In the sky of the Imperial Sky, Wei Wuyin posed with a beauty held tightly with one arm and his other reaching out toward the sky. The shimmering rune on his glabella flooded the world with void light, indistinct and inscrutable as it was, and a pulsating aura of unfathomable depth originated from his body. The aura attached itself to the ambient world.
It wasn't touching the folds of the Ancient Sealed Regions. The aura was slowly integrating with the Endless Void Mirror that the Ancient Sealed Region resided in! If the Endless Voyage Realm was a carved-out realm within a dimensional layer of space-the world within the folds, then the world beyond the folds was none other than the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone and the vast world beyond while the Ancient Sealed Region was the world beneath the folds!
The Endless Void Mirror was the cage! The Endless Void Mirror was its protector! The Endless Void Mirror was everywhere and everything.
The vast starry sky beyond was nothing but emulated space that others couldn't bypass. An Earthly Saint could travel for thousands of years and only ever travel in a circle, only ever going around the edges!
Wei Wuyin's eyes shone like blazing, blinding stars as he communed with the Endless Void Mirror.
"What is...happening?" Hu Meifang was stunned. She observed the surroundings in disbelief and a tinge of fear. Meanwhile, Zhangjie Wushu's gaze was distant and astonished. Her thoughts were wildly flowing as she observed the situation. She was intimately familiar with formations and arrays, and the Endless Void Mirror was a tool at its core, composed of the most magnificent formations that allowed it to become a Heavenly Treasure, touching upon the profoundly elusive concepts of Three Thousand Realms of Laws and Heavenly Resonance.
From her perspective, Wei Wuyin was branding the Endless Void Mirror!
"Branding!!"
Liu Yinlan's heart pounded ferociously. Her pupils widened and her ample chest heaved up and down as she couldn't control her breathing that gradually grew increasingly heavy by disbelief and confusion. Within a short few moments-
In the Twin Beacon Territory, Su Nianzu's helmet shook as his armored head snapped upwards and then around himself sporadically. Two glowing lights blasted from his helmet as if he was observing the world so intensely it might be mistakenly considered as a peerlessly nude woman.
"What's wrong?!" Su Nianzu's reaction caused Jia Yang to take a step back.
"..." Su Nianzu was trembling at this point. He turned his gaze toward Wei Wuyin's location.
It was so swift that he didn't suffer any backlash. There was no spewing of copious amounts of blood or staggering with extreme weakness. It just...happened.
Subconsciously, he brought out the command talisman for the Endless Void Mirror that granted him a degree of control over its vast powers of a Heavenly Treasure forged by beings at the peak of the Mystic Ascendant Realm!
Stellar Nest, Outpost.
Xu You may have been turned into a Soldier of War, but his bloodline, true soul, and innate talents had remained, only augmented by the profoundly forceful laws of the Law of War imbued within the Nexus War Flag, claiming everything as spoils. He wasn't dead. Neither was Xun Yicao, which was why the life talisman had never shattered and so he too felt a very similar feeling as Liu Yinlan and Su Nianzu. It was as if something severed his intangible link to the world.
Back to Liu Yinlan, she, too, felt that feeling on a fundamental level. It was done so flawlessly that she didn't feel pain, only an emptiness.
"What did you do?!" Liu Yinlan shouted at Wei Wuyin. There was no anger in her tone, only frustrated curiosity. When a figure like Wei Wuyin existed, as unfathomable as the stars and mysterious as the world itself, it was very difficult to muster true anger.
"I've removed all forms of bloodline link, eliminating a weakness born by the Ascended Sovereigns' indecision. From henceforth, the Endless Void Mirror-" Wei Wuyin's body turned as his eyes geysering with void light landed on Liu Yinlan's slender frame from above.
HUM!!!
Within the former region known as the Aeternal Sky Starfield, endless spatial ripples attracted the attention of every last being within. Even if they couldn't see, even if they were a newborn infant, they turned their gazes and hushed their voices in a single direction!
