Ascension of the Immortal Asura

John's excited gaze stared at the beast, while the beast stared back. This new foe of his was incredibly strong, and John knew he could not rely solely on his essence Qi to beat it.

Supreme Battle Art!

Limiter of Power!

John instantly activated two of his body strengthening techniques, pushing his combat prowess to his strongest state without using his asura transformation or bloodline ability.

Without waiting, John shot towards the beast, Kirii following closely behind. Lightning flickered along his body as his scythe slashed out towards the beast.

…

"Do you think its safe to go outside?" one of the villagers asked.

They had heard an incredible commotion take place in the far distance, and assumed that it was most likely between John and the wolves. The commotion had lasted for over half an hour before a brief silence, at which point another half an hour commotion broke out.

Silence once again descended upon the land, this time lasting for quite a bit longer.

"We stay put until sunrise as always," the elderly man instructed.

Bang!

Bang!

Two loud noises suddenly sounded out from the front door of the safehouse, startling everyone inside. Some hysterical villagers started crying out in fear, while the elderly man did his best to calm them down.

"Do not fear," the man called out. "The beasts cannot breach this safehouse."

"Open up, the coast is clear," a voice suddenly sounded out from the other side of the door, startling all those within.

"Who...is that the boy?" a startled voice called out.

"No way…he's either long gone or dead. He can't have beaten those wolves," another villager replied.

"Silence," the elderly man commanded, causing the room to fall into silence. The elderly man walked towards the door and opened a small latch, revealing the other side of the door. His eyes locked onto John's, and a surprised look appeared on his face.

"You! You're alright," the elderly man exclaimed. "What happened. Did those wolves leave?"

"Leave? No, they're all dead," John replied calmly.

The elderly man was just about to question Johns' words, when suddenly John raised one of the wolf's severed heads in front of the opening.

The elderly man nearly jumped backwards in fright, before he quickly realized that the usually menacing eyes of the wolf were now glazed over. He shifted forward to get a better look, and noticed that it was truly the head of the wolf.

After a moment of hesitation, the Elderly man unlatched the door, causing the other villagers in the room to become startled. They never opened the door while it was still dark.

The door creaked open, revealing John standing there with the wolf head in his hands. A smile lingered on his face as he stared at the villagers.

"I killed twelve of them. I'm not sure if there are any more, but none showed up. You should be safe for a while at least," John said to the group.

The group was initially doubtful, but quickly realized John was telling the truth. A celebratory cry erupted within the safehouse as the villagers started crying and hugging each other, as their nights of terror were finally over.

John smiled again slightly upon seeing this, before he tossed one of the wolf's corpses towards the man.

"Here, take this and mount its head somewhere. That should keep the other beasts away for a while at least," John instructed. He had already removed the wolf's blood essence, and no longer had any use for the head.

While he could sell it for some money, he was not lacking for money. Not only that, but he had eleven more heads, while the mission only required ten heads.

John turned around to leave, when the elderly man called out to him.

"Wait a moment young man," the man called out, causing John to turn around once more. "I must apologize for my earlier behavior. Despite my anger directed at you, you still chose to help us. I must humbly thank you. I must apologize that we are poor, and do not have anything to give you as payment."

The man bowed slightly as he showed John true sincerity. John remained calm as he looked at the man, as he didn't care about gratitude or rewards.

"I would have killed the wolves regardless, as I'm getting a reward for completing this mission. Your anger or payments are of no concern to me."

After saying this, John turned around and took to the sky. His body instantly blended into the darkness of night as he sped off in a different direction.

…

The sun began to crest over the nearby mountains, illuminating the Heavenly Lightning Sect in its morning glow.

Bang!

John landed in front of the Heavenly Lightning Sect gates, his body covered in dirt and blood. It had already been six days since he set out to complete his mission.

After finishing his assigned mission, he had aimlessly wandered about the nearby land, searching for other Heaven Tribulation realm beasts to fight against. He had found many such battles, which slowly but surely helped his comprehensions towards his essence Qi.

"Whew," John sighed as he finally arrived safely back at the sect. "Some of those beasts were almost more than I could handle."

Several shallow wounds that were slowly healing up were visible on his skin as John strode towards the gate of the sect. He walked past the long line that had already formed and headed towards the open gates.

"Halt!" one of the guards instructed as they saw the dirtied John approach.

John was initially shocked at such a greeting, as disciples of the sect were allowed free passage in, but quickly remembered the state of his appearance. Not only did he look like a homeless beggar, but he was also wearing robes of a different color than the normal sect colors.

Between his fighting and traveling back to the sect, he had no time to clean himself.

John quickly took out his identification badge and handed it to the guard, which inspected it briefly with an odd look on his face before he handed it back to John. Clearly, he had not expected such a development.

"You may enter," the guard instructed, who John thanked before entering the sect. Upon entering the sect, John sped towards his mansion and quickly washed the grime off his body. After scrubbing himself clean, he donned a new set of robes before he set off towards the Mission Hall.

He arrived there a while later and was greeted by the usual boisterous atmosphere of the hall. He quickly entered the building and climbed to the second floor, before he arrived before one of the mission hall tables.

A female Elder who appeared to be in her thirties sat behind the table as she perused various documents. John's arrival caught her attention, and she looked up at him. Her gaze turned slightly confused as she noticed John's Meridian Forging cultivation.

"Yes?" the Elder inquired as to what he wanted.

"I'm here to hand in a mission," John replied, causing the Elder's face to become even more odd.

"This is the desk for Heaven Tribulation grade missions. The Meridian Forging grade missions are downstairs," the Elder instructed before gazing back at her documents.

"I know where I am," John replied calmly as he took out the mission page.

He laid it on the ground, which the Elder quickly picked up and read over. Before she could speak out, a soft thud sounded out, catching her attention.

A spatial ring appeared on the table before her, which after a moment of pause she reached out and inspected. Her face lit up in slight surprise as she inspected the heads of the eleven wolves within. She quickly noticed the blood essence missing but did not comment on that as the mission was to kill the wolves, not bring them back intact.

"Did you do this yourself- Ah, it doesn't matter. Give me your identification badge," the Elder instructed John. The mission didn't clarify that he had to kill them personally, only that the wolves be killed.

The Elder assumed that John employed the help of someone stronger to kill the wolves, which the sect did not disallow. Missions such as the one John had taken were to protect the people of the land and didn't really care how such a thing was accomplished.

John took out his badge and handed to her, which the Elder grabbed for a brief moment before handing it back. John sent his divine sense into the badge, and quickly realized it contained new information.

There was now a record of the badge containing a thousand contribution points. A smile appeared on his face as he thanked the woman, before he quickly left the building. As he stepped out of the building, a thunderous voice suddenly boomed out over the sect, which John recognized as Sect Leader Thunderfist.

"All disciples who wish to enter the Thunder Realm should gather at the top of Thunderrealm Mountain before midday."

His voice ended after his short instructions, and John's face lit up slightly. The time to enter the Thunder Realm and find the lightning treasures he needed had arrived.