A mixture of looks stared back at John. Some were filled with trepidation, some indecisiveness, and some agitation.

“Fuck off.” a youth donning a fiery red robe barked back at John. He had crimson red hair, while his eyebrows looked like flickers of flame, giving him a wild and untamed look. Just like the spear wielding youth, he was one of the strongest fighters in the arena.

“Just because you’re strong, you expect us to run off in fear?” the youth chimed up again, clearly agitated by John’s words. “I’d rather lose brutally than give up before even fighting. My pride is not so easily shattered.”

The youths’ words were shocking to hear based on what had just been witnessed, but it seemed to stir those who were indecisive back into their former selves. However, a few of the more timid and scared cultivators used this opportunity to slip out of the arena. After all was said and done, thirty cultivators remained, all of them staring defiantly at John.

A look of slight surprise appeared on John’s face at the actions he witnessed, before a wave of realization struck him. John placed his hand on his face and shook his head at himself, before he lowered his hand and gazed back at the other youths.

“My apologies,” John called out to the remaining youths. “It seems as though I underestimated the fighting spirit of some of you.”

His gaze shifted across the arena, staring at the fiery gazes of defiance that stared back at him.

“Come then,” John called out, his voice loud and commanding. “Show me if your strength matches your pride!”.

Bang!

Without hesitation, John shot forward towards the closest opponent, his feet pressing off the arena so hard as to cause a boom to echo out. His opponents eyes became hardened as he steadied his halberd, before unleashing an incredible battle art towards John.

A light blue halberd image appeared above the youth, held by an ethereal figure made of the youths Qi, dozens of yards tall. The figure depicted a human, although it was shrouded in a robe. It held the shaft of the halberd, while the blade hovered over the youths body, almost as if a guillotine rested above him.

‘What kind of battle art is that?’ John thought as he sped forward. He had never seen anything like it before, and could tell the battle art was quite powerful.

As soon as he appeared before the youth, the ethereal figure slammed the halberd image down onto the lightning cage. The youths face paled slightly in the process, revealing this battle art to be quite taxing.

Boom!

Battle arts collided, and John felt the halberd battle art pierce partially into his lightning cage before finally fading away. Slight surprise appeared on his face, before a smile quickly replaced it.

‘My essence Qi is strong enough to contest against a Late Heaven Tribulation genius, and yet this opponent, whose Qi has been suppressed to the Early Heaven Tribulation Realm is able to unleash such a strong attack. That boy’s speech seems to truly have roused the remaining beasts of this arena. This should be fun.’

“What?” the youth cried out as he saw his strongest battle art still blocked by the lightning cage. While he knew John’s lightning cage was strong, he never expected it to be able to fully negate his strongest battle art.

John’s lightning cage suddenly wrapped around the youth in the same manner it had done to the spear-wielding youth. The youths expression turned grim as he found himself trapped with no where to run, while John stood directly in front of him. John’s calm gaze stared back, almost as if wondering what the youth would do in such a situation.

“Fuck off with that smug gaze,” the youth cried out in anger as his body shot forward. His halberd slashed out from above with his greatest power while the youth infused all of his remaining Qi into the halberd blade for this one final attack.

“Good! That’s the spirit a true warrior should have!” John boomed out loudly as he saw the youth attack instead of cower in fear. He had been disappointed by what he had seen of the Alliance’s geniuses so far, but this batch of opponents was revealing to him that there were still true warriors yet amongst their ranks.

John’s fist punched out to meet the halberd, which caused the youth’s eyes to widen in shock. He never expected John to be a madman enough to try to take on a Heaven Tribulation Grade weapon with his bare hands.

Thunderbody Flash!

At the last moment, John’s body flashed slightly to the side, his speed almost imperceptible to the youth before him. His first, augmented by his innate body strength, the Limiter of Pain, as well as the Supreme Battle Art smashed against the flat of the halberd blade.

Peng!

Fist and halberd collided, causing a sharp metallic sound to ring over the arena. The youths’ halberd swept out to the side out of his grasp, while John’s other fist punched out towards the youths chest.

“Tch!”

The youth had not been expecting his weapon to be freed from his hand so quickly, but he didn’t panic as he saw John’s fist approach. A green object suddenly appeared before his chest, which appeared to be a green turtle shell. It was clearly some sort of protective formation object, which the youth had conjured from his spatial ring at the very last moment.

Bang!

Fist and shield collided, creating a shockwave that knocked the youth back. John paused for a moment as he had not expected such a counter attack, but he couldn’t help but be impressed at the youths’ reactions. His quick reactions and refusal to panic were truly signs of a warrior who had experienced many battles.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

A barrage of explosive sounds boomed out from within the lightning cage, while battle arts continued to rain down on it from the youths outside of it. After a short while of explosiveness, a lone figure was tossed from within the lightning cage.

The other opponents all stared at the figure, which was the halberd-wielding youth. The youth landed on the ground and remained motionless, clearly knocked unconscious by their battle within the cage. However, the youth had landed outside the arena, shielding him from any further harm in the battles to come.

The other youths all exchanged glances at one another, when suddenly the lightning cage shot forward once again, appearing next to the closest remaining opponent.

Bang!

Bang!

“Gah!”

Peng!

Boom!

A mixture of explosions, weapons colliding and pained cries echoed out across the arena for the next half an hour as those in the stands watched in disbelieving shock as John, wrapped in his lightning cage, slowly dismantled his opponents one by one.

The opponents could only watch on as they were swallowed into the cage one at a time, and spat out as an unconscious mess moments after. However, none of the youths fled from the battle, something that pulled on the hearts of all those watching.

“Gah!’

A final grunt of pain echoed over the arena as the last remaining youth was flung off of it, leaving only John remaining, as well as the seated Alderen. After booming with explosions and pained cries for some time, the arena fell into an eerie silence.

Those in the stands could only look on with eyes wide and mouths agape as they did their best to process what they had just witnessed. Only one face in the stands smiled with satisfaction. Iris’s smiling gaze shifted from looking down at John towards the other Heavenly Lightning Sect disciples that sat next to her.

“See. I told you we were about to be treated to a good show!”