Ascension of the Immortal Asura

Although Barden had many questions, he decided against asking them. He could tell that John was still keeping some information from him, but if his son didn't want to reveal it, he figured he must have a good reason to do so. As such, he was just happy that such a heaven-defying thing was accomplished by his son.

After laughing for quite some time, a serious look appeared on Barden's face.

"John, in the future, questions will arise about your ability to utilize both essence and body cultivation. At first, some might think that you're walking a path of mediocrity, but eventually they'll realize the truth, or at least some of it."

A serious expression appeared on John's face as he nodded to what his father had just said. Once the world found out about his abilities, who knew how many people would become curious about how this came to be, and some would definitely get greedy for any potential heaven defying treasure that John possessed.

While he was thinking, a powerful wave of divine sense passed over John. John looked towards his father who was inspecting his body and waited for him to speak.

"Strange" murmured Barden as he continued to inspect John's body.

A few minutes later, the scan stopped and Barden spoke up.

"John, after inspecting your body thoroughly, I must say that it is unlike anything I've ever seen. If I didn't know any better, I would assume you were born with some amazing innate variant body type, but we both know that's not true. It seems whatever happened with the sphere, it changed your body constitution."

Barden paused for a while before continuing.

"To anyone else who inspects you, they will assume you were born with an amazingly powerful innate variant body type. We can use this to our advantage, since in this case, if anyone questions you about your ability to utilize both body and essence attacks, you can just say you were born with an innate variant body type that naturally grants you an extremely powerful body."

John thought about it for a moment before he nodded his head.

'It seems as though the Immortal Asura Body is even more amazing than I thought. According to my father, it seems to be changing my body into something equivalent to an innate variant body type, instead of just strengthening it like all other body cultivation arts. Just how amazing is this technique?'

Innate variant body types were extremely powerful bodies given to someone at birth. They were extremely rare, and ranged from bodies that were slightly stronger than normal persons to bodies that defied the heavens themselves. They allowed cultivators to learn body cultivation arts extremely quickly, and also allowed the cultivators to utilize body battle arts with more power than a normal body cultivator.

Innate variant body types were similar to attribute bodies that granted cultivators with natural born advantages, but attribute body types were aligned with essence cultivation while innate variant bodies were aligned with body cultivation. There were also variant soul types, such as the soul of Miko Varis.

John was just about to fully agree when he thought of something.

"Father, if I didn't have a variant body before, won't people refuse to believe this explanation?"

Barden smiled at John's question.

"We can just say your variant body type was unnoticeable before you could cultivate, but that when you became able to cultivate, your variant body type naturally came about. It's very hard to detect if someone has a variant body before Qi starts to flow through it, at which point you can compare how it handles Qi and how powerful it is compared to a normal body. With this, no one can refute our claims."

"Variant body types aren't only powerful because the body is stronger, but also how efficiently it can utilize Qi for body powered attacks. As such, many people fail to detect variant body types before the Mist Creation realm. As for your ability to fully cultivate your body and essence, we'll just say you have a body type so rare that even we don't know what it is, and that will explain your ability to unleash both at full strength. No one can steal your body as its yours and yours alone, and so that should handle any greedy eyes from targeting you. Also, even the most gifted variant body cultivators still focus solely on body cultivation, and so you will still be an incredibly unique cultivator being able to unleash both essence and body powered attacks at full power. Some might scoff at you and say you're wasting your natural body talent by cultivating essence, but we both know the truth and that's all that matters."

John thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. This explanation really did make sense, and was the perfect cover up for his ability to cultivate both essence and body. Not only that, but John was sure that his Immortal Asura Body really was an unheard of variant body type, and so there should be no holes in this explanation.

Now that this matter was taken care of, John figured that getting a powerful body battle art was the best thing in order to improve his strength. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten anything at the Mystic Trade Hall, and realized that he had been short sighted to not at least buy one at the time.

John looked at his father and asked.

"Father, does our clan have any powerful body battle arts? My body is my most powerful aspect right now, but I have no way to fully take advantage of it."

Barden thought about John's question for a moment as he tried to think of solutions.

"Our clan is an essence cultivation clan, and so we do not have any impressive body battle arts."

John became sullen at his fathers comment. Barden noticed John's disappointment and was about to say something when his eyes suddenly lit up.

"But, I do think I might have a way to get you an amazing body battle art. I can't promise anything yet, but I'll try my best. I'll let you know within a week."

John immediately brightened up at his fathers words. If he could get a powerful body battle art, his combat prowess would increase by leaps and bounds.

While thinking about his body cultivation, John suddenly remembered what the guard had said when he entered the clan. John looked towards his father and curiously asked him a question.

"Father, when I entered the clan, the guard said that I had returned just in time, but wouldn't explain more. What was he talking about?"

Barden suddenly remembered what John was talking about. He had been so excited about John being able to cultivate both essence and body that he had completely forgotten this important matter.