Paragon of Sin-Chapter 1824 - 1817: ACT II (1)
The Elephant-Tigress Sovereign's roar was all internally released. To the outside world, she was the picture of offended, as if Wei Wuyin's daring to negotiate with the Utmost Purity Galaxy's Seven Utmost Towers was a blasphemous act against her people. In the Utmost Unity Mind-Realm, she was solemnly icy, exhibiting a thinly veiled expression that was the very picture of simmering rage.
However, inside her mind, she was jumping foolishly with excitement! Wei Wuyin's brazen declaration and insistence to progress his cultivation path against the interest of the Heavenly Alchemic Saints of the Seven Utmost Towers made her jubilant. This declaration of his meant that this foreigner should be taught a lesson! Whether it was due to his presumptuous attitude of maintaining control of the situation or forcing a conflict, in her mind, either action could only elicit a prompt response. After all, how could the Zeniths of the Utmost Purity Galaxy's Alchemic Dao suffer a loss with unpredictable effects?
And as she expected, the silence at the table was palpitating!
"How barbaric," Heaven-Saint Zenith Fusion spat, shattering the mounting tension. As his voice suggested, the Heaven-Saint Zenith Fusion was an elderly man with healthy bronze skin, silver grey hair glistening with vital energy tied into a bun, and a pair of small benevolent eyes that seemed to be in a perpetual smile.
Within the Utmost Unity Mind-Realm, his body was glowing a faint hue of mauve light, radiating an intense sensation of fusion of a myriad of concepts and energies, and his long-sleeved robes were a mixture of mauve and gold. His two-word comment caused a faint smile to leak out of the Elephant-Tigress Sovereign, a leak she hurriedly plugged with a firm furrow of her brows.
"It's a cultivator that treats the Alchemic Dao as secondary and the Imperial Dao as primary. Should we expect anything less? They're short-sighted and inflexible—the term 'barbarian' would be generous with this sort," the scholarly Heaven-Saint Zenith Refinement flatly stated. No one refuted his words, seemingly agreeing with his words. There was a reason why the Imperial Dao was ruthlessly suppressed within the Utmost Purity Galaxy, refusing to allow it to exceed planetary limits.
The Zenith of the Refining Skies Galactic Zone was a middle-aged man, appearing in his early or mid-thirties with glistening white skin, viridescent eyes that shone like precious gems, resembling emeralds cut by the heavens, and a slender physique protected by green and gold robe emblazoned with four-leaf clovers with white outlines. With long hair tied into a ponytail, he sported a scholarly look with rectangular glasses tinted a dark shade. It did little to hide the gleam of his eyes.
The entirety of his body was enveloped by a verdant green glow, exuding an extraordinary natural feeling as if all things could be refined by its presence. Utterly fascinating!
"..." Tianshi Zaoxuan silently observed the ruthless insults with a steady expression, not commenting on Wei Wuyin's brazen declaration for them to prove their worth.
Suo Haoran's eyes flickered with confusion. 'Was the battle supposed to occur now?' He recalled the previous agreement and then calculated the trajectory of events, and he found this to be overly premature. Unbeknownst to Suo Haoran, Wei Wuyin was at a critical point in his cultivation, a development post-agreement, and he wasn't able to follow any pre-decided timeline any longer.
He needed to fight.
Despite the surprise push, Suo Haoran's mind was abundantly sufficient to adapt, filled with ample experience and flexible thinking. He knew his time had come—he needed to be brazen here.
"Shall we decide who will crush this foreigner?" He spoke out, his mental fluctuations surged forth with rumbling force. Tianshi Ya's mind swayed as she was taken aback.
"...Who?" A naturally sultry, soul-stirring, strength-imbued voice resounded questioningly. It belonged to a tall, athletic yet slender woman with golden-blonde fine and lustrous hair tied into a double ponytailed that was voluminous. She stood tall, likely just an inch or shorter than Wei Wuyin, towering over most men, while her body blessed her with an undeniable presence of exceptional physicality. She was a Martial Cultivator with an absurdly terrifying refined body despite her status as a Heavenly Saint Alchemist.
Her skin was a warm shade of ivory, utterly flawless, with a strong nose bridge and sharp features, especially her sharp, hard-angled eyebrows and chin. Despite her strong features, she possessed an abundance of femininity, especially in her various endowments that would give Yue Songli a challenge —albeit, she would lose in the end. She wore figure-hugging yet strangely modest gold and amber robes while her hair's face-framing tendrils both worked to perfectly accentuate her facial and bodily features in flawless tandem.
She was a peerless beauty of the ages beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Zenith Containment!
The Heavenly Saint Alchemist of the Zenith Containment Tower!
"Heavenly Lady Suo, I am willing!" A young lady, seemingly in her late teens, petite in form, short in height, possessing two long wavy pigtails with straight bangs, spoke out from one of the balconies.
Wei Wuyin would have instantly recognized this voice! It belonged to the woman who repeatedly challenged Wei
Wuyin earlier. She was the Dao Enforcer of the Supreme Sage of the Zenith Containment Tower! Her voice was filled with energy, and despite her exceedingly youthful appearance, her voice carried a mature bass, deep and resounding, containing the vast vicissitudes of time.
Her current abnormally youthful appearance was certainly a conscious choice of hers, resembling a young teenage girl in the springtime of her youth. Yet this petite woman had heaven-touching levels of strength! She could not just summon the wind and the rain of the galaxy, but conjure hurricanes and unleash earthquakes with every breath and the slightest step!
Suo Haoran looked over. This woman was eager from the jump to fight. Unlike the Zeniths who preferred indirect methods to achieve their goals, her cute appearance was wildly deceptive as she was brutal and vicious, borderline evil in nature, and known for committing slaughters on a planetary scale with indifferent ease. There was an incident of her destroying an entire starfield out of pure unadulterated rage.
