Ascension of the immortal Asura

A crackling fire illuminated the cave John and Laia were within, while Kirii slept peacefully next to it, enjoying the warmth.

Laia's hands were placed on John's bare back, a bright green glow emanating from them as she healed his gruesome wounds. Some of the wounds were deep enough to see bone, but John acted as if the wounds didn't exist, and that there was no pain either. Laia couldn't help but wonder how much he had gone through in his short life to treat such injuries with such disregard, and be able to ignore that much pain.

Kirii's rambling had revealed some of what he had gone through, and each event was enough to cause Laia to shiver slightly as the pain that John must have felt.

"All done," Laia said as she withdrew her hands and her healing power faded.

John rolled his shoulders and stretched his limbs as she inspected his body, and a content smile appeared on his face as he watched Laia sit down next to him.

"Thanks as always," John replied. Laia's healing truly was a blessing, as it allowed him to fight each day to his heart's content, knowing that he would be healed by the start of the next day. He had already slain six Early Dao Transformation beasts thus far, replenishing his beast blood essence reserves by quite a bit, ensuring he would be able to use his Body Qi and Asura Transformation going forward.

"Mhm," Laia nodded her head as she gazed at the fire before her in silence as if something were on her mind.

John could clearly tell something was weighing on her, and he couldn't help but ask about it.

"What's going on? You seem like there's something on your mind," John asked curiously.

Laia stared into the fire for a bit longer, before her gaze shifted towards John and studied him for a bit.

"I…I heard that you destroyed an entire sect," Laia said to him, her words causing John to gaze at Kirii who acted as if he were asleep. "Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," John replied without hesitation.

"How many did you kill?" she asked.

"Tens of thousands," John replied, hiding nothing yet again. "And I'd do it again without hesitation if I had the chance."

Laia fell silent as she processed her thoughts.

"I'm guessing Kirii didn't explain the details of what happened?" John asked. Laia shook her head to the side lightly, as if wanting to hear the details.

"The Sect I destroyed was the Bloodfiend Sect, a sect of the Forbidden Alliance" John started to explain as his eyes narrowed slightly, as if recalling the events angered him once again. "I was on there for a stealth mission, and discovered things that would make your stomach turn. Human sacrifice by the tens of thousands to summon a demon to destroy the continent. Disciples killing each other for sport, slaves being slaughtered to practice blood cultivation arts…they were all despicable, and they eventually found out my true identity, so I summoned my tribulation, and destroyed them all."

"You summoned your tribulation?" Laia asked, as if his statement didn't make sense.

"I had a tribulation when I ascended to the Meridian Forging realm," John explained, his words once again shocking Laia who at this point felt numb from shock. She had never heard of such a thing, but didn't doubt his words at all.

A weight seemed to lift off her shoulders as she heard John explain what had happened.

"If that's the case, then it sounds like the Bloodfiend Sect deserved their annihilation," Laia replied.

"They did," John confirmed before his gaze shifted to the 'sleeping' Kirii.

"If you're going to tell someone such things, be sure to clarify the details, or I'll beat you up the next time this happens," John said with warning to Kirii, although it was obviously a playful warning.

Kirii's one eye opened for the briefest of instants to gaze at John, before it closed once again as he pretended to still be asleep, as if they didn't notice. Laia couldn't help but chuckle at the two and their child-like antics, fully relieved that John's slaughter of an entire sect was not an act of evil. She did not think it would be, but it was still reassuring to hear that there had been a good reason for annihilating an entire sect.

…

John and Laia made their way through a valley that seemed to darken as they progressed through it. It was as if the light was being unnaturally drawn out of the air, making the valley feel completely eerie and ominous.

They came to a halt in almost pure darkness, but thanks to their high cultivations, they were still able to see for some distance.

Crack!

A cracking sound echoed from within the dark valley before them, and Laia's eyes couldn't help but open wide as she held her breath. Both her and John noticed a creature within the dark shadows, one that was quite terrifying in appearance. It was hunched over, and was feasting on the corpse of another beast which it had recently slaughtered.

It was five yards tall, and was humanoid in shape with two legs and two arms that were muscular and rippling with power. Its skin was maroonish red, and was covered with small armored spikes on the shoulders and chest. Sharp spikes jutted out of the back of its elbows and spine like blades, while two curved horns like goat horns pierced out from its skull, pitch black in color.

Laia carefully grabbed John's hand and started to walk backwards, bringing him with her.

The two of them retreated for several hundred yards before Laia breathed out deeply, as if they had just escaped death.

"What's going on?" John asked curiously. The creatures cultivation was quite bizarre, and was difficult to identify, but he could tell its power was somewhere in the Middle Dao Transformation Realm, which was the strongest they had run into yet. It would be an incredibly difficult opponent, but John was confident in being able to keep them all alive if he used his Asura Transformation.

"We need to go around this valley," Laia replied with grave caution. "That creature is something that should not exist in this world…a Demon."