The next several days were spent within the mountain range, fighting powerful beasts and honing the battle arts he had just purchased. The mountain range was filled with powerful creatures, although all were in the Heaven Tribulation Realm.
None were in the Dao Transformation Realm, as those wild beasts tended to stay far away from any civilization. While these mountains were quite remote and far away from Mystic City, they were not completely isolated like the places powerful beasts liked to lurk.
In the few days in the mountains so far, John had already slain three Middle Heaven Tribulation beasts. Each had been a unique opponent, presenting him with different challenges while using his new battle arts.
However, no matter what he had done so far, he had been unable to use Dragontail Decimation. While he had finally learned the incredibly complicated Qi generation requirements, and intricate meridian pathways, he had been unable to use it in battle due to its slow channel time.
Unlike his Lightning Disintegration, Dragontail Decimation was a true channeled battle art, and an incredible one at that. It sacrificed any sort of casting speed for ultimate destructive power. Not only that, but the more he studied the art, the more he realized there were two portions to the battle art.
It could be unleashed as a wide area attack, or unleashed with pinpoint power, focusing on a singular target. This flexibility in uses pleased John quite greatly, but disappointment was all that followed as he was unable to use it in battle.
Each time he had attempted to use it, the beast opponents would interrupt him and cause him to release the battle art. Unlike Lightning Disintegration, Dragontail Decimation required all of his Qi.
One of the reasons the battle art was so expensive was that it seemed unlimited in the amount of Qi that could be used to power it. No matter how much Qi John fed the attack, it always seemed to hunger for more. As a result, he could not save a portion of his Qi for movement or defense, making it so that he was a sitting duck.
Screech!
On this day, John was fighting an incredibly powerful beast, the Fire Falcon. The beast was a creature of flames, and each flap of its wings unleashed a tornado of flaming destruction. The beast screeched as it sped towards John with incredible speed, unleashing a wave of destructive flames at him.
Tch!
John clicked his tongue and released his Dragontail Decimation and dodged to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. The wave of flames slammed onto a mountain behind him, obliterating almost half of it.
John couldn't help but grimace slightly as he saw the power of the attack, before his focus once again locked onto the Fire Falcon.
'Unlike the other beasts I fought, this one is in the Late Heaven Tribulation Realm, and seems to almost be at its peak. It must be the king of this area, and is quite a handful…how can I beat it?'
Even if he were using his Asura Transformation and everything at his disposal, beating the Fire Falcon would be an incredibly tall task. John's essence cultivation was still in the Middle Meridian Forging Realm, making it five minor realms behind the Fire Falcon's cultivation.
'If only the Divine Reaping Scythe wasn't so fucking complicated, I would have learned the new steps by now which would help me. But based on what I saw, learning the Meridian Forging steps to that battle art is going to take weeks, and it will be even longer for the Heaven Tribulation portion.'
Bang!
Another fiery inferno slashed out from the Fire Falcon's wings and slammed down on John's location. John slashed his battle ax out, sending a Sky Sundering Axe to meet the attack, while he covered himself in the defensive lightning cage using his Lightning Domain.
Boom!
The collision between the battle arts exploded outwards, and John found himself thrown backwards with great speed. He slammed into the earth below and burrowed in deeply.
Cough!
John coughed out in pain, and a small bit of blood coughed out as well. He grimaced from the pain he felt, as that attack had been quite strong.
"I guess I bit off more than I can chew here," John mumbled to himself as he stood up. His gaze locked onto the Fire Falcon hovering above, which was surprised he had survived the attack. Its opponent was just a mere Meridian Forging human, and yet it had survived attack after attack.
This gave the creature some pause, as it didn't know what was going on. As such, it stared warily at John, waiting for his next move.
John felt his soul space begin to tremble, and he quickly locked his soul space down, which stopped Kirii from escaping.
'Oh no you don't. You're absolutely no match for this Fire Falcon,' John said to Kirri through their soul connection.
Kirii was still in the Meridian Forging Realm as well, and although it was a heavenly beast, it still had its limitations as well. John frowned as he stared at the beast, and a stifling feeling welled up within him.
"I would kill you today if I could use my full power, but I'll let you off for now. Don't worry, I'll be returning before long to finish our fight," John said to the creature with a cold voice, before he jumped out of the ditch and sped away.
It was the first time he had retreated from a fight since the Ancient City, although this retreat was different. It was not out of caution and fear like last time, but out of realizing that without his full strength, he was unable to win today.
Tch!
John clicked his tongue again as he sped away, while the Fire Falcon watched him leave. It quickly returned to its massive nest soon after, not wanting to follow the mysterious human.
…
"Goddammit. Not being able to use my full strength is such a pain in the ass," John cursed as he stared into the fire he had made. His thoughts lingered on the fight, and how weak he felt without being able to use his Asura Transformation.
"I really need to raise my Essence cultivation as much as possible, especially for the realm opening soon."
After eating a hearty meal, John popped into his mouth a few high grade cultivation pills he had bought from the Mystic Trade Hall, and focused his mind on raising his cultivation. It had been many months since he had last broken through with his Essence Cultivation, and his recent battles had allowed him to breach that barrier.
Several days later, a muffled boom echoed out from within John's body, and his eyes slowly opened as a smile formed on his face.
"Finally, my Essence Cultivation is in the Late Meridian Forging Realm."
John quickly inspected his body and the changes he felt with his dantian and meridians. His meridians were even wider than before, allowing for more Qi to pass through, while also much more durable than the last realm. At the same time, his dantian had grown in power as well, making him much more formidable than just a few days ago.
John's thoughts shifted to the Fire Falcon, which he was eager to test his luck against again, when he suddenly felt his soul tremble. Kirii quickly appeared before John, and stared at the sky.
"What is it Kirii?" John couldn't help but ask. He could tell Kirii was anxiously anticipating something, but couldn't determine exactly what.
Boom!
A thunderous boom echoed out from above, causing John to glance up to the skies. Much to his surprise, blacked storm clouds were gathering at unnatural speeds above them, and it was clearly not centered on him. John glanced at Kirii with surprise on his face.
"Kirii…you're ascending to the Heaven Tribulation Realm?"
