“What a name. It sure sounds impressive.” exclaimed John.

His eyes trailed downwards as he started to read the technique. John soon fell into a trance as he read the page. Several hours passed by before he finally snapped out of his trance.

“How profound…wait, how long have I been studying this for?” exclaimed John as he looked out of the nearby window. The sun was still up when John had started reading the technique, but now it was already night time.

John looked back to the page in his hand, his mind swirling with various thoughts. When he started reading the technique, John felt as if his mind was being drawn into a separate space. The words on the page seemed to contain a profound meaning far beyond what he could comprehend.

“Just these words are so profound. I can only imagine what the original is like.” He thought over what he had read, taking several hours to organize his thoughts.

“This page describes how the creator saw the essence of the scythe. Not only that, but it contains a powerful battle art which utilizes those comprehensions. Unfortunately my original guess was right. This page is only part of the complete technique.”

John could only frown at the fact that the technique was an incomplete one. Even so, however, the technique was far more profound than anything John had come across before. The only thing of similar profundity he had experienced was the Immortal Asura Body and Celestial Lightning Script, but those were cultivation techniques whereas this was a battle art.

“The words on the page seem to be a way to understand the essence of the technique. It also describes the first three steps to this technique, each more profound than the last. Each step seems to be describing meridian and acupoint pathways for my Qi, but it’s so complex that I don’t know if I’ll be able to learn it anytime soon. The Qi requirement alone for unleashing the first step once should be more than I can currently manage.”

John was slightly depressed at the fact that he was unable to unleash even the first step of this technique right now. But the more he thought about it, the less depressed he became.

“I suppose the more difficult the battle art is to learn, the more powerful it should be. I’ll learn the first step eventually, at which point it should become one of my greatest strengths…In the meantime, I can learn the Myriad Annihilation Scythe.”

John put away the Divine Reaping Scythe page and took out the Myriad Annihilation Scythe technique. John studied the technique for several hours before coming back to his senses.

“It seems that this technique has three parts. The first attack is suitable for me now, the second should be attainable at the middle Mist Creation realm, and the third attack should be achievable at the late Mist Creation Realm.”

The technique detailed three distinct attacks, each with an increasing required amount of Qi to perform. Much like the Five Step Movement Technique, the Myriad Annihilation Scythe superimposed each attack on top of the previous, building on the power already generated. It was a devastatingly powerful battle technique that focused on power and destruction.

“The meridian pathways depicted in this technique are pretty complicated, but I should be able to learn the first step pretty quickly” thought John. John had full confidence in his comprehension ability, and was not daunted by this task.

John put away the technique and cultivated for a bit longer before climbing in bed. He was about to fall asleep before his mind thought of something.

“I should have purchased a body cultivation battle art as well! Right now I have a powerful body, but only use my powerful body in the most basic ways. A battle art would greatly increase my battle prowess.”

John thought about going to get a body cultivation battle art the next day before he decided against it.

“I’m already learning so many techniques right now, I wont even have time to train any other techniques even if I wanted to. I’ll obtain a body cultivation battle art once I master some of the techniques I already have” thought John before he fell asleep.

John woke up early the next morning and started cultivating once more. Several hours later, his stomach started growling out in protest.

“I guess I did skip breakfast. I should visit a nearby restaurant” thought John as he got up and left the inn. John walked for a minute before spotting a two story restaurant. He walked inside and was seated at a table.

“What will you have today sir?” asked the waiter. John looked at the menu for a bit before deciding on their specialty for the day; a meat pie. After ordering his meal, John stared out the nearby window, thinking of what to do next in his journey.

His ears soon perked up as he heard a conversation between two men sitting at the table beside him.

“So, did you see the new posting today? Seems like someone needs some guards for an escort through the Skycleave Forest. Should we take it?” said the one man enthusiastically.

“What’s the requirement?” asked the other.

“Middle Mist Creation is the posted requirement, but I’m sure they’ll allow us to join even though we’re in the early Mist Creation realm” responded the first man.

“Forget about it, those postings are pretty accurate on what the job requires. If they require middle Mist Creation, then we’d probably be in over our heads if we joined up. Let’s just wait for another posting” responded the man. The first man instantly became downtrodden, but didn’t argue back.

“Excuse me, what’s this posting business you’re talking about?”

The two men looked at the person who just spoke, and noticed it was a young teenage boy. They were about to ignore him until they noticed his cultivation level.

“Early Mist Creation at his age? He must be someone important” thought the first man before responding.

“There’s a notice board in the center of town that allows anyone to post jobs. People are often looking for cultivators for various reasons, and its a pretty good way to make money if you have the required strength.”

“Oh, thanks for the information” replied John with a smile on his face.

“Jobs requiring cultivators huh? Maybe I can find something interesting to do” thought John. After finishing his meal, John once again thanked the men for the information before heading off to where the job board was located. He arrived fifteen minutes later, and saw a large crowd gathered around it.

John pushed his way through the crowd and eventually arrived in front of the board. Many of the people being pushed aside were about to curse John for his actions, but they immediately piped up as soon as they saw the insignias on his robe.

“Lets see what we have here…Mansion guard…Nope. Protect a farm from Body Refinement level beasts? Nope…Ah, here’s the one. Escort mission to the nearby Rayel Kingdom; Cultivation requirement is Middle Mist Creation.”

John took note of the time and place of where to gather for the job before leaving the area.

“The notice says to meet in two days… That’s still some time away. I should find someplace to practice the Myriad Annihilation Scythe in the meantime.”

John decided to leave the city limits of the Dreadel Kingdom and head into the nearby forest, as his attacks were likely to cause some damage. John arrived in the forest an hour later before he settled on a spot.

“This spot will do. Nothing to damage and it’s quite remote.”

John took out his scythe, with the weight of the scythe causing his arms to dip down slightly.

“Even now it’s still pretty damn heavy. Although I can control it and use it properly, I’ll run out of strength pretty fast fighting with a weapon this heavy. I should use my greatsword for normal fights and only bring this weapon out in desperate situations.”

John took a wide and firm stance and focused his mind. Having studied the technique extensively the night before, John was quite familiar with the fundamentals behind the technique. Now he had to apply those fundamentals.”

John sent a surge of Qi from his dantian through the meridian pathways depicted in the technique. His Qi surged out of his body and towards his scythe at which point he swung it out with all his might.

“Pft!”

A small, pathetic sound echoed out from the scythe as nothing happened. A frustrated look appeared on John’s face.

“This technique requires me to send my Qi through three different meridian pathways, which arrive at the weapon in a certain sequence. Each Qi surge reinforces and superimposes over one another which results in a powerful attack. I must have messed up the timing somewhere.”

John took his stance again and tried to execute the technique again but was once more unsuccessful. Day soon gave way to night as John was still focused on learning the technique. After practicing late into the night, John set up camp and went to sleep.

Waking up early the next morning, John once more started practicing the Myriad Annihilation Scythe. Finally, after many hours of failure.

Boom!

A wave of scythe Qi was sent out and several trees thirty yards in front of John were sliced clean in half, toppling to the ground loudly.

“Success” shouted John, his face full of joy and fatigue.