Dao Opening Sect, Tribulation Mountain:
One of the Elders of the Sect was standing on the mountain holding a golden light in his hand. He could feel many eyes watching his actions, but he paid them no mind. After taking a deep breath, he absorbed the golden merit.
Following this, a powerful aura emanated from his body, the aura of a Saint. More importantly, his aura kept increasing in strength and intensity. Luckily, the formation in the mountains prevented the pressure released from his aura from affecting the other disciples of the sect.
Soon afterward, the Laws of Heaven and Earth in a few hundred diameters of this Saint Realm True Person came into his control: to be precise, it was the Law of Fire. In this small space, he was the absolute ruler when it comes to how fire behaves between Heaven and Earth: this was his Domain.
After his domain showed up, it started a strange transformation; it was slowly transforming into a shape. It was taking physical form. This was in fact the Dharma Body of a Supreme Realm powerhouse.
As the Dharma Body slowly formed, countless understand of the Laws started to enter his mind as he entered a state of enlightenment. As time passed by, the Dharma Body was slowly formed--except for the face.
The reason being that this Elder has to pass a certain test before the face can be completely formed. And this test involves his own Dao.
Soon afterward, the face of the Dharma Body was shown, and it was not the face of the Elder, but Emperor Qiyuan's face. Meaning, this Elder cultivated the [Origin Path Scripture].
After seeing this, the Elder sighed in disappointment. Although he knew that this was most likely the outcome, he still hoped that the Golden Merit would help.
In the Supreme Realm, there are three echelons or tiers: first, the people rely on their cultivation techniques to break through. These people are usually at the bottom of the barrel as they only follow the path of the ancestor and their futures are bleak.
The second tiers are the people who have a slight understanding of their own Dao or Path. This Tier can slightly modify their cultivation techniques to fit them the best. This tier is considered the mainstream of the Myriad Emperor World as most talented individuals are in that category.
Nevertheless, the Dharma Bodies of both these tiers are the people who created the techniques that they cultivate.
As for the last tier, it is for the geniuses who have their own Dao, their own path, and pursuit. All the people in that Tier create their own cultivation techniques perfectly suited for them before entering the Supreme Realm. Hence, their Dharma Bodies are always their own face and body.
Additionally, this Tier is the only one who can actually bear the Heaven Will and proved the Dao. Without having your own Dao, even the Heaven Will was granted to a cultivator, he could not do anything with it. Furthermore, even if the people of this tier do not manage to prove the Dao, some of the truly talented ones can enter a cultivator realm called Quasi-Emperor.
As the name implied, these True Monarchs have some qualities of a Great Emperor, thus making them extremely powerful, and their lifespan dramatically increase. Of course, in the end, they are still mortals and will eventually die.
Back to the Tribulation Peak:
After Emperor Qiyuan's face manifested, the aura surrounded the Elder changed from a Saint one to a Supreme one. Finally, a cloud appeared in the sky as Heavenly Tribulation finally showed up. However, before it could descent, a golden light came from the Elder's body and the clouds in the sky were dispersed.
This was the power of Golden Merit. With the right amount, it can not only turn a Saint into a Supreme, but even Heavenly Tribulation will not be a problem.
Following this, the Dharma Body entered the Elder's body and his body started transforming. During the process, countless visions appeared around the Domains of the Dao Opening Sect.
There were golden lotuses in the sky, followed by heavenly music. Heavenly maidens were dancing, and Saints were preaching in harmony. Many people quickly noticed the changes happening there and started to secretly observe.
The visions lasted for a few hours until the Elder, no, the new Supreme Elder woke up from his transformation. He sighed with a very hidden melancholy.
He waved his hand, and the Laws of Fire manifested in front of him. Although the power was more powerful than before, he could tell that it was different: it has the power of Origin in it.
The new Supreme Elder knew that the reason for that was because he entered the first Tier of Supreme Realm. Hence, affected by the [Origin Path Scripture], his Laws were fundamentally changed.
One would think that since the Dao of Origin is more powerful than the Five Elements he previously cultivated, shouldn't he be happy for such a change? The answer is no. Since the Dao does not belong to him, of course, he could not control even one-tenth of its true power.
The new Supreme Elder did not stay depressed for long as he already knew that this was the best outcome for him. His talent was very low, and it was due to a fortunate encounter that he managed to enter the Saint-Realm in the first place.
And the only reason that he could enter the Supreme Realm was that the sect wanted to do a dangerous experiment, so he volunteered without hesitation. So, it did not matter that he was the lowest tier of Supreme Realm, as long as he was one.
Tianwei Peak, all the Great Elders, and Elders who held positions of power in the sect watched the breakthrough through a formation.
"Using merit can indeed allow us to forcefully break through the Supreme Realm even though the Path of Supreme is technically still cut off."
"However, the person receives no merits for being the first to so."
"After all, he did not do it on his own, of course, Heavenly Dao will not reward him."
"None of that matters," said Great Elder Yan Mei. "What truly matters is whether this method can forcefully open the Path of Supreme, and allow us to break through with our own abilities."
After hearing this, all these Saints started to calculate the secrets of Heaven. Unfortunately, the answer that they received was negative: it was still not possible for any of them to become True Monarchs--unless they used Merit.
"So, our plan failed?"
"Not necessarily," suddenly said Sect Master Wang Tian. "I just received news that from my father that although the Path of Supreme is still cut off, the time for it to open has dramatically decreased."
"In order words, as long as the number of people who forcefully become True Monarchs increase, the faster that True Path of Supreme can be open?" asked Yan Mei.
"That's correct."
"In that case, all we have to do is wait. Seeing that we made the first move, the other Emperor Lineages should hurry to follow!"
"That's true," replied Wang Tian. "However beforehand, let's decide who among us want to use Merit to make their breakthrough."
However, no one in that room wanted to do so. As the upper echelons of the Dao Opening Sect, all of them are the cream on top when it comes to talent. As such, none of them believed for a moment that they will need help to become Supremes.
Using merit is a short-cut method, and people who used this method have very weak foundations. So, it is never okay to use Merit directly breakthrough any cultivation realm. The best use of it is to assist cultivators in enlightening in the Dao.
Seeing that no one actually wanted to use the easy way out, Wang Tian secretly nodded in satisfaction, then he said: "In that case, after I distribute the merit, you guys can save it for when the True Path of Supreme is open. As for the rest, other Saints can use contribution points to redeem and make their breakthrough."
Soon after this meeting ended, the world dramatically changed.
Many Emperor Lineages with enough Merit started having Saints breaking through the Supreme Realms. As for the ones that did not have enough merit, they either banded together through alliance, fought one another, or focused their attention on the schools and educating mortals to gather more merits.
So, in the next few months, many visions could be seen all over the sky in the Myriad Emperor World. Things only returned to calm after everybody remembered the Heaven Chosen Selection Trial, thus placed their gazes towards the Emperor Enlightening Academy.
Finally, the Academy--which was trying to remain low-key--finally had to address the situation and give a proper explanation to all the participants and the sects behind them.
Thus, like the grand opening of the Tournament, a live broadcast took place.