John followed Gerrid as the two sped across the land. Their direction seemed to be random to John, as he could not see any indicators of them moving towards anything in particular. Gerrid would stop occasionally to check a map he had and compare it against local landmarks, before continuing on his journey once again.
'I really should have gotten a map for this realm,' John cursed himself internally. 'Oh well, I was too busy to even think about such a thing.'
His thoughts shifted to the recent lightning cultivation in the clouds above.
'Cultivating the Celestial Lightning Script within those clouds was incredibly useful. The Celestial Lightning Script requires real lightning to cultivate, and so I can't cultivate it whenever I like. Both my Lightning Attribute Body and lightning comprehensions received a nice boost, but I still don't think it's enough. My body only improved slightly, and my comprehensions are still stuck on the second stage of the Celestial Lightning Script. From what I can tell, there are at least six different layers, maybe more, so I'm still incredibly lacking. I need to look for more opportunities to raise both my body quality and lightning comprehensions in this realm.'
"By the way, what's your name?" Gerrid suddenly asked, breaking John out of his thoughts.
"John," he glanced over to Gerrid and replied.
"Where did you come from, John?" Gerrid asked as he sped forward. "You're clearly from a branch sect."
"The Yuan Continent branch sect," John replied casually as he sped forward alongside Gerrid.
"The Yuan Continent branch? Isn't that branch always the worst branch every year regarding entrance exam placements? How did you get so strong in a place like that?" Gerrid asked, his tone slightly surprised.
"I had some lucky chances," John replied with a short response, revealing nothing to Gerrid. He had only just met the youth and didn't see the need to reveal anything important to him.
"Lucky chances huh?" Gerrid replied. "Whatever those lucky chances were must have been amazing."
While Gerrid had not confirmed the extent of John's strength, he knew it was far above anything he had seen before. He had never thought an attack from a Middle Meridian Forging youth could threaten him as John's attack had done.
While the attack was only effective due to him not expecting a first year to attack him which resulted in his hasty defense, he could still tell it contained power equal to his own casual attacks. He didn't know if that attack from John's was an all-out attack or a casual one, but he leaned towards the former, as the latter was truly something he could not believe.
"How long until we arrive in this area you spoke of?" John asked, changing the subject from himself.
"Several days," Gerrid replied. "We should start seeing various things appear occasionally in about a day or so. Things like lightning beasts, vegetation, and other things of potential worth."
"What's in the center of this area you're taking us to?" John asked, curious as to what opportunities might exist.
"It depends, as the opportunities change from year to year. Last year there were very few opportunities, while the year before had several ancient buildings appear, each with their own treasures contained inside if one was strong enough to break through the defenses."
"Is that so?" John replied with a neutral expression.
'Hopefully this year has many opportunities and isn't like the previous year. Only time will tell I suppose.'
After making a bit more small talk, John and Gerrid sped forward across the land in silence. Occasionally they would see other disciples, some who were travelling in the same direction, and others that were doing the opposite. Clearly not everyone knew where the opportunities existed.
A day later, the first thing of note came into view, which caught John's attention immediately. The landscape they had been traversing was completely ashen and barren, while the first contrast to that had finally appeared.
"A tree?" John mused as he spotted the object in the distance, but it was too far to make out at the moment. They arrived next to it after a short while, and stopped to inspect it for a moment.
A tree, ten yards tall and half-covered with leaves stood alone amongst the otherwise barren landscape.
"We're getting close," Gerrid replied as he touched the tree. "The closer we get to where we're going, the more vegetation will appear. This vegetation seems to be lightning resistant, and so has weathered the lightning strikes through all this time."
"How interesting," John mused as he inspected the tree. He thought about taking off part of it to inspect it's lightning resistant properties, but decided against it. Based on Gerrid's comment, more and more vegetation should show up in the near future.
After inspecting the tree for a short moment, the two of them sped forward once again. More and more disciples came into view as many were funneling towards these lands. The vegetation also started getting denser, transforming the land from a barren land of char and ash, to one a bit more vibrant and alive.
Bang!
Bang!
Roar!
A series of bangs suddenly sounded out on the other side of a nearby hill, followed by a loud and powerful roar that shook the land. John and Gerrid glanced at each other for a moment before they sped forward over the hill to glance to the other side.
A battlefield came into view, one between beasts and disciples. On one side was a group of disciples who appeared to be made of second and third years, while the other side was a group of three lightning beasts, each emanating an Early Heaven Tribulation power.
The two sides were relatively even in power, and seemed to be in a stalemate at the moment. John's eyes lit up as he saw the beasts, as they were actual flesh and blood beasts, instead of lightning constructs as had been the case in the Elysian Lightning World.
'Lightning beasts! I wonder if their blood essence will be more potent for me than normal blood essence? Time to find out!'