1415 Chapter 1409: CKC, Valkyrie (13)
The Aurora Borealis of the Seven Aspects that decorated the skies changed; the Aspect of Extraction's brilliance reached a peak limit, surging and fluctuating so intensely that it could be felt in the soul, and it paved the way to a second color within.
The world below the aurora borealis began to experience great changes, as the forestry regions and grasslands started to wildly grow in height and lushly vigor. The Aspect of Growth! As it was born, for a brief moment, all eyes were drawn irresistibly to it, temporarily bringing a halt to every conflict.
"The second aspect has been lit," Xue Yifei quietly whispered to herself. She kept her breathing steady as she kept regathering her expended starforce, replenishing her supply of energies.
"So the time is known," Da Shan stood with her bronze warhammer lazily lying on her shoulder, her golden eyes observing the enchanting grey sky with its two strangely unique colors. With the arrival of the second light within the aurora borealis, the time could now be properly calculated for the complete formation of the Evercrown.
"Brother Yao, shall we move?" Shui Fengbao floated underneath a sea region, casually following the current. Directly to his left, Yao Huoyi had his arms crossed and his head lowered in thought. Eventually, the Archer shook his head. "Not yet."
In a grassland region, Hong Chunhua and Bei Weiwei stood side-by-side, their eyes observing the miraculous change in the sky. The two Commanders of Legions within the Ascendants had solemn expressions. "Na Xinyi and Wu Baozhai…" Bei Weiwei slowly voiced two names, each syllable carried a heavy and forceful weight. Hong Chunhua, however, only nodded as if to confirm Bei Weiwei's thoughts. Slowly, she grasped the hilt of her blade within a sheath decorated in vibrant floral patterns.
"The second light!" Yi Yun exclaimed with a tense expression. He had just witnessed the sky littered with World-Bound Solar Stars, each of them tethered to an Ascendant. He was an Ascendant as well, but he hadn't thought that the Ascendants had reached such an absurd level of development. Even now, his heart was pounding as he thought about the struggle to get his revenge.
Beside him, the Demi-Mystic Lord Chosen of the Human Race's World Beyond was watching with a heavy, anxious frown. She hadn't expected mortals to be able to exhibit such terrifying strength. She was focused on Xue Yifei, who was said to be the concubine of the near-mythological figure known as Wei Wuyin, the mortal who was a Worldly Saint Alchemist. She hadn't believed it at first, but seeing how the Chosen King Competition seemed to have been seized by him, pushed out to be a competition within a competition, she was unable to bring herself to disbelieve it. Furthermore, Xue Yifei, at the Starlord level, was capable of defeating an Earthly Saint.
AN EARTHLY SAINT!! Her heart was not just pounding, it was being violently beaten by undeniable realities that were once fantastical fantasies. The woman couldn't fathom how Xue Yifei could eclipse an entire realm and four stages of cultivation. One had to know that Earthly Saints were often seen as invincible to all beneath their stage of cultivation! This just didn't make sense. None at all!! Could the Chosen from the Azure-Prime Galactic Region be so weak? Or were the mortals simply that freaking strong?!
Her thoughts weren't wrong but they weren't entirely right either; the Chosen from the World Beyond were extremely strong, many at the 7th, 8th, and 9th Rune Ascension while all the Earthly Saints were extremely as terrifying, having a quasi-9th Runic Ascendant State that was forcefully elevated to strengthen themselves, but those like Xue Yifei, Da Shan, Zuhei, and Tian Yinwu all had extraordinary means far surpassing ordinary cultivators.
For example, Da Shan had bronze bracers, greaves, and a warhammer that were Mystic Armaments surpassing the Mystic-Earth grade, supplemented by the Void Wyrm's terrifyingly profound innate powers derived from its scales and blood while being perfectly synchronized to her bloodline. Meanwhile, in every instance of an Earthly Saint's death, they had been either taken by surprise or allowed their opponent to reach their full strength for an explosive burst. Even both!
Give a child enough time with a hammer and they'll be able to wind up enough to crush an adult's skull with a single swing. Especially if the adult was sleeping. But if an adult was awake, killing them was much harder for a child. For example, Zuhei hadn't been able to slaughter all the Earthly Saints in a single go. The legs of an adult were simply capable of fleeing a little faster.
