The women in the room looked at each other. They had just learned that the starfield might be at risk of ending, and that Wei Wuyin was about to prepare a select few to survive the oncoming crisis. It was a lot to process.
"I'm staying!" Xue Yifei stepped forward without hesitation. As Wei Wuyin's concubine, she was tethered to his fate already. While there wasn't any real reason for her to state her position, as it was already clear, she did so anyway to make others understand. Indeed, they did.
Xue Yifei moved forward, standing next to the projection of Wei Wuyin. She swept her gaze across those present.
Su Mei dutifully instructed, "Those who are willing, stand here. Those who aren't, you may leave." She waved her hand, and the door leading outside opened. They all turned to see outside the room, how cold and desolate it was.
"Is this really a question?" Nyla Shur's feisty voice resounded. She stepped forward in long, confident strides and stood next to Xue Yifei. She had already been conquered in body and heart by Wei Wuyin. She felt a little insulted that she was even posed this question. She decided she was going to be a little rougher the next time the two tussled between the sheets.
Xiang Ling didn't hesitate either. She had been betrayed and abandoned before, and she never thought of doing the same to others. Wei Wuyin might have quite a few lovers, but he hadn't abandoned her, so she wouldn't abandon him.
When she stepped forward, a tender hand grasped hers. She turned and noticed Long Tingyu holding her hand tightly. Those violet-colored eyes of hers reflected an anxious light.
"He said extreme measures. What if they're not safe?" She asked, clearly worried for her Master.
She had always seen Xiang Ling as a motherly figure she'd never had. Since she arrived in this unknown world, she had gained a family. A mother, a grandfather in the form of her Ancestor, and many sisters. While she might not know how to feel about Long Chen's actions, he was still the one who took her in from that dark, damp forest filled with death and loneliness.
Long Tingyu was nothing more than a wild girl who lived in the forest, struggling to survive and bitterly cultivating to grow stronger in a merciless world. She deeply cared for those around her, and why she was so conflicted about Long Chen's choice to allow Na Xinyi to die despite their past.
Xiang Ling felt unfathomable warmth in her heart. She tousled her hair, then fixed it up to look even better. "I trust him; he wouldn't hurt us," she consoled and comforted.
After hearing this, Long Tingyu bit her lips and slowly let go. Her reluctance had weakened, but she was still deeply concerned.
Xiang Ling caressed Long Tingyu's beautiful face, feeling the warmth within her palm. "I'll be fine." She turned and arrived at the platform. When she arrived, she noticed Lin Ziyan and Na Xinyi next to Xue Yifei and Nyla Shur. She always had strange feelings about Lin Ziyan, especially how she left Long Chen for Wei Wuyin.
She never really liked her, and likely never will. When she recalled the times Lin Ziyan was lovey-dovey with Long Chen, standing beside him and siding with him on every matter, and then flipping her allegiance so swiftly, it made her feel uncomfortable. Despite that, she wasn't unreasonable.
Lin Ziyan had nearly died, turned into a cripple that was seen as a hopeless soul by every professional in the medical field. It made sense to fall for your savior. But it still didn't sit well with her, so she avoided interacting with Lin Ziyan.
As for Na Xinyi, she was the most quiet and obvious to be there. Long Chen had abandoned her to die, and she had an arrangement with Wei Wuyin to become his wife. While it hadn't been officiated yet, she was fully willing.
The only ones left were Hong Ru, Xiao Bing, Long Tingyu, Wu Baozhai, and Wen Mingna. Unlike the others, they all had different relations to Wei Wuyin.
Su Mei turned to Wen Mingna and Wu Baozhai. "Both of you are excluded from the requirement. Come," she said. Wen Mingna expected this, walking forward and standing next to them. She was a member of the Ascendants, so she was in a similar situation as Su Mei. In fact, she wasn't even supposed to be here. She had a mission that had been delayed.
Wu Baozhai was also supposed to be on that same mission, so she wasn't even supposed to be here. Still, she walked forward with Wu Baozhai, leaving only three girls left.
Su Mei's eyes flashed with ambiguous light. She had delayed their mission exactly for this reason. Wei Wuyin had told her to gather all the female cultivators staying in his Sky Palace after a full year. He wasn't specific about much, so she took some liberties. As for Wei Wuyin accepting a subordinate as a lover? She knew it wasn't too likely, if not outright impossible.
Hong Ru and Xiao Bing looked at each other. Since Hong Ru's resurrection, they have been even closer than sisters, so they sought the other's opinion. Even though Wei Wuyin was the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn, a Heavenly King of the Myriad Monarch Sect, an Alchemic Emperor, and unfathomably handsome, this was a difficult question. That was because they weren't certain.
Suddenly, Hong Ru bit her lips and turned to Su Mei, and then looked at Wei Wuyin. "I…" Just as she was about to speak, Wei Wuyin's lips moved.
"Oh yeah! There's the issue if Hong Ru and Xiao Bing are still here. If they haven't left yet, then it's fine. I know Xiao Bing's sexual orientation, and Hong Ru's struggling curiosity, and how they feel towards each other. Well, that might've been sorted out after a year. Regardless, both of you can choose to stay or leave, I won't turn either of you away. However, I'm willing to accept both of you as my women if you desire." The words Wei Wuyin's projection said shocked everyone.