Zhangjie Wushu, Hu Meifang, Liu Yinlan, Liu Xiulan, Su Nianzu, Wu Yu, Ma Zheng, and every last expert of the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region watched with held breath and pounding hearts as a slender, scaly, and silver figure pierced through the veil of space, appearing beside Imperial Sky like a fish swimming in the Dark Void. Its opened serpentine gaze eyed the Imperial Sky.
Liu Yinlan's heart was no longer just pounding, but on the verge of explosion as the Void Wyrm showed itself! Moreover, it was fully awake!!!
She and those beside her bore witness to Wei Wuyin standing with Liu Suyin in his arms, his eyes shining with the intensity of a divinity, as the Void Wyrm swam behind him painting a soul-seizing image. Its sharp pupils aligned perfectly with Wei Wuyin's figure.
Then, its head dipped as if bowing to its master.
"-is mine."
The declaration was uttered with an unequivocal tone!
Wei Wuyin's silver eyes gradually dimmed as the Void Wyrm's tail flicked lightly across space, slowly moving as it imperceptibly vanished into the void.
"..."
The world could finally breathe. Sweat dripped down from the Ascended beings across the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region's backs, and Wu Yu was no exception! A fully Awakened Void Wyrm's aura was pervasive and intimidating, carrying the strength of an entity at the peak of the Mystic Ascendant Realm!
Liu Suyin dug deeper into Wei Wuyin's embrace. Her nose wiggled as if she was breathing in a familiar, comforting scent, and a gentle smile immersed in good dreams formed on her lips. Wei Wuyin's head lowered as his gaze softened and suffused with a distinct warmth. She had this very smile on her face while she laid atop him that day. It felt as if she was finally at peace.
"Look at you," Wei Wuyin whispered as he took a deep, much-needed inhaling breath and exhaled, expelling out all his build-up turbid emotions that were weighing him down. He briefly glanced at his right arm.
He slowly landed back on Imperial Sky's surface. The quintet of Rune Kings and World Emperors-Hu Meifang, Tian Xiaocheng, Zhangjie Wushu, Liu Yinlan, and Liu Xiulan-followed instinctively, finding themselves around Wei Wuyin without much thought or consideration.
"How?" asked Zhangjie Wushu. This one-worded question encapsulated many, many other questions. However, she was fully aware that, well, there was no doubt about it, but Wei Wuyin had seized control of The Spirit that was the Void Wyrm and the Endless Void Mirror, and Liu Yinlan's bloodline connection was most assuredly severed.
With this, the sinister plan that Tian Taizong and Liu Xiulan built on for likely twenty thousand years had crumbled into dust. Moreover, that Blood Clone of theirs to emulate a Liu Yinlan, the so-called Tian Xiaolu that was mentioned earlier, was no longer relevant or usable. She could no longer be sacrificed to create a gap within the Endless Void Mirror and forge a hidden escape.
There was no longer a backdoor!
And she understood why!
The Ascended Sovereigns back then had created the Endless Void Mirror together. This made ownership of the treasure extremely difficult to determine, especially given that it was a Heavenly Treasure of incredible powers relating to space, time, and the Void. As such, they took an off-handed approach as they acted as 'administrators' with equal authority and appointed 'moderators' like Liu Yinlan and Su Nianzu who handled specific aspects of the Endless Void Mirror to regulate, protect, and repair damage.
For example, Liu Yinlan couldn't shuttle individuals to and fro the World Beyond to the Endless Voyage Realm. That was something only the City of Voyage's 'moderator' could do!
That was Xu You!
This meant that the Endless Void Mirror didn't have any true owner. Moreover, none of the Ascended Sovereigns had any rights greater than the other, and they couldn't act without the other's permission. This type of restriction allowed the sanctity of their game to be intact and uncorrupted by any of them.
This also left a glaring weakness as they needed something to recognize proof of authority, so they resorted to using the bloodline as the deciding factor. Wei Wuyin had turned this shared treasure without a true owner into a treasure with one-only one, establishing himself as a sole administrator!
Moreover, the Ascended Sovereigns were fully aware of the dangers of allowing someone with the powers of Laws to oversee the Endless Void Mirror given its strength that was forged by the united efforts of all of them, so they restricted the peak cultivation to Worldly Saints, one cultivation stage short of involving the principles of Laws!
