Ascension of the immortal Asura

John slowly made his way forward, careful to not alert any creature in the area. He eventually made his way through the forest near the river, arriving on the riverbank. The river before him was over a dozen miles wide, and almost appeared to be more of a lake than a river. Only the surging waters crashing in one direction gave indication that it was indeed a river and not a large body of water.

He glanced to both sides, looking up and down the river. Upstream, the river bent to the right several miles away, obscuring his sight. Downstream, the river did the same. There were no signs of civilization in either direction.

John sighed and shook his head at himself.

Surely it wouldn't be that easy to find civilization. He remembered the massive creatures that had emerged from one of the rivers he had seen from the flying ship. With creatures like that prowling beneath the water's surface, establishing a town or city on the river's edge would not be an easy thing to achieve.

Still, a river like this was most likely too enticing a resource for the cultivators of this world to not use.

"There's bound to be a city eventually," John muttered, "the only question is where."

He surveyed both directions for a while, and then chose the upstream direction. That direction was away from the coast, and he wanted to be as far away from those mysterious killers as possible for the time being. If they found him and recognized his aura, he was doomed for certain.

Mind made up, John slipped back into the forest and followed the river from a distance. With the powerful creatures lurking beneath the water's surface, he wanted to follow the river from a safe distance. Who knew what lurked beneath, ready to pounce on him at a moment's notice. Within the forest, he was at least able to see the dangers around him.

The next few days came and went without much excitement. Having learned from his past mistakes, John deftly navigated the forest without altering any beasts. The edge of the forest near the river seemed to be devoid of beasts for the most part, which was much to John's liking.

"Most likely avoiding the water and whatever lurks beneath as well," he thought while moving through the forest.

Despite moving for several days and thousands of miles, John had yet to see any signs of civilization. His hope of finding something on the river's edge lessened with each passing day, but he had no better option at the moment.

Day turned to night, and John found another high-up branch to rest on, his eyes closed in meditation. The night passed by slowly, the morning sun eventually rising, the soft light crashing through the tree-canopy above.His ears suddenly twitched as he heard a soft, yet distinct sound of something unmistakably familiar.

"Music?!"

Startled by the sudden sound of music, John hastily stood up and hopped off the branch, falling to the ground below. He slammed into it and then raced towards the sound of the music, which grew louder as he approached the river.

He crashed through the treeline and spotted a boat, several miles off the river bank, moving upstream through the river. The boat was over a mile long and half as tall, and looked more like a mountain than a boat with its size. It was ornately painted and decorated, akin to a luxurious flying ship.

Music came from the distant boat, the sound of lyres and flutes in rhythmic harmony. John started to move towards the boat, and stopped himself at the last moment, his sanity returning to him. He realized just how stupid he had nearly been, and shook his head at himself.

Caught up by the first sign of civilization, he had nearly flown over the water towards it. If he had done that, who knew what his fate would have been. Perhaps he would have made it safely, or perhaps he would have been swallowed whole by a Late World Expansion beast lurking beneath the surface.

He didn't know why the ship was not being attacked, but it was most likely protected by powerful formations, keeping the beasts at bay. He eyed the ship for a short while, thinking of what to do.

"The ship is going upstream, which is the way I've been going. There should be a city it's going towards, so I'll keep following the river."

Plan in mind, John slipped back into the forest and started to race forward next to the riverbank.

Roar!

A powerful roar suddenly boomed out nearby, the power shaking the land and causing John to groan in pain from the unexpected sound.

"Shit!" John muttered, his power flaring as he suddenly sped forward at his fastest speeds.

He didn't know if he had alerted the creature or if the music had done so, and he had just been unlucky enough to be in the creatures path, but it had detected him before he had detected it, and was now chasing him.

The land shook beneath his feet as he sped through the forest, utilizing his Dao of Lightning and Dao of Space to move as fast as possible. The massive trees behind him broke and crashed to the ground one at a time, shattered completely by the massive creature following him.

Its aura eventually reached John, a heavy look appearing on his face.

"Middle World Expansion," he grumbled, pushing his speed to his limits.

"I would be able to keep myself alive against such a beast if I was able to use everything I have, but since I used my bloodline ability recently…"

Without his bloodline ability, John's maximum fighting prowess was at the Early World Expansion Realm at the moment, and even then he would find trouble against such an opponent.

Much like the Core Formation Realm and Heaven Tribulation Realm, the World Expansion Realm was a massive step forward in terms of power. His ability to jump realms was naturally lessened against someone in the World Expansion Realm, and so without his absolute peak strength, the beast behind him was beyond his ability to handle. Even then, it was still most likely too strong for him to defeat.

John sped forward, holding nothing back. The trees he sped past lurked like nothing more than a blur to him as he dodged left and right, avoiding them. The creature behind seemed unable to do so, and instead crashed through the massive trees, toppling them to the ground one by one, no doubt slowing its speed, allowing John to keep his distance from the creature.

The chase lasted for over thirty minutes, with John becoming more and more frustrated that he was unable to shake the creature off of his trail, no matter what he did.

Suddenly, the forest before him vanished. He found himself speeding into a clearing, one that extended out for fifty miles towards a distant mountain. John grumbled with even more frustration, as the only thing keeping the creature from catching him had now vanished. Without the trees slowing the massive creature down, it would no doubt catch him before he reached the distant mountains.

Roar!

A loud roar boomed out behind him as the creature crashed through the treeline, toppling the mile high trees to the ground as if they were twigs. John gazed back for a moment, setting his eyes on the creature for the first time.

It appeared exactly the same as the ape-beast he had killed previously. Only, this creature was over a mile tall, completely dwarfing the beast he had previously slain. It stared at John with furious eyes, as if it wanted to kill him more than anything. He instantly realized why the creature was after him; it was no doubt the parent of the beast he had slain before.

A groan escaped his mouth as he surged towards the distant mountains, the creature gaining on him by the second. John sucked in a deep breath as he realized running was no longer an option, and instead turned around towards the creature.

His Qi began to churn and blood began to boil as he urged his body to unleash his peak strength.

Bang!

John's eyes widened as a beam of Qi suddenly slammed into the creature's chest, the power of the beam piercing directly the beast's chest and into the ground behind it. The ground ruptured from the remnant power of the blast, exploding the ground around John's feet, tossing him into the air.

He managed to control himself a moment later, and floated in the air, dazed by the sudden turn of events. He quickly turned around to look towards the source of where the sudden attack had come from.

His eyes widened with shock and delight as he looked at the top of the massive mountain before him, and the sprawling city that rested atop its peak; the light of a powerful formation around it fading away.

"A City! Finally!"