In a remote and secluded part of the land controlled by the Heavenly Lightning Sect, explosive sounds, pained grunts, and angry curses could be heard for several weeks straight. The land was located in a remote mountain range, and had been a place of misery and pain for John recently.
Bang!
John's body slammed into the side of one of the mountains, shattering its surface. His body burrowed deep within, and it took him a short while to crawl out from the crater. His body despite being incredibly tough was bloodied and bruised, making him look quite miserable.
John's cold gaze locked onto Lilian, who hovered in the air several hundred yards away. The familiar wooden stick was in her hand, and her calm yet amused gaze stared at him, igniting fiery frustration within him.
"Again!" Lilian commanded, which John followed and sped towards her with his scythe in hand. After a series of exchanged attacks, John once again slammed onto the ground below, repeating the process all over again.
This training had already been going on for three weeks, and was only a part of the brutality his master was putting him through. However, John grit his teeth and pushed through, as there were two positive outcomes to enduring the training.
The first was that he was truly improving at a fast rate once again, and he needed to raise his combat prowess as much as possible before the Jade Dragon Empire realm opening. The second was that when the training had started, John had gotten his master to agree that if he endured the training without complaint, he was allowed to unleash one attack on her at the end, which she had to take head on without dodging.
Lilian had found the proposition amusing, and had accepted without hesitation.
John crawled up from his crater once again and wiped the blood off his chin. His heated eyes stared at Lilian once again, as the thought of the end of the training flooded into his mind.
'I can't wait to unleash a Dragontail Decimation on her. Let's see if she still has that smug look on her face then.'
Hovering above him in the sky, Lilian suddenly put the stick away. John groaned at the sight, as he knew the even more hellish training was about to begin. Lilian landed on the ground near him, and gazed at him in silence for a moment.
"Are you ready?" she asked calmly.
John sighed out deeply and took a deep breath shortly after, and nodded his head in confirmation. Lilian's hand stretched out before him, and an absolutely terrifying power began to emanate from it. The Qi emanating from her hand was pitch black in color, and seemed as though it could snuff out all life in a second.
The power left her hand and washed over John, who instantly felt his body wracked in incredible pain. His skin began to rot and wither away while his body resisted the death Qi as best as possible.
As part of his training the last three weeks, Lilian had bathed John in death Qi every night until his body could no longer handle it. It had been the most brutal and hellish part of his training, and it reminded John of when he had first trained his Celestial Lightning Script. However, unlike that time, he was unable to control Lilian's death Qi and absorb it. All he could do was take the corrosive power head on, and endure for as long as possible.
John grit his teeth as he silently endured the agonizing power washing over him. Lilian's calm eyes gazed at him, although she was clearly not enjoy this part of the training like she did the other parts.
"I know this pain is unimaginable, but you'll thank me eventually," Lilian said to John. "When we first started this training a few weeks ago, you could only endure for a few seconds before you were overwhelmed and passed out. However, now you can endure for several minutes…the speed at which your body adapts to things is freakish," Lilian continued, her voice slightly trailing off at the end.
Thanks to cultivating the Immortal Asura Body, John's normal body had truly been converted to an Innate Variant Body, and an incredibly high level one at that. It's ability to adapt was beyond terrifying, and was something Lilian had taken quick note of.
"You might hate me now, but you'll thank me eventually," Lilian spoke up once again, while John listened through the agonizing pain. "While not common, death Qi is also not incredibly rare either. It occurs naturally in places of high death, and it will definitely be something you encounter as you become stronger. Cultivating your resistance to death Qi now will save you in the future."
John listened in silence as he focused on resisting the death Qi as best as possible. He endured for five minutes before his body looked like that of a withered corpse, and he collapsed to the ground in fatigue in pain. Lilian quickly withdrew her death Qi and stared at John while he popped a healing pill in his mouth and focused on recovery.
Her attention quickly shifted as she took out a sound transmission disk and listened to the message being given. After a short moment, Lilian put away the sound transmission disk and gazed at John.
"It seems as though you have a guest that is waiting for you at your house. Heal up and head over there, but be sure to return tomorrow morning to resume your training," Lilian said to John before flying off.
John focused on recovery for the next hour before he was able to move properly. He still looked incredibly miserable, but returning to his peak state would take many more hours. He popped another healing pill in his mouth and took off into the distance.
…
John pushed open the front doors to his mansion and walked inside. Upon doing so, he was greeted by the guest waiting for him, Caz. Caz's face turned to one of shock as he noticed John's condition, and he rushed forward to meet him.
"Are you alright? What the hell happened to you?" Caz asked, concern in his voice. He knew John would be an incredible source of business for him in the future, and did not want anything happening to him.
"I'm fine," John replied while waving his hand dismissively. "What brings you here today? Is it about the tea leaves?"
Caz had agreed to sell the mysterious tea leaves John had given him at an auction and split the profits. Based on what the leaves sold for, John was potentially willing to do future business with Caz.
Caz's worried gaze lingered for a moment before he decided to drop his concern and answer John's question.
"Indeed, I am here about the tea leaves. They were all sold at auction, and I think you'll be quite happy with your share of the profits," he replied as he handed John a spatial ring.
John reached out and grabbed the ring, and sent his divine sense into it. His eyes quickly lit up with surprise as he gazed at the small mountain of spirit crystals within. His gaze shifted back to Caz, who stood there with a beaming smile on his face.
"How….how much did the leaves sell for?" John asked, shocked at what he was seeing.