Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Deep, resounding booms of desperation, confusion, and fear pounded against the 12th Wall. The Chosen of the eighteen regions found themselves restricted from progressing amidst their raging bewilderment. The obstructed Chosen began to panic after they noticed their Marks of Bitterness and the presence of others nearby. They hastily executed various Spiritual Arts that were from their sect's lineages, smashing against the 12th Wall violently.
Unfortunately for them, none of them found success in their attempts!
The 12th Wall's durability had been shifted with the 96th Wall's durability, the last obstacle of the Violet Path of Bitterness, and needed strength that far surpassed Mortal Limits. Without great mystic-level treasures, top-tier Spiritual Arts, and exceptional cultivation foundations, breaking through the 96th Wall was extremely difficult.
Lin Ziyan gently touched her forehead after feeling the golden energy forming a Mark of Bitterness there. She had made a low-effort attempt to breach the 12th Wall, thinking it would be extremely easy, but it resulted in her being considered a failure.
Curious, Lin Ziyan felt that the Mark of Bitterness could be shattered. When she tried to do so, she succeeded! Unfortunately, the Mark of Bitterness only reformed at the next breath. She twisted her lips in a pout, feeling a mixture of confusion and dissatisfaction. "What's going on?"
Lin Ziyan had been inspired by the Ascendants' display of dominance, so she decided to join the others in entering the Black Path of Bitterness. But her curiosity about this path delayed her as she inspected the strange power and walls here. How could she not be curious? This delay led her to not breach the walls recklessly. By the time she reached the 12th Wall, it had already been shifted with the 96th Wall.
"Is it supposed to be this difficult?" Quietly muttering to herself, she spread out her Spiritual Sense and discovered a few auras nearby. They, like her, were hindered at the 12th Wall. The urge to use her bracelet to shatter the wall rose in her heart, but she recalled the reminder of Wu Baozhai to not use any external powers, such as talismans and Incarnations, that were not her own against the walls. Supposedly, the backlash was quite deadly.
"What is going on?" Lin Ziyan heard a feminine voice nearby. She turned towards it and was slightly surprised.
"Isn't that Tang Xingyun?" Lin Ziyan hadn't involved herself personally with the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, but she kept herself abreast of certain interesting characters and events.
For example, Tang Xingyun was a Saintess that was engaged to the renowned and outstanding Tian Yinwu, and her Mother, the former Tang Clan's Matriarch, was recently overthrown by her sister.
While the in-depth story wasn't well-known to others, she had heard the exact details from Wei Wuyin, including how that portion of the Tang Clan was reduced to servants by Bai Lin and how the former Matriarch had betrayed her sister. According to Wei Wuyin, Bai Lin was quite brutal early on to these newly acquired servants, often scorching them with her Nirvanic Flames, sending them on difficult tasks, and berating them for the slightest slip-up. She was a fiery master.
After they tried to capture her before for her essence blood, Lin Ziyan felt that this was a fitting end for them, especially since they harmed Bai Lin. The only other option was to slaughter them to the last. If Wei Wuyun had taken that route, she wouldn't have felt it was wrong by any means. The world of cultivation was that brutal at times.
Lin Ziyan hadn't expected to see Tang Xingyun here. While her status couldn't be removed easily due to her engagement with Tian Yinwu, it was still a shock to see her participate in the Chosen King Competition, given her current life circumstances. As she noticed Tang Xingyun, the Tang Clan's Saintess also noticed her.
They both had a Mark of Bitterness on their glabellas. Their eyes narrowed slightly as an air of tension began to develop between them. If the normal rules were considered, this meant these two would fight until one either surrendered or lost their life.
"There's something weird about this wall!"
However, before anything could develop, a Chosen off in the distance shouted as they pounded. This caused both Lin Ziyan and Tang Xingyun to give the wall another look. They both concluded that this was true. There should be no reason for the 12th Wall to be so difficult. What was going on?
