Paragon of Sin

The Season of Regression was coming to an end. The shackles on the worldly mana and ambient energies were coming undone. The suppression of time energies were slowly retracted, the suppression on spatial force was lifted, and the ambient power that devastated the five regions were vanishing.

There was no happiness in the hearts of those on the continent, not from the Timelords or Realmlords who could now utilize their entire strength.

Typically, this was a sign that all would feel fearful towards. It was the sign that the Season of Devils was beginning. This season was renowned for taking large swathes of the population and sending them to their deaths, forced to hide and defend endlessly for four entire years, culling away a large number of the population.

It was a season of dreadful terror, heartfelt fear and endless pain.

But not anymore.

With the Holy Children born in every region, it changed the laws of this world, even extending the Season of Regression. This was evidence that the Season of Devils that would plague the four lands unprotected by Holy Bloodlines had changed.

Yet no one knew what these changes would bring about, what new horrors or benefits would be born from this unexpected development. They could only pray to their divinities that this change would only ensure that their lives remained safe and protected.

Unfortunately, their divinities seemed to not heed such prayers. Because the development wasn't better, but so, so much worse.

After the world held parties to celebrate their hopeful future, ceremonies worshipping the gods with lavishing praises, the world started to undergo an unexpected change. A terrifying change. A horrifyingly dreadful change!

The ambient energies that were no longer bound, vanished.

The worldly mana that permeated the world, disappeared.

Those Realmlords found their Worldly Domains unable to be manifested. If they struggled to do so, a force from the continent would integrate into their bodies and strip away at their cultivation until nothing was left.

Those Timelord's discovered that their time energies couldn't be unleashed lest they suffer a backlash. A few even had the entirety of their time energies refined in their eyes taken away from them, reducing their cultivation base!

Any execution of Spatial Force would be met with a devastating backlash. A Realmlord in the Noxious Seas had forced the issue, exploding as a result! He was dead before regret could be felt.

Gravitational Forces were unable to be used. The ambient light energies were utterly restrained. All the abilities of the Spatial Resonance Phase were now restricted. Spatial Prisons, Spatial Marks, even Spatial Shifting! They would dissipate faster than they can form. Soul Idols couldn't be manifested, suffering the same consequences as Worldly Domains!

Fear and panic spread as the cultivation bases that gave one a sense of safety, power, and reliability were being stripped away and restricted. The level of horror felt by these cultivators who spent hundreds of years of arduous effort to obtain such strength was unimaginable!

Some even thought this was the worst to come, killing themselves out of fear. A few religious zealots sacrificed to the gods, praying for salvation and returning to ancient practices long rendered out of date due to their ineffectiveness. The world started to descend into total chaos.

The differentiation of strength became harder to see, with only astral force being a definitive factor. With the absence of ambient light, spatial, and elemental energies, the astral force of cultivators were reaching their purest, unrefined state.

When the citizens directed their concerns to the remaining temples, they found the doors closed. The temples had unanimously decided to perform an excursion to the Desolate Lands, to the only place of hope! The Holy Son of Octa-Elementus!

The journey took others from their homes, venturing to the Desolate Lands to seek answers and safety. But without ambient mana, without energies to replenish their qi and astral force, these men, women, and children were forced to walk the perilous journey on foot. Millions were venturing towards the Desolate Lands in fear of the upcoming season! A season that they knew little to nothing about.

A season they named: The Season of Emptiness.

-----

In True Desolate City, two figures sat at their iconic table across from each other, a board game in front of them. Unlike before, however, the board game was not set up and left in an empty state.

"What's happening to this World Realm?" Ming Yuling was terrified as she felt her astral force lose its unique qualities. She had tried to manifest her Soul Idol to no avail. Whenever she tried, a strange, suffocating force enveloped her.

The old man was biting into what seemed to be a large-sized submarine sandwich, but the bread had unique markings similar to a turtle shell. The flesh between the bread was ash white with bits of golden scattered around it. It was accompanied by crisp-like blue-colored lettuce. There was a satisfying crunch to his bite.

With his mouth full, he shrugged.

Ming Yuling's expression darkened, "You know, don't you?"

The old man honestly nodded.

"Then tell me!"

The old man shrugged, taking another bite.

