Ascension of the immortal Asura

A stone ceiling high above came into John's view as he opened his eyes. His eyelids were heavy and slow to open, as if he had slept for a thousand years.

He groaned softly as he sat up, pain wracking his entire body. After sitting up, the memories of the battle against the FrostFire Tiger returned to him, reminding him of the reason his body was in such a sorry condition.

"I guess I overdid it a bit," John mumbled to himself before looking around to take in his surroundings.

His eyes widened as a familiar figure came into view, and he quickly stood up through the pain as his aura began to surge, ready to pounce with power. Just ten feet away from him was the large FrostFire Tiger, lying on the floor, staring directly at him.

"Calm down, you're not in danger," Daoist Eternal Weapon's voice sounded out, to which John turned towards. He spotted Daoist Eternal Weapon standing before his forging table, working on some sort of item.

A confused expression appeared on John's face as he tried to figure out what was going on. One moment he was fighting the tiger, about to finish it off, and the next he was waking up within the forging building, face to face with that same tiger who no longer showed him any animosity.

"Is this tiger your pet?" John asked, finally realizing what was potentially going on.

"Companion," Daoist Eternal Weapon corrected John while still continuing his work.

A sigh of relief left John's lips as he realized he didn't need to fight the powerful tiger again, but that relief was quickly washed away with rising rage. His face scrunched up in displeasure, and John quickly walked over towards Daoist Eternal Weapon, each step filling him with pain.

He arrived before the hulking man, who ignored him and instead continued his work.

"Fuck you and your tests!" John yelled at the man, his frustration reaching his limits.

"I purchased your weapon fairly, and yet you made me take a test before even making it. I passed the test, and you agreed to make my weapon. Then all of a sudden, you surprise me with a test no one in this world could possibly pass but me. In fact, you sprung that test on me with the intention of me failing, because you didn't think it possible for me to beat this fucking pet of yours.

Do you have any idea what it cost me to unleash that final attack? The Divine Source Monastery is opening the Divine Wall in less than a month, and now I have to enter without having one of my greatest trump cards available to me. If I die inside that place, it'll be your fucking fault!" John erupted in a furious tirade, unable to contain his anger.

His gaze shifted to the side towards the FrostFire Tiger, who continued to lie on the ground, watching the two of them.

"Your pet is lucky you showed up when you did, or else it would have suffered because of your stupid ego being unwilling to give me my rightfully purchased weapon!"

After unleashing his tirade, John took a deep breath to calm himself down. Daoist Eternal Weapon continued to work on whatever item was before him, as if he was ignoring John completely. His lack of a response angered John once again, who finally had it with the man.

"Forget it. Just give me my damn scythe, and then I'm leaving," John demanded his weapon.

Daoist Eternal Weapon remained silent, staring at the item in his hands that he was tinkering with. John was about to erupt in impatient rage once more, when the hulking man finally turned to him, and outstretched his hand towards John. The item was in his hand, indicating that he was giving it to John.

"You're right, I should have given you your scythe, but the battle was not only a test of your power, but also an opportunity for you to grow," Daoist Eternal Weapon said as he dumped the item in John's hands.

"I learned the process of Dao fusion from my companion over there, and I gave you the same opportunity to learn from her as well. It seems like you managed to grasp the initial concept of fusion at the very end, so while you made a sacrifice, you also received a great reward. Let's call it even," Daoist Eternal Weapon said to John before walking to the nearby table, and sat down.

"I…I guess you're right," John replied, his anger fading as he realized he had gained immensely from that fight.

'Fighting against the FrostFire Tiger did teach me how to successfully fuse Dao's. Who knows how long it would have taken me to accomplish that without directly seeing the fusion process before my very eyes. My bloodline ability sacrifice is temporary, while what I gained from that battle is permanent. I guess the tradeoff is fair.'

John walked over to the table and sat opposite the hulking man, and the two stared at each other for a short while.

"So, what did you learn from your battle? Giving voice to your comprehensions can help firm them even further," Daoist Eternal Weapon asked John.

"Ah…I learned hundreds of different things regarding the fusion of Dao's during that battle, but I guess there were two main things that I failed to grasp until that battle. The first was that the Dao's being fused must be even in comprehension level, as the fusion process must be balanced on both sides.

When I tried to combine my Dao of Power and Dao of Destruction, it failed because my comprehension of the Dao of Destruction is far below my Dao of Power. However, my Dao of Lightning Comprehension is at the same level as my Dao of Power, and so the fusion process was able to succeed because of that," John explained his thoughts, to which Daoist Eternal Weapon nodded at his words.

"Correct, and the second?" Daoist Eternal Weapon asked.

"The second was that the fusion process needs to be fluid, one motion, with both Dao's being fused at the same time. When I first tried to fuse two Dao's, I tried to start with one of the Dao's as the base, and then take the other Dao to fuse into it. If I had to explain it in a more simplistic way, I guess I would use your smithing process as an example.

The first Dao I used was the metal, the material used to make the weapon, while the second Dao was the hammer, used to forge the first Dao into what shape I wanted. The combination of the metal and hammer would fuse together to form the final shape I wanted, but while the shape is what I wanted, the base would only be formed from the first Dao, and not both. That formation process created an imbalance, and made the fusion fail, since for a stable fusion to be created, both Dao's must act as both base material and hammer.

Watching your companion fuse its Ice and Fire attack made me realize this, as it combined them at the same time, meeting in the middle instead of starting from one side and working its way to the other. It was as the two Dao's were both the base material and the hammer, both being worked at the same time to form a fusion of the two Dao's.

I don't know if that explanation makes sense, but it's the best way I can describe it at the moment," John said, finishing his explanation. While he spoke those words, he felt his comprehensions of the fusion process firm, just as Daoist Eternal Weapon had said it would.