Chapter 1038: Stone Sentinels

In the luxurious room overlooking the arena, Naelia blanched at what she saw, clearly not having much experience with such brutality. Zuri rested a comforting hand on her back, while the Prime Shadow's hearty laughter drifted throughout the room.

"Your disciple is quite...heavy handed in his actions," the Yang-Sovereign said, a slight frown on his face. The youths being brutalized were from a Tier Two subsect of his, the Flaming Fist Sect. Them being brutalized in such a fashion was not a great look for the Yang-Dao hierarchy, especially not with tens of millions watching it happen live.

"Hehehe, even I didn't know that John had such a barbaric side to him," the Prime Shadow laughed, clearly enjoying what he was seeing. A soft-hearted cultivator would never go far in the cultivation world, and this display was another reassurance for the Prime Shadow that he had picked the correct successor.

The Prime Shadow glanced to the Yang-Sovereign, noticing his almost imperceptible smile.

"Oh, stop pouting so much," he said, his words causing the Yang-Sovereign to give him a pointed side-eyed glance. "John may be heavy handed, but from what I know of him, he is also fair and reasonable in his actions. For him to be doing this, those youths must have done something to deserve it."

"They targeted John before the tournament even started, just for him standing in their way," Zuri spoke up, explaining what had led to all this. "Then, they found him before the tournament started, and made sure they all arrived in the same place so that their leader could embarrass and "brutalize" John as he had put it in his own words."

"See! I told you there would be a reason for all this," the Prime Shadow said, nodding to Zuri, thanking her for the explanation. Zuri beamed a wide smile, her heart beating fast at having been thanked by the Prime Shadow himself.

The Yang-Sovereign's frown faded away, while the tournament below continued onward.

...

John stood before the pile of seven broken youths, who were stacked one on top of the other like a pile of logs. He dusted his hands, nodding his head with satisfaction at his handiwork. He then turned to leave, as he had done what he wanted to do to this group of idiots.

"You...you're a fucking dead man..." Gerid whispered softly as John was about to step into the labyrinth hallways.

John stopped then turned, his actions causing Gerid's heart to beat rapidly with fear. He had not expected John to hear his words, as they were so soft as to almost not exist. John stared directly at Gerid, his eyes emotionless, as if Gerid's existence made no difference to him.

"Why is that?" John asked. "Are you from a sect I cannot afford to offend? Or have a father that I cannot afford to offend?"

Gerid fell silent, his face white with fear. He cursed himself for speaking up, as John had almost left.

"No comments now?" John asked, shaking his head with disappointment. "It's always the same with you 'geniuses'," John said, making sure to emphasize the word genius with a sarcastic tone. "You get into a decent sect, then flaunt your status as if it's your own power, thinking no one else will dare to offend you, then get surprised when someone retaliates in kind."

He shook his head, as if trying to emphasize his true disappointment, then looked back to Gerid.

"I guess you need to be taught a bit more on what humility and respect is," John said, then waved his hand. His Qi surged towards Gerid, wrapping around him and dragging him out of the pile of broken bodies. The other youths groaned at having their broken bodies tossed aside, but uttered no complaints.

Gerid floated towards John, unable to resist John's power in his broken state. Groans of pain escaped his lips, while wide eyes stared at John as if he were the grim reaper.

"Let go of me!" Gerid struggled to say through the pain.

"Nah," John said curtly. "You and I are going to go on a little adventure together."

Gerid started to say something, but John merely flicked his hand. Lightning surged out and wrapped around Gerid like a rope, binding almost his entire body except his eyes. John kept the destructive proportion of the lightning at bay, using it only to restrict Gerid's movements.

He then stepped into the labyrinth hallway, Gerid floating in the air beside him, following along like a kite held by a string. His muffled cries of pain and protest were ignored as John strode forward.

The labyrinth walls, floor, and ceiling high above were all gray-stone, although the durability of the labyrinth was high enough that even their little battle had not scratched the walls much. The labyrinth hallway was several dozen yards wide, and stretched forward for several hundred yards before coming to another room.

John stopped at the entrance, looking to both sides. He noticed several other entrances to his left and right, with other tournament participants moving out of them as well. Most of them ignored him, although some gave him a curious glance upon noticing Gerid floating behind him, bound by lightning.

The others then hastily moved to the other side of the open room, which had more than a dozen hallways to enter. John watched the others enter, then moved across the room and picked one.

He moved down another hallway for a while, then looked over his shoulder towards the ceiling above.

There, he noticed the floating formation ball following him, although he didn't know why. He figured it was something to do with the tournament however, and left it alone, as it was not bothering him.

After walking through the labyrinth a bit more, checking for any traps on the way, he came to another room. The room was a mile wide and tall, and had several other tournament participants already in it.

Those participants were splayed on the ground near the walls, their bodies battered and bruised. John shifted his gaze towards the middle of the room, where a dozen stone sentinels stood. They looked like a statue of a sword-wielding man, some dozen yards tall.

The aura leaking from the statues revealed they were not as simple as they appeared. He then looked past the sentinels, and saw that there were more hallways on the other side. He went to move, then noticed another cultivator to his left move towards the statues, trying to get by.

One of the statues moved with incredible speed, appearing before the youth in an instant. The youth gritted his teeth and took out his weapon, starting to fight the statue. The youth, clearly someone from a Sword-Dao Subsect, fought quite well, his movements precise, his battle arts strong, his instincts sharpened.

After a brief battle, the youth managed to make his way past the statue, and slipped into the halls on the other side. He had sustained some injuries from the battle, but nothing to hamper his power too much.

John watched the battle, nodded his head, then stepped towards the statue. The statue started to move towards him, its large stone sword arcing at him with power. John glanced to his right, then smiled.

"They say teaming up is forbidden," John said, reaching out with his right hand. His hand grasped Gerid's right foot, who was unable to move at all, as his body was still tightly bound by lightning.

He then steadied Gerid's stiff lightning bound body before him, as if he was holding a sword.

"I wonder if they consider using your body as a weapon to be teamwork? Let's find out."