At the outskirts of the Pentastar Cluster, the border of its Void-Blank Space, directly outside of the Unchained World Aegis Array's sensory range and spatial restrictive influence, a series of distortions occurred within the depths of fixed space. The distortions kept occurring until they stabilized into consistent concentric waves of disturbed space.
PIERCE!
At the epicenter of these spatial waves, an object pierced throughout with world-bending force. The object resembled a heap of iron, barely tempered to possess an edge, almost too large to be considered a sword, yet it emanated an unparalleled sharpness. When it emerged, the ripples sped up and the external flow of Chaos Mana surged toward it as if it was water to an unfillable hole.
Soon, the object was pushed out further, revealing more of its unreasonably gigantic sword body.
Puh!
A soft, strange sound resounded as the sword flew out of the distortions alongside its wielder, a black-robed, masked figure. They held the sword's barbaric hilt with two hands, looking back as their chest area heaved up and down chaotically and forcefully.
"Hu!" A heavy series of inhales and exhales later, the figure found its stability and floated across the Dark Void with the sword in hand. They turned to look back at the Pentastar Cluster that had changed drastically in this short period. While it had been taken over by a clandestine organization, this organization's dominant position was short-lived as they were deeply crushed.
With the Shadow Eggs seized, a large portion of their Earthly Saints captured, the heavy expenditure of resources used to structure strongholds, establish Secret Realms, and maintain the strength of their cultivators, the Unchained Heart Sect that had once been the multi-factional Trueborn, ran by a single supreme leader, was neutered ruthlessly.
"And all by a single mortal," the figure emotionally said with a 'tsk' and then sighed. "In the end, I can no longer use this false identity to gain any benefits. They've already started to force new Mythical Oaths on others, and I can't stay for fear of being found out. It's best to discard this identity. How unfortunate; Trueborn might be a garbage existence tainting the world, but their resource acquisition abilities and internal reward system were top-tier."
The figure reached out and grabbed their mask, removing it. A malevolent face of an aged figure was revealed. It was gaunt, sharp-chinned, and relatively ugly as various thick black veins protruded from the lower and middle areas of his face. Their thin lips were in a frown and remarked with a rocky, unpleasant voice, "This bastard did have good taste in women though."
If the Trueborn members familiar with various identities of their agents were to see this face, they would recognize it as Shun Bao. Shun Bao was a statistical miracle; he had overcome the limitations of the Mystic Star Phase associated failure, assailing the Second Ascension a second time to success after countless years of hard work and effort, including Trueborn's support.
He had used any and every method to acquire lifespan to challenge it again, especially resorting to certain Evil Methods that used the latent vitality within human and beast essence blood. After his successful ascension, he grew increasingly active amongst Trueborn's agents, and loyally acquired a relatively high position in his Shadow Egg.
He had been making preparations to refine an astonishing Physique using an ancient method found by one of his earlier victims, and then strive to become a Demi-Mortal Lord. He spent three thousand years of his life towards this goal, diligently and cautiously cultivating to do so. He was an Evil Cultivator of the vilest sort, but he was also a cultivator with a remarkable Heart of Cultivation and exceptional means developed over years upon years of self-taught lessons, having countless life-saving measures that would make a Demi-Mortal Lord dizzy.
Unfortunately…
The figure touched the edges of this face with rich history, slowly pulling off the edges of their skin as if it was sticky paper.
"Ha!" After a yank, a new face was unveiled: A handsome face with sharp, defined features with a few old scars that served to highlight his looks, bestowing him a war-like feeling, sword-like eyebrows, short black hair, and a glint of evil light within his pupils. The light was berserking with a tinge of madness, clearly a result of external power.
This was a cultivator that Wei Wuyin was still searching for to this day!
The Evil Blessed, Yun Che!
"Well," Yun Che cleared his throat and sighed wistfully, "at least it was beneficial while it lasted." Yun Che had taken Shun Bao's identity after they got into a conflict. It was a hard-fought victory, one of the hardest battles Yun Che had ever faced. It wasn't because Shun Bao was overwhelmingly strong, but his external means were simply greater than the typical cultivator. Even after being defeated, he nearly escaped and was only slaughtered after a full month of being hunted down.
There was a strong emotional light of nostalgia in Yun Che's eyes as he recalled his encounter and subsequent slaughter of Shun Bao. Many of Shun Bao's escape methods, spells, and arts were adopted by him and improved each thanks to his talent. They had allowed Yun Che to escape from extremely compromising situations or overcome difficult enemies. And his high position within Trueborn had given him access to dense knowledge and exceptional resources.
As for the mask, it was an ancient tool used by an assassin of the past era, long before the Sealed Regions had formed, and it was called the Thousand Faces of Man, capable of copying and perfectly emulating a cultivator's aura, lifespan fluctuations, cultivation base, and if it absorbed a cultivator's body, can even grasp mannerisms from movement to tells with abnormal efficiency. It was the perfect tool for espionage, assisting him in escaping.
This was his first fortune in this life. A life that was before was one riddled with misfortune, hatred, despair, and depression. It helped him seek out benefits far beyond his means, and with its innate fate-obstructing rune, not even Heavenly Seers could expose him.
His first act of using this mask was on an abusive sect elder of his first sect, one that couldn't even be considered a silver-rank force by old standards, but it was still a massive force on the continent he lived on. The elder had died from his injuries after fighting against his enemies, and Yun Che, as his enslaved servant tasked with serving his daily needs was the first to find him, including this mask.
