Paragon of Sin

The original Tian Clan nearly sixty thousand years ago and the Wu Clan tens of thousands of years later were one and the same! Furthermore, they had likely defected to the Demon Sovereign over the course of those years of absence, becoming his pawn!

The words Tian Taizong had spoken of before about being a pawn on a game board played by unimaginably powerful existences rang throughout his mind as the connections began to form and intertwine. Wu Yu still had many questions left, such as the most important and critical: Why?

"You now know the truth." Tian Taizong said as he kept each Myriad Monarch Canon except one-the copy that belonged to Wu Yu. He waved his hand gently, sending it back to Wu Yu through the air.

Wu Yu thoughtlessly grabbed the Myriad Monarch Canon, his thoughts flushed with all manner of complex emotions. Fortunately, Wu Yu had been exposed to Wei Wuyin, so his horizons had been tempered and his experiences far greater than the typical Sealed Region native. While this knowledge could subvert someone's worldview, even cause them to experience an existential crisis of self and purpose, Wu Yu had a strong sense of self and purpose that couldn't be shaken.

He was the Grand Knight of Neo-Dawn! The Alchemic Knight of Wei Wuyin, the Ascendant Emperor!!

Oddly enough, he felt no feelings of pressure or erupting crisis regarding this truth, simply an urge to grow. As for the board? Ha! Wei Wuyin was certainly no one's pawn. He learned that from watching him all these decades. The Nine-Jiao Demon Sovereign? If his guesses were true, then Wei Wuyin hadn't just clashed with it, but exploited some benefits out of such an earthshaking being!

That said, he still had to inform Wei Wuyin about this information. If his bloodline truly had traces of the Demon Sovereign within it, there was a chance that he could be maneuvered as a puppet, seized and manipulated to do his bidding, or worse at a critical moment.

Suddenly, Wu Yu's expression changed as he eyed Tian Taizong curiously. As if expecting Wu Yu to reach this point, Tian Taizong gave a sly, knowing smile. "Yes, we could be considered distantly related. Although, very distant. Your bloodline has obviously been changed considerably, lacking a few dominant traits of the Tian Clan."

He gestured toward his eyes. The enchantingly hazel-gold eyes of the Tian Clan were not a byproduct of any particular cultivation method, and they actually couldn't change their eye color without altering their bloodline or soul. It could be considered a birthmark, a representation of their lineage.

"Your Aeternal Sky Scripture has the Exalted Transformation, and the Exalted Sovereign..." Wu Yu didn't delve into their distant relative status, entirely uncaring of being distantly related to Tian Taizong, focusing on another part: lineage. Was he related to the Exalted Sovereign?

"Unless you escape the board, that's irrelevant." Tian Taizong directly dismissed the possibility of Wu Yu receiving any sort of an answer. However, a dissatisfying response was a sort of answer in and of itself.

Wu Yu didn't disagree. Moreover, the question was likely a little more complicated than he first expected. Moreover, he couldn't help but feel that Tian Taizong's reference to the Tian Clan of 'that' time was an indication of something extremely profound.

"There's still one last truth left," Wu Yu finally gathered his wits and left the rest to be digested and analyzed later, not forgetting his purpose. When he asked for the truth before, it wasn't simply referring to the past or his lineage, it was regarding Tian Taizong's story. Most importantly, it's about why he was sealed.

"Right." Tian Taizong turned his head to see the crumbled pieces of his throne, of his prison. His hazel-gold eyes revealed a rare sight of a humiliated light, concealing within a raising, hellish anger that was utterly monstrous. However, this emotion was buried so deep, so unfathomably well, that it vanished as soon as it appeared.

"I must say, Alchemic Saint Neo-Dawn is an astonishingly capable person despite his youth. Not only did he realize the throne's purpose without ever stepping foot into Heaven's Sky Palace, but he also seemed to have used the Chosen King Competition's unique world that is interconnected to various spaces to perfectly aid him in doing so." While he was speaking in a leveled tone, the suspicions layered in each syllable could be easily heard.

It wasn't strange for Tian Taizong to think in this way, feeling as if Wei Wuyin was an enigma of the highest order. The truly mind-boggling matter was how he confronted Trueborn triumphantly, almost certainly established his starfield on the last remaining Node of the Sealing Array, possessed dozens upon dozens of Earthly Saints with no clear record of their existence throughout the entire history of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, cultivated an Alchemic Soul while retaining his combat, yet despite being supremely capable of all this, Wei Wuyin was ignorant of the Sealed Region or the circumstances surrounding his sealing.

None of it made any sense!

Initially, Tian Taizong had assumed Wei Wuyin was a pawn sent by the rumored fifth player, but then there was no way he could be so ignorant of the Sealed Regions' truth. Given Wu Yu's emotional upheavals, with some knowledge clearly known and others unknown, there were unreasonable gaps that also felt odd with that possibility.

Tian Taizong's line of thinking wasn't wrong; Wei Wuyin was highly inconsistent, mostly because he had no true backing beyond the Sealed Regions, and his current knowledge almost all stemmed from a potential future path of his or theories he'd formed.

