Paragon of Sin

The first stage of the Chosen King Competition, the Everworld Venture, had started incredibly intense. In simply three hours, out of the millions of Grand Cyclic Stellar Region's properly graded Chosen and ungraded Dark Chosen, over ten thousand had died in gruesome ways, the vast majority to environmental dangers.

While alarming, this number was considerably less than in past competitions. The elevated standards of Chosen had greatly improved these Chosen cultivated strengths, granting them higher chances of survival as well as senses. In the first hour, the casualties typically reached in or above twenty thousand.

Moreover, the number of participants present was far greater than in past competitions, largely due to Dark Chosen. While the official standards of Chosen had been increased, so had the strength of others not selected by their respective forces. Quite a number of former Chosen, prospective Chosen, or egotistically self-confident believers had taken it upon themselves to recklessly participate, greatly inflating the number of cultivators in the competition.

This was the very first Chosen King Competition whose number of official Chosen and Dark Chosen was relatively close, shockingly surpassing the numbers of past competitions which had a significantly lower rate of standards for those to enter. That said, those validated and approved upon Chosen were not without advantages; the Everlore Association had bestowed each approved force's Chosen with a token. This token was called the Ever-Token.

While its name sounded simple, its effects were not.

Firstly, the tokens explained the very basic rules of the Chosen King Competition's Everworld Venture. Lin Ziyan was a Dark Chosen and was rightfully ignorant while Zeng Xiaohui barely had time before being caught by a deadly trap shortly after entering the stage. Ma Luling had arrived and given her far greater information than what the Ever-Token provided.

The Ever-Token only warned of the Everworld's dangers vaguely while briefly mentioning aspects of potential fortune within the stage, such as a clue that a golden tornado of dust often led to greater fortune. It informed Chosen of the eighty-one days limit, including possessing a live timer within that ticked down by using the format of days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining.

Thirdly, Everworld had peculiarities throughout the world. Everworld had restrictions on flight and there were clear risks of foolishly moving without caution, but often running hectically was the only way forward. As such, each Ever-Token carried within it a unique compass that could consistently determine cardinal directions. Everworld was only tiny-sized, but relative to the average cultivator's size, it was utterly massive to those forced on foot.

Lastly, the Ever-Token had a built-in spatial formation that was forged from the Ever-Key. If used, it could act as a one-time usage escape talisman against environmental dangers. It was important to pay attention to 'environmental dangers' closely; the shifting effects of the token were only limited to a set hundred meters of distance, sending the Chosen into a marked safe area without any environmental dangers within the range of ten meters. It simply wasn't far enough to escape stronger cultivators nor safe.

A few Chosen had inadvertently gotten caught very early, used the Ever-Token to escape, panicking due to this, rushing off in a fright-filled frenzy, and getting caught again by another environmental danger. They either lost their lives or a portion of their strength.

Additionally, the Everworld had no ambient astral essence or mystic essence. The only ambient essence was the essence of heaven and earth generated from the planet itself, only sufficient to assist Foundation Establishment Realm and Qi Condensation Realm cultivators in their cultivation or recovery. There were, however, various fortune zones with astral essence of various grades, but they were extremely difficult to find and often surrounded by lethal dangers.

Therefore, previously cultivated energies, astral stones, and recuperation products brought were the sole sources of one's reliable power. If expended, they would be left powerless.

While the environmental dangers were lethal, they were also escapable and avoidable with sufficient strength and wisdom. While only slightly over ten thousand Chosen and Dark Chosen had died in the first three-hour period, hundreds of thousands had been caught, some even multiple times. The fact that only a small number had died showed the effects of Wei Wuyin's increased standards for Chosen.

The brutality and challenges of the competition and the aspects that it tested perfectly aligned with the King of Everlore's initial assessment of what a Chosen should be equipped to handle. He had invented, implemented, and populated the term 'Chosen', so his personally designed competition to choose the king of that title was bound to be perfect in the only way he'd imagined...

...including how unfair the world was.

