Ascension of the immortal Asura

"You arrived here quite quickly, father," Laia replied calmly and respectfully, ignoring the Astral Emperors comments about her. "Much quicker than I had anticipated."

When she had revived Adam, she had become cursed by the Heavens, which is something the Astral Emperor warned her never to do. Becoming cursed by the Heaven's wasn't a death sentence, but it was something no one wanted either.

When going through heavenly tribulation, one cursed by the Heavens would face an execution rather than a test and an opportunity. Thankfully Laia was already in the Heaven Tribulation realm when she became cursed, but there were other negatives when becoming cursed by the Heavens.

Not only would it be harder to stumble upon wondrous opportunities, one would also find themselves running into dangerous situations far more often, as John was more than aware of. Were it not for his heaven defying strength, he would have already died a dozen deaths by now.

Lastly, one would find it harder to cultivate and ascend the cultivation ladder, as the connection with the Heavenly Dao was far weaker than one not cursed. Thankfully for John, he had monstrous comprehensions to a level that even the Heavens couldn't suppress it, and had help from things such as the palace realm meditation ability, but others would not find themselves so lucky.

The Astral Emperor frowned as Laia ignored his original comments, but decided to overlook it for now.

"Your little adventure is over," he said to her with an even tone, "you are returning with me to the Astral Empire immediately."

John frowned as he saw the interaction between the two, as it was the complete opposite of how a father and daughter should interact. The Astral Emperor spoke to Laia with no warmth in his voice or love in his eyes, while Laia replied as if she were talking to an Emperor, full of respect but without any emotions at all.

His frown deepened and his jaw clenched tightly as he focused on his soul-connection with Laia, and was able to feel a small hint of the emotions she was feeling at the moment.

Loathing!

Trepidation!

Resentment!

While Laia remained calm on the outside, John was able to clearly feel these emotions stemming from deep within her; emotions that she hid well. If she did not have this soul-connection, he would have never guessed she was feeling this way at the moment.

As if noticing something, the Astral Emperors gaze suddenly snapped onto John, his eyes staring at him like a hawk. An extremely powerful divine sense suddenly slammed onto him, like a tsunami that nearly took his breath away. The divine sense immediately invaded his body, as the Astral Emperor held nothing back when inspecting him. The Astral Emperor raised an eyebrow when noticing the quality of John's body and dantian while he continued to scan as if looking for something.

John's anger instantly ignited as the divine sense invaded his body, as if the Astral Emperor considered him and his property to inspect at his leisure. John's own soul power and divine sense flared as he attempted to drive out the invasive energy, but it was brushed aside like a leaf in a storm. The divine sense slammed against his soul and inspected it closely, driving it nearly to the edge of collapse.

John's anger continued to rise, as he felt completely powerless at the moment, and his Qi began to surge within like a powerful beast waking from a slumber. If he was unable to flush out the Astral Emperors inspection with his soul and divine sense, then he would resort to what he did best; using pure power to solve the situation.

However, just as John was about to explode with his full strength, the divine sense scan vanished. John hastily rescinded his surging power, but raised his guard to the maximum, ready to explode with his full strength at a moment's notice. Even if it was not enough to affect the Astral Emperor at all, he wouldn't allow anyone to do such a thing to him like that without taking action. His pride would not allow it!

John's gaze snapped to the Astral Emperor who continued to hover in the sky above them and he was about to yell at him, but he noticed the Astral Emperors gaze had shifted back to Laia, heated fury contained within.

"You gave this worthless brat your soul-seed?" the Astral Emperor boomed, his voice trembling the nearby land while waves formed on the lake behind them.

"I…I did it of my own volition. Do not blame him," a worried look appeared on Laia's face, one which John could tell was not for herself but for him. Clearly she was worried that her father would do something to John in his current angered state.

"So what if she gave me her soul-seed," John replied angrily, speaking for Laia as well as himself, as he was still enraged by the Astral Emperors invasive scan. "It's hers to give as she pleases, what makes you think you can decide who she gives it to," he growled.

"Besides, we would both be dead by now if she hadn't done so, so we had no choice in the matter regardless," he continued.

"Who are you to speak to me in such a manner, boy?" the Astral Emperor replied coldly as his gaze snapped back to John, and he raised an eyebrow as if realizing something.

"Ahhhh, I thought you looked familiar," he mused with realization, "you're one of the brats I saw on that lowly continent several years ago," he said, recognizing John from the time he had forcefully extracted Laia from the Yuan Continent ancient realm.

"It seems as though you are like a fly, buzzing around my daughter wherever she goes," the Astral Emperor continued, his voice growing colder by the second. "No matter, her soul-seed can be forcefully returned to her once I scoop it from your soul," he said to John with menacing intent as his power began to surge towards John, clearly not caring at all about the fact that it would kill John in the process.

"Father! Don't you dare touch him, or I'll-" Laia yelled angrily, but her angered cries were cut off as two figures suddenly appeared in the air between John and her father, blocking his approaching power instantly.

Surprise appeared on the Astral Emperors face at the arrival of the two figures, which was replaced with cold menace as he stared at the two of them. At the same time, surprise appeared on John's face as well, which was quickly replaced with warm reassurance, as he had full confidence in the two who had appeared before him.

The Alliance Head!

Sect Leader Thunderfist!