Ascension Of The Immortal Asura

The man snarled with anger as his Qi began to flare, quickly reacting to the ambush. John was surprised at the man's sharp instincts and quick reactions, who was no doubt a cultivator with great battle experience.

In an instant, the man identified the true threat, the dagger held by the Early World Expansion woman. He completely ignored John, whose Early Dao Transformation cultivation was nothing more than a joke to him. He noticed that John didn't even have a weapon in his hand, and would have started laughing loudly were it not for the serious situation he found himself in.

The man's right hand shot outwards towards the dagger, and slammed against the bottom of Zuri's hand, directing the dagger upwards away from his face. The move worked, as Zuri's dagger narrowly missed the man, shooting over his head. 

John's hand, fingers stretched forwards like a blade was almost upon the man, but he merely scoffed and ignored it. His right hand, outstretched towards Zuri already, flashed with light as a sword appeared in it, its tip piercing towards her chest. 

The man's actions were incredibly fluid, and had been the perfect response to the ambush he found himself in. He was obviously a man of many life and death battles, one's whose actions would have been perfect had the Early Dao Transformation youth attacking him been anyone other than John.

John's Qi surged as he activated his Dragon-God Shift, limiting his transformation to his right arm. The power and durability of his hand skyrocketed, turning his hand into something more akin to a dagger than a hand. At the same time, lightning sprung into existence on his hand, brimming with the fused power of Lightning and Destruction.

It was the first time he was using this fusion combination; one he had grasped the initial stages only yesterday. However, the Dao's of Lightning and Destruction were much more compatible than lightning and power, and power was not what he needed right now.

Power would be too strong, and would shake the whole mansion, altering everyone within the disturbance. Destruction, however, was exactly what was needed. Destruction did not require force or strength to do its work. Instead, the Dao of Destruction was destruction itself. Anything touched by it would be destroyed if it did not have the strength to resist. 

The man's face, illuminated brightly by the lightning coated hand near his face, turned from confidence to horror, but it was too late to change his actions. John's fingers pierced into the man's face, the power of his body plus his fused lightning breaking the man's formidable Qi and body defenses.

Skin charred away and cheekbones broke as his fingers pierced into the man's head. His fingers pierced two inches in before coming to a stop, just before he could reach the man's brain. A powerful wave of Qi surged from within the man, pushing back against John's hand.

Even ambushed like this, the man was able to resist the attack, and unfortunately John was not able to utilize his full strength, or his power and aura would alert the others. His attack did not kill the man, but it had sealed the man's fate. 

Distracted and pained by John's attack, his sword had failed to reach Zuri. The man's horrified eyes shifted back towards Zuri's location, as if he finally remembered her existence, but she was gone.

Che!

A dagger suddenly pierced out from the man's forehead, his eyes bulging wide with fear and shock. A muffled boom followed shortly after, as Zuri surged her Qi into the dagger, exploding the man's skull from within. A shower of blood exploded out in the tunnel, which was quickly wrapped up by Zuri's Qi, forming a ball of blood in the air as to not coat the tunnel and leave evidence.

John eyed the ball of blood hungrily, wanting it to use for his cultivation, but did not ask for it. He didn't know how this world reacted to blood-cultivators, and until he found out, wanted to keep his use of it a secret. 

Zuri put the body and blood away in her spatial ring, and then stared at John for a second, yet again stunned by his displays of power. His assassination of a Half-Step World Expansion cultivator earlier was amazing, but this was something entirely else.

His target had been a fully alerted Early World Expansion cultivator, who had raised his defenses before they had attacked. And yet John's attack had managed to penetrate the man's defenses, and almost kill him. 

And the most shocking part was that it was clear that he was yet to use his full power, as he was obviously holding back so as to not leak his aura. In just this singular attack, Zuri realized that John's true strength was likely able to threaten an Early World Expansion cultivator. It was absolutely impossible, and yet the truth was laid out clearly before her.

Her mouth opened and closed for a brief moment, as if unable to formulate her thoughts.

"How…how strong are you?" Zuri finally whispered.

John remained silent, not sure how he wanted to answer. Zuri noticed his hesitancy, and cleared up the situation.

"I need to know your strength, so I can plan accordingly for whatever is at the end of this tunnel," she said. "If I don't know how strong you are, I cannot make an effective plan."

John considered it for a moment, and then figured Zuri was right. Besides, he had joined the Shadows of Death, and his strength was going to be revealed sooner or later.

'I suppose I can tell her, but I won't tell her the full truth,' John decided. He would reveal his strength with the Dragon-God Shift, but his Immortal Asura Transformation and Bloodline Ability would remain a secret for now. He didn't want to reveal either of those secrets for now unless he absolutely needed to.

'Thanks to the tremendous Qi of this world, I'm at the peak of the Early Dao Transformation Realm, and am ready to break through at any moment. With my Dragon-God Shift, all limiters activated, and Dao fusions…'

John ran the calculations in his head, gauging his strength with all the factors he was willing to reveal at the moment. 

A confident smile appeared on his face as he looked at Zuri, still awaiting his answer.

"Let's just say that if you and I were to fight right now, I wouldn't lose."

Zuri's eyes went wide for a moment, a look of natural doubt appearing briefly before vanishing away. She studied John's face and smile, and could tell he was not lying. She breathed in and out deeply, eyes still glued to his face, as if seeing his true self for the first time.

"I'm glad you're on our side," she said smiling, and then turned to move down the tunnel.

"So am I," John nodded, following closely behind. 

They moved down the tunnel for several miles, shocked at how deep it went. It pierced into the mountain the mansion was built on, and then went even deeper, as if what was down here was trying to be hidden at all costs. 

A short while later, they arrived at the base of the tunnel, which flickered with the glow of fires and light. Shrouded in darkness and space, the two reached the end of the tunnel, their faces widening with shock at the scene presented before them.