Paragon of Sin

The Everpath Voyage was divided into nine paths, each containing twelve walls, for a total of one hundred and eight walls, and a bitter sea to traverse of abnormal pressure that impacted all forms of strength. The Sea of Bitterness claimed the most Chosen's future, causing many to descend into a state of weakness and exhaustion, leaving them vulnerable for others to freely prey upon.

The nine paths were specifically given specific designations of levels, ranging from lowest to highest: black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and white. Since its establishment all those years ago by the King of Everlore, these bitterly traversed paths were widely considered as the greatest obstacles for Chosen of the Sealed Region, but also the best representation of their talents and arduous effort.

Tian Xiaocheng was a notable example of how life-altering the Chosen King Competition could be, allowing her to display talent far exceeding the norm, acquiring the interest of the Imperial Clan and later the Divine Emperor himself, becoming the Empress of the greatest monarchy.

While the Ascendants challenged this once future-defining path, a slender, white-haired woman sat quietly in a corner, her aura concealed by various layered Environmental Integration and Spiritual Isolation Spells. She was practically invisible to most.

"How abnormal!" Within San Yongli's Sea of Consciousness, the soul within the jade exclaimed in astonishment. "These youths are impressive!" Uncharacteristically, the soul complimented sincerely.

San Yongli's neutral expression shifted into a frown, her cultivation efforts slightly disrupted by the soul. Since she acquired the root of the Astralis Tree, San Yongli had been slowly refining a brief portion following a unique method. She gently nudged herself out of her state of concentration, finally peeking out of her layers of concealment to see the events happening outside out of curiosity.

Since San Yongli had entered the Everpath Voyage's Docking Stage, she hid away to refine a portion of the Astralis Root, focusing solely on acquiring the bare minimum of the Astralis Root's power to absorb other Solar Stars' quintessential essence to grow her Star Core and gain a boost to her starforce intrinsic strength and structure. She wasn't too concerned about the Everpath Voyage, only calculating a need of three days, so making a move on the 78th day was sufficient time.

"What's all the commotion about?" She asked with a tinge of annoyance and a dash of curiosity. Was Wei Wuyin here? Thinking of that person, her heart rate began to increase slightly. The existence of a second traveler of time and altered destiny made her feel greater degrees of apprehension. This was why she needed to seize every opportunity to grow.

"Finally awake, huh?" The soul said pointedly. She had been trying to alert San Yongli of the changes happening for a while now, yet the young woman had ignored her time and time again as if her words weren't relevant enough.

San Yongli ignored the soul's dissatisfaction. Knowing its talkative habit, she simply had to wait a while. And as expected, the soul began to spew out everything it wanted to say.

"You've missed quite a bit, you know?" The soul began to weave the tale of the developments thus far. As she reached the Ascendants' joint completion of the walls, especially their completion of the Indigo Path and recent entry into the Violet Path, her voice contained notable praise.

San Yongli's brows furrowed thoughtfully. She asked, "How do they match up with the talents from the World Beyond?" The Ascendants were well-known as Wei Wuyin's army, and they included the youth and older generation. A few largely consider them a police force and regulatory organization for the Neo-Dawn Starfield, but she knew the organization began with youths and young talents, likely meant to foster outstanding talents that would grow to become elite forces at his disposal.

Hearing of their achievements, she wasn't too shaken or taken aback. Unlike her, Wei Wuyin's alterations of fate were the inclusion of other people of astonishing talents, nurturing them with his foreknowledge of alchemy far exceeding his age.

"But it's a little of a waste to develop such outstanding cultivators for nothing," the soul stated sullenly as if it was truly a pity.

"What?" San Yongli lifted her brow.

"That Emperor fellow is raising characters of greatly limited potential. There are beastmen, elves, and even hybrid, inferior races amongst them. His indiscriminate cultivation of them is a waste of valuable resources. After all, they can't become true Ascended beings." The soul spoke with genuine pity as if it was an unfortunate mistake on Wei Wuyin's part.

"..." San Yongli.

Personally, she didn't believe in the so-called 'Superior' and 'Inferior' races. After all, the elven race was notoriously declared as 'inferior' yet the Sacred Elven Queen of their homeland had ample evidence of her racial lineage and cultivation base exceeding the Mortal Realms. Despite telling the soul this, she refused to believe it, however.

"How do the Ascendants compare to those from the World Beyond?" San Yongli changed the topic.

"Oh?! I'd say...they're a little inferior." The soul determined after some thought. The Ascendants were powerful, but there was a notable lack of inheritance amongst them, creating a divide in the application of strength relative to their unique cultivation bases. They were too diverse yet not developed enough. In her opinion, at least.

San Yongli felt that what she said made sense. A cultivator's strength was determined not simply by their cultivation bases, but by their arts, spells, methods, skill, and lineage.

"However, talent standards grow by the millennia, so I have no idea how they'd compare to today. The Ascended Sovereigns have not been stagnating for tens of thousands of years, and neither has others in regards to inheritances and advancements of legacies." The soul had been sealed for too long, so she had no idea what the current standards of the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone were. To honestly admit this showed her open-mindedness. Moreover, she held no noticeable degree of disdain or contempt when comparing the two as she had before.

