"...Eleven." The leading Earthly Saint of the Unchained Heart Sect looked at those that refused to leave. The ones that caught his attention were the Inferno Solaris Sect's Huoyan Liulan, the Ninestar Sainthall, the Boundless Martial Sect, and some of the Eight Noble Clans!
Huoyan Liulan was by herself, floating at the edge of the Earthly Saint's impromptu Spiritual Aura blockade. Her Mystic Aura was fiery and blazing brilliantly against the darkness. While no tangible barrier was established, the condensed Spiritual Auras of all the Earthly Saints had created a defined domain segregating all the Voidships and any allies from Wei Wuyin.
The Hexaflame Starfield's Inferno Solaris Church's Voidship had already retreated by order of Cardinal Song, who seemed to be openly fuming at Huoyan Liulan's disobedient actions.
Vastless! The Voidship of the Boundless Martial Sect had also stayed behind! "Your little husband is such a troublemaker!" A sighing voice of a little girl resounded with earth-shaking ferocity, and the Voidship halted at the edge of the impromptu Spiritual Domain. Da Shan was on board, no longer bound, and her eyes exuded endless battle intent alongside other Ascended beings of the Sect. Despite facing insurmountable odds, they all seemed ready to fight! FIGHT TO THE DEATH!
Their pulsating fighting spirit shook everyone who saw them, and they couldn't help but feel inferior.
Wei Wuyin saw her and warmly smiled. Then, he was a little shaken by how she had grown taller and, in his eyes, more beautiful as if she had returned to her true self. "She resembles a titan," Wei Wuyin thought as the image of Zi Fu emerged in his mind.
"Hm?" Wei Wuyin's gaze shifted, and he was genuinely stunned by the other ships that stayed behind. The most shocking of them all was the Tang Clan! They were led by Highlord Scarletflame, and she was merely a Demi-Mortal Lord, yet she was flying alongside Vastless.
"Don't misunderstand; I'm not here to help you. The Fire Phoenix bloodline is too precious to the Tang Clan and cannot be taken by others." She looked pleadingly at the Imperial Clan's Sky Destroyer, and Empress Xiaocheng's eyes lit briefly before turning to the leading Earthly Saint of the Unchained Heart Sect.
"...We'll give some Essence Blood of the Fire Phoenix to the Imperial Clan," the Earthly Saint said to appease the Imperial Clan. The Empress nodded, no longer bothering as she reached out, and the Tang Clan's ship was violently dragged back without any power to struggle. That was the power of an Earthly Saint!
The Ninestar Sainthall silently floated at the border, exuding the auras of two Earthly Saints! They stunned everyone.
Next was a series of ships that had no Earthly Saint, yet remained! Among them were a few Noble Clans! The Ming Clan, the Chen Clan, the Yu Clan, and Bing Clan!
The Ming Clan was a mystery, but they were here! They had no Highlord or Earthly Saint present, but they still powered their Voidship!
The Chen Clan was linked to the Boundless Martial Sect, so they couldn't retreat!
The Yu Clan had a deep relationship with the Golden Life Pavilion and only had a Highlord present because they didn't have an Earthly Saint!
The Bing Clan's Voidship roared to life, but before they could state their stance, Tian Muyang pulled them back as he looked at Wei Wuyin apologetically. His most favored wife belonged to the Bing Clan, and he couldn't watch them die. There wasn't even a Highlord on board, so their participation was entirely useless.
"Eight."
Wei Wuyin laughed with an understanding nod; he wouldn't blame Tian Muyang or the others for not standing out. They couldn't betray orders, and the Imperial Empress, with the standing authority of the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor, had stated her position. Anything going against it was the same as openly breaching their Mythical Oaths.
"It's not enough," Tian Lingyu tensely bit her lower lip. Just four Earthly Saints wasn't enough to overturn the situation! These Noble Clans were too weak, and the other forces that came were depressing. If it wasn't for their Voidships, most wouldn't have Highlord-level combat power.
"It'll be fine," Tian Muyang said with a heavy tone.
"What are you talking about?! Wei Wuyin is cornered with no escape, and he's given up the protection of his Fire Phoenix. Facing thirty Earthly Saints, his fate is all but sealed." These words came from Kong Yi, whose eyes were indescribably grim as he used every method available to break Xun Yicao out of his stupor.
"..." Empress Xiaocheng didn't speak. She kept feeling that something was off, but she refused to be a pawn for Wei Wuyin to stave off his enemies. Moreover, he could still be considered an unchecked Oathless Calamity, so it was best to allow all grudges to end here.
Tian Muyang pointed at Wei Wuyin's distant figure. "Look at him. Look!" They all saw a relaxed Wei Wuyin, holding a faint smile as he patiently waited, his Fire Phoenix away from him. "Does that look like a terrified mortal? Empress, I feel we've made a mistake, and Wei Wuyin was testing our resolve."
"Resolve?" Kong Yi frowned. "What right does Wei Wuyin have to test the Imperial Clan's resolve? And to do what? Have you gone senile, Imperial Monarch Muyang?!" Kong Yi was on the precipice of full-blown anger because Xun Yicao's mental condition worsened by the passing millisecond. What the hell was happening?! And while he struggled, Tian Muyang praised.
"I have not. Instead, I feel like Alchemic Sovereign Xun has. I think he's looking to test our resolve, courage, and foresight to side with him and abandon an Alchemic Sovereign whose potential has been completely exhausted. I believe, with all my being, that this choice was left to us and that this countdown was solely to see who would stand with him and who wouldn't. Of course, Trueborn is likely using the same tactics to find future targets. But honestly, I don't think they'll get that chance." Tian Muyang's words created a stifled atmosphere. In fact, even the other Earthly Saints of the Unchained Heart Sect were endlessly sending out Spiritual Sense pulses to search for any abnormality.
