Crimson Blade's bellowing vocal roar was met with mixed reactions and responses. The members of the Abyss of Blades steadied themselves as they used their Spatial Power to anchor themselves and braced themselves for impact or any incoming enemy. Others were vigilant, expanding their Spiritual Sense instinctively despite being warned otherwise, and their expression stiffened as a mass of luminous white glow dominated their gaze. They were dazed.
A few instantly activated all of their defensive treasures and sought comfort in the strongest members of their galactic zone. These were mostly the Demi-Mortal Lords and Rune Kings.
The mixed reactions caused a splinter in the group's once cohesive formation surrounding the Minor Elysium.
"IDIOTS!" Violet Sea snarled. The White Abyss was renowned for being a place forbidden for the usage of Spiritual Sense, and even Ocular Spiritual Spells needed to be reined in to an absolute limit while observing the hazy white. If not, this would happen!
Additionally, the most dangerous event of the White Abyss was its environmental dangers and losing one's sense of direction! If they were knocked off course and lost their guide, dealing with incoming dangers would be the least of their worries, and they could be lost in the vast unknown of the White Abyss-potentially, forever.
Those from the Violet Sea were amongst those who anchored themselves spatially after Crimson Blade's Roar. They seemed to have been thoroughly instructed on the proper technique, and while these Abyssal Overlords weren't negligent at all in detailing the dangers and proper responses, it was simply a matter of instinctual response and self-preservation at facing the unknown.
Grey Rose's expression twisted as she saw most of those dazed amongst the Abyss of Tranquility. Her eyes flashed with panic as she considered making a move, but Fairy Silence's stern gaze caused her next step to cease altogether. She gritted her teeth, staying near the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint and his wives-the main priority.
While everything seemed to take a long time to describe, the events occurred simultaneously and near-instantaneously. Furthermore, the rate of perception for Mystic Overlords, those at the Ascended Saint Phase of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, was at a passive level that exceeded Heavenly Saints in their Heavenly Radiance State.
Each subsequent stage of cultivation came with a remarkable increase in abilities, and their rate of perception was a large reason for their nigh-invincibility and strength to those beneath their stage. The chasm between the Heavenly Saint and Ascendant Saint was a hundred times larger than a Demi-Mortal Lord and an Earthly Saint! However, the cultivation difficulties and requirements were a thousand times more intense!
The four Abyssal Overlords could hold several lengthy conversations before the danger came! Meanwhile, those surrounding them were barely able to think and act strictly based on instinct or readied actions.
The split hazy whiteness led to a green radiance, which felt more like a tunnel that was opened by Wei Wuyin, those walls surrounding the Minor Elysium began to twist and distort as if undergoing the phenomenon of oceanic whirlpools. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of whirlpools formed in every direction, each spanning from a mile to tens of miles, yet they never touched each other.
Oddly enough, they all seemed to be facing a single direction as if the tunnel and walls had contorted like a twisting worm, all focused entirely on the group of five thousand and Minor Elysium.
"NO-WAIT!!!" A frantic shout shook the white world, empowered by the refined lungs of a Rune King, and a female figure was sucked toward one of the whirlpools instantly. It was a human woman! She tried to anchor herself, but her power was unable to latch onto anything, as if the ambient spatial energies that were once there had vanished in an instant.
Meanwhile, those who anchored themselves seemed to be like glue, retaining the spatial stability around them. Fortunately, the Ascended beings present weren't all useless nor was this an unforeseen circumstance. Those of the Violet Abyss and Abyss of Blades had acted as spatial anchors and kept those beside them tethered to their region as a whole. Those who were a little too far away, about to be pulled, desperately tried to anchor themselves and succeeded! Those who made themselves anchor points gave them salvation as they held firm. Some gritted their teeth and held on even if their arms and legs felt they were about to break from being pulled toward the whirlpools.
Those who were dazed and unable to react were mostly the unfortunate sort. Some were close enough to be caught by the Original Magistrates and World Emperors, while a few experienced a similar fate as the human woman and were yanked toward the whirlpools nearest to them!
The speed at which this all occurred was far too great, far too swift, and far too sudden, that those like Qing Qiumu, Yue Songli, Cao Cuifen, Luo Ning, and Ming Shufeng were unable to react. To them, they were still trying to mentally process the verbal torrent of Crimson Blade's bellowing roar, barely half a syllable in.
