Ancient Sky Realm, Everlore Domain.
Within this small-sized World Realm, San Yongli was concentrating wholeheartedly on extracting and refining the last strand of Heavenly Mana from the Heavenly World Core. For the last eight to nine years, her diligent efforts bore astonishing fruit, and she reveled in this feeling of progressing towards a specific goal with resounding success.
"Miss Yongli," Bing Tian, otherwise referred to as Highlord Frostwind, called out from afar.
"..." San Yongli's focus was momentarily split, but she wasn't at a critical moment; she temporarily paused her cultivation, her radiantly crimson-colored eyes opened, and she directed her unfathomable gaze toward the tall, slender, icy beauty of a woman. Despite being a mortal, San Yongli's disposition and demeanor bestowed her with an innately transcendent feeling that exceeded some Earthly Saints.
Bing Tian was momentarily stunned by the sight. Eventually, her mind forcefully discarded those feelings, unable to control the swelling anxiety surging in her heart, and she walked forward. "I'll be returning to my clan," her words were neither servile nor overbearing, stating simply her next course of intended action.
While Bing Tian had acted alongside San Yongli in the risky operation to retrieve the Heavenly World Cores, their cooperation mostly ended there, and their presence in San Luoyang's World Realm was merely a gesture of goodwill from San Yongli's part to compensate for the extreme damages suffered while offering a safe space.
San Yongli didn't think much of her desire to depart. It's been nearly a decade since their cultivation session began, and while Bing Tian had exhausted a lot of her Mystic Power, these last few years, she'd made astonishing progress on recultivating her strength while settling her injuries. Her eyes moved towards the ghastly pale woman in the distance, her breathing was uneven, her cultivation posture was sloppy, and her Life Source was in chaos. Highlord Spiritwalker's status was far worse than Bing Tian's.
She nodded calmly and understandably, "I'll send you out." This was San Luoyang's World Realm, sealed both inside and out, and protected by defensive and restrictive formations, so Bing Tian couldn't leave without a specific talisman controlling the formations unless she resorted to force.
Just as San Yongli was about to withdraw the talisman, her crimson eyes flashed with spiritual light. Bing Tian felt a spatial fluctuation from afar, her eyes turning to the west as she investigated it with her Spiritual Sense. Someone was coming!
From the location of the disturbed space, a figure shimmered into existence like a forming mirage. Highlord Spiritwalker had abandoned her external senses and focused wholeheartedly on recovering, so she kept meditating with the peace of mind of knowing their location was secure and heavily protected.
"Grand Secretariat San!" Bing Tian easily recognized the figure, her eyes flashing with surprise, and she hurriedly greeted him with a respectful gesture. This was his space, so she acted as a guest. Moreover, she was aware of his Earthly Saint Phase cultivation base, entering a level far beyond her.
"Father, why did you conjure an Incarnation?" San Yongli, however, was less formal given her familiarity, and San Luoyang's request. As for San Luoyang, this was merely an Incarnation of his generated by an Avatar Art, and its strength was roughly at the Soul of Mysticism Phase. Given his cultivation base, one could tell that he had executed this art casually and hastily.
San Luoyang flew over, arriving before the two with ease, and was unable to hold in his smile after sensing that San Yongli's aura was growing increasingly unfathomable. The ambient mana around her subtly thrummed in attunement to her movements, breathing, and thoughts. She was approaching that legendary stage!
Eventually, his smile faded as he thought about his purpose. "I've come to update you on the situation outside," San Luoyang solemnly announced. San Yongli and Bing Tian both slightly frowned. They've been cultivating or recovering here diligently, so they've etched out any distractions, only concerned about certain matters relating to their clans. For San Luoyang to come here via an Incarnation, this wasn't a small matter.
"What happened outside?" San Yongli asked.
"Since you've been here cultivating, I've been unwilling to disturb your cultivation without good reason, but you've once told me to keep you abreast of matters concerning Trueborn, so I've come for that." San Luoyang explained, enlightening Bing Tian and San Yongli about the urgency of the situation. Considering Trueborn was a clandestine organization that's hands have stretched across multiple Stellar Regions, any public news concerning them was bound to be unsettling and greatly impactful.
San Luoyang first explained the situation of Trueborn's recent actions of seizing control of the Pentastar Cluster, excluding the Great Blue Starfield.
