me her badges, right? Things are never that easy,’ John couldn’t help but muse internally as he watched Iris walk up to him and stand just a few feet away.
The two stared at each other for a short while, neither making a movement, before Iris suddenly reached out and grabbed her bag, and to the surprise of all, handed it to John. However, the words she uttered next were even more shocking than her actions.
“Here you go,” she said with a cheerful smile as she handed the bag to John. “The badges I have collected for you are all yours, Master!”