Roar!
Bang!
Bang!
On an isolated strip in a mountain range, a deafening roar boomed out, followed by several loud bangs. The mountainsides lit up brightly in quick succession, which was followed quickly after by thunderous booms and the mountainside shaking.
An incredibly powerful beam of icy Qi sped right by John as he dodged to the side at the last second. The beam carried on behind him and slammed into the side of a mountain, instantly destroying a large portion of it.
John glanced at the destroyed mountain behind him for a second before he focused again on the beast in front of him. A massive Frost Ape stood before him, towering over him. It was over ten yards tall, and its fur was light blue.
The creature, which lived exclusively at the top of snow capped mountains, radiated a profound ice aura as it stared menacingly at John. He had intruded on its territory, and it was aiming to kill him as punishment for his transgressions.
The Frost Ape was in the Middle Heaven Tribulate Realm, making it quite a strong opponent.
Its defense is quite strong. Its fur is incredibly tough, and it forms a natural armor of incredibly hard ice around its body when threatened. Not only that, but its attacks are quite strong as well. This is the perfect training opportunity.'
Bang!
A fist slammed down where John was standing, fracturing the nearby mountainside, which caused a large avalanche to surge down the mountain. John dodged the fist attack at the last moment and took to the sky as he watched the avalanche ravage the mountainside.
Che!
A powerful beam of ice Qi surged out from the Frost Apes mouth and pierced directly towards him, which he dodged as well.
Che!
Che!
Che!
Several more beams of ice Qi followed quickly after, which John dodged in quick succession.
'I've seen all I need to see about this Frost Ape's capabilities. Its attacks are not quick enough for me to need to utilize my Thunderbody Flash, although its attacks and defense are incredibly strong. Since I've yet to master the Dragontail Decimation battle art or the next stages of the Divine Reaping Scythe, I guess I'll focus on Lightning Disintegration and get as comfortable with it as I was with Lightning Ruin.'
Lightning Disintegration was a direct upgrade to Lightning Ruin. They both were instant lightning beam attacks, although Lightning Disintegration was a much more profound and powerful battle art. Not only that, but it was a pseudo-channeled technique. While not a true channeled battle art meant for War Mages, it could be held internally for a brief period of time, making the attack much stronger than the instant release attack.
He had done something similar in the past, when he forcefully withheld his Lightning Ruin internally with his powerful dantian, before he unleashed the powerful attack on his Master. This had been when they had been training, and it had even surprised Lilian herself. However, Lightning Ruin was not meant for such a thing, and the kickback from holding the attack internally while he channeled it nearly backfired, which would have gravely hurt John.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
While dodging in quick succession, John unleashed a barrage of Lightning Disintegrations at the Frost Ape. The Frost Ape strengthened its ice shield as the attacks landed on it, and ice shattered in all directions.
However, the damaged ice quickly reformed, returning its battle armor to normal. He frowned at the sight, as the Middle Heaven Tribulation Frost Ape truly was a tough opponent. While he could beat it while using his body arts and other powerful techniques, the point of this training was to practice his new battle arts. As such, John did not want to rely on them unless absolutely necessary.
Bang!
Che!
Bang!
Che!
A barrage of Lightning Disintegrations and ice Qi beams were exchanged as he and the Frost Ape's battle raged on. Both parties were attacking at the same time, as he dodged the Frost Ape's attacks, while the Frost Ape withstood the power of John's Lightning Disintegration.
Che!
John dodged to the side, narrowly dodging another Ice Qi beam as he pointed his finger towards the Frost Ape. Instead of releasing his attack instantly, he decided to channel the attack this time to increase its power, hoping to break through the powerful ice defense of the Frost Ape.
Roar!
The Frost Ape roared in rage and unleashed another powerful Qi beam at John, which caused him to undo his channeled attack and dodge to the side.
Tch!
He had not been expecting such a quick counter attack from the Ape, but steadied his focus once again as he started channeling Lightning Disintegration once again. This time however, he kept back a small portion of his power to focus on his movement, instead of focusing it all on his channeled attack.
Such a thing was incredibly difficult for a normal cultivator, as a channeled attack required an enormous amount of power and control, but with his twenty times compressed dantian, John was able to do such a thing.
The beast noticed his attack building power once more, and roared in rage as it unleashed another barrage of Ice Qi beams.
Che!
Che!
Che!
The attacks pierced towards John, who dodged to the side at the last moment. While his movement speed was far slower than normal, it was still fast enough to dodge the Ape's attacks, which was readily telegraphed and easy to read.
Roar!
The Ape roared in frustration again as it unleashed even more Ice Qi beams. It didn't even try to take to the sky to fight John there, as its speed was far slower than his. The beams passed by John with the narrowest of margins as he dodged them, his eyes locked onto the beast the entire time.
After fifteen seconds of channeling, which was an eternity in a battle as powerful as this, an incredibly powerful beam of lightning, far more powerful than anything he had unleashed before pierced out directly towards the Frost Ape.
The attack was incredibly quick as well, and before the Frost Ape could dodge, the attack landed on its chest.
Boom!
A thunderous boom echoed out as the defensive ice layer around the beast shattered, and the lightning continued forward and slammed onto its chest. The chest of the creature was instantly charred, and the lightning pierced slightly into its body and began to rampage within.
The Frost Apre roared in rage and pain as it fought against the lightnings internal destruction, and John stared on in slight shock at just how tough the Frost Ape was.
'That attack was even more powerful than I had expected, and was definitely worth the three million I spend on the battle art. And yet…the Frost Ape is still alive. What an impressive beast.'
John nodded his head in silent approval at the beast's power, but didn't want to miss this opportunity he just created for himself. His body blurred as he dashed forward, and his scythe appeared in his hand. He appeared before the beast, which was still struggling against the rampaging lightning, and slashed his scythe out with all his might.
Che!
A powerful scythe image carved right through the neck of the defenseless Frost Ape, severing it from its body. John quickly grabbed the head and stored it away, while the rest of the body flopped to the ground, dead. The nearby snow was stained red from the Frost Ape's blood, while John focused on recovering his expended Qi.
After a moment's rest, he put away his scythe and stored the Frost Ape's body, before his gaze shifted to a different mountain range in the distance. Roars could be heard coming from those mountains, clearly a reaction to what had just happened.
A small smile appeared on John's face as he took to the sky once more and flew towards the sounds of the roar.. The distant mountains, peaceful just moments before, suddenly erupted in a series of powerful explosions and bright flashes as John continued to train his new battle arts.