Tambu Ma's eyes furrowed slightly as his figure flashed beside the burnt, fleshy pile that Yazu Ma had been reduced to. The Earthly Saint of the Titan Race promptly executed Temporal Reversion, targeting Yazu Ma's disastrous state. In the view of everyone, they saw Yazu Ma's fate play out in reverse.
The Titan that had been burnt to fleshy cinders gradually rose and slowly resumed their humanoid figure. Slowly, those watching saw how his body had spontaneously combusted without warning as if a Solar Star had unleashed a supernova in his body, his entire body had become like a light bulb. Fortunately, it gradually receded and the scintillating radiance dimmed until his slightly crispy and burnt flesh remained. This was the result of the initial contact he had by testing the environment with his body.
Soon, the blazing solar energies within his body were forcefully expelled by Temporal Reversion, leaving his body and his burnt skin slowly regressed before the eyes. Yazu Ma's eyes were insanely wide as fear overtook his soul. He wanted to scream out after suffering such a painful, indescribable fate of melting, but Tambu Ma sealed off his voice with a wave of his hand.
He waved his palm, sending Yazu Ma out of the area in an instant.
"All of you, leave." Tambu Ma said with a tone of unquestionable authority. The Titans realized the severity of the issue as Tambu Ma's expression was slightly pale, clearly he paid a heavy cost to bring back Yazu Ma. They didn't tally either, flying out while keeping their Mystic Wards reinforced. When they turned after escaping, they saw dozens of black dots up above and a field of white smoke covering the black glass.
"How can they possibly withstand this environment? How are they even alive as mere mortals?" Tula Yi couldn't help but ask as she felt her soul shaken by the scene. Those black dots and the white smoke were definitely like Da Shan and Bo Kay, those who were assiduously cultivating somehow.
Yazu Ma was shivering in the side. Despite his cultivation base, combustion and melting were entrenched in his memories. It was an indescribable experience that he wouldn't wish on his greatest enemy, and his intensely quivering eyes showcased that his mental state suffered heavy damage.
A few keen-eyed cultivators noted that Yazu Ma's Heart of Cultivation had been shaken. If he were to have the opportunity to venture into unknown lands, he might be subjected to hesitation and fear, losing out on potential opportunities due to that. It wasn't a complete end of his cultivation path, but it certainly meant his future might be impeded.
Tambu Ma felt a headache as he dispersed the lingering blazing solar energy that was infecting his body. Earlier, he had allowed the heat to scorch him, but it had left behind faint wisps of solar energy that were devouring his innate energies to fuel itself, trying to fuse with him as a whole and convert him into a Solar Star. Of course, despite being an Earthly Saint, a grand Ascended being, he didn't have the fortitude to survive such a transformation.
As for those mortal cultivators covered in white smoke, they were freely allowing the solar energy to fuse with their World-Bound Star Domain, exerting any excess to refine their bodies and cultivation bases, thereby generating this white smoke. He didn't know what those above were doing, but he assumed that it was some form of gravity-based tempering and training.
Unlike them, he didn't have a World-Bound Star Domain with its true essence intact, like many World Beyond Chosen present, having developed it through other esoteric methods, so many of its normally innate powers were heavily limited or outright not present. The same logic applied to all things, such as an Artificial Seed of Law, an Artificial Solar Star, and an Artificial World Rune.
"An opportunity for those who cultivate the peak of their paths without any superfluous or artificial means," he slightly whispered as a hint of rarely felt inferiority rubbed against his heart without the slightest gentleness.
The Earthly Saint titan stood frozen for a few seconds before eventually shaking his head, shoving down that sensation to the farthest depths of his mind. He turned to the pillar of light and decided to take the fragment. With a step forward, his body entered the pillar as if he were entering a reverse waterfall.
He vanished within.
After several minutes, Tambu Ma's figure stepped out. He didn't seem to have suffered any injuries or setbacks, just a shade paler as the effects of Temporal Reversion and Ascended being were affecting him. However, this fragment wasn't difficult to claim. Any Soul of Mysticism Phase cultivator could. Typically, the most difficult portion of acquiring the fragment was the competition that would be unleashed shortly after.
But clearly, as his gaze swept across the black dots and white smoke, this Chosen King Competition was vastly different than before. He couldn't help but wonder how many from the World Beyond were even alive. That internal thought inspired gloom in his sunken heart.
The bestial mutant had slaughtered so many already. Moreover, despite leaving, he didn't see a single Earthly Saint nearby. Did he kill them all? Was he the last one left? If so, why was he here?
A severe crisis of the heart was currently unfolding as he easily acquired the fragment without any resistance. In fact, his potential competitors had freely told him to obtain the fragment, uncaring if he possessed it or not. He hadn't realized it before, but this strongly suggested that they didn't see him as important or a threat. The further he thought about it, the stronger that sensation of grim realization emerged in his mind.
Did they...not fear him in the slightest?
His hectic and declining thoughts of self-confidence and rising inferiority, however, was timely disrupted by a voice from the white smoke.
"You should cultivate; the third stage of the competition is a ways away." Despite many things happening since, it was barely touching the 43rd day of the competition. The second stage began roughly around the 53rd to 54th day of the competition. They still had ten or so days left before the merged fragments lost their powers.
Tambu Ma's heart jolted from Da Shan's words of advice. He had nearly forgotten that this was barely halfway into the competition. He looked at the Aspect of Fusion within his palms, sensing how its powers interacted with his body. The Alchemical Spirit Remnants within his body could vaguely be sensed now.
These were from all the Mystic-Earth graded products he had consumed in his lifetime. Typically, one needed an Alchemist of the Alchemic Stars of Spiritual Transcendence to sense and interact with these Alchemical Spirit Remnants of the mystic-grade. They were often peak-elite Earthly Saint Alchemists or renowned Worldly Saint Alchemists.
