The 53rd day of the Evercrown Ceremony subtly caused the atmosphere to change. It was minute, barely noticeable, yet the sensation infused into the hearts of all the remaining Chosen from the Sealed Regions and the World Beyond.
Those from the Sealed Regions outside of the Ascendants had mostly taken to hiding within the various regions, hiding under various protective measures, and praying that their presence went largely unnoticed by any roaming Evil Sentinels, Chosen, and hopefully avoid any devastating shockwaves.
Fortunately, Zuhei's bloody, savage slaughter had placated the intense violence while the Evil Sentinels kept abruptly appearing and vanishing without a trace. Typically, after the seventh fragment appears, the containers no longer became the main focus, however, even to this day, the scattered and hidden containers were continuously unlocked and unleashing bursts of malevolent auras. In the eyes of those who took notice of this strange occurrence, it seemed some righteous Chosen were hunting Evil Sentinels.
The matter had little to do with them, so these Chosen simply ignored the situation and focused on finding opportunities or forming alliances to potentially fight for the Evercrown against Tambu Ma and his group of mortals. If someone was trying to eradicate the Evil Sentinels, let them!
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Within a woodland region, Yi Yun quietly observed the starless sky, his expression flat and neutral, and his aura concealed. The hybrid Blessed had a white strip of cloth wrapped around his eyes and head, completely covering the intensive damage his eyes had experienced ten or so days ago. Faint fluctuations of life energies emanated from the cloth.
"Don't tell me you're thinking of competing?" A voice asked. The voice belonged to none other than the female Demi-Mortal Lord Phase cultivator of the Human Race that had saved Yi Yun during the destructive windstorm of Lin Kang. She was no longer covered in blood, so her breathtaking appearance was fully shown as she wore an apricot robe that accentuated her slender figure and two proud mountains of flesh leading to an incomparably enticing valley.
She was certainly beautiful, but not to an extreme extent such as Tian Xiaocheng, Xue Yifei, or Na Xinyi. She did, however, hold a greater alluring, sexy charm that was hard to look away from for any hot-blooded male, especially with her clothing style that exposed skin at stimulating parts. However, she seemed entirely unbothered by her stylistic choices or the opinions of others.
"..." Yi Yun remained silent.
The woman couldn't help but lightly heave a sigh, standing next to Yi Yun as she decided to observe the starless sky as well. She was no longer ignorant of what had happened earlier as the bestial mutant sent blood-conjured canines to unleash a great slaughter. She knew why she was spared. If not for Yi Yun passing alongside this so-called 'Mark of Ascendants' to her via a kiss, she would've been nothing more than a meal with not even her bones remaining.
When she thought about how she had wanted to kill Yi Yun because of his actions, a feeling of gloomy shame stabbed into her heart. Now, she owed this little hybrid mortal her life.
"There's always the next iteration of the competition; you're young and your cultivation is already outstanding, give it a hundred and sixty-two years or two-hundred and forty-three days and you'll have a chance at becoming Chosen King." She tried consoling using these words.
However, Yi Yun's expression changed slightly. "There won't be another." His tone was flat and indifferent, his voice soft and whispering.
His words caught the woman off-guard, unsure of whether she heard correctly or not, causing her to lift her left eyebrow in inquiry: "What?"
"..." Yi Yun didn't elaborate or respond. This was what San Yongli had told him shortly before he decided to participate in the competition. She had also given him certain tips on what to capitalize on. He fully trusted her words when she said those foreboding words.
"Be sure to make this competition count-there won't be another."
As for participating in the Chosen King Competition's final phase of crowning, while he might have had some grand designs in his imagination, in his heart he was fully aware that he couldn't become the Chosen King of this generation, especially with San Yongli participating.
Far away in a cubical container, Wei Wuyin was observing various events occurring across the vast lands like a divinity from afar, catching all the minute details unfolding. He had just caught Yi Yun's softly spoken words. Moreover, from how the hybrid Blessed sounded, it seemed that Yi Yun wholeheartedly believed that there wouldn't be another Chosen King Competition.
"So her ability is some foresight of the future. But is it connected to the River of Time or the Heavens themselves? Or is it a tool that can communicate with the Heavenly Daos and obtain its intentions...perhaps World Trend observing? It feels geared towards Blessed, however." Wei Wuyin slowly tried sounding out San Yongli's unique advantage as a Temporal Reincarnator. Fortunately, Yi Yun's connection with San Yongli allowed him to observe her at a distance.
"Well, guess it's no longer something I should be bothered with." Wei Wuyin muttered to himself as he saw San Yongli and Wen Mingna treading the various regions together, traveling toward the pillar of light.