Wei Wuyin held Yue Songli's waist firmly as he watched on. The Mystic Overlords didn't take any action for fear of sudden changes as the whirlpools claimed victim after victim. They entered the whirlpools and all screams they released ceased almost immediately. It was eerie and unnatural, jarring to the heart and the soul.
The Minor Elysium was unaffected with the Shroud of Law active.
Without warning, the whirlpools then vanished.
What were originally 5,004 members of the White Abyssal Galaxy's top elites shrunk to 4,616 within a fraction of a blink of an Ascended's eye. While they were only Rune Kings and Demi-Mortal Lords, they were still top-tier experts of their galaxy relative to their cultivation.
The walls twisted back to normal as Wei Wuyin kept exerting Mana Dominance to maintain the wall, returning to a somewhat peaceful calm as the green radiance forward kept shining brightly. It was as if it was beckoning them forward with its beauty amidst the white unknown.
"Strange..." Wei Wuyin muttered in his heart. He couldn't stop or interact with the white whirlpools. The level of mana 'exceeded' the permissions of his Astral Souls' Zenith Origin State. While he knew that Absolute Void Regions had unique mana, this was a first.
The women soon reacted as they heard the cries and shouts of panic all at once. In their eyes, a split second ago, there were five thousand. Now, there was less.
"..." Qing Qiumu held her mouth, her emerald eyes shimmering with shock and an encroaching fear. While Cao Cuifen and Liu Suyin subconsciously took steps back, moving instinctively toward Wei Wuyin. Yue Songli's heart was racing so intensely that a thousand stampeding horses might lose out when compared.
They woke up.
They finally understood that those warnings were not insignificant!
"What...what happened to them...?" Qing Qiumu looked toward Wei Wuyin's Void Image and asked. Were they...dead?
The group of White Abyssal Galaxy's cultivators were all huddled together around the Minor Elysium as they waited for further orders. They all had grim expressions with hints of dread. Fortunately, none of them were fragile-minded and kept themselves vigilant.
Crimson Blade heaved a frustrated breath that felt like a small Roar, angrier than Violet Sea.
"The Whirlpools of the Devoid-it's one of the common phenomena within the White Abyss and siphons all spatial energy within the region while pulling in any existence untethered to the world," Fairy Silence began explaining. That was why the first action to do was to anchor oneself using the surrounding space before the whirlpools fully manifested. Even a Demi-Mortal Lord could resist that situation with ease, but without a foothold, it was no different than facing an irresistible tsunami.
"Those who enter the whirlpools are...gone," Violet Sea said through a soft sigh. "They could be anywhere in the abyss, even further in. There have been reports of those who luckily survived, spouted out in much the same way as my whip and Crimson Blade's weapon. However, in comparison to the number that have entered the whirlpool...those who escape this way are...far, far too few."
"Where...are they sucked to?" Cao Cuifen asked as she walked closer to Wei Wuyin who was near the edge of the ship, his arms never having left the soft and slim waist of Yue Songli, while his eyes kept observing the walls of the White Abyss.
Fairy Silence answered patiently, "We don't know. Those who survived all accounted the same: They were in a world where direction was incoherent and time was distorted. Some felt like no time had passed while others felt like tens of thousands of years, but their exhausted lifespan or soulspans never matched their accounts."
"So they're...just gone?" Liu Suyin felt her heart shake as a grip of fear coldly swept across it. This was just the dangers of the White Abyss? For the first time, she was questioning whether this was a sightseeing trip or a dangerous venture, and while they had been safe, who knew what else was going to happen? She vigorously rubbed her Icy Edict Necklace, only the cool sensation could steady her heart, amplified by Wei Wuyin's presence.
"..." The four Abyssal Overlords were silent for a moment and they jointly accepted the losses. While they could have made a move, the Whirlpools of the Devoid or the various strange phenomena of the White Abyss were unpredictable, and one could experience ten at once or one for your entire trip. Additionally, some dangers could take them down if caught off-guard or back-to-back. They didn't dare risk themselves for the foolishness of their subordinates.
Yue Songli gripped Wei Wuyin's arms as her eyes observed the hazy whiteness and the gorgeous green radiance in the distance. She was about to say something when Fairy Silence said, "Colored Zones can be considered somewhat safe zones. They aren't exactly safe, but they are predictable. We're lucky because green zones are considered to be inactive and have never had any phenomenon, so it's the best place to enter and find our bearings. Even look for great treasures."
