Paragon of Sin

Chapter 1674: No-Name (4)

"What…do we do now?"

The question hung in the air like a sharpened scythe, glistening with a menacing, bloody light.

It came from the mouth of a junior but crashed into the hearts of the older generation. The reality of the situation was hard to accept, but more importantly, the implications were harrowing to think about.

Countless years of accumulated effort and resources meant to support their various factions for thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years into the future, either for personal cultivation or trading for appropriate resources were gone without any potential for return. The sheer enormity of this was simply far too hard to describe in words!

"Is it all gone?"

The Dean asked. At the very least, he had hoped that a little was retrieved. Just enough to allow them some reprieve and time to think things through, and hopefully plan a course of action. If not, the cultivation of numerous experts will experience a significant drop in speed and effectiveness, while the usage of energies and rate of recovery was bound to cause an unpredictable amount of developmental delays or impediments towards reaccumulation efforts.

After all, every iota of Mystic Energy was extensively refined after months, years, or decades, and powering various formations and arrays to assist in the accelerated growth of high-level resources or maintaining environmental quality would be profoundly difficult without the high-grade essence stones. If it was just a few forces, then they could borrow and enter the debt of the stronger, richer forces, but if even the Sages were hit…

Sage Pakhet flatly said, her tone extraordinarily direct:

"All of it."

The admission was like a guillotine chopping at their necks. It was unbearably chilly all of a sudden, and a few individuals felt as if the world was collapsing. Their dreams of pursuing higher stages of cultivation were likely going to be significantly delayed, and an entire generation or seven might suffer a sharp decline in speed and overall strength. Unfortunately for the younger generation, they would experience this first.

The most important decline would be the strength of their experts. While cultivation in the Mystic Ascendant Realm required comprehension, which was the path of the Mystic Dao, and cultivating methods such as the Blood Origin Method or their Warring Soul, Triumphant World Method required a significant amount of resources, and many were rare and specific. These Cultivation Methods denoted strength and often contributed toward comprehension.

For example, the Blood Origin Method established a firm base to develop an Internal World and items such as the Mystic Origin Liquid that could assist one in surviving their ascensions in the situation of imminent failure. If only the majority of cultivation resources and materials, unrefined, weren't inherently volatile and dangerous, making it so that storing it within your Internal World or Saint Ring was possible without risks.

So when they heard those three words by Sage Pakhet, they all felt their hearts descend into a bottomless chasm of chill and desolation. What type of absurdity was this?

"What about the Alchemist Associations?"

A World Emperor of great talent and a small ruler of a small territory within a Minor Region asked through his formation. Those words temporarily sparked life in everyone's eyes. They should have products within their spatial rings, and they could use those to temporarily sell to other galaxies to ease their troubles until another solution arises. None of them wanted to wait thousands of years…not all of them could.

Sage Hathor crushed all sparks with a single sentence,

"No one was spared."

While it was true that Alchemical Products could be stored safely within spatial rings or other objects, including Internal Worlds without issue, many of the Alchemist Associations and Organizations often stored their products in secure vaults as well to protect their interests. If they carried stupid levels of wealth, simply because a single product, even if it took a single essence stone to make, was often worth ten to thousands of times greater in value, would make them prime targets to be hunted and robbed.

They stored them safely in secured locations like all the others and only kept enough. While they were wealthier, that's the vast majority of cultivators, and carried around a great number of alchemical products, it was never higher than their personal life's worth, so robbing them was never worth it given the retaliation that was destined to follow.

Unfortunately for them, Teng Jiangwen hadn't escaped. If he had, they could band together and hire Supreme Sages to hunt him down and retrieve their wealth with a binding oath in return for future work and products. Since Teng Jiangwen self-detonated and took the resources with him, who were they going to hire? The River of Time?!

"..."

A series of sighs left several elite powerhouses' lips. They were left without a solution.

"There is no solution to this,"

Sage Khonshu pointed out. He understood their thoughts deeply and the Sages had tried to conjure up a path forward, but there was no path forward. They didn't have anything they could do!

NOTHING!

But that didn't stop them from discussing possibilities!

"What if we created a Secret Realm that we devote our interests in, focusing on revitalizing and accelerating growth of resources, and then sending a select number of juniors to develop there,"

The Dean suggested. It was met with a round of debate as to how many, the potential limit of juniors, what type of resources would be developed, who would be sent…

The list went on and on and yet it was difficult to decide immediately while the idea had some potential to it.

The galaxy was simply too large…

"We could…"

The loud Mystic Overlord chimed in with an idea that was immediately shot down.

"You may be on to something. I think we should…"

The elderly Mystic Overlord piled on ideas as well. They weren't the only ones. The voices of many began to flow outwards with objections and questions regarding various ideas.

The Sages left the central podium, and those who took the center stage often threw out ideas. Despite nine full hours rife with ideas, debates, and discussion, nothing tangible was immediately decided despite a few good ideas such as the Dean's selective cultivation camps for the younger generation while abandoning the older generation. One could tell that he felt the younger generation could not be abandoned in favor of those who sought longer lifespans and greater power.

