The wry laughter was followed by wide-eyed silence. He had already revealed his Asura Transformation, so anything else was of lesser importance to hide.
"That's not your true strength?" the Prime Shadow asked with both disbelief, and skepticism.
"What I've shown you of my essence power is only about half of what I can truly unleash. Just using my full essence power puts my meridians on edge. When using my transformations as well, I need to be careful of how much Qi I use, otherwise I could damage my meridians. And when I truly use my full power, my meridians become so damaged that I cannot use that full power again for half a year," John said, revealing the truth.
'As for my bloodline ability, I think it's fine to keep one secret to myself, just in case.'
"The essence Qi you've revealed is only half of what you can generate?" the Prime Shadow asked, still skeptical.
John didn't blame the man, as his essence Dantain had reached twenty compressions in the Core Formation Realm, and twenty full cycles in the Dao Transformation Realm. It was the most heaven-defying thing about him, and was not something that could be believed unless seen. Realizing this, John sighed, then turned around.
He pointed outwards with his right hand, then focused as he activated his essence dantian. His essence dantian began to surge with might as he pushed it to its absolute limit. His dantian churned and churned with power, brimming with Qi until it was about to explode from within. The torrent of overwhelmingly powerful lightning Qi burst out of his dantian and into his meridians, snaking through them, pushing against them like an overflowing river, following the pathways of his Dragontail Decimation.
A mile away, the sky suddenly illuminated with a blinding light as a hole formed in the sky.
Boom!
Lightning in the appearance of a massive dragon's tail slammed down onto the ground, erupting an instant later with an apocalyptic blast of power. The land shattered and broke beneath the might of the battle art, shaking the land for tens of miles. The sky erupted as an explosion of lightning radiated outwards, destroying everything in its path.
The explosion quickly reached John and the Prime Shadow, its power great enough to swallow both of them in it. It expanded outwards even more before fading away, returning silence to the now charred and ruined land. John looked at the aftermath of his attack, then shifted his gaze to the Prime Shadow.
The Prime Shadow stared outwards at the ruined land, eyes wide with disbelief. It was a look John had seen on many faces before; the look of someone seeing something that they had previously considered impossible. A look of a person who had their knowledge of the cultivation world thrown into chaos. Even for someone as powerful as the Prime Shadow, John's feats were just too heaven-defying to believe unless seen.
"How….how many dantian compressions, and dantian cycles did you manage?" the Prime Shadow said, his voice mumbling.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me," John shrugged. There was no way anyone would believe he had achieved twenty in both, even with what he had just shown. It was just that impossible of a thing.
Silence filled the scorched land for a short while, at which point the Prime Shadow exhaled heavily once more. He shifted his gaze to John, clearly seeing him in a new light. His blank look quickly faded away, replaced by loud, boisterous laughter, surprising John.
"Gahahahaha," the Prime Shadow laughed for quite some time, almost like a madman. He stopped a while later, and placed a hand on John's shoulder.
"You are truly full of surprises, child," he said, smiling. "Now that I know the true extent of your talent, I think it's time for us to take a little trip."
"A trip? To where?" John asked curiously.
"To the only place in this world that has something that can improve meridians of your level," the Prime Shadow said, a mischievous smile appearing on his face. "The Devil Continent."
"The Devil Continent?" John repeated, completely surprised. "Aren't they mortal enemies with all humans on this world?"
"They are," the Prime Shadow nodded, his mischievous smile widening. "So why don't we take this chance to not only improve your strength, but also land a crippling blow on them."
"That sounds….a bit dangerous," John said, frowning.
"Anything worth doing is dangerous," the Prime Shadow said, his power suddenly flaring.
John opened his mouth to say something, but he was wrapped up in the Prime Shadow's power before he could react. The world around him went black, as if he was wrapped in a cocoon of pure blackness. He tried to move, but couldn't move at all, despite struggling with all his might.
"What the hell? What's this crazy man doing?" he grumbled, realizing he was fully at the Prime Shadow's mercy.
Time moved on, with John wrapped in this cocoon of black Qi for hours and hours. He had become accustomed to it by now, and had used this downtime to focus on his cultivation. He had just recently broken through to the Middle Dao Transformation Realm, and had not had much time to consolidate his foundation. This was as good a time as any he was going to get.
Flash!
The world around him suddenly changed again as the cocoon of Qi enveloping him vanished, returning him to the real world. The Prime Shadow appeared before him, smiling with that mischievous smile as the two of them hovered in the sky a mile off the ground.
"What the hell was all that?" John grumbled while instinctively taking in the new area. His eyes went wide as a hellish world appeared before him, one brimming with blood and fire.
As far as he could see was an ocean of volcanoes, each miles high, each spewing rivers of lava, bathing the land in an orange-red glow, as well as an oppressive heat. A thick, sulfurous smell hung in the air, while the very Qi of this continent seemed to be different, more malevolent.
Most eye-catching of all were three volcanoes, located next to each other, each larger than the others stretching off into the distance. The volcanos towered up into the sky, while rivers of liquid flowed out of their mouths and down the sides of the volcanos, disappearing into chasms at the bottom.
The liquid flowing from those three volcano's were as oppressive as the lava surrounding him in both temperature and aura, but were clearly not lava. One of the volcanos spewed a thick red liquid, another a thick grey liquid, and the last, a thick purplish liquid.
'No…that's not lava at all,' John thought, looking at the red liquid. 'It's blood.'
"What is this place?" he asked, eyes wide with confused awe.
"Welcome to the Devil Continent," the Prime Shadow said, leaning forward slightly as if whispering to John. "Specifically, welcome to the ancestral grounds of the Titan-Devils, home to the Titan-Devil Sect, the second strongest Devil power in this world."
