บท 118: Sneak Attack
John had already scouted the nearby area, and knew it was clear of both humans and other powerful beasts. In this fight to come, he would potentially have to use his Immortal Asura Transformation Art to fight with the Blood Tiger, and he did not want to use it around strangers.
Learning from his past mistakes, John began to slowly sneak up to the Blood Tiger.
'In the past, I approached every enemy upfront, as I thought it was the best way to train my strength. Now however, I know that killing an enemy is the most important thing, no matter how it's done. While direct flights do hone my instincts, working on my sneaking skills may allow me to kill a much stronger opponent than me in the future. Lets see if I can kill this Blood Tiger in a single blow.'
If John was to fight the Blood Tiger directly, he would have to use his full strength and all his trump cards to do so, as the blood tiger was a major cultivation realm higher than his own. However, if he could land a severe blow to the Blood Tiger right from the get go, it would be a different story.
Blood Tigers were famed for their attack power, and their method of fighting was to overwhelm their opponents with great power and speed. Their defense was mediocre at best for an early Core Formation beast, and John was attempting to take advantage of this.
Although this was the first time John had employed this method while being a cultivator, he had hunted beasts many times when he was just a mortal. His skills at concealing his presence were quite refined, and becoming a cultivator only amplified those abilities.
The Blood Tiger was sleeping at the base of the skull. However, the slightest amount of noise would alert it awake, and its senses were incredibly sharp.
John slowly but surely began to calm his breathing as he strived to maintain the most emotionally neutral state he could maintain. Getting too anxious or excited would quicken his movements, making more noise.
Drawing his methods from his meditative practices, John emptied his mind and brought his breathing down to the bare minimum as he slowly but surely crept forward. His naturally emanating aura of his cultivation was pulled inwards, making sure that the Blood Tiger did not pick up on that as well.
'Hmm?'
John was surprised to find that when he withdrew his aura, it had almost completely been drawn inwards. It should be known that even when cultivators want to do such a thing, a small portion of their aura will still naturally leak outwards. Completely withdrawing an aura was incredibly difficult, but John surprisingly found himself able to nearly do it. Hardly any aura leaked out at all, and even Adam was surprised at John's display. If he had his eyes closed, he would not be able to notice John at all, unless he sent out his divine sense to inspect him.
There were sects that trained solely in assassination arts, and strived to do what John had just done. While some were able to do such a thing, they trained for many years to achieve such a state, and were the most talented of their sects. If they were here, they would cry in fury at the ease at which John had accomplished such a thing.
'My control over my body and aura seems to be amplified by the Immortal Asura Body. This is quite a nice surprise. The Immortal Asura Body keeps impressing me more and more.'
While surprised, John did not let this affect his emotionless state as he slowly crept towards the sleeping Blood Tiger.
Fifty Yards!
Thirty Yards!
Twenty Yards!
Ten Yards!
Five Yards!
John continued to creep towards the Blood Tiger, and still remained undetected. His breathing had been completely stifled by this point to make as little noise as possible.
Two Yards!
John suddenly stopped at the two yard mark as he stared at the sleeping Blood Tiger. He was directly behind it, getting ready to lash out. It was still sound asleep, although it's twitching ears made it apparent that it was on the lookout for any sounds. However, John had managed to get this close without being detected, surprising both himself and Adam.
'I'll only get one shot at this, so I'll go out from the very start!'
John calmed himself one last time, getting his body ready for the explosive energy to come. When he powered up normally, it was a gradual process, allowing the body to get used to the increasing power. John was about to explode with his full power in an instant, which would place a heavy burden on his body.
'Now!'
A sword suddenly appeared in his hands, the weight of it causing his body to droop.
Supreme Battle Art!
Heavenly Lightning Domain!
Immortal Asura Transformation Art!
The inrush of Qi from both of his dantians flowed powerfully through his meridians, but all John could do was grit his teeth and continue forwards.
