Ascension of the immortal Asura

John carefully inspected the battle axe in his grasp, turning it over several times to inspect each inch of it. The weapon's weight was well over thirty thousand pounds, and was almost too much for him to wield in his base state. It was definitely not a weapon meant for Heaven Tribulation cultivators, but thankfully John's body was beyond freakish and able to manage its weight.

'Only by using this weapon in my augmented battle forms will I be able to unleash its true power. This weapon could not be more perfect!'

"Congratulations," Laia said cheerily while smiling, her melodic voice snapping John out of his thoughts. He turned to her, and couldn't help but smile as well.

"Thanks," John replied, before his gaze shifted back up towards the items above. "You also have ten thousand Jade Marks to spend. What are you going to get?" he asked curiously.

"I've already picked what I want," Laia replied, revealing that she had inspected the items during John's selection period and made up her mind already. Her divine sense flared upwards as it locked onto the first object she wanted, which was a beautiful light green dress.

The dress was incredibly beautiful in color and design, and most importantly of all, was lined with dragon scales. Intricate formation runes were carved into the dress material and scales as well, making it look all the more mesmerizing.

The dress floated down towards Laia, who happily grasped it with a cheerful smile on her face. She held it up before her while she closely inspected it, and nodded with happy satisfaction as her movements seemed to freeze before John's eyes. Her figure instantly changed as she once again started moving, while the dress appeared on her body, making John realize she had frozen time around her for a brief moment to change her dress.

The formation runes on the dress lit up ever so slightly, making the dress even more beautiful and also formidable. John could tell that the formation was a defensive formation, and that the combination of the dragon scales and defensive formation would make for a formidable toughness. Even he would have trouble damaging the dress, a testament to its incredible quality.

"How do I look?" Laia asked cheerfully as she spun around, her beauty further exemplified by the stunning dress.

"Beautiful, of course," John replied without any shame, his words causing Laia to blush, but also smile happily.

"Good, then it was a good choice," she replied before gazing back up at the items overhead. Her divine sense flared out several more times as she chose a scroll containing a ancient healing art and a mysterious bead containing vibrant life energy.

"You still have two thousand points…what are you going to spend it on?" John asked curiously.

"Mmmm," Laia mused out loud, inspecting all the items above before locking onto a particular one. A small smile returned to her face as she sent her divine sense out to the item, which lowered towards her while a slightly confused look appeared on John's face.

"What are you going to do with this?" John asked curiously, as the last item Laia purchased had been a set of armor.

The armor was jade green and gold in color, and consisted of two arm bracers, both made of dragon scales, two shoulder spaulders, also lined with green dragon scales and dragon fangs on the edges, making them look quite fearsome and heroic at the same time, and a lower half robe, green in color and lined with dragon scales as well.

The fact that the armor had no chest piece made John realize it was more for show than actual protection, but the arm bracers, shoulder spaulders and dragonscale robe no doubt provided formidable protection to those areas.

Laia inspected the loose set of armor for a moment before she turned to John and held it up towards him, her smile still lingering on her face. John's eyes widened as he realized why she had purchased the male set of armor.

"Uhhhh…thanks, but I think I'll pass," John replied as he declined the armor. Not only was it not his preferred color scheme, but he also found it a bit gaudy, especially with the fact that he would be walking around bare chested by wearing this. While he didn't care that much about such a thing, he still preferred his subtle yet effective War Hall robes.

Laia's smile widened as she moved the armor closer to his face, saying no words but her actions speaking loud and clear. John took a step backwards, but each step he took was matched by Laia, who held the armor up before him in silence, her smile never leaving her face as if John had no choice in the matter.

…

Flash!

A flash of light illuminated a vast, open field before quickly fading away. From the flash of light appeared John and Laia, who had just left the treasure room after spending all their Jade Marks. Laia's brilliant green dress flowed lightly in the gentle breeze, her face filled with satisfaction as she eyed John up and down.

"We match perfectly now," Laia said with a happy smile on her face.

John had no idea why such a thing was so important to Laia, but he no longer argued against it. The armor conformed perfectly to his body, and John couldn't help but admit that he looked quite heroic and fearsome at the moment, like a dragonscaled war emperor.

His bared chest and biceps added to the image, as his body bulged with perfectly sized muscles. For some reason, John felt this armor to be more befitting of him and his battle style, and was quickly becoming to like it.

"It would be better if the colors were a bit darker, but I am starting to like it a bit" John replied to Laia, who smiled happily, but that smile quickly vanished as both her and John felt two powerful auras suddenly pressing down on them.

"Well, well, well. I was wondering what that flash of light was, but it ended up being two Honorable Alliance weaklings," an arrogant voice sounded out as two figures landed before John and Laia, revealing themselves to be two Forbidden Alliance youths.

Both youths were male, and wore blood red robes with various white skull designs on them. They had Peak Heaven Tribulation cultivations, and arrogant faces to match their arrogant voices. John's nonchalant attitude quickly vanished as the arrival of the two youths instantly reminded him of his purpose for rushing to this final trial area; to destroy all the enemy geniuses without mercy.