Tian Yinwu's sword was half-drawn, his eyes were wide open, and his heart raced with the fury of a thousand horses. The decapitated head of the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel spun in mid-air, lifeless.
Dead.
A once pristinely white sword without the slightest impurity now had its blade tainted by the hot, golden blood of an existence of incredible power. It was a part of reality, irrefutable to the sight or mind. Tian Yinwu's eyes moved, fixated on that aggressively enchanting, impeccably gorgeous, and ravenously captivating woman.
"She..."
Whoosh!
Na Xinyi soared through the gradually dimming, dissipating golden ocean of Illuminating Gold Energy. She was like a swan, reaching the severed head with a dive, and grabbing it by its short, gold hair. She thoroughly inspected the head and verified that its Sea of Consciousness had been thoroughly eroded into nothingness by her Extreme Yin Force. As for the Mystic Soul, it was her first target.
"One move," her words came out slowly, yet they were accompanied by a slush of effects. The most impactful yet unnoticeable was the sublimation of her Heart of Cultivation, the pursuit of her own path. The other was a comprehensive grasp of Supreme Yin that she hadn't known before, realizing how compatible it was with her Extreme Yin Energy. She felt that she could merge her Extreme Yin with Supreme Yin in the future, birthing an entirely new type of Yin Energy.
The rough outline of a new Cultivation Method carrying principles far surpassing the concepts of Mortal Limits was slowly formed within her mind, forming indescribable thoughts.
A path only a mortal could forge for themselves was slowly forming. The path of Ascension. It was a rarity that very, very few could ever experience.
The golden ocean of energy waned. As it did, all eyes and senses were honed onto the lone figure of Na Xinyi holding the severed head of the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel. Her figure was peerless, exuding a yin light that dominated the senses. It was growing increasingly resplendent with every passing millisecond.
A white sword shot toward Na Xinyi. It was bathed in hot golden blood, exuding a ferocious, soul-seizing chill, and she grasped its hilt without hesitation. A burst of yin light erupted. She lifted her sword, sword tip pointed toward the sky, and caused the eyes of Chosen and Ascendant alike to follow its movements.
Up above, the palm of gold that covered the sky was still present. There was a wisp of permanence within. While the golden sea was created purely by Mystic Heart Intent, the golden palm was forged with the foundation of his Illuminating Gold Mystic Power, prompting it to last even after death.
"Begone!" Her voice was majestic and boundless, pervasive and formless, and loud enough to be heard by the soul itself. With her Mortal World Intent, she gathered enough Extreme Yin Sword Force and sent a sword ray into the sky!
It thrusted into the sky like a slender, heaven-piercing sword. Without any signs of strong resistance, it cut into the palm and gradually tainted it with a yin light no inferior to what wreathed around Na Xinyi, bestowing her the presence of a minor yin divinity. It was eroded out of existence, and as it did, the yin light only intensified.
Na Xinyi felt her connection with her Extreme Yin Solar Star reconnect, and she re-established her link with her, a hint of a glorious smile on her face. She didn't need to speak any more words as the Extreme Yin Solar Star of colossus size descended upon the palm, crashing into it violently like a celestial meteor.
Within a few breaths, the golden palm was burned by its solar radiance, freeing everyone else's Solar Stars. A flurry of relieved and excited expressions occurred as their World-Bound Star Domains could be linked with once again. Some had thoughts that they had been snuffed out after losing their connection, and it wouldn't be wrong to say this was a terrifying result. The shattering of many years of expended resources and heavy cultivation.
The yin light emitted by Na Xinyi soon expanded until it became a thick pillar that enveloped her figure. No longer hindered by the golden ocean of energy, those fortunate Ascendants and Chosen that survived yet couldn't appropriately see the happenings were met by a single scene that attracted their eyes and senses.
A young woman with supremely brilliant grey-colored eyes, long, waterfall-cascading light-brown hair, a heaven-envied bodily figure without the slightest flaw, flawless warm, richly brown that was as exceptional as polished jade, and a downright unforgettable temperament.
She held the head of the tyrant that had tried to snuff out their lives in her hand, and a sword lifted above her head in another. She glistened like a full moon in a dark sky, seizing all the world's grace and beauty for herself.
That single image was etched in their hearts.
"She's not meant to be ordinary," Tian Yinwu commented as his eyes reflected the image of Na Xinyi at that moment.
Xue Yifei pursed her lips at this sight, but after a moment, she revealed a smile containing her respect and admiration. While Na Xinyi had taken the lead in dealing with the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel, her actions had almost certainly taken her out of commission for the rest of the competition. However, if she hadn't, there was a heavy chance that all the Chosen and Ascendants aside from the Prime Ascendants and Valkyrie might have died.
Wu Baozhai stared at Na Xinyi, her eyes glittering with starry light. "I won't let-"
"No need to threaten," Xue Yifei interrupted with a brilliant smile, "I have no intention of harming her after that sacrifice." Wu Baozhai didn't say anything else. The hand that held her halberd tightened.
Na Xinyi's external structure had been miraculously sustained and repaired after connecting with her Extreme Yin Solar Star, yet the damage of pushing her cultivation base to a boundary far, far beyond its mortal limits had left her internally damaged.
She kept her Extreme Yin Solar Star within her Mind's Eye, continuously pumping copious amounts of Yin Solar Essence into her body to prevent its collapse. If the inside of her body was inspected, it would be as if an apocalypse had just unfolded throughout, sundering her veins, arteries, meridians, and dantian to an unholy mess.
She kept herself from spurting blood, her eyes remaining shockingly bright as her Yin Aura flourished intensely. She knew that while she had taken action, she couldn't show any signs of weakness at the moment. Keeping the head, she rapidly flew toward the body, retrieved its eroded Mystic Soul, and kept it. During this, no one made a move.
