Paragon of Sin

Chen Shanghe's memories were an eye-opener for Wei Wuyin. The information about Trueborn wasn't too exclusively known, with a few Destined having some understanding of their existence, taught by their seniors during their training to face the Three Voyages, but it was a first-hand account of their mission, strength, and terrifying modus operandi. 

They religiously sought a single thing: the destruction of the Sealing Array. 

According to Chen Shanghe's seniors at the City of Endless, this would cause cataclysmic devastation. An untold, unimaginable level of destruction, death, and chaos on a scale that was hellish to begin to describe. The Sealing Array, according to what was taught, was the paramount aegis of the cultivation world against a gruesome beast desiring the end of all life as we know it.

The Celestial Entity that was sealed eighty thousand years ago was described as bloodthirsty, having slaughtered quintillions in number, consumed countless celestial bodies, and fought against the true experts of the world to a standstill. There were faint images inside his mind of its shadowy figure roaming the world and committing endless evil. 

Even Wei Wuyin felt deeply shaken by Chen Shanghe's strong sense of fear and despair from these memories. However, unlike Chen Shanghe, Wei Wuyin's breadth of mind was far wider, his knowledge was greater, and his willpower was forged facing the Calamities of Hell, and he found a few inconsistencies. 

In those shown tragedies, the Ascended Sovereigns made a heroic effort to fight against this shadowy figure that was as gargantuan as a planet, and the fight was briefly seen before Chen Shanghe's mind ceased trying to 'see' the images. His senior told him it was due to the extreme fear he felt, to preserve the sanity of his mind, but Wei Wuyin was skeptical if there was anything like that.

Firstly, the shadowy figure was far too indistinct. It could be any creature or being, the Tiangou or a dragon like Anu, Wei Wuyin couldn't tell. Neither could Chen Shanghe. And those seniors of his never delved into what it was except the same ambitious script that Liu Yinlan fed him. 

Secondly, the fear felt artificially induced. Clearly, there was a spiritual spell being used on Chen Shanghe while he viewed this recording stealthily. The sensation of fear and engulfing dread felt too strong and too quick without any given reason, and Wei Wuyin's understanding of mental fluctuations was extremely comprehensive. 

Lastly, there wasn't any clear explanation of why the Sealing Array would cause the destruction of the world. Why not go into further detail? It was suspicious. 

That said, Trueborn was a genuine threat. They launched sporadic blitzkrieg-like attacks against the nodes of the Endless Void Mirror. Moreover, they used the Sealing Array to their advantage, so they could always safely retreat into the Sealed Regions. Unless the three controllers of the Endless Void Mirror combined their strengths, they couldn't prevent them from retreating into the Sealed Regions. 

The Sealed Regions and Endless Void Mirror were specifically designed to keep others from escaping, not retreating into the Sealed Region. Only foreign Soul Auras were treated like viruses, but those who were already part of the Sealed Regions weren't restricted. Like the Firstborns, such as Higheater, they could leave as freely as they came. 

Moreover, there were times when powerful Destined followed them into the Sealed Regions, pursuing those territories, but this led to their nodes being damaged. Since then, the Destined tasked with protecting those nodes never followed after again. They did, however, create a special task force designed to pursue and slaughter those Trueborn in the Sealed Regions.

They were the widely-known Void Voyage Sect.

According to what Chen Shanghe knew, there weren't many nodes that kept the Sealing Array active. There were only eight, and three of those were inside the Endless Voyage Realm—the three cities.

As an Unyielding Destined, he had been assigned to two of the eight. These two were both inside the Sealed Region itself, concealed by conjured chaotic space, making it absurdly difficult to invade. After all, not even Earthly Saints have a grasp on chaotic space unless they've comprehended the Spatial-type Mystic Rune. Difficult didn't mean impossible, however. 

From what Chen Shanghe learned due to his amicable attitude and likable personality, there was supposed to be one more in the Sealed Regions and two outside. However, something happened about a decade ago—a node was permanently destroyed. While he didn't know much about the incident, Chen Shanghe was crushed by the gossipy theories. 

"The timing…" Wei Wuyin had muttered instantly upon learning of this and matched it perfectly with the destruction of the Everlore Starfield! This was supposedly the first time a node has been officially and permanently out of commission. Every other time of any of Trueborn's 'successful' assaults, there were just varying levels of damage that were healed.

These attacks always caused various unpredictable changes in the Endless Voyage Realm that could be seen as world catastrophes, and they claimed lives inside and outside the city. The citizens of the City of Guardian, City of Endless, and City of Voyage all knew of the terrorists of Trueborn to some degree. They despised them, severely.

The citizens even blamed them for the destroyed node. The result of it caused unimaginable damage to the Endless Voyage Realm. From Chen Shanghe's memories, many supreme experts died trying to prevent the backlash from its destruction from consuming the three cities. Additionally, the quality of the environment in the Endless Voyage Realm was reduced to a tenth.