San Yongli noticed that last bit, realizing that the Ascendants had somehow gained her respect and acknowledgment. They must be terrifyingly powerful then. She looked to the Violet Path, seeing a few figures exiting. They were astonishing beauties, most of which were on the old Saintess ranking.

The Extreme Yin Saintess. The Eternal Monarch Saintess. The Dragonborn Saintess. There was also Hong Chunhua, who had made her name known long ago, and given the title of the Radiant Flower Saintess.

As time passed, a few more breathtaking females escaped the Violet Path. They included Ma Luling, Yue Songli's disciple, Second Commander Bo Kay, Fourth Commander Bei Weiwei, several other Ascendants, and a few oddities of both genders.

"Yeah! The women of this world aren't bad." The soul cheered happily. Due to the dynamic of Primal Yin, in lesser societies, talented women were often reduced to cauldrons to elevate their male counterparts. However, it was clear that the Sealed Regions' approach to race and gender held a degree of fierce equality.

Suddenly, the soul felt bitter.

"If there's anything I can say about that Emperor fellow, he's not like the typical male monarchs. It's hard to have outstandingly beautiful subordinates and not indulge. After all, what domineering man doesn't want to own all the good things in the world?" As if she was recalling a past trauma, she went oddly quiet after.

San Yongli realized that the group was blasting through the paths. When she saw Realmlords exit out of the Violet Path, which was truly settled into the Mystic Ascendant Realm of power, her heart was thoroughly shaken now. How?!

Could they all have exceeded Mortal Limits?

As Mortals?!

If they were this terrifying, what about those from the World Beyond?! San Yongli felt an invisible pressure descend upon her heart and soul. She hastily began sealing herself off again, refining the Astralis Root to completion.

In truth, the soul was unaware of the exact standards of each wall, so to her, she was gauging their strength purely based on outward auras. Seeing Realmlords exiting out of the Violet Path with only haggard breathing and shining eyes, she believed the Violet Path was likely within the realm of Mortal Limits despite the exaggerated discussions from the other Chosen. After all, she was far older than the Chosen King Competition!

Off to the side, Tian Yinwu and Tian Jianghan were observing from concealed locations too. The former was gazing at San Yongli's hidden location without deviating in the slightest, a faint smile was worn on his face and his hazel-gold eyes contained a soft series of emotions.

"These Ascendants are monsters!" Tian Jianghan coughed as he watched the Ascendants conquer the paths.

"Did you expect them not to be? They've been receiving resources from World-Saint Neo-Dawn for decades. None of them should be ordinary, especially when you're using these vastly outdated standards." Tian Yinwu calmly remarked as his eyes reflected San Yongli's cultivating visage. She was giving 110% of her effort.

"Tch! World-Saint Neo-Dawn! Haaa..." Tian Jianghan had unsaid grievances in his words that he couldn't quite express. From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of Na Xinyi, and his complexion paled. She entered the White Path of Bitterness, instigating countless gasps of awe and discussions among the Chosen, shockingly becoming the first to enter the path, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief subconsciously. However, at the same time, his heart pounded fiercely with an emotion he hadn't felt for many women before, especially when he recalled her gorgeous, indifferent, yet oddly domineering eyes.

After a while, he looked at Tian Yinwu as if catching his earlier words late. "Outdated standards?" Tian Jianghan had thought the originally determined standards of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region were outdated, but the King of Everlore's Chosen King Competition was simply an unreasonable degree of standards that was borderline impossible to overcome. It should've been designed that way simply to test future Chosen.

Tian Yinwu looked at the White Path's entrance.

"Such an annoying Yin Art!" The Eternal Monarch Saintess shot into the entrance after quietly spitting out with grievance. She was clearly frustrated by Na Xinyi's ability to nullify things using her Yin powers. Tian Yinwu was familiar with her abilities and knew that's why she could easily bulldoze across the walls. After all, if the yin components were siphoned or the yang components were dispersed, the wall would collapse with little external force required.

Na Xinyi had taken the lead by exerting her mystical cultivation art.

Tian Yinwu couldn't hold back his grin. Just like that, Na Xinyi had stolen the spotlight and become the main topic of discussion amongst the idle and observing Chosen. The Extreme Yin Empress was hanging on everyone's lips.

"Yeah, outdated." Tian Yinwu said casually and calmly, "You'll understand when we reach the next stage of the competition. That's when the true Chosen King will be determined."

After he said this, his eyes flashed to Zuhei. The beastman began walking toward the Red Path of Bitterness. It seems everyone is beginning to act now.

"Let's get to the White Path too," Tian Yinwu said as he began to walk under concealment to the Red Path.

"Yeah..." Tian Jianghan said as he gave several strange glances at the White Path entrance that Na Xinyi entered before entering the Red Path.

----

On the Everclash Platform, Wei Wuyin had deeply furrowed brows as several dozen glowing spherical orbs floated in front of him. They exuded strong auras, especially alchemic ones.

"Is this it?" Wei Wuyin quietly asked as he touched one of the orbs. A gushing burst of splendid radiance erupted!