The town surrounding the massive coliseum was filled with other cultivators, mostly those who had already participated in the arena battles and were resting, or were the alchemists and formations experts that had finished their trials.
The disciples of the various powers were either resting and waiting for their warrior friends to finish their arena battles, or were merely exploring the ancient city and learning about its history. The architecture was quite unique, and the buildings were made from incredible materials, intriguing those who were interested in such things.
However, these disciples were all stirred into action as they were attracted to what had just transpired outside of the town.
The youths all raced to the town’s edge to get a good view of what was going on, at which point they noticed two youths staring at each other several hundred yards outside the town limits. One of the youths was hovering a dozen yards off the sky staring down at the other.
“What’s going on?” one of the disciples asked as they joined the already gathered group of youths.
“I don’t know. I just got here as well,” another replied. “It seems as though there’s a fight going on between those two.”
“Who are they? Does anyone recognize them?” another in the crowd asked.
“That’s…that’s Vildren,” one of the youths said as they pointed to the youth standing on the ground.
“Vildren? The crown prince from the Valyren Empire?” one asked.
“It seems so. His robes are unmistakable, and he has a Middle Heaven Tribulation cultivation,” another replied. “Who has the gall to fight someone like him? I hear he’s quite powerful, and most likely ranks in the top one hundred youths in this entire realm.”.
Considering there were tens of thousands of disciples within the Jade Dragon Empire trial lands, being in the top one hundred in power was quite an achievement. It was a realm reserved only for the greatest of geniuses, who had both high cultivations and high battle prowess’s.
After identifying Vildren, the youths all glanced over towards John, who hovered in the sky above Vildren.
“Who is he?” one disciple asked. “I can’t say I recognize him.”
“His robes are from the Heavenly Lightning Sect,” another replied. “The only males from that sect strong enough to challenge Vildren are Rael or Lyeon, but he doesn’t match eithers appearance.”
“His cultivation! Look at his cultivation!” a youth exclaimed, finally noticing his cultivation. The others all sent out their divine senses to inspect, and were stunned into silence at what they saw.
“A Late Meridian Forging cultivation? Does he have a death wish?” a young female exclaimed.
At this time, the youths from the arena arrived at the town’s edge to get a good view of the fight. Their arrival drew the attention of the other youths already gathered, who couldn’t help but ask what was going on.
“No way that happened,” a stunned youth replied after hearing a rough summary of what happened.
Bang!
A loud sound suddenly boomed out, silencing all discussion and catching the attention of all those watching once again.
The sound had come from Vildren’s aura exploding outwards, sending a shockwave across the land. His expression was that of complete anger as he stared up at John, who looked down on him from above.
“You dare lay your hands on me?” Vildren asked with anger in his voice. “Do you know who I am?”
“No idea, and I couldn’t care less,” John replied calmly. “As I said, your hand that touched Iris now belongs to me.”
“Common peasant, you shall pay for your insolence” Vildren cursed. “I will make you kneel before me in agony before I break you and turn you into my dog. Now BOW BEFORE ME!”
Vildren yelled out the last of his words with absolute anger as he shot forward, appearing directly before John. His aura flared out with incredible power, even more powerful than Lyeon who John had fought before. As far as cultivators went, it was the strongest cultivator he had ever fought.
An ornate sword with a silver blade and a gold handle appeared in Vildren’s hands. It emanated an incredible aura as it was clearly a high grade Heaven Tribulation weapon. John frowned as he saw his opponents weapon quality, but remained calm as he took out his Half-Step Heaven Tribulation scythe.
‘I suppose I should have shopped for a better weapon,’ John mused internally, not much concerned for the battle to come.
Vildren’s eyes locked onto John’s weapon, and a smug expression appeared on his face.
“As I though, nothing but a common peasant,” Vildren mocked as he arrived before John. His sword slashed out towards John, carrying the power of a Middle Heaven Tribulation cultivator. Outside the arena, his cultivation was not suppressed, giving him the confidence to beat John with ease.
