Refining Skies Galactic Zone. One of seven galactic zones of the Utmost Purity Galaxy, this galactic region was home to the Zenith Refinement Tower, and the esteemed Heavenly Saint Alchemist—Zenith Refinement Alchemic Saint.
Within the Utmost Purity Galaxy, there were seven specifically celebrated, universally recognized Heavenly Saint Alchemists. They were Zenith Extraction, Zenith Growth, Zenith Containment, Zenith Refinement, Zenith Creation—Tianshi Zaoxuan, Zenith Transformation, and lastly, Zenith Fusion. They were not rulers of their respective galactic zones despite taking upon similar names as the galaxies themselves, but extensions of a greater hierarchy of alchemists built upon, not by imperial authority but alchemical authority.
The Utmost Purity Galaxy had kings, emperors, and sovereigns reigning over kingdoms and empires. They existed throughout the galaxy's celestial habitats, but their influence was far inferior to any alchemist by the sheer value of societal beliefs within the general populace. Over time, almost every one of these kings, empires, and sovereigns belonged to the Mortal Realms, and those who ascended would discard their imperial visage to traverse further on the path of cultivation.
Kingdoms and empires were not recognized as established forces by the Utmost Purity Galaxy as a whole, long since edged out by the progression of its societal direction, the paramount leader of which was none other than the Alchemic Dao itself. Those who sought to bring their Imperial Dao into the greater world of the unfathomable and ascended were crushed or suppressed by universal tacit understanding, unable to lift their heads high.
This was agreed upon as an unspoken understanding between the true authorities of the Utmost Purity Galaxy. This was one of the many secrets that Guo Heng was aware of: the thorough and unrelenting suppression of the Imperial Dao. Shockingly, there was a standing order of assassination given to Shadow Veil and other similar organizations: "Eliminate all Seeds of Imperial Laws."
Those who completed this task, offering it to the Zenith Towers, were rewarded wildly, with the greatest example throughout publicly unknown history being a low-quality, Mystic-Heaven Soul Pill that helped create one of the five galactic clans of the Transforming World Galactic Zone's Resonant Soul Realm expert.
This was only one of the many dark secrets that Guo Heng was aware of given his status as a Tower Master of a Zenith Tower and as an Exalted Worldly Alchemic Saint with worldly authority. It was one of the more tamed ones as well, long since entrenched in the societal direction and standards and not argued against by any reason.
The Seed of Imperial Law had always been one of the easiest Seeds of Law to naturally develop outside of an artificial Edict of a Sage or the assistance of a superior cultivator, and it could be born within anyone, even mortals. However, in the same vein, it was one of the hardest ones to develop and possessed extraordinary powers, capable of directing and dictating entire civilizations.
A prime example of this was the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region! The galactic territory that was the Refinement Zone was enormous, spanning millions upon millions of starfields, and thousands upon thousands of stellar regions. It was extraordinarily vast, but also remarkably beautiful.
There was a line of demarcation segregating the Refinement Zone from its neighbors, the Containment Zone and Creation Zone, that was in the gorgeous color of refinement, an absurdly rich azure-esque radiance. It emulated the boundlessness of the skies that were visible upon the surface of a healthy planet with a white or yellow solar star. The shroud was a cloudy mist that swirled and churned and exhibited unfathomable shifts and incessant improvements in color, texture, and essence. It was in a state of constant refinement.
This was why it was dubbed the Refining Skies Galactic Zone. From afar, it was as if it was a sky subjected to an endless state of refinement.
As of now, this azure sky shrouding the Refinement Zone was trembling chaotically at various locations, some more violently than others. The Inspection of the Arbiter was being executed at full strength, distorting the very foundation of an entire galactic zone. It swept through the lands with ravenous observation strength, finding close or even loose yet sufficient karmic ties to Guo Heng to determine the extent of his Mythical Punishment.
It was abiding by the condition laid out: "All Mythical Punishments Conditions will be increased in severity by four stages of cultivation. If it exceeds the current realm of their cultivation base, then it'll settle for the next realm of cultivation, halting at the first stage of the subsequent realm, and will extend to the respective forces aligned and supporting the player in this game, including all prior to the moment of this condition announced."
The most important detail was—will extend to the respective forces aligned and supporting the player in this game.
Guo Heng was not alone in this game of Mystics, and the Inspection of the Arbiter was finding out who was aligned with and supported Guo Heng. He may have lost before even the selection process, but the punishment was set in stone.
There was no changing it.
In hindsight, Wei Wuyin was righteous with his mercy, wording the condition with 'extend' instead of something more aggressive or vicious such as 'replicated in equal force'. This tiny detail regarding his word usage was enough for them to experience a shared Mythical Punishment, divided accordingly, yet equally as vicious as there were no grounds for argument. In fact, this benefited ALL parties.
The intensity of the inspection, enough to distort the very skies outlining the territory of the Refining Skies Galactic Zone, was tangible evidence of the sheer numerical magnitude of individuals targeted. Moreover, there were smaller and larger regions affected. The larger regions were areas where the karmic ties of certain allies existed, of those who bestowed Guo Heng with the greatest support of Guo Heng and were not reflective of any particular cultivation base.
Yet, if an estimate was made, then the Zenith Refinement Tower that stood at the near center of the Refining Skies Galactic Zone, acting as an anchor, substituting as a Solar Star to an existing starfield, exuding gorgeous azure light that blessed the various celestial objects in its orbit, then the tower garnered more than 40% of the Arbiter's attention.
Half was naturally placed onto Guo Heng, while ten percent was equally shared and distributed across his other allies. Yet despite this only being ten percent, it was the incoming Mythical Punishment designed for one goal: Killing Oathbreakers. Moreover, this lethal punishment was designed not for a Heavenly Saint or an Ascended Saint, but an initial-stage Resonant Soul Realm expert that was, by all extent, the STRONGEST naturally conceivable standard of the stage.
