Paragon of Sin

Under the escort of five thousand and four, the Minor Elysium kept onwards toward the green zone amidst the faint glowing haze of the surrounding white rippling world. After Wei Wuyin's intervention, including the justification as to why many had their lives spared, the realization that Wei Wuyin was genuinely venturing into this dangerous environment that they considered an absolute forbidden zone of fortune and unpredictable death was a sightseeing trip for the gorgeous, bombastic bodied beauty that was his wife settled in.

Many sent looks of gratitude as they shuttled forward, and the lustful gazes of many were tempered down and suppressed by feelings of reverence and fear. The foreign Worldly Saint Alchemist of the Human Race was a true-blue expert with means far surpassing their comprehension.

Yue Songli received those looks with a smile, her elation and satisfaction levels were at an all-time high as she listened to Fairy Silence, Crimson Blade, and Violet Sea bring up topics of the White Abyss and the history surrounding its existence in their galaxy within Wei Wuyin's strong, steady arms. No one in the White Abyssal Galaxy could receive such patient, considerate, and respectful treatment from the four Abyssal Overlords and the experts of the galaxy.

Ming Shufeng couldn't help but feel envy having watched the events from start to finish. It was also dawning on her that Wei Wuyin wasn't a saint by any means. He ruthlessly and indifferently watched those individuals get taken away, sucked into heavens-knows-where, and didn't seem too inclined to intervene. If not for Yue Songli's emotional plea earlier, she has this nagging feeling that Wei Wuyin would have left those volunteers to their fates.

Unfortunately, she wasn't one hundred percent sure, and this lingering doubt left her feeling a mystifying sensation of confusion.

What she was unaware of was that Wei Wuyin was in the midst of deciding whether to intervene. The usage of multiple laws and exhaustion of his energies was important here, especially with the repeated warnings that events occur spontaneously and often without warning. He had to weigh the lives of Highlords and Rune Kings against the worth of distracting himself and using energy with the possibility of those potential changes. Considering he had to rely on Little Defiant, one could see that the cost was ridiculously high.

Liu Suyin gazed intently at the hazy world of light, fog, thick, mud-like liquid, and mist. Her mood was equally as good as she spoke energetically with Cao Cuifen about the various topics brought up by the Abyssal Overlords.

Qing Qiumu was bright-eyed as well, curious and relaxed, the fear in her heart dispelled by Wei Wuyin's domineering display of competence that left those experts who could rule an entire galaxy flabbergasted and shaken. She leaned against the railing as she pointed and exclaimed. She would look to the side at times. In her eyes, Wei Wuyin's Void Image was there, talking, commenting, and even making jokes. She had to cover her mouth at times, stifling a peal of laughter. Others only saw her, a beautifully elegant woman of a race they were unaware of paying attention to thin air.

The scene of traversing the White Abyss for them, including the latent danger within it, was reduced to a minimum.

On the other hand, those escorting were still tense, and the Abyssal Overlords remained vigilant to an extreme. While Wei Wuyin had means, they were experienced enough to not place their lives in the hands of others so easily. They helped guide the Minor Elysium along.

"There are said to be seven colored zones," Fairy Silence explained.

"Like the colors of Primary Light? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo, and violet?" Cao Cuifen asked. To which Fairy Silence nodded, answering: "Exactly."

Violet Sea added, "Each zone within the White Abyss is said to have various environments. Moreover, they are said to be in constant motion with varying degrees of speed, sometimes fast, other times as slow as a slug beast, and it's unclear exactly how many there are. Some speculate that there are thousands of each, others say there's only one. It's too difficult to determine."

"Slug beast?" Tuo Bihan quietly mused.

"How could there be such a disparity of thoughts on whether there's one or thousands? Are the environments within these colored zones different or all the same?" Qing Qiumu's eyes glittered as she moved her gaze away from Wei Wuyin's Void Image by her side to focus on Fairy Silence.

"All the same. Always the exact same," Violet Sea replied.

"Then aren't they the same? They move and I imagine with the difficulties of calculating time and adjusting one's position in the White Abyss, especially without Spiritual Sense, those who found them could be in the same zone, right?" Cao Cuifen was confused.

"You would think so, but there have been accounts of multiple sightings of colored zones by the same people. For example," Fairy Silence gestured toward the green radiance. Despite traveling for several minutes, they didn't seem any closer, "I once saw two blue zones at the same time. My group split then due to a disagreement, and we went into different zones. We didn't find each other, and there were three survivors out of the twenty-six that went."

"Twenty-six?!" The group was startled. They could all imagine Fairy Silence went as a powerful cultivator so for that outcome...

"We were all World Emperors at the time, so this isn't unexpected. And that was many, many years ago," Fairy Silence clarified with a forlorn sigh and a nostalgic gaze out into the white haze.

"But if you saw two zones, went into two zones at the same time with different groups, didn't find each other, survived and this became known information, why the ongoing debate on whether it's one or thousands? Isn't the answer right there: there's multiple?" Qing Qiumu commented with a tilted head of curiosity.