Would the Ascended Sovereigns realize the link had been severed? Of course! But they still might not involve themselves because doing so would mean a forfeit of whatever game they played!
Wei Wuyin could feel his control of the Endless Void Mirror. With it in his palms, he could better utilize his Laws of Time and Space. If he wanted, he could hide the entirety of the Endless Void Mirror and all its contents, the Endless Voyage Realm, the Ancient Sealed Region, every Void Nestling Realm, and the Stellar Nest into the Void.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that Wei Wuyin as a True Void Dragon with Minor Authority of Space and Time could utilize this treasure to its fullest potential, greater than the Ascended Sovereigns at the moment they created it ever could!
Wei Wuyin didn't answer Zhangjie Wushu's question. Instead, he gave Liu Yinlan a look. "Your oaths should be invalidated. Without control of the Endless Void Mirror, you're no longer bound by it. In fact, the Endless Void Mirror could be considered, at this very moment, an entirely different Treasure."
Liu Yinlan's pupils constricted. She hurriedly checked her soul and discovered several oaths dissolving just like the oath that prevented her from directly entering or interfering with the Ancient Sealed Region after the Endless Voyage Realm was devoured by the Spatial Vortex, eradicated out of existence.
After all, how could you oversee and guard something that no longer existed?! What oath could enforce such a requirement? Was she to be bound to nothingness? In a way, she was. And while she couldn't leave the Ancient Sealed Region, she was capable of entering it now!
Just like then, her oaths that pertained to acting as a moderator until otherwise determined by the Ascended Sovereigns or the replacement of a younger True Destined Voyager and Sect Master candidate had begun to vanish as the unseen arbiter of Mythical Oaths deemed them unable to be completed and she was aware of it!
Wei Wuyin turned to Tian Xiaocheng, "Tian Xiaolu can live her life as her own. She's no longer a usable pawn for someone else's ends."
"..." Tian Xiaocheng was unable to fathom what Wei Wuyin had done, but his words sparked a wave of cascading emotions to smash against her heart. She touched her stomach, an act that caused Liu Xiulan's eyes to flicker, and her eyes grew wet as hot tears fell. She held her mouth as she contained a choked sob.
Wei Wuyin sighed. He didn't do any of this for Tian Xiaolu or Tian Xiaocheng. Well, that's not completely true; he could have waited as he originally planned to do, using this as an unexpected trump card against any potential foes like the Ascended Sovereigns, but he decided to do it earlier.
With the Ascended Sovereigns now alerted, he could already anticipate a few outcomes that weren't possible before. He looked in a certain direction.
The elderly man of the Blessed Yri Empire was seated cross-legged as he meditated on the Necros Intent that he acquired. Since obtaining what he wanted from Trueborn, he hadn't paid anything beyond the slightest attention, not even the Void Wyrm's appearance. Suddenly, however, his eyes opened.
Young Master Shang was off to the side, on a wicker chair, drinking wine, drunk as could be, and humming a delightful tone from his world. The drunkenness in his eyes vanished abruptly and he stared at the ceiling, his gaze piercing across time and space.
The elderly man glanced at Young Master Shang. "Shall I deal with this?"
"How domineering," Young Master Shang commented lightly. "Whatever. Go and tell them we have nothing to do with their treasure being tampered with. And make sure they don't disturb our mission. After all, our empire hangs in the balance."
Then, the drunkenness returned to his gaze as he took another carefree sip, reciting a piece of poetry.
"Yes," the elderly man slowly rose to a standing position as he glanced in Wei Wuyin's direction with a smile. This young man truly knew how to use his power of Minor Authority. The young and being drunk with any sort of power. It seemed the brazenness and recklessness described by the Young Mistress was true. With a flicker, he vanished.
When his figure escaped the bindings of the Ancient Sealed Region with ease, his soul seal came undone as several spiritual senses bore upon him and an incredibly tyrannical aura erupted outward.
The entire Azure-Prime Galactic Zone violently trembled!
