Paragon of Sin

Chapter 1983: The Slaughter Across the Battlefield; A Door

The legion moved in a flawlessly coordinated march. Their spiritual strength coalesced together, pulsing intermittently with each step. The spirituality surged in all eight directions, sensing all foreign entities and auras with remarkable precision while combining their senses. An acute coordinated sensory spell that was effective even in the spiritually oppressive lands of the Ascendant Battlefield, a sign of extraordinary spiritual strength.

If an enemy neared, concealed or otherwise, they would be met with a swift assault. Fortunately for most, the commotion of their march was enough to alert those ahead to flee. A legion possessed at minimum 10,000 Soldiers and Commanders, and this was a trained unit with peerless momentum with each step. Only fools would throw their lives away.

And some were indeed foolish as they hid in ambush or fear, hoping to evade the legion's march and target weaker enemies. Most of these were either smaller groups or skilled and confident individuals. Those who were Blessed were directly captured, while those who weren't were ignored. The clashes were incredibly brief, with each Spirit of War possessing a Heavenly Saint Phase level of cultivation and access to the Minor War Law, even other Original Magistrates couldn't even run particularly far.

The only Blessed that were spared were those within the camp he was placed in. He had no intention of violating rules and attacking allies that were in hiding. As for those allies, his Identity Rune declared his army as the 44th Army of the Outer-Cosmic. According to Tilly, the 44th Outer Zone that they landed in, which was the default designation of the headquarters for the army, was invaded and destroyed, causing only remnants to remain.

She had checked her own information network and learned that quite a few Entry Moderators had reported how the 44th, 67th, and 91st armies were slaughtered to bare bones. They had advised each other to avoid those regions when bringing prominent, likeable members to the Outer Ascendant Battlefield of War. Moreover, there were signs of the 3rd, 17th, and 18th armies of imminent collapse. These were all within the zone of the Cosmic. The Cosmic Zone oversaw the Utmost Purity Galaxy.

While it was said to contain the Utmost Purity Galaxy's cultivators, the Utmost Purity Galaxy was a greater galaxy, which was an amalgamation of multiple galaxies merged into a single galaxy of grand scale far beyond the natural limit. The entirety of the Utmost Purity Galaxy's cultivators from their seven Galactic Zones, which individually could be dozens of average galaxies in one in terms of magnitude, were here from multiple generations.

Tilly was in awe as she rode on a black steel warhorse that moved as if it was a living, breathing horse. It was vividly animated, exuding a mighty physical presence, and Tilly was in utter awe at its bearing. Her amazement wasn't only due to the warhorse, but the legion of soldiers that marched behind them. Her eyes moved between the horse, the legion, and the sanguine flag that Wei Wuyin held in one hand while controlling the reins of the horse in the other.

"Is-is that the War Talisman?" Her curiosity soon gave way as she voiced her long-held question.

Wei Wuyin slightly turned his head, "You recognize it?" He asked as the sanguine flag was far from its usual appearance, especially the insignia on it that was of eighteen dragons dancing around an upright saber aiming towards the heavens. It was a unique motif of his, different from the cauldron or Neo-Dawn Empire's insignia.

Tilly shook her head, "Not really, but I've heard rumors about the War Talisman of Champions!" She grew oddly excited after Wei Wuyin indirectly admitted to its identity, "The War Talisman! It's one of the most valuable items the Battlefield has to offer, only inferior to the Obelisk of War and the World-Defying Celestial Heart said to grant one a second life! It's supposed to be able to summon armies at will, forged from Spirits of War, or Variants of Spirits of Dao! I've always wondered how they looked! I can't believe you have one!"

She was practically gushing at the end, her eyes sparkling like the most brilliant stars. "Wait," she was struck suddenly, "how do you have one?"

Wei Wuyin laughed heartily, "I earned it, of course."

"Earned it?" Tilly was stunned. The only way was to become a Champion, which was harder than one could possibly imagine, and the bare minimum was to enter the Nexus Battlefield and survive. Which, by every right, was outright impossible! No, improbable? Since Wei Wuyin achieved it...right?

"When I was younger, not even a hundred years old, I was forcefully pulled into the Nexus Battlefield after I dominated the Stellar Battlefield of War. I earned enough merit from conquering the Nexus Battlefield and bought one. It only allowed me to buy one. How stingy," Wei Wuyin remarked as nostalgia tugged at his lips, forming a smile of deep remembrance.

Back then, he was effectively blind, and he was pulled, not only to the Battlefield, evaded his true karmic fortune and entered the Battlefield of War, and then performed outstandingly enough to be forced into the Nexus Battlefield. An impetus for his conquests across the stars was due to that mysterious woman that boldly declared that she was his woman. Now, here he was, having etched out a territory of his own in a greater galaxy, ready to claim what was his by her own words.

His smile deepened into a smirk.

"What?!" Tilly visibly reeled.

"WHAT?!" Tilly's eyes widened uncontrollably as disbelief erupted like a supernova.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Eventually, she nearly jumped off the horse. Wei Wuyin gently moved his hand to correct her posture behind him, keeping her steady on the horse.

"Calm," he voiced.

Her rising heart rate was on the verge of causing her heart to rocket out of her chest. That single word was enough to pull the plug of an incoming heart attack. She took several deep breaths, exhaling out each shock with closed eyes. When she opened her eyes, she saw a squad of Soldiers of War chase down a group of ninety-odd cultivators.

