Ascension of the immortal Asura

"What was that?" the scar-faced man exclaimed, noticing the flash of bright light in the distance…in the direction of their caravan. His eyes narrowed as his figure suddenly vanished, the other cultivators disappearing a moment later.

…

"Ah…" Luri exclaimed as his vision went white, blinded by the blast of lightning John had unleashed. For a moment he thought he was dead, destroyed by the lightning. He opened his eyes a moment later, feeling no pain at all.

He felt at his neck, which was now no longer held tightly by that frightful woman. He glanced down, eyes going wide again. He took a few steps back, away from the woman's headless body. Smoke drifted up into the air from her charred neck.

"Luri," Suri exclaimed, rushing to him, grasping his right hand. She stared at his still broken face, and then reached up towards it. A bright light enveloped her hand, a vibrant energy flowing into her brother's face, quickly healing his wound.

John raised an eyebrow.

'Healing arts huh?'

It wasn't nearly as amazing as Laia's healing ability, but was still impressive, nonetheless. Luri's broken face quickly mended, returning it to new a moment later. Luri thanked his sister, and then turned to John, his face scrunched up with worry.

"We need to flee with the others," he said hastily, "the other slavers are no doubt about to return, and with their leader. We'll flee into the forest and then split up, that way at least one of us can escape and bring word to our sect of what happened."

John nodded his head in approval at the youth's quick actions, despite the shocking situation. He had recovered quite quickly, and made a decent enough plan. John shook his head at Luri, raising his hand to tell the youth to remain in place.

"But," Luri exclaimed in protest.

"It's fine," John said calmly, "just wait here and let Kirii protect you."

"Kirii?" Luri asked.

Flash!

Kirii flashed into existence before the two youths, his appearance startling the two who took a step backwards. They stared at Kirii with wide eyes, his Kirin form on full display.

"Kirii," John rebuked him. "Why are you not shapeshifted into something less flashy?" he asked.

"Ah," Kirii exclaimed, as if he realized he was in the wrong. His figure quickly shifted, appearing like a wolf-horse hybrid instead. John rolled his eyes at Kirii.

'Too late to hide yourself from those two I guess,' he grumbled.

Luri and Suri remained wide eyed, shifting their gazes from John to Kirii, and then back. Each and every thing that had happened recently was somehow more shocking than the last.

"I'll protect them," Kirii said, "but save at least one of them for me! I've been itching to fight for a long time."

John nodded his head.

"Fine," he said, eyes narrowing as multiple figures suddenly appeared before him, landing violently on the ground, shaking it with their power. Luri and Suri stepped backwards in fear of their arrival, Kirii moving to stand between the newcomers and the youths.

The scar-faced man stared at John and the others with surprise, and then shifted his gaze to the now-headless woman. His eyes widened, his face becoming red with rage. He quickly shifted his gaze all around, as if looking for someone else.

"Who did this?" he demanded loudly. "Where have they run to?"

He obviously didn't believe John was capable of killing the woman.

"Who?" John said calmly, a small smile appearing on his face. "It was me."

"You? Impossible," the scar-face man scowled, his eyes darting around, still looking for the one who had killed his companion. "Tell me now," the man said threateningly, implying John would suffer a miserable fate if he did not comply.

John's smile widened, and then he glanced over his shoulder at Kirii.

"Remember, keep them safe. If you do that, I'll leave the last one for you."

"Aye!" Kirii exclaimed happily.

John nodded, returning his gaze to the four slavers before him, gaze heating up with battle lust.

"Let's see what the cultivators of this world are capable of," he said, his aura exploding outwards with overwhelming might.

The four slavers stepped backwards, eyes wide with disbelief, not willing to believe an Early Dao Transformation youth could unleash such power. The scar-faced man was the first to recover, a green sword appearing in his hand.

"Kill him!" he commanded, flashing towards John.

John's smile widened into something quite sinister, his eyes turning golden in an instant. No weapon appeared in his hand, as he wanted to savor this battle. The world around them trembled as John and the man collided, his first battle on this mysterious world commenced.

…

Luri and Suri both kneeled on the ground, legs splayed out behind them, eyes wide with disbelief, shock, and awe.

Before them, an impossible battle raged on, ravaging the land and breaking the sky. They watched as four against one, John fought against the slavers. His cultivation was at the Early Dao Transformation realm, while the slavers had three Late Dao Transformation cultivators and one Half-Step World Expansion cultivation.

And yet, it made no difference.

One by one, the slavers were overwhelmed, brutalized, beaten, and then destroyed by the bare-handed youth who looked more like a dragon than a human at the moment. The brutal beatdown had occurred so swiftly that two of the slavers tried to flee, realizing the impossible futility of the battle.

A massive cage of lightning had then sprung into existence around the five, making any sort of retreat all but impossible. The cage of lightning obscured the sight of the battle to the two youths, but the brutal, world shaking explosions leaking out of the lightning cage gave hints towards the ferocity of the battle within.

A short while later, the lightning cage vanished. Luri and Suri felt their breaths catch in their throat, eyes inspecting the sky to see why the cage had vanished. They breathed signs of wondrous relief as they stared at the mysterious youth, hovering in the sky, the scar-faced man in his grasp.

The other slavers were nowhere to be seen, their bodies reduced to ash. Eyes filled with wonder stared at John unblinking, the youths still unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Please…." the scar-faced man pleaded, eyes wide with fear. "Spare me! I'll become your slave. I'll do anything, just spare me."

John stared at the man with a calm yet smoldering gaze, his eyes so piercing that the man thought he would die from the look alone. John's cold gaze eased up, and then he nodded, his actions giving the scar-faced man a glimmer of hope.

"Fine," John said, releasing his grip from the man. The man didn't dare to try to flee. He had already realized such a thing was futile.

"If you can beat my companion, I'll let you live," John said.

"Companion," the man repeated, shifting his gaze towards Kirii below. Hope returned to him as he noticed Kirii's cultivation; Middle Dao Transformation.

Surely the youths' beast companion couldn't be as heaven defying as the youth himself.

"I accept," the man hastily exclaimed, a whoop of excitement coming from below as Kirii surged up into the sky, his figure like a bolt of heavenly lightning. John smiled and stepped to the side, moving to stand before the two youths, who watched with still-widened eyes as the Kirin battled the scar-faced man, destroying him in less than a minute.

Kirii landed next to John a moment later, a smile of satisfaction on his face.

"That was fun," Kirii exclaimed, and then moved towards Suri, placing his head before her stunned face.

"Come on. I did well, didn't I?" Kirii said, "pet me for doing such a good job."

Suri stared at the Kirin, face scrunched with confusion, looking at John.

John shrugged and then smiled at her.

"He has a perverted obsession with being petted by beautiful girls," John shrugged again.

"Hey, it's not perverted," Kirii said with displeasure. "It's just that only beautiful people are worthy of touching me. It's as simple as that."

Suri shifted her gaze from John to Kirii, and then smiled, her smile radiant beyond compare. Both her and Luri started laughing with joy, becoming miserable slaves no longer their fate. Suri reached out and pet Kirii, tears of joy streaking down her face.

John smiled at the sight, the first part of his plan a success. With this, his entry into the Light Dao Sect was no doubt guaranteed. Then, he could start looking for information about Lilian.