Chapter 1676: No-Name (6)

Chapter 1676: No-Name (6)

Wei Wuyin's impressive entrance initiated an immediate change of pace and focus of the Eight Directions Summit, especially after Aziza blazed across the Main Hall to her Tribulation Gate to attempt to ascend to greater, extraordinary heights.
An alchemist was often recognized as a Dragon's Gate by the natives of the Utmost Purity Galaxy, and their Dao Protectors or Alchemic Knights were known as carps that had soared through with blessed fortune, including all those who earned their favor. As such, Wei Wuyin's Alchemic Stars of Transcendent Purity paved the way for all sorts of thoughts to swirl within their minds, schemes to be conceived, and ambitions to be wildly inspired. This type of reaction was expected.
If the Neo-Dawn Heaven-Haven Elixir's effects were genuinely as Wei Wuyin had just described, an alchemical product at the low-tier of the Mystic-World grade that could assist during the Sixth Ascension, the value of it was inestimable for any cultivation society, and the base cost if put on the market would have vastly exceeded the average lifetime wealth of a World Emperor.
Aziza had obtained this wondrous benefit by coincidental opportunity. She had a fortuitous encounter that countless yearned for before their very eyes for merely existing at the right place and right time! The greed, jealousy, and envy in their hearts raged, yet they could only watch on. If she used this opportunity correctly and ascended as an Original Magistrate, those feelings might very well explode uncontrollably within them.
While many thoughts and hushed whispers were circulating in the Main Hall after the appearance of the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor, Sage Pakhet's steely gaze remained sharp and narrowed, attached to Wei Wuyin persistently. The signs of a powerful Ocular Spiritual Spell being utilized were clear within her pupils and irises. Sage Pakhet had always been a curious sort, direct and aboveboard. She was trying to ascertain Wei Wuyin's cultivation base, age, and other factors, yet the frustrating swelling within her bright gaze indicated repeated failure after repeated failure.
Wei Wuyin was like the boundless void, and every look contained either a vast nothingness or far too much insignificant, irrelevant information that was difficult to sort through, and those layers led to all dead-ends regardless of how she sifted through them.
Sensing Sage Pakhet's openly intrusive gaze, Wei Wuyin turned to her with slightly upturned lips—calmly smiling at her. After his ascension into the Mystic Ascendant Realm, his body's innate defenses against perception had been greatly enhanced, creating a layer that Soul Perception might have difficulty piercing through, let alone a True Sage's Spiritual Sense, regardless of the execution of spells behind it.
Sage Pakhet couldn't determine his age, cultivation base, or racial composition. While Wei Wuyin outwardly looked like a pure human, there were many races out there that had strong similarities to humans or humans that cultivated methods to change their outward appearance to adopt characteristics of others. For example, quite a few Abyssals, Titans, and Celestials that cultivate Bestial-aligned Cultivation Methods looked very similar to Beastmen. Similarly, humans could cultivate Titan-esque Cultivation Methods to grow larger. The vice versa was also true.
Furthermore, Wei Wuyin's Alchemic Stars had transformed his eyes, so things such as a Magi's silvery irises or a Celestial's Star-shaped pupils couldn't be easily determined.
"..."
The hushed whispers slowly transformed into a noticeable silence as spiritual transmissions became the primary form of communication. Wei Wuyin had stolen the focus of the world, and many of the cultivators present were leaders, intelligent and cunning. Cao Cuifen, Yue Songli, and Qing Qiumu, those known as the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor's wives, were already receiving an endless barrage of transmissions from those they befriended over the last two months wishing to elevate that connection.
As a galaxy with relations with the Utmost Purity Galaxy, which of these older generation members were unaware of the third level of the Alchemic Stars? How many understood the immense significance of its existence?! All of them! This wasn't protected knowledge nor was it difficult to understand!
The Alchemic Stars of Transcendent Purity had all but verified Wei Wuyin's elite status as a Worldly Saint Alchemist with the definite potential to become a Heavenly Saint Alchemist!
"Seems like I wasn't too late. Then, I won't cause any further delay in the proceedings of this Eight Directions Summit. Please—continue,"
Wei Wuyin said lightly as he piloted his platform expertly, settling within the masses of other platforms. He stood out as the only seven-colored platform amongst the rest, yet no one said anything about it. They only quietly stared from afar, thoughts ever active.
Sage Hathor had granted Wei Wuyin permission to enter, and while she expected a soft disruption, she hadn't expected this great of one. It was almost as if Wei Wuyin had, with a single appearance, vastly exceeded the importance of every other matter in the eyes of those present. She wasn't an exception.