This was especially frustrating for Heavenly Saints. The lifespan of a Heavenly Saint, an Original Magistrate, was roughly an average of 55,000 years, while an Ascended Saint, the legendary Mystic Overlords, had average lifespans quadrupling that! The jump was disgustingly heavy.

Meanwhile, World Emperors gained roughly ten or twenty thousand years on average upon an ascension. Given their average lifespan of 40,000 years, this was…

Even if they made breakthroughs, their strength would be significantly less than the standard. Many of them would be beneath what they often regarded as 'ordinary'. Their powerful status would be overshadowed by the future generation and they would only have long lifespans without power or authority comparable to their cultivation.

It was a catastrophic disaster that was hard to swallow!

To be destined to be eclipsed?

Sage Imentet was in the crowd watching as the current central stage holder pleaded the case for their idea, defending and addressing various concerns. They were failing horribly despite being an Original Magistrate of great renown.

Luo Ning was beside her on a separate platform. As a foreigner, she properly stayed out of their discussions. This concerned the future of their galaxy, so it was best to leave them alone, but she was quite amused by the ongoing proceedings and learned a lot.

Sage Imenet moved closer, flashing her a heart-stopping smile filled with a gentle warmth.

"Apologies if it's a little boring."

Luo Ning shook her head,

"It's not boring at all."

Then, she looked and saw Cao Cuifen and Grey Rose on a platform, hovering next to Sage Khonshu. They seemed to have made a close connection.

Following her line of sight, Sage Imentet saw Sage Khonshu's expression was lighter as he conversed spiritually with Cao Cuifen. The two seemed to be rather friendly. She was fully aware of the gains they earned for letting the Neo-Dawn Empire's natives try out the doors. She and the others were certain they wouldn't obtain anything given that they were foreigners, but they still allowed them to try for the price.

Even she was salivating at the gains at no losses.

It was clear that Cao Cuifen was stupidly wealthy. Being the doted-on wife of a Worldly Saint Alchemist was awesome! Her eyes sparkled as she briefly glanced at the slender body of Luo Ning. Perhaps one day, she would have a Worldly Saint Alchemist lover too…

"It doesn't seem like there will be an ending to this anytime soon,"

Luo Ning remarked as she observed an idea being ruthlessly shot down with very little of the Sages' direct objection or input. This was quite common. The only true sound plan that had some merit was the Dean's.

However, to abandon the older generation for the younger generation…it was hard to accept for many of the older, ambitious fellows that were slowly on the rise with potential remaining. To have your path of elitism severed was a harsh reality!

The other idea was to create dedicated Secret Realms and planets, even devoting several dozen starfields to become farms for cultivating resources. The idea was novel, but the type of resources that could be developed and rapidly accelerated was limited in nature and type. The most common would be plant life.

This was only one type of a myriad of material resources. At her very least, the idea was tangible to lessen the difficulties, but most alchemical products or cultivation methods weren't so singularly required, and this would greatly benefit a very few rather than the great many.

"There wouldn't be,"

Sage Imenet replied. This galactic discussion was bound to take a long, long time. In the end, it was likely only three ideas would be implemented, and the Sages of the Eight Regions were fully aware of this. The first was a way to selectively maintain the strength of the younger generation of elites, which would include the eight chosen by the doors. This was a given.

The second should include developmental efforts that would involve growth and acceleration programs, and this will cost an enormous amount of time and energy, and essentially drain cultivators dry and depleting their potential. Likely, World Emperors, Rune Kings, Highlords, Venerables, and Exalteds must be sacrificed for this. After all, why would Original Magistrates, Mystic Overlords, and the Sages give up their strength? Could they even? They had to be wary of any galactic invasion that could follow, even if that was just an excuse.

The third would most likely be establishing a debt with the Utmost Purity Galaxy. It was just a matter that was best left at the end because the percentage of debt accrued and shouldered by individuals will need to be determined. Sage River Oasis would soon make an appearance and give out the viability of borrowing from the Utmost Purity Galaxy.

"If this galaxy had a singular leadership…"

Luo Ning let this hang on her tongue and in the air, causing Sage Imentet to frown slightly. This galaxy couldn't have a single ruler! After all, any Resonant Soul Realm expert, a genuine Supreme Sage, would be dealt with by the Guardian Deity, and each of the eight Sages had too strong of a personality and wouldn't acquiesce to the others, especially since their strength was very, very, very, and very close.

And they couldn't easily initiate civil conflict to determine such a power! While the entire world wouldn't band together to suppress the eight Sages or elect a single leader!

Sage Imentet was about to respond when her eyes flashed with a spiritual light. She directed her gaze to the ceiling, which was shockingly also the entrance!

Every last Sage, Mystic Overlord, Original Magistrate, World Emperor, and sensitive cultivator felt a change in the very movement of the world and air, causing them to slowly stop talking and look at the entrance.

A light laughter hung in the air, extremely carefree and majestic.

"Am I late?"

Luo Ning, Cao Cuifen, Su Mei, the Ascendants, Young Master Shang, and the rest all knew who had arrived!

Sage Khonshu's eyes glowed with a lunar light,

"The Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor!"