Chapter 45: Fighting Again

John grit his teeth, barely containing his anger and urge to turn around and attack the men behind him.

But he knew it would be a futile action. Not only were there several men in the group, John could tell that they were mostly in the late Mist Creation Realm, with one of them even in the early Qi Condensation stage. John knew he would surely die if he tried to fight a Qi Condensation cultivator, and so his only option was to flee.

The man with the Qi Condensation cultivation looked at John fleeing into the distance before he turned to his side and called out to one of his men.

"Bolton, go after the boy and finish him off" said the man in a loud booming voice.

"Captain, are you sure you want just me to go?" asked Bolton.

"What? Do you think you can't handle a boy who's barely entered the middle Mist Creation Realm? It seems like he was able to evade Carson, so his strength isn't bad, but you should be far more than he can handle. Besides, the mission we were tasked with was retrieving the item, and so that is what I will do. I still need to search all these storage rings for the spear to make sure it's really here" said the man.

"Yes, Boss' answered Bolton before quickly running off in the direction John was fleeing.

John was running as fast as his legs would carry him.

'Bastards, I'll have my revenge.'

John cursed as he sped through the forest. He had been running for several minutes already, and had put quite a bit of distance between him and the campsite. John was starting to think that he had successfully ran from his enemies when he suddenly dashed to his side as fast as he could, and even used the first step of the Five Step Movement Technique to barely dodge in time.

Boom!

A powerful Qi attack landed where John had been just a moment ago, knocking John sideways several yards. He hastily scrambled to his feet and turned around, at which point he saw another Qi attack coming straight for him.

John quickly took out his scythe and slashed out with all his might.

"Gah!"

John was sent flying backwards dozens of yards like a broken kite, as many small wounds were opened up on his body. He tumbled head over heels several times before he hastily managed to stand up once more. Expecting another attack would follow, John utilized the first step of the Five Step Movement Technique before he even looked back towards his enemy.

Boom!

The ground was once more upheaved as a powerful attack landed just where John had been. With his quick thinking and fast movements, John was finally able to stabilize himself. He looked backwards from where the Qi attacks had come from, at which point he saw a single man walking towards him.

"You're quite hard to kill. No wonder Carson had trouble with you. Did you manage to kill Carson or just escape from him? If you tell me, I promise to grant you a swift death" said the man as he slowly approached John.

John narrowed his eyes but said nothing. His mind was currently thinking of the best way to get out of this situation.

'It seems like he's alone. I suppose that makes sense though, one late Mist Creation realm cultivator should always be enough to neutralize a middle Mist Creation cultivator. If he's alone, then that changes things. Although I've never fought above my realm, I'm itching to find out if I can.'

John felt his blood heat up as the prospect of the coming fight excited him. Ever since John was a child, he had brushed with death over and over as he dangerously tried to stimulate his martial potential. Over the course of many years of doing so, John had developed a strange relationship to life or death battles. Instead of a battle to the death scaring him, John looked forward to it. Not only that, this battle was his first battle in which he was going to fight above his cultivation realm. John was truly curious if his unique cultivation situation would allow him to do the impossible and fight across realms.

Even John was uncertain of where his strength lay. He had a middle Mist Creation cultivation for both body and essence, but unlike all other cultivators, John would be able to use one hundred percent of his power on both his essence and physical body attacks. This dual power would superimpose on each other, allowing John to unleash attacks far beyond the capabilities of a normal middle Mist Creation realm cultivator.

The man saw John smile and became quite irritated. He had expected John to beg for his life or run in fear. He always loved it when his enemies begged for their lives. It made the moment when he killed them all the sweeter as he watched their terror when they died.

"What are you smiling for, boy? Don't you realize the situation you're in. I'll ask one last time, what happened to Carson?" asked the man with a cold voice.

John didn't respond to the man. Instead, he steadied his scythe in front of himself and took a wide, powerful stance. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind, focusing his all on the fight to come.

"Fine, you can just die" yelled the man in anger as he charged towards John. He appeared in front of John in an instant and slashed out with his glaive. John slashed out with all his strength to meet the attack. Sparks flew as the weapons collided and both men were pushed backwards several yards.

"Heh, not a bad kid" sneered the man before he once again sent out an attack, this time even more powerful than the one before.

John swung his scythe out with all his might to parry the attack. He decided against using the Myriad Annihilation Scythe to merely block an attack, as he was running quite low on Qi.

The two attacks violently collided, and once again John was knocked back dozens of yards. He felt his blood tumble in his body from the force of that attack. The man instantly sent out another attack, and John hastily sent out his scythe once more. The result was the same as before, with John being knocked backwards dozens of yards.

John finally managed to stabilize himself and looked up towards the man.

'I need to end this quickly. Although I haven't successfully used it yet, I need to try it. It's the only way to end this fight fast.' John steadied his scythe and started to approach the man.