Tribulation Clouds?

The tribulation clouds churned violently overhead, as if it was an apocalyptic storm ready to destroy all below it. The lightning within the clouds violently churned, as if it was searching for its target. However, they never struck down, seemingly unable to find the intended victim.

"This pressure...these sounds...there are tribulation clouds above us," one Divine Soul Sect youth exclaimed in complete surprise.

"I've witnessed my master ascend to the Heaven Tribulation Realm, and this pressure is definitely the same," a Supreme Battle Sect youth agreed.

"But...tribulation clouds only appear when ascending to the Heaven Tribulation Realm. Just what is going on?" another Divine Soul Sect youth replied.

Their eyes looked towards the still face down John, unsure exactly what was going on. However, everyone could tell that John was the center of the tribulations pressure, and that it was pressing down on him the most.

None could make sense of it. The pressure pressing down on the entire area was so great that none dared to move, even the three Emperors. Despite the fact that John was face-down and defenseless, they didn't dare to move or attack him.

In his fight just now, John had been incredibly impressive, fighting three against one, jumping multiple realms in the process. Such a thing was completely unheard of. However, it still hadn't been enough. He had prepared to fight the Emperors based on their Middle Core Formation Cultivation, but unluckily, all of them had advanced to the Late Core Formation Realm within the arch trials.

This put their strength at a completely new level, one that John was not able to match.

His essence attacks, while completely powerful, were neutralized by the Sword Emperor, while the Blood Emperor and the other King forced him back with their constant barrage of attacks. John had taken a great loss because of his scythe breaking, but even then he could tell that the Blood Emperor and Sword Emperor were not going all out.

They were playing with John, and did not consider him to be worthy of using their full strength. Unfortunately, John's body was still too weak.

His body dantian had been relatively close to breaking through, but he had not had the opportunity to obtain more blood essence to do so. With his current predicament, he was forced to do something he had hoped to avoid.

John continued to lay there on the ground as he guided the remaining blood into his dantian. Human blood essence existed in the forehead, and John had one last source of blood essence at his disposal.

Russell's potent blood essence, due to his Common Grade Innate Variant Body, surged into John's body dantian with vibrant potency. John guided the blood according to the Immortal Asura Tome, quickly raising his power to higher and higher levels.

There was a brief resistance at the very peak, as if the heavens were resisting the breakthrough, before….boom!

A muffled sound echoed in John's body, his body cultivation successfully breaking through to the Early Core Formation Realm. As soon as he did this, his aura exploded wildly, and tribulation clouds instantly appeared.

Before he could react, John once again found himself standing within the palace in his palace realm, directly below the revolving drops of blood. His expression changed quickly, as he was completely vulnerable.

His consciousness immediately left the palace realm and explored the real world, seeing what was going on. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he noticed no one moving, too afraid to draw the wrath of the heavens.

His attention once again went to the blood drops above him, which revolved in an endless dance. The familiar pressure once again wrapped around him, locking him in place as one of the blood drops slowly left the translucent barrier and descended down towards him.

The blood drop was much more powerful than the previous one he had absorbed, and contained both the holy and sinister aura. The holy aura was even more holy than before, while the sinister blood was more dark and evil. John could tell that based on the power emanating from this blood drop, this ascension to Core Formation was going to be a great leap forward in power.

John remained calm as the blood descended to his chest, and watched the drop slowly enter it.

Boom!

The sinister blood immediately rebelled within John's body, seeking to destroy it from within. It rampaged violently, as if he was unworthy of subduing it. The holy aura immediately flared up, washing over the sinister blood and fighting against it.

The two sides began to clash against each other, their power neutralizing the other side. With both sides neutralized in power, John guided the sinister blood drop to his body dantian, allowing his dantian to absorb it and grow.

His dantian absorbed the sinister blood quickly, as if the blood naturally belonged to it, greatly increasing his dantian in both power and profundity. The process lasted for nearly a minute, before all the blood was absorbed.

Since the mysterious sphere, which was acting as his dantian, was already solid, John did not have to undergo dantian compressions. However, the power now emanating from his body dantian did not lose out to his essence dantian at all in power or profundity, revealing it to be of nearly equal quality.

As the sinister blood was completely absorbed, the holy blood stopped flaring its power and began to defuse within John's body. He could feel his body advance, not in strength, but in talent, as the holy blood purified it.

The entire process only took several minutes, much quicker than his essence dantian advancement. John's consciousness instantly returned to the real world, his body still face down on the ground.

Blood pooled below him, but John could feel that the wound on his chest had been completely healed during his ascension. John slowly stood up and inspected his body, which was now brimming with absolute power.

The nearby youths all looked at John as if he were a monster, completely unable to comprehend what was happening. It seemed in this entire area, only John was able to move against the heavenly pressure descending down from above.

John finally noticed the tribulation pressure pressing down on him from above. With him at the center of its focus, the pressure was greatest on him. However, he found himself able to mostly ignore it. Not only that, but his body felt a growing disgust against the pressure, as if he was sworn enemies against it.

His blood red eyes stared straight up, as if he could see the clouds through the temple roof above. The clouds continued to churn for a short while, before they gradually began to disperse, unable to locate John anymore. His ascension was already complete.

The pressure gradually vanished, but no one moved even after it completely left. John's blood red eyes looked down from the ceiling above and immediately locked onto Damon, who was standing several dozen yards away.

Damon's expression was a mix of confusion and fear, but he quickly composed himself as he noticed John's gaze. His divine sense washed over John, and a mocking expression quickly replaced his previous fear.

"I don't know what the hell just happened, but that was quite a show you just put on. Despite all that, your strength is still at the Early Core Formation Realm. Was that some sort of illusion formation you just unleashed to buy yourself a bit of time to recover?" Damon asked in a condescending tone.

Due to John's body dantian being undetectable by anyone, everyone assumed that John's cultivation realm had stayed the exact same. While his aura felt quite different, they did not see a big enough change in his body to turn the tides of the battle. The tribulation clouds had been completely shocking, but the crowd came to two conclusions regarding them.

Either they were an illusion, or even if they weren't, they were not related to John ascending realms, as his cultivation had stayed the same.

John stared at Damon, but didn't respond. It was as if his focus was elsewhere. John remained that way for a short time before he snapped back to reality. His cold eyes looked down on Damon with disdain, as if he was not worthy of standing before him.

Damon's smug look was replaced with one of displeasure at how John was looking at him. The Sword Emperor and the other King, who stood beside Damon, all felt the same way.

Boom!

John's aura, which was already powerful, exploded outwards in an even more terrifying fashion. The sinister nature of his aura increased greatly, chilling all those feeling it to their core.

Faint, blood red runes suddenly began to appear on John's body, almost faint enough to not notice. Two small protrusions, pitch black in color, suddenly appeared on the top of his head, as if they were two small horns.

His nails suddenly grew slightly, becoming as hard and sharp as weapons themselves. His muscles bulged slightly, as if they were forged of steel and brimmed with incredible power.

Both Damon and the Sword Emperor unconsciously took a step backwards as they looked at John, as if such a fear came instinctually from their core.

John felt an overwhelming power rush through his body, nearly destroying it from within. However, his incredibly sturdy body resisted the rampaging energy, and quickly controlled it to his will. His cold, ruthless eyes stared straight at Damon, as his fiendish aura washed over all.

Immortal Asura Transformation Art: Second Form!