Paragon of Sin

"The All-Ending Stellar Calamity will mark the end of this eighty thousand-year-old game of theirs. And from then on, the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region will establish itself among the vast starry skies and superior forces of the World Beyond, no longer bound and restrained by this cage."

Concealed above the group of Aberrant Demons, Wei Wuyin sat upon Bai Lin with a thoughtful expression while muttering to himself. The matters of Gao Tingyu and her origins weren't of much importance to him. In fact, he was well aware that the Demonic Sovereign was a profound multi-schemer, and the Aberrant Demons were just a part of its schemes. Since his exposure to the greater world beyond his home starfield, he had discovered a few astonishing details about the Demonic Sovereign.

There were a few schemes that Wei Wuyin felt genuinely highlighted the cunning mind and strategic ability of the Demonic Sovereign. The first was the active deployment of Stellar Rain and various external agents, such as the Moonfall Lunar Queen, to harvest and refine solar essence to generate a unique energy source that gradually degraded its seal. They did so in different ways, such as gathering the solar essence slowly and siphoning the solar essence from the world.

Even now, due to these efforts and Baby Defiant's radiant rays, there were fissure-like cracks spread across the ground, the physical representation of its seal, and was tethering on the verge of inevitable collapse. That said, it'll take decades before that occurs, aligning perfectly with the hundred-year deadline of the All-Ending Stellar Calamity prophecy.

Another scheme was the devious manipulation of the Wu Clan, the designated chess pieces of the Exalted Sovereign, and their eventual defection. Due to this, the Supermassive Solar Star with a Mystic Radiance Belt was established, greatly reducing the time needed for its escape from hundreds of thousands of years to a mere one hundred thousand years.

While this might seem insignificant to a mere mortal whose lifespan might not extend more than a few thousand years at most, the success of reducing its imprisonment by hundreds of thousands of years to only a hundred thousand was incredibly brilliant. Moreover, it required taking over the pieces of an existing player, the Exalted(Human) Sovereign!

A part of this scheme was none other than the Aberrant Demons, largely under the umbrella as 'agents'. While they hadn't experienced much success, the fact that this was achieved only went to show off its agile mindset when it comes to tackling any problem. Now, the Aberrant Demons were tasked with maintenance duties, such as returning the Stellar Rain's flow of solar essence or assisting the establishment of certain formations.

"Now I understand just a little more about this so-called game of the Ascended Sovereigns," Wei Wuyin ate some turquoise grapes that glistened with an enriched spiritual light. It was delicious and crunchy. He had a concise conversation with the Demonic Sovereign. The details were enough to shake the minds of every last individual in the Ancient Sealed Region.

It was mostly about the truth of the 'game'.

This game that began eighty thousand years ago was a simple yet complex game of 'Escape'. The main objective was to 'send' the 'King' out of the Ancient Sealed Region-safely and most importantly, before anyone else.

There were three players initially-the Human Sovereign(Exalted Sovereign), the Titan Sovereign, and lastly, the Demonic Sovereign. According to the Demonic Sovereign, a fourth and fifth player joined after receiving the approval of the other three. This was the Celestial Sovereign and an unknown Sovereign that the Demonic Sovereign was largely ignorant of.

There were certain rules and advantages given to the first three, and that was the development of one's race within the Ancient Sealed Region. A set number of mortal Human and Titan races were sent into the Ancient Sealed Region to naturally grow and develop, overseen by a set of heavily regulated rules, and left with only the legacies inherently within the devastated remains of the region. After the involvement of the other two Ascended Sovereigns, the Human Sovereign and the Demonic Sovereign obtained the right to bestow inheritances and legacies, including performing certain feats.

This led to the inevitable creation of Aberrant Demons.

This led to the birth of the Aeternal Sky Scripture of the former Wu Clan.

This led to the recreation of the Aeternal Sky Scripture of the former Wu Clan into the Imperial Heaven Qi Method modified by the Demonic Sovereign.

This led to the renaming of the Wu Clan to the Tian Clan.

Meanwhile, Original Demons would be allowed to be born sporadically as the heaven deemed necessary.

During the initial few hundred years of this game, the Titan Race went practically extinct due to savage, primitive conflicts and wars between races, dominated fairly early by the growing Humans, remnant beasts, and their inability to match the human birth rate in comparison to their staggering deaths. They were outnumbered and outlasted.

The Titan Sovereign was defeated in the very first few moves. These so-called 'first moves' were the replacement of the set number of Titan Race mortals allowed. It was like setting the pieces on a board, where certain areas had greater fortune and horrible detrimental effects. The Titan Sovereign's humiliating defeat was the result of several stacking failures that led to a cascading loss.

The only remaining players swiftly became the Human Sovereign and the Demonic Sovereign. This changed vastly over the years as new Ascended Sovereigns were introduced such as the Celestial Sovereign and the unnamed Sovereign. The Celestials involved themselves in the Endless Voyage Realm and the Ancient Sealed Region. However, due to entering rather late, they were unable to match the rising human numbers and therefore took a different, indirect path than the Titans had.

