John stood there as he watched his mother disappear before his very eyes, unable to do anything to stop it. Although it was just part of her soul, and not her true body, he felt as if she had just died before him.
Just as he met his mother for the first time, she disappeared before he could truly spend any time with her. While she had answered many of his questions and even blessed him with an incredible gift, John didn't care about any of that.
"I didn't even get to ask my mother for her name," John mumbled softly as he stared into space despondently.
His eyes began to become misty once more, but his mothers words regarding strength above all else reappeared in his mind, stirring him from his self-pity.
"Mother is right. Sitting here in sadness won't accomplish anything. Only with strength can I break free of the shackles that keep me from the truth. Only with strength can I meet her once again."
John wiped his eyes dry, as his gaze hardened considerably. He wanted to go before the holy gate and ask for more questions, as he was sure his father within was able to see his conversation just now with his mother, but he knew his father would most likely just say the same thing as before.
"You are far too weak to know the truth yet."
Those words uttered from his supposed father echoed in his mind. Both his mother and his father gave him only one piece of advice. Raise your strength.
John suddenly sat on the ground as he calmed his mind as best he could. His resolve firmed as he linked his mind with the mysterious sphere, which his mother called the Artifact, and quickly entered a meditative trance.
'When mother unlocked my innate bloodline, she also left behind another small gift for me. Although I just ascended to the Meridian Forging Realm, the remaining energy she gave me will allow me to break through to the Mid Meridian Forging Realm, and its unique nature will ensure I have no foundation instabilities from breaking through so quickly.'
John closed his eyes as he began to guide the energy his mother had left him through his body and towards his essence dantian. His recent fights within his clan grounds also served to solidify his foundation, as the battles had increased his comprehension regarding Meridian Forging Qi significantly.
John continued to infuse the Qi his mother had bestowed him into his essence dantian, which climbed closer and closer to the Mid Meridian Forging Realm. This process continued for quite some time, until John felt his dantian on the verge of stepping over the boundary.
Boom!
A muffled boom echoed out within his body, as his essence dantian stepped into the Mid Meridian Forging Realm. An explosive flood of essence Qi surged out of his dantian, and began to rampage throughout his Meridians. John focused his mind as he guided the Qi through each and every inch of his meridians, infusing the newly ascended Qi into his meridians to widen them, as well as reinforce them. The process continued for several minutes before the surge of essence Qi died down, returning John's body to a normal state.
His divine sense washed over his body, inspecting the changes. A small smile appeared on his face as he noticed the differences.
'Not only has the power of my essence dantian increased significantly, my meridian channels are much more firm than before, and can handle a much larger flow of Qi without breaking, allowing me to unleash even stronger attacks.'
John wanted to test out his new essence power, but decided against it. He was in the only place where he shared a connection with his mother, and didn't want to destroy any part of it.
After inspecting the changes in his body, John once again sat down on the ground, ready to increase his power even further.
'Now that my essence dantian is at the Mid Meridian Forging Realm, I can raise the level of my body dantian, and not just by a single level either.'
With the way his body dantian worked, John could have it be one minor realm above his essence cultivation without the sinister murmurs of the dantian overwhelming his mind and soul.
John's soul suddenly appeared in his spatial realm, and entered the palace. He quickly found the three heads he was looking for. The heads were all lying next to each other, at the edge of his blood pool.
John glanced at them with cold indifference, as their glazed eyes almost seemed to be staring back at him. John reached out and picked up one of them, which was the Meridian Forging Bloodfiend Elder he had killed at the Fenix Clan.
The Elder's blood essence was quickly extracted, and infused into his body dantian according to the principles of the Immortal Asura Tome. The blood essence was greedily absorbed by his body dantian, and John felt his body cultivation steadily rise. However, it was not enough to raise his body cultivation to the next minor realm, causing him to frown slightly.
'This was a Late Meridian Forging Elder, and yet it can't even raise my body cultivation to the Mid Meridian Forging Realm? This body dantian of mine is getting greedier and greedier for blood essence it seems.'
John shook his head as he couldn't help it, and quickly picked up the head of the Heaven Tribulation Elder he had slain. The blood essence was quickly drawn out and infused into his body dantian, and a massive surge of energy from the high level blood essence filled his dantian to the brim.
After lingering on the precipice of breaking through for a short moment, the surge of Qi from the blood essence exploded over, pushing his body dantian to the Mid Meridian Forging Realm. However, the entirety of the Heaven Tribulation Elder's blood essence was used to do so, leaving John with nothing left.
A sigh escaped his lips as he once again shook his head at the greedy nature of his body dantian, before his gaze shifted towards the last head remaining. The familiar face of Allfiend seemed to be staring back at him as John picked his head up and held it before his face.
"It seems like the time for you to repay all your debts to me has finally come."