Ascension of the immortal Asura

John stood there for a moment before shaking his head in pity for the Elder.

'Poor bastard. I killed his disciple, and now he wants me to replace that dead disciple. This guy really has the worst luck.'

While John did feel a bit of pity for the Elder, he wasn't going to decline this opportunity. The Elder had raised Damon, who ended up killing Russell, so with this in mind, John didn't want to give Elder Praxx any mercy.

John put such thoughts aside and strode out of his small house. The morning sun illuminated the sect with bright light, making the normally ominous looking sect look quite normal at the moment.

'What should I do today? Elder Praxx said the placement battles are next week, so I have a week to kill before I can become his disciple. I guess I'll explore the sect a bit more, maybe buy a weapon and some pills if any are worth buying.'

While he had the scythe he obtained from his assumed identity, the scythe was of average quality. One of his reasons for coming to the sect was to obtain a scythe of good quality, which could last him through the Meridian Forging Realm.

With this in mind, John began to meander through the sect, perusing all it had to offer.

'Those two Elders last night mentioned another project the sect was carrying out. I still need to uncover clues about that as well, so exploring the sect further may aid with that mission.'

The Bloodfiend Sect was incredibly vast, and exploring it all by foot would take days at the very least. Unfortunately, flying was prohibited within the sect unless one was an Elder, and so John had to walk wherever he went.

After an hour of walking, he arrived before a large, metallic building. The building was made of some sort of black metal, and had various sharp protrusions jutting from it. It was five stories tall, and hundreds of yards wide and long.

A black metallic gate, which was raised open at the moment, protected the front entrance. A steady stream of cultivators, ranging from Mist Creation to Meridian Forging streamed into the building.

John also noticed several Elders who entered the building, who displayed no cultivation at all, a sight he found quite peculiar.

'That's the tenth Elder I've seen that's displaying no cultivation. There's no way they're all above the Heaven Tribulation Realm, or Sect Leader Thunderzen would have mentioned such a thing. Are they all using cultivation obscuring artifacts?'

According to what John knew, the Heavenly Lightning Sect and Bloodfiend Sect were relatively on par strength wise, except for Thunderzen who was far above any other power in the land. While he was sure there were others, the only Elders of the sect that he had met that were above the Heaven Tribulation Realm were the Sect Leader and Vice-Sect Leader.

'Even within my sect, Elder's above the Heaven Tribulation Realm are very rare. These Edler's must be using artifacts to hide their cultivation, but the Vice-Sect Leader said those artifacts are quite expensive. I wonder why they're all doing this?'

John mused on the bizarre situation for a moment before throwing away such thoughts. The reasons were not that important to him right now. John followed the stream of cultivators into the building, and arrived at the main lobby.

While the Library did not have attendants, the weapons hall did. There was money to be made here, and the sect would do everything in its power to collect that money, and ensure nothing was stolen.

John approached one of the attendants, who was just finishing a chat with another disciple. It was a man who appeared to be in his mid thirties, who had a thin mustache on his face. His eyes locked onto John as he noticed him approaching.

"What weapon do you desire?" the man asked.

His tone was not as friendly as John was used to from an attendant, but he expected such things. The Bloodfiend Sect was not a place of cheer and welcoming.

"Scythes. Meridian Forging Scythes," John replied, getting straight to what he wanted.

"Meridian Forging Scythes?" the man replied in a questioning tone while he inspected John up and down.

Meridian Forging weapons were quite expensive, and were not something most Core Formation Disciples could afford. John rolled his eyes at the situation, as he had encountered this before. There was only one way to get through to these kinds of people.

A spatial ring appeared in John's hand, which he flicked over to the man. The man caught the ring, and quickly inspected it. His eyes lit up, and he quickly put away the ring as he looked back towards John, this time with a lot more respect.

"I will personally guide you to the area. Follow me," the man said.

John nodded his head and followed behind the man. The attendant led him up the stairs to the fourth floor, which was guarded by two Meridian Forging Guards. The guards moved to halt the newcomers, but stopped when they saw the attendant leading the way.

John followed the attendant past the guards, and onto the fourth floor. An expansive room, hundreds of yards wide and long, came into his view. There were hundreds of individual pedestals, each holding a singular weapon.

Clearly, weapons of this quality were highly valued, and each was given the respect it deserved. John's eyes swept across the room, and quickly lit up as he spotted what he was here for.

'Scythes, and nearly fifty of them! This place truly is a scythe paradise!'

The attendant noticed John's eyes light up, but only smiled as he walked towards the weapons. John followed closely behind, and they quickly arrived by the scythes. The scythes ranged in shapes, materials, and colors, giving each a unique look.

John began to closely inspect the scythes, as the attendant explained the unique aspects of each one he was looking at. Each scythe radiated quite an impressive aura, and John could clearly tell that they were far above his current scythe in quality and power.

There were several that caught his eye, but he didn't want to settle until he had inspected them all. After inspecting thirty scythes, John arrived in front of another, which was pitch black in color. It radiated an incredibly fearsome and unique aura, and he could quickly tell that it was the most impressive one so far.

The attendant noticed John's gaze of desire.

"Ah, you have a good eye. That's the Scythe of Anguish, named so by its creator as it instills anguish in the hearts of all who see it," the attendant explained.

John looked at the scythe with desire, as he set his heart on having it. "This is the scythe I want."

"Unfortunately, its not up to me to decide if you can wield this wea-" The attendants voice cut off as John reached out and picked up the weapon.

A strange. sharp energy immediately entered his body, fighting against him with all its might.