"Sir Adam truly is this era's genius," one of the women whispered into his ear, causing his grin to widen even further.
Iris shook her head upon seeing this scene, as she could tell that Adam was already lost to the illusion formation, his mind consumed by the temptations of the city.
"Pathetic lecher," Iris grumbled as she contemplated whether to leave Adam in the formation or not. She was surprised he had managed to get through the fog world, but he had apparently done that somehow.
However, it was not surprising to her that Adam had been caught up in the illusion formation, as she considered him to be a weak-willed man.
"Hahah!" another prideful laugh escaped Adam's mouth as he listened to the women whisper in his ear, before he suddenly spotted who was at the front entrance.
"Tch, you're here as well?," Adam called out to Iris with a frustrated tone, as if her very presence annoyed him.
"You can see me?" Iris exclaimed with a slightly surprised tone. She figured Adam was lost to the illusion formation, and so his mind would be consumed with sights and visions that did not exist.
By all accounts, he shouldn't even be able to see her, as his vision should be warped to what the illusion formation wanted him to see.
"Of course I can see you," Adam replied. "Why wouldn't I be able to see you?"
By this time, Chase walked into the room as well, his face becoming reddened by what he saw. Despite the fact that they were illusions, he did his best to ignore the scantily dressed women at Adam's side as he spoke out to him.
"You're not captured by this illusion formation?" Chase asked.
"Me? Becoming slave to a formation? Do you know who you're speaking to?" Adam exclaimed, his voice slightly unhappy.
"If you can see through this formation…then why are you…they aren't real, you know?" Chase replied as he glanced at the women lying up against Adam.
"Of course I know they're not real," Adam replied. "But this illusion formation gives them physical form, so they feel real. Also, this is much better than working my way through those exhausting trials. Compared to the trials before this city, this is paradise. I'm going to stay here until this damned realm closes."
Chase and Iris fell into silence for a moment after hearing Adam's explanation. Iris felt a wave of frustration course through her from dealing with Adam, and was about to turn to leave when Adam spoke up once more.
"Besides, none of us will be able to leave this city anyways."
"Why do you say that?" Chase asked curiously.
"Because…I already found the exit to this city yesterday," Adam replied. "I took a break from this room for a while to see if I could find the exit, just to sate my curiosity…and I did. However, it requires brute force to get through…and none of us are strong enough to get through the exit. Only John would be able to, but he's not here unfortunately."
Iris's eyes lit up upon hearing about the exit, but dimmed after hearing Adam's description of it.
"You never know. Take us to the exit, and we can try to get through," Iris replied.
"Why would I ever help you?" Adam replied while staring at Iris as if she were stupid.
"Ahhh…forget it. You are truly worthless," Iris exclaimed angrily as she stormed out the building, leaving Chase behind. "Are you coming with me?" her voice boomed out from outside, causing Chase to feel conflicted.
"Here, take this," Adam suddenly said to chase as he tossed a formation disk to him. Chase caught it and inspected it, before he glanced back up to Adam to ask what it was.
"I recorded the location of the exit in this disk. It will guide you to it, so you can try your luck…but like I said, without John, you're not getting through," Adam explained.
An appreciative smile appeared on Chase's face as he thanked Adam before leaving the building. Using the disk, Iris and Chase set off towards the exit, while a relaxed expression once again returned to Adam's face. He stretched both arms to wrap around a beauty on each side.
"Ahhh, this truly is the life."
…
Two weeks after the realm opened, a powerful energy began to surge within the realm. Everyone, no matter where they were located within, felt the power wash over them and grow stronger.
In the hollowed out cavern, John's closed eyes slowly opened while the lightning continued to crash onto his body. His body was still completely blackened with lightning damage, and his aura had started to grow weak from resisting the lightning and cultivating the Celestial Lightning Script for over a week straight. His will had been pushed to the very edge of his limits, and John felt as though his sanity would snap from the excruciating pain at any moment.
"It's time for the realm to close?" John mused out loud as he suddenly flew backwards to the edge of the hollowed cavern, relieving himself for the first time from the lightning strikes. He donned a new robe as his other one had been destroyed completely, and consumed a Qi replenishing pill and healing pill to aid his recovery.
Even with his incredibly strong body and high resistance to pain, John felt as though he was at the very edge of his physical limits.
"I suppose that's for the best. I was about to reach my absolute limits soon anyways, and might have fallen into grave danger if I continued any further. I did all I could, and my lightning attribute body seems to have reached its limit for now. I accomplished my goal for entering this realm, and at this point, I've done all I can to prepare for the next tribulation."
While he wanted to push himself further, he knew that even he had limits. Kirii suddenly slipped into John's soul space, as John felt the rejective power grow stronger and stronger. His gaze lingered on the lightning sphere as he began to be rejected from the Thunder Realm.
A greedy look appeared in his eyes as he felt himself be taken away from the realm.
"Next year…I'll be taking that sphere with me when I leave."
Flash!
With one final push of power, the realm expelled all disciples from within, bringing an end to the Thunder Realm.