The Blood Tiger's eyes shot wide open as it noticed the commotion.
Roar!
It roared out powerfully, and immediately bounced on its feet. It looked forward, and saw a beam of lightning piercing directly towards it. The Blood Tiger opened its mouth, and after a momentary buildup, a powerful blood red beam of Qi exploded outwards towards the lightning attack. The blood red Qi beam obliterated the lightning attack in an instant, and continued onwards deeper into the forest.
The Tiger saw Adam standing in the far distance at the edge of the treeline, and roared out in anger as it assumed he was the one who had attacked him.
However, this lightning attack was just a diversionary one that John had made. He had utilized his expansive Heavenly Lightning Domain to have an attack come from in front of the Blood Tiger, hoping to make it think that was where the danger was. The Blood Tiger's intelligence was rather low, and it had fallen for his tactic completely.
Boom!
A sword smashed down with incredible power, exploding onto the back of the Blood Tiger. The Blood Tiger had not been expecting such an attack as it was focusing forward. John's full body power was utilized in this one swing, and it was by far the strongest attack he had ever performed in his life.
The sword was the one he had just obtained, and its weight was so much that even in his most powerful state, he was struggling to wield it. He knew he only had the strength for this one attack.
The sword's sharp blade paused for a brief moment against the hide before it continued downwards into the Blood Tigers body. A sickening sound rang out as John's sword sliced directly into the Blood Tiger's spine, severing it completely and continuing deeper into its body.
The blade stopped after slicing three feet into the back of the beast. However, this much was all John needed, as the Tiger collapsed to the ground, unable to move any of its limbs. John quickly dashed forward, and his scythe appeared in his hands.
Che!
The scythe struck down powerfully on the back of the Blood Tigers neck, digging deeply into its spine and arteries. Life quickly faded from the Blood Tiger's eyes, and it passed away from the world before long.
John stared at the Blood Tiger for a moment before he released his Supreme Battle Art and Immortal Asura Transformation Art. He plopped to the ground in exhaustion and pain. His divine sense quickly inspected his body, and he drew in a breath of cold air as he inspected his meridians.
His meridians showed slight signs of cracking, due to the immense power he had used in one burst. If they fully shattered, then he would become a cripple with no hope of cultivation in the future.
'Looks like I need to take it easy for a while and let them heal. I suppose this is why the Meridian Forging Realm is so important.'
With his meridians in such a state, John would have to avoid fighting for several days to allow them to heal. He looked back towards the Blood Tiger, and touched it. The Blood Tiger disappeared from sight.
"John!"
Adam called out as he ran towards John's position. John turned to look at him, expecting to hear an earful of admonishment for doing such a dangerous thing. Had his sneak attack not worked, John would have had to fight with his life on the line against the beast.
"That...was...awesome!"
Adam suddenly exclaimed as he reached John. John's expression turned to one of slight surprise, and a small smile appeared on his face.
"Ha, thanks!"
"Of course, if it was me doing such a thing, that Blood Tiger would have ceased to exist in an instant," Adam replied with his ever prideful tone, as his chest was puffed up fully.
"Oh? We can continue through this forest and look for another one for you to fight then," John replied with a small smirk on his face.
Adam's prideful expression quickly changed, and he waved his hands.
"No no no, that won't be necessary. I don't want to steal your spotlight, afterall."
"Is that so? In any case, guard me while I recover my Qi" John replied.
Adam nodded and began to set up a defensive formation around John as he began to focus on gathering his Qi. Beast blood essence from his palace realm began to flow into his body dantian, filling it up and replenishing his reserves. He spent some time recovering, as his body had taken quite a bit of damage from the strain his techniques put on it.
After several hours of recovery, John finally opened his eyes and looked over towards the skull. The blood red fruits glowed vibrantly, emanating a powerful red glow. He stood up and dusted the dirt off his robe, and began to walk over towards the skull, Adam in tow.
"Now, let's see what these fruits are all about."
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