Ming Yuling wanted to flip this table. The old man was growing more and more insufferable by the moment. But the truth was that she was asking more and more questions that he had no obligation to answer. This was her training ground, after all. He was only meant to protect her and give her advice on her cultivation from time to time, not hold her hand and be her all-knowing senior.

She clearly lost sight of this after suffering losses at the hands of Wei Wuyin and Lin Ming. It was like she relegated her mentality from a talented youth in training to a lazy tourist instead. How unfortunate.

With a frustrated grunt, Ming Yuling ignored the old man who was indulging himself in some strange meal. "This world's changes are far different than the Season of Devils. That's supposed to test a cultivator's conservation of power and tactical skills. A one versus many scenario. Why the change? And what change is next?" She muttered to herself, wanting to know what will happen to this World Realm.

The old man faintly smiled, 'I wonder if he figured it out.' A silver-eyed, tall, and unfathomably handsome figure emerged in his mind. 'Knowing him, he probably already knows.'

-----

After Spatial Shifting to the Scorched Skies, Wei Wuyin spent time sensing the ambient power and discovered the Intent that was within and found a strange coincidence. It originated from the bleak skies, not the searing ash. When he inspected the ash, he discovered the latent power of Scorching Ash Magma, the Apex-Level Intent!

Since he'd already comprehended that Intent, he didn't need to delve into it. But it brought out an idea that, perhaps, there were locations that held specific Apex-level Intent in the Four Extreme Continent. While a late discovery, it was still fascinating to him.

The high-level Fire Intent was called Radiant Fire Intent. It reacted strangely to light energies, using it as fuel in much the same way as oxygen fueled flames. The smoke it produced blocked out light rays, which was why the Scorched Skies had bleak skies. The grey clouds weren't clouds, but wads of smoke that was being perpetually fueled by the endless and unmoving Solar Star.

When he pushed away a portion of the clouds, he was blasted by the accumulation of light energies from above the wads of grey smoke. His eyes were instantly scorched into nothing, permanently blinded. Fortunately, his Eye of Immortality reacted and repaired all damages after a brief moment.

The last ability of the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity was the Eye of Immortality, a passive ability that sustained the peak state of his eyes. He had always wondered what it could be used for, and now he knew. Out of the four abilities included, the Gaze of a Celestial Spirit, Eye of Illusion, and Eye of Truth, the Eye of Immortality was the only ability he had no control over, whether it activated or not.

He felt almost like a mortal, where he couldn't decide when his healing factor would kick in.

After obtaining his last Intent, he now had eight Apex-level Intents and one High-level Intent. While it wasn't perfect, he could form his Elemental Heart Intent! He was legitimately ready to establish it, but…

Something happened.

Ori had informed him that forming the Elemental Heart Intent was a permanent act. What he established it with would forever be unchanging. It hadn't said anything before because it didn't know, but while they were working in conjunction to merge all nine into one, it realized this and violently panicked.

He hadn't felt like going unconscious for a long time, but when Ori went wild in its panic, he blanked for a moment and lost his mental and physical bearings. It was that intense!

He had to hurriedly calm it after regaining himself. After listening to its full explanation, he understood. If Elemental Origin Intent was the instruction manual, then Elemental Heart Intent was the finished product. There was no building it again once completed.

When he asked why he couldn't just redo it over, Ori wasn't able to accurately explain, fumbling over its words incoherently. Eden had to intervene. It clarified in a sage-like tone: "You'll understand after."

Which offered absolutely no help, causing King and Kratos to tremble with withheld laughter in response. Exasperated, Wei Wuyin trusted Ori and Eden. While they weren't very good at explaining things, ever, these Astral Souls of his never steered him wrong.

After settling that, being somewhat disappointed after hyping himself up in establishing a powerful Elemental Heart Intent, he Spatial Shifted back to the Desolate Lands. Then, the changes of the world started to take place shortly after.

The first two things Wei Wuyin noticed with his Celestial Eyes were: One, the Aura of Origin Essence was vanishing. If what the old man said was true, this meant all those who hadn't obtained Origin Essence from the badges would lose their Elemental Origin Intent. Two, his Saber Heart Intent was thoroughly restrained, but his Elemental Origin Intent was perfectly fine!

"So this is the final trial for Chosen Candidates!"