This startled Wei Wuyin as the ambient environment was already extremely high-level. It was lessened so severely? 

That was regrettable.

That aside, Wei Wuyin had inadvertently confirmed a single thing from all this new information: the Tiangou was not the creature they feared. While it might seem like that at first glance, Tiangou was capable of accidentally destroying a node with what could be described as a body burp.

It was unimaginably powerful. If it wanted to leave, he didn't think they would be able to stop it. Of course, he could be wrong. Moreover, the Ascended Sovereigns were bound to know that the Tiangou was inside the Sealed Regions, but they did nothing to stop it from devouring Solar Stars or potentially destroying the Sealing Array.

What were they thinking? 

Which brings to the question: what did the Tiangou want and why was it here? Considering it was linked to his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity somehow, and that it was drawn over after his Soul Idol Astral Tribulation, he couldn't help but frown deeply. It seemed that Tiangou's very existence was growing increasingly mysterious. 

"Trueborn is far larger than I initially thought," Wei Wuyin was largely under the assumption that Trueborn was a clandestine organization seeking power through evil methods, and as such, he had no issues stumping them out should he find it within his ability, reaping Karmic Luck Value along the way, but it was clear that Trueborn has been an issue for the Endless Voyage Realm for tens of thousands of years. 

It wasn't so simple. 

Unfortunately, this was all Chen Shanghe knew, lacking their origins or true non-filtered purpose. If Wei Wuyin was capable of finding one of those long-lived Earthly Saints and scouring their memories, he knew countless secrets and truths would be exposed. How unfortunate that he was a mere mortal, unable to comprehend those things governed by the Mystic Dao. 

After a long silence, he sighed heavily. 

"I've declared war against an organization that wants to destroy the Sealing Array," Wei Wuyin wryly smiled. The fighting strength of such a mission was not to be understated given the power of the three cities, just the City of Endless had dozens of Earthly Saints and at least one Worldly Saint. Wei Wuyin had severely underestimated Trueborn's threat potential should their focus change towards dealing with him. 

Fortunately, he wasn't one to regret his choices, and he wouldn't let them take Yue Songli after he decided to pursue her. Even if Tiangou wanted to eat her, he would still muster fighting will. He lived by his principles, and one of those principles is to protect those he wanted to, with everything he had.

…he'll never let himself experience loss without the will to resist again.

It was okay to fail.

But it was never okay to not give one's all to protect them.

Never a coward. 

Wei Wuyin's eyes glinted with a sharp light as he steadied his thoughts. He collected those memories and sent them to the Palace of Eden. His Second Mind will scour everything a second time and spot anything relevant that he might've missed at first glance. 

"The Time Vortex…" Wei Wuyin murmured to himself as he observed the chaotic Temporal Anomaly. The Time Vortex was a pit of chaotic time flows, but it didn't affect the progression of one's soulspan. Should an expert enter it, get reverted to their youth, and lose all their cultivation, they'll essentially lose a lifetime of effort, and they will never get that time back. 

If they're frozen in time, their soul will age while they will not. They could stay there as a Demi-Mortal Lord for ten thousand years, their body never having aged a single day, but they'd die as soon as they came out. A sudden and aggrieved death.

It was in the City of Guardians alongside the Academy of Myriad Transformations and the Sacred Library, considered one of the most dangerous areas of the entire Endless Voyage Realm.

Wei Wuyin looked into the abyss of chaotic time and felt his heart throbbing fiercely. When Liu Suyin brought him here, he…

Liu Suyin…

Wei Wuyin looked in the direction of the academy and the shared-living complex, his eyes dimmed slightly. While Cao Cuifen's objective was littered with uncertainty and schemes, and he didn't have the time to care, Liu Suyin's actions represented her truest feelings. With a soft sigh, he placed Liu Suyin's matter in his heart as a strong reminder to properly handle it when he returned. 

"You?" A familiar voice resounded from behind Wei Wuyin. He knew it was the Guardian of the Time Vortex, an unfathomable Earthly Saint, and he faintly smiled. 

He leapt forward!

"...!" The Guardian exclaimed in shock. Wei Wuyin fell into the chaotic streams of time within the blank of a mortal's eye, vanishing instantly.

The Guardian shook his head. "Another fool," his tone contained a regrettable sadness. How many ended their lives in the Time Vortex? Some even believed that they could go back in time through here, returning to their younger self like a regressor of fate, believing in fabled myths and nonsensical beliefs fostered over the tens of thousands of years of its mysterious allure.

All of it was bullshit. 

He turned around, about to leave and make a report when tens of unfathomable auras descended here. His eyes contracted slightly. What…