Paragon of Sin

"I like it." While it was three words, they were the only words that Wei Wuyin could say. A firm hand had guided him, expertly structured a challenge using the premise of his earlier words as its foundation, and highlighted him under a blindingly bright spotlight, as if he was the most important individual present. It was a forced response.

Wu Yu and Ma Zheng both carried a heavy frown, their eyes effusing varied emotions. The former was angered and frustrated while the latter emitted displeasure and uncertainty.

Ma Zheng knew that Evergod was trying to discredit Wei Wuyin, using his words against him, and placing him in an unfavorable situation. From the beginning, Evergod hadn't made his appearance, but he freely allowed Wei Wuyin to take center stage, allowing him to 'dictate' the flow, but in reality, from the beginning to end, Evergod has perfectly maneuvered Wei Wuyin to where he wanted him. Just the way he perfectly shattered Wei Wuyin's suggestion for greater investment into this freshly created challenge.

Wu Yu wasn't bothered by Evergod's tactical wordplay or its attempt to harm Wei Wuyin's reputation while laced with barbed, hidden, and directed intent. No, it was something else entirely. As he meticulously counted the current floating thrones, he discovered that there wasn't one for himself, but there was one for Ma Zheng, Zhang Ziyi, Han Yuhei, and everyone else!

Most importantly, this meant the Everlore Association was aware of Ma Zheng's Earthly Ascension success, and consciously refused to supply a throne for his imperial rump, an Earthly Saint that had publicly ascended. A sign of tremendous disrespect. The audacity! It was only when he realized this organization was hosted by the Everlore Association, and that he and Wei Wuyin finessed them earlier, with destroying the physical body of an Ever-Knight and escaping their 'inescapable' and expensive array, did he grin disdainfully.

As for the challenge? Wu Yu felt little to no pressure towards it. In his eyes, Evergod was a leaping monkey with a slightly enlarged brain trying to handle a monster that was Wei Wuyin. He couldn't be defined by typical notions of intellect or means.

Their escape from the Everlore Association's grand array was prime evidence of this, all perfectly orchestrated and performed by Wei Wuyin, while the silver-eyed youth accurately deduced the purpose of the strange Mystic Rune in his heart that puzzled himself and Ma Zheng as a mortal. As for the ability to nurture talents?

Ha.

"While you might like it, I don't." An old man in scarlet robes, flames blazing on the surface of his robes as if they were a trapped world of fire, and a Solar Star tattoo that animatedly rotated on its axis at his glabella, spoke out at this point. The eyes of many were drawn to this figure.

Despite his aged and ordinary appearance, sporting a healthy amount of wrinkles, he had an air of exceptionalism innately exuding from his eyes and breath. With his slender figure, he sat comfortably on his throne. It was none other than the head of the Inferno Solaris Church—Pope Huoyan!

As the leading figure of the third-ranked starfield in the entire Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, when he spoke, others were forced to listen. Evergod was no different, and he directly said: "Please say any concerns you may have, Pope Huoyan."

"I will," Pope Huoyan calmly said, as if even if the Evergod never said anything, he would've spoke out regardless. He gave Wei Wuyin and Bai Lin a brief glance. While his eyes weren't fiery emotion-wise, he contained a blazing gaze filled with fire. "This new type of Alchemic Clash will test Alchemic Sovereign Wei's words, deciding who will have the critical say on the minimal heights a Chosen must reach. I have no disagreements with this, as the King of Everlore had performed a similar tactic, and rightfully so.

"I won't question his methods, but I will question the validity of this challenge. There are certain forces without Mortal Sovereign Alchemists or Alchemic Saints that can nurture Chosen of equal or even greater quality in accordance to past standards, using mostly their cultivation methods, a legacy of spells, arts, and investment of time and care. This challenge may affect the qualifications for those forces to have a slot for the Chosen King Competition due to lacking foundation requirements, neglecting expertly refined power, but externally instilled power. This will be a regression of our ways, not a progression."

"..." The world of thrones above went into a contemplative silence. Wei Wuyin frowned slightly, outwardly pondering this issue with a solemn expression. However, inwardly, he was relieved by Pope Huoyan's words, saying the words he wanted to say! Unfortunately, any attempt at broadening the range of this clash could hurt his image and statement.

"What does he mean by that?" Down below, quite a few asked this question. Pope Huoyan's words were a little complex to immediately grasp.

Wu Baozhai and Xue Yifei were seated together, their eyes glinting with contemplative light. Wu Baozhai nodded, "The Imperial Heaven Qi Method is an overbearing, powerful cultivation method that could allow cultivators without the support of alchemy to rival Chosen."

Xue Yifei added, "It's not that simple; Pope Huoyan is advocating for forces without Mortal Sovereign Alchemists to retain their qualifications to participate in the Chosen King Competition. Moreover, I think…"

"He wants to include Cultivation Methods and trained strength into the competition and standards, not just raw foundation," Na Xinyi finished Xue Yifei's words from a short distance away. She hadn't realized that this wasn't explicitly stated before, and what was seemingly a flawless Alchemic Clash with a fresh take was not factoring in such a crucial aspect. Alchemists might be able to improve a cultivator's talents and cultivation, but it doesn't mean they can instruct others on spells, arts, cultivation methods, etc.

This was something they lacked considerably, much of their time devoted to the Alchemic Dao.

Cultivation was difficult, but arts and spells can be taught. They contributed heavily to a Chosen's comprehensive strength and ability! Moreover, innate talent and comprehensive ability can sometimes exceed a dedicated alchemist's attention.

This could easily be neglected because those who can retain high-end alchemists were wealthy and had tremendous legacies, yet this detail was excluded.