Wei Wuyin's confidence was too overt! This confidence was why the weak organizations decided to risk it all! They were betting that Wei Wuyin would survive, and if he didn't, then they would likely all die with him.
"..." Empress Xiaocheng's eyes darkened slightly. Didn't that mean…
"But doesn't that mean the choice lies with the one with authority? Then it wouldn't be a test for us…but…" Tian Lingyu swiftly came to a conclusion while talking, and her words trailed off as she looked at the Empress.
"To say a mere mortal is testing us Earthly Saints is rubbish! Have you lost your damn mind?" Kong Yi sighed softly, seeing how Xun Yicao's situation was showing signs of improvement, but he still spoke abrasively. To suggest that Wei Wuyin was testing the Empress meant he had the qualifications to do so. And if what he was suggesting was true, then wouldn't that mean…
The Empress failed?
They were all intelligent cultivators with thousands of years of experience. How many trials have they given the younger generation to test positive characteristics in their lifetime? How many tests have they faced from their seniors? It was hard to recall, but the feeling was distinct.
Tian Muyang closed his eyes, "If the King of Everlore was acting the way Alchemic Sovereign Wei was, if he spoke those words, sat in his position, and seemed supremely confident, what would you think?"
"..." Everyone went silent. The Empress' eyes constricted slightly, but the somewhat clear-minded Xun Yicao heard this and roared out with a quivering voice as if the voice of reason: "How can you compare the two?! This pathetic Wei Wuyin and the King of Everlore are on entirely different levels, incomparable, and with vastly different potentials!"
"Four."
While they toiled in uncertain conflict, Wei Wuyin felt a slight warmth in his heart at all the ships that decided to stay. He marked each and everyone in his heart and then turned to the leading Earthly Saint.
Wei Wuyin took a deep breath, inhaling the Chaos Mana as his physique processed it in a mystical way, recovering the slightest trace of exhausted energy. "I must thank you," Wei Wuyin said while brushing his sleeves and fixing them appropriately.
"Three." The leading Earthly Saint didn't bother to respond.
"You all linked your Spiritual Auras together, making this so much easier." Wei Wuyin brightly smiled.
"Two. MOVE!" A burst of crisis erupted in the leading Earthly Saint's mind as he abandoned the countdown. The thirty Earthly Saints coordinated their power, merging their Mystic Auras, and had it collapse toward Wei Wuyin from every conceivable angle imaginable. It was an inescapable cascade of power!
Wei Wuyin didn't bother to speak as the actions were a little too fast, and he merely allowed Zhan Kongjian, the Environmental Control Specialist of the Legion of War, and one of its Commanders. While the title of Environmental Control Specialist sounds complex, it essentially meant a profoundly skilled Spatial Cultivator and a Formation Master!
The cube in his hand shot out and exited Wei Wuyin's glabella, and within a span of a tenth of an Ascended being's breath, it erupted with scintillating silvery and grayish light! The light was infectious, tainting the ambient Spiritual Aura with an unseen, unsurpassed ferocity!
A raging burst of power grew until it encapsulated millions of miles, instantly engulfing the fleet of Voidships! Fortunately, the power swept against them harmlessly and only lasted two-tenths of an Ascended being's breath before vanishing as if it had never existed.
When all was said and done, Wei Wuyin stood alone with his hands crossed behind his back.
"...!!!"
However, the auras of the thirty Earthly Saints and an additional eight ones hidden behind the Unchained World Aegis Array had vanished entirely! GONE!
Wei Wuyin floated over to the masked negotiator whose eyes bulged nearly out of their mask, and he gently smiled. "So, your Earthly Saints are gone—Check. Your Void Gates have been shut down—Check. Your Shadow Eggs should all be taken over by now—Check. I think it's about time I speak to your leader and see what oaths he would like to swear."
The masked negotiator's heart skipped several beats.
-----
"Is this a Shell World Pearl's dimension?" The leading Earthly Saint found himself surrounded by walls of silver and grey with bursts of multicolored light resembling a Stellar Transit Light. He instantly found thirty-seven of his allied Earthly Saints nearby. They, in a blink, huddled together and inspected their surroundings.
Something had pulled them into a different space against their will. This was a characteristic of a Shell World Pearl, a tool that they deployed on Ascended beings to eliminate them with little disturbance, and even Wei Wuyin's Armored Earthly Saint had fallen for it once.
"Not quite," a voice rippled as figures began to appear before them, thousands of miles away. They each were wearing uniformed armor except their leader, who sported a rousing Dragonhead helmet that cut an endlessly imposing figure of war.
"A little more advanced," Zhan Kongjian said, teeming with pride. "It's a uniquely crafted spatial dimension infused with pure Void Energy from Void Crystals, inescapable to all Earthly Saints. Even Heavenly Saints would find it difficult to escape."
"..." The leading Earthly Saint didn't refute any of Zhan Kongjian's words. Instead, his eyes widened as the figures became distinct and their forms materialized in the world.
One…two…three…
Seven…thirty…
A hundred and eight…
The unfathomable auras kept rising and emerging, all indistinct yet extremely harmonious like a singular army trained since birth, lacking the slightest trace of discord.
One of the thirty-eight Earthly Saints amongst them shrieked in disbelief! "T-TE-TEN THOUSAND?!?!"
Standing before them, every last Legion of War member was present, and they all released the aura of Earthly Saints!
They watched as the dragon-head Armored Saint clenched his fist and punched toward the leading Earthly Saint, releasing a torrential stream of raw Mystic Power. They wanted to instinctively resist, but the world released an ungodly suppressive force that caused them to experience difficulty calling forth their Mystic Soul's power!
BOOM!
PSH!
The leading Earthly Saint's body violently exploded!