The chase was abnormally swift, and they were all captured. After a brief interaction when bringing them back, she witnessed a female Soldier of War place her hand on each of their heads, and upon doing so, she would indicate for execution, capture, or release. Those killed had their bodies engulfed by a sanguine radiance both they vanished entirely.

Wei Wuyin observed this and sensed his sanguine stars within Athena's Heaven's Gate pulse slightly. Since Athena was no different than Little Defiant in regards to being a part of his cultivation base, the Soldiers of War she conjured were no longer an independent object or persons, but directly connected to his soul and karmic ties. Each Soldier of War's kill was a kill that was his spoils of war.

He no longer had to kill them himself to claim them.

'Not a single sinner amongst them,' Wei Wuyin's eyes sharply narrowed as his thoughts churned at this development.

After Tilly calmed down entirely, she stared at Wei Wuyin with great admiration. "You're him! The one who broke the stalemate and conquered the Nexus Battlefield!"

"Him? You make it sound like I'm the only one who has to do so," Wei Wuyin joked as his mood adjusted.

"You are! YOU ARE!" Tilly exploded with zeal.

"What?" Wei Wuyin turned to her in confusion.

"YEAH! You're the ONLY person to succeed in history! THE ONLY PERSON! No, there were others. But according to the rumors I've heard, there was a single soldier that shattered the stalemate of the Nexus Stellar Battlefield that lasted for what felt like an eternity! Some had recordings of the battle, but it was too pricey, so I couldn't afford it. Since only those who bought it had the rights to view it, I could only hear faint rumors of what happened." Tilly's words caught Wei Wuyin off-guard. He immediately recalled Ancient Zenith's words: "I have the Marks of War and tributes prepared, all to enter the Inner region. I hope the Combatants will usher their group far under their lead, potentially entering the Nexus Galactic Battlefield, and meeting up with everyone else, the main Combatants."

Wei Wuyin furrowed his brow, "Has none of the Nexus Battlefields been conquered across the Stellar, Ascendant, and Galactic?"

Tilly was taken aback, "What? The Nexus Ascendant and Nexus Galactic Battlefield have been conquered before. However, the Nexus Stellar Battlefield has not. There were said to be many waves of soldiers with hopes of achieving this, and countless forces from beyond the Battlefield sent endless talents over. However, despite sending them in again and again, at least every two or so millennia, they never could conquer it."

"Ah," Wei Wuyin felt that made sense. "Wait," he paused, "Do you mean across the entirety of all zones?"

"There's only three Nexus Battlefields," Tilly succinctly answered.

The Nexus Battlefields were the ultimate congregation of galaxies, those from the Onestar Galaxy could interact with those from the Treasured Vale Galaxy, even fight and die alongside them.

Wei Wuyin thought about Jing Jiu, the Blessed that he had slayed all those years ago. According to his karmic fortune trajectory, he should have returned after ascending to the Mystic Ascendant Realm and championed a cause to gather the scattered forces and attempt to conquer the Nexus Battlefield. Then, Wei Wuyin thought that his thinking was too narrow-minded. Who was to say Jing Jiu was the first Blessed to attempt it.

In fact, he might not even be the ten-thousandth Blessed to make the attempt.

He might have failed in the end. And when he thought of the strength of Zhan Zheng's legion at the time, a brief mental estimation of his yielded a very low chance of success unless he wielded the strength of a top-tier World Emperor as a Highlord, two entire stages above.

It's possible; Su Yi was considered to have had the strength of a Worldly Saint Phase cultivator as a Demi-Mortal Lord Phase cultivator during his rise. But even then...

Unless there was a potential congregation of multiple Blessed of similar caliber. After all, the Nexus Battlefield was disgustingly oppressive. Wei Wuyin was effectively blinded there, genuinely so, despite being able to wield his Spiritual Strength freely in the Inner Stellar Battlefield back then. To overcome that, he had to unleash his four

thirteen-ringed Soul Idols all at once.

Even then, it wasn't an easy fight.

Was the Nexus Stellar Battlefield too difficult or were the challengers simply too weak? In his opinion, it was overwhelmingly the former. Tilly's reaction no longer surprised him. However, as his thoughts gathered towards that, his eyes felt as if there were hidden undercurrents in this Nexus Stellar Battlefield.

'Could there be a Supreme Seer or multiple Supreme Seers attempting to complete the Nexus Battlefield? Why else would the Heavenly Daos continuously send Blessed to their deaths. That's counter to its logic. Risk is different from certain death.' Wei Wuyin concluded that someone was deliberately manipulating the incoming flow of talents, including Blessed in hopes to complete the Nexus Stellar Battlefield.

But...why?

A great scheme?

With a sporadic thought, he asked Tilly: "Does anything happen if all three Nexus Battlefields are conquered?"

"Does anything happen?" Tilly was confused. And then-it struck. "I don't know for sure, but when I was a little girl, my mentor once mentioned a door that required true conquest to appear. If all the Nexus Battlefields were conquered, I guess that would be true conquest? I don't know about this door, though. I might be misremembering too," she furrowed her brows tightly as she tried to recall.

"A door..." Wei Wuyin muttered under his breath.

Whatever was happening here, he was bound to find out soon. After all, he intended to enter the Galactic Battlefield himself. If anyone should know, he could only think of Ancient Zenith. He would ask her then.