The vast lands of the Evercrown Ceremony had descended briefly into an epic whirl of chaos and near-destruction, the sole efforts of two mortals clashing together and a young horned dragon.
It was mightily brief, only a few breaths of time, yet the events that took place were soul-halting, especially to those fortunate enough to witness the exchange from start to finish. As for those less fortunate, they saw the outcome but not the process. A few hadn't even seen the hole of chaos pierced through or the siphoned lands that stretched for uncountable miles, passing the horizon.
A young man of mixed hair and race stared at the remnant ripples of space, the rapidly closing hole of rent chaos in the horizon, and muttered softly: "So that was a Prime Ascendant!" Yi Yun had ended his cultivation early after feeling the disturbance, fortunate enough to see the rupture of the lands from various locations.
The hybrid Blessed was also among the lucky few saved by the sharp intent that spread through the ambient outpour of light, dispersing the shockwave that threatened to devour these Chosen whole without any signs of their resistance.
Yi Yun was a member of the Ascendants after being recruited and knew of their hierarchy, including the Prime Ascendants who sat closest to the so-called 'His Majesty'. He only knew a few of them, which included only Yao Houyi and Shui Fengbao. As for the others, he had only heard rumors about them. For example, the claws and fangs that served the Ascendant Emperor loyally and faithfully. Thinking of this person, he felt uneasy as a beautiful figure flashed across his memory, causing him to grimace as he touched his chest, feeling the erratic pounding of his heart.
Pain.
The hybrid Blessed was fully aware that the claws and fangs of the Ascendant Emperor was very likely...him.
Seeing the atmosphere die down, Yi Yun decided to resume cultivation. If others could achieve that level of strength, so could he.
He had to.
The Overseer was working heavily to disperse the corrosive demonic glow that had invaded their hands, threatening to taint their entire being, finding this quite amusing. However, in their amusement, they seemingly forgot to perform repairs to the Evercrown Ceremony's various lands. Fortunately, a silver-eyed mortal was handling matters on that front.
Inside the cubical container, Wei Wuyin lightly breathed as he lifted his palm from the ground, allowing the container's flooring to freely repair itself, once again completely sealing the two off inside.
Wei Wuyin observed his palms briefly, feeling quite pleased with how smooth his control over the four different forces had been, especially their unified manner of operation that was seamless as if they belonged to a single heart and soul. There weren't any traces of the slightest disharmony between these Spirits.
"How's your cultivation?" Wen Mingna asked from her seated position. While she didn't show it in an overly obvious fashion, she was quite delighted by the outcome of the battle, but how could Wei Wuyin not notice such emotions? She was clearly deflecting before he brought up the topic.
With a slight smile and a faint shaking of his head, he said: "Since my visit to the Endless Purgatory, it's been going even better. The experience of others..." Wei Wuyin started, and then turned to Wen Mingna, sitting beside her in a similar position, and began to continue the exchange mentally. The two sat before each other as Wei Wuyin began to recite profound aspects of cultivation in the hopes of expediting Wen Mingna's digestion.
The act caused Wen Mingna to joyously smile, but she hurriedly grew serious as he began to give it her all to focus on the various profundities that Wei Wuyin expounded on, profound details that vastly exceeded the Mortal Realms.
While the two underwent a session of cultivation of understanding and comprehension, the winner of the godly clash of mortals had arrived before Ernu.
The Firmament Horned Dragon named Ernu was visibly ecstatic as she rapidly shrunk, becoming the size of a small cat as it leaped into Xue Yifei's embrace. The Dragonborn Saintess had ended her Demonic Dragon Armor, returning to her normal appearance, and allowing Ernu to enter her arms.
She then allowed Ernu to execute an Environmental Integration ability of space, merging their auras and bodies into stable space. They vanished from view.
After doing so, Xue Yifei found a spot in a forest region and sat upon a thick, fallen branch as her expression paled as if drained entirely of blood. She grimaced violently as she tightly held Enru close to her heart, seemingly on the verge of crushing the young dragon. But the dragon didn't make the slightest sound as it looked on with a worried gaze.
This lasted for a full three minutes as her pained expression grew increasingly intense and her body trembled to the point of almost vibrating. The act of moving her heart to the Void was not without its difficulties nor was forcefully taking Yao Houyi's arrow or any of her exceptional feats of strength.
Xue Yifei had made ample preparations and established a series of prepared tactics against every Prime Ascendant, especially Yao Houyi and Shui Fengbao. Wei Wuyin had once said that Yao Houyi had the power to pierce through stars and realms, so she had formulated a plan to capitalize on his developed confidence in his power and ensure that he never pulled his bow to its full length.
She asked for a product or means that could allow her to heal instantaneously even through the deeply destructive and naturally suppressive power of Yao Houyi and Shui Fengbao, and Wei Wuyin accommodated by giving her a simple pill that contained an unfathomable amount of pure, unrefined lifeforce. With all that, she naturally seized the advantage after catching Yao Houyi by surprise.
Unlike others, Xue Yifei was incredibly proud of her husband's status, wealth, and abilities, having no resistance when asking for anything she needed, and she was fully aware that Wwi Wuyin's feelings towards her were strong, especially after her decades of efforts in ensuring this, taking some of the pressure from his shoulders off him, and accompanying when possible. Inevitably, her feelings for him grew stronger as well, likely even more so than his.
