Chapter 1680: No-Name (10)
The rules of the wager were established.
Upon a loss, the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor, the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint, the foreigner from the Neo-Dawn Empire—Wei Wuyin, will sustain the No-Name Galaxy through this period of tragic desolation and deprivation. This will last a total of five thousand years and will only cover the bare minimum in terms of maintaining baseline functionality of formations, arrays, and needs.
In terms of defensive strength against enemies or environmental dangers, no organization would see a decrease in effectiveness, thereby saving countless lives and reducing the escalating likelihood of war-like conflict against weaker forces unable to maintain their glorious formations and arrays.
Meanwhile, Essence Pills of varying grades and ranks, the easiest of products, would be widely distributed to negate the eventual decline of cultivation base in the long term. This was a feat only an established Alchemist could accomplish.
Furthermore, each organization present, depending on their strongest cultivator, will receive suitable products in quant.i.ties of ten within a century. Due to a few things, including the unrealistic possibility of completing an order of tens of thousands of Mystic-World alchemical products, only forces with Original Magistrates, Mystic Overlords, and Sages as leaders would receive Mystic-World graded products while Rune Kings and World Emperors would receive, at minimum, high-tier Mystic-Earth graded products. This would only last for the first thousand years.
This was far more manageable and reasonably achieved, and after clarifying the situation, countless leaders of the No-Name Galaxy breathed out breaths of relief.
The consequences of a loss were extraordinarily high if one looked at it plainly. However, no one thought it was excessive because this was the Neo-Dawn Ascendant Emperor"s way of avoiding Sage Hathor and the others" play of isolating his influence. With this play, there would be considerably more opportunities to spread his influence among the lesser forces and build a dependence, good reputation, and foothold as a non-foreigner in the future.
After five thousand years, the No-Name Galaxy"s dynamic might be greatly changed by his actions, and perhaps…just perhaps, there might be a chance to establish a territory of the Neo-Dawn Empire within the No-Name Galaxy. It was a fascinatingly novel move.
That said, the consequences of the No-Name Galaxy"s loss, but considering the rules, that was utterly impossible, was the immediate surrender of all owned and established territory to the Neo-Dawn Empire, including the agreement of five thousand years of servitude, toiling for the Neo-Dawn Empire. This extended to every last leader present, which would account for over ninety percent of the No-Name Galaxy.
To put it simply, the No-Name Galaxy would become Wei Wuyin"s Va.s.sal State on a galactic scale within a single instance. To uphold both sides of the wager, especially and most importantly Wei Wuyin"s half, the Sages and other leaders urged the most restrictive oath: Heaven-Bound Mythical Oaths.
Young Master Shang had once mentioned a string of contingencies established to prevent numerous things when he had a.s.sumed Wei Wuyin"s best move would be to slaughter him to keep the Shard of Heaven a secret. Back then, Wei Wuyin knew that there were ways Resonant Soul Realm experts, these Supreme Sages, used to enforce greater oaths that weren"t so easily dissolved.
According to the Sages and Mystic Overlords present, the Heaven-Bound Mythical Oaths were Mythical Paths that used a Heavenly Treasure as a medium, and this greatly strengthened the oaths, drawing strength from the Three Thousand Realms of Heaven"s Laws and obtaining a type of protection that was nigh-inviolable!
The cultivation of those at the Resonant Soul Realm involved Laws, while those on the path of the Mystic Dao could easily reach the peak without ever grasping a single authority of law, only making it significantly easier to progress across stages. For example, Tian Taizong was regarded as being destined for the Heavenly Saint Phase after displaying the depths of his cultivation of Laws! But this was a sign of being an abnormal genius, not the norm.
But traversing further down the path of the Resonant Soul Realm needed Laws—there was no exception to that rule. After all, the Resonant Soul Realm cultivated resonance of the soul and the heavens!
Using a Heavenly Treasure as a medium established a limit where, only by surpa.s.sing or resisting the terrifying might of that specific Law"s domain, can one survive shattering an oath, and not even Supreme Sages would easily resist such devastating consequences.
For those who were Mystic Overlords, Sages, or Enlightened Sages, it was no different than certain death upon breaking the oath!
Wei Wuyin showed a hint of hesitation upon seeing the Heavenly Treasure before the crowd, and this only caused a few of them to sigh. It only made sense to second-guess this decision!
After all, the wager was for eight versus eight!
On the Neo-Dawn Empire"s side, only Earthly Saints or lower could partic.i.p.ate!
On the No-Name Galaxy"s side, even Sages could partic.i.p.ate!
Additionally, all external methods such as talismans, pellets, Supreme Heavenly Treasures, and Mystic-Heaven graded Armaments were forbidden! Only basic Heavenly Treasures were allowed!
