"Woah! They've already conquered the Black Path?" A scholarly-looking young man with a breadth of wisdom far exceeding his age said with an expression rife with interest and surprise. His words echoed out, causing many to break from their cultivation states, opening their eyes to observe those who just returned.
"Who cares? The first of the nine paths can easily be conquered by anyone with lesser Realmlord - level strength. Which Chosen doesn't have a Worldly Domain, even if they don't have a Realm World Phase cultivation base?" A tall, muscle-heavy human said dismissively. His tone was deep and resounding.
His loud words caused the observing Chosen to immediately lose interest, especially those who were first-timers. None of them had any belief they'd fail the first path given its strength. If it was before, there was a heavy chance as some Soul Idol first-timers might fail, but today? The three Domain-bestowal products have outright changed the climate of the world!
Hong Chunhua paid these words no mind as she entered the Red Path of Bitterness. The field was almost the same as before, as there was an additional red tint in the sea of bitterness. The unique power crashed against her, and her vision was as blurry as could be. Only when she infused her Spiritual Energy into her eyes did it clear up with remarkable quickness, granting her greater clarity of the world.
"First Commander?" A voice caught her attention as she turned her head, finding a young male elf who was taken aback after seeing her. They both saw each other and had realization flicker through their eyes. The hazy portal was randomly placing them in different locations regardless of entry order, so even if Chosen entered together, they might not be near each other.
"How peculiar," Hong Chunhua remarked as she walked toward the 13th Wall. She hadn't felt any sign of spatial displacement. What power was shifting them then? The more she learned about this stage of the Chosen King Competition, the greater the curious mysteries grew.
When she arrived at the wall, she used her finger once again. She exerted a wisp of strength, sufficient to shatter an ordinary Realmlord into pieces. The wall immediately cracked chaotically, on the verge of collapse, yet it maintained itself.
"Pinnacle Realmlord?" She was taken aback by the leap in strength. The 12th Wall was roughly at the lesser Realmlord level! The 13th jumped beyond 'greater' tier and reached Pinnacle!
BOOSH!
Hong Chunhua turned to see the young elf punch through the wall, shattering hundreds of feet of it in an instant. The half-elf had a strange expression on his face before leaping forward, absorbing the motes of golden light.
Unlike Hong Chunhua, the young elf was taking the most brutal method.
BOOM! SHIING! SHATTER!!
Hong Chunhua could now hear the sounds of various powers impacting the 13th Wall. She bitterly smiled as she accepted that her slow, cautious pace was utterly unnecessary! After testing out the baseline of the first twelve walls, there was no need to hold back! The other Ascendants were of the same mind!
Hong Chunhua moved! She leaped forward with her Astral Ward erected, slamming into the 13th Wall with heavy momentum! As she did, reaching the next sea of bitterness, she heard continuous shattering sounds from all over, and the wall before her was quivering violently.
She grinned. Then, she leaped forward without assessing!
SHATTER!
15th Wall!
SHATTER!
17th Wall!
SHATTER!!
20th Wall!!
SHATTER!!!
Within a single minute, Hong Chunhua had reached the 24th Wall. She didn't even hesitate, blitzing toward the 24th Wall with her accumulated momentum. It didn't even last a single millisecond as it shattered! There were motes of golden light that followed her, creating a beautiful wake of golden light sparkling behind her like a cosmic tail.
Suddenly, she found herself and tens of thousands of others in the Docking Stage once again. In the crowd, she went largely unnoticed.
"Huh?" The tall, muscle-heavy Chosen from before had just sat down, adjusting their position to once again recover every iota of spent energy. When he heard the unique sound of people arriving, signifying the conquering of a path or surrendering of one's Mark of Bitterness, he turned his head to find tens of thousands of cultivators gathered.
"Are they carrying someone?" The scholarly-looking young man in a Daoist outfit asked curiously, his eyes gleaming with intelligence. There was once an Alchemist that had tried to use the Mark of Bitterness functionality to reach a higher path with no effort. He used four Alchemic Knights, all of outstanding talent, to reach a wall and then have them deliberately fail, giving him their marks before they returned, and then they would rush forward again, reaching the next wall, and then repeat this again and again and again.
At the time, the idea was marvelous. That was...until the Alchemist reached a level that he couldn't withstand with his defensive and protective treasures. The unique strength of the Seas of Bitterness between each wall ended his life within moments. While this was often replicated a few times in each competition, very rarely would these people be able to get any real rewards. The term eventually became known as 'carrying'.