She was the Maleficent-Chaos Sovereign!
Wei Wuyin would be shaken after learning of her history.
Why exactly? She lacked any traces of sin!
"Are we going to entertain this foreigner? Assist him in progressing in his cultivation?" Zenith Refinement eyed Suo Haoran briefly before focusing on the other Heavenly Alchemic Saints. Suo Haoran has been pushing his status bit by bit, leveraging his Resonant Soul Realm cultivation base far too frequently for his liking. He had even brought an unqualified woman here.
Only those near or equal to supreme existences had the right to enter the Utmost Unity Mind-Realm, so he was considerably displeased by his unrestrained actions. The others didn't say anything, but he knew they likely felt the same. They purposefully act as gatekeepers toward any entry due to the limited functions of the realm, unable to produce unlimited Unity Essence. Moreover, to even produce Unity Essence, the mental energy had to be at the level of a Resonant Soul Realm's refined mental energies in terms of quality.
Tianshi Ya could spend a hundred years condensing her mental energies and not produce a speck of Unity Essence, but if Suo Haoran decided to use his own and bestow her that benefit, they couldn't say much.
"It's only three moves," Tianshi Zaoxuan expectedly backed his Dao Enforcer.
"He might only need three moves," Zenith Fusion informed succinctly.
"..."
The issue was that they didn't understand enough about Wei Wuyin's Imperial Path and what type of reign he was relying upon to progress. They didn't even know why he needed to fight to begin with, only accepting the odd circumstance by the abundance of clues to suggest his goals and purpose required it.
But they didn't want to serve as anyone's whetstone. So what's next? Wei Wuyin had deftly moved the ball into their court and reinstated the stalemate. It was on them to throw it back.
Additionally, there was a keen volunteer.
"Absolutely not," Zenith Containment said with staunch refusal. She glanced at the Maleficent-Chaos Sovereign on the balcony, her gaze firm and unquestionable. The words that were clearly on the verge of erupting outwards for all to hear were suppressed within her throat, leaving the Maleficent-Chaos Sovereign silent.
"Why not? She's eager to go," Zenith Fusion said smilingly, supporting the Maleficent-Chaos Sovereign's choice to fight with Wei Wuyin.
Zenith Containment's eyes hardened as she turned her gaze toward Zenith Fusion. These two Alchemic Saints on the Heavenly-tier clashed with mental energy, inducing a minor storm of amber and viridescent mental power. The shockwave caused the Supreme Sages observing, these Dao Enforcers, to instantly erect wards around their respective Heavenly Saint Alchemists.
Suo Haoran guarded Tianshi Ya. Tianshi Ya felt her mind go dizzy, feeling as if her thoughts were melting together while being squeezed to an extreme. Despite Suo Haoran's protection, their mental power was fantastical with special properties that even Supreme Sages had trouble resisting.
After all, Alchemical Energy was mostly inoffensive, but its special properties could bypass many basic defenses. Almost immediately, Suo Haoran found it difficult to protect Tianshi Ya!
"Suo Kai-Ming!" Suo Haoran shouted, lacking any thunderous quality but sufficient to be heard throughout the realm.
Zenith Containment, also known as Suo Kai-Ming, glanced over, seeing the mental incarnation of Tianshi Ya struggle.
She inhaled slightly and retracted her mental power. Zenith Fusion did the same, his mental incarnation somewhat hazy.
His aged gaze looked at Suo Kai-Ming with a sparkle of vigilance. Despite being a bona fide Martial Cultivator, her mental energy was stupefyingly strong!
She deserved the title of the greatest candidate of a Heavenly Saint Alchemist entering the Resonant Soul Realm.
She was, after all, a True Soul Phase cultivator, on the verge of ascending to that lofty, supreme height!
Tianshi Ya breathed a great sigh of relief. Her body leaned on Suo Haoran. She looked at Zenith Containment, and her heart was filled with admiration. She idolized her!
"Why? Then I'll be blunt," Zenith Containment coldly began, her voice as icy as a tundra: "It's clear that this battle could lead to, if not will lead to a life and death battle beyond a shadow of a doubt. Additionally, he's certain that, within just three moves, he can claim the life of any of you, if at a minimum—defeat you absolutely. I will not have my Dao Enforcer suffer due to all of your greed for Daoist Su's secrets."
"Then what do you suggest? We gather our strength as one and attack him together? Suppress him and obtain the location of Daoist Su by force?" Tianshi Zaoxuan inquired with narrowed eyes, seemingly weighing the potential of that idea.
"Absolutely not!" Zenith Refinement immediately rejected that idea. If a Supreme Sage-level conflict was to begin, entire galactic regions would be endangered, and while he would mostly have agreed to such things before, his Zenith Refinement Tower was severely damaged to the point of being near inoperable and the Dao Enforcer of his galactic zone, Elephant-Tigress Sovereign, barely had any strength after barely surviving Mythical Punishment.
If the foreigner was exceedingly petty in his final moments, he could decimate the Refining Skies Galactic Zone's territory, and these so-called allies of his fighting 'together' would certainly watch with an indifferent gaze as it happened. How could he possibly risk that outcome?
"...So what do you suggest?" Zenith Fusion asked.
They were genuinely at a stalemate!
"I have the perfect candidate."
Everyone turned to Suo Haoran. "He'll just need a little incentive. After all, it's just three moves."
"..." The Zeniths.
"..." The Dao Enforcers.
In the subspace where the Golden Night Sovereign, Elephant-Tigress Sovereign, Tianshi Ya, and Suo Haoran were located, the Dao Enforcer of the Zenith Creation Tower turned to Long Shiya with a glint in his eyes.