She tried to optimistically look at the situation, yet everyone was grim. They couldn't help but feel gloomy about what just happened!
Yue Songli softly bit her lips in anxiety. This was supposed to be a safe place to sightsee...she...she didn't want to see people die. Her eyes became moist. Was she being naive? Perhaps! Was she being unreasonable despite Wei Wuyin's repeated warnings of the dangers? Almost certainly! But this was her two-year date!
She turned her head slightly and saw Wei Wuyin's side profile, his silver eyes focused intently on the wall to her left.
Yue Songli weakly said six simple words in his ear, her gaze staring at him.
"I don't want anyone to die..."
Those words were met with a silent sneer in the hearts of the four Abyssal Overlords. How foolish was it to say that? People likely already died! This was the White Abyss, the heart of their galaxy, the greatest forbidden zone known throughout their vast history, and the reaper of countless lives far stronger than she was!
You didn't want anyone to die?!
Well, those who got sucked in didn't want to die either!
Wei Wuyin's eyebrows lifted slightly as he turned to see Yue Songli's teary expression. Unlike Qing Qiumu, unlike Cao Cuifen, unlike Liu Suyin, all of whom fought against many life-and-death battles against various individuals, especially vicious organizations such as Trueborn or one's who sought their bodies or lives out of animosity or greed, Yue Songli wasn't battle-tempered.
She had killed others before.
She was forced by Trueborn to siphon Yang Energies from men, but her upbringing in the Ninestar Starfield was rather reclusive and protected, sheltered even. She was widely considered the Number ONE Beauty with a Highlord for a mother who was the direct subordinate to one of the top three experts in the entire stellar region-Cao Cao, the Soul Saint King. How could she have experienced such viciousness like Qing Qiumu or Cao Cuifen had?
Soft-hearted!
Why couldn't she be?! Perhaps if this wasn't her two-year date, perhaps if this wasn't a sightseeing trip that she yearned for after seeing a world of hazy whiteness that acted as the heart for a galaxy, or perhaps if Wei Wuyin wasn't Wei Wuyin, she wouldn't think like this!
When it came to that old man, he deserved death for having ideas about her and wanting to bring harm to Wei Wuyin, and that brought her deep comfort and satisfaction, signs that she wasn't against death or killing, but to those who volunteered to act as guides for their sightseeing, how could she possibly feel anything but sadness and reluctance?!
Liu Suyin, Cao Cuifen, Qing Qiumu, and Young Master Shang all looked at Wei Wuyin.
Wei Wuyin smiled. He kissed the teary-eyed Yue Songli's cheek. "Okay."
A single word.
A single promise.
Wei Wuyin's soul interfaced with the laws of Time, Space, Imperial, Origin, and Annihilation-five laws at once! Then, Wei Wuyin tapped into Little Defiant's vast reserves of energy, fueling each one, while his True Void Dragon Bloodline rallied to extreme activity within his body. With his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity, he grasped the seen and unseen.
A gushing wave of aura swept across Minor Elysium, causing the expression of each Abyssal Overlord to dramatically change.
"My Songli says you're not allowed to die on our date-don't ruin my wife's mood," Wei Wuyin said majestically as ripples spread across the hazy whiteness for an unfathomable distance and depth. Suddenly, the Whirlpools of the Devoid began to reappear while the walls twisted and distorted like a snake being charmed to dance.
The Minor Elysium remained at the epicenter, unaffected by the changes.
The sight caused everyone to tremble. Those Ascended beings reacted appropriately this time, properly anchoring themselves.
Suddenly, like a burping whirlpool, they began to belch put chaotic soundwave that sounded like white noise, and figures were spat out with terrifying strength while enveloped in a cocoon emanating the aura of annihilation, a deeper layer of the cocoon released aura of origin protected their bodies and nourished them.
They were hurriedly caught by the Original Magistrates and they were flabbergasted to an extreme. They...they came back? When they reached to grab them, the cocoon dispersed instantly and they saw the unharmed Ascended beings who seemed dazed and suffering from Temporal Dissonance and Spatial Sickness.
While they seemed out of sorts, they were alive. All of them.
The 4,616 was returned to 5,004.
