Ascension of the immortal Asura

The newcomer, the Lord of the Titan-Devils, gazed into the distance as if staring at something neither of the Half-Step Holy Manifestation Devils could see. His yellow eyes narrowed with a menacing, murderous glint, rage clearly contained within.

A moment later, he gazed down at the meridian essence lake beneath his feet. His contained rage intensified as he noticed the lake of Titan Demon meridian essence had been depleted considerably.

"What happened," he asked, voice deep and gravely, like it was coming from a primordial beast of hell.

"My Lord," one of the still bowed devils said. "We were guarding the ancestral grounds, when suddenly I noticed the aura of the Titan Demon meridian essence start to weaken. We came here immediately, noticed that it had been tampered with, and then alerted you without pause."

The Titan-Devil Lord looked at the two Half-Step Holy Manifestation devils before him, eyes still narrowed, face burning with contained rage.

"And you, what did you do?" the Devil Lord asked the other cultivator who had not yet spoken. "Did you not detect the intrusion as well?"

"I…I did not, my Lord," the bowed devil said, body slightly trembling with instinctual fear.

"Tch, useless," the Devil Lord said, hand reaching out towards that devil. The devil's eyes went wide with horror as he tried to back away instinctively. He was far too slow, neck caught instantly by the Titan-Devil Lord's massive hand.

He struggled in the Titan-Devil Lord's grasp, unable to budge the hand even slightly.

"I apologize for my incompetenc- Ahhhhh!"

Before he could finish his apology, the flames surrounding the Titan-Devil Lord extended to envelop the devil in his grasp. The devil cried out in agony as his body was charred at a visible rate. The cries of agony ceased moments later at the Half-Step Holy Manifestation Titan Devil was burned to ashes, which drifted away in the wind.

The Titan-Devil Lord shifted his gaze to the other, still bowed devil, then back to the horizon.

"So, you're not dead," it said, narrowing its eyes. "How unexpected."

"M…my Lord, do you know who did this?" the bowed devil asked.

"There is only one person on this world that could have entered and left these ancestral grounds without being detected by the formations or myself," the Titan-Devil Lord said, voice filled with obvious displeasure. "He was rumored to have reached the end of his life tens of thousands of years ago and perished."

The Titan-Devil Lord snarled, anger and displeasure on his face.

"So, you managed to break through to the Late Holy Manifestation Realm and extend your lifespan, Prime Shadow!"

"Prime Shadow! You mean the fabled assassin of the human race?" the other devil exclaimed, as if hearing about a terrifying beast told to children to scare them. "He's still alive? Should we go after him? You are also in the Late Holy Manifestation Realm, so surely-"

The Titan-Devil Lord scoffed at the suggestion, giving the other devil a sideways glance of disapproval and anger, as if he was about to unleash his fury on this devil as he had done the previous. The other devil bowed his head again, refraining from speaking again.

"Increase the guard surrounding these lands, and make sure this doesn't happen again. If it does, your fate will be much worse than the others," the Titan-Devil Lord said, then vanished.

"It will be done," the other devil said firmly, unsure if his words were even heard. His gaze shifted in the direction the Titan-Devil Lord had been looking, and shuddered lightly, recalling memories of the tales of the famed human assassin, and how he had plagued the Devils for countless millennia.

…

Before he could react, John had been scooped up by the Prime Shadow, wrapped in the same cocoon of darkness as before.

"What are you doing! I wasn't done!" John exclaimed from within the cocoon of darkness, startled, and also angry, by suddenly being extracted from the lake of meridian essence.

However, as expected, no answer came. John fell silent, his built up anger slowly subsiding.

'The Prime Shadow wouldn't have done this if there wasn't a good reason, so the most likely answer is that we were detected by the Devils, and needed to leave.'

If that was the case, John would be understanding of the Prime Shadow's actions. Still, he was disappointed by not being able to reach his absolute limit of increasing his meridian durability.

He sighed and then relaxed, knowing there was nothing he could do. He basked in the feeling of Laia's healing energy still healing his meridians, like a soft, pleasurable reminder of her existence.

'I could tell I was getting close to reaching my limit anyways, so it's not that big of a deal. I already gained far more than I could have ever expected from this, so I should be content with what I have.'

Several hours later, the cocoon of darkness vanished, returning John to the real world. He landed on the ground and looked about, finding himself standing within the room he met the Prime Shadow and Guildmaster in.

The Guildmaster was nowhere to be seen, but the Prime Shadow was there, standing next to him. He smiled as he noticed John's questioning gaze.

"We were detected," the Prime Shadow said, then shrugged. "There was nothing I could do. It was not me that was detected, but you."

"Me?" John asked.

"Yes, you. You absorbed far too much meridian essence. It was only natural that the change was detected by the Titan-Devils," the Prime Shadow said, jabbing John lightly in the chest as if to emphasize he was the reason for the sudden departure.

He then grabbed John's wrist, and sent his divine sense into John's meridians. His eyes widened with disbelief, then after a moment, changed to approving joy.

"You have more than doubled the strength and durability of your meridians!" he said with awe. "I didn't even know it was possible for a cultivator to achieve such a thing."

"Is it really that amazing?" John asked. Thanks to the Titan-Demon meridian essence, as well as Laia's incredible orb of healing vitality, he had managed to increase the durability of his meridians by more than double, hovering between that and nearly triple the strength and durability. Compared to the twenty percent he had achieved on his own before employing Laia's help, the difference was staggering.

'Thank you,' John said internally, thanking Laia for her help once more. He knew the orb she had given him was not a simple thing, and had cost Laia a great deal to make.

"With how hard meridians are to improve, it is absolutely heaven-defying," the Prime Shadow nodded. "Even if you give another genius that healing energy you were using, they would be hard pressed to improve their meridians by fifty percent, let alone what you've done. Each cultivator possesses a natural limit for improving their meridians, and they cannot break beyond that limit no matter what. Your natural limit is beyond incredible, to the point that I didn't even know it could go that high."

John felt surprise at hearing this. He knew what he had done was impressive, but didn't know just how much.

'Natural limit huh? I wonder how much of that limit is due to the Asura Body and Jade Dragon inheritance, and how much is due to my own innate talent,' John wondered, then figured he would ask the Prime Shadow if he knew the answer.

"In regards to this natural limit, can incredible treasures or natural wonders improve that limit?" John asked curiously.

"No," the Prime Shadow shook his head. "Treasures and wonders can allow a cultivator to improve their meridian quality to be closer to their natural limit, but that limit is determined at birth, and cannot be changed. Your heaven-defying meridian talent is yours and yours alone. Well, that, and your parents, as meridian talents are one of the few things a human can inherit from their parent's cultivation wise."

John raised his eyebrows slightly, a bit surprised to hear this. If his meridian talent was this heaven-defying naturally, then his origin really wasn't anything simple. And he hadn't even actually reached his natural limit yet, only approached it.

'Just who are my parents, really,' he wondered.

"Congratulations," the Prime Shadows voice snapped him from his thoughts. "You now have meridians equal to that of a typical Half-Step Holy Manifestation cultivator, and this meridian talent will serve as an incredible foundation for you going forward. From now on, the limits of your meridians should no longer be an issue for you at all."