"Oh?" Wei Wuyin's eyes shifted to locate a figure obscured by light. They were currently observing a spot where Tian Yinwu had placed a flag. This figure was hundreds of thousands of miles away from him. They seemed to be thinking. Then, they vanished.
Wei Wuyin smiled.
Within three seconds, the figure was enshrouded by obscured light that obfuscated their identity and appeared directly before the cubical container. They seemed to be looking 'through' the container and directly at Wei Wuyin as if it didn't exist.
"You can ignore those things. But when the time comes, don't hold back in taking all you can." Wei Wuyin said with a sly smile.
The obscured figure vanished again. Within two seconds, they were back with San Yongli and Wen Mingna, giving the former a little start.
Wei Wuyin then looked at the cavernous region where the Evil Sentinels had gathered. There were a few Earthly Saint-level figures that were sneaking about, avoiding being seen by any Chosen as they intently targeted specific containers, unlocking them and bringing away other Evil Sentinels.
A few minutes later, a wave of Mystic Intent briefly gushed into the air before hurriedly receding as if afraid of allowing themselves to be known by others. Wei Wuyin recognized the aura as Mystic Heart Intent, although lacking in essence. This time, however, it belonged to a woman and she had skin bearing a strong resemblance to white marble with streaks of pinkish-red that looked like earth-severing fissures.
She took off under the lead of the one who helped her escape.
"Another?" Wei Wuyin could smell a plot afoot, and he already had a good idea of what it was and who was behind it. In his eyes, the planning was quite extensive, likely thousands of years in the making. He lowered his head as he thought about the Evercrown Ceremony's Overseer and San Yongli. Did the latter know what happened during the Chosen King Competition?
"Okay! What do you want with me?!" A voice snapped him out of his thoughts as the silent woman spoke at this moment.
"Hm?" He turned to find the woman with a deeply concealed anxiety in her eyes. Did his mutterings and words cause her to imagine certain things? Did she think he was talking to himself earlier? When he recalled that the container blocked off mortal and spiritual senses, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward. She must have thought he was going slightly crazy.
"If you think I'm going to repay you for all the things earlier by devoting myself to you, I can tell you now: You might as well let me go." She strongly said, but after a few seconds of silence, she added a little hesitantly: "Even if you're extremely handsome, incredibly powerful, and seem to be stupidly wealthy and well-connected, I'm not that easy of a woman. And as you already know, I'm engaged. I won't settle for anything else."
"..." Wei Wuyin shook his head, not even deigning to give those overtly obvious intended words a reply, especially given that she was a mere concubine acting as if she was 'engaged'. "As long as you agree to do one thing for me, you can consider the debt of saving your life to be repaid."
"One thing?" Shockingly, a glimmer of disappointment flashed through her eyes. But then her thoughts turned, and she vigilantly exclaimed: "You want my precious Primal Yin?" There was anger in her voice, but Wei Wuyin could easily tell that it was feigned. This woman might have said those earlier words, but her subconscious desires were leaking. Wei Wuyin could tell that if he were to proposition her, she would agree after very little convincing.
In fact, she seemed to have already prepared herself and quietly cleaned up her private areas using some cleansing art. She was unable to sense Wei Wuyin's cultivation base, so she automatically assumed that his cultivation base was vastly greater than hers, being an Ascended being.
Moreover, who referred to their Primal Yin as 'precious'? He was almost rendered speechless. The Mystic-World graded product that he gave her was far more valuable than her 'precious' Primal Yin. "We'll talk about it later." He no longer felt like interacting with her right now. She might be beautiful, but truthfully, her earlier reaction to being saved had worsened his impression of her to an extreme. Wei Wuyin turned his attention back to the vast lands.
Currently, the pillar of geysering radiance was gradually dissipating. This process began on the 53rd day and will end on the 54th, ushering in the sign of the third stage. Normally, the fragments would be merged into two pieces at this stage from four, but there were only three pieces currently.
This expedited the ceremony and if the others willingly accepted the situation, then the Evercrown would be formed by the day's end. Considering how everyone was reacting, this was the most likely scenario, and the spark that will begin the true finals of the ceremony.
-----
After several hours, the Chosen of the Sealed Regions and the World Beyond as well as the Ascendants scattered throughout began to gather toward the pillar as if called upon.
Tambu Ma held two fragments of the Evercrown in his hand as he watched as a white-haired young mortal woman walked forward with a merged fragment in her hand.
The time had finally come.
[Author's Note: Things needed to be written for future developments? All done. LET'S TRULY BEGIN THE VALKYRIE ARC!]
Erdiul's Note: The chapter that releases today will come today, don't worry.
