Ascension of the immortal Asura

John stepped out of the testing formation, shaking his head several times to clear the mental fog still enveloping him. As he stepped out, he spotted Zuri and Naelia standing to the side, Naelia waving excitedly at him.

The Elder in charge of the formation gave John an odd look, as if something was amiss.

"Why did you wait inside the formation after the test was complete?" the Elder asked him, slightly disgruntled.

"I didn't," John replied flatly, face scrunching with confusion at this accusation.

The Elder gave him a pointed look, then ignored him. He blinked a few times in confusion, then walked towards Naelia and Zuri. As he left, the Elder in charge of the testing formation instructed the next youth to enter, who did so.

"And make sure to leave the formation as soon as your test is complete," he heard the Elder say to the youth, clearly raising his voice so that John heard him say that.

John ignored the quip at him and arrived before the two girls, who looked at him expectantly.

"You were in there a long time!" Naelia said excitedly. "I've never seen anyone take that long to finish their testing. Did you wait inside after you finished instead of leaving?"

"No," John shook his head, frowning at being asked the same question. "I left as soon as I was done."

"What? Really?" Naelia hummed with surprise. "I wonder which trial you lasted so long on then? Maybe it was the comprehension trial. I've heard some stupid people take quite some time to finish…." her voice trailed off as she realized she was insulting John, face turning red from embarrassment.

John waved his hand dismissively, telling her not to worry about it. Naelia sighed with relief.

"So how did you do?" she asked.

"Not sure," John replied. "I guess I forgot to ask you about what the scores mean. It's just a bunch of one hundreds, with some lower values added into the mix.

"WHAT?" Naelia exclaimed loudly, her yell attracting a few curious gazes from nearby youths and elders. "Are you sure you didn't read it wrong? Here, give me your disk. Let me check," she said, hand outstretched towards John.

John handed her the formation disk containing his information, which she immediately sent her divine sense into. Her eyes went wide with absolute shock, mouth falling open with disbelief. It was as if she had seen the most shocking thing she had ever seen.

Her shock lasted for quite some time before she snapped back to reality, and looked at John with a different expression. Instead of the expression of surprise or awe he had been expecting, Naelia stared at him with a horrified expression, face completely pale as if frightened beyond belief.

"You…what did you....I'm done for," Naelia mumbled softly, falling into a crouching position with her hands over her head. "I escorted a cheater…A CHEATER…but no one's been able to cheat these tests before, right? So maybe he didn't...but those scores are impossible! Oh, I'm so screwed. I'm going to be exiled from the sect. I'll have to change my name, my identity…."

Naelia continued to mumble nonsense to herself, while John and Zuri exchanged an amused glance. Zuri took the disk from Naelia's grasp, then inspected it herself. Her eyes went wide with surprise, but less so than Naelia.

"You really are a freak," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "This will no doubt cause quite a few headaches. Someone's going to come asking how you did this."

John shrugged nonchalantly, unconcerned about such attention. His talents were going to be revealed sooner or later, and with the Prime Shadow backing him, he was unconcerned about whatever was to come of this.

…

In a luxurious room of marble white floors and walls, a middle-aged cultivator sat at an ornate table of white and gold. The table was covered with the finest food and drink, so rare and luxurious that most in the world would not be able to afford what was on the table, even if they used their life savings to purchase it.

The rest of the room was decorated with fashionable furniture, fine paintings, detailed statues depicting heroic sword-wielding cultivators, and the finest swords mounted to the walls as decorations. The swords were World Expansion grade weapons, and yet were merely being used as decoration.

The cultivator, a man who appeared to be in his forties, sat at the head of the table. He wore a robe of pure white, which was made from the finest materials available on the continent. A sword was sheathed on his waist, its quality even higher than the World Expansion grade swords being used as decorations.

The man had long white hair, not white from old age, but a natural, almost radiant white. It touched his shoulders, his neat hair framing his handsome face, clean shaven face. While his aura was withdrawn, a natural sharpness emanated from the man, as if he himself was a sword.

The man took a small sip of wine, a satisfied look appearing on his face as he set the cup down. He smiled warmly, shifting his gaze to a woman who sat at one of the seats lining the left side of the table.

The woman elegantly indulged in the food and drink before her, her heaven-defying beauty giving off an icy, distant feeling to those who looked at her. She wore a beautiful dress of white and blue, matching her dark blue hair.

"Ji'Han's testing scores came in this morning," the man said to the woman, voice deep and lined with unabashed pride. "Eleven hundred and forty-four. As expected, his score is the highest in the history of the Dao Transformation tournament. Lilian, what more proof could you need that only Ji'Han is worthy of obtaining your hand in marriage, and you his? The two of you are a heaven-made match, one that would make even gods envious."

Lilian set down her cup of wine, her expression flat as she turned to look at the Sword-Saint.

"Then he should have no trouble proving his strength, and winning the tournament as our bet entails," Lilian said, smiling lightly.

The Sword-Saint took her smile as one of agreement, and nodded his head with vigorous agreement.

"Ji'Han will prove once again to both you and the world that he is the pinnacle genius of this world, one not seen in hundreds of thousands of years," the Sword-Saint said proudly. "Once he wins, we will use this momentous tournament as the announcement venue for your marriage."

Lilian laughed lightly, her laughter almost mocking, then took another sip of her wine. The Sword-Saint resumed his delicious meal with a wide smile on his face, knife cutting into a delicious smelling piece of meat. The doors on the far end of the room suddenly flew over, disturbing the Sword-Saint from his moment of tranquility.

A frown appeared on his face as he watched the newcomer, a cultivator with a Late World Expansion cultivation, hastily walk towards him. The cultivator was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, who wore the pure white robes of the Sword-Dao Sect, and had a sword of his own sheathed on his waist.

"Lathus, what is it?" the Sword-Saint asked the man, clearly displeased by having been interrupted.

"I know you do not like being disturbed," Lathus replied respectfully. "But something has come to my attention. Something that I believe you would like to be notified of immediately."

"What is it?" the Sword-Saint asked, frowning.

Instead of answering, an item appeared in Lathus' hand, who handed it over to the Sword-Saint. The Sword-Saint took the item, gave Lathus a quick glance, then sent his divine sense into it. His face instantly lit up with shock, then anger as he slammed the object on the table. Teeth gritted, the Sword-Saint stood up from his chair and strode out of the room, Lathus following in tow, leaving Lilian alone in the elegant room.

Lilian watched the unexpected event unfold with a curious expression, then shifted her gaze to the item that had been handed to the Sword-Saint, who in his haste, had left it on the table. She waved her hand, sending a stream of Qi over to the object to fetch it. It floated over to her grasp, her divine sense entering it a moment later.

A wide, amused, and relieved smile appeared on her face as she read the contents contained within.

Name: John Fenix

Dao Name: Immortal Asura

Age: Nineteen

Cultivation: Middle Dao Transformation

Dao Sect: ??????

Metrics:

Qi Quantity: 100

Qi Quality: 100

Health: 100

Durability: 100

Stamina: 100

Comprehensions: 100

Instincts: 100

Willpower: 100

Soul Talent: 95

Speed/Movement Arts: 90

Battle Arts: 75

Attack Power: 100

Total: 1160

Her smile widened as she read the final score, which was greater than Ji'Han's score, a score that the Sword-Saint had just been proudly bragging about.

"So, you finally arrived? You sure took your time."