John didn't say anything and just stared at them.

"Oh? You were serious?"

One of them pulled his sword out of its scabbard.

"You are unarmed. How about I start with your legs. Then move upwards. Cutting off all of your appendages."

John then smiled. He allowed some of his killing intent to radiate from himself.

The person with his sword out, had his pupils constrict. He backed away and fell to the ground.

"You! Stay away from me!"

The other two friends hadn't been targeted by the killing intent. So they weren't affected. So they were confused at their friends reaction. But they stood in front of him, and withdrew their blades.

You see the thing is. John is at nascent soul! At foundation establishment, if he used 100% of his strength. He could punch out with 1,000 tons of force! As a nascent soul, the QI was even more explosive. He could hit something with 10,000 tons of force if he wished.

Obviously, his body couldn't handle that amount of force. Why was this? It was due to his lack of accumulation! Generally, it would take even someone talented over a century to become nascent soul. During this time, as long as they didn't hide their cultivation constantly. The explosive Qi could be channeled through their meridians. This would strengthen their body over time.

John had a nascent soul! But he lacked accumulation. The explosive Qi over time would bring about a qualitative change to the persons body. So a fresh nascent soul, would have a century of core formation Qi that had tempered their body.

It didn't help that John constantly hid his cultivation. He essentially was a glass canon. He could make use of the full force of his cultivation level. But he couldn't handle it.

If it wasn't for his immortality. Him fighting at full strength would completely cripple him for life.

If he had decided to not study formations and cultivated the natural way. His body would be fully capable of handling the force of his attacks.

This is why John spent the month with his parents practicing martial arts. He was trying to perfect control of his body.

During that month of training his body. He had developed a system to help him control his boundless strength.

He called this system the 'Seven Gates'.

He essentially created a seal using his forbidden dao pillar over his entire body. He used runes to do this. That's right! He treated his body as the form of a formation. His entire body had turned into a formation.

This made it so his strength was sealed!

With the seal he created. The explosiveness of his Qi would only be capable of using 0.01% of its power.

This meant using his nascent soul Qi, he could only punch out with 1 ton of force. His body could completely handle the pressure of this.

This also meant his control over his body had been heavily upgraded. He could fight with flexibility, like a proper martial artist.

He could then unlock a seal.

This would multiply his power by 50 times!

The explosiveness of his Qi would be capable of using 0.5% of its power.

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He could then unlock the 2nd seal.

This would multiply his base strength by 100 times!

The explosiveness of his Qi would be using 1% of his true power.

At this point, he could punch with 100 tons of force. His skin was diamond grade and his bones were fairy grade. Even without the tempering of Qi over the years, his body was capable of withstanding this much force.

He could then unlock the 3rd seal. This would multiply his power by 500 times... He would be using 5% of the true capability of his nascent soul Qi. After this, he could unlock the 4th seal. This would multiply his power by 1000 times. He would be able to punch with 1000 tons of force.

In other words, with his fourth seal unlocked. He was as strong as someone using their full strength in foundation establishment. He was only using 10% of the explosiveness of his Qi.

The first 4 seals his body could handle. Due to his fairy grade bones and diamond grade skin.

But at the 5th seal and beyond. His body must pay a price for all of that power. Luckily, he is immortal.

By unlocking his 5th seal. He would be using 20% of his power. This was making him 2000 times stronger. He could punch with a force of 2000 tons. This would shatter his bones and rip his muscles. Since he lacked accumulation of years in his cultivation level.

As time passed, if he let his Qi flow through his meridians. He would eventually over decades be able to withstand this. The longer he keeps his Qi flowing, the stronger his body will become.

If he unlocked six seals. He could multiply his strength by 5000 times! Able to punch out with 5000 tons of force. This would be using 50% of his true power.

Then. If he needed to use everything. He could unlock all seven seals. This would be using 100% of the explosiveness of his Qi. He would be capable of punching with 10,000 tons of force.

Unlocking more seals didn't just make him stronger. It also increased the flow of Qi to his brain. This meant his reaction speed would also increase the more seals he unlocked. Although it was hard to control his body at the higher levels of strength. So he would lose a bit of his dexterity.

All of this wasn't considering techniques like 'Devil Transformation'. If he unlocked all seals and used devil transformation. Theoretically he could punch with a million tons of force.

But the reality of actually trying this. Would be him probably accidentally moving multiple kilometers in a single step, since it is hard to control that much power.

This is why John designed a seal system in his body. His strength was too insane! He could barely control it!

John currently had all seven seals left closed.

He was in his weakest state. But he didn't think he even needed to open a single seal to fight these pushovers.

The two people charged at John. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his back. He dodged an attack to his head.

"Sloppy."

John intentionally dropped to the ground while on one leg, then spun, throwing one of them off balance. He rolled over as one of them tried to stab him. The sword got caught in the wood of the ship.

John jumped up and kicked the sword snapping it.

"Predictable."

One of them charged at him while saying:

"DIE!"

As the sword was slashing down towards John, he used his arm to redirect it to the side of him as he punched the guy in the chest.

The guy that was punched dropped his sword as he flew back about a meter, landing on his back.

He started to cough.

"You took that punch better then expected. Knights are quite strong!"

"Don't mock me!"

He slowly stood up.

John kicked the sword balancing it on one of his feet as he used them to throw it over.

"Pick it up."

At this point the guy that was shocked earlier due to killing intent snapped out of it. He tried to sneak around John while he was focusing on his friend.

He then stabbed John in the back! But something weird happened. It was as if he had struck a rock... his sword bounced off John's back.

John turned around and punched him in the face, breaking his nose. Blood flowed out as he dropped to the ground in shock. His will to fight was completely gone.

John then walked to the guy who refused to pick up his blade.

"Wait! It was a mistake! We didn't know! Please, don't kill me!"

The guy took out his bag of magic stones and threw them over.

"I didn't sign the contract with Oliver. These were are my family's heirlooms. As well as what we looted from other people..."

John went through the bag.

25 magic stones!

"Not bad."

John looked at the other two people.

They looked at him like he had killed their father. They handed over all of them.

"You guys are rich! How many people did you loot? 70 magic stones all together. Not bad. You lied earlier about not being able to afford tuition, eh?"

Oliver had a sour look on his face.

"I still need them for the quota..."

"Fine."

John gave them back 30 magic stones.

"Next time, don't offend people you shouldn't provoke."

"Yes!"

They cried in relief at the fact that John didn't kill them. He even let them have enough for tuition. All thoughts of revenge were sent to the back of their minds. He was too strong!

When in reality. John beat them with 0.01% of his power...

He didn't even have to use magic or his immortality.

"The mortals of this world are quite weak. Even the knights don't seem all that impressive..."

John didn't realize that he was just too strong!