Tang Xingyun thought for a moment, and seeing that Lin Ziyan was focused on the wall, she proceeded to walk over. "I think someone tampered with the wall." Her words caused Lin Ziyan's brows to lift as she gently touched the wall.
Tang Xingyun didn't get too close, but she got close enough to talk. The other Chosen was also approaching, similarly a young female Chosen of high beauty. The three women found themselves exchanging ideas suddenly, eventually landing on noticing the violet hue in the air.
"Could we have been shifted to the Violet Path of Bitterness by mistake?" Lin Ziyan questioned. The other two were startled. Before long, seeing three outstanding beauties, other Chosen that were curiously traveling along the sea of bitterness gathered near them. They were mostly men, all trying to look capable and intelligent.
Tang Xingyun realized that they were gathering together and frowned slightly.
"Do we have to work together to break through the wall?" A first-time participant asked.
"Absolutely not. Joint coordination only causes the walls to automatically fail you." An experienced Chosen said, proud of himself for answering first as he glanced at the various beauties here. The Chosen King Competition's second stage was a solo stage meant to test your cultivated powers, which was why external objects such as talismans and tools beyond your powers were outlawed to be used on the walls.
That said, it wasn't too inflexible. If you wanted to rely on external power, the option to collect Marks of Bitterness from others was present for that reason. The usage of external powers against others was freely allowed in the various seas. During this circumstance, you weren't fighting the walls but others. If the Chosen you're using it on refused to surrender or was unable to do so, they deserved death either way, greatly overestimating their strength and their backers by traveling to that wall.
Unfortunately, none of the Chosen here could figure out why the wall had experienced a change. Lin Ziyan began to feel some heated gazes and she felt annoyed as several male Chosen sent spiritual transmissions or tried to approach her.
In her eyes, they were truly overestimating themselves.
Who was her man? The Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn! A Worldly Saint Alchemist! A top-tier cultivator of this generation! They couldn't even compare to his pinky toe, yet they had to gall to lust for her? She didn't feel like staying a millisecond more, proceeding to take her leave with a brisk walk out of the cluster of questioning Chosen.
Tang Xingyun had the exact opposite experience. The moment she was recognized, not a single man dared to single an ambiguous gaze her way. Who was she? The fiancee of Tian Yinwu! They wanted to live a nice, long life. So instead, the females tried to get closer with smiles and compliments. This otherwise tense situation had devolved into a social gathering of Chosen almost naturally.
Tang Xingyun suddenly felt anxious as her gaze flitted through the crowd of Chosen, noticing Lin Ziyan leaving without so much as a word. Her heart began to race suddenly, and her Astral Soul trembled. The urge swelled her and she rushed calmly and politely declined the other Chosen and followed Lin Ziyan.
The other Chosen was about to follow, but in the back of the Chosen, a burst of astral force erupted and signs of fighting began! Someone realized they had to collect Marks of Bitterness to escape and decided to test it out!Tang Xingyun felt the burst and her eyes flickered with uncertainty. She rushed toward Lin Ziyan, catching up after a while.
"What do you want?" Lin Ziyan asked indifferently as she didn't bother turning around or stopping in the slightest. She didn't fear Tang Xingyun in the slightest.
"I-I..." Tang Xingyun uncharacteristically stuttered as she was unable to articulate her intentions. Her instincts, however, unleashed thunderous impacts on her heart. She clutched at her chest, feeling her fleshy heart pound intensely as a wave of panic overwhelmed her, and her complexion grew ashen pale.
Lin Ziyan felt the change in her aura, turning around curiously. Then, her eyes widened slightly. That feeling of uneasiness, that look of panic, that quivering of her body, Lin Ziyan's fist clenched tightly as she recalled that familiar sight. Her Spiritual Sense began to rush outwards. Besides the fighting, she sensed nothing else of note.
But she still responded, reaching out to Tang Xingyun's hand. The act wasn't resisted at all!
