Thanks to both his interest in reading books, as well as having Chase as a friend, John had rather extensive knowledge on valuable vegetation and medicinal ingredients. The Golden-Flame Magma Lotus was one of these valuable flowers.
The flower was quite rare, as it could only grow in places of intense heat and yang energy. A sea of lava was one such place, and so its appearance here was not too shocking. However, it also required hundreds or even thousands of years to grow, resulting in finding one to be quite a rare experience.
“The Golden-Flame Magma Lotus can be used for many things, one of those uses being to upgrade one’s body to become more Yang aligned. If I directly ingest some of those lotus petals and absorb their yang essence, my body should not only be strengthened, but it will also heighten my Yang insights, which includes lightning!”
John’s desired to obtain the flower, as one of his current goals was to strengthen his body was much as possible to be able to use his Bloodline Ability and Asura Transformation as much as possible with the least amount of side effects. While the Golden-Flame Magma Lotus would not be a massive increase in body strength, every little bit helped towards this goal. Augmenting his lightning powers was another bonus, making the flower all the more enticing.
His gaze shifted from the lotus back to the battlefield. He could tell his fellow sect members were slowly losing the battle, as they were outnumbered slightly. John decided to deal with the battlefield first, as he didn’t want any further disturbances to potentially harm the lotus.
His body flashed forward, and a small explosion of lightning blasted out between the two groups, halting their battle. The gazes of both groups locked onto John who had just appeared between them..
The Heavenly Lightning Sect youths lit up in excitement as they saw who it was, while the other group frowned or scoffed at his arrival. Seeing his Late Meridian Forging cultivation, their natural reaction was to look down on him.
“General!” one of the youths, a girl who was in her second year exclaimed. She had long brown hair, and a dazzling blue hair clip on the side of her head. Her aura was quite weak at the moment, as the battle had clearly exhausted her. However, she didn’t have any injuries, as her opponents were clearly not looking to injure or kill any of the Heavenly Lightning Sect members.
“General? Pfft,” one of the red robed youths started laughing, as the title for someone so low in cultivation was quite pitiable.
John’s gaze shifted towards the youth, as well as the others, and saw no fear or hesitation in their gazes.
‘It seems as though not everyone has a Jade Dragon List, or has kept up with it. I suppose that’s only natural. The list is quite expensive, and these youths might not have come across a Heaven Scrying Sect member or others discussing the list.’
“What’s going on?” John asked as he turned to the girl who had spoken up.
The girl breathed in and out a few times, catching her breath before replying.
“We were exploring this land a few hours ago, when we spotted the Golden-Flame Magma Lotus,” the girl started explaining. “We tried to retrieve it, but the golden flames it emits are far too strong to just walk up and take it. While we were thinking of a way to retrieve it, this other group showed up and tried to claim the flower for themselves, and this battle is them trying to force us away,” the girl explained the situation fully.
“Is that so?” John replied as his gaze shifted to the other group.
“Yeah, that’s right,” one of the youths, the strongest of the group, replied without hiding anything. “What are you, a Late Meridian Forging weakling, going to do about it?”
The youths’ words sent a wave of laughter through his group, while the Heavenly Lightning Sect youths looked at him with a look of pity. They knew John’s strength, and that such words would only invite misery upon themselves.
John’s gaze scanned the five Heavenly Lightning Sect members, noticing that none were injured, just fatigued. His gaze shifted back to the red robed youths, his gaze calm.
“I can tell that you six were not trying to injure my fellow sect members, and were just trying to force them away from this area. I suppose I should thank you for your act of kindness, and so I will return the favor. If you leave now, I’ll take no further action,” John said to the six youths.
His words caused the six to instantly erupt into a fit of laughter, as if it were the funniest thing they had ever heard. John’s gaze remained calm as he had been expecting such a reaction, but at least wanted to give the youths a chance to retreat.
“I suppose the Jade Dragon List does have its uses afterall,” John mumbled out loud as he began to walk towards the six youths. “It’s just a shame that not everyone has it, or it would resolve situations like this instantly.”
The youths all heard John’s words, and broke out into laughter once more.
“The Jade Dragon List? You’re right we don’t have it, but what use would that do you? Are you trying to claim you’re on the lis-“
Bang!
John appeared before the youth in an instant, his body appearing like a blur to the other youths. His open hand smacked against the cheek of the youth who had been speaking, who was propelled through the air, unprepared for the attack and unable to resist its power. A small trail of blood followed behind the youth as he sailed through the air.
Boom!
The youth slammed into the side of a nearby rocky hill, his body disappearing from sight as it tunneled into the hill. The other youths stared with eyes wide and mouths agape, unable to process what had happened. John’s calm gaze shifted from the hill to the other youths as he lowered his hand.
“Your friend is fine, just a bit dazed is all. I made sure not to kill him with that slap,” John said, his voice calm and genial as if he had not just slapped the soul out of one of their friends. They stared at him with frightful expressions, not sure of what to do.
John guestered towards the nearby hill, his gaze still lingering on the five youths before him.
“Go get your friend, and leave,” he said to the group, who quickly came to their senses and dashed towards the nearby hill. Just from John’s speed and powerful slap alone, they could tell that they were no match for him. One of them went into the tunnel, and quickly retrieved their friend, who had a large red handprint on his cheek, and a small amount of blood on his lips.
“Whe..where am I?” the youth mumbled groggily, his mind in a daze. The five others breathed a sigh of relief at seeing their friend still alive from taking such a monstrous slap head on, before they sped off without looking back, not wanting to be next on the list to be slapped.
John watched the group leave, before his gaze shifted towards the distant Golden-Flame Magma Lotus.