For example, the throne and Tian Taizong's seal within were knowledge Wei Wuyin was keenly aware of because of his status as the Void Voyage Sect's Sect Master after Liu Yinlan's devilish scheming. After all, Liu Yinlan had given him the mission of ensuring the seal's strength and stability throughout his years there.

Wei Wuyin was also fully aware of how Tian Taizong had tricked Liu Yinlan into thinking he was still sealed when she went down to slaughter him, only to sustain severe injuries in the failed attempt. The grudge they had was extraordinary.

Unfortunately for her, Tian Taizong was not simple. Tian Taizong had reached the Seed of Imperial Law's Nurturing Stage of 9%, a feat even Worldly Saints might never achieve in their entire lifetime.

"..." Wu Yu didn't respond to Tian Taizong's comment, physically or verbally. However, internally, he was shaken by Tian Taizong's keen observational and deductive skills. From what he was told by Wei Wuyin, the seal of the throne was located within the same profound space where the Chosen King Competition was held, so he had to wait until the competition to enter. This was a deliberate choice. After all, only those at the age of five hundred or below could enter, and not even the Worldly Saints of the World Between the Fold could do so.

Regardless if Tian Taizong received outside help from the World Beyond, they couldn't free him.

Or it should've been.

Wei Wuyin had sent Wu Yu there as he interfered with the seal on his side, allowing them to shatter the seal without sacrificing too much except some Omega Saber Energy reinforced by Imperial Heaven Power, further enhanced by the Minor Laws of Imperial and Annihilation.

"I should give my thanks. It's been a long time since I've felt free. Truly free." Disregarding the strange mysteriousness surrounding Wei Wuyin, the fact remained that he had been freed by him. "I'll tell you the story then, as repayment."

Tian Taizong began to illustrate his tale, weaving words to paint a colorful moving picture of his life. He described it all.

Wu Yu listened intently.

Shockingly, as Tian Taizong told his story, Wu Yu's expression visibly changed quite a few times, astonishment, surprise, anger, and even mirth all emerged at one point or another. Despite his occupation as the Aeternal Sky Divine Emperor, the undisputed ruler of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, Tian Taizong had a gift for storytelling. It involved the beginnings of an Emperor's nation's rise, a well-planned, timely rebellion, the Void Voyage Sect, and a Renowned Clan from the World Beyond.

The story wasn't too complicated, rather the lengthy nature of it was solely due to Tian Taizong's colorful and vivid descriptions. The story, in its simplest form, went like this:

Shortly after Tian Taizong began his invincible rise and unstoppable conquest, establishing his kingdom and rule with an iron-clad fist of pure, unrestrained dominance as the sole Earthly Saint, he had met the Void Voyage Sect's Sect Master of that time, long before Liu Yinlan took that position.

The Sect Master of that time sought to establish an agreement between them, one where Tian Taizong would be at the losing end, in exchange for lopsided benefits. The person was unbearably arrogant, seemingly treating the inhabitants of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region as oafishly ignorant insects in a jar that was far beneath him.

In his mind, Tian Taizong was simply a slightly larger ignorant insect dancing along to the tone of others. Tian Taizong didn't allow his youthful vigor or dominant power to cloud his judgment and refused to act against or ally with him. He deliberately stayed away, but this was an offense to him, an affront of face.

After Tian Taizong had become the Divine Emperor, establishing his legend formally, the Noble Clans and World Sects at the time all bent a knee in subservience to his rule and name.

However, it was hard to quell rebellious thoughts; the Liu Clan's Matriarch had allied with the Sect Master in an attempt to overthrow Tian Taizong's rule. They fought intensely, but he won out in the end. However, after winning, Tian Taizong's rage was hard to suppress, so he acted against the Sect Master, slaying him outright.

Inadvertently, he had killed a relative of a Worldly Saint from the World Beyond. It was a member of the Zhangjie Clan!

After suppressing the Liu Clan's Matriarch, retribution came with utmost swiftness, and the Zhangjie Clan had acted using the strange, unfathomable power of a heavenly object from beyond the void. It pierced through the layers of space and assaulted him. He was then sealed to his throne, forced to rule without his freedom, and utterly humiliated. This led to the oath-ridden culture of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region and the end of Tian Taizong's invincible conquest.

"..." After hearing all of it, Wu Yu's eyes glinted mysteriously. He looked at Tian Taizong, and then he shook his head.

"Hm?" Tian Taizong seemed particularly pleased with his story, especially now that he had regained his freedom, but he didn't expect Wu Yu's response.

Wu Yu gave him one last knowing look before turning away, and beginning to leave, only stopping at the door littered with holes. "He did say you wouldn't tell the whole truth, so I won't bother you about it. But after the Chosen King Competition, my Young Lord intends to find you. If you lie then, don't say I didn't warn you." He left.

After speaking those solemn words, Wu Yu departed as Tian Taizong's smile faded away gradually, replaced with a pair of narrowed, piercing eyes.

"And also," Wu Yu's voice lingered in the palatial hall, "If you don't complete his demands by then, you don't need to worry about crafting another lie."

Tian Taizong had never given any verbal agreement to any of Wei Wuyin's demands earlier, but Wu Yu left a warning!