Paragon of Sin

The new arrivals instigated an outpour of cheers, exclamations, and heated discussion amongst the crowd. Wei Wuyin felt his body visibly shake from the sheer soundwaves produced by the crowd. It was quite infectious, stimulating his heart to feel tingling excitement. Was this how it felt to be a part of the greater crowd? This feeling was fairly novel, even slightly addictive.

"They're riding the Shadow-Bright Hawk! How incredible! I heard it was invincible beneath the Astral Core Realm amongst beasts; furthermore, it's very close to evolving and becoming a Star Beast!"

"I heard the An Clan had already lost twenty-percent of their territory! Now, they're fighting to reclaim what they lost, forced to wager fifty-percent more! If they lose this match, wouldn't they enter a period of decline?"

"I wonder if An Biru will arrive! As one of the top ten beauties of the Blood Titan City, I truly want to see if her looks make the cut!"

The conversations were diverse, speaking about all sorts of topics that livened the atmosphere. Wei Wuyin lifted his eyes and saw the dark-colored hawk with silver stripes on its wings. Its wingspan wasn't much, merely forty meters. However, upon its broad back was nearly a hundred people.

These were all the experts and upper-echelon of the An Clan's, and the fact that they arrived alongside the An Clan's patriarch had instigated an even greater uproar. This was clearly a desperate showing of strength, as if trying to warn the Chen Clan not to take things too far.

Shaking his head within his heart, Wei Wuyin decided to handle this matter and determine his next set of actions. With a swipe of his fingers across his face, a black mask appeared. It was featureless without lips, nose, or eyes. It was marked with a single character at its top that read: 'Ascendant'.

He hid away his identity for a bit, and it wasn't just for the sake of remaining incognito. It was because those knowledgeable would definitely recognize him if he arrived in person and exposed him. After all, all it took is one person and one speculation. If that happened, how could he participate in this clash? In fact, the result would be constant fawning.

He was a Heavenly King and an Alchemic King, so how could that not happen within the society of a continent? It would happen even in the sect where experts gathered en masse. To avoid that, he had no issue concealing his identity.

With that, he slowly weaved through the crowd.

The Shadow-Bright Hawk landed on an opening, causing surging winds and piercing cry to sweep the surroundings. The An Clan patriarch stepped off first, allowing his body to gain the most attention. With a brief exertion of his aura, he awed the crowd.

A true Astral Core Realm cultivator!

The other members followed along and left the back of the hawk, trailing behind the powerful and confident steps of An Ge, their patriarch! They walked onto the stage, immediately becoming center stage of the event. Their auras quietly roiled about, releasing an innate prestige and sensation of high-born. While some couldn't help but feel a sense of oppression and reverence for the strong, others sneered in their hearts at this fraudulently confident showing.

Wasn't this just them arriving strong but having to leave weak? However, An Ge wasn't known as the worst patriarch in the entire history of the An Clan without warrant! This entire display was his attempt at grasping some momentum, and the others simply had to follow along.

An Ge swept his gaze towards the Chen Clan's tent before saying to An Biru, "Are you sure this alchemist will arrive?" Since he learned of their encounter with Wei Wuyin, including his monstrous strength and ownership of the pegasus, he felt that the expert was a Myriad Monarch Sect elder who arrived via Void Gate.

He decided to fake it until he made it. Be arrogant until the very end, and perhaps this type of personality inevitably led to the current predicament with the Chen Clan. It was a wonder how he could even assail the Astral Core Realm to many. While he wasn't fully incompetent, he lacked the bearing and intelligence of a leader. It seemed all his points were invested in talent and not enough in intelligence.

An Biru firmly nodded her pretty head, but her eyes revealed a wisp of anxiety that betrayed her confidence. While Wei Wuyin had said he would help, a verbal promise without a proper oath could renege on a whim. This caused her sleepless nights for the last two days. After all, they had no other option available to them besides sending out the remaining alchemist and praying to the God of Luck.

Woosh! The flap of the Chen Clan's tent was pushed open as several figures exited. Seeing these figures, An Ge glanced over, and his eyes flashed with a brief light of rage and hatred. There were two individuals that were the target of his animosity.

The first was the Chen Clan's Matriarch, Chen Xiaowei. She looked to be in her late twenties and was quite a beauty. She had short-styled black hair and a slim physique. While her endowments weren't exceptional, she had a gorgeous face that was particularly alluring. This was especially with her lips that seemed to be in a perpetual smirk. She exuded boundless confidence and pride that few women had.

