Patrick was left alone on the stage as he watched Asura dissipate into the atmosphere, he and everyone in the coliseum hearing the resentful bellowing words, over half the crowd already knocked out from the mere domineering presence, the strong powerhouses and some rogue cultivators remaining standing while some knelt, attention on the boy from the Emperor and his guardians floating in the void down to the least powerful servant of the families. Kang Mu and the other participants had already passed out when Lou Yan rose to Saint, even the competition referee holding with all his might not to join them, a sect-selection afternoon that had forgotten what a sect was.
Patrick looked up and saw the powerful families and sect representatives gazing at him with fear and despair like a monster, saw the unconscious Lou Yan in her mother's arms, walked calmly toward the stands, Lou Yan's unconscious body disappearing and appearing suspended in front of him, and Lou Min and the others on the stands were not shocked anymore by the impossible methods of this being, especially after he had slapped the spirit of a literal god to nothingness. She did not retaliate when Lou Yan disappeared from her arms, even if she tried she would not get a hundred meters close if he wanted to kill the girl, thinking he must also be someone from the Immortal Realm, original cultivation at least Saint and above, a mother's Eyes still blind and a mother's arms still empty.
Lou Yan woke the next instant Patrick willed it, saw him standing in front of her with a bored expression, noticed the disappearance of her summoned spirit, a foreboding sensation, about to say something when he interrupted.
"Now that my experiment is complete, I would be taking my pill back."
The next instant she felt the energy she had acquired after becoming Saint begin gathering from her meridians and veins, the dominating and authoritative essence leaving her body and will.
"What...is....happ...en...ing..?"
Her voice was breaking as her suspended body began emitting essence, the energy leaving the way it entered, through her mouth and eyes, everyone seeing it, even the guardians in the void holding panicked and trembling faces, because what he was doing was something that had never been thought of, let alone happened or recorded. Even the heavens of the cultivation world could not achieve such impossible feats, they could kill, punish, seal, and reincarnate organisms, but they could not reverse the already achieved state of a cultivator, and it was not just any realm but Saint, the legendary height these people looked up to, a ladder being unscrewed while the climber was still on it.
"Ju Shu, I think we should pay our greetings to this being before he perceives our spectating as annoying."
The elderly guardian spoke as he hurriedly flashed toward the coliseum, followed by the second, Ju Shu, thinking that if this unknown being misunderstood their intent it could lead to the destruction of the Ju Empire or the Eastern Continent, or worse the Broken World, the only plausible action to prevent such a disaster being to greet him and clear any misunderstandings, two almost-immortals running like late guests.
An unknown force sucked the energy from Lou Yan's body as it returned to its original state as a pill, the pill Patrick had created floating above her mouth, dissipating into the atmosphere, becoming normal qi moments after, her body emptied of the Saint energy and essence she once had, about to faint when he returned her consciousness.
"Grace, analysis."
"Master, according to my analysis, due to the invasion of the Demons ten thousand years ago, this planet and many more have experienced the exact situations, there is a 15% diluted demonic qi which devourers 0.000001% of the heavenly qi in these invaded planets every day. If not for this demonic qi, the wisp of pure heavenly qi you used to create the pill should have been able to bring the experimented subject to five stages beyond the Saint realm, and the only reason the subject was able to reach Saint was because of your presence, with how polluted the heavenly qi in this lower realm is, it will be impossible to reach Saint even if one cultivates for a hundred thousand years."
He watched the floating Lou Yan looking at him with horror while Grace answered, the plan having been to win the competition and experiment on the invasion level the demons had achieved, he could easily erase everything he wanted but he enjoyed his adventure with as minimal effort as possible, a god doing science with a girl's afternoon.
"The demons are using this demonic qi from the cracked voids to contaminate the pure energy of these planets slowly, and when they invade they would be able to use that demonic energy to supplement themselves, therefore eventually conquering these planets as they have stronger physiques than humans, that's quite a plan."
"Affirmative."
"I hope they entertain me when the time comes."
Lou Yan was still looking at him with a horrific gaze, not even struggling, body straightened, wondering just who this being was that could make all these unknown impossibilities happen, a Saint of one minute becoming a girl again.
"You have served your purpose, I will still let the heavens not bother you until you reach the Saint realm and have lived for a thousand years in the lower realm before you ascend."
Dull expression, letting her body stand on the stage, seeing the remaining conscious cultivators looking at him with horror and despair, the sect representatives never expecting a simple sect selection would turn into an introduction of the most bizarre unknown being they would ever encounter in their lifetimes. Ju Han, who always had an arrogant demeanor, now looked like a servant afraid to meet his master's gaze, ugly expression, still holding hopes, if the guardians had not made their entrance yet then this person was not deemed a threat to them, about to raise his head when he and the powerhouses felt powerful qis coming at fast speeds from the void.
Patrick did not bother to look at the torn space above the coliseum, already knowing the guardians' reason for coming, standing in front of Lou Yan when they made their entrance, Lou Yan watching him with a fearful gaze as she saw them appear on the stage.
"Greetings, young ancestor god, it is an honor to be graced with your presence on the mortal realms."
