The banquet celebrating Yue Songli's return to the public hall concluded without any tumultuous surprises. Afterward, the various elite talents and established experts segregated with all sorts of varying emotions. The most consistent emotion throughout was disappointment, especially amongst the determined pursuers of Yue Songli.
While she appeared, as gorgeous and as lovely as ever, these men and a few women found themselves unable to accept the indirect admission of requirements. With Yue Songli's status as an Ascended being, her existence and importance towards all Ascended bachelors had elevated fiercely, but similarly, entering her field of consideration had drastically increased. This wasn't just her own standards, but her mother's as well, the widely proclaimed number one Highlord of the Ninestar Starfield—Highlord Worldbreaker.
There were three requirements set during the banquet that unsettled and eliminated the majority of the hopefuls that gathered. They considered cultivation, age, and strength, the trifecta of true talent.
Firstly, the cultivator must be a genuine Ascended being. The issue of lifespan and soulspan weighed heavily on cultivators' mentality and potential wasn't reliable. There were far too many talented Chosen of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region that inevitably failed to ascend properly, living short lives as Mystic Star Phase cultivators or outright dying during their Ascension. No one questioned this requirement.
The second requirement, however, was where the road became slightly bumpy, brutal even. They must only be five hundred years older than Yue Songli, no more. Those long-time senior experts with renown were directly eliminated with this requirement. She was currently 1,021 years of age, living roughly a tenth of her natural lifespan as a genuine Ascended being.
Yet none of this truly dissuaded those Ascended talents of her generation that met both of these requirements. Yet the third condition subtly announced by the Highlord Worldbreaker shattered the confidence of far too many...
Strength...
As a Chosen, a cultivator in the Astral Core Realm was to have an exceedingly high combat strength. Those at the Third Stage of the Astral Core Realm, the Soul Idol Phase, and down must be able to defeat three stages above themselves without talismans. As for those at the fourth, fifth, and sixth, they simply had to fight against Realmlords with an increasingly stronger combat standard with a longer time limit due to the vast differences between the upper-stages of the Astral Core Realm.
This was already a daunting task, but when a cultivator entered the Mystic Ascendant Realm, this requirement was abolished without any hesitation. The difference between each stage was outright dreadful. It wasn't a matter of talent and skill, but fundamental cultivation differences. Those genuine Ascended beings at the Soul of Mysticism Phase would find it nigh-impossible to overcome a Demi-Mortal Lord's Demi-Mystic State or higher comprehension of Mystic Intent.
Yet the Highlord Worldbreaker was merciless, suggesting that these so-called suitors must be able to fight against a Demi-Mortal Lord for ten minutes without external aid. This was outrageous, leading to numerous Ascended talents finding themselves at a loss. While there were a few brave fellows that dared to test it during the banquet, none lasted longer than a single minute.
It served as the core entertainment of the banquet. While heart-crushing, it also inadvertently hyped the Rose Quartz Saintess even higher than before. Due to Yue Songli's beauty, talent, backing, and intact Primal Yin, she was one of the most ideal female partners in the entire Grand Cyclic Stellar Region. Especially due to the latter, as Primal Yin can transfer comprehension regarding cultivation; she carried her lifetime of Mystic Insights and the increased chance of becoming a Highlord or Earthly Saint.
These occurrences spread like wildfire and these conditions generated tractions of interest towards a new title: Ascended Chosen. A concept that hadn't been entertained prior had soon integrated into everyone's vocabulary. They were heatedly discussed with several names floating that might be able to succeed or had the potential to succeed yet no longer of a young age, such as Tian Guyan, the second son of the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor and hot favorite for ascending the throne.
No one could've expected a banquet in the Ninestar Starfield would ignite a fierce debate over standards beyond the Astral Core Realm. Even the Golden Gate Pavilion got involved. They announced the release of a set of fair, unbiased standards towards this newly excavated idea. The King of Everlore had once set the Chosen standard with the Chosen King Trial, creating the standard itself, and the Golden Gate Pavilion was clearly extending to expand upon that legacy.
Unfortunately, this created all sorts of backlash. Few believed the Golden Gate Pavilion had the right to establish any set standards for elites, that they should stick to their pervasive lists of beauties and talents. The King of Everlore was a respected phenomenon that had the right to set the standard of a Chosen, not a bunch of Seers and Oracles hiding in their sealed domain.
The hectic refusal to accept this list caused many to call for the Everlore Association to intervene. The situation soon spiraled when there were top-tier figures that even questioned their qualifications to do so. There are drastic differences between a mother setting a standard for her son-in-law and the establishment of a title, and many felt this was inappropriate.
While the King of Everlore might have the qualifications to do so, the Everlore Association wasn't at his level. He had reached the fabled Worldly Saint Alchemist level prior to his disappearance, and before that, he was the first Saint Alchemist to be born in the stellar region!
Yet the title of Ascended Chosen did not disappear due to indecision and debates of qualification, but only was further invigorated. It became the topic of the day, and even in casual voidships traveling planets filled with Qi Condensation or low-level Astral Core Realm cultivators were embedded into the conversation. It only exploded with several individuals on the Immortal Saintess Ranking announced only marrying or becoming Dao Companions with Ascended Chosen!
