"You!" Xun Yicao's wrinkles trembled as his eyes widened, revealing bursts of unhindered rage spewing vehemently. He explosively stood up, directly exerting his Mystic Aura, revealing his Demi-Mortal Lord cultivation base to the world, whipping up a torrential storm reflecting his tumultuous anger. His movements were not that of an aged cultivator, but spry and vigorous, filled with innate authority built by years of worship and respect.
While his exclamation was inherent, this unsightly expression conveyed to the world his thoughts. To kill! To destroy! When has he, Xun Yicao, Grand Mortal Sovereign Monarch, and the Imperial Alchemist of the Tian Clan, ever received such blatant disrespect and insults?
Given his advanced age, he's experienced countless setbacks and offenses, yet Xun Yicao couldn't recall ever being so humiliated before an audience as grand as the entire stellar region's true leaders. It was easy to understand why his reaction was so extreme.
Even Ma Zheng felt that Wu Yu was pushing Xun Yicao too far, but words spoken were the hardest to take back. It was out there, and Wu Yu's cold, sharply narrowed eyes revealed that he had no intention of taking a single syllable back!
The Imperial Clan had twelve Earthly Saints present, and they had dismissively watched Wu Yu act imperiously like a misguided dog, not treating him with the slightest bit of seriousness. His so-called 'Young Lord' was in the spotlight, the creator of the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill, a main trigger for the summit, so they afforded Wei Wuyin some respect as instructed prior, but this was the definition of 'giving an inch and taking a mile'.
Without needing any orders, all the Sky Monarchs and Imperial Monarchs present, excluding Empress Xiaocheng, exerted their Mystic Will in Wu Yu's direction in unison. It was a miraculous display of unification and cohesion that caused a thunderous explosion to resound as Wu Yu's throne shook. Suddenly, cracks spread across his throne and released bursts of mystic light, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
As for Wu Yu, his eyes became exceptionally cold, resisting the combined pressure using his Awakened Mystic Intent. The eight core Mystic Runes inside his Mystic Soul emitted vast mystic lights in a show of defiance. However, Wu Yu felt as if a gigantic hand was crushing his entire body.
For the first time since becoming an Earthly Saint, Wu Yu felt himself losing. However, confusion grew in his eyes as he was uncertain why these members of the Imperial Clan could freely attack him in such a direct manner. Even if it was merely using their Awakened Mystic Intent manifested as formless, crushing pressure, it still should breach the Mythical Oaths.
After two seconds, Wu Yu found himself sweating bullets, his throne had shrunk by half its size, and his Mystic Soul's Mystic Runes began to release a strange vibrating sound. They were nearing their breaking point!
Shaken to his core, Wu Yu was about to defend himself fully—Mythical Oaths be damned!
Right at that moment, Empress Xiaocheng expressionlessly waved her exquisitely hand that seemed to have been sculptured by immortal fairies. All the pressure crushing against Wu Yu melted away as if it didn't exist, receding to their owners.
Wu Yu heavily inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, his eyes unmoving from the Imperial Clan's section—specifically Empress Xiaocheng. Those eyes of his exceptionally icy, multicolored stars bloomed with rich radiance, and his Mystic Soul began priming itself for a full-blown fight.
"Grand Knight Wu Yu, I'll remind you that verbal insults can be construed as direct attempts at courting death, as it challenges character and honor, allowing the organization targeted to defend themselves—should they deem it necessary." Empress Xiaocheng reminded Wu Yu, adding: "You should study the Mythical Oaths before continuing your verbal crusade; overconfidence is the killer of men."
"..." A wave of dreadful silence followed. Empress Xiaocheng had just pointed out that, according to the rules, they could kill Wu Yu at any time! Furthermore, with the Mythical Oaths in place, it was unlikely that anyone would help him. But she was showing mercy, a sign of her grand magnanimous behavior.
However, Wu Yu's eyes brightened intensely, revealing a dark, violent grin that showed no signs of backing down. "In that case, I can kill that old guy, huh?" When he said that, his Mystic Aura flared strongly, unleashing a torrent of power that was blocked from the observing crowd and young elites by a thin, yet oddly solid barrier.
