The curtains of the Chosen King Competition fell silently for the last time in history-present and future-of the Sealed Regions. As it touched upon the edges of several worlds with its conclusive fabric, incessant, inscrutable ripples flowed out from contact, leading to unexpected changes and undercurrents, and affecting an uncountable amount of people.
To some, the event led to incomparable fortune and opportunities. To others, the Chosen King Competition was the conclusion of their century-long plans and schemes. To a few, it was a fateful event that needed to be capitalized on for their survival.
"That useless, pathetic, sniveling little bastard! So! Much! WASTED! EFFORT!!!" A roar of rancor and rage followed by a quivering world of a secret realm. The sky had no star, yet glistening white light brightened the world year-round. The roads were paved with jade, and the ruined, dilapidated buildings that were notably of foreign architecture from the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region's normal style, being much larger, much wider, with larger structures were forged of white stone radiating a pure elemental aura.
This was none other than the Paramount Jade Realm, the secret realm of the Jade Element Sect long ago, now designated a special realm by the True Element Sect's upper echelon. It held secrets and benefits far beyond their knowledge. However, a thousand or so years ago, when the Divine King Han Xei joined with the Jade Element Sect becoming a leading figure within and changing its fortune, the realm was mostly sealed off with very limited access.
The last visitors were a duo, an Archaic Chosen and a Saintess of a World Sect-Lin Ming and Lin Xianxei!
Within this realm was a continuous surging of violent, rampaging spiritual strength. Nine differently colored lights, each representing one of the nine elements, stormed across the lands, yet the buildings and roads that had fallen to ruin due to time remained entirely undamaged.
"I used everything! I gave up eight hundred years of cultivated Divine Origin! I split a portion of my soul!! All for what?! ALL FOR NOTHING!!" A huff of howling shouts kept resounding throughout the realm. Curses of both plain and creative origins blasted out, aimed at a single individual.
"LIN MING! YOU USELESS IDIOT!!!" The last howl erupted with unrestrained fury, expelling out everything with a volume that could deafen giants and crumble mountains. Almost immediately, a long, forlorn silence followed. The silence was gloomy, despondent, and heavy, incomparably so, as if it carried the last visages of a long-held hope.
After a long, long, long time-
"I shouldn't have chosen him," The voice within the realm, echoing from every building, every brick laid, every morsel of dirt, air, and water throughout the realm, resounded quietly, defeated, and depressed.
"...I guess I can only rely on her. I really don't want to, especially after discovering such a fantastic seedling and perfect vessel. However, it's still best to live as an alternative lifeform than to not exist at all. I don't have enough time to consider anymore." The voice of this secret realm, seemingly originating from everything within, swept through the lands by its lonesome.
A spiritual light jetted out of a temple, shooting beyond the starless sky, and finding its way toward a young woman with golden hair and golden eyes, as exquisite, beautiful, and soul-stirring as a legendary, unrivaled painting. She paced as her thoughts raced. In her hand was a crumbled talisman-a life talisman. It carried the last remnant traces of a late Archaic Chosen's life aura.
The rims of her eyes were pinkish, signs of incessantly shredded tears. Her emotions were an utter mess, reasonably so. This life talisman belonged to none other than a young, hopeful, talented, and brilliant young man. While their relationship recently has slowly drifted apart as she came to terms with his foretold obstruction of her happiness, which was only validated as that silver-eyed figure rose higher and higher, only exacerbated by his peerless charm and the interesting interactions they've had, he was still someone who saved her life when she was at her lowest.
Lin Xianxei clutched at the crumbled remains of the talisman with both hands, holding it close to her heart, but she felt no warmth, only a devoid chill. She looked at her feet. Shouldn't she feel...more? Her emotions had almost fully processed after a short cry, almost instantly accepting Lin Ming's death as if it was always a possibility. She couldn't quite process how little she felt after her initial outburst. In fact...
She felt...
...relieved?
Was she a bad person?
Moreover, all she could think about were that bright, carefree smile and silver eyes that shone with unimaginable spirituality. Suddenly, her chest glowed with a nine-colored light, a burst of elemental radiance emitted from her glabella, and her golden eyes widened. Within the depths of her Mind's Eye, there were two types of soulful lights within, deeply entangled.
She replied softly as if to the world itself, "Understood." The Saintess of the True Element Sect, Lin Xianxian, dropped the life talisman and flew away without any hesitation, not looking back even once. She was flying towards the entrance of the Paramount Jade Realm!
As she moved, up in the Dark Void above, a hazy figure with nine-colored eyes brightly shining through watched. With clenched fists, Han Yuhei exuded a heavy aura of hesitation.
On one side, family.
On the other side, prospects.
His past?
Or his future?
After watching Lin Xianxian vanish within the unique Void Gate leading only to the Paramount Jade Realm, the figure's clenched fists loosened. The brightness of his eyes dimmed.
"I'm sorry cousin," he muttered softly. He brought out a uniquely grey-colored transmission crystal etched with esoteric runes that exuded a faint aura of the void. He sent a message. Then, he shot toward the Void Gate, activated it, and entered.
Stellar Nest, Neo-Dawn Starfield's Outpost.
After discovering the Stellar Nest, Wei Wuyin had mortals stationed within and Ascendants stationed at certain points to retrieve these mortals. They were all geared with equipment designed for capturing Stellar Light and safely defending themselves against their absurdly fast speed and great numbers.
It was a farm. The outpost itself was quite massive, about the size of a large mortal city, built upon a profound array and series of formations that could spatially shift the entire population away at a moment's notice, reinforced by the Minor Authority of Laws and Void Crystals, so not even an Earthly Saints could try to halt the process.
