Asura body refining technique

****SURRDON'S POV****

My hands shook from the anger rippling inside me. The urge to grab her by the throat and toss her aside had been deeper than any ocean known to mankind. What kind of a leader was she? And why did nobody do anything to change the rules in this sect?

  Maybe it had something to do with the power chain. If so, then a new minor goal was now etched in my vengeful soul...take over Timen Gate Sect.

       Ten minutes slipped by after Shihan abandoned me in her private dome. I had tried to follow her out but the barrier blasted me back, like a powerful opponent had given me a blow to my chest.

I had continued with the feeble attempts to leave but ended up on the ground each time bruised all over.

   I panted, my body doubled over while flames of pain burned in my chest like wildfire. The air going through my lungs felt as if it was full of tiny spikes that wounded the soft tissues inside there. How could such a level of pain exist?

Giving up the thought of leaving, I let my exhausted body slide against the barrier till I sat on the rough ground. I placed my hand on the sigil carved beneath me. The intricate design it possessed was mystifying. How did the laws of this world function? How did each person own a sigil so unique? And most importantly, why did I have seven of them while most of the practitioners I had met had only one?

As the seconds turned into minutes, my breathing slowed back to its normal speed but the pain still lingered.

"Seems like the only way out is to lower myself to...to a...what the hell is this?" I complained reaching for the brush I had dropped on the ground.

Once it was in my hand, I glared at it, cursing and threatening the wooden thing. How stupid.

I pushed my body from a sitting position to a kneeling position for easy dusting. God knows how much I wanted to fight back, but fighting someone as powerful as Shihan needed me to be more powerful. Power meant sacrifices and enduring such humiliation.

"Tsk! Tsk!" The little devil appeared, her mocking aura intact.

I darted her a glare, and was immediately shocked to see the new scales on her body and the pattern on her horns.

"You, you've changed."

Anya rolled her eyes before drifting through the air to levitate before my eyes. "I know I've added some weight, but you're in no position to criticize me."

I frowned deeply at the evolved snake and she stared back, challenging me to say my worst.

In the end, I only sighed and sat down again. I had no more energy to waste tonight, especially to argue with this annoying guide. How was she even approved to help any transmigrated soul?

As the question crossed my mind, another one I had been dying to ask finally slipped in.

"Anya? Are there, any more people from...Earth?"

She at first ignored the question and swirled around in the air, chasing her own tail like a dog.

I could only watch, my eyes hardening on the rudeness she was displaying. If I had a way to report her, I would have from the very first day I came to Agrerea.

"An-"

"Yes!" She beamed as her swirling ceased. "There are-" her body dropped on my lap from dizziness, "-others like...you."

My heartbeats elevated, excitement rising from the depths of my tortured heart. It would be easier living in this world if I had someone from Earth. "Where? Is there any in Oza-"

"This information belongs to the gods. A mere practitioner cannot access it."

"Mere practitioner? Whose fault is it that I'm powerless?"

"That power didn't belong to you. You have to at least put in some effort and learn about how the world works. This isn't Earth human. This is the world of savages and beings who would rip you to pieces just by a slight thought."

Her words did make sense. If I had woken up in an overpowered body, I might have never got to experience the cruelty as I was in the sect.

I sighed, yielding to Anya.

"Do you have a Skil that can clean up this place?"

She suddenly broke out in a laugh and her body wriggled around on my lap. Lucky her I had no fear or hatred for snakes-she would have been dead meat from our first encounter. Or the other way around.

"You...you...you want a...a..." Her loud annoying laughter interrupted her speech over and over till she stopped talking and just laughed.

After a whole minute, the laughter died out, leaving her eyes teary and her lungs deprived of some air.

"What do you think I am? A librarian pet in the heavens that has a hundred of world-shattering techniques waiting to be handed to you?"

"Maybe."

"I must say, I find your words humorous at times. For that, I might reward you with a second technique. But only because you've made me laugh today. My generosity has its limits. Now, do you want it?"

My brows rose questioningly.

"What kind of technique?"

"Wrong answer. One more chance. Do you want it or not?"

I took a moment to think it through. Since the last technique she taught me was so valuable, the second one had to be even more powerful, right? And from the way she was making it mysterious, it must have been one of the best.

"Yes."

The little snake darted up in the air as soon as I gave my firm answer. "You have courage, I must admit. Maybe that's why he chose you."

"Or because I was living in a pitiful life and thought I would adjust just fine in his."

Anya frowned to my words, but said nothing more, only inched closer and placed the end of her tail on my forehead. "Asura body refining," she said.

"What is tha-"

A force quickly yanked my consciousness back, leaving me falling through the thick darkness. No sound escaped my mouth no matter how loud I screamed.

It was the same black space Anya had pushed me as she taught me my first skill.

My conscious body ceased falling and levitated in the space around me. Unlike the last time, I did not panic, but it didn't mean I was comfortable in that darkness.

Darkness which was quickly dispersed by the red letters that began appearing around me in a circular wall.

"Clear your mind. Rid yourself of any distractions. The backlash from this technique is too great to bear. Your whole body will be shattered if you fail."

No pressure at all.

I'd just clear my mind after hearing the glaring danger that accompanied the process. No, pressure, at all.

I quickly sat in a lotus position before the lightning could begin. There were so many things tormenting my mind, but I forced all of them behind a solid door.

*Crack*

The first bolt of lighting struck my chest, just as I was closing the mental door to my distractions. The intensity it carried terrified my soul, but its impact was only as painful as a mosquito bite.

Phew! A second late and I was sure the pain would have been like that of a thousand ants bites.

More lighting bolts kept striking my body from every angle, trying to find a weak spot so as to drag me down the torture abyss. And when there was no entry to my soul, a raging force within me started drawing the energy from the letters spinning around me. A warm sensation spread from my forehead before travelling down to my abdomen where my sigils were.

I could feel it, the technique was now inside me. I had mastered it.

'That wasn't so-'

*Ba-boom*

*Ba-boom*

Dense coercion began exploding from my heart. My heartbeats boomed as though thunder was dancing in there before more life-threatening pain was inflicted inside me.

I was sure death was only a few breaths away. No, I couldn't even breath. The pressure forming in my chest was too great.

My conscious joined my physical body, only to realize that I was striking the barrier, and the barrier was...striking back, but with double the force.