The sight of the Starlord's unbridled display of tyrannical might sent Ming Yuling's senses staggering into the hollow abyss of despair. After escaping death once, her focus had snapped back, yet it had been broken entirely after seeing how easily the Starlord suppressed everyone else. Her body couldn't stop shivering when the Starlord's piercing gaze swept across her body.
The unease was distressing and uncomfortable. An urge to flee simmered in the pit of her stomach, yet her feet refused to move.
"Juni-Junior Brother Yun..." She subconsciously called out as her mind grasped straws for comfort. Yi Yun's cultivation was the same as hers, and he was younger by several decades.
He hadn't even been recognized as an official Chosen, recklessly coming to the Chosen King Competition as a Dark Chosen. She didn't know why she sought out hope in his presence.
Perhaps it was because he was steady-footed and present? Because he was a man and calm? She had never thought of herself as a weak damsel needing the rougher sex to save her, often thinking such thoughts were diminishing to the concept of cultivation and its limitless potential, but all of that vanished when death once again reared its ugly head.
Her thoughts were entirely nonsensical-before death, all genders were equal; before death, all races were equal; before death, everything was equal. To find reliance and hope in the nearest thing before its terror was a soul's instinct.
Yi Yun was unaware of Ming Yuling's thoughts and emotions, his focus entirely on the Starlord and Qiao Shulin's struggling expression of pain. She was trying to resist the imposed seals on her body. But alas, her efforts only stirred the air slightly and caused her to quiver within his grasp.
Her expression was incomparably dark.
Qiao Shulin kept struggling, her Battle Intent blazing within her body. Her Battle Force fought valiantly against the Starlord's Spiritual Force, liberating its suppressive restraint by a teensy bit. It was just enough for her to breathe a little, air escaped her throat as she hoarsely called out to Yi Yun.
"...run..." Her desperate warning caused Yi Yun to shiver. While the Starlord's left eyebrow lifted in shock. "What a terrifying woman," he remarked as he reinforced his restraints. Her consciousness tethered on the edge of emptiness as her body went entirely limb. She couldn't struggle anymore.
"I must say," the Starlord continued, giving Yi Yun and Ming Yuling a look of admiration and mirth, "all of you are extremely brave, stupid, and foolish." After saying that, he glanced at the area where the older Timelord met his end, saying with a hint of a smirk, "Well, most of you were brave."
Despite deliberately releasing his aura to alert them of his arrival, they had rushed out to immediately hinder him for time instead of trying to flee. Additionally, Qiao Shulin and Yi Yun entered the scene to save their companions in spite of his existence.
"If you all had just left when I showed myself, I wouldn't have to do all this." The Starlord felt that his kindness was being looked down upon and this infuriated him. How could these young Chosen be so avaricious? There was a fine line between being brave and being greedy to the point of idiocy, and their actions were idiotic to an extreme in his eyes.
Yi Yun clenched his fists tightly. Within the depths of his blue eyes, a seething, unfathomable emotion began to manifest.
"Oh?" The Starlord felt Yi Yun's emotions stir. "An elf? No. A human? Ah! A rare hybrid! What a find amongst Chosen. Are you a genuine Chosen or a Dark Chosen?" The Starlord's tone was casual and fearless. Ming Yuling and Yi Yun were both Realmlords, no threat at all.
After subduing Qiao Shulin and getting rid of the rest, even the hungry spectators who escaped, the ease of his attitude began to leak out. He had completely dominated the scene and seized the Tungsten Realm Liquid pond for himself. He had won this battle for fortune.
Step.
When he took a step forward, Ming Yuling's hands trembled as she retreated two steps, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked at Yi Yun. The tall, lean human-elf hybrid was glaring at the Starlord without taking a single step back. The sight of his back brought about a strange, inexplicable sense of comfort."Let her go." Yi Yun said three words, slowly, clearly, and forcefully.
"Her?" The Starlord lifted Qiao Shulin by the neck, amusement in his eyes as he kept approaching. Yi Yun and Ming Yuling were both too young, certainly first-time competitors of the Chosen King Competition. How could he possibly be anything but amused?
