Ascension of the Immortal Asura

"Good," the creature replied, its guttural voice reverberating in the air like a deep hiss. It turned around without a word and walked out of the throne room, while the Astral Emperor watched in silence as it left.

Within her spatial cocoon, Lilian's pale and exhausted face trembled with fear as the creature walked by, no more than thirty yards from her. She felt as if the aura of the creature alone would kill her, and was sure the only reason it didn't was because of her spatial cocoon separating her from the real world.

She felt like she was nearing her limits, and exhaustion was taking a hold of her. She fought with everything she had to maintain her power, and the creature finally left. When she could no longer feel it's aura, she breathed out then in deeply, and almost undid her powers to race towards her father for comfort.

These few minutes had been the most scared she ever felt.

However, just as she was about to do so, she hesitated. She stared at her father as the conversation she had heard replayed in her mind.

The subject of discussion had been a girl, one who could heal the hellish creature. Lilian naturally thought of herself, as she perfectly fit these two conditions.

'It's impossible, right? There's no way father would betray me. Sell me. To a demon like that,' she thought to herself, trying to shake the terrible feeling she had at the moment.

She wanted to rush to her father and ask him about it. She knew as long as she asked him, he would tell her the truth, and she would learn she was right, and that it was not about her.

But she hesitated, paralyzed by fear, and uncertainty. Her essence Qi was draining fast, and she felt her limits fast approaching.

Sigh!

Another deep sigh left the emperors mouth, catching her attention. The emperor slumped in his throne, a conflicted look on his face.

"To think I would agree to such a thing. Have I truly fallen so low?" the Astral Emperor muttered to himself. He then inspected the contents of the spatial ring in his hand, and the conflicted expression faded away, and was replaced with a satisfied smile instead.

"Alas, the cultivation world is a cruel place, and I must grasp every opportunity to climb to the top, or I will fall to the pile of dead bodies at the bottom, as all who remain weak do," he said to himself, as if steeling his mind, firming his decision.

"It's just a shame," he continued after a small pause. "Lilian is a child with talent a father can only pray to the heavens for, and yet the heavens blessed me with her."

He paused again and then stood up from his throne, his gaze narrowing with conviction.

"Perhaps the heavens bestowed me with her for this very moment," he mused, as if his actions were following some grand, heavenly design. "And in the end, I can always have more children. If I created someone like her, surely, I could do so again. I am blessed by the heavens after all," he said with a small, arrogant smirk on the corner of his mouth.

Pft!

A soft sound, like a fading cloud of smoke sounded out, so soft as to almost not exist. The Astral Emperors gaze snapped towards the sound; one of the empty corners of his throne room.

His gaze narrowed and his body flashed, instantly appearing in that corner.

Boom!

The throne room trembled as he released his might on the area.

"A rat dares to spy on me?" He boomed as he inspected the area with his divine sense, but frowned immediately after.

He detected nothing. His narrowed gaze scanned the area, and he remained there for a short moment before another set of footsteps approaching could be heard.

"Father? Is everything alright?" Zeras' concerned voice drifted into the throne room as he entered. A perplexed look appeared on his face as he saw his father standing in the corner.

"Yes, everything is fine," the Astral Emperor said, and slowly peeled his scrutinizing gaze away from the corner and towards his son.

"You asked to see me today?" Zeras asked respectfully. While he was talking to his father, he was also talking to the Astral Emperor. Respect and deference were a given.

"Yes," the Astral Emperor confirmed, ignoring the corner as if it no longer concerned him. "How is Lilian's training going? Is her cultivation steadily progressing?"

"It is. She should reach the Heaven Tribulation realm within the year," Zeras confirmed.

"Good. Then continue as you've been doing, and make sure she does not stray from her cultivation and studies," the Astral Emperor nodded. "And be sure she pays extra attention to her healing lessons."

"It will be done," Zeras replied respectfully, bowed his head and left the room as the Astral Emperor dismissed him. The Astral Emperor gazed one last time at the corner of the room, and then left the room as well.

…

Chirping of birds and sounds of other animals drifted through a tranquil forest, which was suddenly disturbed as a figure appeared in the air and crashed through many tree branches before colliding with the ground.

Huff!

Huff!

Huff!

Deep breaths, ragged and pained filled the silence as Lilian struggled to sit up. She eventually managed to claw herself into a seating position, and sat on the ground, her back leaning against a tree.

Her ragged breaths slowed over time as she slowly caught her breath and regained some of her energy. While her breaths grew steady, her mind was still filled with chaos.

"I…I must have heard wrong…right?" Lilian muttered to herself, trying to convince herself that she had misheard. As much as she wanted that to be true, she knew she had heard correctly.

When she heard her name, and saw her father's expression, she knew he had made up his mind. Her father was going to sell her to that hellish demon, to do with her as she pleased. Only a lifetime of hell awaited her if that ever came to pass.

When she had heard her name, she mustered the last ounce of her power, and had managed to push her spatial Dao to the limit, which had teleported her several miles away in an instant. She had no idea she was capable of such a thing, but being pushed to the edge had allowed her to exceed her limits.

Lilian now felt completely drained, and found it hard to muster any strength at all; her vision grew dark as her consciousness faded away, and she passed out within the forest.