"Wha-" Tang Xingyun could barely catch her breath. Lin Ziyan dragged her along by the wrist, moving fast. By the time Tang Xingyun could even react, they were back at the 11th Wall.
Lin Ziyan touched the 11th Wall, but a backlash of lethal proportions, enough to eviscerate a Starlord, was unleashed! Her bracelet shone brightly, absorbing the damage, and Lin Ziyan only felt her hair whip about. Shocked, she tried again, but this time...a stronger backlash exploded!
She and Tang Xingyun were blown backward as the bracelet shone with a bright glow, then a crack formed on its surface. The treasure was damaged!
"Wha-what are you doing?" Tang Xingyun finally caught her breath, feeling as if her chest was a little less tight. She struggled to free herself from Lin Ziyan's grip.
Lin Ziyan's expression was calm with a tinge of solemnness, but seeing Tang Xingyun's complexion grow a little better, her eyes flashed curiously. She cautiously looked around but found nothing.
"So it's only toward you," Lin Ziyan said.
"What?" Tang Xingyun's breath was slowly but surely returning.
"You've experienced the effect of a Heavenly Seer's scrying spell," Lin Ziyan said as she said with extreme familiarity and nostalgia. She was Meng Shufeng's closest friend, so her knowledge of Heavenly Seers and their various spells was far greater than others. For example, a Heavenly Scrying Spell that tracked the spirit. Typically, if done perfectly, a cultivator would remain unaware, but for certain cultivators of outstanding animalistic instincts, their bodies and spirit would react violently. Moreover, this feeling intensified if the person unleashing the spell had ill intent.
Tang Xingyun had the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird, so its animalistic instincts had long since embedded themselves into her body and spirit.
Baffled, Tang Xingyun was unable to understand.
Lin Ziyan saw the confusion and said flatly, "Someone's trying to track you here and likely trying to harm you. If it's what I think..." She looked back at the 12th Wall and her pupils constricted slightly as realization flashed across her beautiful face.
"Someone's hunting you," Lin Ziyan stated plainly.
"Hunting me?" Tang Xingyun gathered her breath trying to process what Lin Ziyan was babbling about. Suddenly, like a thunderbolt striking her soul, her eyes darted to the 12th Wall at the speed of lightning. Her pupils constricted to needlepoints.
"Oh no...!"
Lin Ziyan saw the dawn of realization on Tang Xingyuj's face, and this validated all her assumptions.
"Xingyun?" Suddenly, as if ordained by the heavens, a familiar voice resounded that caused Tang Xingyun to jump.
"Lin Ming?!" Tang Xingyun cried out excitedly, feeling as if her pillar of security was discovered. The handsome grey-eyed youth had walked toward them from the 12th Wall. Just like Lin Ziyan and Hong Chunhua, Lin Ming was curiously inspecting the sea of bitterness and its strange power. He realized that the power could be absorbed and refined with the proper method, but when he arrived at the 12th Wall, he realized it was far more durable and gained a Mark of Bitterness after testing it.
Before he could exert greater strength, he felt the aura of fighting from nearby and then Tang Xingyun's aura rushing toward him.
Lin Ziyan was taken aback. Wasn't this the Archaic Chosen? The one that tried to steal Wei Wuyin's fame and was exposed? Oh right! Wei Wuyin had once mentioned how he first met Tang Xingyun during the Chosen Trial in the Devil War Realm, and how she hindered him using her Exalted dharma protector, allowing Lin Ming to seize the chance to become a Chosen.
Her thoughts became slightly conflicted considering Tang Xingyun and Lin Ming were annoyances in Wei Wuyin's younger years. In truth, Lin Ziyan had a habit of being spiteful, especially after being chased, hunted, assaulted, and crippled in her lifetime. She didn't even know why she pulled Tang Xingyun here or why she acted. Was it because she had been hunted so often that she tried to help someone else instinctively?