The elderly guardian was first, going on his knees and kowtowing toward Patrick, not daring to call him Alex, the name for the competition, thinking a being like this could have given any random name because powerful beings do not care about names and reputation. The elder guardian's name was Ju Fan, ten thousand years ago a young prince who had witnessed the war between humans and demons, he and his younger brother Ju Shu the only people remaining as witnesses from that battle, since then he had ruled during his era and cultivated to the Full Immortal realm while Ju Shu was at the peak Half Immortal, and they knew how powerful Saint cultivators were, especially Lou Saints who possessed the Heavenly Eyes and its devastating stages, the humans would have had a chance to win if millions of demons had not cornered the Lou family ancestor, Grandmaster Lou dying when the connection to Asura was severed, a story the younger brother had already told in the void.
Everyone saw the two guardians prostrating on the stage in front of this person named Alex, the sect representatives shocked, especially Ju Han above them, his last hope now gone, the possibility of acting arrogant because of the guardians vanished, clenching his fist as anger and resentment rose in him with a tinge of despair and helplessness, a throne with one handle left learning it did not own the afternoon.
Jiang Shi on the stands slightly raised an eyebrow, calculating and analyzing all the events, his wisdom the reason Heavenly Rain had sent him, although he reacted like the others his reactions were not to magnify Patrick's strength and the battle, he focused on the skills and techniques Patrick and Lou Yan had used as he analyzed everything, a Sage doing homework while a god took a pill back. Another group that was also calculating was the families, the Kang, Dong, and Li patriarchs hesitant to bow like the others, although they had seen Patrick's strength they still had pride in their family names, and besides it was better to die a warrior than die a coward, their sense of pride justifiable because they had not witnessed the true power of an actual Saint like the guardians, so they could not comprehend the reality of the situation, to them all they had witnessed may be an exaggeration. According to their historical records, once one became a true Immortal, let alone a Saint, they would face a devastating heavenly tribulation from the heavens before they ascended into the higher realms, but when Lou Yan's power rose to Saint, a level above Immortal, they did not see any tribulation or divine punishment, which may conclude that the pill Alex gave her must have been a temporary cultivation boosting pill found in every alchemy institution in the eastern continent, plus the reversion of the pill from an essence state also defied all cultivational concepts and reasonings.
The Kang family patriarch, Kang Mo, was also extremely smart, having used cultivational reasonings and concepts to counter the feats Patrick performed, they might seem powerful and otherworldly, but for all he knew they might be a powerful illusion technique that could even affect them, and with this theory in mind Kang Mo and the other two families did not act and even calmed down from the anxiety they felt before, Dong Chi still owning a living son in this restored afternoon, Li pride still stone. Jiang Shi was not worried because his sect was working with the Sacred Families and the demons to rule the Broken World themselves, so even seeing a Saint would not faze him, a collaborator's calm looking like wisdom.
Patrick turned and faced the kowtowed guardians, noticed the calm faces of the families except for the Lou, another calm group Jiang Shi and the elderly representatives from the other sects who stood still, some stroking their beards, analyzing, talking, planning their future moves, Sunblaze grey beard still counting recruitment that would not come.
"Now I understand, humans cannot endure their beliefs and ideals being shattered, they don't want to face the reality of their beliefs being inferior to anything, so they create a secularized notion and deflect all other concepts that defy their notion, sigh."
He spoke and sighed calmly toward the kowtowed guardians, his words not loud, but all strong cultivators have super hearing, so hearing them was not hard, actualizing the general centralized thinking of humans, if one tells a religious person that the god or being they have been worshipping since they were kids was nothing but a lie or that there is a god greater than theirs, that person will deny all the presented facts and still hold to his beliefs of his god being the absolute best, and this concept was what the cultivators were implying now, since they could not comprehend the impossibility of things they neglected all presented actualities, a stadium full of people who had watched a slap and chosen a story they could sleep with.
"There is no need for unnecessary ceremonies."
An invisible force raised the two older men from the ground, Ju Shu and Ju Fan standing, looking at this being they were so scared of, and to their surprise this person's appearance resembled a teenager's compared to them, the mean ferocious-looking expression they expected not there, instead a dull expression as if nothing excited him, silver hair, golden pupils, a child-shaped hole in a continent.
"Young ancestor go—"
"Stop calling me that, call me Alex, such exaggerated names and titles sound shady to me."
Before they were about to speak he interrupted, the cultivation world mostly respecting famous people by their titles, Alchemy King, Blacksmith Immortal and so on, and though deserving of an exaggerated title he still found it shady and unnecessary, a god allergic to nameplates.
"As Young Master Alex pleases, please grant us the pleasure of hosting you to our great empire."
Ju Fan inviting him as a guest of the Ju Empire, Patrick looking at him for a second, nodding, agreeing, he had come for adventure, he might as well enjoy it to his fullest.
"Very well, if Young Master Alex would kindly follow me."
Ju Fan flew toward the Imperial Tower, Patrick behind him, turning toward Athena and Anna and Anastasia as the ladies nodded and rose from their seats, making everything disappear as they flashed next to him, sofas and wine and sunglasses folding into nothing, Lou Yan standing on bricks that remembered a Saint, Lou Min's arms remembering a daughter, Ju Han's remaining handle remembering it had wanted a disciple.
Patrick and his wives followed Ju Fan as he heard something that made him smile, a sound he had been expecting all this while from Grace, Transcendence doing what passive things do when a god is bored enough to be polite.
[Due to Passive skill, Eternal/Absolute/Selective Transcendence, the master and the system, Patrick Alexander King and Grace, will be upgraded.]