Wei Wuyin was dodging their restrictive plot and making the best decision by deciding to suffer an immense loss for a great reputation and relations.h.i.+p with the entirety of the No-Name Galaxy in the future! In a thousand years, the Neo-Dawn Empire would certainly be a highly respected ent.i.ty within the No-Name Galaxy, and in five thousand years, it wouldn"t be too late to establish a few va.s.sals within this disunited galaxy!
Who knows…perhaps in twenty thousand years, the No-Name Galaxy could have a Neo-Dawn Galactic Zone rather than a Prosperous Union Galactic Zone under Sage Hathor"s control! The potential prospect of that outcome was alive!
At the moment, every leader had already extended their Spiritual Sense to touch a Heavenly Treasure linked to Heaven"s Law Realm of Light. It was a golden scepter that looked like a double-sided gavel with an oval loop as the head. Beneath the gavel were four horizontal rectangles. It exuded an ancient aura that possessed a unique divine presence. It was the scepter used for oaths by those at the Original Magistrate or higher, a ceremonial device as if it represented the mythical arbiter itself in their culture.
It was called the Rod of Absolution.
"..." Cao Cuifen watched as Wei Wuyin openly showed a hesitating expression, observing the Rod of Absolution with a flickering gaze.
"Can the Neo-Dawn Empire satisfy the conditions of a loss?" Sage Khonshu transmitted to Cao Cuifen curiously. Wei Wuyin was certainly wealthy and capable, but the losses the Neo-Dawn Empire would suffer would be significantly impactful to its future. While it"s not directly supporting an entire galaxy, only maintaining the bare minimum and delivering alchemical products, it was still a heavy load to agree to.
As for why Wei Wuyin doesn"t just agree to this without a wager or oath, who would believe such a thing? Moreover, with Sage Hathor and the others" attempt to kill his influence before it could be seeded in the galaxy, this was the only way they would trust someone who, by his own admission, transformed two galaxies into va.s.sal states.
None of them wanted to be the third.
This was a great gesture!
Cao Cuifen pouted with dissatisfaction, "My husband could support this entire galaxy if he wanted without suffering any loss."
"Haha! Of course, he could!" Sage Khonshu smiled fakely. The only way for that to be true was if Wei Wuyin had enough resources to rival almost a fifth of their original reserves and was willing to give that out freely!
Unbeknownst to Sage Khonshu, Wei Wuyin had 100% of their original reserves of resources!
"Do you want to change the conditions?" Sage Shattered Sphinx suggested after seeing Wei Wuyin hesitate for longer than five seconds. At that point, Wei Wuyin"s expression eased and he revealed a calm smile.
"No need," Wei Wuyin replied. "This Rod of Absolution would be a great present for Wen Mingna. There"s traces of fate aura present, and could serve as a remarkable tool to a.s.sist divinations." As Wei Wuyin was already thinking of delivering this rod to Wen Mingna, he touched the Rod of Absolution with his palm.
The Spiritual Senses and Spiritual Strength of all the leaders of the No-Name Galaxy were placed upon the Rod of Absolution, and they were all aware of the exact oath that needed to be sworn.
"I, Hathor…"
"I, Pakhet…"
"I, Nepit…"
"I, Khonshu…"
"I, Imentet…"
"I, Khepri…"
"I, Shattered Sphinx…"
"I, Amunet…"
"I, Wei Wuyin…."
Every last leader of the No-Name Galaxy swore the oath. This was an unprecedented development, but every last one of them wanted to be considered when receiving ten Mystic-Earth or Mystic-World alchemical products every century! Who would dare not do so?!
And it was essentially for free!
They were receiving an unexpected boon after their most devastating tragedy in history, and many were extremely thankful to Wei Wuyin for his immense generosity!
The Rod of Absolution erupted in a resplendent radiance of richly golden light! It inundated the entire Main Hall and leaked out into the entire Land of Manu! The Heaven-Bound Mythical Oath was a variant oath that was notoriously difficult to break, and even shattering the Rod of Absolution would have no effect!
Only by destroying Heaven"s Realm of Light Law was it possible to cause the oath to collapse and dissolve! While there were other ways, such as using an opposing authority of law or Mystic-Heaven graded alchemical, oaths dissolution products, those things were either lethal in attempt or incredibly difficult to acquire, even for Supreme Sages!
They all felt the oath seed form within them.
The oath was COMPLETED!
According to the agreement, the battle would take place twenty-four hours after the oath was established, and all conflicts between parties were impossible until the completion of the challenge. The battle would conclude when all parties on either side are defeated into a state of incapacitation, which could be unconsciousness or death, or willingly surrender. The last party standing will be declared as a winner. If any party is reluctant to partic.i.p.ate, they would automatically lose.
The Sages had already chosen their partic.i.p.ants— themselves!
While Wei Wuyin had chosen his eight!
Wei Wuyin looked at the Sages, a slight grin on his face. "I have a few recovery products at the Mystic-World grade and temporal acceleration zones. Does anyone need time to recover to full strength?"
"...What?"