“What?” Adam and Chase exclaimed, not expecting to hear such words.
“As expected of the Eyes of Heavenly Truth,” the voice replied, “Only such eyes could see through everything, my own creations included.”
Shock appeared on Iris’s face as she heard the voice speak of her eyes, which had finally been named to her for the first time. Her shock rose once more as the hazy cloud within John’s body slowly vanished, as if it never existed. Iris closely inspected the area where it used to be, and could no longer detect it.
Clearly the entity that was speaking had shrouded the thing within John’s body further, hiding it even from Iris’s gaze.
“What…what do you want? Why won’t you let us heal him?” Iris asked, ignoring the urge to ask about the Eyes of Heavenly Truth, and instead decided to focus on John once more.
“By doing so, you are only hurting him more than you are helping him,” the mysterious voice replied once more.
“What? How does that make sense?” Chase asked, his anger ignited. John was on the edge of life and death, and this mysterious entity was stopping them from administering aid, while claiming it to be to help John.
“It’s fine!” a child-like voice appeared in their minds. They all turned to look at Kirii, who laid on the ground next to John.
“Kirii…what do you mean it’s fine?” Iris asked for clarification. “Do you know this person?”
“Kind of,” Kirii replied, unable to explain it clearly..
“How do you know him?” Iris asked, once again asking for clarification.
“Hmmm…I’m not sure,” Kirii replied through soul-communication. “It’s just…I know John doesn’t consider him an enemy.”
“He doesn’t?” Iris asked. “How do you know?”
“Hmmmm…I don’t know…I just know,” Kirii replied.
Iris stared at Kirii for a moment, as she thought over his words. Kirii was John’s soul-companion, and the two essentially shared their souls to one another. They could feel the emotions of one another, and so Kirii was more clear than anyone on this matter.
All three youths could tell that this entity was far beyond their imagination, both in terms of power and experience. While they didn’t know the reason for his actions, they trusted Kirii’s judgment, as he knew John the best.
“Tch,” Iris clicked her tongue in frustration, as she felt completely helpless in the moment. However, she no longer caused a fuss about the entity’s actions. The group quickly set up camp within the large cavern, while they made a bed for John to rest on.
…
John’s eyes slowly opened as he found himself floating in the expansive void of space. Distant stars shimmered brightly, illuminating two figures that hovered in the void thousands of miles away. Despite being so far away, John was able to see them, although he could not make out any features. However, he could tell that one of the figures was quite large, easily towering over the other by several times.
Suddenly, the void of space exploded with apocalyptic light as the space between the two distant figures erupted with power far greater than anything John thought possible. The explosion quickly radiated outwards, shattering the very fabric of space, as if nothing could withstand its onslaught.
The explosion reached John almost instantly, as he felt himself drown in the power that could not possibly exist.
…
“How long do you think we’ll be here for?” a voice sounded out, drifting into John’s ears.
“I don’t know. It depends on when John wakes up,” another replied.
John’s dreary eyes opened once more, as a rocky ceiling came into his view. He knew the voices, but couldn’t identify who they belonged to at the moment as confusion flooded his mind, as the scenes of the explosion in space lingered in his mind.
“It was that same dream, huh?” John mumbled to himself, as he recalled he had dreamed that scene once before, many years ago. While deep in thought, John felt wetness on his cheek, and he groggily looked over to his side.
Kirii’s face appeared right next to his, as Kirii licked his face with glee that he had woken up.
“Big brother! You’re awake!” Kirii’s voice boomed in his mind, Kirii’s excitement and elation evident in his childlike voice.
“Big brother…when have you called me that?” John groggily asked, as it was the first time he had heard Kirii call him by that name.
“John!” Adam, Chase, and Iris exclaimed as they heard his voice. The three had gathered around a fire they had built in the center of the cavern, roasting some meat they had brought along on this expedition.
“You woke up” Iris happily exclaimed as tears began to form in the corner of her eyes. She had felt nothing but guilt after John’s injuries, and felt completely helpless while he laid there unconscious. Seeing him wake up was a flood of both elation and relief, which she could no longer contain.
“Of course he woke up,” Adam exclaimed loudly, as if he never had a doubt about the outcome of John’s injuries. “This is John we’re talking about afterall.”
“Wha..what’s going on?” John asked, his mind still clearing up from just waking up. He moved to sit up, but instantly grimaced as a wave of pain assaulted his body.
“Don’t get up,” Chase instructed, “you’re still very injured.”
“Injured?” John asked, as the events of the tribulation flooded back in his mind. “The tribulation!” John exclaimed, his gaze shifting to Iris.
“I’m fine, thanks to you,” Iris replied with a smile.
“That’s good,” John sighed as he fell back onto his makeshift bed. His body groaned with aches and pains, but John ignored them as he recalled everything that had happened. After inspecting his body with his divine sense, John’s gaze shifted back to his friends once again.
“How long have I been out for?” he asked curiously.
“A week,” Adam replied.
“A week already?” John asked, shocked he had been out for so long. However, when he thought about the extensive damage he had received, including soul damage, such a timeframe made sense. He inspected his body once more, and his eyebrows raised slightly as he noticed something.
“Hey, did none of you give me any healing pills or anything?” John asked, as he noticed his body was completely bereft of any medicinal remnants.
The group looked at eachother, strange expressions appearing on their faces as they were caught off guard by John’s question.
“No, we didn’t,” Iris replied after a moment of hesitation.
“Good, that’s good,” John replied in relief.
“Why is that good?” Chase asked.
“Because, the damage I sustained is an opportunity to raise my strength,” John replied. His Celestial Lightning Script was able to heal lightning damage, and slowly turn his body into an even stronger lightning attribute body. If the damage had been healed by medicines instead, that opportunity to improve on his lightning attribute body would be lost. The Celestial Lightning Script was an incredible cultivation art, but it required an incredibly brutal method of cultivating.
John’s reply caused the three to look at eachother, odd expressions appearing on their faces. John picked up on their expressions, and quickly realized something strange about the situation.
“Wait a minute,” John chimed up, “you three would never know about this. So either you decided to watch me die by not giving me healing pills…or you found out some other way,” John said to the group.
The group continued to stare at each other, unsure of how to reply to John. After a moment of hesitation, Iris decided to be straightforward with everything that had happened. She mentioned the mysterious voice, as well as his instructions. John’s eyes widened slightly as he heard her explain what had happened, before a look of annoyance appeared on his face.
Iris noticed this expression, and couldn’t help but ask about it, thinking the group had done something wrong.
“What is it? Should we not have listened to him?” Iris asked.
“No, it’s not that,” John replied as he shook his head, “it’s just that he refuses to speak to me, yet he talks to you three…my father sure is an asshole.”
Stunned expressions appeared on the faces of Adam, Iris, and Chase as they heard John’s words.
“Your…your father?!?!?”