John’s grip tightened around his scythe as he slashed it out to meet the sword attack. His body power flared once more with the might of the Supreme Battle Art, while he also activated his Limiter of Pain and Limiter of Power to augment his body to its peak. At the same time, his essence dantian flared with absolute power, further augmenting his aura and essence arts.
Disregarding using this Asura Transformation Art, this was John’s strongest battle form. His aura flared out powerfully and clashed against Vildren’s, while the crowd watched on with shock as the two aura’s were evenly matched.
“How is this possible?” a disciple exclaimed in shock. “I thought you said he was using a lightning artifact to overpower everyone?”
“He was,” a youth who had watched the arena battles replied, his voice heard by all gathered.
“Then how is his aura so strong?” another asked. “You can fake battle arts with formations, but you cannot fake aura’s. His aura is clearly as strong as Vildrens.”
“I…” the youth became speechless, and so did all the other youths from within the arena. They had smugly insulted John for his use of formations while acting as if it was his strength, but clearly his strength was not a lie.
Peng!
Sword and scythe collided, and the crowd watched in stunned silence as Vildren was the one who was knocked back in the exchange.
Vildren’s eyes opened wide for a brief moment after the exchange, as he had been expecting to overwhelm John with one casual sword attack to embarrass him as much as possible. However, that did not occur, and instead Vildren was able to quickly tell that John’s physical strength was enormous, and was far greater than his own.
“A body cultivator as well huh?” Vildren asked as he stared at John. “Seeking short term advantages while sacrificing long term potential? You truly are an idiot.”
“That’s not something to concern yourself with,” John replied calmly. “Your main concern should be keeping that left hand of yours attached to your arm.”
“Insolence!” Vildren erupted with anger once again. Clearly he was not used to being spoken to this way as a crown prince of an empire. “I’ll admit that your strength is impressive, but that won’t save you now. If this attack takes your life, you can only blame yourself for angering those you couldn’t afford to anger.”
Without any further words, Vildren’s powerful aura suddenly skyrocketed once more, towering into the sky. The nearby crowd’s robes all fluttered violently from the force of the aura, while the nearby desert sand was pushed away.
Vildren raised his sword above his head, holding it with both hands. His gathered Qi slowly accumulated above his head, as a massive sword of Qi over a hundred yards long appeared in the sky above him. At the same time, John felt a pressure envelope his body, seeking to keep him in place.
The sword continued to become more corporeal, eventually becoming as clear and detailed as Vildren’s own sword. It was as if a real sword a hundred yards long had manifested in the sky, its power great enough to cleave the lands for dozens of miles.
“That’s…that’s one of the Valyren Empires signature battle arts!” a youth exclaimed as they recognized it.
“Is it powerful?” a less knowledgeable youth asked.
“Of course it is,” a smug voice sounded out, causing the gathered crowd to look at the source. Gathered together was a group of five youths, who all wore the same style robes as Vildren, only less regal. Clearly the youths were also from the Valyren Empire as well, and were followers of Vildren.
“That’s the Prismatic Saint Sword,” the Valyren Empire youth explained. “The strongest sword battle art our Empire has. It was made by the Valyren Sword Saint himself, and can only be learned by Valyren Royalty. Now that Vildren’s brought it out, this battle is over.”
The youth’s words clearly emphasized the strength of the battle art, and his confidence towards its power was apparent for all to see.
“I thought of dragging this battle out to embarrass you, but I’d rather conserve my strength for the battle against Alderen,” Vildren said to John with disdain, as his sword suddenly slashed down.
The heavenly sword above glowed with a lustrous white light, as if it was blessed by the Heavens themselves. The sword cleaved down on John with absolute power, while the restrictive force locked him in place.
‘I could break out of this force and dodge the attack, but this is a good chance to see the true power of the geniuses of this land.’
John’s scythe gripped tightly in his hands once more as his aura began to climb rapidly. His scythe began to glow with a red and black light, while his confident eyes locked onto the falling sword above him.
Almost instantly, his aura rose to a level even beyond Vildren’s, shocking the crowd once more, while his scythe slashed out with absolute speed and sharpness.
Divine Reaping Scythe: Fourth Form!