James was equally stunned by his own display if strength. He'd joked before that he could arm wrestle an immortal with his physical strength stat but he didn't truly realize just how strong he was.
He quickly recovered and decided to make the most of everyone's shocked state. James rushed to the nearest demonic cultivator and unleashed his fist.
*Boom*
Another explosive sound and the cultivator burst into a mist of blood. This woke up all the cultivators present and they soon ran for their lives in all directions. James having the ability to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator meant that they at the Foundation Establishment realm had no chance against him. The demonic cultivators ran in panic, praying their legs would move just a bit faster than their colleagues.
James chased and slaughtered the demonic cultivators in droves, seeming like a Demon himself. After 4 minutes, his entire figure was covered in blood from head to toe. He suddenly felt a familiar pressure, but far more powerful than before, crashing down onto his shoulders. James was immediately pressed down, lying face down on the ground.
The rest of the Nascent Soul cultivators from the ambush the previous day had appeared in the sky. They were clearly both surprised and furious by the sight before them. Seeing dozens of their disciples reduced to pools of blood and even one of their Elders lying mangled and dead on the ground.
"You worthless mongrel! Do you have any idea how many resources we've expended in raising all these disciples?! We were going to use you for a ritual before but now i'm going to personally ensure your soul ends up devoured by a Demon!"
The leader of the demonic cultivators roared with fury. One has to know that demonic cultivators, while their growth was much easier and faster than traditional cultivators since they merely rely on the support of powerful demons to progress, they are far less in number overall due to constantly being hunted down. These demonic cultivators belonged to a Minor sect called the Blood Temple.
They had mobilized most of their disciples in the ambush the previous day. Their Core Formation disciples were all killed by one of the Drifting Clouds sect's Elders during the battle and now they'd lost nearly half of their remaining Foundation Establishment disciples. It would take them close to a decade to make up for the losses.
James was being held down with some kind of extremely heavy pressure. Even with his insanely strong physical stats, he wasn't able to move. Then he thought of something his master had said about the Nascent Soul cultivators being able to utilize soul energy.
'They must have used their soul energy to strengthen the pressure and since I haven't cultivated my soul yet, i'm unable to fight back.'
James finally understood why his master told him that soul attacks were the bane of Body Cultivators. No matter how strong the body is, if the attack can bypass it and target the soul directly then you're left essentially defenseless. James tried a few times but all he managed was to cause cracks to appear on the ground beneath his arms.
One of the demonic cultivators waved his hand and sent a concentrated ball of soul energy towards James. When it came into contact with him, it sank into his body and the next moment he fell unconscious.
"Bring him to the others, we'll feed his fellow sect members to the Demonic artifact while he watches before we summon a Demon to devour his soul."
The leader spoke with undisguised coldness, planning to break James' spirit before his death. A nearby Elder picked him up and brought him into a nearby large temple where they were holding the other Drifting Clouds sect members. After ensuring James' chains were enhanced by both mana and soul energy, he left to prepare for the ritual.
The Drifting Clouds sect disciples and Sect leader had heard the commotion from the earlier battle and seeing James carried in completely covered in blood, they could only imagine what had happened. They tried waking him a few times but to no avail, the chains used to bind them had formations designed to seal their cultivation and so all they could do was wait until he woke up on his own.
An hour later, James slowly opened his eyes and saw everyone that was chained around him looking his way with concern. The Sect leader spoke first.
"James, are you injured? I couldn't find any visible wounds on you despite all the blood."
"I'm ok, thank you for the concern Sect leader. The blood is not mine, before being captured, I made sure to take several demonic cultivators down with me."
"Hahaha good! Now that's a disciple of my sect!"
The surrounding cultivators also started laughing. Their minds had been filled with dark thoughts for so long that upon hearing this kid in front of them bragging about killing their captors they couldn't hold back from laughing.
Once everyone calmed back down, James took the time to explain to them what he'd seen and heard. He told his Sect leader that he took down one of the Nascent Soul cultivators and dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Upon hearing this, everyone was completely stunned. They did not fully believe him when they heard him say he'd killed a Nascent Soul expert but also knew he had no reason to lie. The Sect leader fully believed him as he figured, anyone that could call a Heavenly Tribulation as he did and being blessed by the Heavens as Faldon had said would be able to make the impossible, possible.
"Well it's good to hear that they have 1 less Nascent Soul cultivator but it doesn't help our situation much. While their fighting power has been reduced, they still have 5 Nascent Soul cultivators. Being in the Perfected realm, I can only handle up to 3 of them, that still leaves 2 to deal with. Not to mention, from the sounds of it, you were able to take him down only because you were underestimated and now that will no longer happen. Unfortunately, we have no options but to wait and hope help arrives. I was able to send off an emergency signal before the ambush, so reinforcements from the sect should be coming our way soon."