Leaving

John inspected his soul space and noticed that it contained a new floating ball of light, which shimmered like lightning. He inspected the ball with his soul, and was instantly granted information regarding the technique.

'This is exactly like the Celestial Lightning Script jade piece, only directly in my soul. Amazing!'

John felt elated, until his expression turned slightly sour.

'In my haste to get a good cultivation technique, I forgot I still don't know a single lightning based battle art...Maybe Celestial Soulrend will be kind enough to grant me a second wish.'

"Celestial Soulrend," John called out as he bowed deeply, putting on a great show of respect.

"What is it?"

"If it's not too much to ask, could I also ask for a lightning based battle art?"

"I already gave you a cultivation technique coveted by many, and you still have the gall to ask for more?..."

John turned red from embarrassment, but thickened his skin and spoke out.

"You said the other entity granted me one request, but you also said you would be indebted to me if I found you a suitable successor. Even that other entity said my friend was suitable for you, so although you haven't taken him as a successor yet, you will owe me eventually."

Celestial Soulrend was quite surprised by John's logic, but he did indeed make that promise to John in the beginning. Based on the evaluation by the other entity, the successor would be more than worthy.

"I suppose you are correct, but we will determine that in a second. My soul is growing weaker every moment it is not in slumber, and I cannot stall any further."

The formation that John was standing inside of suddenly disappeared, and a massively powerful soul aura emanated out from Celestial Soulrend. Just being in its presence awed John to the point of speechlessness.

…

In another part of the pocket realm, Miko found himself face to face with the two Qi condensation juniors of the Ronan Clan. Although the Varis Clan and Ronan Clan weren't enemies, they weren't allies either.

"What do you two want?" Miko sneered. Clearly the two hadn't approached him with good intentions.

"We noticed you just obtained a mysterious item here, and we just wanted to share it with us," said one of the boys.

"Huh? Are you dumb? Why the hell would I do that?" Miko responded. He had obtained another mysterious fruit. Although he didn't know what it was, the aura it gave off made him believe it was worth quite a bit. He was going to ask John or his clan what it was before eating it though.

"Although we can't kill you in here, we can still rob you. It would be best if you shared," one of the boys responded. Although Miko had shown incredible power in the tournament, and on their own they were not confident in handling him, together they felt like they had a chance. Not only that, but they had found some amazing treasures in the pocket realm that raised their combat power, and their confidence had boosted as a result.

Miko slowly raised his hand and pointed his finger towards one of the boys. The two of them started laughing, unsure of just what he was doing, but a finger would not be enough to fight them.

Suddenly, a translucent light flew out of his finger and directly towards the head of that boy. The laughter suddenly ceased as one of the boys suddenly collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

"You bastard, what did you just do? We are forbidden to kill each other," the other Ronan clan boy yelled, but his fear was evident as he stared at Miko.

With just a point of a finger, Miko had managed to make the one boy collapse, without the slightest ability to resist.

"Relax, he's just asleep for now. He'll wake up in a day or two," Miko said nonchalantly as he stared at the boy with wolf-like eyes. Although the attack looked casual, Miko had sent out his concentrated soul-power to overwhelm the soul of the other boy. If he had used his full power, or his soul-sword to attack however, the boy's soul would have been completely wiped out.

"Now, you were just about to rob me...allow me to return the favor," Miko stated as he started walking towards the other boy.

Rumble!

An aura filled the entire pocket realm, and all within felt its power press down on them. None were able to utter a single sound as they cowered beneath the unknown aura, but everyone knew that it could kill them within a moment.

The only one slightly unaffected was Miko, who urged his soul power to the maximum to resist the immense pressure the aura gave off.

"What the fuck is this power?" Miko grunted as he struggled to fight back.

The power left just as quick as it came, stunning all those inside the realm.

"What the hell just happened? What was that power?" one of the Crimson Valley Sect boys shakily asked Jason.

"I have no idea. I'll have to report this to the sect leader," Jason responded, but fear was still audible in his voice. Clearly, there was more to this realm than met the eye.

…

Back in the temple, John stood in silence while the soul power of Celestial Soulrend flared outwards. Before long, John felt the soul power wane, and the temple returned to normal once more.

"Amazing! Simply amazing!" Celestial Soulrend cried out excitedly.

"Amazing? Did you find my friend?" John asked.

"That I did, and he's even better than I could have hoped for. I truly am in your debt. Here you go," Celestial Soulrend responded, and John once again felt his soul space tremble with pain as a new addition to the soul space was added.

John was about to inspect the new lightning battle art in detail when Celestial Soulrend suddenly spoke up.

"This is where our conversation ends. With my task being fulfilled, this world of mine will soon collapse and disappear. Unfortunately for you, due to the interfering nature of the energy whirlpool above, and with my soul as weak as it is, I do not have the strength to send you out of this place as well as send my soul to your friend. My primary task is the most important to me, and so I cannot send you out of this chasm. The rejective nature of the realm closing will not reach you here, and you will be unable to return to your own land."

"What? Doesn't that mean I'll die when this world collapses then?" John shouted out.

"No. This formation of mine is connected by spatial channels to different nodes around this world, as a means of absorbing more energy. I will send you through one of these channels to the nearest node."

Celestial Soulrend paused for a moment before speaking up once more.

"Your destiny is much larger than you can ever imagine. Pursue strength, but do not lose yourself. I wish you the best of luck."

John was about to cry out in protest, but he suddenly felt a massive flare of power erupt from Celestial Soulrend, which began to fight and struggle against the whirlpool above. The world began to crack, and spatial fissures in the sky itself became visible as John felt his body enveloped by this power.

Bright light entered John's vision, and he suddenly found himself cast into one of the spatial fissures.