The shout by the scholarly Chosen was dripping with fear and terror, but there was a decisiveness within his eyes worthy enough for his position amongst elites of a generation as he breathily huffed, expanding his chest and causing his nose to bleed profusely. The various innate energies within his body began to rapidly circulate in the most forceful manner imaginable, producing thunderous bangs within every inch of his body.
Inexplicably, he pushed against the overflowing will of the Mystic Dao threatening to seize control of everything.
As he performed this, the others were outright stunned as the Mystic Heart Intent descended. Their Mystic Power, Mystic Auras, and Mystic Energies all stalled to a complete stop, sending their bodies and Sea of Consciousnesses into turbulent disorder.
The female cultivator who had suffered some earlier damage to her foundation couldn't resist the force. The light in her eyes rapidly faded; if not for the will's forceful stoppage of her flowing energies, she would've undergone the process of Cultivation Deviation and-
BOOM!
Her fortune, however, was a misfortune in disguise as she was as hapless as a fish out of the water, laid nicely on a cutting board.
The female cultivator who lost her leg was completely frozen where she stood. The immensely terrifying will descended and seized her mind, body, and soul. She was completely at the mercy of this.
The overweight cultivator's weight oddly began to rapidly decrease as the will washed over him, and he suddenly became slender, muscular, and shockingly handsome with a dashing air of valiant and valor. The weight that hid his true appearance dissipated, and as he did, his aura began to rapidly increase.
The coldly indifferent woman in a sensual outfit that could stimulate any common man was shivering intensely and erratically. The light in her eyes intensified to a state reminiscent of a Solar Stars blinding radiance. Within her gaze, the phenomenon of a Star Implosion erupted as the air around her exploded, shoving the Mystic Heart Intent away alongside its influence.
The scholarly Chosen, the overweight cultivator, and the coldly indifferent woman were all Chosen from the World Beyond, and their status and methods were not ordinary in the slightest.
"Oh? What unique methods!" A shocked voice resounded from the pyramids' original location like a sweeping wave. Suddenly, the focus of the world's energies, essence, mana, light, gravity, space, time, and everything in between began to converge on the coldly indifferent woman.
Her eyes, emitting the gorgeous sight of two supernovae unleashing their ferocity, widened and rippled with dread. "Save me, Liu Zhiyuan!" She called out with a hoarse voice. Her normally emotionless tone gave way to emotions containing fright, and unwillingness, with a tinge of hope.
However, the scholarly Chosen gave her the briefest of looks before performing a series of hand-seals at speeds that could confound Worldly Saints. Within the blink of an Ascended's eye, he had already completed over two thousand hand-seals. As each seal was completed, it seemed to manifest a glowing rune on his skin.
They were all exuding spatial power!
Then, poof!
The scholarly Chosen vanished in such a profound way that it caused the voice filled with mania to exclaim with legitimate surprise. It was almost as if he had been deleted out of existence. Curiosity garnered a ravagingly powerful Spiritual Sense descended to inspect the area, seemingly trying to locate him or the properties of the art he used.
The despair in the woman's erupting eyes grew tangible and heavy with depression. No one knew that the scholarly Chosen and herself had been in an illicit, hidden relationship for the last eighty years. For years they said things like 'love', they said things like 'to the peak', and she gave him her most precious...
The thought nearly crumpled her mentally right then and there. Her eyes filled with a depressed weakness moved and saw the once overweight cultivator. As she recalled their relationship, she couldn't help but think that her life was over. The overweight cultivator had been trying to pursue her for a century but had been curbed in every attempt he made since. She belittled him, used him whenever possible for her own benefit, and felt that he was a fool whenever she was with Liu Zhiyuan.
His feelings had been ruthlessly crushed and disrespected for over a century, but how could the coldly indifferent woman truly understand that different people had different feelings?
