The paradigm of time was continuous and unending, and it demonstrated itself clearly. After the events of the Grand Spirit Trials, two months had come and gone alongside several events. The most prominent and explosive was the impromptu auction that had been a heavily contested event that sent the various powers into a frenzy.
A low-grade Spatial Spirit Pill, a genuine eighth-grade product, caused foam to erupt from the mouths of the various forces. Shockingly, neither the Elemental Heaven Pavilion, Demonic Abyss Mountain, or the Sacred Light Palace had won this single-item auction. It was the Golden Coin Pavilion! A force that was second to the Alchemist Association in terms of reach and wealth, but mostly focused on business and trade.
Fortunately for all forces present at the time, the Alchemist Association felt it would be beneath them to participate with their own Princess of Everlore present. It would be somewhat embarrassing to fight others for an alchemical product. With their greatest competition bowed out early, the Golden Coin Pavilion swooped in and claimed victory after bidding over 3000 astral stones.
This was roughly equivalent to thirty billion essence stones! Such an extreme level of wealth was extraordinary. But of course, this was an eighth-grade alchemical product. Even if one considered the entirety of the Tri-Vision Starfield, perhaps one or two would be concocted a century. This didn't include impure-grade products, but those that were low-grade and higher.
After the auction had concluded, the next thing was the timing for the All-Alchemic Clash between the Prince and Princess of Everlore. It had been decided to occur in three months at the Alchemist Association's Main Planet, Evermore. While few understood the true reasoning behind such a clash, the countless inhabitants of the starfield went into a red-hot fervor at the news.
While Wei Wuyin had merely been prominent for less than a decade in the starfield, and the Princess of Everlore for even less, their names had long since made their way through many households as expectants hearts and gossipy minds pounded in anticipation. There were even a few who believed this could be a lovers' spat. Their overactive imagination wasn't lacking one bit.
As for others, those enthusiasts of this era, they were spreading words that this clash would finally determine who will truly be worthy of the name as the Successor of the King of Everlore. While some argued that Wei Wuyin actually had no legitimate claim to the King of Everlore legacy as he lacked an Alchemic Astral Heart. Others believed that the mantle had to be determined by a male. While archaic, there was the widely accepted fact that certain methods and means of alchemists can only be mastered by certain genders.
To add to their opinion, they still didn't consider Wei Wuyin a true successor. While this group of thinkers felt that a male must take over the King of Everlore's legacy, they didn't believe Wei Wuyin who lacked an Alchemic Astral Soul was qualified. After all, by the same limited logic, certain methods and means can only be deployed with an Alchemic Astral Soul.
There were, however, a group of fanatics who believed that Wei Wuyin wouldn't become a carbon copy of the King of Everlore, but define a new era with his own title. These individuals started to spread out a new title, a new name that defined Wei Wuyin. They named him:
The Ascended Emperor of Neo-Dawn.
It was a mouthful, but one with an apt meaning. Wei Wuyin's existence was to ascend, ushering forth a new era. It was hopeful and beautiful, filled with much admiration and respect. They had also changed the title of 'King' to 'Emperor', elevating his title a little while simultaneously suggesting it was his birthright to ascend to prominence. While Wei Wuyin might have chosen another name, its poetic foundation left one unable to speak. Furthermore, it had incorporated his own organization, the Ascendants, into the name. How could he denounce something like that?
Interestingly enough, the 'Everlore' within the King of Everlore's name shared a rather similar origin. It was given to him by the people who believed his legend would transcend history, becoming a mythological existence that would propagate across numerous eras.
It was true.
Three eras later, and the King of Everlore had essentially become a myth-like being that's very existence had defined numerous eras after his own, and will likely continue to affect the next ten eras. It was an extremely befitting title.
Wei Wuyin was situated within his newly built Sky Palace. Since its unfortunate destruction after flexing a little of his Zenith Origin State's Sky Pressure. It had been devastated, and he was forced to live in Tuo Bihan. During this was rather uncomfortable, as he liked having his own residence rather than leech of others.
Blu, a Heavenly Commander of the Extreme Creation Mountain and master in the Dao of Design, had done an extremely fast and efficient job in rebuilding the place greater than before. While the amount of money invested into it was obscene, it was well worth it as its overall durability and usefulness had been improved greatly. Even if an Astral Core Realm expert of the Fourth Stage wanted to collapse his Sky Palace, they would find it immensely difficult.
But it made him think of a saying: Speed, Low Price, or Quality. You can never have all three. Thinking of this, if it wasn't for his immense state of wealth, he might be crying tears of blood from the cost alone.
At the moment, he was at the edge of his bed with his eyes closed. The sounds of wet slurping rhythmically resounded beneath him. Two heads were bobbing around his knees, seemingly pushing and pulling each other playfully. At times, a sound would stop for a moment as a new yet extremely similar sound took place, clearly from a different person.