"What if I don't?" The Starlord teased.
"Guh!" The hand around Qiao Shulin's throat tightened. While she couldn't move, her throat still released a saliva-filled choking gasp. Her eyes grew increasingly unfocused. Her life was entirely in the Starlord's hands.
Yi Yun impatiently stepped forward as a flash of panic swept across his expression. However, after the first step, he halted himself. At the corner of his gaze, the floating spear of the Starlord was caught. It hovered calmly and silently, but he knew that he couldn't move.
It wasn't out of fear for himself, but Ming Yuling would be killed if he carelessly acted.
The Starlord had keen senses, immediately realizing that Yi Yun seemed to be at a crossroads of a decision. While he wanted to act, he couldn't due to Ming Yuling's life. Chuckling, the Starlord lifted his left eyebrow in question: "You don't want to abandon your girlfriend? But considering the quality of her attire, her background isn't too simple. Given your racial limitations and innate inferiority, there's no way her clan or family will accept you."
Ming Yuling shook. While the Starlord told the truth, she didn't have much of a relationship with Yi Yun outside of some minor interactions. However, she realized from his words that Yi Yun didn't want to abandon her, and a feeling of warmth surged in her heart. In times of absolute crisis, the smallest gesture could be more effective than a lifetime of devotion.
Moreover, he was right; the Ming Clan or her grandmother would never allow Yi Yun, who was a hybrid of an inferior race, to wed a Chosen of their family.Yi Yun could only watch silently, caught between two wants-to protect and to save. If the Starlord knew his internal dilemma, he would likely laugh in ridicule. He wasn't an Entity of the Saint Cyclic Renewal Summit, a mindless amalgamation of energy with disadvantages, but a genuine Chosen at the peak of the Mortal Realms.
Furthermore, he was an 'official' Chosen!
By Wei Wuyin's newly established standards, his strength MUST be at the Pinnacle Starlord level at the very least! However, he was 137 years old today; his strength was solidly between peak Starlord and lowest Exalted(Mystic Star Phase).
Inexplicably, the urge to see this young hybrid struggle swelled within his heart. Normally, he'd dismiss such an impulse, but the strength and means of an elf had always been a curious question of his. They were an inferior race, isolated and unseen by most of the population, so he hadn't seen many in his lifetime. Those he had seen were often the female maidservants of upper-class members of the cultivation society that wanted to 'taste' something different.
With a thought, the spear shot toward him. When it reached his grasp, the Starlord stowed it away in his Spatial Ring with a smirk. Then, he reinforced the seal on Qiao Shulin's body threefold. Besides her hazy consciousness, she was unable to do anything. Uncaring of the fairer sex, he tossed Qiao Shulin aside.
Her body bounced off the ground, almost like a corpse. He had captured her to study her Battle Intent, not for anything insidious. It was one of the rare Intents that could be grasped through studying those who've comprehended it. Unfortunately, it was extremely rare, especially in a world where war wasn't actively waged. The story of this Qiao Shulin grasping Battle Intent at a young age must be quite traumatic.
Afterward, he intended to simply kill her. There was no reason to lower himself to seize her Primal Yin or body for his cultivation or pleasure-he had lines he wouldn't cross. If he was an Evil Cultivator or one that lacked any backing, he might have been desperate enough to do so. But he was a Starlord at the peak of the Mortal Realms, he had his pride!
Yi Yun's eyes widened slightly.
"Let me see what a hybrid like you can do," the Starlord spread out his hands as he challenged. While Yi Yun was a mere Realmlord, his curiosity kept pounding against his mind. Why were elves inferior? Show it to me!
They stood just a few hundred meters from each other. This distance was negligible for those of their cultivation, even in the strange Everworld.
Yi Yun turned his head slightly, "Back away." His tone carried extreme calm and an unquestionable tone. Ming Yuling felt her heart shake as her body listened before her mind could offer protest or questions at the ludicrous demand. Yi Yun was a Realmlord!
