Paragon of Sin

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Within the depths of the Time Vortex's sea of time energies, the elderly and thin figure of Xu You, the Lord of the City of Voyage, was swimming expertly at a rapid pace. He was encapsulated by his Mystic Power-fueled Mystic Ward, perfectly protecting his body against the substantial threat that foreign and uncontrolled time energies presented.

It had been a total of three hours since he dived into the Time Vortex, and while he was a cultivator of vast power and renown, his ability to traverse the Time Vortex could be likened to a snail's pace when compared to his unencumbered movement anywhere else. The generated momentum of his movements kept regressing, forcing him to accelerate continuously while simultaneously resisting the time energies' degradation of his Mystic Power.

"Bothersome," Xu Yu spat. This wasn't his first time entering the Time Vortex, yet his time within hadn't allowed him to adapt in the slightest. The oddity that was the Time Vortex kept frustrating him, but he had no choice but to figure out why the Time Vortex experienced its changes and how to reverse it, if possible.

After expending a percentage of his power, which could have devastated entire starfields thousands of times over, he finally arrived at the zone jointly labeled as area forty-three. Xu You immediately frowned upon entering, finding that the flow of time energies here was highly irregular, even more so than in other areas.

Then, his eyes, containing the light of worldly power beyond the Mortal Dao, widened excitedly. With a tap of his foot, he leveraged the time energies to propel himself explosively deeper, exhausting a thousandth of his Mystic Power doing so. However, his efforts bore fruit almost immediately.

"This is?" He soon came to an abrupt stop. His Mystic Ward rippled as he anchored himself in place. If he hadn't, his momentum would experience a sharp reversal, and he would have exhausted that burst of power for nothing. What he saw caused his mind to stir, and he brought his hands together with a practiced air.

Suddenly, his hands began to weave into shadows. He was completing hand-seals at a mind-blowing speed! As one grew stronger, one would harness greater degrees of power, requiring more control and fundamentals of cultivation than ever. These hand-seals were profound, exerting a unique force that helped him regulate and direct his Mystic Power with purpose. 

Xu You gathered copious amounts of Spiritual Power, the combination of Mystic-graded Spiritual Energies and Mystic Power, into his eyes to unleash an unfathomably powerful ocular spell that covered his eyes in a violet sheen. An ancient aura erupted, piercing through the time energies in an explosive manner.

Within the blink of a mortal's eye, the Time Vortex was pushed away by the residual force of his spell, and his Spiritual Sense drilled itself until it came upon the abnormality. 

"Oh?" Xu You exclaimed as he saw a swirl. The swirl was odd, like seeing a twist underwater, but it led nowhere. After assessing the potential dangers and finding none, he pushed himself forward with his eyes bursting with Spiritual Power. After roughly ten minutes of effort, he found himself directly beside the anomaly.

Xu You's cultivation base was profoundly high, and he had comprehended the Temporal-type Mystic Rune during his Earthly Ascension, one of the major reasons why he could occupy the position as a City Lord of the Endless Voyage Realm. The benefits of such a position were not minor, and while few would ever ask to be the City Lord of the City of Endless, his position governing the City of Voyage was lucrative and demanding.

It needed terrifying strength and means. As such, his analytical abilities were great for his cultivation base, exceeding the ordinary. "Someone opened a Void Portal here," he concluded with a slight frown. 

Void Portals was a product of Void Gates—this was the widely believed truth of the Sealed Regions, and they weren't wrong. However, beyond the Sealed Regions, the Void Gates they considered so highly were merely the lowest form of Spatial Gates. It tapped into the power of Spatial Energies, particularly stable and fixed space, conjoining the two. Even the Stellar Transit Light was merely an advanced application with Chaotic Space principles added in.

A genuine Void Gate used Void Energy, and its abilities were absurdly difficult to deal with and even harder to power. However, it was disgustingly powerful and useful in all forms, from simple transportation to sieges of war.

This was because unless one was a Heavenly Saint capable of disrupting the ambient mana of the world, they couldn't hinder the creation of a Void Portal conjured by a true Void Gate. Moreover, it was impossible to sense. 

This required a legendary Zenith Origin Mystic Soul, a challenging thing to acquire without phenomenal good fortune or hegemon-levels of background. 

"Trueborn?" Xu You speculatively murmured but then immediately shook his head dismissively. Those pathetic worms were merely frogs struggling inside their wells, the walls littered with spikes and blades, so they shouldn't be able to harness such profound power. The outside force supporting them was equally irrelevant, minor nuisances.