'He's right!' Everyone glanced towards the sleeping Wei Wuyin, knowing that Xun Yicao had openly insulted Wei Wuyin by calling him a peasant youth, damaging his character and honor! If Wu Yu acted, he would be well within the limits of the Mythical Oaths!
Xun Yicao grew ashen-faced.
"You can try," Empress Xiaocheng said dismissively. She had no idea how someone who cultivated the Imperial Heaven Qi Method could have such an aggressively reckless personality or was this on orders of Wei Wuyin? His organization? It baffled her.
The eleven Earthly Saints, Tian Muyang and Tian Liying included, directed their entire focus onto Wu Yu, who merely kept staring at Empress Xiaocheng fearlessly. To those observing, it felt as if he was going to attack without any consideration, trading a life for a life.
Xun Yicao, however, was still enraged. He didn't think Wu Yu could or would try to take his life, and if he tried, he wanted to see him die a wretched death, so he looked at the sleeping Wei Wuyin and coldly shouted: "Wei Wuyin, get your dog on a leash lest you lose it."
This shook EVERYONE!
Xun Yicao was relentless, fearless, and believed himself protected and completely safe. He called Wei Wuyin by his direct name, with no title or ounce of respect in his tone. Every inch of Wu Yu's body, from his pores to his eyes, billowed with grimly thick murderous intent, sufficient to wipe out entire mortal civilizations with simply a gaze, and its entire intensity was focused solely on Xun Yicao. However, the Imperial Clan diffused that killing intent before it could impact Xun Yicao in any way, allowing him to remain cool and refreshed.
At this exact moment, Wei Wuyin's silver eyes opened. There was an extremely indifferent light emanating from them, almost nihilistic, yet hidden beneath was a churning emotion that was exceptionally rare for him. With a soft sigh of resignation, Wei Wuyin lifted himself from his resting position, casually dusted himself off, and looked directly at this wrinkled bag of bones sitting on his inflated ego of a throne.
Despite originating from a mere mortal, Xun Yicao felt a icy tingle slither down his spine. He felt unbelievably uncomfortable.
Wei Wuyin said absolutely nothing in response to Xun Yicao's words, but it was as if that conveyed everything that needed to be said in a single gaze. Ma Zheng looked at those silver eyes and felt his heart involuntarily tremble. This was an entirely different side of Wei Wuyin that he'd never seen before. For a moment, he felt as if he was going to order Wu Yu to slay Xun Yicao without caring of the consequences. An urge to speak out against it swelled within him, yet as the words reached his throat, they refused to come out.
Then, Wei Wuyin revealed a smile yet it did not feel remotely close to a smile. Wu Yu's raging aura receded even faster than the Imperial Clan's united will. He sat down, using his mystic power to silently repair his damaged throne. He seemed to no longer care about Xun Yicao or the Imperial Clan.
"Alchemic Sovereign Xun, my Grand Knight's words remain true; you can pick any instructor for me if you feel you're up for it." Wei Wuyin finally spoke and the feeling of overwhelming discomfort dissipated from Xun Yicao's body. It took a few seconds before he could fully regain himself.
Xun Yicao coldly snorted, "Anyone?"
"Anyone," Wei Wuyin reassured.
The other Mortal Sovereign Alchemists were brazen by Wei Wuyin's willingness to forfeit his right to choose. However, this move did indeed get him some momentum, causing Xun Yicao to either choose or prove Wu Yu's earlier words true. But they all knew that Xun Yicao would likely choose the worst Mystic Star Phase cultivator present.
Xun Yicao knew he wasn't given a choice, so he didn't hesitate to pick. He pointed towards a direction, and a ray of light shot out of his finger and crashed against a female Mystic Star Phase cultivator. She was extremely old, wrinkles littering her face, a hunched back, and an air of encroaching death. Aside from her deathly aura, she emitted a faint alchemical aura from her pores.
"Luo Ning."
Wei Wuyin glanced at this elderly woman; his eyes remained entirely unchanged, and he nodded without the slightest hesitation. "I'll pay a thousand times her set price for her," Wei Wuyin stated, shocking every Ascended cultivator observing, especially the Earthly Saints and Mortal Sovereign Alchemists.
Why?
Because Luo Ning was a Mystic Star Phase cultivator with an Alchemic Soul!
