It's here! The nonagon of thick golden light crashed resounding around the various Chosen present. The sight and sound caused many of their hearts to rapidly pound with tension, fear, and anticipation.
The second stage of the Chosen King Competition: the Everpath Voyage!
This gloriously notorious stage was famed for resulting in the rise of countless peak experts of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, the incredibly prestigious, supremely talented, and peerlessly gorgeous Empress Xiaocheng! As a Dark Chosen, she had made her name and talent known here!
Oh!
The thick, golden walls of descending light didn't simply stop after forming the first nonagon! Beyond the first, a mile away, the gathered Chosen could all see another curtain of light descend from the sky, thunderously crashing against the marble surface! The light was in every direction, once again forming a second, larger nonagon around the first!
This continued again! And again! AND AGAIN! Each nonagon was larger than the last, always surrounding the others, eventually reaching a point where the number of nonagons they were inside was difficult to determine through the thick layers of radiant light.
"The paths have been created," Qiao Shulin softly muttered, her tone dazed, emotional, and gentle. The path that had defined the future and direction of their society was now before her, how could she not be emotional? The thoughts and desires that she had cultivated throughout her many years, striving continuously to improve through effort, pain, and loneliness, were all pouring into her heart and spirit, infusing her cultivation base with a stimulating thrum.
She wasn't the only one.
All the Chosen of past generations, especially those who've been ousted as Chosen by their sects due to the younger, greater generation, forced to participate as Dark Chosen to prove themselves and the value of their centuries of cultivation, felt the same! The new era was beckoning, and they'd already been pushed to the side, but if there was one thing that could change their future, these walls of golden light, this path established by the King of Everlore, was their only way!
Yi Yun, Ming Yuling, Tang Xingyun, and Lin Ming, while unable to resonate with their emotions, could feel their rising passion in the air. To the youngest of this generation, the upcoming era was a godsend, but to those who had struggled this far, aged to the point where they either couldn't afford to wait for Wei Wuyin or San Luoyang, or afford to purchase those products even in the future, the Everpath Voyage was their only chance.
Qiao Shulin took a step forward, gazing at a wall of golden light, one of nine walls. She deeply remembered that wall-it was the path she took eighty-one years ago. She turned her head, spotting the wall beside it-one hundred and sixty-two years ago. Her gaze kept traveling down...
Three paths that she took, yet...
"Senior Sister Qiao," Yi Yun called out. Qiao Shulin was too immersed in her memories, unable to extricate herself.
"Shulin," It was only when Lin Ming lightly touched her shoulder, his voice gentle, understanding, and comforting that she broke out of her immersed reality of ceaseless failures.
She turned to see the handsome, smiling visage of Lin Ming caused her heart to settle calmly in its roiling sea of turbulent emotions. "I'm okay," she softly replied.
Like most others, the Chosen King Competition was rarely for those beneath the age of a hundred, and in the past, cultivating to the Realm World Phase was a danger, even to Chosen.
They focused heavily on their foundation and comprehension, splitting their cultivation time to improve their strengths relative to their cultivation, especially since Chosen needed roughly three stages above in competent combat prowess. She had entered her first Chosen King Competition at the Light Reflection Phase, the fifth stage of the Astral Core Realm, and was in her mid-hundreds by that time.
After experiencing three competitions, this was her last and final try. After which, she'll have to focus on reaching the Star Core Phase, and spend the next century or so comprehending the Mystic Dao to ascend. If not, just like countless before her, she'll inevitably fade away into obscurity with either a short life as an Exalted or outright death upon failure.
Who would remember Qiao Shulin then? Who would care?
Yi Yun's eyes glinted at the contact that Lin Ming had with Qiao Shulin. However, he didn't comment on it, asking: "What are these walls?" Since he entered as a Dark Chosen, especially as one of the youngest candidates to survive, he was fairly ignorant of the upcoming stage. Whenever he asked, he was always told to simply wait and see if he could even make it.
Now he made it. His curiosity was flaring intensely. Qiao Shulin took a deep breath, regulated herself entirely, and looked at the group of talented, young Chosen before her. These existences here would likely be the pillars of the next generation.
She began to explain the intricacies of the Everpath Voyage. Lin Ming, Tang Xingyun, Ming Yuling, Yi Yun, Chen Yangzi, and the two beautiful women that stayed relatively close to Yi Yun all listened intently.
Qiao Shulin had in-depth knowledge of the Everpath Voyage, so her explanation was incredibly comprehensive and clear.
The Everpath Voyage was a journey of difficulties and challenges, testing the four aspects of cultivation. While they couldn't see all the nonagons, there were reportedly 108 Walls of the Everpath, and the voyage was crossing these obstacles.
After challenging and surpassing each wall, crossing the sea of bitterness that was the space between, the challenger would receive a blessing of invisible points that could later be redeemed similarly as earlier, allowing cultivators to acquire resources, materials, and products that they would never have had a chance to obtain otherwise.
When facing a wall, after crossing the sea of bitterness between each, there were only three ways to enter:The first method was the most potentially peaceful and equally as dangerous method. If a cultivator survived within the sea of bitterness for an entire day, otherwise known as the space between two walls, the wall will allow them through automatically. This was by far the easiest method to pass, and using it, a cultivator could theoretically reach the 81st Wall without fighting a single individual.
