After finding the Divine Reaping Scythe jade piece in Mystic City, John now had access to the Meridian Forging and Heaven Tribulation forms of the Divine Reaping Scythe. After perusing through the jade piece, John found that the creator called each stage a form, with the technique starting in the Qi Condensation Realm.
The fourth form of the Divine Reaping Scythe was the Heaven Tribulation stage. The transformation from the Third Form to the Fourth Form was much greater than the previous stage increases. In a similar fashion to how a Heaven Tribulation ascension transformed one's body from a mortal body to a higher state of being, so too did the Divine Reaping Scythe.
Because John was not in the Heaven Tribulation Realm, he had a hard time comprehending the nature of the Forth Form, and took much longer to learn the stage than the three previous stages. The technique was intended to use one's Heavenly Tribulation comprehensions and Qi to utilize the attack, something which John did not have.
However, his incredibly powerful dantian, coupled with his monstrous comprehension talents allowed him to brute force his way into learning the technique, something that was impossible for any other cultivator.
His previous uses of the Divine Reaping Scythe's Fourth Form had been incomplete, and this was his first time using the fourth form attack as it was intended.
Che!
John's scythe slashed out with absolute speed and power as it unleashed the fully realized Divine Reaping Scythe. A black and red scythe image left his scythe blade, and slashed up towards the sword that was cleaving down onto his position.
The spectators watching the fight all felt a chill crawl up their spine and their souls ache from just looking at the Divine Reaping Scythe. Its sharpness was something that cut into their very souls, just from a single glance.
All the youths watching felt themselves shiver at the sight of the attack, as they knew they would be powerless to stop such an attack. The only hope they had of surviving such an attack was to dodge, but the speed of the attack was also something that they would not be able to handle.
The scythe attack slashed up towards the massive heavenly sword, appearing almost like an ant in front of a titan. The attack was dozens of times smaller than the sword, making it look almost insignificant.
The youths all held their breaths as they watched the attacks collide in an instant, as the world seemed to go silent for a brief moment.
Che!
The two attacks collided in the air, and the youths all braced themselves for a calamitous explosion. However, the expected explosion of battle art collisions did not occur, as the Divine Reaping Scythe instead passed through the sword, almost as if it didn't exist. The black and red scythe image sailed up high into the sky, until it eventually slammed against the formation barrier covering the Jade Dragon Empire trial lands, finally coming to an end.
At the same time, the Prismatic Saint Sword continued its trajectory down towards John, as if the attack from the Divine Reaping Scythe had done nothing at all. The crowd also assumed the same, until their eyes widened as the massive Prismatic Saint Sword split apart. It had been cleanly bisected into two parts right where the scythe attack had landed, and the crowd watched in stunned silence as the two halves of the sword fell to the earth, both parts missing John's location.
The Prismatic Saint Sword, the crowned battle art of the Valyren Empire, had been completely neutralized by a single slash of John's scythe.
"Impossible!" Vildren muttered in disbelief as he saw his attack fail. "Impossible," he muttered again, still unable to believe that his strongest battle art had been defeated by a youth in the Meridian Forging Realm.
Thunderbody Flash!
Limiter of Speed!
Vildren's eyes suddenly widened as John rapidly dashed forward after breaking free from the attack. John didn't want to give him a second to rest, as he could tell the attack had been somewhat draining on Vildren. Vildren raised his sword before slashing it out towards John, as scythe and sword collided. John's muscles bulged with absolute power as he pushed his Supreme Battle Art and Limiter of Power to the peak.
Peng!
"Ghh!"
Vildren cried out in muffled pain as his body flew backwards hundreds of yards, his feet skidding through the desert sand and carving a long ditch into the earth.
"Gaaaah!"
A cry of frustration boomed out from him as his aura flared once more, clearly angered from his battle with John. John arrived before Vildren once more, his scythe slashing out with absolute speed and sharpness. Vildren countered with a melee sword battle art, now ready for John's assault.
Peng!
Peng!
Peng!
The crowd watched in rapt attention as John and Vildren exchanged hundreds of attacks, while their bodies flashed throughout the desert so fast as to be almost imperceptible by the weaker disciples. The two of them appeared like blurs as they darted through the desert, exchanging attacks all the while.
The desert continuously shook as the attacks unleashed by the two fighters rocked the land, upheaving sand everywhere. Lightning continuously flared, lighting up the sky, while pearly white sword arts cleaved out to meet each lightning attack.
"How are they so strong?" a female youth finally found the strength to ask while watching the fight continue.
"Who cares about Vildren at this point," a nearby male youth replied. "The better question is how the hell is that Heavenly Lightning Sect boy so powerful? His strength defies all logic."