Despite his backing, he didn't have the juice to call forth a heavy hitter like that. Those alchemists often stayed tethered to the true Chosen of the World Beyond, who focused on their foundation to an extreme, and whose main goals were to become Original Magistrate or Mystic Overlords.
Despite his superiority in the Chosen King Competition, a large portion of his potential, of all the Earthly Saint's potential in the competition, had been greatly exhausted to reach this point at a rapid paste. While their lack of a sturdy foundation might not matter much now, when trying to succeed in the trials to ascend to higher levels, they would most certainly find themselves severely lacking, either ending up as a cripple or outright dying.
There was still a remnant of hope, however.
As long as they obtained a good showing and proved themselves, gaining fortune within the Chosen King Competition, and acquiring all the benefits from becoming one, they could pave their way to becoming a Mystic Overlord or further!
"..." He thoughtfully conjured his nine Mystic Runes, his eyes growing increasingly dim and his mind hazy. In the eyes of the ignorant, his 9th Runic Ascendant State might seem incomparably glorious, elevating him into a top-notch talent of the ages, but the truth was considerably darker and more soul-sinking than it seemed.
Cultivation was difficult. Whether it was Wang Yutian, the soul within San Yongli's Sea of Consciousness, or the Ascended Sovereigns themselves, this statement would forever remain an irrefutable truth of the world. But just like anything else, such as one's looks, forcefully elevating it through certain methods exists.
In actuality, Tambu Ma was a 6th Runic Ascendant; the other three had been introduced into his body post-ascension using a Heavenly Treasure. Because of this, he could only execute Ascension Arts up to the Sixth Way. In the same vein, the 76th Noble Prince had reached only the 7th Runic Ascendant; these limitations were set for him as well.
Normally, this would be something to parade and be joyful for, but his time to cultivate had been cut prematurely short, so he could have potentially reached the 9th Runic Ascendant State if given the full thousand or so years that the others were given. He had, after all, achieved a 9th Rune Ascension.
But alas, five hundred years was the limit. Furthermore, he had to be placed in a soul-stasis to prevent himself from aging out of the competition, causing some unnatural resistance to the flow of time in this world. Because of that resistance, using things such as Temporal Reversion, other Temporal-type Ascension Arts, or arts that included Temporal-type runic strengths cost considerably more than typical Earthly Saints. This would last until he corrected the incongruent temporal flow his body possessed. This alone might take thousands of years.
While he had agreed to all of it, it was all for the sake of obtaining the Evercrown and its benefits that would outweigh tens of thousands of years of cultivation. But now, as his thoughts circulated continuously, he bleakly realized that these mortals were far too strong to handle, and he had almost no chance of becoming Chosen King or assisting the eventual winner of his race and gaining slight benefits from those backing him.
It was hard for the gloom to not pervade his soul and corrupt him entirely.
He was lost.
In the world, there were strange, almost insignificant things that could potentially shatter one's Heart of Cultivation or their will to continue onwards. It could be a comparison. It could be a thought of envy followed by realization. It could even be a heartbreak.
Tambu Ma's life experiences were already a mountain upon his shoulders, and the existence of the Ascendants had caused his legs to give out, his shoulders to sag, and the mountain to...
...crush him.
Deeply dispirited, Da Shan's voice resounded in his ears. "What are you waiting for? We don't have time to waste. After the second stage ends, the final merging process will begin." The gorgeous titan of a demonic lineage urged on from the white smoke.
"..." Tambu Ma was already gone in heart and will. Still, he decided to follow along with Da Shan's words, seemingly lost at what to do next. He obediently found Da Shan and sat next to her. While he couldn't cultivate using solar energies, he could use the fragments.
"Hand over the fragments. We'll connect with their powers through the Internal World within," Da Shan instructed. She opened a link to her Spatial Ring that contained the combined fragment. No one cared who took it, and the four Commanders were more at ease if Da Shan had it. After all, she was his Majesty's over, so she certainly had means that would make even the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor hesitant to act.
Tambu Ma nodded, doing exactly as he was told listless in spirit. With five fragments together, he connected with their unique powers, already realizing that there were dozens of others also connecting with this ring. It seemed that Da Shan had freely opened it to everyone present, including his group outside the white smoke boundary, and even the ones not part of her group.
He didn't mind it. After focusing on the Aspect of Fusion's power, he began to assimilate it into his body, slowly breaking down his Alchemical Spirit Remnants and gaining some benefits from old efforts.
Somewhere in a cavernous region, a group of hundreds of cultivators, all with restrained auras gathered. A charcoal-skinned man with blood-red teeth and glowing white eyes was at the center, the others gathered around him with fervent gazes.
"Our chance at freedom is nigh." A sinister voice filled with deep resentment filled the cave. Silently, the eyes of each cultivator present erupted with malevolent light.
Tian Yinwu's efforts of placing crystalline flags remained unimpeded. The Imperial Prince redoubled his efforts to ensure he made it on time.
Wei Wuyin leaned against his container. The young woman had turned away from him, facing a corner of the cube, and he couldn't help but smile. With his silver eyes, he looked at the sky, seeing how all things were unfolding.
"I wonder if it'll end like that," Wei Wuyin whispered to himself. Shortly after, he couldn't resist the urge to grin.
Slowly, time passed; the 53rd day arrived, and the fragments' miraculous powers abruptly dissipated. The air tensed.
[Author's Note: 1,400! Still insane to write. I have to say: THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE AND ALLOWING THIS TO BE POSSIBLE. You guys are absolutely bamf's of life.]
