Unbothered by Evergod's direct gaze, Tian Xiaocheng smiled beautifully. Just like everyone else, she was fully aware of the grudge held by Wei Wuyin and the Everlore Association, all stemming from his single act of murderous intent that led to the death of Rainbow Sky and its billions of inhabitants. Moreover, due to wanting to ensure Wei Wuyin's death, Evergod refused to exert Temporal Reversion of any type.
They had all died pitifully and unfairly.
Despite the rising tension and continuous competitive strife between them, Wei Wuyin still acted civilly by aiming for Evergod directly, striking at the organization he led, continuously challenging him on various fronts, and crushing him with overt tactics before the crowd. If it wasn't for San Luoyang's recent ascension as an Earthly Saint Alchemist, the Everlore Association and Evergod's current situation would certainly only grow more precarious.
Unfortunately, only a scant few were aware of Wei Wuyin's hidden blows toward the Everlore Association. Moreover, those hidden blows were so absurdly devastating that Evergod's heart raged with the fury of a thousand volcanic eruptions.
"Is there a problem?" Tian Xiaocheng asked with concern. It seemed she was genuinely worried about Evergod's situation, so she added with a gentle tone: "If Earth-Saint Evergod is worried about suffering losses, then the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Sovereign will make a guarantee that he'll reimburse you ten times the amount of Heaven Relic that would be exhausted during the comparison."
"..." Evergod remained silent, but the crowd was rowdy with expectations by now, seething at the prospect of seeing the effects of a ninth-grade product derivative and the real thing.
"Oh!" Tian Xiaocheng perked up, her eyes brightening as her smile surged with joy, "I've just been authorized to suggest that the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Sovereign, our Main Host, is willing to repay a thousand times your losses, in materials or raw resources. Given that the Heaven Relic has been valued at 530,000 Mystic Earth Stones by the Imperial Advisor, one of the top appraisers of our world, I hope this will be reasonable enough for Earth-Saint Evergod to accede to the crowd's desire."
"WOAH!" At this moment, the energy was rising and bursting.
Tian Xiaocheng hammered the last nail, "If needed, he's even willing to swear a Heavenly Oath."
Heavenly Oath?! There were three types of oaths-Spirit Oaths, Mystical Oaths, and Heavenly Oaths, but a Heavenly Oath was the most horrific to break. At best, your life might be spared, but it was well-known that you'd be plagued with receiving heaven's ire and run into a string of endlessly dreadful bad luck!
There was even a division of hunters in the Golden Gate Pavilion that hunted down and slaughtered those who break Heavenly Oaths but survive due to outside interference. Entire clans have been eradicated due to harboring such individuals.
By this point, there were even faint cheers for Evergod to do so. That said, the Heaven Relic was incredibly precious, and few would dare offer such valuable material. But considering that Wei Wuyin was giving such concessions simply to act as a demonstration, there was no real path for a retreat without disappointing quintillions.
The only possibility was that Evergod either knew the Heaven Relic was inferior to the Neo-Dawn Heavenly-Origin Paste or he was terrified to bring it out for fear of it being stolen, either of these logical conclusions showed a lack of internal confidence and would certainly harm his reputation while elevating Wei Wuyin.
Seeing such an intelligently made assault on Evergod, San Luoyang felt embarrassed at feeling admiration for Wei Wuyin. This was especially so after he had stolen the other Heaven Relics! How could Evergod ever produce them? From his dreams?!
The Tri-Vision Alchemic Saint couldn't help but glance at Evergod's countenance and was deeply impressed by how stoic he seemed. But he knew, San Luoyang definitely knew, that Evergod was anything but indifferent.
Eventually, Tian Xiaocheng sighed sullenly. "It seems that I've placed Earth-Saint Evergod in an uncomfortable position. Do you need a vow to protect the Heaven Relic? That we'll ally with you against anyone attempting to steal it after the demonstration? Perhaps you need time to retrieve it from the Everlore Domain? If so, we'll be more than willing to offer you our Void Gates and pay for the expenditure."
But Evergod remained unfazed.
By this point, suspicions began to form as Evergod remained silent despite Tian Xiaocheng's continuous concessions. Was this not enough? Or perhaps the Heaven Relics were completely used by now? If so, shouldn't Evergod simply say that?
Of course, San Luoyang knew that Evergod would never fall for that bait to lie that the Heaven Relics were in the process of being researched or any claims of its status. Wei Wuyin would pounce and instantly require proof or an oath that would essentially harm him even further.
This was, by all means, a corner that he could not escape by doing anything but remaining entirely silent. In truth, this was his best move-simple, unexplained reluctance.
While it'll fuel rumors, that was irrelevant from getting caught in a trap and having to admit that the Everlore Association was robbed.
Wei Wuyin watched all this from his subspace and was extremely impressed by how Evergod was remaining calm and not responding or showing any emotions. However, a wisp of killing intent surged in his silver eyes. Individuals like this, those that could remain calm and unaffected by cornering schemes, were the most dangerous type of people. They can endure and endure.
After a few more solo exchanges, Tian Xiaocheng no longer wasted her breath. "It seems Evergod isn't quite confident that the Heaven Relic will match up with the Neo-Dawn Heavenly-Origin Paste. I understand the desire to not waste time or effort on needless matters, so I won't continue."
