While the World Realm that housed the Four Extreme Continent underwent drastic and unexpected changes to its environment and inhabitants, the starfield outside was similarly tense and changing.
Nearly three years had passed since the three thousand candidates had been selected to explore the World Realm through the Gateway Door. Those outside the Gateway Door were quietly waiting within the uniquely hazardous environment of the Auric Sea.
Since arriving, not a single individual among these elders and leaders had left. This included Tuo Bihan, Qingye Yun, Lin Ruyan, and the San Emperor himself. The various upper echelon were present too. They were all waiting for their juniors and descendants that were sent in to return. To experts like them, three years weren't too massive. Their cultivation base wouldn't experience any sharp increase, and for the San Emperor, an existence that had used the World-Infusion Realm Pill, he had even less fear of this.
After using that pill to give birth to a False Worldly Domain and Spatial Force, he was unable to make any more advancements in his cultivation level, only able to improve his foundation.
Tuo Bihan quietly floated while cross-legged, his eyes closed, and his expression serene. He couldn't leave with the San Emperor present and Wei Wuyin's fate being largely unknown. If he left, who knew if the San Emperor would act insidiously after Wei Wuyin returned. After all, Wei Wuyin threatened his position.
While the future had already been cemented with his presence, Wei Wuyin was the key component to this change. While others might assume he was just a talented Emperor Alchemist, he wasn't certain if the San Emperor knew of his true prowess as a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist. The fact he learned about the Auric Sea's Gateway Door was already causing him numerous doubts.
None of them were aware of the Gateway Door's destination and what awaited those sent inside. Their goal was to explore and excavate any secrets or resources unknown, and if it was forged as an Inheritance Grounds, hopefully they would seize it for their respective force.
However, the most tense of the bunch was not the San Emperor or Tuo Bihan, but Qingye Yun, the Alchemist Association's Grand Association Master. His eyes had almost never left the Gateway Door. There was a trace of anxiety and agitation within his gaze.
°Ying'er…I hope the Heavenly Seer was right.° He had thought of these exact words nearly ten thousand times, clearly feeling unsure. He had sent his Alchemic Astral Soul's descendant inside to solve her problematic talent, to reinvigorate her future, but at a risk. An Alchemic Astral Soul lacked any form of direct combat strength, outside of basic cultivation aspects such as Sky Pressure, Spatial Prison, etc. They were unsuited for battle and survival.
He hoped that this choice of theirs was the correct one. Even if Qingye Ying never rectified her talent, she would still be an outstanding alchemist that could urge the starfield into the next era, even rivaling Wei Wuyin. Thinking of that figure, his mind became chaotic.
Wei Wuyin had already cemented his position among the people, and the arguments of whether the starfield will be named had been loudly decided by the masses. A year ago, the Ascendants, Wei Wuyin's established faction in the Myriad Monarch Sect, started to reclaim the taken land from the three other hegemonic forces.
The Sacred Light Palace hadn't put up much of a fight, suffering little to no losses in these colonized and retaken areas, but the Demonic Abyss Mountain and Elemental Heaven Pavilion suffered immense losses in their stubborn defense. While the looming pressure of Tuo Bihan's existence had allowed such smooth retakes, the cultivators at the same phase of these particular Ascendants weren't close to being their match.
The birth of these heroic characters was an unexpected development to the entire starfield!
With Tuo Bihan's dominating presence, the crushing momentum of Wei Wuyin's Ascendants, the resources and wealth of the Alchemist Association, the Myriad Monarch Sect had retaken their former glory. The various citizens had already started to refer to the starfield as the Imperial Dawn Starfield, a conjoined union between Imperial Heaven Starfield and Neo-Dawn Starfield.
The San Clan remained silent throughout. It seemed they had decided to take a passive position, not moving a single inch in response. To most, this was them surrendering to the future of the starfield. That it was an acceptance that it had been decided. In a way, this was an expected outcome for most inhabitants.
The Princess of Everlore was a member of the Alchemist Association, which joined the Ascendants, the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn's faction, that had its foundation in the Myriad Monarch Sect who possessed the sole genuine Realmlord. This trio of potential was far too brilliant to resist, and almost everyone believed that this was the smartest decision that the San Clan could've made.
While it was unlikely that the Myriad Monarch Sect, even with all these, would be able to eradicate the other hegemonic powers with their protective formations established by Mystic Ascendant Realm cultivators, they could still give them the same suppressive experience the Myriad Monarch Sect suffered for hundreds of years.
But what made Qingye Yun anxious at the thought of Wei Wuyin wasn't because of these developments, but because of Qingye Ying. According to the Heavenly Seer, the greatest obstacle would be Wei Wuyin. As long as she could overcome this obstacle, restore her talent, then her future would certainly surpass any of his achievements.