"What?!" Bing Tian was shaken. Trueborn launched a coordinated strike that took down four starfields in an extremely short period? Why? How?
San Yongli's heart shook as well, but she kept her outward expression extremely calm. San Luoyang nodded with pride, this adopted daughter of his was incredible in all manners of ways, especially her drive to cultivate, possessing one of the sturdiest Heart of Cultivation he'd ever seen.
He decided to not trickle the information into bits and proceeded to explain everything that happened with Trueborn, such as how Wei Wuyin was rallying rogues and vagabonds, how Wei Wuyin launched an assault on Trueborn's newly established Born True Starfield, how this forced them to call forth reinforcements to protect their strongholds, how Trueborn revealed thirty Earthly Saints which were promptly sealed, how Wei Wuyin revealed his capture of all the Shadow Eggs within the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, how the leader revealed himself as someone who possessed Mystic Heart Intent, and how the unknown negotiation between Trueborn and Wei Wuyin ended with the latter leaving unharmed.
"...!" Bing Tian's heart was beating so incredibly fast that it felt as if it might explode. All these things San Luoyang told them felt inconceivable! Trueborn's Leader had Mystic Heart Intent? Wei Wuyin not only survived, but he beat the vile organization into the ground as if he was playing chess with an infant.
"Yo-you're kidding, right? Thirty Earthly Saints? Just vanished without a sign?" Bing Tian couldn't reconcile any of these words as truth, feeling each one as unbelievable as the next. Her mind was on the verge of dismissing it all! Unfortunately, San Luoyang was straight-faced with each explanation.
"..." San Yongli was unable to keep herself calm either. Wei Wuyin? In her original timeline, Wei Wuyin had vanished abruptly without reason or explanation, barely seen again, just a mere whisper of a talented Alchemist. But in this life, Wei Wuyin's feats were overwhelmingly invincible!
It was almost as if he was acting with…
As if he was acting with…
Foreknowledge?
"..." In life, everyone wished to be special, a one-of-a-kind exception to the world, favored and blessed by the heavens, and when she returned to her past with the Book of Heaven's Path, she felt that she was unquestionably blessed by heaven to an absurd degree. While there was likely an explanation as to why she returned to her past with all her memories, she wasn't strong enough yet to find the answer.
Now, she was forced to face the possibility that she wasn't the only one with foreknowledge of the future or a Book of Heaven's Path that could help seize opportunities. She was forced to face the reality that she wasn't a one-of-a-kind existence, and this past of hers…she wasn't the only one to return.
"No wonder," San Yongli took several minutes to process all of this, and then took an unfathomably deep inhale, before expelling all of her turbid and tumultuous thoughts with a sharp exhale. San Luoyang allowed the two to digest this information because it wasn't over.
Seeing San Luoyang's change of aura, regaining her calm, he nodded and promptly said: "There's more."
"MORE?!" Bing Tian exclaimed while flinching. Her reaction unbefitting a Highlord and an icy beauty, but no one could blame her for the visage of ice she wore was shattered by each hammering word of San Luoyang.
San Luoyang nodded solemnly, "All the forces banded together to force Wei Wuyin into a series of Mythical Oaths out of fear, led by the Imperial Clan's Empress Xiaocheng…"
After he was done explaining, Bing Tian felt as if the world wasn't real. Wei Wuyin killed Xun Yicao as a Timelord? Before the Empress herself? Even if it was an Incarnation, Xun Yicao's cultivated avatar should possess the strength of a Soul of Mysticism Phase! This was beyond Mortal Limits, and that term existed for a reason!
"The Imperial Clan isn't going to act, especially if Xun Yicao was the one who offended Wei Wuyin first." San Yongli's assessment was spot-on as San Luoyang nodded approvingly. The Imperial Clan had indeed not acted, simply hiding the 'location' of Xun Yicao's true body from Wei Wuyin. Moreover, there were rumors that the matter was settled due to the circumstances that caused it.
"They're considering it as a conflict between Alchemists, leaving it at that."
"Just like that?" Bing Tian was unable to properly understand why, her mind was still a mess from all this information.
"Even if they want to act, they first have to understand their enemy; Wei Wuyin sealed thirty Earthly Saints, negotiated with Trueborn on even footing, and seized all their Shadow Eggs. Given the tremendous value of each one, it was unlikely that Trueborn didn't concede without Wei Wuyin's trump card being overwhelmingly terrifying." San Yongli wasn't restricted by Bing Tian's thousands of years of cemented belief and preconceptions of possibilities, so she easily accepted the information and processed it accordingly.
