Ascension of the Immortal Asura

Due to their bodies being weaker than body cultivators, all essence cultivators naturally protected their bodies with a layer of Qi, to guard against any surprise attacks. The level of protection depended on how much Qi was supplied to this barrier, which constantly drained Qi from the dantian. To cultivators, this felt like running a marathon, as the drain was slow but steady.

For those who were lazy or those who looked down on their opponents, they used the minimum amount of Qi they thought necessary, as anything else was nothing but a waste in their eyes. The man that John had just slain in a single attack was such a man, who looked down on John and his power.

Even if it were an Early Dao Transformation cultivator in front of him, he would have been able to block that blow with this layer of Qi he had around his body. According to cultivation norms, a Peak Heaven Tribulation cultivator having the power of an Early Dao Transformation cultivator was almost impossible, but the man gave John a bit of credit due to his status as 'Asura.'

However, he could have never expected John to have talent and combat prowess that defied even the Heavens itself, and so his Qi barrier was lacking when John's attack had landed, and he had not had the time to strengthen it before the fatal blow had landed. Had the man gone all out from the start, he would have been able to block that attack and live to continue the fight, but his hubris and laziness had been his downfall, which John was counting on.

'Fighting all five at the same time would have been quite the pain in the ass, and maybe even more than I would have been able to manage. Cutting down one instantly makes this a much more manageable fight, although it's still not going to be easy. I want to use as little as possible in this fight, to ensure I remain healthy and have enough reserves for what lies beyond the Divine Wall. With that in mind…'

As John quickly assessed the battle to come, the four remaining cultivators, as well as Vivian, stared at him with absolute shock. They had no idea how he had exploded with so much power, moved so fast, and landed such a quick and decisive blow. Even now it still felt like a dream to them, but the bisected corpse of their ally falling to the ground below was the evidence that this was no illusion or dream.

"K-k-k-k-kill him!" Vivian screeched loudly, her voice filled with panic and fear. She had initially wanted them to take him alive so she could extract joy from his misery, as well as collect the higher bounty, but now she had no such delusions.

Vivian's screech snapped the four cultivators out of their shock, and all four immediately erupted with their full power, no longer looking down on the dragon-scaled youth before them. They had never seen such a transformation before, and knew they could no longer afford to look down on him.

As their auras erupted with power, the deathly aura emanating from John's scythe clashed against them, corroding their aura and attempting to invade their flesh. Grimaces appeared on all four of their faces as they fought against the deathly aura, which required them to use a vast amount of Qi for the sole purpose of driving the aura back, as if it touched them, their movements would be slowed and flesh decayed, and potentially even death would come to them.

This increase in defensive Qi drew away from each of their offensive capability, making all four feel as though they had stepped into a murky swamp, which was dragging them down.

On the other hand, John used no essence Qi at all to protect his body. Thanks to his immensely durable body, as well as his resistance to death Qi, he was able to withstand the aura directly without being affected combat prowess wise. However, the deathly aura was constantly eroding his skin, making it blacken and rot, making him look quite miserable on the outside.

At the same time, his Limiter of Healing and Immortal Asura Body fought back constantly, repairing whatever damage the aura of death did to him.

The weight of the scythe in his hand felt heavy, despite his Dragon-God Shift transformation. It weighed nearly one million pounds, and was meant for a World Expansion body cultivator to wield. As such, it was still cumbersome to wield without using his full power, but John wanted to test his limits of what he was capable of with this weapon in this battle.

Five blazing aura's burned brightly in the sky, as four auras clashed against a brilliant golden blaze in the center. The four cultivators took out their weapons, all swords of the exact same design.

"Hmph, so boring. As expected of the Starforge Clan," John harrumphed as he flashed forward to initiate the fight. His scythe slashed out towards one of the cultivators, who was coated in a sword aura, as were the other three cultivators. Clearly all four were straightforward sword cultivators, with no other focus.

"Hmph, you will pay for that!" the cultivator being targeted said as he slashed his sword towards John, containing the full might of a Late Dao Transformation cultivator. A large blue sword image slashed outwards, appearing before John in an instant, who swiped his scythe out to meet the attack.

Che!

Scythe and sword image clashed, and his scythe slashed right through the powerful sword image, as if it could cleave all of creation. The man's face twitched as he saw this, and flash backwards, narrowly dodging John's follow up attack.

"Fall back, and form the Starforge Sword Domain!" the man barked out orders, which the other three instantly followed.

Before John could react, all four had fallen back several hundred yards, and instantly flared with a unique aura. Thousands of bright blue swords quickly appeared in the air around each of them, dancing with sharp lethality. The four domain's quickly linked together, overlapping and forming one large domain, brimming with sharp sword Qi, and containing a might far greater than he had expected them to be able to unleash.

John raised an eyebrow as he felt this domain envelop him, leaving no inch for escape.

'This might be a bit tricky to handle,' John mused as his smile widened, and he stared defiantly at the four cultivators.

"Come on! Let's see what you've got!"