Chapter 1262 The Academies

"Did Emperor Kong say anything about the celebration?" w.a.n.g Wei asked.

"Anything specific?" Xu s.h.i.+ asked.

"Anything about how weird this event is."

"Hmm, the master did start acting weird after arriving in this place," Lin Fan added.

"As soon as he arrived, he told us he wanted to check something and left. He didn't tell us anything else," Xu s.h.i.+ nodded.

'So, Kong is not part of this event,' w.a.n.g Wei thought. However, with the latter's friends.h.i.+p with Xun Junyao, he might be able to get more information.

"Do you want to see our master?" Xu s.h.i.+ asked.

"That would be best," w.a.n.g Wei nodded.

"We will pa.s.s your request to him," Xu s.h.i.+ said. The three then chatted about many other things, mainly their experience since ascending. The food was delicious, but w.a.n.g Wei was disappointed after imagining the food his future wife talked about. Once everything finished, they separated.

w.a.n.g Wei returned to his inn and started protecting his Time Mark. He realized it was hard to improvise substantially in such a short period, so he thought of another method inspired by his meeting with Old Man Tianji.

He used the Time Mark of a bunch of mortals and people weaker than him to hide his mark. He summoned a projection of the River of Fate to control the mortals. As for the cultivators and people weaker than him, w.a.n.g Wei mainly used the people from his Fate Changing Hall. With this method, a Paragon would have to skim through trillions of other people's Time Marks before having a chance at finding his.

Emperor Enlightening Academy's Resting Post:

Xu s.h.i.+ and Lin Fan returned home. After today's meeting, they had a lot on their minds, so they remained quiet for more than an hour after returning home.

"Do you think we should tell the master what we've learned?" Lin Fan asked.

"It's probably best if we do so. We won't be able to hide it for long anyway."

"True."

They waited for a few hours until Emperor Kong returned home. He was apparently distracted, his mind still occupied by whatever meeting he had just attended. However, as soon as Kong saw his disciples, he could tell they wanted to speak to him.

"Did something happen?"

"Well, yes," Xu s.h.i.+ said. She took a moment and explained everything that occurred with the meeting with w.a.n.g Wei.

"The Grand Sect Alliance again it seems they are destined to be our enemy," Emperor Kong sighed. The most prominent Academy of the Eternal Ascension World is the Benevolent Oath Academy, and they are the top member of the alliance, taking a spot amongst the Five Primal Paragons.

However, that academy suffered tremendously in this era as the parasites eradicated or shut down all their branches because they did not want them to continue training more cultivators and because the academy had such an enormous influence due to how many cultivators owed them karmic debt.

Then, Emperor Kong came along and convinced the parasites to re-open the academies to serve them under his leaders.h.i.+p. Since then, the Benevolent Oath Academy has sent people to secretly contact him, both in an attempt to recruit and intimidate him.

After experiencing a few plots and schemes, Emperor Kong has long predicted that the alliance might be the destined enemy in his rise to the top of the Eternal Ascension World.

"The Yin Moon Palace," Emperor Kong muttered. "I never thought they would become such an important piece." He still could not understand how this book involved the Transcendent Path. Then, he remembered something:

'The Heart Desire Palace?' Kong had collected the ruins and records of many top lineages to make up for his Academy's foundation, so he knew many secrets.

'It would explain why so many factions feared them,' Emperor Kong thought. 'Everything makes sense if these two factions had Half-Step Transcendence cultivators before the Ultimate Taboo.' Now that he had figured out the ins and outs, Emperor Kong thought about how to use this information. Sadly, as of now, their academy is too weak to get involved in anything a.s.sociated with transcendence.

"Master, what should we do now?" Lin Fan asked.

"We must take this opportunity that the Grand Sect Alliance's Paragons and Primals are dead to secretly weaken them as much as possible," Emperor Kong stated. "We can probably work with w.a.n.g Wei," Xu s.h.i.+ shared. "With his personality, he won't accept the Dao Opening Sect not being the best. In fact, he's probably already planning on how to weaken the Grand Sect Alliance."