The once overweight cultivator's eyes were taken aback by Liu Zhiyuan's escape, but he had greater priorities. The Evil Sentinel that had just left their container was distracted, so he hurriedly used this brief opportunity to directly ignite his Mystic Soul. A gushing wave of Mystic Aura left his body that had reached a level comparable to a Demi-Mystic State, granting him a burst of extremely potent Mystic Power.
He didn't hesitate to take a step!!
But he didn't leave! He didn't even have the thought of departing! Not without...
He rushed toward the coldly indifferent woman! His movements were like rampant lightning and rumbling thunder as he blasted away the gathering of forces around her, grabbing her in a bridal carry, and eliciting a cry of shock. The moment he grabbed her, his eyes exuded a frightening degree of light that felt like a lighthouse lit in darkness.
His next move caused his valiantly handsome physique to rapidly dissipate as a desiccated, corpse-like look overtook him that was as skinny with little flesh, almost all bones. If not for his bright eyes and imposing aura, he would've been easily mistaken as a long-dead corpse!
In a flash, his power reached levels of unimaginable levels for a Soul of Mysticism cultivator! It exceeded the Demi-Mystic Lord! IT REACHED THE EARTHLY SAINT LEVELS!
There were always rumors and assumptions that Wei Wuyin used self-harming methods to obtain great power at key moments, but this was the sight of true self-harming methods!
Despite his considerable loss, the overweight cultivator didn't even blink or hesitate to sacrifice himself and risk himself further to take the coldly indifferent woman away, startling her to her soul. Anyone could tell that the result of this would have far-reaching, likely permanent consequences.
BOOSH!
With her in his arms, he shot out like a blazing star.
His efforts and sacrifice were not without fruit. The Evil Sentinel's senses turned, but by that point, he was already tens of thousands of miles away and getting further.
"..." The Evil Sentinel didn't chase. After a while, a tall, imposing figure with hulking muscles standing at eight-foot tall, charcoal-like skin, exuding the aura of a human, walked out of the container with a woman held by the throat. Unknowingly, the fourth woman who had mostly been injured was captured.
The Evil Sentinel eyed the horizon where the overweight cultivator and coldly indifferent woman escaped to. "What interesting little fellows," he commented with a deeply discomforting voice that resembled a scratch across a chalkboard.
The woman in his arms tried to struggle with her hands, but her cultivation base was sealed the moment she was captured. How could she possibly resist? He opened his mouth toward her, revealing a row of strangely reddish teeth that were seemingly stained with blood.
"HUUU!" With one bellowing inhale, the woman's body began to crumble piece by piece into dust that flowed into the man's mouth. Within a few brief breaths, her entire body had been turned into dust and found itself in the Evil Sentinel's body.
"Oh! Fresh!" The Evil Sentinel exclaimed as pulses of Mystic Intent irradiated from him as a darkly colored light.
"Next!" The horror in the eyes of the other two women was violently present as they tried to struggle against the Mystic Heart Intent imposed on their bodies, but they were caught and brought to the hulking Evil Sentinel, devoured all the same.
Slowly, the seething aura of the Evil Sentinel grew clear. However, he didn't exude a strong world presence like Xu Yun but felt more like the Trueborn's leader and the Divine Emperor.
He looked towards the sky as if staring at the heavens. Then, he turned toward a direction and his gaze seemingly traversed countless miles, landing on a cubical container.
"Oh?" Wei Wuyin stood there, observing this all. He realized this person was at the Earthly Saint Phase, but he had thoroughly grasped Mystic Heart Intent. Unfortunately, it lacked substance and essence of the Mystic Dao, being as incomplete as the Trueborn's leader and the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor.
His cultivation was on the verge of breaking through to the Worldly Saint Phase, but a suppressive power prevented him from calling forth the tribulation of the Mystic Dao. With his experience, he knew only beings at the level of the Ascended Sovereigns eighty thousand years ago could properly establish such drastic restrictions.