After seeing the Alchemic Stars of Transcendent Purity, even the ambition in her heart swelled intensely. Who didn't seek to become a Supreme Sage?! Grey Rose had unhesitatingly lowered herself for the mere opportunity to earn his favor by indirectly becoming a maidservant.
To explain the significance of this, most considered Grey Rose as a bodyguard assigned to Cao Cuifen by Wei Wuyin, but in terms of maidservants, you wouldn't find a single one at the World Emperor level or higher throughout the entire No-Name Galaxy. The sheer accomplishment of entering the World Emperor level alone was enough to dominate several starfields within a small portion of the greater galaxy.
"..."
Sage Pakhet furrowed her brows. Her gaze never once left Wei Wuyin, like many others. However, she was extremely open about it, and her directness was straightforward and explicit.
Suddenly, she said something that caused quite the majority of those at the Eight Directions Summit to start.
"World-Saint Neo-Dawn, did you collude with Teng Jiangwen to plot against our galaxy to steal our treasures?"
"...!!!"
At that exact moment, Sage Amunet was observing Wei Wuyin through a mystical ascension art. Her action was in perfect tandem with Sage Pakhet's interrogative question.
Her question caused the hushed whispers to return with gasps of disbelief. The Sages thought that the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor, also the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint, was in cahoots with Teng Jiangwen?! Or was it just Sage Pakhet's suspicions?!
Luo Ning was stunned; she turned to Sage Imentet who was equally as shocked. She was caught off-guard by Sage Pakhet's question. After all, Luo Ning, Wei Wuyin's assistant, had rescued her and blocked Teng Jiangwen's attacks, inevitably causing his scheme that likely took thousands of years of insidious plotting and preparation to fail!
"What do you mean by this, Sage Pakhet?! How could World-Saint Neo-Dawn have anything to do with this?"
Sage Khonshu was next to Cao Cuifen, and he had cultivated a good relationship with the latter, with his quick thinking, he realized that defending Wei Wuyin would only help in his favor. l?ght
оvel\cаve~c`о/m. As for believing that the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor had anything to do with the plot, he was sharp-witted and understood that, regardless if it was true or not, nothing would change the fact that Teng Jiangwen had detonated himself and took every ounce of treasure with him out of pure spite.
Even if he was, so what? Nothing would change.
The Mystic Overlord scholar was equally as quick-witted, rebuking a Sage directly:
"Sage Pakhet, there's no evidence of that, so how could you bring up such baseless accusations before an ongoing forum of this scale so easily?!"
He pointed at Sage Pakhet disrespectfully as if trying to defend Wei Wuyin's honor.
Shockingly, Sage Shattered Sphinx spoke up at this moment. He stood with a slight bend of his spine, his robes formed of fine, moving sand that seemed to flow endlessly in a mysterious cycle.
"It was simply a question; moreover, it is not entirely baseless."
'Not baseless?'
At first, there was an uproar or suspicion, but after two Sages spoke up on this question, a few couldn't help but think of the potential of it being true. Almost instinctively, those who had connections with Yue Songli, Cao Cuifen, Qing Qiumu, Young Master Shang, and the rest began to think of the only common factor that could elicit any suspicion: timing.
Wei Wuyin had arrived just before Teng Jiangwen's plans unfolded, and then he disappeared without any explanation right before the mass stealing occurred, and no one knew of his whereabouts or reasoning for doing so.
Sage Khonshu's expression twisted with a slight frown,
"Earth-Saint Luo had—"
Sage Shattered Sphinx interrupted,
"We are well aware of Earth-Saint Luo's great contribution during the conflict. Sage Khonshu, I recommend you allow World-Saint Neo-Dawn to answer for now."
His voice was deeply mystifying, like the endless fields of sands of a desert and its miraculous unseen depths.
"..."
Sage Khonshu and the other Sages were silent. Sage Hathor eyed Sage Amunet and saw her focus entirely on Wei Wuyin. She didn't say anything. Sage Imentet gave Luo Ning an apologetic gaze, comforting her with a touch. Luo Ning was angry, but she calmed down slightly.
But then she unexpectedly said to Sage Imentet through spiritual transmission:
"I'll protect you."
"...?!"
Sage Imentet couldn't quite understand those words. However, Luo Ning's staunch gaze made her curious. Was Wei Wuyin guilty?! She wanted to ask further, but the answer came before she could.
"If His Majesty had anything to do with this, I'll beg for leniency on your behalf."
"..."
Sage Imentet's heart began to suddenly begin racing. The if was enough to allude that Luo Ning was unsure whether Wei Wuyin had any form of collusion, but in the situation that he did, she was essentially suggesting the other Sages were as good as dead. How could her heart not race?!