If Qingye Yun knew the truth, that Wei Wuyin had taken an entirely different possible path in the World Realm, invoking countless divergent changes to occur, he might not be so worried.
°You have to survive. But you must also do it, Ying'er! You must!° He silently prayed for Qingye Ying to succeed.
—–
In the World Realm, the Four Extreme Continent, the former Shuang Clan's Territory of the Central Region, Qingye Ying was still very much alive.
When she arrived here, she was directly brought into the Central Region by her transport tunnel. This was deliberate as the Heavenly Seer had given her explicit instructions on what time to enter, being the 39th individual to enter.
When she came, she went to the location that the Heavenly Seer had told her, finding an escaped Alchemic Slave that was seeking escape. With her prepared tools, Qingye Ying shielded the woman from the pursuers that sought to recapture her.
The girl's name was also named Qingye Ying, a major coincidence, but she was a human, not an elf. They had no similarities outside of their names, with their personalities being vastly different due to their backgrounds.
The Qingye Ying from the Four Extreme Continent was a human that belonged to a force that had been dealt with by the Shuang Clan after a poor decision made by their Patriarch. They were rounded up and captured, with the men and women being sold as Energy Converters, Alchemic Proxies, and slaves.
It was then discovered that she had an outstanding talent for the Alchemic Dao, so she became a highly-sought after Alchemic Proxy that was obtained by an Elder of the Shuang Clan, one of the Holy Clans of the Central Region.
This Elder started to take an intimate liking towards her, fascinated by her beauty. The 'liking' was not the end of her enslaved fate, but the beginning of her worst nightmare. Due to her status, she remained an Alchemic Proxy, used to concoct products and extracted her alchemical energies periodically.
The abuse she suffered as a result of this decision by the Elder was endless and vicious. Be it the Elder's family members, concubines, or wives, they treated her like a disgraced leech and used every opportunity to ensure her life was extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant while not threatening her life or body that suffered nightly abuse by that Elder.
After a long and excruciating period of horror, tears, and suicidal thoughts, she finally escaped after a certain opportunity presented itself! If she could grasp this moment, she would be able to free herself forever from their despicable clutches.
But it was a trap!
She was given this deliberately designed chance so that those who hated her existence could justify her death, but she had taken the scrumptious bait without much thought. She needed to escape. Any type of escape.
As an Alchemic Proxy, she was forced to form a false Alchemic Astral Soul, forced to have her alchemic energies continuously extracted to concoct products, while she herself was pushed to concoct products as well. If she wasn't being tortured mentally by their plots, she was being overworked physically. There was no end to it.
At the time of her lowest moment, the moment her fear and despair had reached a crescendo, Qingye Ying found her hurdled in a corner, crying out her eyes with a shard of glass within her hand. There were shallow cut marks on her neck, clearly hesitation marks of her desire for escape.
She was already ready to end her life. She didn't want to live anymore, but she couldn't do it herself. Unable to save her mentality, Qingye Ying had given her a promise for revenge because she had a 'genuine' Alchemic Astral Soul, and she was backed by a massive force that could one day achieve this.
All she needed was one thing: her meridians.
In return, she would ensure her freedom.
The woman was skeptical, but after some evidence of her means and methods, there was a wave of relief and acceptance. With this, they performed the Meridian Grafting Method!
Qingye Ying had accomplished her goal!
The Heavenly Seer was absolutely right, down to the opportunity and the actions best used to obtain her desired outcome. She could finally cultivate again, promoting her cultivation base alongside using personally refined alchemical energies without a proxy-bypass formation. With her cultivation base once again rising, she would be able to elevate her various energies, and her future potential would exceed any and every non-Alchemic Soul alchemist!
Even Wei Wuyin!
The two spent their time quietly waiting and cultivating, waiting for an exit to arrive or the ten year limit to be reached. But only a year after her arrival, the entire Shuang Region descended into utter chaos…
Wei Wuyin's actions of claiming the two Badges of Divinity, framing the Holy Clans, and allowing all forces to freely fight for the Central Region's rich territory, had caused dangerous changes, instigating wars between factions and they sought to claim the region, push out the Shuang Clan, and establish themselves in the Central Region. At the time, it was the sole safe area besides the Desolate Lands, which had a Holy Child, so they contested for it violently.
The world descended into a torrent of death and fighting. Qingye Ying tried to escape, but none of her tools were useful against the Realmlord that spotted her. It was the Elder!
With a thought, both Qingye Yings were swept away and brought to act as Alchemic Proxies, the very same fate as her similarly named human tried to escape once before. The fragmented Shuang Clan went on the run, escaping to areas of the other three regions.
While they hadn't known the elven Qingye Ying, the Princess of Everlore, was a true Alchemic Astral Soul, she was treated the same way as any Alchemic Proxy. She was alive, very much. But her situation?
It was desperate.
Until the Ascendants found her.