The inhabitants within were quite happy and lively. They joyfully spend their days cultivating and capturing Stellar Light. What they earned from their efforts was sent to their family in the Neo-Dawn Starfield's dual habitable layers, World Dawn and Defiant Dawn. While it wasn't an easy job, the benefits were incredible.
From afar, several dozen figures, from every gender, tall and shirt, slim and fat, muscular and skinny, as if from all walks of life, observed the outpost cautiously under concealment that even the nearby Stellar Light ignored.
"It's almost time," an extremely tall figure amongst them said while exuding a faint demonic light from their eyes, emitting the presence of an endless chasm of corrosive might. He held a hand-sized oval mirror that reflected the glorious image of Baby Defiant, the Neo-Dawn Solar Star!
A young violet-haired woman bent a knee to the ground, touching the faintly exuded grey mist with her delicate, flawless hands and observing the continuously growing minute cracks on the surface. Her eyes contained a type of irrepressible worry that was hard to erase, yet she hurriedly hid it as the tall figure turned to her.
"When it does, I'll keep my promise and protect those few friends of yours from enslavement and the dispersal of their souls." The extremely tall figure said, and the young woman replied with an absent-minded nod. The figure didn't seem too concerned by her reaction or lack thereof. He instead looked toward his mirror that bore the image of Baby Defiant.
"The beginning of Demonic Supremacy will start here, and the end of the three races' superiority will conclude with those dastardly, vile cretins deaths." His words carried a ripple of feverish emotion and maniacal passion, containing a flavor of long-awaited hope and unshakeable belief.
"For the Demonic Sovereign," he proclaimed.
The others among his group, all exuding a demonic radiance that could shake the soul, including the young violet-haired woman, all echoed those words. But in the end, the young woman's voice wasn't as firm as the others.
...but this went ignored.
"Is this just my fate? My destiny?" A soft, hoarse voice resounded in an area of dim light. The area was gargantuan, with dozens of trees that reached into the sky for seemingly ever and dug through the earth violently and deep with roots as large as small cities. The trees were as thick and tall as a world tree of myth, mystically spread across the entire world. Each tree was of a different color, and made of a different material. One was made of glowing lava, another of grey sand. The tree made of translucent bark where one could see throbbing green veins, glistening with rich emerald light, contained several figures shackled by thick golden chains, each the thickness of a man's arm. They were bound-no, not just bound, but crucified to the tree, tied and restrained by those golden chains and held aloft at its base.
The voice belonged to an unhealthily bony and dry-skinned emerald-haired woman. Her eyes were dim and exhausted, complexion pallid to an extreme, and her sharp ears drooped slightly, yet her body pulsed an unrelenting will to survive as her life force kept its vibrant, unending strength.
Struggling with all her might to lift her chin, she inclined her restrained, chained neck to gaze at the sky. There was no starry sky or a cascade of brilliant light from a star. The only radiance being emitted within this vast world was from the crown of the trees. There were various Illuminating lights with the tree she was attached to emitting emerald radiance.
This was her third time in shackles.
This was her third time captured.
This was her third time...
The thought caused her lips to quiver uncontrollably, and the urge to cry swelled within her chest. She hurriedly contained her unshed tears. "Crying is useless in a crisis. That's what father always says. I can't give up." She slowly gritted her teeth as she tried to move the shackles with her thin, fragile arm. They didn't budge more than a millimeter.
When several attempts failed, she couldn't help but feel the depression and fear echoing in her heart and thoughts. How long had she been here? The tree was only a small seedling before, no larger than a full-grown apple tree when she arrived, and now it was large enough to engulf a tiny-sized planet with its incomparably thick roots.
No one had come.
Was no one looking for her?
The thought caused a figure to emerge in her thoughts. A gentle smile without any lust or sullied thoughts, containing only the purest of kindred feelings to comfort and enjoy her company. That joke from atop the platform that dispersed all her tension, leaving her forgetting the world that day, and eliciting laughter was one of the few things that kept her calm. Over and over she would recite it, smiling or chuckling like a mad woman at times.
Without it, she would have grown mad. Or worse, given up.
What was he doing now?
Was he well?
Would he come a third-
Suddenly, fixed space rippled before her. Her heart clenched with hatred and unyielding spirit as she stared on, seeing the arrival of a tall, slender, and exceedingly beautiful woman. She had a slim waist that was so huggable that it could tempt those who weren't interested in the slightest in women. Her pointy ears had earrings, three on the left and four on the right, that glistened with mystical light and varying, gorgeous colors.
"The final harvest is nigh," the elven woman softly remarked.
The Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn floated in the Dark Void, basking in the enriched solar rays of Baby Defiant. He was like an invincible guardian, overseeing the protection of the starfield with its master gone, as if it was Wei Wuyin itself.
Inexplicably, he ended his cultivation efforts as he lifted his gaze toward the vast starry sky. His eyebrows furrowed as he felt a series of spatial fluctuations throughout the world.
"What's happening?" He slowly stood upright, his bearing imposing and his aura seething. He was ready to act at a moment's notice to any developments. He wasn't alone; the powerful inhabitants of the Neo-Dawn Starfield at the Mystic Ascendant Realm and Grand Cyclic Stellar Region all reacted. They gazed beyond into the starry skies from every direction, shooting upwards with blitzing speed shrouded in mystic light or outright spatially shifted right above their planets' atmospheric layers.
[Author's Note:We'll begin our journey of the Volume 7 a little late. But it's HERE! I'm ready! My body, soul, and fingers! LET'S GO! Different release time. But don't worry, we'll figure it out as we go.
