Chapter 99: Testing The Lightning

The lightning stuck out violently at John, exploding onto his finger and knocking him backwards dozens of yards. John's body eventually collided with the temple walls, and rebounded off violently.

"Cough, cough"

John coughed out blood from the force of the attack he had just received. It had only been a finger entering the test, and so John thought the power of the lightning field wouldn't be that great, but much to his surprise, it was stronger than he imagined.

'Damn, I shouldn't have been so arrogant. I should have at least used my Immortal Asura Body or Supreme Battle Art to receive that attack. But...' John's eyes brightened as he stood up and caught his breath.

'Now I know that I can at least put part of my body in and extract it without being able to retreat. The worst that would have happened if I couldn't have was i lost a finger tip, but this gives me an idea.'

The artifact spirit said once he entered, he wouldn't be able to leave. But it said nothing of only putting part of the body into the test. John decided to test with a part of his body he could afford to lose, and his test had been a success. Clearly, only when the body was fully over the testing line was it unable to return.

John collected his breath and focused on healing for some time before standing up and once more approaching the trial circle.

The artifact spirit watched John's actions in silence. At first it had thought that John was sending himself to his death, and lamented the death of yet another junior, but much to his surprise, John only sent in a finger for the test.

Every junior who had taken this trial before John could be considered heavenly geniuses, and all of them had their own arrogant pride. As such, they had all arrogantly strutted directly into the trial, sure of their success. But the artifact spirit watched each and every one die without exception.

However, the artifact spirit watched the boy in front of him do the exact opposite, which garnered his praise.

'At least the boy will now see that this trial is hopeless. He's at least smarter than the others...wait, what is he doing?'

Just as the spirit thought John would give up, John once again stuck his finger out towards the trial.

Boom!

Lightning exploded violently out from the round object and towards John, striking his finger once again. However, the spirit was surprised to find that not only was the boy not knocked back, he even seemed to be enjoying the ordeal. Lightning continuously snaked out from the center of the trial towards John, bathing his body in a never ending stream of lightning.

Even with the Immortal Asura Body, John could see his finger start to slowly turn black from the power of the lightning.

Supreme Battle Art!

John started unleashing his Supreme Battle Art, strengthening his body further. With his body at his most powerful state, John was finally able to stop the damage of the lightning.

'This is just the very edge of the test. Just how powerful is the lightning at the center?' John couldn't help but get nervous at the thought of the trial ahead. However, this test of John's had been better than he could have hoped for, and he slowly sat down on the ground directly outside of the trials starting line.

His fingertip remained over the line, and lightning continued to continuously pour onto his finger. John closed his eyes and sat there for some time, calming his mind and preparing for the next step ahead.

The artifact spirit watched John's actions with curiosity, but said nothing.

'Interesting, but quite futile unfortunately. No matter how much this boy tries to temper his body with lightning, he has no chance without a lightning attribute body. Even if he had a lightning attribute body, advancing ones body by tempering it with lightning is almost impossible. If it was so easy to do, all these geniuses would have advanced their bodies to the peak before entering.'

John sat there for some time before a lustrous green jade piece appeared in his hands. Small runes could be seen on and throughout the piece, and a bright glow emanated from its center. This jade piece was the inheritance he had received for the Celestial Lightning Script, which John had studied extensively up to this point. However, he had never had real lightning to train this technique with, but that had all changed.

John sent his divine sense into the jade piece, linking his mind with the true meanings of the technique. Although John had already studied the outer layer extensively, having it in his hands while he cultivated the technique felt more natural to him.

While John attuned his mind to the jade piece and prepared to start cultivating the Celestial Lightning Script, the artifact spirit was completely shocked. It sent its divine sense into the jade piece, at which point its suspicions were confirmed.

"That's the Celestial Lightning Script, and one of the original True Jade Origin Pieces. How does this boy have this? This is impossible.'

The artifact spirit couldn't understand how this lowly boy could have such an inheritance, but the facts remained the same. Even this artifact spirit had never personally seen the True Jade Origin Piece, and had only heard of its details before. After overcoming its shock, the artifact spirit thought about the script.

'If he has this script...and with his strange body...perhaps he can. This trial is based off the users cultivation level and talent, as it is testing them to find a worthy owner, but even so it wont be easy, as none have been able to do so to this point.'

While the artifact spirit observed him, John had already attuned his mind to the true essence of the first stage of the Celestial Lightning Script. John could tell this jade piece has many layers, each adding to the Celestial Lightning Script, but his divine sense was only able to pierce the first layer.

'It's unfortunate that I can only observe the first layer...however, even this should be enough.'

John grit his teeth and prepared for the pain to come. The Celestial Lightning Script required one to channel real lightning throughout the body. Using the comprehensions from the script, the cultivator would guide the lightning through an extremely specific and complicated sequence of acupoints and meridian channels throughout the various parts of the body, slowly bathing it in pure lightning and tempering it. Eventually, with enough tempering, the body would be changed into a lightning attribute body.

Such a cultivation art was completely unheard of by John, and he knew this script was beyond amazing. He had no idea how far this art could temper his attribute body, since the first layer only detailed the initial stages, however, even this was more than he could ask for.

John once again breathed in deeply and steeled his mind. Lightning continuously flowed onto his finger, but exploded outwards after striking his hardened body. However, the visible lightning suddenly dimmed slightly, and a loud scream soon followed.