n

n

nThe cave once more came into John's view as he slowly opened his eyes. Still groggy from what had happened, John sluggishly looked around the cave to figure out what was going on.

n

"You're finally awake?

"

nA voice entered John's ears and he turned his head to the side. His eyes opened wider in confusion as he stared at two people who he had never before met in his life. They were sitting on some logs placed around a campfire.

n

"Who are you?

" asked John as he started to stand up. He was expecting a great deal of pain to assault his body, but much to his surprise, his body felt completely fine. He sent his divine sense into his body and opened his eyes wide in shock.

n'I'm almost completely healed? But how?'

nJohn continued to inspect his body. He had required a week to heal when he first arrived in the cave, and even then he was only half healed.

n

"How long was I out for?

" asked John absentmindedly. The shock of his healed body had made him forget his perilous situation for a moment.

n

"About a day

" responded the same voice as before.

n

"A day! And I'm completely healed? How is this possible?

" asked John in complete shock. From what he knew, even the best healing pills at the Mist Creation Realm would take several days to fully heal him, and those were extremely valuable.

nFrom what John knew about alchemy, pills that healed a body quickly and completely were extremely rare. Not only would the alchemist have to infuse a large amount of medicinal ingredients into the pill to heal the body, they would also need to make it gentle enough for the cultivator's body to handle.

nA pill designed for a Core Formation expert would have more than enough healing properties to fully heal John in less than a day, but the immense medicinal energy in the pill would blow his body apart. This was the perpetual balance that alchemists struggled against in developing the most efficient pill for each cultivation level.

nWhile John was deep in thought, the person once again replied.

"We gave you a Mistflower Essence Pill. But I have to say, your recovery speed is monstrous. Even with this pill, it would normally take a few days to recover.

"

nJohn scrunched his face in confusion as he had never heard of the pill before. He was just about to ask another question when he suddenly remembered his situation.

nA black scythe suddenly appeared in John's hands as he stared vigilantly at the two people in front of him.

n

"Relax, we don't intend to hurt you

" said a kind, gentle voice. John looked to the girl who had just spoken and sent his divine sense over both her and the boy next to her.

n'What? Middle Qi Condensation? Both of them? How is this possible? They look to be the same age as me.' Shock covered John's face as he took in the situation in front of him. After some time, he put away his scythe.

n'Even if I wanted to, I'm completely out of options in the face of two middle Qi Condensation cultivators. If they wanted to kill me, they would have done so already.' John took a deep breath at the realization of his situation before he walked over to the campfire and sat on a log opposite the boy and girl.

nHe sat there in silence thinking about what to say, when suddenly the boy spoke up.

n

"Sorry about that attack earlier. I was so shocked that you would suddenly attack us that I sent out an attack of my own. I tried holding back, but the suddenness of the situation caused me to attack with a bit too much power. I hope you can forgive me

" the boy said with a sheepish look on his face.

nJohn looked at the two of them in silence. The boy in front of him had short black hair and hazel eyes, and had a slightly childish face, while the girl had long, flowing black hair, large black eyes and a youthful face and body that had yet to blossom into womanhood. They both wore pure white robes, which had dazzlingly blue lighting bolts embroidered on both the shoulders and back.

nJohn stared at the lighting bolts for some time. He suddenly thought about the Celestial Lighting Script and his need to start actually cultivating it.

nJohn was once more deep in thought before he heard an awkward cough.

n

"I'm Elliot by the way, and the girl next to me is Leah. Nice to meet you

" said the boy as he stared at John.

nJohn was stirred out of his thoughts, at which point he realized he had ignored Elliot's first apology.

n

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something. I'm John. Nice to meet you

" responded John with an awkward smile on his face. Thinking about the absurdity of the situation, John couldn't help but ask.

n

"What's going on? Why did you heal me? And who are you?

"

nElliot rubbed the back of his head before replying,

"There was beast outside about to enter the cave. We noticed someone was inside and so we killed it before it could enter and attack you. We were going to greet you, but then you attacked us. When we realized you were just a mid Mist Creation cultivator, we felt bad about having wounded you, so we stayed here and fed you a healing pill to make sure you recovered.

"

n

"Oh, that makes sense

" John absentmindedly replied before he quickly stood up.

n

"Ah, sorry. I just remembered that I was the one who initially struck out at you first. I thought you were someone else, and so I attacked. It seems you even saved me from dying to a beast. Sorry

" apologize John. He felt quite guilty about attacking the two of them without warning.

nElliot smiled at John.

"Don't worry about it. Who did you think we were by the way? To suddenly lash out like that, you must have some enmity with them.

"

nJohn thought about it for a moment before he decided to tell both Elliot and Leah what had happened with the Stalking Mantis Assassin Guild, although he left the rest of the details vague.

nJohn eventually finished his story, at which point Elliot said,

"You sure are crazy. You actually traded blows with a late Mist Creation cultivator? How did you not die?

"

n

"Luck, I guess

" responded John. He wasn't about to tell them about his dual essence and body cultivation, or the Immortal Asura Body.

n

"Well, however it happened, you still managed to kill a late Mist Creation cultivator at the mid Mist Creation realm. That's amazing!

" responded Elliot.

nJohn smiled at the compliment but said nothing. He was still quite curious as to who exactly the two in front of him were. From talking to them, John had learned that they were also fourteen years old just like him, but their cultivation level was unreal. Both of them were middle Qi Condensation cultivators. From what John knew, no power in the surrounding thousands of miles was capable of producing such geniuses. The only exception to the rule that he knew of was Miko Varis, but Miko was considered a one in ten thousand years prodigy and was a one off anomaly.

nJohn figured he would just ask them outright instead of guessing about their origins.

n

"I have a question for the both of you. Who are you exactly?

"

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