Master!
Master!
Master!
The word almost seemed to echo throughout the entire valley, stunning absolutely everyone who heard it. It was the last thing anyone had expected to hear from her, especially John.
John stood there in silence as he stared at Iris with a frown on his face. He couldn't tell if she was joking or not, and he had not yet let his guard down. He stood there for a short while before finally reaching out to the bag which Iris held in front of him.
Even if it was a trap of some kind, it was a trap he could afford to trigger.
Just as John's hand was about to reach the bag, John saw her eyes change to a brighter, more piercing shade of blue, and she suddenly disappeared from his sight.
John instantly turned around, his full powered fist punching out at Iris's leg that was sweeping towards his head.
Iris's eyes went wide at John's quick response to her actions, and pulled her leg back at the last moment before dashing a short distance away. Her eyes went slightly wide as she let out a deep sigh of relief at having dodged that attack. She knew that if their limbs had collided, her leg would have shattered from the impact.
Iris, with her incredible speed, was used to darting around the battlefield and using her limbs as quick but surgical weapons. However, she now knew that if she were to do such a thing against John, her outcome would be miserable.
A pair of daggers suddenly appeared in her hands, each glowing with a strange sheen. Just from a glance, John could tell that the daggers were poison. However, his eyes stayed calm, as no matter how much Iris tried, her blades would not be able to pierce his tough defenses. While daggers were incredibly quick weapons, they were also light on their power. Such a weapon was the worst match up against John, whose entire body was as if it were made from the hardest of materials.
Thunderflash Steps!
Limiter of Speed!
With his Supreme Battle Art still active, John instantly unleashed his top speed and appeared next to Iris in an instant. His fist pierced towards her chest, clearly intent on incapacitating her. Normally this punch would be to her head with the intention to kill, but John was unable to take such extreme measures within this trial.
Peng!
John's fist collided with Iris's daggers, and a soft metallic sound rang out as his fist was redirected to the side, barely missing her body. He quickly stopped his momentum and turned around to face Iris once again, his eyebrows raised slightly in shock. Meanwhile, a soft giggle escaped Iris' lips, as if she found the whole thing amusing.
'Her power is far weaker than mine. By all accounts, she shouldn't even be able to redirect my attacks at all. Something strange is going on here.'
Bang!
John pressed off the ground once again, appearing before Iris in a flash and sending out another punch. Iris once again used her daggers to redirect his attack to the side with incredible precision. Without missing a beat, John's leg swept out from the side towards her waist, his attack transitioning from one to the next with absolute fluidity.
Iris jumped backwards, her back arching just above John's sweeping leg as she flipped backwards, narrowly dodging the attack once again.
John frowned once again at what was going on, but was now more intrigued than ever at what was occurring. Although he was far from going all out, almost every cultivator in the Late Meridian Forging Realm would be on the floor by now. Even Aaron was unable to react to John's attack, but Iris was continuously dodging his attacks.
The disciples above watched in rapt attention as John and Iris dashed across the battlefield with incredible speed as their attacks were exchanged. Each exchange was John on the offensive, with Iris barely managing to dodge each attack in time. However, no matter what John did, his attacks were unable to land.
John's fist once again pierced out towards Iris, who smiled as she saw an opening. Her dagger swayed to the side of his fist as it slashed against it, intending on inflicting him with her poison.
Peng!
The tip of her dagger collided against John's hand, as another metallic sound rang out. Iris' eyes went wide for a brief moment, before she collected herself and narrowly dodged John's follow up punch. Her laughter continued to trail behind her blurring figure as she continued her battle with John, as if this was not a dangerous situation to her, but a fun game of tag being played.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The air exploded continuously from the force of John's body attacks as he continuously pressed the advantage against Iris. At this point, he no longer saw her as an enemy, but a fantastic training opportunity to improve his body-based combat prowess.
'The only other time I've been this stifled was when I was fighting my master. I need to figure out what is going on, and how to break her defenses. I could just use my absolute power, namely my Transformation Art and Heavenly Lightning Domain to overwhelm her, but where's the fun in that.'
The incredible exchange continued for some time, as John started to piece together a bit of what was happening.
'It's those eyes of hers! They are able to see through all my movements, allowing her to read what I am going to do beforehand, and prepare a countermeasure with absolute quickness.'
John suddenly stopped, his actions surprising Iris as well as the others watching the fight.
"Is he giving up?" one of the disciples above asked their group.
"Of course he is. He's going against our Iris, who had never allowed anyone in the same realm as her to land a blow on her, let alone someone in a lower realm. Although this boy is beyond strong and was able to beat Aaron, landing a blow on Iris is an entirely different thing."
The nearby youths all nodded their heads in agreement as they had absolute faith in the strongest disciple from their sect.
Meanwhile, the youths from the Yuan Continent branch watched on calmly, as they knew the strength John had displayed was only a fraction of what he was capable of. Clearly he had a reason for not going all out, as if he wanted to end this battle, he could do so in a second.
John's mind focused on the teachings his master had given him, especially the ones regarding his body's micromovements, which would give his attacks away.
Iris stopped and watched as John's aura was withdrawn into himself while his presence seemed to disappear. While he was still visible to everyone, it was as if he had become one with the world. Iris's eyes widened slightly as she watched this take place before her, before an excited smile broke out on her face.
"Come on," she said to John while laughing slightly. "Show me what you got!"
