Paragon of Sin

"Oh? Seems like we're the last to present," Wei Wuyin nonchalantly remarked, a slight grin on his face as he swept his gaze across the Main Hall. There were all sorts of eyes fixated on his existence, suffused with searing emotions, high expectations, and crazed thoughts. 

The last of the 245 Mortal Sovereign Alchemists, the mysteriously elusive figure with absurd talent, the youngest Mortal Sovereign Alchemist of their era, bringer of era-changing products, and debatably the most outstanding male in the looks department was ready! How could their thoughts not be a little crazed? 

This was especially so after San Luoyang's reveal of his Earthly Saint cultivation base and outstanding achievement in nurturing a mind-blowing Chosen Knight to the Second Stage of the Astral Core Realm in three and a half years! In truth, no one expected Wei Wuyin to realistically win this clash. He was up against Ascended alchemists; the means and abilities of his opponents were unimaginably higher than his. 

The task of having a mere mortal participate in a competition that could be regarded as a nurturing challenge between gods was laughable. However, despite this seed of thought being nestled and nourished over the three and a half years since the clash's announcement, there was still lingering hope in some of their hearts.

An underdog!

A miraculous upset!

They were waiting for the unexpected with cheer, rooting for the one expected to lose.

Those with brilliant hope in their hearts were unaware of the drastic consequences that Wei Wuyin's victory would bring to the upcoming era. How a mere mortal, yet to reach a hundred years old, defeated Ascended beings of thousands of years old! 

"Last? I thought you wanted to be first, Master." A voice sounded out from behind Wei Wuyin belonging to a chubby figure garbed in dark-red and jet-black robes, cutting an intense yet harmless image that brought about a strange sense of distortion to one's mind. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what feeling he gave.

Du Ling walked out, gaining the spotlight. 

"To claim first place, not to show-off first. Do we need to clean your ears again?" Luo Ning's voice followed closely after; her tone was filled with energy and amusement. 

"Daddy! It's daddy, Big Brother!" Du Ping cried out excitedly. While he had met his father periodically throughout these years, he was still excited to see him each and every time. The young boy of three years had changed, grown into a taller, more intelligent child of six. He didn't need to be carried around, holding his older brother's hand as he pointed vigorously. 

Du Ling instantly noticed his son's voice from below, filtering out all the attention and sound. With the brightest grin and gentlest eyes, he found his sons and gave them a wave. He had some guilt at leaving them alone for these three years, but he knew this experience would definitely make them grow as people and cultivators. The expansions of their horizons and the forming of relationships with their neighbors were all essential events that must occur sooner or later, benefitting them in the future. 

"You better not embarrass yourself before your children," Luo Ning reminded. Du Ling's spine instantly grew taut, and his eyes flickered before an expression of seriousness overtook his face. With a solemn nod, he swore in his heart not to have a poor showing in front of his family.

However, the two hadn't noticed that the silver-eyed Wei Wuyin had the strangest expression as he glanced upward at the palaces and thrones. The disbelief in his eyes was as clear as the Aeternal Sky Solar Star from Ever-Sky! 

He saw San Luoyang's Chosen Knight, Duze Beixuan, emanating an aura of a Sky Ruler. When he initially saw this, he accepted it as San Luoyang was a Prime Mortal Sovereign Alchemist. This type of result was decent, within his expectations. But as he used his Celestial Eyes to gauge the cultivation bases of all the other Chosen Knights, especially Xun Yicao's, he reeled inwardly.

Oh shit.

Oh shit…

OH SHIT!

"Haha." Wei Wuyin dryly chuckled, nearly palming his face, catching himself before completing this action and changing it from a cheek rub to a chin rub. Those silver eyes of his contained barely concealed exasperation. If he had known…

"It's your turn, Du Ling. Show them." Luo Ning directed with gusto, wanting the world to see her proudest work. She had concocted all the products herself, with Wei Wuyin assisting through a mental link, and she was given a world-shaking revelation!

This was how it feels to have a legacy and teacher of the Alchemic Dao! She couldn't help but wonder if she was given the teaching of someone at Xun Yicao's level who had tens of thousands of years of experience and was one of the foremost authorities of the Alchemic Dao in the entire stellar region, only inferior to the Alchemic Saints, how vast would her improvements have been?

With her displayed talent in alchemy and extraordinary successes at Wei Wuyin's hands, especially with an amazing cauldron like the All-Elemental Eclipse Cauldron, she felt confident that the path to the Alchemic Saint level would've been blasted open for her! She was a diamond in the rough, unfairly treated, overlooked by all, yet unimaginably valuable. Luo Ning was so into her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed Wei Wuyin's visible irritation. 

Du Ling was just following along. He wasn't aware of the nuances and didn't try to inspect the higher elevated Chosen Knights. So he stepped forward.

Wei Wuyin stiffened. If he had known…

"Wai-" He called out to Du Ling, yet it was too late!

BOOSH!!!

Du Ling's aura erupted as his body began to emanate a terrifying power! A dark-red Astral Core glowed within his Dantian, capable of being viewed by everyone, as the world's ambient mana began to twist, churn, and spiral out of control, being dominated by Du Ling's will! 

Above Du Ling, a volcanic mountain standing at ten thousand meters tall manifested while pulsing out billowing clouds of dark smoke and heat! This volcanic mountain had ten rings constructed from Manifested Spirit Energy, enriched and empowered to its limits. A torrential spiritual strength exploded upwards like a volcanic eruption, causing those above to be blasted back, their robes fluttering wildly, and their eyes widened out of sheer shock. 

However, it hadn't stopped there! And oh boy, at this point, the hearts of a few wished it did. 

