Ascension of the immortal Asura

'Asura of Anguish…a similar aura to the sinister aura within my palace realm…an aura somewhat similar to my Immortal Asura Body and Asura Transformation Art...the similarities are too many to ignore as mere coincidence.

A thousand thoughts swirled through John's mind as he thought about everything from the Asura of Anguish to his body dantian.

After calming his mind a bit, his thoughts shifted back to the Asura of Anguish, which he had seen in the vision.

There were two explanations to what John had seen in the vision regarding the Asura of Anguish. He knew something was sealed within his palace realm, as he had heard its menacing growl once before. It was something that his mysterious yet overwhelmingly powerful father had thought worthwhile to seal away, alluding to how powerful or important whatever within was.

Each time John touched a chain on the door, the chain shattered, and more of the aura from whatever was sealed within leaked out. The aura had only ever reminded him of one other thing before; the creature he had seen in the illusion trial in the Elysian Lightning World.

'My father wouldn't just…unleash a creature like that on the world, would he?' John mused while he kept digging. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out the truth of what was to come.

'I'm sure it's all connected somehow, but I don't have enough pieces to say for sure. While I have my guesses, that's all they are at the moment…guesses. Guessing won't solve this issue.

Besides, it doesn't matter anyways. In the world of cultivation, death is always one step away for those who tread the path to the pinnacle of the martial world. All I can do is focus on becoming as strong as possible, and these visions, if they come to pass, will just be another step I take over the corpses of countless enemies towards that peak.'

…

"What are they doing?" the Heaven Scrying Sect youth mused as he stood at the very top of the deep hole John and the rest had dug and peered within. "First they start digging for no reason, and then they erect a sound and Qi nullification formation? What's going on?"

No matter how he thought about it, the youth couldn't make sense of it. If the group had found incredibly rare valuables while digging and erected a barrier to prevent spying, they would have also made the barrier block all vision from the outside. The youth could clearly see into the barrier, but not hear anything from within.

While peering into the deep hole, the youths eyes suddenly widened slightly as something came into his vision. His eyes shifted colors ever so slightly, as they became more profound and mesmerizing. He stared straight into the dirt below the group's feet, as if he was looking through the earth.

"There's something down there! Something exuding a faint aura…just how did they know to dig here? Even I just noticed it, and they've already dug down hundreds of yards," the youth muttered in surprise upon finally noticing the goal of the digging project. "It must be that girl. She has unique eyes as well…but for her to notice something this deep, just how profound are her talents?"

…

"We're almost there," Iris exclaimed, her excitement clearly rising.

"What's down here? Even with meager eye talents like yours, you must know by now," Adam asked, both curious and disgruntled for having to dig so long. They had already been at it for several hours.

"Just wait, you impatient oaf. You'll find out soon enough," Iris harrumphed at Adam's insult.

By now, John had also noticed whatever was buried beneath the sands. While he could not see it yet, he was able to feel the faint aura of whatever was beneath them.

"It's only a few more yards. Stand aside," John instructed, which the others complied with. They stood aside, while John's powerful essence Qi surged out, sweeping aside the last remaining patch of earth. Using his powerful divine sense and great Qi control, John swept aside all remaining obstructions without moving whatever was buried beneath the earth.

Before the group, a sight they had not been expecting came into view.

"It's…corpses," Adam said, not expecting to see dead bodies down here.

"Five of them, to be exact," John replied as he moved towards the dead bodies. The dead bodies, just skeletons at this point, were still draped in their clothes. They wore impressive jade green robes, with a powerful looking dragon breathing fire embroidered on the back and sleeves. Even with the wear and tear of time, the robes were still intact without flaws, indicating the high quality they were made from.

Other than the robes they wore, each skeleton held a weapon in one of their hands, each weapon exuding an incredible aura. Clearly this had been what Iris had spotted through the earth.

"Heaven Tribulation Grade Weapons!" Adam exclaimed, his demeanor of exhaustion replaced with excitement. The group carefully inspected the weapons, which all emanated an incredible aura. Chases eyes lit up as well, as he clearly spotted something that was of great interest to him. Even Iris couldn't help but become excited, as she too lacked a Heaven Tribulation Grade Weapon.

"Why are you so excited to see weapons?" John asked. "You don't fight, and when you're forced to fight you use formation disks."

"Because, these are clearly ancient Jade Dragon Empire youths, and these weapons belonged to them. By studying these ancient weapons, I might be able to peer into the techniques used to create them, as well as gain insights from the intricate formations embedded in the weapons. These weapons are a treasure trove of ancient knowledge," Adam exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.

John's gaze shifted from Adam back to the weapons, which had been sitting beneath the desert sands for over a hundred thousand years.

"What do you think happened to them?" Chase asked.

"Who knows?" John replied, his gaze still lingering on the corpses. "They might have been ambushed, the same as we just encountered, or were killed by something else. The Jade Dragon Empire reigned more than one hundred thousand years ago. There's no way we'll be able to tell exactly what happened after all this time. All I know is that their weapons remained behind, which is a boon for us."

"Such extraordinary weapons, left here to fade away forever. Good thing we stumbled upon them," Iris chimed up, a large smile appearing on her face.

'That's right. Good thing we have you, otherwise we never would have found these weapons," John replied as he patted Iris on the shoulder before moving over towards the weapons. "None of us have a Heaven Tribulation Grade weapon yet, so these will more than come in handy in the trials to come. Finding these weapons so early on in these lands is beyond fortunate."

He had already been given a lesson on the importance of weapon quality just days ago, when his battle with Vildren had damaged his scythe. While it was still fine for the most part, eventually it would be overwhelmed by all the Heaven Tribulation Grade weapons his opponents would use. John once again regretted the decision of not buying a Heaven Tribulation Grade weapon from the Mystic Trade Hall when he had a chance, but this encounter made up for that lack of judgment.

"Which one are you going to take?" Adam asked as John reached out towards the weapons, his selection made.