Still, possessing Mystic Heart Intent as an Earthly Saint gave one an advantage that was unfathomable.
Wei Wuyin's eyes flared with Elemental Heart Intent and Saber Heart Intent. A wave of will surged out of the container without the slightest obstruction.
From across countless miles, the eyes of the Evil Sentinel bled as he grimaced, bearing his blood-stained teeth with animalistic ferocity. However, the fear in his eyes couldn't be hidden despite all his attempts to do so. An aura was marked in his heart, and he hurriedly flew off to find more nourishment. After being in that container for so long, he was lacking power. If not, how could those others possibly escape?
"You'll be a good whetstone for the others," Wei Wuyin calmly said to himself, deciding not to interfere in the competition by acting against the Evil Sentinel. "Furthermore, there are a few other abnormalities present like that prince as well. I wonder if this competition..."
"Oh?" His Celestial Eyes had caught sight of a fleeting figure obtaining a fragment of the Evercrown in a fierce competition of Chosen. The fight was intense. Not everyone was lucky enough to obtain the Evercrown with no one around. The woman who won that fight, losing an arm as a result, was the one whom he had saved from Tian Yinwu. She was currently being chased by four powerful Chosen.
"Interesting. That's the Aspect of Transformation, huh?" Wei Wuyin had inspected the various fragments as they were found, realizing they each had unique abilities to those who were in possession of them. This fragment could instantly assist in the conversion of essence into energy, and energy into power, and was close to being a Heavenly Treasure.
More importantly, the fragment had a unique product inside of it. From what Wei Wuyin could gauge, it was a Mystic-World product that could greatly enhance one's strength.
From the memories of the two disruptors in the Everclash, Wei Wuyin learned that Mystic-World products were not common objects despite the greater number of Worldly Alchemic Saints present and that largely had to do with a cultivator population to Alchemist ratio.
Even when compared to the Sealed Regions, the Azure-Prime Galactic Region's supply situation was considerably worse. While it took an absurdly long time to concoct products of that level, refining them was far easier and quicker, so the disparity only grew in availability as supply could never keep up with demand.
That said, the quantity of Mystic-Earth products was quite impressive in recent years, being rather plentiful as Earthly Saint Alchemists or true Alchemic Alchemists of the Mortal Realms were rather plentiful across the numerous forces throughout the galactic zone, especially those that came out of the Everlore Starfield in recent millennia. If not for that, how could these Chosen be so frighteningly numerous and powerful?
After all, they were all under five hundred years of age! Even Soul of Mysticism Phase cultivators had ten thousand years of life!!
"These fragments of the Evercrown..." Wei Wuyin murmured as his gaze flitted to a half-human, half-elf that was fiercely cultivating using the Aspect of Growth. He seemed to be trying to grow his Star Seed with it, and it was extremely effective. The fragment was a Heavenly Treasure! Only beings beyond Mystic Overlords could forge them, so the properties and effects were utterly incredible, even if it was fragmented.
"The True Sage or True Soul Phase..." Wei Wuyin didn't think the Heavenly Treasure was forged by cultivators of that level, but by an Alchemist that could harness their profound powers through the Alchemic Dao.
A Heavenly Alchemic Saint!
"Why are you doing all this?" Wei Wuyin looked at the sky, curious as to why the King of Everlore would set this all up. For some reason, he thought about the four Hegemons-the Founding Monarch, the Demonic Abyss Mountain Lord, the Sacred Elven Queen, and the Divine King. When he thought about the Sacred Elven Queen and the Demonic Abyss Mountain Lord, several faces of world-shocking beauty flashed across his mind as well.
With a sigh, he placed the thought to the back of his mind. He'll have to handle all of that later...
While the Chosen King Competition was underway, a white-colored ship traversed several stellar regions with purpose.
If the trajectory was properly calculated, it was likely headed to the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone!
Erdiul's Note: WW is really smurfing in piss low, lmao. (League of legends term, if you don't get it.)
