For Soldiers, battles involved blades, fists, force, cunning, decisiveness, and ruthlessness. Death was a second away, often unseen and swift. If not dodged, that was the end.
For Creationists, battles involved the Dao. Their skill, knowledge, intelligence, creativity, and fearlessness to challenge themselves time and time again! They execute their abilities to accumulate advantages, thrashing all obstacles and challenges while assisting their allies and vice versa.
The most important factor about the Battlefield of Order is that it can directly influence the Battlefield of War. In the turbulent stage that was the Battlefield's battle zones, Creationists could venture to conduct unprecedented Temporal Reversions that were normally impossible due to the unseen suppressive force within the Battlefield. Not only that, they can supply external power, timely and precise with trials and tribulations.
For those who took the United path for the Battlefield of Order, selecting a Squad, Company, Battalion, or Legion, this was critical to their War Soul accumulation. Similarly, the fates of their army directly affected their lifeline, and could thereby ill-adversely affect their clashes.
Swift Dao Clashes was the foundation of the Battlefield of Order. However, there was a twist: the alchemical products designated for concoction, talismans for inscribing, creation criteria for arts, spells, methods, and forged items were unpredictable. According to Tilly's impassioned explanation, the Swift Dao Clashes conducted were not limited by the Creationists' profession. Alchemists can face Forgers. Forgers can face Architects. Architects can face Alchemists.
An example given by the Entry Moderator was that a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist and Talismanic Grandmaster, the equivalent of a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist, Swift Dao Clash would have both of them concoct and craft a ninth- grade product or peak-tier Astral Talisman within an allotted time. The winner was determined by the system based on a variety of factors, and the winner would gain while the loser would suffer significantly via a vicious punishment known as the Chaos Descent.
The lower the grade of the challenge, the weaker the resulting punishment upon a loss. However, even then, death was not only possible but very likely. The most critical detail that was overlooked by those who initially came was that the suppressive effect of the Chaos Realm was in full effect here!
Imagine concocting a ninth-grade product with suppressed energies, astral force or mystic power, intensely restricted Spiritual Sense, and an endless, overwhelming gravitational pressure alongside the crushing force constantly active. It wasn't just difficult; the environment was downright hostile. The slightest inattentiveness could lead to Cultivation Deviation or backlash upon failure.
Moreover, these challenges weren't just highly specific, where the combatants on the Battlefield of Order had zero control over; it was an absolute requirement to survive! Normally, most Creationists select the Independent path for the sole purpose of teaming up against others.
The true challenge was forced Swift Dao Clashes. The United path was the most difficult because of these forced clashes. Upon the death of an army member, you are given abrupt and sudden challenges to reverse their demise. Essentially, respawning them back into their camp. Wei Wuyin had never visited the campsite before. Instead, he was forcefully ushered into a departing Battalion due to his focus on the King of Everlore, inadvertently causing him to neglect to mention his skill in alchemy to Captain Zun.
The unpredictability of the challenges set was brutal. Products that you may never have even heard of or seen would be presented. Your task was to concoct, inscribe, forge, or create. No questions asked. No objections allowed.
Wei Wuyin's first thought was that the ones who created this setting were using these methods to accumulate resources, and most within the Battlefield of Order understood this likely possibility. However, the uniqueness of the War Souls and the ability to acquire legacies, arts, methods, and materials far exceeding the limits of their region was far too appealing. Moreover, the universally offered items were far too good to pass up!
Wei Wuyin had long since understood why Ancient Zenith sought skilled alchemists, seeking to recruit him alongside others of great talent, including why the Zeniths were interested, yet some decided to stay as observers. Because of the two paths, Independents can form groups, act as assistants for concoctions to ease the challenges.
Moreover, he had gained insight as to why the Heavenly Saint Alchemists of the Utmost Purity Galaxy were so ready to use the Blank Dominion to concoct during their Alchemic Clash. They likely had some training or experience concocting in the Battlefield of Order or used a similar environment to cultivate their talents.
"Mnnn...uh! Oohhh...so...de-EEP!" A heavy moan erupted. Within the spiritual bubble that housed Wei Wuyin and Tilly, there was a haze of heat. A petite figure pressed her hands against the walls of the bubble, her fingernails biting into the shape with all her might, creating indentations and distortions as a dragon, long and mighty, plunged rhythmically within.
She was bent over, her back arched slightly as two powerful hands held her hips. Her slender legs were seven inches off the ground, swaying with each thrust.
"Auh! Ahhh! MN!!" Tilly's hair was loose, dangling from her head like curtains of night as glistening sweat gathered on her forehead, face, neck, and bosom. They dripped onto the bubble, steaming from the heat. "I-it's com- COMING!!" She shouted with enough force to shatter mountains and terrify tigers.
Wei Wuyin didn't hold back in the slightest. He plunged deeper and deeper, and when her luscious cave gave in, a deluge was unleashed from within, threatening to push him back to no avail. Her toes curled and her fingers pushed deeper into the bubble, almost as if it wished to pop it to find release. Fortunately, her release came in another wave and in another form.
An hour later.
Wei Wuyin stood upright as he observed the spiritual bubble riding the spatial channel, nearing their destination. 'The fastest way to earn points is to challenge the Three Towers of Stellar Order. However, I have to ensure that the Neo-Byr Legion does well. I've imbued them with a wisp of my aura of War, allowing my power to transmit to them in scant quantity. However, they'll need time to adjust. Since I've decided to invest in them, I refuse to allow them to be useless going forward.'
As he thought about his goals, the suckling sounds beneath him grew increasingly vigorous and wet. He looked down to see a head full of dark hair seeking to swallow a dragon with relentless effort. He couldn't help but sigh to himself.