Not even an Astral Core ignited Timelord could survive this Starlord! He was not ordinary. He represented the peak of the Mortal Realms! Her words, however, were unable to escape her throat as she found herself running away from the area.
The Starlord didn't mind Ming Yuling trying to run. If he wanted, he could hunt her down to the ends of the earth with ease. She couldn't escape his grasp. As for her trump cards from her background, he didn't care as long as an Earthly Saint hadn't supplied her with any. After all, he also had his own trump cards!Suddenly, the air tensed. Yi Yun's blue eyes exuded a boundless intensity that felt world-suppressing and tyrannical.
The Starlord frowned.
BOOOOOSH!!
The ground beneath Yi Yun's feet was overturned, forming a cloud of dirt, grass, and dust as his figure vanished with a single step. That step was boundlessly powerful, exerting a degree of physical strength that caused even Everworld to shake!!
WOOSH!!
Pupils constricted from every spectator, especially the Starlord! His Astral Ward instantly manifested out of sheer survival instinct! In a ghostly, distorted flicker, Yi Yun's slender figure arrived before the Starlord in a readied position, his fist cocked back, his eyes utterly determined, and his deep inhale was like a dragon!
True World, Martial Way!
ONE FIST, WORLD'S END!!!
Yi Yun's fist was launched at the Starlord without holding anything back! His body, forged and refined by incredible fortune and an exceptional cultivation method, reinforced by the world's glue-Mana-began to exert a pressure that shook that glue to its core!
FORCEFUL!
Tyrannical!
INVINCIBLE!
A single fist carried with it the might of the world itself, carried the way of the Martial Dao, and struck true! A spiraling whirlwind blazed into existence as Yi Yun's fist twisted as it moved!
The Starlord could only watch as the fist met his Astral Ward. The protection that could guard against the force of other Starlords was treated like hot butter, pierced through with utter ease! His eyes bulged as he tapped into his various powers, erupting with the quickest retaliation imaginable, yet all it did was briefly slow down that fist!
It then pierced his Astral Ward, coming in direct contact with his Astral Physique, and he felt as if his entire body began to cry out in unfathomable pain! It entered his gut with all of its force, transferring all that power into him! His mouth went agape, spitting out saliva and air in his lungs.
His body bent like a prawn, his feet lifting off the ground, his arms stretched out, and his head tilted oddly...
BOOM!!!
Like a rocket, the Starlord was sent flying!
FLYING!!
He was at the horizon of the planet in the blink of an eye, twinkling as his starforce belatedly raged in retaliation, and then he vanished in the next second!
Yi Yun's expression was utterly imposing like a Martial God yet as pale as a ghost. His body was covered in bulging, pulsating veins as blood leaked out of his ears, nose, and left eye. Only his right eye remained unharmed, and he didn't hesitate despite the absurd pain he was experiencing. He shot toward Qiao Shulin, grabbing her sealed body with all his remaining strength.
With a pivot of his heel, he turned and rushed toward the wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and frozen Ming Yuling who was deeply astounded. He grabbed her by the waist without caring about where he touched and then shot off with the gentleness of a feather and the quickness of lightning.
He flashed across the landscape and vanished before the eyes of any remaining spectators!
After a minute, a tall figure that stood at least ten feet in height arrived at the location where Chen Yangzi met disaster. Carried upon their shoulder was a severely damaged and unconscious Chen Yangzi. In certain areas, his bones were exposed and portions of his facial skin were gruesomely missing, revealing half of his fractured set of teeth, but his breathing and life aura was still present.
"I hope you make it to the second stage," the figure said as they looked in Yi Yun's direction. Then, they turned to see a blood-red-robed Evil Sentinel moving across the landscape, rushing toward the area where the Starlord had landed.
Eventually, they waved their hand at the lake of liquid. Their Saint Ring was fundamentally different from a typical Spatial Ring and stored all of it in a single motion. At this sight, those who were still watching the situation to see how it'll unfold began to move!
