Her eyes shifted from John to the creature, and then back to John. Her shocked expression increased as she finally noticed his cultivation, and she was almost unable to believe her eyes.
"Who…who are you?"
"You can call me John," John replied, before his gaze shifted back towards the massive earthen golem that was making its way over to him again.
"So what happened here?" John asked, trying to get a picture of how the two had killed the Ice Troll, but fell against the earthen golem. He could tell that the earthen golem was stronger than the Ice Troll, but not by a massive margin.
"We…Grayson and I defeated the Ice Troll, but we were both quite injured in the battle. We wanted to rest up, but after just a few minutes we were forced to enter this next arena. We fought against the golem, but were overwhelmed in the end," the girl explained, her words getting hastier as she noticed the earth golem almost upon them again.
"So that's how it is," John replied, his gaze focusing on the girl before him. Her cultivation was in the Early Heaven Tribulation realm, and based on her age and aura, she was one of the less talented youths in these lands. She most likely entered the Warrior Tunnel in the ancient city just a day or two before John did, meaning that her talent was quite poor when compared to the true geniuses of the Honorable Alliance.
"Her and her friend falling to this earth golem after fighting the Ice Troll makes sense, as neither of them are particularly strong. But the Jade Dragon Empire sure is brutal. They'd send their youths into trials like these, with either victory or death as the result. No wonder they stood at the forefront of the ancient world."
John's respect for both the Jade Dragon Empire and these trial lands grew as he came to this conclusion. The cultivation world was a brutal place, and only the strong could ensure their lives were theirs to control. At the same time, his expectations for the trial lands grew, as the dangerous fights were sure to continue, and also grow in power as he progressed deeper into the lands.
'I guess I figured out why there are difficulty settings for these trials though,' John mused internally. 'There doesn't seem to be a limit to how many youths can participate in the fight, so a group of youths could challenge a stronger creature, most likely to get more Jade Marks.'
"Watch out!" the girl exclaimed as the golem punched out towards John again, its fist carrying tremendous power. The earth golem had a cultivation level in the Early Heaven Tribulation Realm, causing John to frown slightly at his opponents power.
He slashed his axe out to meet the attack, the collision once again knocking back the earth golem.
"Can we change the difficulty?" John suddenly said out loud, his words causing the girl to become confused.
"Who are you talking to?" the girl asked, but her eyes quickly focused on a prompt of hovering text that suddenly appeared before John. Her eyes widened in panic as she noticed him select the Middle Heaven Tribulation option, while the aura of the golem suddenly climbed to the next realm.
"What are you doing?" the girl asked, her voice filled with confusion and panic.
"Just wait in this corner. I'll be done soon," John said as he looked over his shoulder at the girl. Lightning coated his body and his aura climbed massively as his body flashed forward, appearing before the earth golem.
For the next ten minutes, the girl watched on in a stunned stupor as John fought head to head against the golem. Golden battle axe battle arts were constantly unleashed, slamming against the golem with incredible power, while the physical force of his battle axe attacks were equally as monstrous.
Boom!
The earthen golems body fell to the ground in a crumbled pile, its body shattered from the battle between itself and John. John's heavy breathing slowly calmed down as he once again watched his opponent vanish into nothingness, while the tingling sensation on his chest appeared again.
"Two hundred points?" John said as he noticed the Jade Marks provided were the same as last time. He walked over to her, while the girl stared at John, her gaze appearing like she was staring at a monster.
"How many Jade Marks did you get," John asked, getting straight to the point.
"Ah…!" the girl snapped out of her stunned stupor, and inspected her marks.
"Twenty five! Wow, the Ice Troll only gave fifteen!" the girl exclaimed.
'Twenty five? It seems like the points are awarded based on participation in the battle, as well as how much damage each person does, and lastly the difference in cultivations. I suppose that is the best way to do it.'
John was happy to see that the girl's presence didn't lower the score he received, and his gaze shifted towards the end of the large cavern as another flash of green light appeared. He popped a healing pill as well as a Qi recovery pill in his mouth just in case, and turned to the girl once more.
"Gather your friends' remains, and then we're moving to the next stage," John said to her.
The girl nodded her head, fully following John's commands from here on out, as she knew he was her only hope of getting out of here alive. She collected her friend's remains as her face once again turned sad and teary, but followed John's instructions and returned to him quickly.
"There will be time for mourning later. First, we focus on this trial," John said to the girl, who nodded her head as a serious expression appeared on her face. She followed behind him and the two quickly stepped through the formation barrier, as another cavernous arena appeared before them.
Bang!
Bang!
A battle between man and beast once again appeared in John's vision as he saw a lone youth battling against a fiery creature.
"Astral Sword!" the youth yelled out loudly as a purple sword image which seemed to glimmer in spots like stars in the void slashed out. It landed on the already injured creature, which was a Hellflame Wyrm.
The sword cleaved onto an already created injury, piercing deeper into the wyrm which bisected it in two. The wyrm collapsed onto the ground, before it slowly vanished from sight. John raised an eyebrow as he saw the youth successfully kill his opponent single handedly. The youth was a Early Heaven Tribulation youth, but John could tell that he was almost ready to break through to the next minor realm. Not only that, but the 'Astral Sword' that he had just unleashed was quite an impressive battle art, and John could easily tell that its origins were not simple.
"Not bad," John said out loud, his words catching the attention of the youth. The youth inspected the two of them for a moment, pausing on John for a moment as he clearly did not expect someone with such a low cultivation to make it this far. However, since the trial was scaled to cultivation, his appearance wasn't impossible.
"Not bad? It sounds like my attacks don't impress you much," the youth replied.
"Not at all," John replied calmly. "If you were at the Middle Heaven Tribulation Realm, I would have to take my battle with you quite seriously."
"Hahaha, you're quite an amusing one," the youth replied, not mad at John's words.
The youth stared at John for a moment longer before he turned and left through the formation barrier that had appeared, which vanished after he entered. John watched him leave, before his gaze shifted to the Hellflame Wyrm which again materialized in the center of the arena.
"Let's kick it up a notch again," John said as the prompt once again appeared before him. His body flashed forward towards the Hellflame Wrym as his battle axe cleaved down towards it, as he started the next battle in the gauntlet of the True Warrior Trial.
