Ascension of the Immortal Asura

The thick aura of death permeated the entire one-hundred-mile arena, drawing the attention of all the realm participants. They looked over with equal shock and interest as they watched Lilian flicker towards Zeras like a blur, a trail of dark death trailing behind her. The black aura swirled like a tempest around her, as if a storm of death had arrived.

Despite each being a genius amongst geniuses, they couldn't help but be impressed, and even fearful, of the aura they were feeling. Each had experienced the aura of death before, but never so profound. Never so deadly.

Zeras' gaze narrowed into a cold glower as he watched his sister approach, and his aura began to quickly climb in reply to the swiftly approaching threat.

Flash!

Flash!

Two flashes appeared within the arena, and the flashes of light congealed into a formation barrier that wrapped around Lilian and Zeras. Both were firmly contained within, rooting them in place before their battle could commence.

As expected, the artifact spirit had once again taken action, restricting fighting with no exceptions. The geniuses watching the battle to be felt a bit disappointed that they were not going to see a good fight, and some even hoped that the two would take each other out before the next trial. Both had established themselves as fearsome opponents in the previous trials, and none of them dared to look down on either.

"Huh?!"

"What!"

Surprise gasps escaped the lips of several of the other participants as they saw Lilian's forehead flare with a profound light. A bright rune appeared on her forehead, its color chaotic and indiscernible, as if it always changed when one looked at it. It was incredibly bizarre, and also incredibly profound, as the aura coming from that rune was awe-inspiring. The rune's aura wrapped her with the same bizarre looking colors, ever shifting. With the new and sudden change, Lillian became even more mystical and awe-inspiring than before, as if she were truly a god descended upon the world.

As the rune lit up, her body seemed to vanish for the briefest of moments, and then instantly reappeared on the other side of the formation restricting her. Somehow, she had managed to escape the bindings of the artifact spirit, and once again resumed her swift dash towards Zeras.

Flash!

Another flash of light appeared around her immediately after, binding her in place. The rune on Lilians' forehead flashed with power again, and her body vanished for a brief instant once more. However, unlike before, she reappeared within the formation, unable to break free of it a second time.

She tried several more times, but was unsuccessful, and after a brief struggle, ceased trying to escape. Her aura died down, as did Zeras', the two of them staring at each other with cold and narrowed gazes.

'The Dao of Space!' John thought, stunned senseless.

When the rune appeared on Lilian's head, the aura that had emerged had undoubtedly been the Dao of Space. John had managed to gain a small bit of insight into the Dao when training his Divine Reaping Scythe, and would not mistake it for any other Dao.

However, the difference between his grasp of the Dao of Space and his masters was night and day. He was but a child, while she was a true master of the Dao, able to make her body shift through the very fabrics of space in an instant to pierce through the restricting barrier.

After composing himself, John studied the barrier around his master from a distance. The barrier was different than the previous ones, and it too was wrapped in a strong binding of space. Clearly the artifact spirit had adjusted the nature of the formation to restrict her ability to move through it, even through space itself.

'Just how strong are the formations of this place, and who could have built such a thing?' John wondered to himself. It was truly an awe-inspiring place, from the massive barrier guarding the realm, the trials themselves, and the powerful formations the artifact spirit commanded with ease.

All eyes lingered on Lilian, each studying her carefully. Some had been shocked by her display of both the Dao of Death and Space, while others were intrigued. They now realized that with these two powers at her command, it was only natural that her performance thus far had been incredible.

Upon thinking this, the gazes of everyone else shifted to John, as well as Asuros. Despite Lilian showing such incredible talent and power, they both had managed to score higher than her through the trials thus far.

'Just how powerful are these two?' the others thought. Some found themselves despising the cultivation normalization even more now, as they realized that any trials against these three would be beyond challenging, and perhaps even impossible.

"If you cannot behave, then you will be restricted until the next trial begins," the artifact spirit said, to which Lilian huffed lightly.

"I am calm now. Release me," she said with an even tone, her aura and rage withdrawn.

Silence filled the air for a moment before the artifact spirit seemed to agree, and the formations binding both Lilian and Zeras disappeared. Lilian immediately felt the urge to resume her attack on her brother, but resisted the urge and turned away sharply. Her gaze snapped onto John, who was standing several hundred yards away, and she beckoned to him with one finger.

"Come, we have things to discuss," she said as she walked away into the distance towards the edges of the arena fifty miles away. John took a deep breath before following, as he knew the discussion to come would be quite eventful to say the least.

The two of them walked for dozens of miles, but did so swiftly, and appeared at the edges of the arena a short while later, far removed from the other cultivators. Lilian waved her hand before her and her flying ship suddenly appeared before them, which she quickly boarded.

"Come," she instructed John, who quickly followed her into the ship. The door of the ship closed as he entered, and he found his master sitting on a nearby chair, her calm yet serious eyes glued to his face.

"Sit," she said as she gestured to the chair next to her, "and tell me everything you know about Laia."