The woman was unable to comprehend this principle, so she was flabbergasted and unable to comprehend how so many of their world's talented experts were being slaughtered by mere mortals. "If they all tire themselves out…" Yi Yun murmured as his eyes glowed with fighting spirit.
Watching from afar, in various regions across the vast lands, thousands of other Ascendants and Chosen from the World Beyond and Sealed Region observed the changes in the sky with various emotions.
There was a particular group that was hidden away, quietly trying to observe the situation while evading detection. Their once rampant and tyrannical malevolent auras were restrained to near oblivion, almost not present.
The charcoal-skinned male and white marble-skinned female Evil Sentinel were both together, and directly in front of them was an androgynous figure that was forged of radiant gold with eyes of gorgeous silver, possessing no iris or pupils, simply eyeballs. They were all garbed in violet robes that faintly rippled with a demonic fluctuation that vanished as soon as it was emitted. These were not the robes they had escaped from their containers with.
"What is this? Who is this Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn? And what's with these strange and powerful mortals?" The white marble-skinned woman questioned with a devilishly alluring voice that felt as if it could claw at the soul, dragging into unknown, irretrievable depths. She wasn't exactly the typical beauty, but her bodily features outside of her skin weren't bad at all.
"..." The charcoal-skinned man frowned heavily. He had awakened the earliest and had done some brief reconnaissance of the experts of this generation, and he had heard a brief rumor about the existence of a Worldly Saint Alchemist that was under the age of five hundred who was participating. He hadn't found anything substantial—until now.
The Evil Sentinel forged of gold with eyes of glistening silver looked to the grey sky with two definitive colors outlining the two aspects of the Alchemic Dao—Extraction and Growth. They slowly spoke, their tone almost as if it was from a recently awakened person, "It doesn't matter. As long as they don't interfere with our goal."
The white marble-skinned woman, however, immediately said: "But look!" She pointed animatedly with her index finger, almost in a child-like manner despite her alluring vocal tone, "This is clearly changing things, detracting from the Chosen King Competition, but the Overseer isn't doing anything about it. Why is that?!" The Overseer of the Evercrown Ceremony was terrifyingly powerful and a great obstacle to their plan.
"..." The two didn't reply immediately, stumped by that question. Logically speaking, the Overseer shouldn't allow someone to hijack the Chosen King Competition for their own goals. Moreover, so blatantly at that.
The charcoal-skinned man couldn't help but say, hiding his intense fear, "When I first emerged, I felt a monstrous presence upon me. It caused a backlash after I tried to investigate its origins. I thought it was one of the Earthly Saints in the area that retaliated after spying, and I was at my weakest, so I couldn't do much. However, that could have been the Worldly Saint Alchemist they were speaking of, and he might not be a mortal."
"What?!" The white marble-skinned woman was shaken as she exclaimed. "Was it a Worldly Saint?! A true Worldly Saint?!" Her thoughts went wild as deep fear flashed across her facial expression, transforming her alluring voice into a screeching voice that felt painful to hear.
"...I don't know." The charcoal-skinned man tensely clenched their fists as that aura once again descended upon his memory, bringing him great fright. At the time, he thought it was due to his weakness, so he shrugged it off, but the mark on his soul was heavier than a planet, crushing his serenity and sense of safety.
"Calm." The golden Evil Sentinel gently said, unleashing a type of spiritual spell that calmed hectic emotions. The woman instantly calmed down, but the fear in the charcoal-skinned man's eyes intensified to an extreme limit, and his heart was pounding so loud that it felt as if explosive shockwaves were being unleashed.
"You…?" The golden Evil Sentinel turned his head to the charcoal-skinned man, and then his silver eyes brightened as his golden eyelids lifted to their limits. Directly behind the two, a young man with silver eyes and an unearthly handsome visage that seemed to defy reality itself was calmly standing there, giving the white marble-skinned woman an interesting, inspecting look, particularly around her hips and slender waist.
As if the young man had just noticed his look, he lifted his silver gaze away and met the Evil Sentinel's eyes. "Greetings!" The young man smilingly said, his tone calm and amicable.