"The White Abyss isn't so simple and neither are the colored zones," Crimson Blade said solemnly.

Violet Sea sighed.

"There's only one," Ming Shufeng firmly said as she performed three hand-seals and her eyes flashed with a radiant, heavenly golden light. This was the information given to her by the Heavenly Daos.

"There's more than one," Yao Houyi said as he lifted his blindfold and gazed out into the white haze for a brief moment.

They both said it at the exact same time, causing those on board to feel a little uncertain. But those aboard the Minor Elysium, besides the Prime Ascendants and Tuo Bihan, were more inclined to believe Ming Shufeng. After all, Yao Houyi was a mortal. While his eyes gave off a strange energy, few knew of his abilities or Cultivation Method.

Soon, a debate unfolded as they couldn't decide whether there was one or two as a few tried to use their own means and came up with different answers. They talked for over twelve minutes as the faint green radiance beckoned upon them from afar.

"Why not ask Brother-In-Law?" Young Master Shang took a swig and said aloud.

Eventually, they all looked toward Wei Wuyin, who was enjoying the feeling of Yue Songli's soft body, discreetly lifting those 'readjusting' those heaven-shaking mountains of hers on her lovely body. Yue Songli was beet-red. Almost no one noticed, and when they turned their attention over, the deed was long since done and all advantages were taken. The only two who had noticed were Su Mei and Su Mei's shadow, both of whom remained stoic and silent.

Wei Wuyin had a neutral, just idly thinking type of expression as if everything didn't affect him, his gaze looking out into the white haze.

"What's the truth?" Cao Cuifen asked with interest. Was the Heavenly Seer right or something else entirely?

"Truth?" Wei Wuyin said absentmindedly. Then, he gestured with his chin at the green radiance. "The truth is: we're stuck in a stasis loop of paradoxical and stagnant time where distance has been twisted and direction is inconsistent."

"WHAT?!" The four Abyssal Overlords immediately reacted as they looked out into the white haze with a vigilant yet disbelieving light. They had been moving for a solid hour at great speeds under the 'protection' of the escorting Ascended beings, and this was enough time to travel half a stellar region at their pace. They stared at the green radiance and saw that it wasn't getting any closer.

Soon, their expressions grew pale.

"Stasis loop?" Out of the group, only Young Master Shang and Liu Suyin reacted. Their farmer's expression turned ashen while the latter was only filled with interest and amusement, not the slightest signs of fear. Although, if anyone at her cultivation base was told their words, they might be begging the heavens to spare their lives.

"What's that?" Qing Qiumu asked innocently.

The Abyssal Overlords, specifically Grey Rose, looked terrified. Fairy Silence leaped on the railing of the ship and brought out a large, human-sized compass with a silvery arrow and no direction or positions listed. The arrow began to spin wildly, whirling to the point the speeds made it seem invisible to the naked eye.

Fear began to permeate her gaze so intensely that her teeth clattered, "How?!"

"Fuck!" Crimson Blade shouted as his gaze flared with scarlet-colored sword intent.

"How? When?!" Violet Sea asked as she held both of her folded whips.

"What's happening?" Cao Cuifen asked as their reactions began to infect her own feelings. While panic hadn't set in, the tension could be felt. She hurriedly turned to Wei Wuyin, and only then were those feelings dispelled.

Fairy Silence clenched both of her fists, "A stasis loop! It's usually when two points of time, Past and Future, have been intermingled together like a circle, absent of all that is Present."

Violet Sea added with a deep tone, "Normally, initiating a Stasis Field only requires Present Time Energies, placing one in a state of never progressing forward nor backward. It's not too difficult to do, a simple execution of time power for Ascended beings. Even those at the Mystic Star Phase could initiate something of that level.

"However, a stasis loop is different because you're unable to stagnate but also unable to experience 'true' progress. You're constantly existing in a form of progression and regression, going back and forth between two points." Despite the encroaching sensation of despair in her tone, she kept herself calm and properly informed Cao Cuifen and the others of their situation.

"Can't we break out? It doesn't sound that dangerous." Yue Songli's beed-red face and lingering feelings of Wei Wuyin's agile and deftly skilled hands did little to stifle her curiosity either. But she too showed no fear.

"If only it was that simple! But the issue is Paradoxical Time Energies...Lady Yue." Crimson Blade initially spat out in a furious roar but, as if catching himself and recalling who he was speaking to, his vocal tone became subdued and forcefully calmed as he finished the second half.

"Is this another common phenomenon of the White Abyss?" Cao Cuifen asked.

"No..." Violet Sea's hands trembled.

"Try something!" Grey Rose screamed at the three Abyssal Overlords. While she was aware they were trying to observe and inspect the situation, the signs of them coming up short with a solution were apparent as time went on. As for her, she knew she wasn't strong enough to breach this stasis loop.

"..." The three Abyssal Overlords remained silent. The tension began to mount.

Young Master Shang genuinely understood how screwed they were. "Why is this Absolute Void Region capable of giving birth to a freaking stasis loop?! How many times have we experienced this loop?!"