They looked at Xiao Bing and Hong Ru.
"I'm willing," Shockingly, it was Xiao Bing who said this! Her icy gaze looked at Hong Ru with a trace of warmth. She grabbed her hand tightly. "As long as you're willing, I'm willing."
Hong Ru was startled, her heart feeling complex emotions. "B-but…" She stammered a little, uncertain what to say. After a while, she hesitatingly said: "He said we could stay. We don't have to agree, especially if you don't want to."
Xiao Bing brightly smiled. Her smile felt as if it could sweep away the snowy coverings of the world, revealing all its glorious beauty and warmth beneath. "I want to," her hand tightened more. The love in her eyes was unmistakable.
Clearly, she was doing this for Hong Ru, but a trace of it was herself. While she wasn't sexually interested in men, she wanted to have children, so she needed to find one someday. This contradictory feeling had haunted her for so long, but it was fine if she chose Wei Wuyin, because he was exactly the type of man she'd want to father her child in this brutal, bleak, and devastatingly crushing cultivation world.
The upside was that Hong Ru and she could be together, no matter what or where.
Hong Ru didn't know how to respond, but she felt Xiao Bing's innermost desires. And she knew her own feelings. The best of both worlds, why would she reject this?
"We're willing."
Holding hands, they stood beside the rest. The only one left was Long Tingyu.
Su Mei glanced at the duo, feeling that Wei Wuyin always intended for this to happen. Or else why the delayed message? To add, he even made it known that he understood their feelings and had no issue with it. There would be no sensation of feeling cheating on the other party, or forced to choose between one or the other.
Long Tingyu felt isolated, but her feelings were complex and tangled. She wondered if Wei Wuyin left a message concerning her, but after a full minute, there was nothing else. She wasn't a part of the Ascendants nor his woman. Furthermore, she felt that she was too young to make this decision. After all, she wanted to get married, not just be a lover.
In the end, she bit her lips and turned around. As that lone figure walked out of the door, it closed behind her.
After that, the full three minutes passed.
Wei Wuyin's projection spoke again, this time with a wistful tone, "She's too young and rightfully not ready. It's good she didn't decide to stay or else I'd feel a little concerned. " It heaved a sigh of relief, causing the others to be incredibly shocked. They felt that Wei Wuyin was actually here! Or else how could he have known Long Tingyu left?!
"He's a projection," Su Mei reminded them.
"Alright, so! That should leave ten, if you count Su Mei. This is a good number to start with." Wei Wuyin cheerfully said, but this time, even Su Mei was taken aback. She had kept Wen Mingna and Wu Baozhai back by her own decision, how did Wei Wuyin know there were ten?!
Xue Yifei touched Wei Wuyin's chest, but a swirl of white mist formed. The fact he wasn't real was true. He should be in that unknown realm, so there was no way he could glimpse into this projection, right?
"To start, I'll be honest with you all: I am not who you think I am." Wei Wuyin began, causing the women to fixate their gazes on him. What did that mean?
"I am not an Emperor Alchemist. I am a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist, and I have been for over two years now, nearly three!" Those words were like an explosive bomb to everyone present except Su Mei. They reeled in shock, not believing this one bit.
A Mortal Sovereign Alchemist?!
"There's no extreme measures to speak of, really. The only difference will be in what I'll be investing in you all from now on. Which means I won't be holding back. I intend to make all ten of you into a special unit, better suited to protect yourself and our interests.
"I've learned from other's mistakes. If you're not present, or too weak, it's possible your lovers or allies will suffer. To solve this, I intend to make every last one of you outstanding experts of this generation with my everything, to protect yourself against the world with your own power." When Wei Wuyin reached this point, Na Xinyi, Lin Ziyan, and Hong Ru were glanced at by everyone. They all suffered because of their weakness or their lover's absence.
Wei Wuyin turned his body, facing Na Xinyi in the most inexplicable manner, "I promised I'll take you as my wife as long as you're willing; I won't go back on my word. However, this means you'll have to work several times harder than the others, to prove yourself and to protect everything I have. Because it won't just be mine. I hope you understand this."
Na Xinyi was still half-crippled and weak. She didn't know how he knew where she would position herself, but it gave her chills. Those words brought a rare joy to her heart, because she understood the meaning.
Xue Yifei looked at Na Xinyi, and her hazel eyes flickered with an ambiguous light. Her expression betrayed none of her current emotions.
"To do this," Wei Wuyin turned away, "I intend to establish a secret faction. A secret unit made up entirely of female members of Ascendants and my own lovers. A group of talented, intelligent, and immensely powerful women that could tackle the world in my absence, even after my death."
He paused, sweeping his gaze across each and everyone of them. For so long, the Calamities of Hell had been hanging over his head, and he was most concerned about what would happen to those he loved and his legacy if he failed in the end. To solve this, to feel the most comfortable, he decided to make this decision.
"From henceforth, you'll be my Valkyries!"