The other was Yun Daotian. He had a set of snake-like golden eyes, sharp and particular, with a long nose and sharp chin. He was obviously a beastman, and from the faint greenish scales on his cheeks, he originated from serpents. He was once regarded as the best Alchemist of Blood Titan City.

He had a smugness within his uplifted lips with a hint of schadenfreude, and it caused An Ge to wish to slap this shameless, honorless fool to death with a single move. Unfortunately, with Chen Xiaowei standing beside him, his actions would be definitely nullified. However, it didn't stop him from sending glares of death his way.

Yun Daotian chuckled at this. The Chen Clan also had elites, but not nearly as many as the An Clan. Despite that, their momentum wasn't a single iota lacking in comparison as they walked towards the central platform and arrived.

Chen Xiaowei smiled, her eyes a little coy as she waltzed upwards towards An Ge. An Ge didn't back down, walking to meet her. The two Astral Core Realms got into close proximity and a few shouted in rampant excitement, wanting a clash of epic proportions to occur!

Unfortunately for some, they just talked.

"I didn't think you'd come. How unfortunate." Chen Xiaowei said.

"Hmph! Unfortunate? Seems like someone's scared." An Ge didn't show a hint of weakness.

But Chen Xiaowei merely shook her head. "You misunderstood me. It's unfortunate that you decided to come and show everyone how incompetent you are as a leader." After she said those words, she grinned. Then followed up before An Ge could speak with a spiritual transmission, "After all, this is all your fault; done all for the sake of a little taste of this peach of mine."

An Ge froze. His memories of the past that he had repressed had resurfaced, and his anger flared trying to contain his embarrassment. While those words were said via spiritual transmission, if word truly were to spread of this, wouldn't he be regarded as an idiot for life?

All because he wanted to spend a night with Chen Xiaowei, he bet a mine at first. It seemed harmless, right? It was merely a minor mine, and if he lost, so what? If we won? Would he not be rewarded with dual cultivating with a fellow Astral Core Realm expert and a beauty at that? They were exceptionally rare as is. But his innate desire and manly pride led to consecutive losses.

Boom!

His aura erupted! The astral force within him was stimulated as surged his pressure towards Chen Xiaowei. However, she similarly released her aura that wasn't the slightest bit weaker as they ferociously smashed against each other causing the wind to become chaos, the clouds to churn, and the ground to quake!

This was Astral Core Realm experts!

The entire crowd below stifled, as if they were caught up in an explosive shockwave, and their lungs could barely gasp for air. It was horrific, fear entering the eyes of everyone present!

Due to the scarcity of Astral Core Realm experts, very few knew of their innate power, and this was especially so for the majority of the crowd. They controlled astral force! A single strand could obliterate an entire mountain! It wasn't an exaggeration, and this was the weakest strand at that. A true fight would devastate a fragile landmass like a continent.

"Enough!" A voice descended, causing the world to quake and the forceful pressure generated by their clash to be negated by a worldly pressure! This was a Sky Ruler Phase expert! With a mere utterance of a word, both of their auras were rendered nullified.

Chen Xiaowei and An Ge's expressions changed as they felt the oppressive worldly force circulate around them threateningly. They ceased their clash, bringing an end to a nearly catastrophic event.

Shockingly, this person wasn't even here.

Wei Wuyin lifted his eyes to the sky. This voice belonged to the guardian of the Bloodforge Continent. To prevent Astral Core Realm experts from needlessly slaughtering or causing immense destruction, they assigned a Third Stage Astral Core Realm expert to monitor to situation.

It was true that those at this level could cause irreparable or total destruction to the continent, but their Soul Idol meant their spiritual sense was powerful enough to observe the entire continent passively.

Of course, this guardian was already on his payroll.

He finally arrived near the stage and climbed up onto it via the stairs. When he arrived, countless gazes shifted to him as he stood out wearing a black mask with no face. Besides the 'Ascendant' character, there was no other indication of his identity.

Chen Xiaowei and An Ge glanced over and simultaneously asked, "Who are you?" They glanced at each other and then turned back to Wei Wuyin. They couldn't sense his cultivation level, but their instincts told them he was incredibly dangerous. Furthermore, that mask seemed to be created from solidified spiritual force that blocked all their perceptions.

Wei Wuyin didn't disguise his voice, "I'm here to participate in the All-Alchemic Clash. Shall we begin?"