"How many times? Does that matter?" Qing Qiumu blinked.

"YES! Paradoxical Time is...hard to understand, especially how it manifests. Just coming into contact with it might erase you out of existence entirely. While there's not a lot, the more an individual spends in a point of time that induces a paradox, the greater the build-up of paradoxical time energies.

"Since our actions are always inconsistent with our previous past and our potential future, we're becoming an ever-increasing point of paradox of a past and future that has and hasn't happen in a period." Fairy Silence answered with a dwindling voice.

"About two million times. Maybe a little more," Wei Wuyin answered on the side.

"WHAT?!" How did they experience this event two million times? It's only been an hour?

"Oh my...is the stasis loop a micro-fucking-second?!" Crimson Blade was stunned.

"Just a little more," Wei Wuyin answered flatly.

The Abyssal Overlords began to inspect their bodies using their Temporal Eye, pushed to the limits of its strength by their Ascendant Saint Mystic Power. What they discovered left them aghast to an extreme. Within their bones, organs, cells, and spirit were the tiniest of motes of Paradoxical Energies.

"If we break out now, we'll receive a backlash from the Keeper of Time. It'll be so strong that...we'll be wiped out of existence. We..." Violet Sea dropped both her whips.

Keeper of Time! Some refer to it as that, but the truth was simply that It was a wisp, an iota of regulatory spirit, of the River of Time that serves to maintain itself and prevent paradoxes in time. Wei Wuyin had once felt its wrath and was saved by Fuxi not too long ago. Similar to how many call the unseen being who dispensed the punishment for breaking Mythical Oaths the Arbitrators of Myth and Balance or the Heavenly Daos' as Heavenly Punishment, other societies had names for these rarely seen displays of brutal backlashing power and the ones who wielded them.

"We're fucked! A MICROSECOND!" Crimson Blade raged. This wasn't a matter that simple strength could solve. If it was a minute or two, maybe! But a microsecond? They had far too much within them and hadn't even noticed!

Yue Songli blinked as well. She turned her head and saw Wei Wuyin. "Are we stuck?" She asked with the voice of a paramount of innocence, like a plump child unaware that they entered a hungry den of wolves asking them for food with both hands out. Her beauty at this point was utterly lethal.

Wei Wuyin shook his head. "This is an opportunity for you all. Use this to sense paradoxical time energies within you. We'll spend three hours here." After saying that, Wei Wuyin let Yue Songli's waist go, his hands and arms a little reluctant.

He looked at Liu Suyin whose eyes brightened and she hurriedly sat cross-legged. Su Mei, Shui Fengbao, Yao Houyi, and Tuo Bihan followed suit immediately after. Luo Ning was a little slow, but she got there eventually.

"Are you...what?" At this point, Grey Rose's life had flashed across her eyes and she seemed to have come to a life-altering decision after coming face to face with certain death and the prospect of her existence being wiped out. Eventually, the paradoxical time energies will reach its limits within their bodies and the surrounding space, and the space of the stasis loop will end as Past Time Energies and Future Time Energies intermixed to generate a spark of Present Time Energies, just enough to end it. Which was actually the typical method for breaking free, and that was injecting enough of the two energies to create the third in a natural state.

But for them, they'll likely go pop; they could age to death in an instant or regress to non-existence. Either scenario felt utterly terrifying.

"Since I reduced the loop from two minutes to close to a microsecond, I hope none of you waste my effort," Wei Wuyin admitted as he gazed at the Ascended beings who turned their attention toward the ship in confusion after the repeated roars.

"You...you what?!" Violet Sea was stunned. It was then that she grasped a clue. Earlier, there were too many law auras intermixed with each other that it was difficult to pinpoint which Wei Wuyin had grasped without Spiritual Sense. Now that Wei Wuyin had said those words, it clicked in all their minds.

"You've grasped the Minor Authority of Time?!" All four Abyssal Overlords were unable to remain calm. This law wasn't just notoriously difficult to comprehend, it was almost impossible to even conceive.

At all.

Even if one sought the guidance of the heavens to learn how or the various paths, one of them was to either travel or interact with an actualized future or the substantial past to even have a chance to conceive it! But at their level, even as Ascended Saints with their Time Power, doing so was utterly impossible! So how could one grasp it? BE STRONGER!

CONSIDERABLY STRONGER!!

Enough to resist the backlash from the Keeper of Time! Or at the very least, in a manner by which it wouldn't directly interfere, such as a tribulation set by the Daos. Perhaps a Heavenly Treasure could obtain a link to the Realm of Time and obtain a wisp of the Law of time's aura and abilities such as the Endless Void Mirror, but a person conceiving a Minor Authority of Time?!

Violet Sea's eyes sparkled as she almost forgot her dropped whips. The look in her eyes experienced a drastic shift when she gazed at Wei Wuyin.

"Go on! It's not every day you can sense paradoxical time accumulating and occurring at such a rapid rate," Wei Wuyin urged as helped his 'wives' properly sit and cultivate, ignoring the shock. What Wei Wuyin left out of his sentence was: "and live to tell the tale!"