"You're right," San Luoyang agreed, "But there's more."
"...More?" Bing Tian's heart felt as if she couldn't take anymore.
San Luoyang nodded, "Wei Wuyin just revealed his strength as a cultivator. Not only is he an astonishing Alchemist of astounding talent, but he also possesses extraordinary strength vastly exceeding Mortal Limits as a Timelord. But his feat isn't even the most astonishing, as Tian Yinwu had returned."
"Tian Yinwu?!" San Yongli's expression of calm finally shook, her eyes glistening with an emotional light. She, however, hurriedly hid her thoughts as she forced herself to calm down. "What happened to Tian Yinwu?"
San Luoyang saw his adopted daughter's reaction and warmly smiled. When San Luoyang first brought her here, she and Tian Yinwu had met on numerous occasions, and it was clear there was a spark of undeniable interest and blooming emotions there. Given how outstanding Tian Yinwu was, this gave him a little peace of mind about her eventual happiness.
"He's been missing for a while, and he sent a letter over. I was originally going to give it to you after you finished your cultivation, but since Trueborn's situation was something you were greatly concerned about, I'll give it to you now." San Luoyang's hand moved beautifully as a white letter laced with gold and crimson lines appeared between his fingers.
San Yongli's eyes brightened at the letter, and she subconsciously reached out revealing her haste. San Luoyang laughed, sending it toward her without any teasing despite his desire to do so. San Yongli kept the letter after gazing at it for a long moment.
"Tian Yinwu returned a few months ago, and when he did, he had a conflict with an elder of the Imperial Clan who was attempting to strip him of his qualifications to fight for the successor title. There's more detail to it, but I was unable to gain any further information except that he was on the verge of being labeled as an exile and traitor. I do know that the Second Son of the Divine Emperor, Tian Guyan, had his hands in the incident.
"Then, Tian Yinwu was tasked with fighting for some reason to resolve the situation. I think he wanted to show his value, and with the rumor mill of Wei Wuyin slaughtering an Incarnation of a Demi-Mortal Lord, he challenged the elder who pushed the hardest to have him exiled. They fought in a battle, and the elder was unable to use any external weapons, tools, or their Demi-Mystic State, purely their Mystic Power as a way to make it slightly fair. But that's still not fair in my honest opinion.
"Tian Yinwu fought against the shameless elder until he was forced to enter the Demi-Mystic State, and then the battle ended with Tian Yinwu's victory and the elder being stripped of his title and imprisoned for a period." After San Luoyang explained all he knew, Bing Tian and San Yongli stood there in awe. The former had an open mouth and wide eyes, unable to believe that Tian Yinwu defeated a Demi-Mortal Lord, even if he was restrained in some ways.
"So he was forced to reveal some of his true strength," San Yongli quietly muttered in a voice that not even Bing Tian could hear. Her expression was painted with a frown for a while until they lifted, her expression eased, and she breathed out a breath of relief.
San Luoyang sighed, "The rise of heaven-defying geniuses is coming; The truth about our era's low standards of cultivation is breaching through and failing us, and those who are cultivating under these new conditions are rising out of the woodwork." He recalled the Ascendants, a group of mortals, who took down a Soul of Mysticism Phase cultivator.
Fifty years back, this wasn't just unthinkable, it was impossible! The Soul of Mysticism Phase was the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, regardless of how society saw it, and this meant an even greater difference between mortals and Ascended beings.
"What's Tian Yinwu's cultivation?" Bing Tian finally dispelled the silence with her question. She knew Wei Wuyin was a Timelord, so his feat was impressive given his lack of Starforce. After all, Starforce was the true form of Astral Force and represented the peak of the Mortal Dao, capable of harnessing Mystic Essence and refining the body sufficient enough to support their ascension beyond Mortal Limits.
"He's also at the Temporal Eye Phase," San Luoyang answered with a sigh.
"..."
"Is there more?" Bing Tian slowly asked.
San Luoyang smiled at Bing Tian's apprehensive expression. She seemed fearful that her worldview might continuously be eroded by more news. Fortunately, San Luoyang didn't have much else to say.
Oh, wait!
There was one more thing.
"I almost forgot: a Boundless Martial Sect's disciple has arrived to see you, San Yongli."