"That's a good idea," Emperor Kong nodded. "However. If what you say about him is true, we should watch out so that he doesn't sacrifice us when things are over."

"True," Xu s.h.i.+ nodded. "By the way, he also wants to meet you."

"It's about time we meet officially," Emperor Kong nodded. "However, let's wait until the celebration ends." Xun Junyao refused to tell him anything concrete, but with w.a.n.g Wei's presence and his destiny, he guessed something significant was about to happen. As such, he decided to wait and observe first before meeting w.a.n.g Wei.

"Master, did something happen on your side?" Lin Fan asked.

Emperor Kong's eyes suddenly lit up. "I just received some important news from Xun Junyao that benefits our current situation. I was previously hesitating given the risks involved, but now, I know this may be our only chance."

"Oh?"

"It's about something called the Mortalhood Trial," Emperor Kong stated before explaining everything.

"That is indeed great news," Lin Fan said. He did not know when Su Ya would ascend, but the higher their cultivation by the time she did, the better the situation for him.

"Do you want me to ask w.a.n.g Wei to convince the Dao Opening Sect?" Xu s.h.i.+ asked.

"No need for that for now," Emperor Kong replied. "Xun Junyao told me she would meet with the Dao Opening Sect's current sect leader and ask him personally. If that doesn't work, we'll use the w.a.n.g Wei approach."

"Good," she nodded.

"One more thing. You guys need to leave immediately," Emperor Kong said.

"Huh, why?"

"I can't get any information about the situation, but I know for sure it will be dangerous," Emperor Kong said.

"So, it's because we're too weak,' Xu s.h.i.+ said, saying what he did not want to say.

"You guys are young and full of potential, meaning you have plenty of room to grow," Emperor Kong rea.s.sured them.

Lin Fan sighed. "It's a shame."

"What? Upset that you won't get to see the most beautiful woman in the world," Xu s.h.i.+ sneered.

"Aren't you curious?" Lin Fan asked. "The way some people describe her beauty is even more extreme than those fanatic believers who give everything including their life and soul to their G.o.ds."

The craziest people Lin Fan had met were fanatic believers. He once took a task from the rebellion to recruit this 'G.o.d" who walked the faith path, and his fanatic believers were something else. However, the descriptions of people regarding Xun Junyao's beauty are even more extreme.

Lin Fan once heard a rumor that an Everlasting Empyrean went mad because he tried to paint Xun Junyao but failed to capture the essence of her beauty. He thought this was a rumor, but his master confirmed this news.

"Master, is she truly that beautiful?" Lin Fan asked. Xu s.h.i.+ looked at her master, also intrigued. Although she once held the t.i.tle of the most beautiful woman in the world, there were few individuals who could compete with her in the entire lower dimension. And in the Eternal Ascension World, her beauty might be in the top 10, maybe even top 20.

"Hmm, how do I explain it," Emperor Kong uttered. "You know the saying: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder?"

They nodded.

"Well, she's the embodiment of that."

Xu s.h.i.+ and Lin Fan were confused as this was not what they expected him to say. On the contrary, they thought he would say something like her beauty transcends preference, ethnicity, and even race. So, they looked at him with an expression that said: what does that even mean?

"You'll have plenty of opportunities to meet her and understand what I'm saying," Emperor said, refusing to elaborate more. "Now, prepare to leave. I don't want you to be drawn into this chaos accidentally."

The two had to prepare for their departure. Xu s.h.i.+ facilitated the upcoming meeting with w.a.n.g Wei before leaving the Ubiquitous Hotspring World. Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Wei spent the rest of the time working on his Time Mark.

The Heavenly Beauty Palace descended on the central area a week after his arrival. Three days later, the celebration started, causing a small commotion. On that day, it became apparent that three kinds of people were attending: VIPs, common invitations, and no-invitation.

The VIPs were in a separate room above the celebration area. They were the first to arrive, and most did so quietly without exposure to the public. Xiao Tiandi was kind enough to give w.a.n.g Wei a VIP invitation.