"What?" Instantly, Tian Xiaocheng's words subtly placed the effects of the Neo-Dawn Heavenly-Origin Paste above the Heaven Relic. Countless minds expected Evergod to refute, but seeing him remain silent was so extremely telling that their previous dispassionate responses towards its reveal were being subverted based solely on this!
Was the paste truly that amazing?!
As for those Mortal Sovereign Alchemists that were suspicious of Wei Wuyin's waste of the Heaven Relic, they sought Evergod's insight but received nothing in return. Their confidence was being shaken and they couldn't help but wonder if the paste in that bowl was better than the Heaven Relic! If so, wouldn't the Origin State evolution be incredibly high-level then?
Stirred, the desire for the Neo-Dawn Heavenly-Origin Paste swelled as top-tier geniuses and Chosen of this generation were expectant of its potential.
"What a terrifying young man," San Luoyang sighed in his heart. Wei Wuyin's move here was enough to harm Evergod's reputation and elevate the importance of his paste in one go. More shockingly, he didn't have to do much except use Tian Xiaochang as a beautiful mouthpiece.
"That greedy bastard!" San Yongli cursed in her heart whenever she thought of the Heaven Relic. She knew that her Heaven Relic could've pushed her to the 7th Origin State with enough time, and the Neo-Dawn Heavenly-Origin Paste definitely could not match it, but she was unable to bring that information forth. In her mind, Evergod simply refused to waste any bit of the Heavenly Mana on a pointless demonstration. After all, it was invaluable. Precious materials and resources simply could not be compared due to their rarity.
"We've delayed enough; We'll begin our next segment. This segment will be the sixth fortune of the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Expo, and the benefit will be a show!" Tian Xiaocheng said energetically as she gestured behind her, her long pretty fingers flicked with rays of spiritual light as a spiraling sphere formed a few dozen meters away.
Suddenly, the sphere expanded as those who were close were blown away by the sheer immensity of the aura. The shock caused countless to exclaim in awe. The excitement began to brew as people's attention focused on the sphere of light.
"On behalf of our Main Host, I'd like to present to you one of our Hepta-Dawn Alchemic Corps leaders-"
As she reached this point, Tian Xiaocheng gave a light clap and a burst of brilliant fireworks of light erupted, dazzling the eyes of everyone who observed. Then, the crowd was stunned as the lights seemed to beautifully flow down to a breathtaking figure clad in lavender robes and had lavender-colored hair.
Her trimmed eyebrows, fluttering eyelashes, dainty nose, pink lips, flawlessly bisque skin, and bright purple-colored eyes that contained indescribable confidence and pride bestowed her a type of heart-palpitating charm that could capture the hearts of any hot-blooded man. While she wasn't busty or curvaceous, she had a slender figure with modestly perfect proportions that just hit differently to the eyes.
"Who's that?!" While the younger generation was awed, the older generation felt as if this figure was extremely familiar. She had a type of beauty that could rival Saintesses!
However, two particular groups of older generation members were stunned. These two were none other than the Everlore Association and Imperial Clan!
Mu Yura's heterocliromatic eyes widened considerably as she pointed with her fingers in disbelief. The woman's aura was that of a Mystic Star Phase, but her aura was full of life, easily containing at least a thousand years. She had recouped all her losses and then some!
While Mystic Star Phase cultivators lost 800 lifespan and gained none, the limits of their lifespan still rise due to their Existential Framework elevating to the next level. It was simply absurdly difficult to acquire sufficient lifeforce to recoup those losses. From the Starlord's average lifespan of 1,500 years, Mystic Star Phase experts obtained an upper limit of 3,000 years.
This was a relatively irrelevant detail as those who failed their Mystic Ascensions were labeled as failures, and few would invest an absurd amount of resources to give them a second chance after their first failure. Not to mention, acquiring one year for a Mortal Realm cultivator was considerably lower than one year for a Mystic Realm cultivator.
"That's...!" San Luoyang was astonished as he recognized that figure. During her younger years, she had once shaken the younger generation of the Everlore Association by continuously challenging and defeating its young King Alchemists, but her actions led to being blacklisted by the association and left her with no choice but to leave to the Imperial Clan.
When she arrived there, her beauty became an issue as the standards upheld by the Everlore Association were not the same, and Xun Yicao, the Lavender Alchemic Sovereign and a Grand Mortal Sovereign Alchemist, had desired her openly. Her refusal led to her being forced to become a vagabond despite her Alchemic Soul, the first of her kind!
Her history was filled with disastrous brilliance and youthful pride that led to her being left to fail! Despite that, she showcased outstanding potential from young to now as well as outstanding talent in the Dao of Alchemy. If she wasn't so stubborn, so arrogant, so prideful, she might have been the third Alchemic Sovereign with an Alchemic Soul! Of course, the first and second being none other than the King of Everlore and Sky-Zenith Alchemic Saint!
Tian Xiaocheng continued, barely hiding her mixed feelings, " - the Lavender-Dawn Alchemic Sovereign, LUO NING!"
"!!!"
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