"There's no way. There's too many!" A young female Chosen remarked. Unless there were thousands of Alchemists all trying to do the same? Even if that were the case, wouldn't the Alchemic Knights repeatedly exit?
The disturbance was quite large this time. Qiao Shulin's cultivation state ended as the commotion rose to audible levels that made it difficult to maintain her concentration. "What's happening?" She asked as she gazed at the tens of thousands of cultivators.
Ye Zhi answered cautiously, "I think these cultivators have just conquered the Red Path." She wasn't exactly sure, so her tone was lacking a little confidence.
"What?!" Qiao Shulin's eyes widened. The Black Path of Bitterness' 12th Wall required the strength of a Lesser Realmlord to properly surpass, but the 24th Wall required a Lesser Timelord strength. When she first challenged the competition, she was unable to get past the 20th Wall. Of course, the rating of strength was based on the outdated Chosen standards.
Yi Yun's eyes constricted as the tens of thousands of cultivators began to move toward the Orange Path of Bitterness! Instantly, he realized who these tens of thousands were!
"Ascendants!" He softly muttered.
His words were not missed by the attentive Duan Ru. Moreover, she didn't shy away from expressing her interest in Yi Yun, teasing him often, so she paid extra attention to him. Hearing his words, her heart began to race. Was it truly the Ascendants?
Moreover, his words might have been soft, and the commotion of others might be a little loud, but that word was caught either subconsciously or consciously by these Chosen, and the discussion immediately began to shift.
"Ascendants?" The scholarly- looking, Daoist-robed Chosen's ears perked as the whispers of the word 'Ascendants' began to spread. Few were ignorant of the Ascendants! The faction nurtured by Wei Wuyin, the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn! He was their Emperor!
Moreover, the Ascendants took a large part in assisting the newcomers of the Neo-Dawn Starfield to acclimate. They were the ones taking taxes, regulating a baseline of order, protecting others, and taking jobs to help various organizations establish themselves.
Lin Ming frowned, his heart itching as the name was continuously spoken. They had fought against Hong Chunhu in a secret realm before, and it was a very, very difficult fight.
Qiao Shulin's eyes narrowed as she gazed at the tens of thousands of differently dressed and various racial characters. Her eyes widened once again! She found there were Demons, Elves, Beastmen, and Humans! While appearances were a different metric to gauge race, some humans looked like beastmen and demons due to various Cultivation Methods or obscure bloodlines, even the mythological Titan Race! So when the Ascendants were mentioned, the connection clicked in her mind instantly.
They were Ascendants!
The racially diverse elites of the Neo-Dawn Starfield!
"Are they the Legions of Ascendants?" Ye Zhi asked curiously, giving Yi Yun an asking look. Yi Yun's status as an Ascendant was relatively unknown, but she had inadvertently learned of it.
Legions of Ascendants! There were many rumors of Ascendants, and one of them was established very early on when Ascendants acted to fight against various forces in the Aeternal Sky Starfield to contest for resources and planets. It was during this time that they began to be known!
Yi Yun could feel her gaze but didn't dare to answer. There was no specific oath that said revealing information about Ascendants was forbidden, but doing so meant that one had to report it or else they could lose their position if discovered. After experiencing such a grand treatment, why would anyone risk losing it?
Ye Zhi felt that his silence was telling, and she couldn't help but marvel at the Ascendants. Her eyes glittered with heated passion. Unfortunately, her father refused to join the Ascendants despite Wei Wuyin's existence.
The tens of thousands of Ascendants didn't delay! They all walked toward the Orange Path of Bitterness and entered without the slightest pause. To them, they were extremely anxious and unable to rest until they reached their required stages!
"They actually completed the Red Path! But it's been less than a minute?!" The scholarly-looking Chosen exclaimed as he stood up straight, his eyes gleaming with insight. It was utterly impossible to enter the next path without conquering the path before it!
When the first of the tens of thousands entered, this only proved that they had conquered the 24th Wall!When they all vanished, the crowd was utterly silent.
Qiao Shulin's heart couldn't stop pounding, and she bit her lower lip anxiously. "The Orange Path requires a Pinnacle Timelord strength to conquer! It's much more difficult than the Red Path." She noticed that there were Realmlords amongst the tens of thousands, so this shouldn't be so easy!
