“Rank Eight: Parker Noren…member of the Sunmist Sect, achieved sixteen steps on the Talent Testing Steps….’

“Hey, can I see the list?” Chase chimed up, breaking John from his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah, here you go,” John said as he handed the list over to Chase, who inspected it for himself. Iris inspected the list afterwards, at which point it was handed back over to Adam to keep.

“Let’s go,” John said to the group as he sped forward. The group followed quickly behind as they sped through the desert, no longer concerned about getting lost or running into obstacles. The group sped through the desert for nearly a day, as the sun set and rose on their journey.

As the sun began to rise and illuminate the arid desert once more, a mesmerizing scene came into the view of the group, who stopped for a moment to appreciate its beauty.

Before them in the distance, a massive sheer face cliff stretched to both sides of the Jade Dragon Lands as far as the eye could see. At the base of the cliff rested an ancient looking city, one that sprawled for miles. Its jade green walls and golden spires glowed in the morning sun, making it look all the more magnificent.

The group stood there in silence for a short moment as they appreciated the spectacular view, before John once again began to move. The rest followed behind, and they arrived at the front entrance of the city before long, which was a large arched entrance hundreds of yards high at the base of the massive wall that guarded the city.

A large crowd of youths were gathered at the entrance, and raised voices could be heard by John and the rest as they approached the group..

“You can’t do this!” an angry voice yelled out.

“That’s right! We’re all from the same alliance!” another yelled.

“Who cares,” a self-satisfied voice boomed out, drowning out the rest of the disgruntled voices. “If you want to pass through this entrance, you need to pay the entry fee. So pay up, or leave. It’s your choice.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Iris exclaimed as the group finally realized what was going on. “Is this Alliance of ours filled with nothing but assholes?”

“There will always be scum who prey on those weaker than themselves, while they cower before the strong,” John said calmly, although he was starting to get tired of seeing such things occur within the alliance.

The Alliance was facing unprecedented pressure from the other powers, and needed to be unified now more than ever. However, even such a situation didn’t change the true nature of some of the youths in the alliance.

As they approached the group, John spotted several youths wearing the robes of the Heavenly Lightning Sect. He recognized them as some of the weakest members of the sect that had joined for this realm excursion, and so John was not too surprised that they were amongst the group trapped outside the city.

Their arrival was noticed by the sect members, who lit up with happiness as they spotted John amongst those approaching. John’s strength had been revealed to them during the trip to the Honorable Alliance, and they knew he would be able to help them in this matter.

“General!” one of the Heavenly Lightning Sect youths called out, their voice attracting the attention of the others in the group. The youth was a girl in the early Heaven Tribulation realm, who had long black hair which was tied up into a bun at the top, and a relatively pretty face. She was a second year of the sect, and one of the few second years to join the trip.

The others inspected the newcomers, and couldn’t help but become confused at why they were being referred to as Generals, as their cultivations were incredibly low. Only Iris had a Heaven Tribulation cultivation, and so they assumed they were referring to her.

The youths guarding the entrance also noticed the arrival, and couldn’t help but break out into boisterous laughter as they heard the cry of elation.

“General? Pfft?” one of the youths mocked.

“The Heavenly Lightning Sect used to be quite powerful, but now someone as weak as that girl can be a ‘General’? Truly pathetic,” another mocked after containing his laughter. They could tell that Iris was a recently ascended cultivator, due to her still shaky Heaven Tribulation aura.

John ignored the mocking comments as he walked over to the other members of the sect.

“What’s going on?” John asked, although he already knew what was going on.

“These six have blocked our way forward unless we pay them one million spirit crystals each,” the one who had called out to him explained.

“A million spirit crystals? That’s complete robbery!” Adam exclaimed, shocked to hear such a price.

John’s gaze shifted to the six youths guarding the entrance, who looked back at him with complete disregard. They wore black robes with no markings on them, other than one small blue symbol of a veiled and hooded face.

John had seen this group towards the front when everyone had entered, signifying their lofty status and power within the Alliance, but didn’t know what sect they were. However, he didn’t care at all.

“Can I borrow one of your daggers?” John asked Iris.

“Sure,” Iris replied as she handed over a dagger to John.

He began to move towards the youths guarding the entrance, but was stopped by the one who he had just spoken to.

“Be careful,” the girl said to John, slightly worry in her voice. “Those six are from the Nightveil Assassin Guild. They’re incredibly dangerous, and if you push them the wrong way they might seek to take revenge on you later. They also have someone who is in the top twenty on the Jade Dragon List, so you don’t want to push them too far!”

“Thanks for the warning,” John thanked the girl with a calm smile on his face. His gaze returned to the six youths guarding the entrance.

‘All six are in the Early Heaven Tribulation Realm, but are just about ready to break through to the Middle Heaven Tribulation Realm. That combined with their assassin arts make them quite dangerous, which none of these weaker youths want to anger.’

“What are you looking at?” one of the youths, the apparent leader of the bunch said with arms crossed over his chest as he watched John approach them.

John ignored his question, as he continued to calmly walk towards the group.

“Hold it right there,” another commanded, “if you want to pass through here, you need to cough up one million spirit crystals. Otherwise, don’t even dream of getting into the ci-“

The youths’ words halted as John suddenly vanished from his sight. Lightning appeared in the vision of the six, although it was like a blur to them as all they saw was a streak of lightning, and then nothing.

The six youths were stunned for a moment, before they all quickly turned around as they realized something. Behind them stood John, who had his back to them as he continued walking into the city. A dagger that was in his hand disappeared, while the youths suddenly felt a searing pain on one of their arms.

“Gahhhh!”

The six youths cried out in unison as each one had an arm severed at the elbow. Their severed arms dropped to the ground, while blood began to spurt out furiously. John paused his steps to look over his shoulder, as he watched the six use their Qi to stem the bleeding. The six gazed back at John, fear crawling up their spines as they stared at his cold and icy gaze.

“The Honorable Alliance has no place for scum like you,” John said to the group, his voice calm yet cold. “Let this be a lesson for the six of you to change your ways. If I see any of you doing something like this again, I’ll kill you.”

The six youths were feeling fear and rage, but mostly confusion. They had no idea how John had moved so fast as to catch assassins like them off guard, but he had done so without their notice. They could tell that he could have killed them if he truly wanted to, and so the six stood up and fled after a moment of hesitation.

John calmly watched the six leave, before his footsteps started once more as he finally entered the ancient city.