If Yue Songli could do it, why not them?!
Chaos reigned for several days before the Everlore Association announced the joint collaboration of all twenty-two starfields, excluding the chaotic region of the Ravenous Edge Starfield, and their elite Earthly Saints. A summit would be held to decide on the requirements to become an Ascended Chosen.
Furthermore, due to the long time since the standards for Chosen cultivators had been decided, they would decide if the current Chosen standard should be elevated! If it was lowering the standard, few would agree, but if it revolved around elevating the standards set by the King of Everlore, few thought it was unwarranted!
And there was a single reason why: the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill!
This had shattered the conventional limits of cultivators, and Ma Luling, a former prospective Chosen, now genuine Chosen, had advanced three stages in five years while possessing a Worldly Domain.
There was a practice session held publicly by the Ma Clan to display the potential of the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill, and she completely destroyed the Three Chosen Aspects Tribulation with embarrassing ease. And she wasn't the only one.
Those talented prospective Chosens amongst the Ninestar Starfield began to display eerie levels of differences to their earlier counterparts. In fact, a recently promoted Chosen of the Ninestar Starfield had crushed several Gravity Emission Phase Chosens due to his Worldly Domain. The standard needed to be changed, no one questioned this.
Some even suspected that Yue Songli's banquet was a collaboratively designed effort by Earthly Saints to introduce the idea of a higher standard of Chosen to the masses, feeling out public feedback towards the idea of changing a legacy of a legendary figure. After all, if the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill was popularized and became essential to all Chosen candidates, then the limits of cultivators would be elevated. Before, reaching the Starlord Phase before five hundred years old was unthinkable.
The three upper-Astral Core Realm tribulations for the Realm World Phase, Temporal Eye Phase, and Star Core Phase were all extremely lethal. The success rate for these were abysmal, and while prospective Chosens rarely failed these three tribulations and lost their lives, this was based on their endless preparation using the entirety of their five to seven hundred years of cultivation time available.
Those like Ma Luling not only had a guaranteed success of the Realm World Phase due to their genuine Worldly Domain, unlike the Ever-Domain Pill's faux Worldly Domain, they had more time to cultivate and higher cultivation speeds due their Worldly Domain's control of ambient energies. This increased their chances of reaching the Mystic Ascendant Realm, having more time to refine Mystic Essence, develop their Mystic Rune Seeds, and then comprehend the secrets of these seeds to ascend.
It was unfair.
The disparity of foundation would only increase.
The summit for discussion was the largest event in the last millennia, even exceeding the Golden Auctions of the Golden Life Pavilion! The anticipation for the renewed changes was high!
Unfortunately, those past Chosen could only weep as their statuses were threatened. With it, the resources, protection, and reputation they enjoyed.
While the world was twisted into an unexpected frenzy, Wei Wuyin, Wen Mingna, and Wu Yu were standing around in a circle, inspecting a floating vial of liquid with solemn and serious expressions.
"Are you sure?" Wu Yu asked skeptically.
Wen Mingna nodded heavily, "I am."
Wu Yu glanced at Wei Wuyin's closed-eyed, furrowed brow, and tensed lipped facial expression. The signs of intense thinking were clear. After a long moment, he looked at the vial of World Genesis Elixir with a wisp of abnormal excitement within his eyes.
Wei Wuyin heaved a sigh, easing his expression soon after. "I didn't expect its quality to be elevated, but that's fine. Refine this, when you're confident in your Third Ascension, go for it."
The Eighth Source Transcendence Spell had invoked an unexpected change. The high-quality Mystic-Earth grade World Genesis Elixir had evolved into peak-quality! The mystic runes within the elixir had changed somehow, and according to Wen Mingna, it had become peak-quality.
While this was Wei Wuyin's intentions for the spell, it was his first attempt, an initial experiment, and he already found a few issues with it that could be improved, yet it could advance a Mystic-Earth product to a higher quality already! This was unbelievable! If word of this got out, who knew how many Alchemists would kill for it.
That being said, there was a hefty cost.
The Utmost Purity Mist Domain of his had lost eight meters in size, dropping from sixty-five to fifty-seven meters. This might not seem like much, but each meter was the result of ten thousand successful concoctions of seventh-grade or higher products, at minimum! The requirement only grew more dreadful as it expanded.
"But it should be worth it," Wei Wuyin inwardly commented as he considered ways to lessen the cost, increase the effectiveness, and made plans to test this on Ninth-Grade alchemical products. He just hoped the ease of refinement was enhanced. After all, that was his main purpose.
Wu Yu happily nodded with a few words of thanks before grabbing the vial and vanishing. He was going to seclude himself somewhere on the planet, refine this product without issue. After seeing the elixir quality increase, he had belief in Wei Wuyin's one year deadline.
Wen Mingna blinked, staring at Wei Wuyin's handsome visage with an absentminded gaze. Others might not be aware of the significance of this, but she was. If the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill shook the earth, then this could shake the sky!
But the man in question was focused elsewhere, setting this spell aside due to its hefty cost. "I think it's time to see how effective these War Souls are."
Shiiing!
A faint saber howl resounded with excitement.

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