John had been deep in thought as the Yang-Dao Sect attended to Araxus. His thoughts raced regarding that final clash of theirs, and the battle art that Araxus had unleashed.

‘Yin-Yang Chaos Lightning….’ he mused internally, then raised his hands before his face to look at them.

Despite his body limiters activating and working to heal his body, visible wounds still covered his body. The wounds were not grievous or deep, but they persisted despite his intentions to heal them.

That last attack of Araxus had been different than the others. The lightning he had unleashed has been far more powerful, far more…chaotic. In fact, the remnant energy that persisted in his wounds, making it harder to heal, reminded him of the spatial chaos he experienced when stepping into the other spatial dimension.

Not only had this bizarre energy amplified the power of Araxus’ attack, it also made it harder to heal afterwards. It reminded him of his Destructive lightning in terms of its potency and ability to resist healing effects.

‘Is he truly capable of unleashing Chaos Lightning?’ John wondered, and wondered if such a thing even existed. If it did, he had no information regarding it.

That last attack of Araxus’ had been mostly destroyed by his own Kirin-God Extinction, resulting in the power of Araxus’ attack to be greatly reduced. John had been expecting the entire thing to be destroyed, but the bizarre lightning Araxus had unleashed had managed to resist destruction, and had made its way towards him afterwards.

While the damage was mostly superficial, some of the lightning had managed to avoid falling under his control despite entering his body, which had surprised him greatly. With his Origin Lightning Essence Runes, he was able to control all lightning that entered his body. All lightning other than this…

Deep in thought, John felt someone appear behind him. Without seeing her or using his divine sense, he could instantly tell who it was. The presence of the figure, the smell, the natural aura, was all too familiar.

He turned around and locked eyes with Lilian, then smiled. She returned a soft smile, then studied him up and down, most likely inspecting the changes that had happened to him over the last year up close.

“Master,” John said as he nodded lightly in respect.

The moment after he spoke, there was deafening silence. Then the crowd exploded into a frenzy.

“What? Did he just call her master?”

“Ji’Han’s bride to be is John’s master????”

“How…what…when?”

“No wonder Ji’Han and John are so antagonistic! The Sword-Saint had betrothed John’s master. That must be a sore point for him!”

“I even heard that the betrothal isn’t of Lilian’s choice, hence the bet between the two. That must really piss John off!”

The crowd erupted into boisterous discussion, with almost everyone unable to believe what they had just heard. It was completely unexpected and unbelievable, and yet John’s words had been clear for all to hear.

Up on the viewing platform, a look of realization appeared on the Sword-Saint’s and Ji’Han’s face, while everyone else turned to look at the two of them to see their expressions. The Sword-Saint knew the two were connected somehow, but didn’t know the exact relationship. Now they did.

“So that’s how it is,” Ji’Han mused lightly, then fell silent.

“It changes nothing,” the Sword-Saint said to his son, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face for a moment. He then smiled, as if thinking of something.

“Master, huh?” the Yang-Sovereign said, looking towards the Prime Shadow. The Prime Shadow shrugged silently, then smiled a knowing smile.

After nodding in respect, John looked up to see Lilian’s fist surging towards his face.

Bang!

Her fist slammed onto the top of his head, knocking him downwards slightly.

“Ow! What was that for?” John cried out in surprise.

“I told you long ago not to call me that,” Lilian said with a frown of displeasure on her face. She hated being called ‘master’, as it made her feel old. A master was someone like Thunderzen, powerful AND ancient.

While she considered herself powerful, she was definitely not ancient.

“You didn’t have to hit me though,” John grumbled, then flinched backwards, narrowly dodging another punch from her.

Lilian’s eyes widened ever so slightly, as she had not been expecting him to be able to dodge in time. While the punch was not powerful, it was fast. Fast enough that it would have caught John off guard in the past.

“Heh,” John sneered with obvious pleasure. “You’re going to have to try harder if you want to hit me like you did in the past.”

“Oh?” Lilian said musingly. “You get a bit stronger and you think you can speak to me as if we’re equals?”

“Equals?” John repeated, then grinned as he shook his head. “No, we’re not equals anymore.”

While his wording was vague, his meaning coupled with his toothy grin was more than obvious. He was saying, ‘I’m stronger than you now.’

Lilian raised an eyebrow. “Your confidence sure has grown since we last spoke, although it would be more aptly described as arrogance.”

“Is it arrogance if it’s true?” John said back, his confident expression unwavering.

He had been beaten, bullied, and brutalized by Lilian countless times in the past. While all that had been done to train him to be a better cultivator and fighter, and while he appreciated her training despite the pain, he couldn’t resist talking back to her.

While he most likely couldn’t defeat her in battle, he was confident in being able to hold his own if he used his full power. That gave him the confidence to do what he had always wanted to do; talk back to her.

Lilian silently studied his face for a short while, then smiled for the first time. It was a warm, comforting smile, one that filled John’s heart with warmth.

“You’ve done well in the time we’ve been apart,” she said to him with full sincerity. John returned her smile, then nodded once more.

“I’ve definitely been busy,” he replied, then shifted his gaze upwards towards the Sword-Saint who sat on the platform high above. “How have you been?”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” Lilian replied calmly. “In fact, you could say that despite my situation, my life this past year has been quite comfortable.” 𝑖𝘦.𝑐𝘰𝘮

John chuckled lightly as he heard this. The Sword-Saint had no doubt pampered Lilian, who he had considered his daughter-in-law to be, with countless treasures. Lilian had no doubt accepted everything thrown her way with wide arms, and in the end would walk away from that ‘arrangement’, leaving the Sword-Saint with nothing to show for it.

Lilian reached out and touched John’s arm, sending her divine sense into his body. Her eyes widened as she noticed the changes to his body, especially his improved meridians.

“You’ve definitely been busy,” she said, eyes filled with surprise.

“The Prime Shadow and I paid the Devil Continent a visit, and that visit was quite lucrative” he said to her through his divine sense, surprising her once more.

“I see,” she replied, then withdrew her divine-sense.

A light groan sounded out next to them, drawing their eyes towards Araxus who was rousing from his unconsciousness. His eyes snapped open wide, and he hastily stood up, his gaze darting towards John. His narrowed eyes studied John for a second, then he rushed over hastily, hand reaching out towards John.

“That battle art of your’s was amazing!” Araxus said as he grabbed John’s arm. “Can you teach it to me! I’ll give you anything.”

“Uhhh…it’s not something I can really teach you,” John replied truthfully.

A disappointed look appeared on Araxus’ face, who acted normally despite the wounds on his blood-slicked body. Now that he was awake, John couldn’t help but ask the question that had been lingering on his mind earlier.

“That last attack of yours…was that Chaos Lightning?”

Araxus paused for a moment, then grinned and nodded vigorously.

“It was amazing, wasn’t it?” he asked John, to which John nodded, then felt true surprise as he heard Araxus say something he had not been expecting to hear.

“Want to learn how to use it?”

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