"Auuuuhhh!" Du Ling strained his cultivation base, tightly clenched his teeth, and exerted his aura to its maximum! Suddenly, his body began to emit vigorous spatial energy that seeped into the world and distorted fixed space right then and there. Waves upon waves of spatial energy flowed outwards like a flood, smashing against the platforms and thrones without any hindrance. 

As if revving up, Du Ling tapped into his Domain Seed that had perfectly integrated with his Astra Soul, essentially as real as a Domain Seed could get! From his body, a dark-red Worldly Domain unfurled for three hundred meters in diameter, only stopping after Du Ling reached his absolute limits. 

The Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill!

"Oh my heavens…" Mu Yura's enchanting lips formed an 'O' shape, and her jaws nearly dropped to the floor. San Luoyang's smile stiffened instantly as his eyes reflected the ten-thousand-meter-sized Soul Idol sporting ten rings. When the spatial waves impacted his robes, he absentmindedly lifted his fingers to inspect them.

Spatial Resonance?

SPATIAL RESONANCE?!

Wei Wuyin inevitably couldn't resist, face-palming himself heavily. If only he had known these Mortal Sovereign Alchemists were this freaking useless! There were still Qi Condensation Realm experts among them. No, the vast, vast, vast majority of them were at the Qi Condensation Realm!

How?

HOW?

HOW?!?!

THREE. AND. A. HALF. 

FUCKING YEARS!!

Wei Wuyin's understanding of this competition was simple. In fact, it made perfect sense. He genuinely believed that when Evergod suggested this challenge as a metric to test the qualifications for Mortal Sovereign Alchemists, they'll have used the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill or Ever-Domain Pill as the final product to reflect the changing era.

As such, he fully believed that the minimum 'expected' cultivation level was the Soul Idol Phase, the bare minimum requirement for these products to be taken. While the Mortal Sovereign Alchemists might not have the concoction method to the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill, he firmly believed the Everlore Association had plans for that, likely allowing them to purchase the Ever-Domain Pill shortly before the next stage, and giving a period of respite to refine it equally amongst Chosen Knights. 

While this extended the summit by at least two years, this was his understanding. Otherwise, what the hell was the point of all this? 

Moreover, forty-two months was an extremely high amount of time. In this period, he had reached the maximum of his Realm World Phase using the Echoing Stars of the Vastness Pills, recovering Eden's lost cultivation, and was fully primed to challenge the next stage. He only delayed his advancement to teach Luo Ning and Du Ling various spells, arts, and methods via Neo-Fruits of Eden Spell—his name for the transference of insights ability. Since it only related to his own insights, he decided to add his personal touch to it. 

Additionally, how could these Mortal Sovereign Alchemists be gated at the False Reality Phase? Didn't they have the ability to conjure Yin-Yang Divinity Spheres? He was completely baffled. 

WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!

Du Ling's surging aura began to settle. His Soul Idol and Worldly Domain began to vanish, with the former dissipating and the latter retracting into his Domain Seed. In the end, he wiped the sweat off his brow and proudly smiled. He had to go all out, but he shouldn't be that much inferior to those other Chosen Knights, right?

"..." The entire crowd was absolutely speechless. 

It was so silent that if a pin dropped, it'd echo for miles. 

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The sounds of a child's small hands clapping resounded. "DADDY! DADDY! SHOW THEM!" Du Ping cheered without any restraint. The little guy was so happy that his smile threatened to split his face. While he wasn't certain how powerful his father was, he was the strongest in his heart—that was enough.

"Cheat-CHEATER!" Unsurprisingly, Xun Yicao was the first to call Wei Wuyin out for something that many people believed might just be the case in their hearts! It can only be through cheating, right?

Wei Wuyin sneered in his heart; this old bag of bones had forgotten himself. But he didn't need to explain before Wu Yu intervened with a snort filled with disdain and contempt: "You all took oaths to remain truthful to the outlined rules. Are you saying that my Young Lord has gone against the Mythical Oath yet suffered no consequences?"

It was standard in Alchemic Clashes to do a perfunctory Mythical Oath to follow all outlined rules in the stellar region. It wasn't even worth mentioning before because no self-respecting alchemist would ever cheat for fear of getting caught and exposed. The only oaths that stood out were towards the Mystic Star instructors, preventing them from sacrificing their cultivation base to nurture their Chosen Knight. This didn't pertain to the alchemists themselves as they could sacrifice whatever they felt necessary as it'll reflect their nurturing capabilities, so it was fair game. 

Of course, there were a lot of loopholes. For example, Luo Ning wasn't considered due to her status as an assistant alchemist. As an Alchemist, she could concoct pills that the Chosen Knight could consume without breaking the rules as long as the Chosen Knight refined 'freshly made' products using 'provided' materials. Moreover, Wei Wuyin had already prepared an argument if that became an issue.

After all, if he could instruct a 'failed' Emperor Alchemist to nurture his Chosen Knight to this extent, he'll simply challenge others to do the same. Anything less than an acceptance of this statement meant admitting defeat and inferiority in the Alchemic Dao. Moreover, which of these alchemists didn't use assistants in the outside world at the Emperor Alchemist level? It wasn't his fault that Xun Yicao gave him an assistant, no?

"...ugh!" Xun Yicao's old bones shook, and his eyes went wide. He stared at the faintly smiling Wei Wuyin, seemingly unconcerned by Xun Yicao's hollering. It would only invite more humiliation of his character to continue, so Xun Yicao gritted his teeth and went silent—a smart move.

He would leave it up to Evergod to decide.

In the subspace, Evergod sent the Grand Seer of the Golden Gate Pavilion a look, yet she remained entirely silent. He fearfully sighed in his heart, recalling his move to slay Wei Wuyin before he could mature, and realizing that was indeed the right choice. How unfortunate was it that he survived? 

"Proceed." That was all he said, and the hearts of everyone thumped with the intensity of a heavy drum!