Even for past Chosen, some Realmlords couldn't pass the Orange Path!
Yi Yun, however, had an awkward expression. He was fully aware of the treatment Ascendants received, and Wei Wuyin had ordered all Ascendants to reach at least the 90th Wall or Higher depending on cultivation base! Those at the Star Core Phase had to conquer all 108 Walls!
Sixty-eight seconds later...
The sound of tens of thousands of cultivators arriving once again rang through the air. They hadn't all arrived at the same time but most had been fairly equal. When the ones that made it a little bit later noticed this, their eyes revealed a little dissatisfaction.
The tens of thousands didn't even wait for the rest to speculate or make any observations, they rushed the Yellow Path of Bitterness!
Subtly and unexpectedly, the Ascendants began to compete. They were all cultivators with their own egos! As they began to push through each wall, competitive spirits flared in their hearts as they began to see who could break what the fastest!
Shadows fluttered through the Chosen visions as the yellow path was rushed through, leaving most open-mouthed and wide-eyed.
"I-I..." The tall, muscly Chosen stammered. This was his third time, and last time, the Orange Path had stopped him dead in his tracks. He was beaten by someone until he had to forfeit his Mark of Bitterness. If it wasn't for their mercy, he would've lost his life. He never saw that person again.
While he was shown mercy, the next sea was their grave.
The brutalness of the Everpath Voyage was not for the weak- willed.
Eighty-three seconds later!
"I'm first! I'm first!" Zu Zun, the bald demon, shouted as he trembled forward excitedly. His arrival shook the hearts of countless Chosen! They were competing?! Before they could process this, hundreds of others all arrived. They looked at Zu Zun with a tinge of frustration or displeasure, but they didn't move.
Whether it was subconsciously agreed upon, none of them moved to the Green Path of Bitterness.
They were waiting. As more arrived, the tens of thousands all arrived once again, and not a single figure was missing.
"...!"
"Finally!" A beastman of a tortoise lineage remarked before rushing toward the Green Path! They vanished into the portal with explosive speed! The blasting wind sent robes fluttering and hair whipping about!
"The-they..." Qiao Shulin's heart was unable to calm down. If the Orange Path required Pinnacle Timelord strength, then the Yellow Path required Lesser Starlord strength! She had stopped there last time! For eighty-one days!
"What's the strength level for the Green Path?" Chen Yangzi finally spoke, his words a little dry.
Ye Zhi's eyes were abnormally bright. This was her first time participating, but she was extremely knowledgeable and obsessed with Empress Xiaocheng and her feats, so she knew the rough strength needed to conquer each. For example, while the Yellow Path needed Lesser Starlord strength to conquer, this wasn't absolute!
Someone with the strength of a Greater Timelord could shatter the walls with powerful arts, especially Spiritual Arts, or even exceptional armaments. It was simply a matter of resisting the various Seas of Bitterness and the expenditure of energy that followed. It took a long time to recover an iota of astral force or starforce, at least long enough to make eighty-one days incredibly short!
She answered excitedly, "Pinnacle Starlord!" Empress Xiaocheng had reached the 71st Wall, which was the second to last wall of the Blue Path of Bitterness! The Blue Path was abnormally difficult because it exceeded the Mortal Realms, entering the Mystic Star Phase!
Empress Xiaocheng was a recently Ascended Starlord at the time, yet she reached the 71st Wall! Her achievement was legendary!
At the time...
"There's no way Realmlords could beat this path!" A Chosen commented confidently.
Forty-nine seconds.
A figure walked out. It was a flaming-red-haired young man who was enveloped in blazing flames that distorted the air, mana, and space surrounding him. There was a terrifyingly powerful aura of fire leaking out of his body. It was abruptly snuffed out almost immediately after he arrived. His cultivation base wafted out for all to sense.
Their hearts shook intensely!
A Realmlord!
"Am I first?" The young man scratched their head curiously as they looked around, finding none of the other Ascendants nearby. "Am I, Shui Fengbao, really first?!" A bright, excited, and simple smile formed, making it very difficult for anyone to feel any ill feelings toward him.
Erdiul Notes: Shui Fengbao is the old man from the Expo, from chapter 1280. He was the old farmer that decided to attend the expo and was found by WW. He gave birth to a Law Seed of Fire.
