Ascension of the Immortal Asura

The other geniuses who entered the realm appeared within a vast plain as well, and surveyed their surroundings as Rahze had done. Each noted that they had arrived at their location alone, and also made quick notes of the restrictions, such as flying and cultivation suppression.

Each felt their cultivation fall twice, eventually stopping at the Peak Heaven Tribulation realm. Being restricted like this was as if a normal adult was reduced to having the strength of a toddler, which made each of them feel weakened considerably, like a wave of exhaustion they couldn't shake off.

After arriving in the empty plains, the hooded person pushed their hood back, revealing their features. Long blue hair cascaded down Lilian's face, revealing her sharp yet incredibly beautiful face, as if she were a goddess carved from ice.

She took in a deep breath, and then flared her Qi for a moment. Her featureless robe vanished, and was replaced by her beautiful Heavenly Lightning Sect dress, which billowed lightly in the breeze. Her white and blue dress clung tightly to her upper body, accentuating her alluring curves, while it tapered out at the bottom loosely, adding to her already beautiful appearance.

Her expressionless face studied the surrounding area, and she quickly took note of the restrictions as had the others. Her cultivation had instantly been reduced to the Middle Dao Transformation realm upon entering, which she found odd.

"Tch, did that brat really not arrive in time?" Lilian clicked her tongue, revealing that she knew John had obtained a seal, most likely from the Trade Master and Thunderzen conversing, or perhaps the information was obtained from the Honorable Alliance Head.

Casting the thought aside, Lilian began moving forward, following the one hint that had been given to the group; reach the center of the realm. Her movements were swift as she raced through the massive stretch of plains like a blur, closing the distance towards the mountains.

After racing forward for a bit, she stopped as she felt something.

"It's becoming harder to move the closer I get to the mountains. Interesting" she mused and prepared to move but stopped suddenly again as the pressure on her dantian increased once again, weakening her Qi output to the level of Peak Heaven Tribulation.

A thoughtful expression appeared on her face, which was replaced by an amused smile as she realized the most likely reason for the change. She had been restricted to the Middle Dao Transformation Realm when she entered, and noted that the only one weaker than her, who had entered before her, was in the Middle Dao Transformation Realm.

"So the realm adjusts all cultivations to the weakest participant? Then the brat has finally arrived? I'll be sure to teach him a lesson on arriving late to an event! Who does he think he is, making me look like I'm a bad master teaching him bad habits?" she mumbled to herself before a smile returned to her face once more. "Peak Heaven Tribulation though? It seems he's improving faster than I thought he would," she said to herself, amusement in her voice as she sped forward once more towards the distant mountains.

…

Flash!

A flash of light appeared and faded away once more, as John found himself standing in a flowery field that seemed to stretch forward for hundreds of miles. His divine sense spread out as his head swiveled in all directions, taking note of his surroundings.

"No one's nearby? I figured I'd have to do some fighting as soon as I entered the realm," John said to himself as he shifted his gaze forward to the massive mountains in the far distance.

"Reach the center of the realm huh? Then that's just what I'll do," John said as he pressed off the ground to take flight, but felt a strange energy wrap around his dantian, restricting it as he did so. He quickly fell back down to the ground as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

"A flight restriction huh?" John mused. "But this one's different than the one in the Jade Dragon Empire Realm. The flight restriction there was a pressure that constantly pushed down, forcing anyone who attempted to fly to the ground, while this restriction targets the dantian itself whenever one attempts to fly, and cuts off the flow of Qi."

John pondered the interesting differences between the two restriction methods, and came up with several ideas for the reasons both employed different methods.

"The Jade Dragon Empire is a much smaller realm than this Divine Wall realm, so the energy needed to create a constant downward pressure should be less intensive. Not only that, but the participants were also weaker, and so the pressure required was also lessened than if it were scaled to restrict a World Expansion expert.

However, this restriction only targets the dantian when trying to fly, as if it only activates then. It's most likely a much more intricate and profound restriction formation, which allows the formation to conserve energy while still being able to restrict all that enter…"

As he thought about this, an idea popped into his mind.

"I wonder…" John mused as he mustered his Qi once more.

Boom!

The ground shattered beneath his feet as John pressed off it and took to the sky. His body pierced upwards and continued to do so until he eventually stopped and hovered in the sky above the plains below him. A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he scanned the surrounding area with a better vantage point.

"Heh, the formation can restrict dantians, but it cannot restrict a dantian it cannot detect. My body dantian is something not even Celestial Souldrend could fully detect, so this formation should be the same. It seems like I'll have quite an advantage within this realm," John mused to himself with great satisfaction.

For flying, he exclusively used his essence dantian, as it was not only better suited for flying, but he was also able to constantly replenish his essence Qi by absorbing it from the air. He was unable to do that with his body dantian, and could only replenish his body Qi reserves through the absorption of blood essence.

Since his beast blood essence reserves were finite, using his body dantian to fly was nothing but wasteful. However, in a situation like this, it was more than sufficient.

After figuring out how to beat the formation's restriction, John fell back down to the ground and landed firmly.

"Knowing I can fly if need be is great, but it's still too wasteful for now. I don't know how many battles I'll fight, or how much beast blood essence I'll burn through, so unless I absolutely need to fly, I'll conserve my blood essence reserves for now," John mused, and began to speed forward on foot through the stretch of plains, racing towards the distant mountains as the others had already done.