Glancing at his Bloodline of Sin: Lust tattoo, he could faintly sense a subtle heat as his soul was enhanced by that strange nourishment yet again. Moreover, his Bloodline of Sin: Pride tattoo was reacting with a slightly stronger heat. Indulging in his primordial sins assisted in the growth of his soul. After discovering this fact, he was far less restrained.
It took little effort to subdue Tilly. She was long since interested in him after his dominant display earlier, and her curiosity about the mysteries surrounding him only lured her deeper into the storm. Obtaining her was a matter of lust and pride, a duality of sin.
How amusing that attaining the recognition of the sins via the Rite of Sin was to overcome them despite the alternatives to succumb, and then to cultivate using the Bloodline of Sin, one had to embody those very sins, enacting their most primal definitions. What a world...
A sensual pop was heard as a breathy voice resounded beneath him. He looked down as Tilly was biting her lower lip, rubbing her face with the mighty dragon she sought to devour, her eyes glistening with unfettered lust and intense desire. She seemed reluctant as she announced, "We'll be arriving in a minute."
She turned her eyes to the dragon exceeding the size of her face, and her eyes blazed with a challenge. Only a minute? She could definitely make this unrivaled dragon breathe out its essence! After losing to this beast repeatedly without a single victory, she refused to let this end like this. Seeing her redouble her effort, Wei Wuyin patted her head encouragingly with a smile. He granted her wish when only a few seconds remained.
Gulp. BOOSH!
The two landed on a glass platform. Tilly swiftly corrected her attire before the cascading spatial light dissipated. Wei Wuyin casually cast a spell, cleansing her and calming her turbulent aura, allowing her not to give away their activities. Despite the overwhelming pressure, he could easily cast spells. The suppressive force in the Stellar Battlefield was no different than a gentle breeze to him.
While Starlords were unable to exert much strength, Mystic Ascendants could still fly and launch ranged attacks. Cai Liuyang was evidence of that. As such, to him whose strength was at the Supreme Sage-level, it was actually an insult to consider this suppressive force a 'gentle breeze.' It was FAR less than that.
"Captain Winehart!" A voice resounded. A young man in a scholarly outfit rushed forward with a respectful stance. He hurriedly saluted her. Tilly Winehart glanced at Wei Wuyin, shaken that he had cast a spell without issue so casually. Still, she reacted appropriately.
"I have to...uhm...register your details. If you don't mind, can you wait here until I return?" Tilly Winehart asked hesitantly, frightening the young man as he looked at Wei Wuyin with confusion. The thunderous Tilly was asking, not demanding? What?!
Wei Wuyin nodded to her with a calm smile. She hurriedly rushed off. Unlike the Battlefield of War, since he decided to take the United path, he needed a specific registration rune to tether himself to them. This required a unique formation.
This gave him time to observe the camp. There were tents set up, some opulent, others tattered and worn. They were large and small, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, essentially as far as the eye could see. Some had canopies that unleashed a strange power, seemingly resisting the suppressive force that descended upon the area.
"A safe area to cultivate and recover?" He saw only humans. There were all types, some exuding scholarly air, others an alchemical scent, and a few had heat and smoke emanating from them. However, one thing he noticed was that, regardless of who he inspected, every last one of them was injured in some capacity.
There was a middle-aged woman dressed in turquoise alchemist robes. Hung around her neck was a talisman that seemed to reach the high-tier Astral-grade. Her cultivation was only at the Temporal Eye Phase, the eighth stage of the Astral Core Realm.
And she wasn't the only non-Starlord cultivator. There was a burly man with muscular arms, smoke bellowed from his bald head as he dragged his limp leg across the field, covered in wounds as they reached deep, affecting the foundation of his cultivation, but he was only at the Realm World Phase, the seventh stage of the Astral Core Realm.
There were tens of thousands around, many of whom had no tents. They had to sit down wherever, often nursing wounds or being tended to by Medicinal Sages. These Medicinal Sages would take payment upon completion, taking War Souls. He noticed that each Medicinal Sage exuded the aura of an Alchemist, Forger, or Architect, albeit faintly, yet they primarily cultivated healing spells.
They used direct infusion spells via contact, barely avoiding the overwhelming pressure from crushing their fragile life force. Most of these Medicinal Sages were women. He found this odd as he saw a ratio of 9:1, an excessive
imbalance.
It was only after observing a little longer and seeing an incident from afar that he understood. A male Medicinal Sage had expended his energy in an emergency procedure. Upon doing so, he rushed back to his tent, but something happened without warning. A globe of seven-colored light appeared before him, roughly the size of a fingernail, and he was locked in place. He was cursing as fear encroached on his soul and eyes, glinting as he shouted out for help and assistance.
No one came, and from his dull reaction of begrudging acceptance, he sensed that it was a predictable outcome here. The man touched the globe. The light enveloped him, and he was jetted upwards as a comet of light, settling as a large globe that hung in the sky. This made Wei Wuyin look up to see numerous globes of various colors present, some larger and thicker than others, while others were brighter and emanated a purer light.
Meanwhile, a woman met a similar fate. She didn't even need to ask for help as two other women rushed forward to assist. They touched her back, and she confidently poked the glob of light. The trio was launched upwards.
Not a single person seemed to find this remotely strange, accepting it as if it were a daily occurrence.
'So this camp isn't a safe zone.' Wei Wuyin immediately realized the truth. This wasn't a camping zone. This was the Stellar Battlefield of Order!
And everyone here-they were Creationists!
Since that was the case, he observed further out. Soon, he located an ancient black pagoda with nine floors. As he expanded his senses, this black pagoda appeared dozens of times, then hundreds, and then thousands across every direction in sporadic order. They were all the same, no different in aura or existential signature. He had found
his target. The first of the Three Towers of Stellar Order. The Tower of Gaia!

Comments

Loading...