John raised his eyebrows at the Prime Shadows claims, although he didn't doubt the mans words. The Prime Shadow was in the Holy Manifestation Realm, although John didn't know which minor realm exactly. The Prime Shadow had yet to reveal his aura to John, and so he could only tell the mans general cultivation, but not the exact level.
However, the natural feeling of danger the Prime Shadow gave off was no less than the Grand Abbot, and John wouldn't be surprised to find out the Prime Shadow was even stronger. In fact, he gave off the same lethal feeling that the Jade Dragon Emperor gave off, although where the Jade Dragon Emperor was like a blazing sun, completely powerful and unstoppable, the Prime Shadow was like a hidden dagger, so sharp that it could cut through anything.
"Hmmm, lets see," the Prime Shadow said to himself, walking about a hundred yards away from John. He nodded to himself and stopped walking.
"This spot will do," he said as an object suddenly appeared before the man.
"A corpse?" John said, raising his eyebrows once more. The Prime Shadow had taken out the dead body, and upon quick inspection, John realized it was the body of a Devil, one similar to the formation-formed creature he had recently fought. However, this was a true Devil, only dead.
Vibrant vitality still emanated from the body, revealing that the Devil had been killed recently, most likely less than a few months ago. John felt the trace aura of the corpse, revealing its cultivation when it had been alive.
"Late World Transformation!" he said with surprise. That was the same level of cultivation as the Grandmaster, or Thunderzen. And the danger he felt from the corpse, although dead, was no less than a powerhouse like Thunderzen.
John studied the corpse, and noticed a thin, razor sharp wound on its forehead. It was so thin that it was hardly noticeable.
"Did you kill this Devil?" John asked with awe.
"Sure did," the Prime Shadow said, nodding as he fiddled with the corpse. "It had snuck onto this continent and was secretly wreaking havoc, no doubt instructions from the Devil higher-ups. Unfortunately, I happened to be passing by the city it was hiding in, and well, let's just say this fellow had quite a bad day that day."
John smirked, amused at how nonchalant the Prime Shadow was about killing something so powerful.
"How powerful are Devils?" John asked curiously while the Prime Shadow fiddled with whatever he was doing. "Are they all the same talent level as the Devil I fought?"
"Just like us humans, the Devils vary greatly in talent level," the Prime Shadow said. "They are half-human after all. The Devil you fought was of average talent, nothing exceptional, but also not weak either. If you were to fight against a true Early World Expansion genius of the Devil Race, let's just say that your battle would have resulted in a quick death for you."
"Is that so?" John replied, musing it over.
"Devils are half-human half-demon, so their bodies are also naturally stronger than an average cultivator, and are more akin to body cultivators naturally," the Prime Shadow added. "So they can be quite fearsome in battle."
He thought back to his fight against Asuros, who had only been two minor realms above him, and yet had put up a strong fight. Against true geniuses, his ability to jump realms was cut down drastically.
'I guess I need to be a bit more careful in the future,' he mused. 'If I blindly assume someone is of average talent and fight against them using my normal thinking, and they turn out to be a true genius instead, I could find myself in a bad situation quickly.'
"There we go," the Prime Shadow said, stepping back with a smile on his face. John inspected the corpse, which stood upright as if alive. Its feet were bound in a powerful energy, pinning it to the ground.
"If I don't bind this Devil to the ground, it's going to go flying off into the distance once I unleash my assassination art on it," the Prime Shadow explained, noticing John's questioning gaze. "Since you are too weak to withstand this art, I'm going to use the corpse of a Late World Expansion Devil to demonstrate the killing capacity of this art."
"I see," John nodded his head, then frowned. "If the art is too dangerous for me without me using my Dragon-God Shift, shouldn't I just move farther away to a safe distance?"
"Gahaha," the Prime Shadow laughed. "How will you feel about the nature of the assassination art if you're far away? I want you to feel this art personally, so that your body will remember it, down to your very bones. Only by experiencing the true terror of this art will you be able to grasp it yourself."
John sighed, then nodded his head.
"I'm ready when you are," John said firmly, ready to unleash his Dragon-God Shift.
"Good," the Prime Shadow nodded, then disappeared.
John noticed the man instantly appear several miles away, appearing like a dot on the horizon. He was awed once more by the power of a Holy Manifestation cultivator, able to move so fast instantly, without John being able to detect him at all.
"I'm going to demonstrate this art first, without explaining anything, and I want you to pay careful attention, and spot as much as you can," the Prime Shadow send John a sound transmission. "We will discuss your thoughts on the art afterwards."
John nodded his head, then unleashed his Dragon-God Shift. His Qi churned within his body like a tsunami, fortifying his bodily defenses, augmenting his physical strength to incredible heights. The surge of power made John want to speed forward and fight something immediately, but he held back that feeling and focused instead on the distant Prime Shadow.
With John's body defense pushed to an incredible level, the Prime Shadow began.
John paid careful attention, studying the Prime Shadow with both his eyes and his divine sense. He spread his divine sense over the entire area as well, using it to study the art he was about to see. His eyes widened with shock as he felt the Prime Shadow vanished within his divine sense, and then against all odds, vanished visually as well.
In the blink of an eye, the Prime Shadow completely disappeared, but John could tell the man had not moved. Despite still being in the exact same location, he was unable to see or feel the Prime Shadow at all.
"I thought this art wasn't a stealthy assassination a-"
Boom!
A beam of something, so fast that he couldn't even see at all raced by him, faster than the time it took to think a single thought, and zipped off into the horizon like a beam of light.
A moment later, John's instincts started screaming, yelling at him that death was approaching, and that it was unavoidable. His eyes went wide with stunned surprise, as for the first time in his life, his instincts had failed him, only warning him after the danger had already arrived.
The world before him then exploded, erupting into a fiery explosion that radiated outwards from that beam. It enveloped him in an instant, bathing him in its calamitous power, one that he needed his full defensive power to withstand.
Unable to resist, John was thrown into the air, tumbling head over heels within the fiery explosion. His body ached with pain and skin charred over as the power of the blast nearly overwhelmed him. His heart raced furiously in his chest, as he fought back against the explosion.
However, his heart was not racing from fear or panic, but of complete awe. In the moment it took for the explosion to appear and then reach him, a time no longer than blink of an eye, he saw something incredible.
The corpse of the Devil, sliced cleanly in half as if it had been nothing more than paper. The horrifying explosion that enveloped him was not the assassination art, but a byproduct of the assassination arts monstrous power.