If they had this power, their efforts over the tens of thousands of years would've borne greater fruits, likely leading to their success. After all, Wei Wuyin had used tens of thousands of years of unrefined lifeforce to transform a simple Spatial Jade Crystal into its Void Variant. Even the Endless Void Mirror, a Heavenly Treasure of the three Ascended Sovereigns, couldn't produce Void Energy very often. 

"Hm? The Void Energy here isn't very high level, still containing the scent of the Mortal Dao. A product of a treasure, limited by his cultivation? That Wei Wuyin eluded our senses. If so, then he…" Xu You's eyes narrowed as he speculated that Wei Wuyin was alive alongside a Void-type Armament. Thick wisps of greed swam in his eyes without reservation. According to reports, this Wei Wuyin had easily escaped from the observation of Earthly Saints as a mere mortal. If Xu You had powered this treasure, wouldn't its power be peerless? It even allowed him to resist the Time Vortex, right? 

If he could trade it to a Worldly Alchemic Saint, the gains would be unimaginable. 

"The Void Portal isn't fully closed, just needing an external power to fuel it. Huh, unable to truly leave without a trace? The Time Vortex has all sorts of mysteries, and an ignorant mortal can't comprehend it." The regression-type power of the Time Vortex was preventing the Void Gate from closing, a flaw that Xu You believed no one could've predicted. After all, who would create a Void Portal in the Time Vortex?

Void-type items were absurdly precious items, let alone treasures that could evade Earthly Saints, travel freely in the Endless Voyage Realm despite its restrictions, and protect one in the Time Vortex. The last power was an assumption by Xu You, but it was well-known that Void Energy had superiority over Spatial and Temporal Forces.

With ardently roaring excitement in his eyes, he approached closer. At this point, he was a mere few feet away from the twister-like opening. It had been a year, so Wei Wuyin had likely long since escaped. He hesitated; what if this led to a space inside the Sealed Regions? 

Xu You was one of the few who possessed the rights to direct the Endless Void Mirror, so he could temporarily bypass the Sealing Array for the briefest of moments. A minute? Maybe less. 

But with his terrifying cultivation, he could scour the entire Grand Cyclic Stellar Region within a few measly seconds. Moreover, he obtained his aura from those blind women, so pinpointing him shouldn't be difficult. He even had the aura of this Void-type treasure, so as long as he was quick, he could dispose of Wei Wuyin in a literal blink of that mortal's eye. Additionally, Zhangjie Wushu had received an ungodly amount of Alchemical Products from him. What if he had more?

He revealed a nasty, excited grin. His heart was moved by the possibilities. Without any further hesitation, he shot into the anomaly using his grand powers to surf to its destination. 

As Xu You left, the lingering Void Gate that he speculated was left open due to the unique properties of the Time Vortex closed in an instant, leaving no trace. The area dubbed as forty-three went silent, returning to normal, including the closure of the lingering Void Portal.

-----

The elderly figure of Xu You shot out of a quivering Void Gate, causing him to be besieged by a brilliance of multicolored walls that surged upwards like rain. His eyes widened, instantly recognizing the origin of this type of Stellar Transit Light; was he inside a Rainbow Bridge? 

"I thought it was supposed to be a woman? Wrong one?" A voice brought Xu You out of his curiosity. He was an elite expert of the ages, practically invincible in the Endless Voyage Realm and Sealed Regions,  so he didn't fear any situation. 

"Our orders are to kill, not gender-assume." A female voice shouted loudly, containing a terrifying authority. "BEGIN!" 

"Hm. We'll just have to check their corpse," a tyrannical voice containing vibrant strength emerged. A roaring fighting spirit dominated the atmosphere! 

Xu You's eyes widened slightly, mildly shocked by what he saw.

Before him, floating in a unique formation, were thousands of Demi-Mortal Lords! And at their lead, a half-dozen Earthly Saints! And at the foremost position, a heavily armored figure with a dragon-head helmet, his aura terrifyingly unfathomable, robust, and commanding! The coldness of his eyes was fueled by apathy for heaven and earth; only the concept of war existed in his heart.

Xu You smirked, his heart utterly calm. 

Then…

BOOSH!

"ATTACK!"

Their Mystic Aura erupted violently, joined by a united battle cry that shook the heavens, and the smirk of utmost confidence on his face was wiped away in an instant!