"In fact, if you were in the Heaven Tribulation Realm, I might have had to use some of my power to block the attack," Lilian continued, quite impressed by what she had just seen.
John raised an eyebrow at her reaction, as it was quite strange for someone who was just injured to congratulate the other. However, Lilian was quite a strange person, and John was just happy he was not getting beat up in retaliation at the moment.
Lilian suddenly stretched out her hand, and an item suddenly floated over towards John. It was a crystal which seemed to glow blue on the outside, but a dark, ominous color was visible on the inside.
John caught the crystal in his hand, and studied it for a moment before he glanced back to his master.
"What's this?" John asked.
It's a specialized crystal capable of holding death Qi. I've infused quite a bit of my death Qi into it, so it's something that could potentially be of use for you in the Jade Dragon Empire lands," Lilian explained. "It takes a bit of force to crush, but if you do so, or throw it at something, it should do quite a bit of damage. Who knows, it could get you out of a serious situation."
John stared at his master for a moment before putting the crystal away.
"Thank you," John replied. Such an item truly could be of use in a pinch, and John could tell that his master truly did care about him during such moments.
"Good luck in the realm," Lilian spoke out again.
"Good luck? Are you leaving or something?" John asked.
His master would be able to say something like this when John officially left for the realm, but decided to do so now. Lilian nodded her head at John's words.
"I have some matters to attend to in other parts of the continent. I will be leaving tonight," Lilian confirmed.
"Good luck," John replied, mimicking his master's words.
"You brat," Lilian scoffed before her body flashed into the distance, disappearing from sight. John watched his master leave and stood there in silence for a moment before he too decided to return to the sect.
Although unexpected, John was not going to complain about having a few days of rest and relaxation before setting off for the Honorable Alliance. He returned to his house and cultivated through until the night, at which point he fell into a deep sleep.
…
"So, Iris, how did the martial competition go?" John asked Iris. "Also, you've raised your cultivation to the Half-Step Heaven Tribulation Realm. Congratulations."
The next day, the group of John, Iris, Chase, and Adam had met for lunch, and were currently discussing what each had done over the last two months.
"Thanks!" Iris replied happily as John commented on her cultivation advancement. "As for the competition, I qualified, naturally," Iris replied with a voice of confidence.
"Congratulations," John replied with a smile. Having Iris and her eye talents in the realm would be more than beneficial.
"Most likely lucked her way to qualification," Adam scoffed with an eye roll.
Bang!
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Adam exclaimed in pain as he rubbed his shin which Iris had just kicked underneath the table.
"How about we fight if you're not convinced. I could show you just how I managed to 'luck' my way through the martial competition," Iris replied while glaring at Adam.
"You know damn well I don't specialize in combat," Adam replied without backing down. "I practice the finer and more intelligent arts, unlike you who is only good at barbaric fighting, you ape."
"APE?!" Iris exclaimed, her voice raised with growing anger.
"Are you then calling me an ape as well?" John suddenly asked Adam. "Afterall, I only really specialize in 'barbaric fighting' as well."
Adam's look of smug victory quickly faded away as he looked over to John.
"Ahh, no of course not," Adam replied hastily, trying to appease John. While the two of them were friends, he knew John would not hesitate to use this moment in the future to push him through a hellish trial when encountered. "You're much different than Iris."
"How so?" John asked calmly while taking a sip of tea.
"What?" Adam replied.
"How am I different from Iris?" John asked again. "Give me specifics of how she fits the 'Ape' bill and I don't."
"That's easy," Adam replied confidently. "First off, you're much more…uh…umm…" Adams' voice trailed off as he tried to think of something, but couldn't. A smug smile appeared on Iris's face as she watched Adam unable to squirm his way out of John's question.
"It's fine," John spoke up after a moment of silence. "I prefer being a capable ape to a useless genius anyways."
"Hahaha," Iris suddenly burst out into laughter, as John's words were clear in their meaning. Adam's face turned red, but he remained silent as he knew he talked himself into a corner this time.
"At least you did as instructed and reached the Middle Meridian Forgign Realm," John spoke up as he inspected Adam's cultivation. "You saved yourself quite a bit of pain by doing so."
"And you too, Chase," John continued as he glanced over to Chase, who had been sitting there in silence watching the conversations. "You both managed to reach the Middle Meridian Forging Realm. Good job."
"Thanks," Chase replied with a warm smile. "You as well, you seem to have advanced to the Late Meridian Forging Realm. It appears as though we've all made fruitful gains these last two months."
"That we have," John replied. "What about your alchemy? And Adam, what about your formations. Any progress there?" John asked as he tried to gauge where his friends were regarding those subjects.
"I made quite a bit of progress," Chase replied.
"Of course I advanced greatly," Adam replied proudly, the embarrassment from the previous situation already erased from his mind. "I'm sure to completely shock you soon with some of my creations. Also…"
A bottle of wine suddenly appeared in Adam's hands as he held it before John.
"Chase and I also made some advancements with our wine as well. How about we test those advancements tonight?" Adam continued.
John inspected the bottle of wine, and nodded his head in agreement. With his hellish training over, this was just the thing he needed to blow off steam and relax.
"Sounds like a plan to me."