Chapter 1547 Chapter 1540: The Rewards
A stifled, deathly silence invaded. It was preceded by the crisp sound of a saber entering its scabbard, hiding its edge and concealing its howl.
"That felt good! So good!" The Heavenly War Spirit exclaimed with excited vigor. Her golden mass of a body rippled alongside her young, feminine voice. A thick tone of bloodlust and greed could be heard within, enough to shiver the spine.
While the enemy had weakened himself, enabling his subsequent suppression within the Neo-Dawn Starfield, his inability to mount a defense at full strength, and to be taken by surprise to lose access to his various preservation tools after the Endless Void Mirror's Minor Spatial Law assisted sanction of spatial interaction, the fact remained that Wei Wuyin, a mere mortal had slayed a Sage with his saber! It was thoroughly invigorating! Because all of it was only possible because of Wei Wuyin's power! This allowed the Nexus War Flag to fully activate its profound abilities, laying claim to everything without any consequence as spoils of war.
"A Sage! A real Sage!" Her attitude was far different than before when she shook with great apprehension at the prospect of this thin elderly man's cultivation reaching the Resonant Soul Realm. The greed in the Heavenly War Spirit's voice was fully warranted, however. She was currently experiencing a critical state of transformation and needed the soul of an Ascendant Saint!
"An Ascendant Saint was a Mystic Ascendant Realm cultivator at the Seventh Stage, the very beginning of its later stages, but this scrawny one-armed elderly man was a genuine Sage! Those at the True Sage Phase were a step further, at the Eighth Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, and the difference was not small at all! NOT AT ALL!
As cultivation bases grew, each stage of cultivation generated an utter chasm of despair in regards to differences between each. Whether it was their understanding of cultivation, potential lifespan, comprehensive strength, or mystical means, all of them took a qualitative leap to an extreme degree!
If a hundred disorganized, ordinary Earthly Saints, otherwise known as Rune Kings, were to face an ordinary World Emperor, they would be wiped out with relative ease. The cavalier attitude of Zhan You, formerly Xu You, after seeing an organized army of a thousand Ascended beings led by a half-dozen highly trained soldiers all those years ago was very telling of this! This difference was only greater, not lesser. Similarly, cultivating to those levels was equally as difficult.
The Heavenly War Spirit had never even considered that Wei Wuyin could claim a True Sage. She hadn't even thought he could kill one! However, he did! She was still baffled, with all her knowledge of cultivation, she just didn't understand how!
However, the Nexus War Flag's powers derived from the Law of War activated, so she understood that! And that was enough!
She wasn't the only one shaken with vividly rampant and explosive emotions.
Young Master Shang's eyes slowly widened to their limits as he sobered up in an instant, his jaws slowly lowering, his body leaning forward as if to get a better look at the rolling severed head, gradually digesting the scene he had just witnessed.
"A mortal. A mere mortal. Did he just...kill a Sage?!"
°Wait, no! This isn't real. Just destroying the physical body isn't enough. But...° Young Master Shang slowly calmed down as his reason tried to win against his instinctual feeling that the elderly man was dead. In the end, reason won out.
To the others, the elderly man had just been executed. Yao Houyi, Shui Fengbao, and Tuo Bihan were relatively indifferent. They saw this man's fate after seeing him vehemently respond to his Majesty. Ming Shufeng was frowning deeply as if considering a difficult problem, her face somewhat pale as a result. Liu Suyin's indifferent expression was icy and uncaring. Instead, she subtly eyed Yue Songli with shifting glances.
Yue Songli's heart was pounding as warmth suffused her soul and body. Her belief in Wei Wuyin and her sense of safety was strongly reinforced after Young Master Shang stated that this person couldn't die in such a definite tone only for that despicable man to be directly executed by a single swing of Wei Wuyin's saber. Her passionate and artistic heart was infused with inspiration.
Cao Cuifen's reaction was the most euphoric as a smile that she hadn't even realized was there, large and bright. This man had killed her in that illusion. Seeing Wei Wuyin end him only brought memories of his words to her just a few days earlier.
"Cao Cuifen, do you consider yourself my woman?"
"Then do you think I can't protect you? In my world? In our world?"
"Good. When you threaten others in the future, either to stand down or lower their head, don't use some nonsense Ninestar Sainthall from far, far away. I'm enough."
Wei Wuyin proved that he could protect her in a way that was absolute, and his existence held tremendous weight. With soul-stirring, glistening eyes, Cao Cuifen focused on Wei Wuyin's moving figure with every last iota of her attention. Her fears of exploring the depths of the starry skies had all vanished right then and there.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuyin walked toward and grabbed Yue Songli's hand. Her entire body trembled a little as she revealed an unforgettable, soul-enchanting smile. He pulled her with him as he moved to Cao Cuifen.
"He's dead." Wei Wuyin confirmed. Cao Cuifen focused on Wei Wuyin's silver eyes and the urge to do things that would embarrass any innocent soul swelled within her chest. Her eyes revealed it all.
Wei Wuyin revealed a helpless smile, "Later."
Cao Cuifen nodded. Liu Suyin saw this and her indifferent eyes betrayed a hint of emotion. She moved toward Cao Cuifen and stood beside her, openly sending a series of spiritual transmissions. No one here tried to glean into its contents, acting rather respectable toward Wei Wuyin's women's privacy.
The Prime Ascendants didn't mind at all, but the unassuming, big-breasted young woman sighed in her heart repeatedly. Was this the ability of the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn? She couldn't help but think of that beautiful woman waiting back in the Neo-Dawn Starfield and her tender, loving gaze.