-----

77 Days : 23 Hours : 21 Minutes : 33 Seconds.

"This is insane! How can this competition just put every one of all cultivation bases against each other?" An annoyed voice complained as they stabbed the bloodied bladed end of their white kunai attached to a chain leading to a dark-colored wristlet into the torso of a still-warm corpse. The corpse slightly shook.

Truly dead.

"After three days, everyone has more or less adapted to this crazy environment. Now, they're just running toward those with fortunes or good looks like stupid beasts." The voice said as she pushed her loose hair away from her face, tidying her appearance, and revealing a delightfully beautiful countenance. Yet when she pulled her kunai out of the corpse, the sound of bone and flesh was disgustingly eerie.

"Eh...I don't know about that. They seemed focused on obtaining the fortune zone. And this one was a woman," a young, strapping lad carrying two corpses on each of his broad shoulders, tall, fiercely built, and with chiseled facial features said honestly.

"Shut up," the young woman said as she pouted, annoyed.

The young man wryly smiled, "Sure, Junior Sister Yuling." His tone and expression only further annoyed the young woman as she muttered under her breath, ignoring him as she reached to grab the spatial ring of the one she killed. "Why are there so many Dark Chosen?" After briefly scanning the spatial ring, the young woman found no Ever-Token, a sign of a Dark Chosen.

Due to the characteristics of an Ever-Token, the death of the owner resulted in it shattering into dust. Furthermore, it couldn't be used by anyone else except the one who refined the token initially.

"The requirements were increased but past Chosen had seen a lot weaker Chosen find noticeably heaven-shaking gains. How could those who meet past requirements not try and seek fortune?" The young man said as he dropped the two corpses beside the other. It was clear that he was fully aware of why the number of Dark Chosen had experienced an exponential increase from earlier years.

Junior Sister Ming, or Ming Yuling, sighed to herself. This was her first official Chosen King Competition, but she belonged to two Mystic-tier forces, the Ming Clan and the Boundless Martial Sect while possessing great status in both. Yet she was likely going to be a part of the most chaotic competition.

There were simply too many people here. Moreover, they were all cultivators who experienced the last vestiges of the Aeternal Sky Era and the boons brought about by its last flaring light of life. No one denied the upcoming era, and many knew that the end of this generation's Chosen King Competition would likely mark its beginnings. None of these cultivators could be underestimated.

"How many others have answered our call?" Ming Yuling asked. They belonged to the Boundless Martial Sect. While the Chosen King Competition was a challenge for Chosen, there were no rules that prevented others from teaming up with allies. Considering how exposed most of the fortune zones were, usually marked by a phenomenon or a tornado of golden dust, it was hard to seize benefits alone without absolute strength.

The young man, named Chen Yangzi, rubbed his neck, "Two others-Junior Brother Yun and Senior Sister Qiao."

"Yun? Yi Yun? The half-elf?" Ming Yuling was taken aback by this name. The Boundless Martial Sect, and other large forces, often seized the tyrannically seized spots of their subordinate forces through various competitions, so they had far greater numbers participating than the norm. That said, only those of a certain status could do so. However, Yi Yun was a junior and hadn't been allowed to enter any of these competitions.

Chen Yangzi nodded, "The one and only." He grabbed the spatial rings of the two corpses. When he found that they had some good stuff, he smiled in satisfaction. Despite his status as a Chen Clan member, one of the greater Noble Clans of the Eight with an Earthly Saint Ancestor, he was not of the main lineage, so he had to scour for his own resources.

"Senior Brother Yangzi, he entered as a Dark Chosen?" Ming Yuling asked with abnormal curiosity in her voice.

"The only way he could've," Chen Yangzi casually stated. He seemed entirely unbothered by Yi Yun's presence in the competition, focusing more on the fortune zone before him. A small pond with metallically grey-colored liquid was present, exuding a strange combination of metal and spatial energy fluctuations.