Quite a few Earthly Saints were enlightened by Pope Huoyan's words and agreed with him. An alchemist was not the totality of a cultivator's needs, definitely not a Chosen.

Wei Wuyin felt the same! He was the example of unrealized potential, a matter he was extremely self-aware of. With all his power and strength, he lacked arts, spells, and cultivation methods like the Blood Origin Method to capitalize on. However, he was unable to bring this topic forward after Evergod emphasized his statement through this challenge. It would be the same as contradicting himself.

"How about this," Empress Xiaocheng said: "Any Cultivation Method can be used in this competition, as long as the Alchemist can acquire it, and while the chosen participants aren't refining alchemical products or undergoing a rest period, they will be instructed by a cultivator of the alchemist's choice."

Her suggestion induced a wave of nods. It was clear that Empress Xiaocheng wasn't just a pretty face. However, there was an issue that needed to be addressed.

"There are different levels of instructors available. It's not strictly fair. It might ruin the integrity of the competition." A Mortal Sovereign Alchemist pointed out. Many eyes flitted to Wu Yu, who was currently gathering mystic power to create a throne.

If Wei Wuyin decided to select Grand Knight Wu Yu as an instructor, it would be wildly, unimaginably unfair. Many of the cultivation principles of the mortal stages and realms were greatly expanded upon in the Earthly Saint Phase, reflected by Mystic Runes. His insights into the Mortal Dao would be extremely unfair, especially as an 8th Runic Ascendant.

Moreover, powerful cultivators can ease refinements of energies of their talents by acting as a proxy, greatly alleviating the need for high innate talent, and accelerating their cultivation time by sacrificing their own. There were 245 Mortal Sovereign Alchemists present when Wei Wuyin was included, and only 190 Earthly Saints when Wu Yu and Ma Zheng were included, even if some were absent. Moreover, which one of them wanted to lower themselves and teach unrelated mortals for this competition?

Some might be half-hearted or superficial, compromising the integrity of the competition. While Wu Yu, an Alchemic Knight, would devote his entire effort to this task, possibly exhausting lifeforce to do so. A hassle all around.

"We can limit the instructors if the Alchemist wants them." Wei Wuyin found his opportunity to speak, once more gathering the spotlight. He continued: "We restrict it to those at the Mystic Star Phase, no one lesser or higher. Furthermore, we allow them to price their services based on their worth, and the Mortal Sovereign Alchemist can pay them. They can list their specialty, so after the selection of participants, we can find a suitable cultivation direction for our future Chosen. That way, as alchemists, we can better nurture our selections with a regiment of carefully curated alchemical products and a proper instructor in mind.

"Fortunately, we have a wide range of Mystic Star Phase experts here to choose from." Wei Wuyin smilingly pointed out, gesturing to those below. It seemed everyone might be given an opportunity in this summit, even 'false' Ascended beings.

"I have no objections to this. But, an Alchemist should not be able to choose an instructor from their array of Alchemic Knights or Organization." Pope Huoyan had agreed to Wei Wuyin's restriction but wanted to place another restriction. The concept of exhausting lifeforce to rapidly improve a cultivator's talent was too possible. And these Mortal Sovereign Alchemists had quite a few Mystic Star Phase experts under their command. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were responsible for a tenth of all Mystic Star Phase experts in the starfield.

"I, too, have no objections." Empress Xiaocheng stated her opinion which represented the opinion of the majority of Earthly Saints present.

"All challenges need refinements during their developments; We shall do as you all have suggested. As long as there are no other concerns to address," Evergod's voice resounded.

"..." There were no other concerns. Most felt as if the competition had been adjusted enough to reflect the actual developments of Chosen properly, not removing the importance of methods, arts, spells, and teachings.

While most Chosen of silver-tier or gold-tier forces wouldn't receive direct Mystic Star-level teachings, it was better to have a limited range to introduce some degree of fairness. Since they were all failures in the eyes of these lofty Earthly Saints and Mortal Sovereign Alchemists, this was an acceptable middle ground.

BOOM!

Suddenly, Wu Yu's mystic power manifested explosively. A bright light erupted, and when it abated, in its place was a grand multicolored throne with large, silver-colored spiritual characters designed in a bold, vigorous manner, burning with silver-colored flames. It read: "Neo-Dawn."

The scene shook the Earthly Saints as Wu Yu had a contented smile, appraising the throne with a satisfied nod. The throne was massive, roughly twenty percent bigger than the other Earthly Saints, and its design was sleek and imposing.

Seeing the larger throne, the Earthly Saints had varied reactions, with most simply in disbelief! This was a direct insult to their relevance! Was Wu Yu stating he was greater than Pope Huoyan, Empress Xiaocheng, or the absent Soul Saint King?! How ridiculous! How audacious!! How preposterous!

There was a seething storm of ill-intent by Wu Yu's blatant assault on their statuses. That said, most knew they weren't his match. He was an 8th Runic Ascendant who destroyed the physical body of an Ever-Knight, escaping from the Everlore Association's clutches in their Domain, and doing so as a newly ascended Earthly Saint.

While enraged to the maximum, they could only be enraged for Empress Xiaochen and the rest. If it wasn't for the Mythical Oaths established, those Imperial Monarchs and Sky Monarch would've directly attacked! Wei Wuyin's backing be damned!

Wu Baozhai wryly smiled. She was fully aware of how domineering those who cultivate the Imperial Heaven Qi Method can be, having cultivated it herself and seen how Long Chen had acted. It influenced a cultivator's Spirit which was a part of their soul, interconnected with their body and mind.

Wu Yu then said a few words that stunned everyone!

"Young Lord, your throne is ready."

"..."