Silence filled the arena as the crowd processed what they had just witnessed. The battle still fresh in their minds, thoughts of the awe-inspiring battle arts replayed over and over. .
For many, this tournament was the first Three Dao Tournament they had attended. All had been expecting to see battles between pinnacle geniuses and powerful battle arts being used. The fame of the Three Dao Sects was almost mythical to most, engraving a heavenly image of the sects and the battle arts they used in their minds.
Despite all that, they have not been expecting to see battle arts at this level.
Araxus' Yin-Yang, lightning tribulation and John's Kirin-God Extinction had pushed well beyond the boundary of what many thought possible for Dao Transformation cultivators. Even those who were used to such things were awed by what they had seen, including the powerhouses of the human race.
The clash between monstrously powerful battle arts, unleashed by even more monstrously powerful geniuses, was beyond awe-inspiring. The most shocking of all was undoubtedly John's Kirin-God Extinction.
His Kirin-God Extinction had all the signs of a newly created battle art. There were imperfections that a more experienced battle art creator would have avoided, and there were also design aspects that were far too unique to belong to a widely distributed battle art.
From a single glance, the powerhouses could tell that the Kirin-God Extinction was something almost nobody could unleash, even including their younger, Dao Transformation selves. The horrifying amount of QI that they had felt surging through Jon's body was just too incredible, too self-destroying for a normal cultivator.
Only a body cultivator, and a monstrously powerful one of that, could withstand that amount of internal Qi rushing through their body. And yet, only an essence cultivator could produce that much explosive, external use Qi. It was an impossible contradiction in the world of cultivation, one not even they could solve.
And yet it had happened before their very eyes. The power of an essence cultivator with the body of a body cultivator. They knew John cultivated both, but despite knowing that beforehand, nothing could have prepared them for just how powerful the combination was. A dual cultivator was not supposed to excel in either cultivation aspect, let alone both like John was revealing.
It was utterly impossible, tried by billions in the past. The failures of those billions built a bedrock on which the concept of the dual-cultivation impossibility was built, and yet that bedrock had been shattered before their very eyes.
While the power houses digested what they had seen, two figures on the viewing platform locked eyes with differing expressions. Jihan studied the amused expression on Lilian's face, then frowned. He looked away, but was drawn back to her as she spoke.
"Feeling worried?"
Jihan scoffed lightly. "What is there to be worried about?" he asked. "While I admit that final battle art was impressive, it's only a mere Mage Art. I have no reason to be concerned about a mere Mage Art."
Lilian understood his reasoning. Mage Arts, while powerful, took too long to unleash in one-on-one combat. The only reason John was able to use his Kirin-God Extinction in this battle was because Araxus had allowed it, opting to test the might of his Yin-Yang Tribulation versus John's Kirin-God Extinction. For someone like Ji'Han, stopping John before he could unleash that art was child's play.
Lilian shot Ji'Han an amused look but said nothing. Ji'Han's frown deepened, clearly not amused by her expression, which to him felt like mockery more than anything.
"From what I've seen he'll be lucky to land a single blow on me," Ji'Han added a moment later.
"Oh? For you to be talking this much unprompted, it seems you've been shaken a bit from what you've seen" Lilian mused, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face afterwards. "As for catching you. Well, I don't think catching you will be an issue for him."
"Do you mean that crude movement art of his?" Ji'Han scoffed. "It's nothing more than a brutish movement art, one not even suitable to be taught in my sect, or any of the Three Dao Sects for that matter."
Lilians amused smile grew wider as she heard this. "True, his control over the Dao of space isn't as refined as ours are, but can you truly, and without shame, claim to be able to do what John does? Are you able to barrel through the chaos of the spatial void as if it were a mere nuisance, and not something capable of destroying you if you are not careful?"
Ji'Han remain silent. He couldn't make that claim, and he knew Lilian knew he couldn't make that claim. Doing so would only make him look like a lying fool.
"Why would I bother barreling through something I can completely avoid?" Ji'Han refuted.
Lilian studied his face for a moment, then reached out and patted him on the arm in a friendly manner. "Just remember my advice from before. Don't piss John off and you'll be fine."
She then stood up from her chair and took a step forward as if to leave.
"Enraged or not, he has no chance against me tomorrow," Ji'Han said with a light sneer. "In fact, I might enrage him just to see what he's truly capable of, as your words imply, he only fights with his full strength if he's angry. An uncouth brute to the end."
Lilian paused and looked back at Ji'Han, her amused expression returning to her face. She studied him silently for a moment, then looked away once more.
"On second thought, you might want to have a skilled healer on standby for your flight tomorrow," she said, then returned her gaze back to the arena below.
A frown returned to Ji'Han face, while the nearby Sword-Saint looked at Lilian with deep displeasure. She felt the gaze upon her and turned to meet the Sword-Saint's gaze, her amused expression unwavering.
"And you might want to be ready to interfere with the battle at a moment's notice," she said to the Sword-Saint. "On Ji'Han's behalf, that is. It would be a shame for the Nine-Dao World to lose such a pinnacle genius in a place such as this."
Not waiting for the Sword-Saint to say anything, she then hopped off the platform and floated down to the arena below.
The Sword-Saint stood up in his seat ready to move, but a casual gesture from Ji'Han stopped him.
"Leave her," he said to his father. "Let her have her fun. When I crush him tomorrow, all of her actions will be moot."
The Sword-Saint looked at his son, then smiled, nodded, and sat back down.
All eyes followed her as she landed right before John, surprise and curiosity growing as they wondered what she was doing. As for the men in the crowd, their hearts throbbed with desire and envy, watching the elegant, goddess-like figure descend gracefully downwards like an angelic being.
While everyone knew who she was thanks to the Sword-Saint's announcement, it was the first time they had seen her do anything of note. They watched as she then took several steps towards John, who turned as he felt her approach.
For the first time in well over a year, he was finally face to face once more with his master. He smiled at her, then nodded lightly in respect.
"Master!"