"It really is Tungsten Realm Liquid. What fortune! This must be a third-grade fortune zone." Chen Yangzi chuckled. This was a pinnacle astral-graded material that was extremely difficult to cultivate, even for Mystic-tier forces at the Demi-Mortal Lord level. Additionally, even if it was cultivated, the chances of him obtaining it over others were extremely low without arduous effort. He could barely contain the greed in his eyes.

Everworld truly was the planet of abnormal miracles and incredible fortune!

"!"

His pleased expression dramatically changed as he looked to the west. The Boundless Martial Sect wasn't the only organization that had decided to team up nor was it restricted to solely forces. Alliances of all sorts were formed on a dime-he felt four auras coming.

"You gather the liquid, I'll hold them off." Chen Yangzi said. The briefly absent-minded Ming Yuling's eyes flashed as she turned to the west, sensing their approach. She didn't speak, nodding as she rushed towards the edge of the lake, bringing out a specifically designed bottle meant to hold astral-graded liquids of various properties.

She executed a spell activating the bottle and a thick strand of Tungsten Realm Liquid began to stream into it.

"Haha! Is that Tungsten Realm Liquid?! How about we share!" The leader of the party of four chuckled brightly as he yelled. His loud voice was bound to alert others. He had a middle-aged appearance and a life aura nearing five hundred, and so was the rest. They were likely a rogue group of Chosen with masters.

Chen Yangzi's eyes narrowed as his pupils began to exude a temporal light, circulating his Temporal Eye Phase cultivation. Besides the leader of the four, the other three were Realmlords. So this tactic of yelling was calculated and malicious, essentially wanting to bring others here to at least seize a small portion rather than none.

Ming Yuling clenched her delicate fists as she exhausted greater degrees of her Spiritual Force to thicken the strand and increase the gathering speed. She was only at the Realm World Phase, so her strength was limited when interacting with this type of high-level material. Suddenly, her expression changed as she looked to the northeast.

"Oh? Tungsten Realm Liquid?!"

"STARLORDÜ!" She called out to Chen Yangzi who had already rushed toward the four. The four instantly went on the defensive with the Timelord as the leader, boggling Chen Yangzi down with cautious moves.

Chen Yangzi and the other four expressions changed instantly, and they became ugly. They looked at each other, thoughts circulating fiercely in their eyes. Starlords were incredibly rare, even in these great times. The vast majority of Chosen were Realmlords due to the three types of Domain pills that had reached the market in the last three decades.

"Together?" The lead Timelord asked cautiously.

"60-40!" Chen Yangzi said.

"...What abo-" The Timelord tried to negotiate.

"NO NEGOTIATIONS!" Chen Yangzi shot back, primed to leave. The Starlord was nearing with each passing second. The four looked at each other, realizing how unlucky they were, and they gritted their teeth. "Twenty seconds!" The Timelord said through gritted teeth. He was partly responsible for this.

"Agreed!" Chen Yangzi didn't even think about it. He shot back toward Ming Yuling and the Timelord and three Realmlords followed. As they flew past her, Chen Yangzi said firmly: "Twenty seconds!"

Ming Yuling firmly nodded. The Tungsten Realm Liquid was a pinnacle astral-graded material, so taking some was better than none. If twenty seconds was all she had, then twenty seconds was all she needed.

The Starlord's aura was daunting as the air grew abnormally thick with it. Ming Yuling gulped softly as she repeatedly cursed at how unfair that there were no cultivation base restrictions like most trials by fire.

After eight seconds...

Without warning, her body felt goosebumps and her pupils constricted.

"WATCH OUT!" Two words screamed through the air, but before Ming Yuling could hear them, the sound of air being pierced was all that enveloped her senses, and she rapidly turned her head to find a spear of gushing wind spiraling toward her. Her eyes widened as she saw a Realmlord with a large hole punched through their abdomen trailing behind it, carried by the wind currents.

She instinctively tried to move but it was too late!

"No!" Her mind cried out.

WOOSH!!

-----

Last chapter of the month, information on how we proceed for next month should be given on the discord soon, maybe.

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