The second method had cultivators use brute force to break each wall before them and enter the next stage, relying on their cultivated strength. This was typically the most commonly used method early on, but at the latter stages, it becomes one of the most impossibly difficult paths to take.
The last method was certainly the most bloodthirsty and combative. When a cultivator has tried and failed to enter the wall on their first try using the second method, they will be marked by that specific wall. This mark was called the Mark of Bitterness. The mark is branded on one's body and can only be retrieved from corpses of its possessor, or willingly extracted from a Chosen who decided to surrender their right to compete, forfeiting all previously earned points in the stage. They will then be automatically evacuated and sent back to the original nonagon, forced to bask in their failure.
If a Chosen gathers five of these Marks of Bitterness, they are granted access to the next wall. After which, all the marks will disappear.
These were the only three methods known to bypass each wall, each increasingly more brutal than the last.
After Qiao Shulin finished her explanation, bloodlust could be sensed in the air.
Her thin brows furrowed, "Ready yourselves. Ensure that you've reached your peak stage before challenging any path." She reminded them, recalling her first attempt as a light of anxiety flitted across her pupils.
Those who were experienced in challenging the walls were already sitting down cross-legged, consuming elixirs and pills to help boost their cultivation states by a little bit or recover any expended energy they'd yet to regain. It was of paramount importance to ensure one's conditioning mentally, physically, and spiritually was at its peak.
"Wait," Yi Yun said.
"What?" Qiao Shulin asked as she retrieved a few recovery products that she had prepared for this, including a few pills that would stimulate her Spiritual Strength and Physical Body slightly beyond their limits. She was already ready to begin making preparations.
But Yi Yun was still confused by the nine walls of the nonagon encasing all around them. "What about the nine walls? Do we enter any of them?" The question perked everyone's ears.
"Oh, right..." Qiao Shulin realized that she had forgotten the most important part. She gestured toward a wall. "Do you see that?" Her finger led to the base of the wall. There was a shimmering black haze there, very reminiscent of a portal.
"Yeah," Yi Yun replied.
Qiao Shulin then moved her finger to the wall next to it, pointing at a shimmering white haze. "And that?"Yi Yun nodded.
"Each wall is marked by its difficulty. There's no cultivation restriction or age restriction here, purely the choice of which path you wish to take. Using the system of Primary Light, the black haze there is the lowest difficulty path, and the white haze is the highest difficulty path.
Lin Ming noticed that each door had a haze, going from black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and white. They truly corresponded with the levels of Primary Lights one could cultivate.
Qiao Shulin explained further,"I'll repeat: there are only difficulty levels, no cultivation or age-based handicaps or restrictions. These colorful portals lead you down the path, and after you take it, you can not return before completing the selected path."
Min Yuling gasped. Nine different difficulties? "Wait!" Her heart rate began to increase, "Has no one ever reached the 108th Wall of even the lowest difficulty before?"
Her words caused the younger generation in the group to jolt with shock. If the lowest difficulty was never completed, how difficult were these walls exactly?!
Qiao Shulin shook her head with a wry smile, she had a similar reaction when she learned of the varying difficulties. "There's a total of 108 Walls! Each path only has twelve walls, and everyone begins on the Black Path of Bitterness, going all the way to the White Path of Bitterness.
When you finish a path, you return here."
"Ah!" Enlightenment dawned on them. This meant everyone started on the same path, but their ending might not be the same!
"Get ready," Qiao Shulin said as she sat down to cultivate and recover.
"Will no one attack us here?"
Ming Yuling asked nervously as her intuition felt as if an apex predator was looking her way.
Qiao Shulin was already focused on cultivating, so Chen Yangzi took the lead to answer. "The center here is also referred to as the Dock of Rest, and fighting here is forbidden. There's no need to worry about any dangers before beginning your voyage. Also, you don't have to worry about being attacked UNLESS you have the Mark of Bitterness. Don't attack anyone without one, you'll suffer." Chen Yangzi said as he recalled some of his Seniors losing their lives here after failing to break through the next wall. He heavily sighed, hurriedly sat down and began to do his all to reach his peak state.
"..." Lin Ming's brows furrowed suddenly. He felt a gaze, but when he tried to sense it, there was nothing noticeable there.
Strange... The two Imperial Princes stood at the Black Path of Bitterness. The hazy black portal was beckoning them to enter with a soft, whirring sound.
Tian Jianghan looked to Tian Yinwu, "Will you do it here?" He knew Tian Yinwu had agreed to act only at the end of the second stage, but if neither of them reached the wall he had, there would be no going back. Will he follow through with the deal?
"The end of the second stage is the last wall they can reach," Tian Yinwu calmly stated as he entered the black haze.
Tian Jianghan's lazy expression suddenly formed a bright, contented smile. Leisurely, he walked into the black haze.
Author's Note: Alright.[Tosses table aside] Enough rule explaining and hype. LET'S START!
Make your guesses here: What wall do you think each Blessed will reach?! San Yongli, Yi Yun, Lin Ming, even our new duo couple!

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