Bang!
Bang!
Roar!
The clash between the disciples and the beasts raged on below, as the two sides seemed to be in a stalemate. John closely inspected the disciples, who appeared to be second and third years. Their cultivations ranged from Half-Step Heaven Tribulation to Early Heaven Tribulation.
Their bodies seemed to be riddled with injuries, as shallow wounds and flowing blood was visible. On the other side, the beasts seemed to be in bad shape as well, as their bodies were blood stained as well.
However, given the strongest constitutions of beasts, trading injuries with the disciples was a transaction they were willing to make. The lightning beasts seemed to be some variant of bear. Their hide was bluish white, and lightning flickered over their body non-stop, indicating that they were lightning beasts. They were over five yards tall and ten yards long, and towered over the much smaller disciples.
"Gah!"
A cry of pain rang out as one of the weaker disciples, a female at the Half-Step Heaven Tribulation Realm, was struck by a claw of one of the three beasts and knocked far away. Her body slammed into the hillside below where John and Gerrid were standing.
Blood spewed out of her mouth as she sustained internal injuries, while the other disciples all cried out in alarm.
"Kate!" a young male disciple around nineteen years of age cried out in worry as he turned to look at her. His gaze suddenly shifted upwards as he spotted Gerrid and John, and his face lit up in elation.
"Gerrid! Come help us!" the disciple cried out.
Gerrid dashed forward towards the beasts, as he heeded his fellow disciples plea for aid.
An explosive bolt of lightning pierced out from his finger and slammed onto one of the beasts, knocking it backwards. A sword suddenly appeared in his hand as he sliced it out towards one of the other beasts.
A brilliant sword art was unleashed, which slashed onto the beasts fur.
Roar!
The beast roared out in pain from the attack, before it sent out a counter attack. The battle quickly reached a peak frenzy as John watched on from above. With Gerrid's help, the tides were turned in the disciples favor, as they were quickly whittling down the beasts defenses.
"I guess I'll sit this one out," John mused as he sat down on the ground and watched the battle take place. He had initially wanted to slay the beasts himself, but decided against it as he instead watched how those from the sect fought.
There would be plenty of opportunities in the near future to slay some lightning beasts and obtain their blood essence.
…
Bang!
The body of the last beast fell to the ground, lifeless. The battle had raged on for another ten minutes before the last beast was felled, thanks to the help of Gerrid. John nodded his head in approval at what he had seen.
'He is quite talented. His attacks were sharp, precise, and quick. I wonder how high up in the sect he is.'
The disciples cleaned up the battlefield and put away the beast corpses, before they retreated to where Kate was lying. She had popped a healing pill in her mouth and was focusing on recovery.
"Are you alright?" the boy who had cried out to her earlier asked as he approached her, while the other four disciples crowded around as well.
"I'll be alright," Kate replied with a slight wince, as even speaking was painful at the moment. "I'll just need some time to heal before I can move is all."
"That's a relief," the youth replied, before he turned to look at Gerrid.
"Thank you, Gerrid. If not for your help, who knows how this would have ended up. As expected from one of our most talented third year Core Disciples," the youth said to Gerrid with a small smile on his face.
"Don't mention it," Gerrid replied casually.
"Just be careful proceeding forward. These beasts won't attack you unless you attack them, so don't provoke any going forward," Gerrid instructed.
A sheepish look appeared on the youths face as he heard Gerrid lightly scold him. "I know, we just figured we were strong enough to kill them and obtain their beast cores. We'll heed your advice going forward. Hey, why don't you join us while we venture deeper into this land?" the youth asked.
Gerrid turned to glance at John who was still sitting on the hillside above them, before he turned back to the youth.
"I'm afraid I'm already escorting the boy up there," Gerrid replied. "You can tag along if you want though."
The youths glanced up to John, and a frown appeared on some of their faces. One of the other boys, who appeared to also be nineteen and had an Early Heaven Tribulation cultivation had the largest frown as he stared at John.
"Why are you helping out a first year, and a weak one at that? The boy is only in the Meridian Forging Realm. He'll just be a hindrance going forward, especially if we try to hunt other beasts" the boy asked Gerrid.
Gerrid's expression turned slightly awkward as he heard this, as he knew the truth regarding John's strength.
"Sorry guys, I already promised I would escort him. If you don't want to join us, then we'll have to part ways here," Gerrid replied.
The group of disciples wanted to employ Gerrid's help, but they did not want to be slowed down by a weak first year. After some deliberation, they decided it was not worth it, and bid John and Gerrid farewell as they set off in a different direction.
Gerrid watched them leave, before he glanced at John who was still seated on top of the hill.
"Let's continue onwards. We're almost to the forest, and the place of opportunities lies just beyond."
John nodded his head as he stood up and followed Gerrid, as the two of them set off further into the mysterious Thunder Realm. After speeding forward for some time, the forest Gerrid spoke of came into view.
The forest started quite abruptly, and the trees were incredibly impressive. Trees with trunks dozens of yards wide pierced all the way into the clouds above, as if forming a wall of wood to thwart all entry.
"How long will it take for us to get through this forest?" John asked as he stared at it.
"About three days. It's incredibly dense, and many beasts live inside. We'll have to be careful traversing it," Gerrid replied.
John frowned as he heard this, and his gaze shifted up towards the clouds above. Lightning continued to flicker within the clouds, occasionally illuminating the forest below. An idea popped up into his mind as he thought of the way forward.
"That's too long," John replied. "I have another idea."
"What idea do you ha-"
Lightning nodes suddenly appeared in the area around John and Gerrid as John suddenly activated his lightning cage. It wrapped closely around him and Gerrid, forming a powerful cocoon of defensive lighting around them.
"What are you doing?" Gerrid asked in shock as John suddenly grabbed him by the arm.
"Taking the fast route," John replied as his body suddenly shot up into the sky, taking Gerrid along with him as they disappeared into the clouds above.