Perhaps they were still in awe of her actions or simply cautious that she could unleash another attack, but no one decided to take any sort of action against Na Xinyi. Wu Baozhai's tightened grip loosened a little, the tension built within her body, readied for an immediate eruption of power, slowly settled down.
Na Xinyi smoothly landed beside the two Saintesses with a gentle step. At such close range, both of them could see the extent of her fluctuating strength, and while she was exceptional at hiding it through her aura, when her eyes could be seen at close range, not even she could feign healthiness.
Na Xinyi casually tossed a spatial ring to Wu Baozhai. Catching it, Wu Baozhai gave a light nod, words unspoken yet meaning fully understood. The ring contained all of Na Xinyi's hard work in obtaining Mystic Souls of the Evil Sentinels. This was a sign that she could no longer participate actively.
Xue Yifei smiled, "Since we have an agreement, I won't break it unnecessarily." Despite her assuring words, Na Xinyi didn't look relieved at all, only nodded her head as if she accepted her words in a perfunctory manner.
"..." Xue Yifei didn't add to her words of assurance, knowing that it'll be quite difficult to receive any sort of trust given the circumstances. This didn't bother her though as this competition held a frightening interest that she refused to concede. It was why she had stopped Wu Baozhai from similarly conjuring her Mortal World Intent.
While at first glance, it might seem as if the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel was the strongest obstacle that Wei Wuyin could place before them or that they'd face in the competition, she knew the truth. Her hazel eyes glinted with a gloomy, solemn light as a saber howl echoed in her ears from the recent past, lingering endlessly in her heart.
The greatest obstacle hadn't truly shown herself yet.
Due to the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel's egregious suppression, given the limited time left, most of the Ascendants had suffered severe injuries that had similarly eliminated them from the competition. While those beneath the Star Core Phase, the peak of the Mortal Realms, were mostly the only ones who still had the strength to fight for the Evercrown.
16:42.
Simultaneously, as if agreed upon beforehand, everyone used this time to leave or recover what little they could.
Wei Wuyin was atop his original container, unscathed entirely. He couldn't say he hadn't expected the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel to launch that attack. From the beginning, he knew that the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel was being deceptive, and while Wei Wuyin could tell that he was extremely adept at controlling his thoughts and expressions, he couldn't tell exactly what his end goal was.
"I wonder if the rest were in on it as well," Wei Wuyin thought about how, despite acting in accordance with his will, whether it was the charcoal-skinned Evil Sentinel or the marble-skinned Evil Sentinel, none of them tried to enter confrontation with the abnormal Chosen of the competition to expend their energy. In fact, they all choose deliberately easy targets or unleashed minor, nuisance spells.
Was this to all calculated to conserve their energy until the timing for the golden-bodied Evil Sentinel could leave his direct observance and be allowed to unleash his power? Were they planning to team up? Unfortunately, that was all ruined by Yao Huoyi and San Yongli.
"They must have been terrified that I'd use this realm's formations to suppress them, so they had to gather their strength and unleash it all at once, leaving me an unsuspecting fool." Wei Wuyin couldn't help but feel a degree of admiration at their concealed planning. He hadn't seen it coming until the brief leak of targeted killing intent at the very end! These Evil Sentinels were definitely not ordinary existences to hide their intentions from him.
Still-
"They made good whetstones for the Ascendants," Wei Wuyin felt satisfied that the Ascendants experienced sufficiently terrifying life-and-death scenarios by combating these Evil Sentinels. When this was all done, their drive for cultivation should skyrocket, especially after feeling death or close to it.
Unfortunately, the Prime Ascendants and Valkyrie were a little too abnormal, and since they hadn't gone all out, besides Na Xinyi and Yao Huoyi, the rest hadn't grasped any insights into their true power or the limits of it. The benefits of a World Rune Seed or their World-Bound Star Domains hadn't been fully excavated.
"It's not over yet," Wei Wuyin gently whispered as he observed the entire world from his location.
A silence swept the vast lands.
14:02.
The alchemical light of Transformation brightened the sky.
Time ticked on.
12:22.
The Chosen of two worlds, Ascendants, Valkyrie, and Prime Ascendants alike were all gathering their strength. Regardless of Wei Wuyin's heist of the competition and new rules, the Evercrown was still endlessly salivating to these cultivators. Wish aside, they wanted the crown.
11:11.
Na Xinyi finally took a breath as the gush of blood in her mouth was finally swallowed, and she could breathe from her congested chest. "She hasn't appeared yet," her first words were rife with a solemn tone.
Xue Yifei's expression was incomparably dark and dignified. "The greatest variable and likely chance of us failing is allowing her to act when the Evercrown forms."
"I know," Wu Baozhai said as she thought of that figure that seemed to embody the essence of light itself. She moved her head to find the shadows soaring towards them.
The two figures arrived a few hundred feet away from them from the west.
Yao Huoyi and Shui Fengbao!
At almost the same time, two gorgeous figures that gave two diametrically different feelings yet contained an exceptional aura of harmony between them arrived from the north.
From the south, two demons, one a titan and the other bald, arrived.
From the east, the scent of fragrant flowers and an icy, discomforting chill arrived.
The individuals didn't stop.
From the southeast, from the northwest, from the southwest, and the northwest, cultivators arrived, all descending on the trio of Saintesses. The scene could shake hearts and souls to their core.
Xue Yifei's expression only grew increasingly solemn at this.
None of them were fools.
"What's the plan?" Da Shan stepped forth, her warhammer distorting space by simply resting on her shoulder. It was fully primed for combat.
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