Yue Songli's eyes glittered as her heart felt as if the restraints that were threatening to restrict her with dread and despair were destroyed with a single word and a single following sentence. Her joy was at an all-time high.
"They're fine. So don't cry so easily. I don't like it." Wei Wuyin once again kissed Yue Songli's cheeks who had the most brilliant smile. She nodded, agreeing without any hesitation.
"How the fuck did-World-Saint Neo-Dawn, how did you bring them back?" Grey Rose asked, hurriedly covering her profanity. She couldn't fathom what just happened, but she felt five different types of Law auras, and one of them felt horrifically dangerous.
"..." The other Abyssal Overlords looked at Wei Wuyin as well, questioning glints in their gazes, unable to keep cool. Was that a legendary Supreme Heavenly Treasure? Or was Wei Wuyin revealing his true cultivation base? Five laws? Moreover, they felt like genuine...complete laws!
Minor Authority?!
Not a single one of them had a Minor Authority!
The minimum requirement for a Heavenly Saint was a Seed of Law at the Nurturing Phase, and only at 9%. Considering there were the Conception Phase, Nurturing Phase, and Sprouting Phase, each divided by stages of growth and development, with Nurturing Phase having the stages of 1% to 100% nurtured, one could imagine the terror of a complete law, a Minor Authority!
While there were a few laws that were comparatively easier to obtain with severe restrictions, such as Imperial Law, and conquering the wills of people, these were considerably weaker outside of special circumstances and times unable to exert any power. A ruler outside of their territory has no power to draw from.
"They were just sucked into a variant of a Spatial Vortex and Time Vortex intermixed, with its properties strangely twisted and inverted by the chaos mana of this region. The surrounding space and time were attracted by the innate spatial energies and time energies within our bodies. I felt like it was trying to repair itself, undo the inversion and turmoil within itself, so it found external forces to make do desperately. Unfortunately, none of you have what it's looking for." Wei Wuyin explained while Yue Songli watched the others come back to their senses with disbelief and happiness across their expressions. She was relieved and elated.
Not one was missing. She made sure to count them one by one.
"What it's looking for?" Crimson Blade was uncertain. Why was Wei Wuyin talking as if the White Abyss was alive?
Wei Wuyin didn't bother answering that unasked question. "I just gave it temporary aid. Naturally, it'll relinquish its claim on the unnecessary, unintended victims that were designated as medicinal herbs." After saying that, Liu Suyin walked forward and her eyes shone brightly.
Before she could speak, Fairy Silence couldn't help but ask: "Wait-then if the whirlpools are siphoning spatial energies and time energies within the bodies of those caught within, then...why are few released and most never appear again?"
"Who says they aren't released after being drained?" Wei Wuyin said with a smile.
"...!" Even those listening outside the Minor Elysium understood, let alone the Abyssal Overlords! Those lucky cultivators were released outside the White Abyss or near its borders. While those unlucky were released further in and died to other dangers!
"Let's go to the green zone," Wei Wuyin announced suddenly. The Abyssal Overlords still had more questions, but considering they were still within the White Abyss, a place of sporadic danger, they went back to acting as guides.
"Men! You can thank World-Saint Neo-Dawn later, for now: FORWARD!" The 5,000 Ascended beings hurriedly got back into position and began pulling the Minor Elysium forward.
Liu Suyin touched Wei Wuyin's shoulder, her eyes filled with glowing interest. "Was that a Living Vortex of Space and Time?"
Wei Wuyin turned his head and nodded slightly, "A variant."
Her heart began to race excitedly. "Where is it? Can you...?"
"It's a variant of one. Moreover, it has been damaged by the region's chaos and has been fighting to maintain itself. Come here," Wei Wuyin gestured with his chin. When Liu Suyin stepped closer, he removed one hand from Yue Songli's waist and brought Liu Suyin's head closer, kissing her luscious lips.
Within her mind, images of what Wei Wuyin observed flashed, including information. When their lips finally parted, her heart wasn't just racing, but her excitement had skyrocketed to the highest levels! Wei Wuyin chuckled as Liu Suyin gazed into his eyes lovingly and lustfully. He was too good to her!
She almost skipped back to Cao Cuifen. Within her heart, she knew that her cultivation was about to experience a great evolution! If she had this before, forget struggling to become a True Destined Voyager, she could become the next Void Voyage Sect's Sect Master by simply existing!