"Do…do you think he could be the Soul-Sage…or Asura?" a meek voice asked, almost as if afraid to ask the question that everyone was thinking at the moment.
The crowds eyes lit up with the thought of it being true, before a more experienced youth shook their head against the idea.
"No, I highly doubt he's either of those monsters," the youth replied.
"How can you be so sure?" someone asked.
"Look at his battle arts. If he was the Soul-Sage, he would be using soul arts, which he has used none. And if he was Asura, you would expect his aura to be more evil and battle arts to be more bloodthirsty, neither of which are true," the youth explained. "While he technically could be hiding such abilites, that is even more impossible to believe. There's no way he's holding any strength back, as his power right now already defies logic."
The youths' explanation caused the other disciples to nod their heads in agreement after a moment of thought, as their eyes continued to stay glued to the battle ahead of them.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The desert continued to explode ceaselessly as John and Vildren continued to exchange battle arts. John's power flared out fully as he unleashed battle art after battle art, doing his best to overwhelm Vildren.
'I have to admit that Vildren is beyond monstrous. His speed is just as fast as mine right now, and without using my Asura Transformation Art, I am unable to overwhelm him in an instant. I could use my Divine Reaping Scythe against him directly, but that would more than likely kill him if it landed. Although I have no concern for his life, I cannot drag the Heavenly Lightning Sect into a potential war with the Valyren Empire."
Hundreds of lightning nodes appeared in the air as John decided to go all out, and activated his Heavenly Lightning Domain. The lightning nodes appeared before Vildren could react, and the lightning cage activated in an instant.
In less than a second, Vildren found himself trapped within the lightning cage, with nowhere to run. His power was great enough to cleave through the lightning cage in a few seconds, but doing so would leave him vulnerable to John's attack. Doing such a thing would be suicide, and so Vildren made no such effort as he instead unleashed another sword art towards John.
The sword slashed out instantly, while it radiated incredible might. It was as if Vildren was using a condensed version of the Prismatic Saint Sword; smaller and less powerful, but much faster and sharper.
Peng!
John slashed his scythe out, slamming it into the sword art. The sword art exploded within the lightning cage, drawing both in its energy. John's might flared to resist it, while his eyes locked onto his scythe's blade. A number of small chips had appeared on the scythe blade, clearly blocking attacks from Vildren's higher grade weapon.
"Tch!" John clicked his tongue as he dashed forward once more while putting away his scythe. He needed the scythe for future battles, and so he decided to cause no more harm to it at the moment.
His body flashed forward, appearing before Vildren once more.
"Idiot!" Vildren spat out as his sword slashed forward towards John. He had been feeling more and more unease as the battle dragged out, as he could tell he was slowly losing. However, John putting his weapon away was tantamount to suicide, although Vildren would not complain. Clearly the frenzy of battle had muddled his opponents mind.
Vildren's Heaven Tribulation Grade sword cleaved towards John's waist, the blade glowing white with a powerful battle art. A smirk appeared on his face as John ignored the attack and instead decided to punch towards Vildren's face.
"Perish!" Vildren cursed as the blade reached John's waist.
Peng!
A metallic sound rang out, surprising Vildren as his eyes opened wide. A sword had suddenly appeared directly next to John's waist at the last moment, blocking the attack. It was the Meridian Forging Grade greatsword John had found in the Ancient Wastelands on the Yuan Continent, one he had never had use for since.
He had taken it out of his spatial realm at the very last moment, as his unique soul connection with the spatial realm allowed him to take items out faster than others could from a spatial ring. Vildren's sword slammed onto the ancient greatsword and cleaved halfway into the greatsword's blade. With one slash, the greatsword had been completely ruined, showcasing the power of Vildren, as well as the quality of his blade.
John felt an incredibly powerful force collide against his waist, causing him to grimace in pain as his ribs creaked in protest. However, his durable body resisted the attack in the end, as he had hoped.
Vildren quickly tried to pull his sword back, but the blade had become stuck in the greatsword, making a quick retrieval impossible. His eyes opened wide as a fist suddenly filled his vision.
Bang!
John's fist, augmented by the full power of his Supreme Battle Art and Limiter of Pain slammed against Vildren's face. His cheekbone shattered from the impact, while his body suddenly flew off and slammed into the lightning cage.
Bang!
Vildren rebounded off the lightning cage, his mind fuzzy and head aching with pain.
Bang!
Another fist slammed against his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees as he vomited from the force of the blow.
Che!
A slashing sound suddenly sounded out as steel met flesh. Vildren's hazy eyes cleared up instantly as he looked down at his left hand, which now rested on the desert sand, separated from his arm. John stared down with indifference as he watched Vildren realize what had happened.
"As I told you, that hand is no longer yours to keep."
