Ascension of the Immortal Asura

John stared grimly at the Yang-Sovereign, who was now completely enveloped by a translucent lotus made of pure Yang Qi, his body enshrouded within. The nine petals of the lotus moved independently of one another, like nine limbs of destruction.

While the Yang-Sovereign had called the art a 'transformation,' John could tell it was not a true body transformation art. It was more akin to an essence art, one quite similar to the Astral Emperor's astral form. It was a form made entirely of Qi, so strong that it was almost like a body cultivator had embraced the Yang-Sovereign within, their powers working in unison to form the ultimate fighting form.

The nine yang petals writhed like tentacles, slapping the air around the Yang-Sovereign. A blast of air strong enough to destroy weaker cultivators boomed out from each movement of the petals, like a primordial beast was trying to destroy everything around it.

Most terrifying of all was the heat that enshrouded the Yang- Sovereign. The translucent lotus of yang emanated a terrifying heat, one almost on par with the weakened Yang-Lotus. The air shimmered and space seemed to roil under the intense heat and pressure surrounding the Yang-Sovereign, greatly increasing the danger of approaching him.

Just approaching the Yang-Sovereign at this point would be a dangerous undertaking, let alone landing an attack. John's gaze narrowed, his face grim as he stared at his opponent, one who truly deserved his reputation as a Sovereign of the Nine-Dao World. And most shocking of all, this was his weakened form.

John could only imagine how horrifying the Yang-Sovereign was at his full strength, and didn't want to find out either. This battle needed to end here, and quickly.

"I don't know what power that is you possess," the Yang-Sovereign said to John, his voice itself roiling like a hellish furnace was speaking, and not a human. "But it won't be enough to save you. Both you and the Sword-Saint shall perish here, then everyone else as well!"

Boom!

The air exploded behind John as he shot forward once more, understanding that the Yang-Sovereign was stalling for time by speaking to him. It was beyond obvious that John's current form was unsustainable, and every second the Yang-Sovereign wasted was a second closer to victory for him. Unfortunately for him, space was locked down by the Yang-Sphere formation, and so using his spatial movement art was impossible for him at the moment. While he could open space through his attacks, stepping into it and coming back out would require far too much time and energy, making it far worse than moving through physical speed alone.

The Yang-Sovereign scoffed and swung his flail towards John, the striking head like an approaching star of destruction. John didnt even try to deal with the attack, as although he could deflect it with his full power, it would at best result in a stalemate between him and the Yang-Sovereign. In a battle where time was the most precious resource for him, it was a tactic he could not afford to do.

Che!

As hoped, a brilliant sword-image cleaved towards the striking head, followed by the Sword-Saint flashing into existence before John, his true sword cleaving out as well. The two had an understanding that in this battle, John was the lead, while the Sword-Saint was the support.

As such, he needed to help John find an opening to land a decisiveand fatal blow on the Yang-Sovereign.

Boom!

The lotus realm trembled as sword struck flail, the powers of two Holy Manifestation cultivators clashing with apocalyptic ruin. The Sword-Saint's sword image shattered and turned to ash from the first exchange, but weakened the flail enough for his true sword to deflect the striking head to the side of John, who sped by like a blur of lightning, a wake of lightning and yang blasting behind him.

"Tch, annoying gnat," the Yang-Sovereign grunted, his arm snapping down as he tightened the chain of his flail, sending the striking head back towards John.

A flash of brilliant white light drowned the lotus domain for a moment as the Sword-Saint activated his Infinite Sword Domain. Tens of thousands of swords appeared in the air around him, the sight beyond awe-inspiring. The sword twisted and burned in the heat of the lotus domain, but more swords took their place, forming a ceaseless sea of swords in the sky.

Bang!

The striking head slammed into the sea of swords, shattering through them like a cannonball through panes of glass. The swords shattered and dissipated as the striking head crashed through like an unstoppable beast, then reformed on the other side, surging towards the striking head with ceaseless determination.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Swords and flail fought a battle of attrition, one that the Sword- Saint was clearly losing. However, his actions were working, slowing down the flails striking head to a point that it was almost useless to the Yang-Sovereign.

While the Yang-Sovereign's flail was incredibly dangerous and unpredictable with enough range to reach every corner of the Yang Lotus realm, its reach was being used against it at the moment as the Sword-Saint locked it down a great distance away from the Yang-Sovereign.

"Locking down his weapon is about as much as I can do for you," the Sword-Saint said through sound transmission. "The rest will be up to you."

John nodded wordlessly, his figure carving a beam of destruction through the Yang Lotus realm, piercing directly towards the Yang- Sovereign, who was still pulling on his flail, trying to retrieve it.

A gunt of frustration boomed from the Yang-Sovereign as he abandoned his weapon for the moment, his focus returning to John. Two of the lotus petals shot out towards John, intercepting him before he could reach the Sovereign.

Kirin-God Extinction!

An kirin avatar of lightning formed behind John, its form becoming corporeal in an instant. The gem on its forehead lit up brightly, like a blinding blue sun, then unleashed a powerful beam of destructive lightning directly towards the lotus petals. It was not a fully channeled attack, but it was the strongest attack John could unleash at a moment's notice to deal with the Yang-Sovereigns lotus petals.

Boom!

The attacks collided, shattering the air and sending an explosion outwards in all directions. The petals shattered the lightning beam, ending its path towards the Yang-Sovereign, but lost a great deal of energy in the exchange as well.

Che!

A scythe-image suddenly cleaved through the explosion, cleaving its way directly towards the Yang-Sovereign. John shot out of the carved path an instant later, his scythe gripped in two hands, ready to slash down on the Yang-Sovereign with his absolute might.

As he rapidly approached the Yang-Sovereign, John saw the Sovereign sneer, a look of both amusement and malevolence appearing on his face. He narrowed his gaze as he watched the Yang-Sovereign drop his weapon, the shaft falling through the air below him.

Then, the Yang-Sovereign raised his remaining hand, his index finger, ring finger and thumb connecting together above his palm. Suddenly, the Yang qi permeating the Yang Lotus Realm started racing towards the Yang-Sovereign, like a tidal wave converging on one singular location.

An incredible amount of heat raced over John, who ignored it as best he could while pressing on for his assault. He knew the Yang- Sovereign was doing something, but couldn't back down now, not when time was of the essence.

The Yang Qi continued to race towards the Yang-Sovereign, converging above his palm and inside his conjoined fingers. A brilliant flash of glowing Yang materialized on his palm, like a miniature sun had formed. More and more Yang Qi converged into that sun of Yang, and instead of growing in size, the miniature sun continued to shrink, going from two inches across to a size John could hardly see.

John's instincts suddenly flared with a warning only eclipsed during his battle with the Asura, his eyes widening with horrifying realization. THis attack was not something he could withstand head on from this close, at least not without sustaining grievous damage.

Abandoning his attack, he shot backwards at the fastest possible speed he could. The Yang-Sovereign sneered as he saw this, while the space within the Yang Lotus realm suddenly seemed to freeze, almost as if time and space itself was stopping to watch what was about to happen, but only for a single moment.

"Pure Yang Supernova!" John heard the Yang-Sovereign sneer, his palm moving to face directly towards John and the Sword-Saint.

Then, as if a true star had collapsed and gone supernova, an explosion of Yang beyond anything John had expected or experienced appeared, its power coursing directly towards him. The Yang supernova reached him almost instantly, drowning both him and the Sword-Saint in its power.

BOOM!