"Haaa…" Wei Wuyin felt extreme bliss as a head of silky, luscious violet and a head of short, curly brown seemed to be extremely animated.
Just as he was feeling invigorated and ready for other things, he received a transmitted message, causing his spatial ring to aglow with radiance. A little dissatisfied, he merely briefly inspected the contents. His originally closed eyes opened, revealing a light of interest.
Within the contents of this was an urgent meeting to call for all disciples of a certain ranking to attend. When he realized the sender, including the additional message regarding the meaning, his face revealed a slight smile.
It seemed Long Chen had finally done it. He had revealed his identity to the sect!
Just as he realized it was an 'urgent' meeting, and it required everyone to make short work to return within an hour. He turned to the two heads of hair, finding the gorgeous Da Shan who seemingly noticed his gaze, lifting up with a line of saliva dripping from her succulent lips.
Seeing such a tantalizing and arousing sight, he decided that they could all wait a few hours.
—
Roughly three or so hours later, Wei Wuyin left his Sky Palace. He didn't have his Pegasus nor Su Mei, so he could only take to the skies and fly as normal. Since he liked the feeling of the air, he didn't mind it.
He swiftly noticed that the eighth-layer seemed to be devoid of life. It was clear that all the upper-echelon members of the sect had already arrived at the Grand Monarch Central Palace, which was located on the Sixth Layer of the Extreme Imperial Mountain. Thus, he had to fly straight down, breaking through the layers of the sky.
He couldn't help but recall how difficult it was for him to rise up to this layer when he first arrived. Without a Star Beast and a guide, he would never be able to so easily break apart this natural barrier.
When he made it to the Sixth Layer of the Extreme Creation Mountain, he saw that it was almost entirely devoid of life as well. The exception being lower-tiered disciples or servants. There wasn't even a late procession going towards the Extreme Imperial Mountain. It seemed he was truly, truly late. Thinking about this, he rubbed his nose a little and shot forward like a comet of black light.
As he approached the Extreme Imperial Mountain, his eyes widened slightly. He saw a sea of people, both on the mountain's surface and in the sky. It was a literal sea of people! It was incredibly grand! A brief count and just the aerial beasts numbered over five hundred thousand. Furthermore, each aerial beast, of varying sizes, carried on average four individuals.
The entire sky was nearly blotted out, and the solar stars' rays barely made their way down.
The Grand Imperial Monarchs must've summoned the vast majority of elites of the sect on the planet, and quite a few had to have come from Junia and Wuyu!
'There are over one hundred and fifty thousand Astral Core Realm auras present.' He was shocked by the sheer volume of experts. While this might only be 3% of the entire Astral Core Realm population of the Tri-Vision Starfield, the very fact they were all present in one location shocked him a little.
It seemed he underestimated the Grand Imperial Lineage and its importance to the members of the Myriad Monarch Sect. As he approached closer, his eyes were drawn away to a specific area above the sky. This area had a strange fluctuation of spatial energies that were extremely faint.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and then a faint grin surfaced on his face. The old man had finally left closed door seclusion to consolidate his cultivation. Unfortunately, it had to be for this occasion.
A faint glimmer of spiritual light flashed briefly around Wei Wuyin's neck. Hung by a lace of black string, an unassuming black ring was present.
"A Realmlord?" Wu Yu's voice entered Wei Wuyin's mind. This was the same type of communication that Long Chen had used for over two decades. It took Wei Wuyin a while to get used to a person hanging around his neck. He also had to consciously send it away whenever he was doing anything private. It was a little frustrating, but Wu Yu was immensely valuable in terms of knowledge and his future plans.
Wei Wuyin merely shot off, ignoring Wu Yu.
But Wu Yu was interested, "You turned a Grand Imperial Sage into a Realmlord…how? None of them had the qualifications to even hope to succeed…" He was extremely curious as to how Wei Wuyin restructured a Grand Imperial Sage's foundation enough to allow them to overcome their tribulation. When he thought of Wei Wuyin's Mortal Sovereign Alchemist ability, he didn't probe further.
Still, this was incredible for the sect. Unlike the San Clan, the Grand Imperial Sage that ascended to that phase would be far more powerful than the other two present. With just him or her, they would be able to claim supremacy over the world.
But Wei Wuyin wasn't so naive to think that. Just that beautiful woman with Lin Ming, a Blessed, was far stronger than a Realmlord just based on the means she had to protect his life. There was even Anu, a mysterious being he still felt was extremely powerful. While Tuo Bihan's cultivation base gave some assurances, it wasn't a piece that could dominate the entire board.
Just as he arrived, about to wade through the sea of aerial beasts, a strand of spatial force surrounded him. He looked up and realized where it originated from. He allowed it to encapsulate him and he vanished from the crowd.
When he reappeared, he was in a throne room.
