John's finger lowered as he watched Taran sail out of the arena. Their battle had lasted a short while, as Taran had been quite impressive. His wind powers had granted him incredible speed despite his restricted cultivation, and so John was forced to hop off his comfy hair and fight Taran for real. However, despite Taran's speed, he was quickly felled by a series of attacks from John.
Even with his cultivation unrestricted, Taran would not be a match for John. However, he had rested quite a bit over the last twenty hours as he accumulated points for ten rounds in a row, and finally felt like stretching his legs for a bit.
"He was quite strong," Iris said as she walked up to John with a smile on her face.
"That he was," John replied calmly. "If his cultivation was unrestricted, he would be roughly as strong as Vildren. There's quite a number of monstrous cultivators in these lands it seems."
"Hahaha," Iris laughed as if she had heard the funniest joke, her melodic laughter lightening the mood.
"What's so funny?" John asked.
"The biggest monster of all is saying there are monsters. It's just a bit funny to hear something like that from you is all," Iris replied as she arrived before John. Her gaze shifted to the small platform in the center of the arena, upon which the comfortable chair still rested.
"So why did you call me into the arena for this round?" Iris asked.
When the round had started, John had gestured for Iris to enter. Taran had also entered the arena, although he was soon forcefully ejected by John.
"Because it's time for you to start accumulating some Jade Marks," John replied as he guestered for Iris to claim the central platform.
"Already?" Iris asked. "Are you no longer getting points from this trial?"
"Not really," John replied while shaking his head. "The first victory is worth fifteen points, but each subsequent victory is with one less point. I would only get four points for this round, which isn't worth wasting two hours of my time over. There are more opportunities in this realm ahead of us, and I'm sure wasting another ten hours for a mere ten points is not worth the time," John explained.
"So it's like that," Iris replied as she understood why John called her into the arena. "Well, I won't stand on courtesy," Iris said as she hopped onto the platform.
"Good," John replied as he walked over to the platform but stopped just short of it. "You'll stay here for twenty hours as well to get the points that are worthwhile, at which point hopefully Adam and Chase have arrived. We can give them the points as well, before we head out deeper into these lands," John explained his plan.
Iris nodded her head as she sat down on the couch John had placed on the platform. It was incredibly comfortable, and she felt herself fall into a relaxed state.
"What are you going to do then?" Iris asked as she saw John sit down on the ground before the platform.
"I'm going to cultivate," John replied. "I achieved quite a few insights in my recent battles, which should help me advance a bit closer to the peak of the Meridian Forging Realm."
Iris nodded her head in acknowledgement, as she allowed John to cultivate without disturbance. Outside the arena, the crowd remained silent, only discussing the recent events in hushed whispers. They did not want to be the one to disturb John's cultivation and attract his wrath.
They had hoped that John would leave once he was done with the arena, but much to their disappointment he had allowed Iris to take over. However, John had only claimed the arena for twenty hours before rescinding it, so they would only have to wait for another twenty hours before he and Iris would leave.
At this time, a lone youth entered the coliseum, his arrival attracting the attention of those in the stands. He had a Middle Heaven Tribulation cultivation, and seemed quite powerful. Their eyes perked up slightly when they saw the youth, and recognized the robes. Discussions instantly broke out amongst themselves regarding the newcomer.
"The Heaven Scrying Sect?"
"I thought they disdained fighting, and instead focused on the arcane arts? Why is someone from the Heaven Scrying Sect here?"
"Haven't you heard? Apparently they have released a list detailing the top geniuses in these lands. This one must be here on business regarding that list."
"So it's like that. I suppose that makes sense."
The Heaven Scrying Sect youth ignored the discussions as his gaze shifted to the arena below. His gaze locked onto Iris who was sitting atop the central platform, and his eyes seemed to shift colors, becoming much more profound. At the same time, Iris felt a gaze fall upon her and gazed back at the youth.
Her eyes widened slightly as she could tell the youth had special eye talents. She activated her own eye abilities, hoping to see through what the youth was doing.
"This!" the Heaven Scrying Sect youth exclaimed softly as he noticed Iris's eyes. "My eye's are inferior to hers? And I cannot tell what type of eyes they are. Just who is this girl?" the youth muttered softly.
After inspecting Iris for some time, the youths gaze shifted to John, who was seated in a meditative position with his eyes closed. The youths' eyes shifted color once more as he closely inspected John. John felt the gaze fall upon him, but ignored it as he continued on with his cultivation.
"Can the rumors truly be true?" the youth mused as he inspected John closely. John's cultivation was clearly in the Late Meridian Forging Realm, and his eyes were able to tell that there was no trickery at play. If John had a cultivation shrouding or altering formation, the youth would be able to detect that.
His cultivation was clearly in the Late Meridian Forging Realm. Not only that, but he was the only other one in the arena besides Iris, indicating that he had successfully claimed control of the arena.
However, no battle was taking place currently, making it so that the youth could not verify the veracity of the rumors. After inspecting John for some time, the youth walked over to a nearby group seated in the stands, and asked about what they had seen.
