Paragon of Sin

"This is so bothersome." A handsomely regal middle-aged man dressed in a multi-colored imperial robes flew through the Dark Void. His chiseled cheeks and sword-like brows were accompanied by a dissatisfied frown. At the moment, his eyes glinted with a vexed light. 

"This is really so bothersome," Wu Yu remarked again alongside a sigh. He rapidly blitzed through the Dark Void. He was coming up to a lunar satellite of a medium-sized planet within the Aquaguise Domain, the territory of the He Clan, one of the eight Noble Clans. With a tilted drifting maneuver, he flew at the edge of its atmosphere with frightening smoothness.

"Stop immediately!" A spiritual sound burst erupted from behind it, trembling the fixed space. A wave of incredible power ceased coming after Wu Yu, redirecting itself for free of activating the planet's defenses. 

"Yeah, sure. Give me a minute to adjust myself," Wu Yu quipped back with a faint spiritual sound burst. His body accelerated as he kept going, leaving the planet in the dust. 

A snort filled with rage echoed. Behind him, four figures flew rapidly towards him, covered in strange fluctuations that mortals were unable to visibly perceive. They were all dressed in a uniform, indicating they came from the same power. They were all wearing icy-blue heavy armor. At their front was a character inscribed with mystical runes, it read: Bing. At their center back was a sky-viewed, eight-petaled lotus forged by ice-crystals.

They were from the Bing Clan, another one of the Eight Noble Clans, and renowned for their Ice-attributed cultivators. Five years ago, one of their powerhouses, Bing Tian, had participated in the bidding war for the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill. 

Wu Yu didn't look back, calculating his route as he shifted his direction. There was an inhabited lunar satellite nearby. It'll serve as another shield. His thoughts were quite vicious, but his actions were not without warrant.

At the head of the four figures was a female figure who exuded a murderously chilly aura. If her face wasn't concealed by a helmet, it would be recognized as being Bing Tian! A genuine Demi-Mortal Lord expert! 

He was being hunted by a High-Lord! Across Domains!!!

Wu Yu was already executing the 2nd Grand Transformation, exhausting his refined Imperial Heaven Aura to increase the strength of his innate energies, amplifying his strength. The 1st Grand Transformation evolved the World Pressure of Grand Lineage cultivators into Imperial Pressure. The 2nd Grand Transformation used the Imperial Heaven Aura to increase the quality of innate energies within the Cultivator's Astral or Mystic Core. The 3rd Grand Transformation evoked the full-power of the Imperial Heaven Physique. 

He wouldn't dare use the 3rd Grand Transformation. After all, without being at the Demi-Mortal Lord himself, refining his physique to its limits, he ran the risk of exploding and dying on the spot. There wouldn't be a chance to stay as a spirit in a ring. How woeful would that be after being reborn?

One of the armored men behind Bing Tian frustratingly cried out: "How can a Venerable be so fast?" To escape from a Demi-Mortal Lord and three similarly stage cultivators. Who was this guy?!

"We're going to find out," Bing Tian's viscerally icy vocals resounded through the Dark Void. She urged her power, infusing the three with it. They simultaneously sped forward at even greater speeds.

Wu Yu's brows never lifted from their furrowed state. After sensing the outburst of power from behind him, he knew his speed was being faintly exceeded. It was only a matter of time before he was caught up to, likely captured at best, directly killed at worst. 

'This is all his fault.' With gritted teeth, he thought about unleashing the limits of his power and dealing with his pursuers. While very unlikely with a Demi-Mortal Lord on his tail, he might be able to severely injure her enough to force a retreat. 

Bup-Bup-Bup!

Just as he was about to unleash his power, he heard a strange sound from his hand. He glanced at his spatial ring to realize that it was flickering with spiritual light. He had never heard this type of sound before. The hell? 

'This is the ring he left? Another message?' Wu Yu was startled by the sudden development. He had a faint desire to ignore it. The timing wasn't great at all. However, he still held a faint fear towards the Mortal Sovereign Alchemist that had already shaken the Aeternal Sky Starfield without being present. 

Prudently, he interacted with the ring and felt the spiritual message. When he linked with the light, he found that there wasn't a message inside. The sound and light dispersed almost immediately. Openly confused, he felt an urge to toss the ring.

Those on his tail were now closer. 

However, just as he was about to turn around and release an ultimate strike, ready to use a nearby lunar satellite as a shield for his weakened state afterwards, his eyes constricted. 

"What's that?!" Those from the Bing Clan immediately noticed an abnormality in the Dark Void. Near the lunar satellite was a dot of blackness, at the edges was faint multi-colored light. It resembled…

An activated Void Gate?

Wu Yu's eyes brightened. Without even the faintest of hesitation, he abruptly shifted his direction and flew towards the Void Portal a few thousand miles from him. In the matter of a blink of an eye, he arrived. With a smug smile, he turned around and waved at Bing Tian and her subordinates. 

"See you."

He stepped into the Void Portal.

Bing Tian halted her pursuit. She wasn't going to chase after someone into an unknown Void Portal that manifested without reason, without a Void Gate in the middle of the Dark Void. It could be a spatial phenomenon with an unknown location at best, a lethal trap at worst. 