She had even asked for a way to seal her heart in the Void, the one aspect that most Mortals, not even the Prime Ascendants, could easily affect without anticipation and planning. Wei Wuyin was likely the only mortal in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region that could influence the Void. She remembered how he had told her the story of when he brought the Four Extreme Continent through the Void. An act that took everything he had at the time. And how he accidentally entered the Void during his first attempt at creating a Void Portal and ended up experiencing a strange lag of self and existence. It was the time he had left her in the Bloodforge Continent.
But the Void was a strange dimension that contained oddities that surpassed both time and space. She had to insist on various protections and assurances to push through her plan, and Wei Wuyin forged a jade seal that would temporarily seal her heart into the Void protectively, making sure that unless someone could harm the Void itself, she could remain alive with her cultivation largely unaffected.
It was also a life-saving treasure that took him a long time to refine. When she thought about how there were only two more uses of it, Xue Yifei couldn't help but sigh. A comfortable warmth suffused her heart as she thought of how Wei Wuyin didn't hesitate to forge this seal with all her wild conditions met or give her that precious lifeforce pill with no question, only happy that she would have a few more means to protect herself.
"Grandma Yifei?" The small horned dragon called out with worry laced in every syllable.
Xue Yifei took a series of breaths as she calmed down, her countenance slowly regaining a rosy complexion of healthiness. She had taken various high-level elixirs and pills on the way here and they were finally working.
"Little Ernu, I'm okay. Just need to rest for a bit." Xue Yifei regained her composure as she rubbed Ernu's head, releasing the dragon from the fate of being hugged.
Ernu was a Genesis Beast at the early Second Level of the Draconic Realm, only having recently reached that level a few months back, and had strength comparable to a Demi-Mortal Lord. She was also Anu's daughter. And in some ways, she was Xue Yifei's great-granddaughter. With Anu's grandmother's soul and foundational bloodline merged with Xue Yifei, this dynamic inevitably existed.
Ernu also saw Xue Yifei as her great-grandmother, often simply referring to her as Grandma Yifei. As for her mother, it was one of the saved dragons from a Spatial Dragon Bloodline very compatible with the Horned Firmament Dragon. She was also one of many children born from the azure dragon, but Xue Yifei had taken a particular liking to Ernu and even named her herself. Using her exceptional access to amazing resources and the Neo-Dawn Vortex-Zone Pellet, she rapidly aged Ernu to sixty years old.
Her treatment wasn't anything less than what Bai Lin enjoyed during her early years, if not more as Xue Yifei often brought Enru to meet her 'Grandpa Wuyin' and walked away with all sorts of goodies almost every single time.
Fortunately, Genesis Beasts were far easier to develop as they simply needed the proper resources and various Bloodline-enhancing products to assist their development and ensure they met the minimum requirements for the next level. This was exactly how Bai Lin rapidly grew in strength over the years.
If not for that, she couldn't have brought a helper. The Chosen King Competition didn't discriminate against species, merely age. As long as they were under the age of five hundred, all could enter. If she had more time, she would've brought Ernu to the precipice of five hundred years in age and swept the competition.
Unfortunately, Ernu was born a little too late, and the Neo-Dawn Vortex-Zone Pellet had its limitations.
"Okay!" Ernu saw how Xue Yifei visibly grew healthier, hearing how her heartbeat was rapidly growing steadier and more powerful, and she nestled herself in her arms while remaining vigilantly on guard.
The Dragonborn Saintess turned her gaze, within each of her hazel eyes with blue flecks reflected the image of three shadowy figures.
Observing Xue Yifei was none other than Ma Luling, who was accompanied by two others.
The first was an average-looking woman with a distinctly mature charm, she was easily recognizable by most as a Descendant of an Earthly Saint of the Ninestar Sainthall. Others would know her as Yue Songli's disciple!
The second was another disciple of the Ninestar Sainthall, and she had once chased after Lin Ming in Everworld. She was the Soul Saint King's disciple! Given that the other two women's masters had an inexplicable relationship as Yue Songli's mother was originally the Soul Saint King's most loyal subordinate, it wasn't odd that they would work together.
As for Ma Luling, she was a descendant of the Ma Clan and mostly operated as a neutral entity, but today, she was trying to actively participate in the competition and reap some gains after gathering information from multiple sources.
"Are we going to...?" Yue Songli's disciple trailed off as her gaze tried to find Xue Yifei. Only Ma Luling seemed to be aware of where she was, but she couldn't find her at all. That said, she trusted Ma Luling's spatial sensory abilities.
The Soul Saint King's disciple's eyes were innately cold and extremely sharp, giving off a look that was hard to remain comfortable under, but she didn't hesitate to send out a few spiritual waves. "Dragonborn Saintess, we're here to offer any assistance you may require."
After seeing the Dragonborn Saintess fight, the trio instantly gathered together and wanted to find a nice, juicy golden thigh to tie themselves to, especially with all the Ascended beings roaming about. They needed to find something lest they lose their lives or worse. There were no rules in the Evercrown Ceremony, and Ma Luling had already witnessed unspeakable atrocities occurring to the mortals who had no strength.
She had no intention of being one of them.
None of them did.
Shockingly, in the last ten days, she discovered that even those who hadn't completed the final wall were allowed entry into the Evercrown Ceremony. While the Chosen of the Sealed Region wasn't entirely ordinary, the main issue was that most of these Chosen were utterly helpless before the strange unknown multi-racial Ascended beings and could only hide and pray. They were relegated to prey.
"Oh? Three appetizers." A voice containing cold malevolence resounded that grated the ears and mind.
The trio's bodies instantly turned as they activated their defenses! A flood of terrifying aura washed over them!