The Celestial Sovereign developed secretly by discreetly placing their pieces in uncontested regions. Wei Wuyin knew this was none other than Trueborn, whose goal was to shatter the Ancient Sealed Region through the destruction of the nodes, thereby 'escaping'.

The unnamed Sovereign's movements were difficult to gauge as well. From what Wei Wuyin could assume, the Tian Clan might have been realigned back to the unnamed Sovereign. This indicated that both Imperial Clans, despite the Human Sovereign's attempts to remain in the game, had defected to someone else.

Of course, this could be wrong; he decided to examine Tian Taizong's memories when he had the chance. As for the secondary guess, if he was wrong in his initial assumption, then the unnamed Sovereign's objective likely wasn't to 'escape,' but likely to 'imprison' or 'prevent'. If so, perhaps the Void Voyage Sect and the entirety of the Endless Voyage Realm designed to hinder Trueborn and protect the stability of the Ancient Sealed Region might be their forces.

Unfortunately for the Ascended Sovereigns, none of those plans mattered any longer.

Wei Wuyin had already, without even knowing it, without even being a player in this 'game', systematically dismantled and checkmated each of their winning strategies. The former Wu Clan, the Stellar Nest, the Endless Voyage Realm's denizens, Trueborn and the Spatial nodes, the Tian Clan, and the rest, all had been suppressed by Wei Wuyin and outright made impossible without his explicit permission.

"I've already determined the winner," Wei Wuyin threw out a handful of berries. Bai Lin snapped them up greedily. With his Minor Authority of Imperial Law engulfing the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region, the influence of Little Defiant's power, and his degree of control over the Supreme Heavenly Treasure-the Endless Void Mirror, there was no path for victory left for any of them.

Unless HE decided otherwise.

While he was unable to learn about the prize for this game from the short and limited exchange from the Demonic Sovereign, he still felt like the Demonic Sovereign was foolish to agree regardless of how valuable. Given the rate of the Ascended Sovereign's growth, by the time the Demonic Sovereign escaped, who knew whether he could resist their might? It was a lopsided agreement that heavily disadvantaged the Demonic Sovereign in the long run.

But considering the Demonic Sovereign's display of intelligence, perhaps there was something he didn't know. No, there were many things he still did not know or be certain of.

It was truly too bad he couldn't just examine the Demonic Sovereign's memories. There was so much he felt ignorant of, and even if he had bits and pieces, they just weren't clear enough. For example, the Moonfall Lunar Queen wasn't an Aberrant Demon, so was she another piece that betrayed their original master? Was she a part of the Human Sovereign's plan too?

There were far too many questions he just wasn't able to obtain answers to. He only learned of the 'game' details and made a 'deal' with the Demonic Sovereign.

Gazing down at the Stellar Nest's unique ground enveloped in chilly mist, the violet radiance had long since receded. The eyes of the Demonic Sovereign were no longer pressing against the chilly seal with passionate interest. Moreover, there was no longer any violent thumping beneath the seal of the Demonic Sovereign weakening the seal.

"At least this is a sign you trust me a little," Wei Wuyin remarked. "The All-Ending Stellar Calamity must happen. No wonder. I AM the cause."

Wei Wuyin chuckled with a carefree air. When he had learned that the Endless Voyage Realm was descending, his Eye of Truth grasped the world's trend and felt the unprecedented, inevitable arrival of a calamity. This meant it was two-fold; the Heavenly Daos had long since orchestrated the calamity and the World's Trend had just barely caught up, only showing any signs of arrival after the main cause was made aware of a single detail that would push forth that calamity.

Just this alone suggested that the Heavenly Daos were already designing the All-Ending Stellar Calamity to possess great fortune for Blessed. He intended to seize as much as he could. And if he could...

...he intended to SEIZE IT ALL!

Kree!

Wei Wuyin's attention was attracted by Bai Lin's soft cry. She stared at Wei Wuyin with a single eye, revealing a strong emotion of yearning. The sight brought him back to the present. With a warm smile, he nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go save our kindred spirit," Wei Wuyin pressed his hand toward the air. A Void Portal manifested. The faint aura of elemental forces and the scent of blood emanated from it. In his alternative life's timeline, he was unable to do this. It led to unimaginable tragedy, soul-deep pain, and immense regret.

In this life, he wielded absolute control over the entirety of space and time in his territory.

In this life, he could.

Kree!

Wei Wuyin gave one last glance to Na Xinyi and Gao Tingyu. The sisters that met earlier than the others, ordained to meet by the weaving hands of the Heavenly Daos, were having a joyous reunion. The river of tears on Gao Tingyu's face was quite a moving sight for anyone.

Na Xinyi could deal with the Aberrant Demons, so he'd leave everything to her. After sending instructions on how to leave via mental transmission without relying on the Outpost, Wei Wuyin rode Bai Lin into the Void Portal. It closed soon after.

Beneath the chilly surface, vibrant violet light and a scaly silhouette slithered about. While the conversation was short, the simple act of its occurrence had stimulated events for the future. These events won't just determine the fate of the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region, but the fate of the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone.