Ascension of the immortal Asura

John appeared above the meridian essence volcano and peered into the mouth from above. A burning lake of meridian essence came into view, glowing with a purplish color and aura. He widened his eyes, surprised to see such a great amount of meridian essence, then plunged towards it, not hesitating for a second.

He shot into the meridian essence, which was much thicker than he had been expecting. Instead of it being like water, it was so thick that it was almost solid, making moving through it a bit troublesome. A world of purple enveloped him as he plunged into the lake of meridian essence, as well as a world of heat and pain.

The temperature of the meridian essence was far greater than he had been expecting, so potent that his flesh began to burn and sear, exposing his muscle beneath.

Roar!

Dragon-God Shift!

John roared with pain, activating his Dragon-God Shift to increase his bodily defenses. The meridian essence around him blasted a small distance away from the force of his aura, before crashing back onto him, feeling like mountains slamming into him from all directions. His body trembled with pain, but he resisted the weight of the meridian essence from crushing him.

The heat all around him continued to burn at his flesh, but thanks to his Dragon-God Shift, he was able to resist it a bit better. His skin still burned and charred, but his more durable body was able to withstand for long enough for his natural healing ability to heal the wounds, resulting in a stalemate between destruction and healing.

After creating this stalemate, John composed himself for a brief moment. The pain wracking his body was intense, almost equal to the pain he had felt during his recent trial of pain. In some ways, it was worse, especially the searing portion of the pain.

'Should I use this pain to meditate on the Dao of Pain?' John thought, teeth gritted, then shook his head.' '…No, I cannot waste this time cultivating. I need to absorb as much meridian essence as possible first. Once that's done, I can think about doing something else.'

Mind made up, John braced himself for the pain to come. He wanted to take a deep breath of air to mentally prepare, but couldn't as he was surrounded by nothing but scorching meridian essence. Face scrunching up for the incoming pain, he opened his acupoints, allowing the meridian essence around him to flow into his body.

Searing, scorching pain flowed through him immediately, making him feel as though a fire had erupted within him. The meridian essence quickly entered his acupoints, flowing directly into his meridians afterwards. John withdrew his Qi from his meridians, allowing the meridian essence to flow unimpeded.

His meridians ignited with fiery pain, greater than any meridian pain he had ever felt before. The Titan Demon meridian essence snaked throughout his meridian pathways, moving with the slow, slumbering pace of lava. It scorched whatever it touched, changing healthy meridians into scorched ones.

John's healing ability kicked in, healing his meridians as best he could. However, as meridians were one of the hardest things, if not the hardest thing to heal in a cultivator's body, his healing was practically non-existent. Teeth perpetually gritted, John used his divine sense to guide the meridian essence through his meridian pathways, ensuring nothing was missed.

Despite the fact that his meridians were being burned and injured, he continued as he could feel the meridian essence slowly but surely start to merge with his own meridians. The process was automatic, as if the meridian essence was sentient, and wanted to merge into his own meridians, transforming it into true Titan Demon meridians.

The excruciating process continued for several hours, with the meridian essence snaking through his meridian channels, burning and damaging them, but also infusing and strengthening them. The process was one of the most painful things he had ever had to endure, but endure he did.

After four hours, John's divine sense and Qi flared through his body, flooding into his meridians, pushing out the Titan Demon meridian essence. After a brief but excruciating battle, he succeeded, then closed off his acupoints. His body trembled with the lingering pain within, and he calmed his mind for a moment before inspecting the results.

His divine sense scanned over his meridians, inspecting the changes.

'My meridians are at least twenty percent stronger, and also seem to have changed in nature, so this twenty percent extra durability should continue to persist for many major cultivation realms,' John thought as he gauged the changes to his meridians.

Just like they were next to impossible to heal, meridians were also incredibly difficult to strengthen. It took something as heavenly as the Immortal Asura Body and Dragon-God Shift to strengthen them a bit, but even then, it wasn't enough. Stacking both arts together gave him problems, and when using his bloodline ability on top, complete destruction of his meridians was possible if he used the art for more than a few dozen seconds.

As such, a permanent twenty percent increase in durability was beyond amazing, something anyone in the cultivation world would be elated to achieve. With his meridians as his bottleneck at full power, that was twenty percent more Qi throughput, twenty percent stronger battle arts. That was an incredible boost to obtain in just four hours of cultivation. And yet, it wasn't enough. And yet a frown lingered on John's face as he studied his meridians.

'Twenty percent is great…but I had hoped for more,' he thought, wincing occasionally from the pain.

Despite the process infusing Titan Demon meridian essence, thus strengthening his meridians, the damaging process was far more severe. He had reached a point where if he had continued, his meridians would have been scorched to a point of being half-crippled, and if he wasn't careful, fully crippled. Compared to the damage the meridian essence did, his healing ability was practically nothing at all.

And worst of all, John was certain that this was not a place he would be able to return to anytime soon. Despite the Prime Shadow's insistence, this was a dangerous, closely guarded place. The Prime Shadow had been very hesitant to come here before finding out about John's true talent. The Devils would surely notice the missing meridian essence before long, and at that time, place a more careful guard around these ancestral grounds. It would be impossible to return after that, and so he needed to take advantage of this moment as much as possible.

'Even if I become strong enough to return here without danger, the meridian essence will be a lot less effective at that time, maybe even useless depending on my cultivation realm at that time. Much how World Expansion blood would be useful for by body dantian cultivation right now but useless when I'm at a higher cultivation realm, this meridian essence is the same. The earlier I absorb this meridian essence, the greater the results will be, establishing the most powerful foundation possible. But how... Even with my incredible healing ability, the damage to my meridians will take at least two to three weeks to heal,' John thought, grumbling internally at just how difficult meridians were to heal.

'Once I leave this place, I'll most likely not be able to return. I can tell my body would be able to withstand having much stronger meridians, but if I continue any longer, I'll end up crippling myself. Is this really all I can do…'

A thought entered his mind, one too crazy to consider, but also one he could not ignore. There was only one thing in his possession that could potentially heal meridian damage. A debate formed in his mind as he balanced the pros and cons of what he was contemplating, the pros winning out in the end.

Face scrunched up with pain and uncertainty, John sighed, then committed to the crazy plan. A ball of powerful Qi was created on top of his right palm, forming a small area shielded by his Qi. That sphere of QI suddenly sprang to life with a brilliant, green glow, as if the most vibrant thing in existence had appeared there.

"If there's anyone that can out heal this meridian damage, it's you. I'm counting on you, Laia."

His body shuddered as John started to siphon a stream from the orb of vital life essence Laia had gifted him, the most precious and valuable thing he had on him at the moment. He had been planning to save it for a moment of life and death, but this had instead decided to gamble it all, right here, to seize as much of this opportunity as possible.

The potent healing vitality from the orb flowed into his body, which John directed to focus solely on his meridians. He held his breath as he waited to see the outcome, as he did not know exactly how well Laia's healing energy would heal his meridians. Even he was unable to heal them at any visible speed, despite having his Limiter of Healing and Limiter of Life unlocked, despite having a formidable natural healing ability with his Immortal Asura Body.

The vital healing essence flowed into his meridians, and to his elated joy, started mending and healing the damage that the meridian essence had caused at a visible rate. With how the orb worked, John was unable to stop the process of using it once it was used. It was an all or nothing item, and after seeing this, he didn't hesitate to use it all.

The potent, heaven-defying vibrant life energy flooded into his meridians, infusing within, becoming a semi-permanent fixture of them, waiting to be used in the near future.

"I'll be sure to return the favor when I return home," John promised in his mind, eternally grateful for everything Laia had done for him, then opened his some of his acupoints once more. Titan Demon meridian essence flooded into his meridians, scorching everything in its path once more. The vibrant healing energy instantly activated, mending the damage as if it had never happened.

John smiled as he watched his idea prove to be a success, then opened all his acupoints, allowing the meridian essence to flood into his meridian pathways. The battlefield in his meridians, one of destruction and healing began. The only question was how long the battle would last before the healing essence ran out. The longer the healing power lasted, the stronger his meridians would become.

"Show me just how strong you are, Laia!"