Ascension of the Immortal Asura

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The walls around John shook, while the magma to either side of him churned as distant booms shook the tunnel he was in. After obtaining the materials for creating the scythe, Daoist Eternal Weapon dismissed John from the building, and instructed him to retreat to the tunnel where the transportation formation was located, as the weapon creating process would not be something John could withstand from that close.

John had doubted such claims, but listened to the instructions and retreated to the distant tunnel. After Daoist Eternal Weapon had started his work, John sighed in relief, as the distant booms indicated that Daoist Eternal Weapon was not lying. Each boom was incredibly strong, and would have no doubt caused him great harm had he been standing within the building.

After getting used to the violent trembling of the tunnel around him, John connected his mind with this palace realm and fell into a meditative trance. The Nine-Convergence Lightning Core appeared in one hand, brimming with wild and powerful lightning essence, while the True Origin Jade Piece of the Celestial Lightning Script appeared in his other hand. Flickers of lightning flew off the core, slamming onto the magma, the tunnel walls, and John's body ceaselessly.

Each flicker seemed to contain a different teaching for the Dao of Lightning, dealing with the various aspects of lightning. Speed, power, unpredictability, range, nurturing lightning, destructive lightning...

Various aspects of lightning flooded his mind as he studied the Nine-Convergence Lightning Core, which seemed to have more secrets to teach than he could imagine. With the True Origin Jade Piece raising his affinity and comprehensions towards the Dao of Lightning, John peered through the fog hiding many of the profundities, with each realized comprehension furthering his grasp of the Dao of Lightning.

After studying the Nine-Convergence Lightning Core in his left hand, and the True Jade Origin Piece in his right hand, John finally felt his comprehensions reach the stage that he had achieved on the journey to Five-River Freeport, just before he was interrupted. That interruption had set him back over a month, but he had finally managed to claw his way back to that point.

'I can almost see through the fog shrouding this Dao…just a bit more!'

John's soul power flared as he pushed his concentration and comprehension to his peak state, studying each and every detail revealed to him. After an unknown amount of time in this state, the various aspects of the Dao of Lightning that seemed hazy and unclear connected, forming a clear image of the Dao, and the way to tap further into its secrets.

At this moment, a heavenly aura descended around John, as if the heavens itself had appeared. Such an event was the phenomena when a cultivator broke through to a higher Dao Comprehension stage.

A small smile appeared on the corner of John's mouth as he slowly opened his eyes, revealing lightning flickering within. His gaze had become more profound as well, as if he could see through the truths of the heavens.

"My comprehension has advanced to the Dao Expert stage for the Lightning Dao, standing firmly alongside my Dao of Power!"

After breaking through to the next Dao comprehension stage, John sat there unmoving for some time, digesting the breakthrough he had just accomplished. After firming his comprehensions, his mind shifted to something else; something that he had accomplished only once before, and yearned to accomplish again.

"While I wait for my weapon to be created, I need to meditate on the fusion of Daos. I managed to partially fuse the Dao of Power and Dao of Destruction once before, but haven't been able to do so again. Not only that, but I can tell that when I did fuse those two Dao's, something was missing…incomplete. That fusion was more an explosion of an unstable combination than an unleashing of a powerful attack. Even if I were able to utilize the same fusion again, it wouldn't be a helpful thing, as it was far too unstable to control at the time," John mused as he thought back to that moment.

He had achieved that partial, initial stage fusion between those two Daos during his natural meditative trance, but was not able to recreate that fusion again. Clearly that had been a fluke, and fusing Daos again would require his comprehension into the fusion process of Daos to rise greatly before such a thing was possible.

With all that in mind, John closed his eyes once more, as his mind and soul focused on the fusion of Daos.

Time became an abstract concept to John as he remained in his meditative state, unaware of the passage of time. His mind raced with thoughts, ideas, and possibilities, as he tried to peer deeper into the fusion process between Daos.

During this meditation process, the distant booms eventually stopped, although John was too focused to notice that. After the booms stopped, another few weeks passed by, as both John and Daoist Eternal Weapon pushed themselves to their limits.

…

John's eyes slowly opened for the first time in quite some time, as his instincts detected the approach of someone, stirring him from his meditative trance.

A sigh escaped his lips as he stood up from his seated position, awaiting the approach of the person before him.

"The fusion process is too complicated. I wasn't able to recreate that moment despite meditating on it for so long," John grumbled softly, displeased with his progress. However, his displeasure quickly vanished as he spotted Daoist Eternal Weapon come into view, with a large smile on his face.

"With that large smile on your face, I take it the weapon creation was a success?" John asked hopefully. "Also, how long was I meditating for? I lost track of time."

"Hahaha, you can say that," Daoist Eternal Weapon laughed boisterously, clearly in a good mood. "And it's been two months."

'Two months? That's good. That still leaves me with a month to get to the Divine Source Monastery.'

"So, where is it?" John asked, as Daoist Eternal Weapon was not holding the weapon.

"You'll get to use it soon enough," Daoist Eternal Weapon replied as he walked past John and to the transportation formation behind him. He made several adjustments to the control formation, and then instructed John to step on it with him.

After doing so, the formation was activated, transporting the two of them to a new location.

Flash!

Light entered John's vision as his gaze swept all about him, taking in the new location. They were still underground, located in a massive chamber several miles tall and across. His eyes widened with unexpected shock as he noticed what was located before him, something that stared directly back at him.

"Where the hell are we?" John asked with a raised voice, unsure of what was going on.

"This is one of the transportation formations I created quite a long time ago," Daoist Eternal Weapon replied. "As for where exactly this place is…it's in the heart of the FrostFire Tiger's Den."

In the very center of the chamber was a tiger, its fur half blue and half red, split right down the middle. It stood ten yards tall at the shoulders, and was staring directly at the unexpected intruders, snarling at them with warning.

"Okay…and? What are we doing here?" John asked with a confused tone, although he had an inkling of what was going on.

"Your talent may be beyond impressive, but in order to wield this weapon of mine effectively without ruining my reputation, your strength must at least be at a certain level combat wise…and the minimum threshold for that level just happens to be at the cultivation of this FrostFire Tiger," Daoist Eternal Weapon replied.

"You're fucking kidding me, right?" John replied with a flabbergasted tone as he stared at Daoist Eternal Weapon.

"Nope…good luck," Daoist Eternal Weapon replied as his figure suddenly vanished, leaving John alone with the FrostFire Tiger. The Half-Step World Transformation FrostFire Tiger.