Wei Wuyin was initially taken aback as his Alchemic Stars flashed with a seven-colored glow, as one would normally be if spontaneously lobbied with such an accusation, but then he heartily chuckled.
"I've never colluded with Teng Jiangwen to act against this galaxy."
Regardless of what mystical art was being used, this was the absolute truth. He didn't even need to hide using any counter art or spells.
After all, Teng Jiangwen had long since been killed. How could he collude with someone that no longer existed?
Sage Pakhet's eyes sharpened dangerously, and then she subtly glanced at Sage Amunet's direction, who gently nodded in an almost imperceptible manner, and those sharpness in her eyes smoothed out into an indistinguishable, dignified gaze. The tension in her muscles softened.
"Why did you come to our galaxy?"
Sage Pakhet asked pointedly. The Eight Directions Summit immediately changed to an interrogation directed toward Wei Wuyin. However, before Wei Wuyin could answer that question, Sage Nepit jumped in.
"Why does that matter, Sage Pakhet? Or perhaps you're suggesting something toward the purpose of his arrival? If you suspect that World-Saint Neo-Dawn has any relation to the theft, please do bring forth the evidence. This impromptu and unreasonable interrogation…it's not a good look for our galaxy as a whole."
His words resonated with a few others, and they voiced their support.
"Show us your evidence!"
"Sage Pakhet, please don't make wild accusations without any evidence. I heard that the retinue of World-Saint Neo-Dawn had assisted in thwarting Teng Jiangwen's insidious plot."
The loud-mouthed Mystic Overlord had contributed directly to the battle and was aware of how significant Luo Ning's interference was to the situation.
"He's right! You should first think before throwing around accusations, Sage Pakhet."
The Mystic Overlord scholar echoed. The Eight Directions Summit had a stipulation that anything said couldn't be used to act against any party, so they used this to speak out against a Sage, something they would never do otherwise, for the sake of gaining Wei Wuyin's favor.
Sage Pakhet's expression darkened as a faint flicker of ferocity flowed within her eyes, causing the atmosphere to grow thick with tension. The entire Main Hall grew silent. If there was anyone who would disregard the agreement, it would be none other than the fierce lioness that was Sage Pakhet.
"You visited the White Abyssal Galaxy,"
Sage Shattered Sphinx stated matter-of-factly, moving instructive and concealed gaze toward Grey Rose. Grey Rose was one of the four Abyssal Overlords of an entire galaxy, and Sage Shattered Sphinx had once traveled across the Dark Void to arrive there, so he recognized her instantly. Then, he moved his gaze toward Yue Songli, avoiding staring at her great mountain peaks directly, focusing on the hyena that was cutely chewing and licking on a star that resembled a solar marble, continuing:
"And you visited the Sky Heart Galaxy."
The hyena had caused a catastrophe by eating half a star. Yue Songli's pet was already feared by countless souls. Many leaders had even asked for Yue Songli's assistance early on in tracking down the thief using Dakarai's keen bestial sense. The hyena might have become smaller, but the innate strength and presence rivaling a Mystic Overlord were difficult to conceal before their gaze.
"..."
Those who were seeking Wei Wuyin's favor went silent with thought.
It was clear that Sage Shattered Sphinx had done extensive research into Wei Wuyin's past actions and visits. Fortunately, most of them knew that Wei Wuyin was taking Yue Songli, that outrageously beautiful woman across the galaxy to 'sightsee' while traveling toward his final destination. Yue Songli and Cao Cuifen weren't too concealed about that fact. Actually, the former was proud and couldn't help but tell quite a few people about some of the things she experienced as part of her two-year date, and Cao Cuifen might not have a two-year date, but she wasn't shy when highlighting what Wei Wuyin could do that others couldn't. Of course, she never exposed any secrets or potential secrets.
"I have,"
Wei Wuyin's intrigued curiosity could be heard in his tone. He couldn't help but grow interested regarding Sage Shattered Sphinx and Sage Pakhet's intent with this line of questioning and statements.
"If you don't mind me asking: During your stay at both locations, those galaxies experienced great changes on a societal scale in an extremely short period, correct?"
Sage Shattered Sphinx flatly asked, causing Wei Wuyin to raise his eyebrows.
It couldn't be…right?
He didn't hide his actions then,
"After visiting them, the leaders of those galaxies decided to become Vassal States of my Neo-Dawn Empire and exist under my imperial banner."
After saying this, a few short gasps resounded. He paused for a bit but then asked with a slight frown and a glint of his Alchemic Stars:
"This was their willing choice. I did not force them into doing so with any coercion."
Sage Shattered Sphinx shifted his head and exchanged a gaze with Sage Pakhet and Sage Amunet!
The tension and mystery in the hall intensified!