The Void Portal shivered violently before fading away. The four looked onwards, their eyes were vigilant yet blank. What just happened? 

"Why is the Bing Clan present in my He Clan's territory?!" 

A thrumming, vigorous voice quaked the immediate Dark Void's fixed space. It contained a level of terrifying power and pressure that caused the icy-blue armors of the four to tremble. Bing Tian's heart throbbed fiercely in response.

The He Clan's Earthly Saint!

-----

In the void-blank space between the United Source Starfield and the Treasured Light Starfield, there were three Venerables with their respective forces concealed near a celestial rogue of a planet, floating above their three voidships. Their ambitions were far-sighted; their greed heightened by the prospect of their boundless futures. 

It's been three full weeks since the addition of the Reaping Sword, the specialized Void Hunter association, had joined the operation. Their skills in surveying the Terra-Mystic Mine had quadrupled with skilled individuals on the task. Not only did they complete the surveying, they found the Terra-Mystic Core, the central bulk of all the Terra-Mystic Ore and therefore now knew of its full value. 

The three were gathered again, discussing their plans for excavating the ore for their uses in the quickest manner without arousing suspicion or creating too much of a commotion that might attract other Void Hunters. 

Venerable Slayingsword's eyes were in a state of perpetual excitement, unable to be concealed even in the presence of Venerable Bluecloud. "You all vastly underestimated this planet's value. This is why you should have professionals take action, not amateurs."

Venerable Bluecloud was about to speak in retaliation, but he found himself laughing before the first syllable could escape. The smile on his face was unable to be removed, so it was hard to even muster up the desire to fireback. He was just too joyful at the moment. His mood was unable to be extinguished by verbal jabs by an immature, still suckling child. 

Venerable Kun Yiming was the only one with a heavy frown, her eyes betraying her solemn thoughts. "What's the total value?" 

Venerable Slayingsword excitedly stated: "The Terra-Mystic Ore's core has the bulk of the ore, roughly forty percent of the entire mine's contents. The entire planet, if we use generous measurements, can be priced at 17,000 Mystic Stones." He started to laugh with joy.

"..." Venerable Kun Yiming.

"...!" Venerable Bluecloud. The gleeful smile was wiped off his face instantly. There was abhorrent shock in his expression. He stuttered out, completely unbefitting of his Venerable title, "Seve-Seven-Seventeen thousand?!"

Venerable Slayingsword laughed, nodding with a triumphant smile. He was completely unaware of the shifts in the other two.

Venerable Kun Yiming placed her hands on the void, pressing against it as if it was a solid, flat surface. Her delicate hands tensed. 

"I...think…" Venerable Bluecloud was older, more experienced. The total value of this planet far, far exceeded their estimations. If his knowledge wasn't failing him, this planet sat at the third largest Terra-Mystic Mine in the entire Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.

A bloody war? No. Chaos would descend across the entire Stellar Region! Death. Violence. Blood. It would be endless. 

He audibly gulped.

Venerable Slayingsword realized the atmosphere had shifted. His expression started to calm down as he frowned, "We can just do this quietly, efficiently. As long as we…"

"We need Mystical Oaths," Venerable Kun Yiming said suddenly. 

"I concur," Venerable Bluecloud echoed her sentiment. 

Shocking Venerable Slayingsword into confusion. Was things so drastic that these measures needed to be taken? But when he looked at their eyes glinting with the utmost solemn light, he decided to nod in acceptance. He was a little too young to understand the consequences of this news escaping out. 

If they hadn't already locked down all news, all spiritual transmissions on the planet, they might consider slaughtering everyone on the planet and taking this slow, very, very slow. Still, their gaps of security must be dealt with swiftly. 

Just as they were discussing the details to which they and their subordinates will systematically swear oaths to, a fluctuation nearby grasped their taut, sensitive spiritual senses. There was a faint pressure and surging spatial ripples.

It was unable to be ignored. 

They soared out instantly. The three Venerables looked to the distance and saw a black dot, perhaps a sphere, manifest alongside faint multi-colored light at its edges. Their hearts simultaneously sank. What type of spatial phenomenon was this?

Venerable Slayingsword remarked, "A Void Gate? A Void Portal?" They had never seen a naturally occuring Void Gate, but their hearts sank even deeper. They glanced at each other.

A single thought echoed simultaneously through their minds.

Void Voyage Sect?

Woosh! 

A multi-colored robed figure was thrown out of the Void Portal, spinning around rather embarrassingly. After a brief moment of hectic movement, they oriented themselves rather skillfully. After patting their robes to remove the wrinkles, the appearance of a handsome middle-aged figure was revealed to the three. 

The Void Portal behind him vanished.

The figure looked around, noticing the nearby planet, the area that lacked the influence of a Solar Star, and the three voidships that were concealed by various formations a few thousand miles away. If he wasn't visibly seeing it, he might miss it in his spiritual senses if he wasn't looking for it. 

He realized even the planet felt odd, as if it was concealed deeply. To add, he felt the auras of three cultivators at the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Soul of Mysticism Phase. 

"Odd," Wu Yu said. Where was Wei Wuyin? Just as the Grand Monarch's thoughts reached this point, he felt a surge of intense killing intent.. His expression changed.