Thunderzen remained behind for a moment as he watched his adoptive daughter's ship fly off into the distance. After watching it disappear over the horizon, he turned around and entered his own flying ship.
The other Elder's were patiently waiting inside for their return to the Heavenly Lightning Sect. Thunderzen nodded his head towards one of the Elder's who assumed command over the ship at its main piloting station. His hand pressed on a raised pedestal which contained numerous small formations, and the ship suddenly shot forward at great speeds.
"What happens now?" one of the Elder's asked Thunderzen.
"Now we prepare," Thunderzen replied.
"Prepare for what?" another Elder asked.
"Prepare for the arrival of the emissaries from the two alliances," Thunderzen replied.
"Emissaries?" an Elder asked. "From the Divine Martial Continent?"
"Correct," Thunderzen replied. "A sect like the Bloodfiend Sect disappearing overnight is going to raise many questions, and it won't be long until emissaries from both factions arrive, and for that we must prepare."
…
John looked up at the massive gate before him, which radiated an incredibly holy aura. It had been several days since his battle in the Bloodfiend Sect, and his body wounds had eventually all been healed.
As such, John found himself back in his palace realm, prepared to unlock the next steps in his cultivation system.
Used to the process now, John stepped forward beneath the translucent sphere, in which several blood drops continued to revolve around each other perpetually. He found his body wrapped up one again, making it so that he was unable to move, while a single drop of blood fell down towards him.
As soon as it left the protection of the translucent sphere, the blood radiated an equally holy and sinister aura, and quickly pierced into his chest. John grit his teeth in silent pain as the sinister blood rampaged within, seeking to destroy his body.
However as expected, the holy blood flared its power immediately after, quelling the destructive rampage of the sinister blood. With practiced experience, John guided the blood into every inch of his body, infusing it completely to himself.
He immediately felt the power of his body rise a considerable level, filling him with a sense of unbridled power.
"At least the process this time was nice enough to wait for me to complete my tribulation," John said to himself.
His previous breakthrough had resulted in him entering this place immediately, while the rest of the outside world remained frozen. He was unsure of how that happened exactly, but John was certain such a thing wouldn't work on the heavens and its tribulation it sent to kill him.
After infusing the blood into his body, John stepped forward and touched one of the massive chains on the holy gate.
Snap!
The chain snapped and instantly began to crumble, as an even more powerful and holy aura began to radiate out of the gate. John basked in the holy power for some time, as he felt his nerves calmed and soul power rise.
After bathing in this aura for some time, John stepped away from the gate and entered the room containing the sinister door. The same as always, he touched one of the chains, and withstood its demonic assault for as long as possible before he could no longer bear it.
"Hah!"
John breathed out a tired sigh as he found himself in the real world once again. The floor of the ship he sat on was translucent from his perspective, allowing him to see the ground far below pass by at tremendous speeds.
"Even after days and days of travelling at this speed, we're still not at the Great Desert! No wonder travel back to my homeland is so restrictive," John couldn't help but grumble out loud.
Suddenly, two objects suddenly appeared in his hands, one in each hand. The one object was a jade piece of incredible beauty, while the other was a black tome. He glanced at the two objects in his hand as the thought back to his recent tribulations.
"It seems as though I have been neglecting my cultivation of the Celestial Lightning Script. The creator of the palace realm clearly only left me these two items to rely on, and yet I would have died to the last attack of the tribulation were it not for Kirii. Clearly, I have not raised my strength to the level that power thinks I should have."
John's fingers stroked both items for a moment before he put away the jade piece.
"I'll learn the next steps in my Immortal Asura Body, Immortal Asura Transformation Art, and next body limiter, before I wholeheartedly focus on the Celestial Lightning Script for the rest of the trip."
John opened the Immortal Asura Tome, and turned to the Core Formation section, before he quickly flipped to the next page. He had been unable to open the Meridian Forging Section before, but with his cultivation firmly in the Meridian Forging Realm, he was finally able to do so.
His eyes took in all the words on the page, which described how to further raise the base power of his Immortal Asura Body, how to unlock the next stage of his Asura Transformation, and how to unlock the next body limiter.
"The Meridian Forging Limiter - The Limiter of Power," John read silently to himself. "This limiter has several nodes, which are located in the legs, back, chest, and arms. Unlocking these nodes will result in an explosive increase in body power, several times stronger than before."
John's eyes lit up as he read this, as it was exactly what he wanted at the moment. His previous limiters made him faster and more durable, but power was what he truly wanted to increase. Only with strength could he control his own fate.
His Qi suddenly flared internally with great power as he began to follow the principles of unlocking the body limiter.
…
Lilian sat at the front of her ship in silence as she stared out at the ground below. Her mind seemed to be occupied with something, as her gaze was distant and unfocused.
The sound of someone behind her snapped her out of her thoughts as she turned around.
"Finally out of seclusion, are you?" Lilian asked with a small smile on her face. She inspected John closely, and could tell that his strength had once again improved drastically. She gave John a small nod of approval as he sat down besides his master.
"How close are we to the Great Desert, Mast-", John quickly stopped his words, as he remembered Lilian did not like being called Master, as it made her feel old. To her, as long as John considered her as such and treated her as his master, that was all that mattered. She did not need to be addressed with such titles.
Lilian noticed the end of John's sentence, but chose to ignore it. Her gaze shifted to look forward once again, as her chin flicked upwards slightly, gesturing to John to look into the distance.
"We just arrived," she replied calmly.
John followed her gaze, and saw what she had gestured to. Far out in the distance, a massive mountain range stretched out from side to side as far as they could see. The mountain range was also several miles deep, and just beyond it was a barren wasteland of seemingly no life at all.
John's eyes widened slightly as the flying ship quickly sped over the mountains, and entered the barren wasteland. He had heard of this place many times before, but had never seen it with his own eyes.
"The Great Desert! Just beyond this barren wasteland is home!"