To be clear, this was meant to slaughter those at this level!
The chubby female Supreme Sage, a genuine Resonant Soul Realm cultivator, had left the Void and stood atop the opulent and radiant azure tower's peak, standing atop it as she looked at the churning azure-esque mist and sensing the presence of the incoming Mythical Punishment gathering strength. Her fatty cheeks trembled.
She sensed that roughly 3% of the Mythical Punishment's power was on herself. Additionally, she couldn't move. The Void, all dimensions of space, and flows of time had been sealed.
She couldn't flee!
The moment she left, she was trapped here; this wasn't exclusive to just herself. The methods of Mythical Punishment were absolute. Even hiding in the VoId wouldn't nullify punishment. In fact, it would increase the lethality of the punishment by introducing the volatile environment of the Void.
She wasn't an ignorant cultivator. She left the Void purposefully, but she hadn't expected to receive such a heavy percentage of the punishment. Her heart which was a few times larger than a mortal her size pounded furiously with indignation and horror.
Then, as if piling on the bad news, a green-robed figure tumbled out of a Void Portal. She was briefly distracted by the aura gathered on her, so when she turned to look, she saw an immaculately masculine hand that had tossed that figure out. It waved at her before vanishing.
Her pupils constricted as if compressed by demonic might! Was that a Void Portal? But how?!
While leaving the Void was possible, entering it was not. The space around her was thoroughly sealed off! She would have trouble leaving without relying on either the Major Authority of Space or a Supreme Heavenly Treasure of equivalent heavenly strength to shatter the fetters!
It was actually a gross understatement that the space around her was thoroughly sealed. The entire Refining Skies Galactic Zone had its spatial dimensions sealed alongside the entrance to the Void, so even the Star Bridge wouldn't work. The entire galaxy would be experiencing this consequence.
This wasn't just because of Mythical Punishment, but the level at which it was being unleashed. The powers of Supreme Sages were often compared to as god-like, like minor envoys of heaven, and this was largely true. They have great feats under their belt.
The Sky Heart Galaxy had been sealed away from the heavens, preventing the descent of the power of Three Thousand Realms of Heavenly Law, halting all birth of Seeds of Law, and shutting down the formation of Heaven's Gate, thereby preventing the ascension of any cultivator to the Heavenly Saint Phase—the Prohibition of Heaven's Resonance!
Additionally, there were fabled stories of them defying death, extracting souls from Hell and resurrecting mortals. These might be slightly exaggerated but these feats occurred!
They were like gods! Miniature Avatars of Heaven's Power! The first stage of the Resonant Soul Realm perfectly illustrates their status and power: The Microheaven Envoy! The very first stage of the Resonant Soul Realm!
They needed to be imprisoned on grand galactic scales! They were worthy of it!
Guo Heng coughed as his hazy mind after being invaded began to clear up. When he fully came to, he discovered himself atop the peak of the Zenith Refinement Tower. His eyes blazed with ravenous and greedy hope! The hope for life!
"You bastard," the chubby female Supreme Sage cursed without restraint. She had the urge to kill Guo Heng, but doing so would disperse his solid fifty percent of focus onto the others, and she wasn't willing to take three percent let alone six! "Why did you come here?!"
Suddenly, her eyes emitted a soulful light as she observed the shifting flow of ambient space and time. The Mythical Punishment that was originally a little over forty percent, which included her three percent due to her deliberately chosen location, was now over ninety percent!
NINETY!
She knew Mythical Punishment was happening, so she exited the Void right atop the Zenith Refinement Tower. Her thoughts weren't so much different from Guo Heng's source of hope! They both wanted to rely on the tower's strength to resist! After all, they were all in this together, so they could share each other's suffering!
Initially, the chubby female Supreme Sage only wanted to avoid getting injured or expand her limited Resonance Qi of the Heavens that was as difficult to refine as one could imagine, even an iota of a wisp might take her decades to cultivate, and while three percent might seem significantly less than forty percent, she was under no grand delusion in thinking she was an outstanding peak figure in the Resonant Soul Realm.
If the minimum for ascending to this cultivation realm, no matter how difficult cultivation was, was akin to filling a cup with purified water, then the conventional peak was no different than an olympic-sized swimming pool. Three percent of an olympic-sized swimming pool vastly exceeded a single cup of water!
Cultivation was frustratingly difficult! She still hadn't consolidated her Resonant Soul Realm cultivation base at the initial standard despite being in this realm for longer than three hundred thousand years!
This was why no Resonant Soul Realm expert would ever break a Heaven-Bound Mythical Oath or swear one lightly. This goddamn vicious Arbiter!
Still, her heart was pounding as she formed a hand-seal that seemed to overlap with an innumerable amount of illusory hands, forming what could be noted as millions of hand-seals in an instant. Each was performed flawlessly, and she hurriedly tapped into the Zenith Refinement Tower's power.
This was a genuine Mystic-Heaven grade Treasure! Inside the grand tower acting as a Solar Star, the Zenith Refinement Alchemic Saint was certainly allowing her to handle this. Inwardly, she cursed with heavy venom. As for those outside of this starfield, they would have to rely on themselves.
No one tried to run; running was futile. In the most direct terms possible, those outside of the Zenith Refinement Starfield were entirely and hopelessly fucked.
Even a thousandth of this Mythical Punishment was enough to kill any Sage.
And it was coming nine times! She and everyone else could only hope someone finds the Mythical Contract and shreds it, severing the causality between punishment and oath.
They could only hope! Meanwhile, Su Yi received a message from Dai Yangdao. They had located the Mythical Contract!
But there was something wrong with it!

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