The two Evil Sentinels that were before him instantly jumped as they turned around. Who was this young man?
"You!!" The charcoal-skinned man nearly screamed like a little girl, his eyes bulging out of his sockets, and his blood-stained teeth seemingly restrained his bloody aura. The Evil Sentinel couldn't forget the aura of that person despite so much time having passed, etched deeply in his soul in ways that he couldn't even comprehend.
The white marble-skinned woman was stunned. Could a man be this handsome? She was sent into a stupor.
"Do you recognize this?" Wei Wuyin calmly withdrew an object from his Saint Ring. It immediately exuded a bright radiance of solar light, tainting the entire area in its brilliance.
Out of the three, the golden Evil Sentinel was the only one that reacted. "That's…?!" He didn't seem to recognize the object, but he recognized its origins and aura.
"So you're the liaison for this little venture of theirs, huh?" Wei Wuyin calmly kept the Ultimate Astralis Star, one much larger than the complete
Ultimate Astralis Star he had obtained earlier after a brief competition. It was one of the items that he had obtained after sparing the soul of the
Moonfall Lunar Queen from 'that' existence. This verified that that being was the one behind these Evil Sentinels' existence and likely their
strength. It was just as he assumed.
"Who are you?!" A deep, powerful growl left the golden Evil Sentinel's lips, causing the world to tremble. Faintly, his Mystic Heart Intent was
spurring, threatening to fully unleash.
"I'd rather not kill today, so stow your fangs." Wei Wuyin casually said, his eyes utterly calm. The sight caused the three Evil Sentinels to immediately feel as if their hearts had sunk to the depths of the coldest ocean.
"..." The golden Evil Sentinel eyed Wei Wuyin for a while before reluctantly retrieving his Mystic Intent. He hadn't even sensed Wei Wuyin's approach, so he didn't dare to be careless and provoke an enemy for no reason. Moreover, he had no idea what this silver-eyed youth's cultivation base was, the depths of which were as fathomless as an endless void.
"Good," Wei Wuyin nodded slightly in approval. Then, he looked at the white marble-skinned woman again. He spoke to the golden Evil Sentinel despite his gaze, "I'll tell you this: Unless you retrieve the Evercrown and obtain that wish, all your plans may as well be ash in your mouth."
"...!" The three instantly had a change of expression. A faint glint of malevolence emerged in each of their gazes, filled with an unyielding will to fight to the death. It seemed the chance of freedom was enough to die for. If not this, then what?
But Wei Wuyin was entirely unbothered as their auras hadn't yet unfurled aggressively, so their fearfulness and reluctance to suffer were clearly evident.
"I took over as Overseer for the ceremony, so I've taken on some responsibilities, including ensuring you all go back to your containers. But I can give you all a chance. Do you want to hear it?" Wei Wuyin showed a smile that wasn't a smile.
"What chance?" The golden Evil Sentinel couldn't bother with either of them. He had to complete their objective at all costs. Or he may well die as an imprisoned slave to the Evercrown Ceremony.
Wei Wuyin replied, "Yes. You just have to…"
Na Xinyi and Wu Baozhai's fight continued shortly after the second colorful brilliance was born. They soon met up after dealing with a few enemies.
"When will the others act?" Na Xinyi asked through rapid spiritual transmission. Wu Baozhai was always the most cunning and scheming of the duo, her intelligence was something Na Xinyi admired and aspired to possess, but certain things required longer for others to guess or conclude.
Wu Baozhai was one of the faster ones, but she still needed some time. This wasn't something she felt any sort of complex towards, understanding her strengths and weaknesses.
Wu Baozhai brandished her halberd, three World Heart Intents surging around her as a peerless aura of a Grand Monarch emanated from her eyes.
"When the third brilliance arrives." Wu Baozhai replied hurriedly before rushing off toward the Ascendants. She wanted to finish them all off before things began.
Na Xinyi frowned slightly. Third brilliance? She looked to the sky and it immediately clicked why Wu Baozhai came to that conclusion. Seems like things were going to get hectic very soon.
[Author's Note: Wei Wuyin: Stop sitting on your butts. You're whetstones, not sloths! Evil Sentinels: Yes, Sir!]
