Boom! Boom! Boom!
The trial realm shook ceaselessly, as if it was about to tear apart and be destroyed at any moment. Two blurs, so fast that they could hardly be seen at all, moved through the sky, slamming into each other with brutal ferocity, shaking the sky and warping the very fabric of space itself.
John flew backwards through the sky, blood trailing behind him from a wound just opened. The wound healed in a few seconds, as if a healing cultivator was standing nearby, focusing on healing him as quickly as possible. The feeling of being able to sustain such damage and heal it almost immediately was euphoric, although it was not without its downsides.
Each wound took a decent amount of Qi to heal, and the larger the wound, the more Qi it required. John's dantian, as heaven-defying as it was, had limits, and would eventually run out of Qi. His battle with the Devil had been going on for over an hour already, with him sustaining wounds each and every exchange.
By now, his Qi reserve was running low, and a frown formed on his face as he considered his next steps.
"I'm running low on Qi, and so I should finish this battle quickly, but its far too good of a training opportunity to just end like this…"
His mind raced with thoughts, and an idea formed in his mind.
"Kirii, can you come out and stall the Devil long enough for me to replenish my Qi?" John asked Kirii.
"No," Kirii replied. "Something in this place is blocking me from entering it."
"Tch," John clicked his tongue in frustration, but wasn't too surprised. This trial was meant to test the guildmember taking it, and using outside help like Kirii was obviously cheating.
Boom!
The ground shattered as John dodged an attack from the Devil, forming a massive crater that exploded outwards in all directions, sending earth, trees, and boulders raining down onto their dark battlefield.
John turned to look at the Devil as it reoriented itself to face him, preparing to speed towards him once more.
"Maybe I can wound it to slow it down, at which point I can focus on dodging while replenishing my Qi. It's worth a shot."
With the plan in mind, John took out his scythe, ready to unleash an attack towards the Devil to injure it. The Devil paused for a brief moment and took out its saber, which was something John discovered a while back. If he had a weapon, the Devil would use a weapon. If he didn't have a weapon, the Devil wouldn't use a weapon. He wasn't sure why the Devil was made to operate this way, but didn't care either.
His eyes flickered with a thought as he noticed the Devil pause to take out its weapon, halting its momentum towards him. He instantly put away his scythe, storing it in his spatial realm once more. The Devil had just started rushing towards him, but paused for a brief moment as it put away its saber as well.
John's scythe appeared in his hand once more, and the Devil took out its saber again. A boisterous, rowdy laughter boomed out from John as he realized he found a way to stall the Devil for long enough to replenish his Qi.
His scythe appeared in his hand and then vanished, the process happening over and over ceaselessly. Each time he took out his weapon or put it away, the Devil would do the same, but would pause for a brief moment to do so. John had no idea why it was programmed to do such a thing, but didn't really care either.
'Whoever made the Devil probably never considered the possibility of someone being crazy enough to put away their weapon during the battle with this creature,' John mused, smiling as he gamed the system of the trial to his advantage. He took out a Qi recovery pill from his spatial ring and popped into his mouth, augmenting his recovery process. Taking such pills during battle was not possible, since the process of recovering Qi through pills required a calm and focused mind and body to guide the Qi to his dantian, but with him standing here motionlessly, it was the perfect time for such pills.
Like this, the two of them remained in place, both taking out and then storing their weapons indefinitely, turning the once brutal battlefield into a comical farce.
…
The guildmembers stared with wide eyes at the screen, none of them uttering a single sound. They had become numb to the shock and surprise they were feeling, as each event they witnessed could be considered crazier than the last.
They had watched John battle the horrifying Devil, a Devil a full major realm above his cultivation level, for an entire hour without perishing, all while treating this trial, one that was supposed to be impossible to pass if detected by the Devil, as a makeshift training session.
Then during the session, John's body had shown a healing factor that should be considered impossible for one of his cultivation level, instantly healing the wounds he suffered in his battle with the Devil. Then they had been stunned by just how much Qi John had at his disposal, as he had battled and healed for over an hour against such an impossible to fight opponent. With how he was battling, as well as the terrifying amount of Qi the Dragon-God Shift used, they figured he would have run out of Qi after a few minutes of fighting.
And yet, the battle had been going on for ten times that length. And now, they watched as John found a loophole in the trial, keeping the Devil locked in place, switching weapons ceaselessly. They had no idea why he was doing such a thing, and then some figured he had found a way to run from the Devil without it ever catching up.
However, those theories were quickly squashed, as John had shown no indications of moving away from the Devil. Instead, he stood there in the sky, scythe appearing and disappearing in hand over and over again, as if he would never stop doing it.
After a long while, hushed discussions broke out as the guildmembers were trying to figure out what was going on, and what John was trying to do. Their questions were answered a short while later as John put away his scythe and didn't take it back out, a large smile forming on his face.
"Alright!" they heard him roar loudly, and then watched as he sped towards the Devil. "My Qi is mostly recovered. Time to start round two!"
Everyone's mouths went agape at his comment, unable to believe he had not used the loophole he found to escape, but to instead recover his Qi to start fighting the Devil again. Despite his impossibly strong combat prowess, he had not once managed to injure the Devil, and was fighting the battle on the losing end nonstop. They figured he would want to get away from such a futile endeavor, not start it once again.
The Grandmaster's gaze slowly peeled away from the screen and towards Zuri, who met his gaze.
"H…how did you find this boy?"