But when she saw how Tang Xingyun hastily escaped her grip and rushed toward Lin Ming, her brilliant smile, Lin Ziyan's pupils expanded slightly.
How familiar...
"Wait," she quietly said. Wasn't Tang Xingyun engaged to Tian Yinwu? She looked at her hand, feeling the faint lingering aura of Yin. She recalled when Wu Baozhai would disguise her Yin Aura during the Myriad Yore Continent. She once described how she was almost caught as her Primal Yin Aura that was being falsely replicated often had an issue of exuding too much Yin Aura to compensate whenever her cultivation base grew unstable. When Wu Baozhai touched a nobleman's wife after a training session, she was instantly suspicious of her!
Boom! Like an explosion, her mind connected all the pieces. Just as those pieces fit, a faint howl echoed in the air. Lin Ziyan's hair stood as goosebumps grew on her arms, legs, and neck.
The howl was heard by Lin Ming and Tang Xingyun too and they turned to its origins. They saw a grey-robed, bare-footed cultivator with a hood draped over their head, barely showing their silvery hair, without the slightest aura. Each of his steps was utterly silent, yet they pounded against the heart with savage strength.
Lin Ming placed his body before Tang Xingyun and the cultivator, his brows furrowed deeply as he felt a strange sense of danger from this cultivator. From how they walked, he instinctively knew they were here for him!"What do you want?" Lin Ming asked with strength.
The bare-footed cultivator stopped. Then, he used his two hands to lift his hood, exposing his face, revealing the face of a man, beautiful as the full moon hanging from a clear night sky. A Mark of Bitterness shone on his glabella.
Lin Ming's pupils were instantly constricted as if he had seen a ghost from hell! "YOU?!"
Zuhei, the Fangs and Claws of the Ascendant Emperor, calmly stared at the man who had defeated him, staining his purpose for existence after being saved all those years ago. Since then, he was unable to rightfully claim his position as Wei Wuyin's weapon to ravage the world! The reality had ravaged his soul in ways that others could never understand.
Lin Ming, however, was deeply shaken that the one who once gave him his closest and most intense fight, barely escaping alive, was also still alive! His expression darkened as he realized the severity of this matter.
"Step back, Xingyun." He told Tang Xingyun as he brought out his Origin Spear. There was no reason to talk here. Since Zuhei dared to show himself before him, then he was only here for one purpose and only for that purpose.
TO FIGHT!
"Be careful." The voice inside the Aegis of Elements resounded in sync with Tang Xingyun's soft voice. She retreated, trusting Lin Ming.
Lin Ziyan was stunned; this woman had complete confidence in Lin Ming that she seemingly forgot that she was being hunted!
"I'm not who I was before," Lin Ming reminded himself as he remembered how desperate and dangerous that fight was. But he was no longer that naive youth that lacked experience!
Since he won once before, he'd do so again. Zuhei didn't speak a single word. He slowly but surely walked toward Lin Ming, his hands at his side, his posture relaxed, and his eyes reflecting the Archaic Chosen's existence.
Tensions rose. Lin Ming gripped his spear tightly, his cultivation base circulated at its fullest potential.
Suddenly, a burst of explosion from the fight from afar reached the two.
WOOSH! The Claws and Fangs of the Ascendant Emperor and the Archaic Chosen moved simultaneously!
They flickered across each other, landing on the exact location the other had previously been standing.
"..." Lin Ziyan and Tang Xingyun gasped.
"You..." Lin Ming quiveringly looked down.
Ba-dum! Drip. Ba-dum! Drip. Ba-dum! Drip. Within Zuhei's right hand was a heart, bloody, dripping, and still beating.
Author's Note: Wow. Another long one, but the situation is going to get really intense. I'm so excited! Pray to the Writing Gods for me. <3
Erdiul Note: Gah damn boys, shit is ramping up. RIP Lin Ming.

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