Su Mei collected the corpse. It was bereft of physical, mental, spiritual, and essence energies, and only the headless corpse with the sturdiness of a body refined over a hundred thousand years was left. There was still value to this, such as feeding it to beasts. She also collected the severed head.
There wasn't a single trace of his Sea of Consciousness, Mind's Eye, or Internal World, not even a single iota of soul aura either. This person could be declared an artificial puppet that looked like a corpse and no one would think otherwise. After doing so, she thought of using the tempered bones to sharpen her saber or as the foundation of an Avatar. Wei Wuyin didn't mind her doing either.
The Young Master Shang's Sea of Consciousness had no link to any memory, not short, long, or suppressed memories. While his Sea of Consciousness still exhibited signs of creating new memories, Wei Wuyin couldn't locate or find them at all. While he didn't know before, he now knew that it likely had to do with his grandfather and that treasure made with his Resonant Soul Realm cultivation.
He thought about the Moonfall Lunar Queen and Tang Xingyun almost immediately and realized this was likely designed as a way to guard against anyone eradicating his personality and sense of self. No wonder he was so indifferent before death.
As for bringing Wei Wuyin back to reject their Third Young Mistress-untrue. The elderly young man had already knocked out Young Master Shang before spewing out that lie. Moreover, they weren't on any mission given by the Blessed Yri Empire. Young Master Shang had come here alone.
He had braved the dangers of the vast Dark Void to findwarnyin and warning him as a reward for saving his sister.
"Reward?" Cao Cuifen sneered when she heard that part. The first thing Young Master Shang had done was challenge Wei Wuyin to a fight. Was that a reward?!
Young Master Shang was not blind to her contemptuous look, but he wasn't too bothered and continued to explain with a helpless look as if to say: "You'll understand soon enough."
When he proceeded to explain the true circumstances of the Blessed Yri Empire and their attitude toward Wei Wuyin's existence, not a single person on the ship didn't experience a drastic change in facial expression and emotion.
The matter of Wei Wuyin saving the Third Young Mistress from the imprisonment of that ancient chaos realm was a widely celebrated achievement that many thought should receive 'immense' rewards. Some amongst the upper echelon suggested recruiting him as a Dao Servant for the Third Young Mistress, a few felt that giving him a low-tier Mystic-World product, armament, and tool was enough, while others felt that he should be conscripted into the army to fight for the Blessed Yri Empire and act as a pillar.
Their considerations for a reward were so insane that Wei Wuyin couldn't help but deeply frown. These were rewards? A servant, a set of three Mystic-World items, or becoming a soldier to fight for you?
"What the shit! What type of backward-ass rewards are these?" Shui Fengbao was unable to prevent himself from voicing his feelings. He felt angry at just the thought.
When Young Master Shang agreed and said that the Dao Servant and soldier conscription were currently the ones with the highest support while the triple items were more just there, even Su Mei felt the urge to draw her saber and fight them all.
However, all those options went away after the Third Young Mistress announced her decision toward this 'blind' young man, and the options became sinister after she refused to rescind her decision.
Rewards were off the table as they were now deliberating whether to kill the young man, capture and cripple him, or leave him alone. This didn't last for long as the Empress of the Blessed Yri Empire had locked the Third Young Mistress away in forceful seclusion to cultivate and make up for lost years while discussing the situation with the true leaders of the involved Galactic Zones.
They were still in deliberation.
"Don't mind those idiots from our Blessed Yri Empire though. They're just greedy old two-faced foxes, and most of them don't even know about the details of the prophecies. That said, the reason they changed their attitudes so quickly was due to a profitable arrangement that your existence had stopped after my sister's return."
"Marriage?" Yue Songli frowned.
"Something like that," Young Master Shang shrugged awkwardly. "You can call it that."
"So she can get married?" Cao Cuifen was confused.
"Kind of..." Young Master Shang couldn't quite find the words. However, just his tone revealed how complicated that specific situation was. The entire matter was interwoven with various complexities that made it hard to navigate.
"Anyways, I was planning to reward you by defeating you and having you swear a Heavenly Oath for your life, solving this entire thing by preventing you and her from ever meeting again. I'll admit, it wasn't the greatest plan. It was a long shot even. Some might even call it stupid...haaaaa...
"But when I noticed your Imperial Law aura, and that you've taken the more domineering approach to conceptualizing and nurturing it, I immediately realized that was impossible. I still had to try though.
"But my defeat meant I had come here all for naught. I was planning to leave, but I was told you were going to come to the Blessed Yri Empire of your own volition. Imagine my surprise. It was only after I saw her," he pointed toward Yue Songli, "that I realized Teng Jianwen was likely going to act against you. I didn't think he would kill..." Young Master Shang heaved a sigh. Teng Jianwen had broken his word so decisively to seize Yue Songli without any strange events.
He had already decided not to hire vagabond cultivators again for protection. They were unpredictable. Unfortunately, many dangers in the Dark Void needed powerful cultivators to deal with, and he needed someone to help navigate through and overcome them while searching for Wei Wuyin without alerting anyone.
Seeing his pilot and protector were out of commission, he was concerned about how he would get home without alerting his parents to avoid being punished.
"I see," Wei Wuyin pondered before asking for a few more details.
"So what do you plan to do now?" Cao Cuifen asked with a hint of concern. Powerful existences were deciding Wei Wuyin's fate from afar due to the selfishness of a single woman. Who knew when they would come? If they would? What they would decide?
This was no different than a ticking time bomb. A calamity with unknown effects!
Fortunately, Wei Wuyin was very familiar with those.
Wei Wuyin's eyes flickered as he looked at the vast stretch of stars, "Nothing's changed. We leave today."