Supposedly, it was acquired by the elder in the battle where he sustained his life-ending injuries. Yun Che had thoughts of first seizing any essence stones in the elder's possession, hiding them, and then reporting his demise. While this could lead to his death, he was desperate, but the mask was found instead and it absorbed the elder's body. After being briefly stunned, he heard footsteps and instinctively put on the mask, fully embodying the visage and habits of the Elder.
He soon acquired power, position, respect, and treasures beyond his means, and due to his high cultivation base relative to his location, no one dared to challenge him without absolute confidence. A life of luxury and fortune was attained then and there.
And while a series of accidents and misfortunes later caused him to abandon that identity, the mask still allowed him to obtain exceptionally high benefits by posing as others. The latest was Shun Bao, a loyal and hardworking Evil Cultivator of Trueborn. Yun Che hadn't known about his Trueborn identity until he was called upon by the Trueborn mask's spiritual transmission function.
For the last two hundred years, he had adopted Shun Bao's identity alongside a few others and expertly gained endless benefits and resources. Unfortunately, and abruptly, a Fire Phoenix attacked his Shadow Egg while he was cultivating, and he was stunned by the assault.
Given how exceptionally profound Trueborn was, this was unbelievable. But shortly after, in a short two decades after the Shadow Egg's demise, Trueborn was changing their modus operandi and acted to establish a stronghold, and this action exposed them to being plotted against and outright checkmated by a mere mortal, cornered and objectively defeated.
It was truly a sight to behold.
"I should hurry to set the Void Point," Yun Che finally dismissed his distracting thoughts as he shot off into the Void-Blank Space, tossing Trueborn's mask out without hesitation. He was abandoning it all. After traveling for three days, he found a lone fragment of planetary debris, large enough to be a continent, and landed on it.
He brought out various spatial tools and flag-like objects before beginning to etch a series of esoteric runes everywhere. Soon, a multi-circular symbol formed that resembled the runes on a Void Gate.
This was a temporary Void Gate, otherwise known as a Void Point. Most of the time, a Void Gate was a one-sided usage, where the Void Gate connected through fixed space using stable spatial tunnels that were unseeable and non-interactable to most. Then, a cultivator could just travel through an active portal and exit from the other side.
While the Void Gates of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region weren't true Void Gates that used Void Energy, they were built on the concept which is why they were far more effective when using Void Energy, so while they were Spatial Portals, the society still refers to them as Void Portals.
Of course, there was a way besides using Void Energy to enhance its effectiveness and abilities, and that was by connecting two Void Gates. Wei Wuyin applied this method when using his Void Portals, and uses Void Anchors instead of Void Points. By using this method, certain Spatially Restrictive Formations and Arrays can be bypassed.
Fortunately, the Unchained World Aegis Array was weakened thanks to Wei Wuyin's assault, so it wasn't functioning at full power. Because of this, a Void Point can be used to bypass its current restrictions and sensory abilities. That said, a Void Point was still necessary and the restriction was continuously present, so Yun Che had to slice into space and escape forcefully using the Heretical Berserk Godsword.
After forming a few hand-seals, the brilliant light erupted out of the Void Point, sprinkling multicolored light onto the continent. Then, a Spatial Portal formed.
"About time," a voice resounded from the other side. From the Spatial Portal, three figures walked out. They were not wearing Trueborn's masks, clearly unwilling to be tracked through them. At the forefront of this group, there was a tall, slender woman with waist-length periwinkle-colored hair. She was beautiful by all accounts, capable of collapsing the willpower of countless men, and next to her was a shorter, more ordinarily-looking woman with short-length, darkly colored hair and a chubby man with plump cheeks and an amicable, nearly foolish smile.
Yun Che looked at the taller woman and faintly grinned.
"Brother Shun, I seriously thought you were going to abandon us." The chubby man rubbed his belly, his eyes squinted into lines and a worrisome smile. "Fortunately, you understand brotherly love."
Yun Che ignored him, looking at the taller woman, "Xia Yurou, our deal is finished. Understand?"
The beautiful woman by the name of Xia Yurou nodded, "It is."
"Good. My debt is paid," After saying this, Yun Che turned away. This woman had learned of his true identity as an imposter by some unknown method and was the former Yin Cauldron of Shun Bao. She wasn't initially a high-leveled cultivator, but after she leveraged her knowledge with a few tricks, Yun Che was forced to assist her in cultivation. Now, she was at the Realm World Phase of the Astral Core Realm and was even capable of acquiring a Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill from him.
The other two were allies she developed along the way, gathered by circumstance, loyalty, and trust. They were her trusted cultivators who had little to no association with Trueborn. They were called Xia Wugou, her adoptive sister, and Fen Wuya, a 'false' Ascended being that owed her his life.
"Where do you plan on going?" Xia Yurou asked with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
Yun Che's footsteps paused, looking in the direction of the Aeternal Sky Starfield. "I still have something to reclaim," he coolly said before flying upwards, but he eventually stopped and tossed a transmission jade to Xia Yurou who caught it with surprise on her face. He continued, "If you find yourself in any trouble, use that. I'll at least avenge you if you die."
WOOSH!
He didn't stay and shot off, leaving the trio behind.
Xia Yurou's eyes were glued to the transmission jade for a long time, eventually breathing out a soft sigh.
"Big Sis, where will we go now?" Xia Wugou asked, her voice delicate, gentle, and innocent. Their true pillar of support, Yun Che, a true Ascended being, had just left after securing their escape from the heinous fate of staying at Trueborn without his protection.
Xia Yurou wore a strong, steeled expression as she lifted her gaze and seriously contemplated that question. Where will they go?
