New life was breathed into the Abyssal Overlords' expressions. The Ascendants were sedulous in their cultivation, especially when seizing unexpected yet welcomed opportunities. They took after their Emperor. The level of their perseverance was similarly high, and Qing Qiumu, who traversed the world with a Blessed once before, had a firm understanding of seizing the day for a stable tomorrow.
"A time paradox is an incongruous point within reality, a disparity between what is, what isn't, what has happened, and will happen, and what hasn't happened. Every breath you take in this stasis loop is a paradox. A new action that exists all in the same moment of time, folding together, having happened, not happened, affected you, yet not affected the world-it is an impossibility."
"Inspect your body, your cells, and your Sea of Consciousness; inspect your blood flow, the division of your cells, and every strand of thought you form or will. You'll find that they all are paradoxical in nature, all folding upon the present all at once. A present that doesn't exist in this loop-until it does." Wei Wuyin slowly voiced out the underlying properties of this paradox.
This felt truly profound to the point where, despite the Abyssal Overlords' understanding of the concept, these peak existences of their galaxy were unable to fully grasp it immediately.
But they understood that the more paradoxical energies accumulated within them, the harsher the resulting backlash. With the current amount within them, their deaths would be certain. After all, they had the compounding force of millions of paradoxes. If allowed to exist, they would disrupt the flow of time for eternity, always inconsistent and disharmonious, always a step too far or a step too behind.
"Paradoxical Energy is the hardest of the five types of time energies to grasp, to sense, and even to create. It is, by its own nature, an impossibility that shouldn't exist. Its main purpose is to regulate and alert time itself of any errors within its flow that may corrupt or disrupt everything else to catastrophic extents. Do you know what that means?" Wei Wuyin expounded upon the Law of Time and its profound concepts as he regulated the flow of spiritual awareness within Qing Qiumu, gently touching her dantian with a press of his palm and a single index finger to her glabella.
Her natural beauty was elevated to a whole 'nother level as her cheeks flushed as delicate pink. Feeling Wei Wuyin's touch was unexpected, but when she sensed the paradoxical energies finally within herself as it grew steadily, she knew his intent was without the slightest dirty-mindedness.
"Focus." A single word caused her mind to feel sublimated by a mysterious force and her focus zeroed into the sole purpose of sensing the paradoxical energy, how it was created, and why she was a living paradox. The feeling was indescribable. It felt as if it was a part of time, but a wrong type of time. It was as if she was a single drop of water in an ocean that went both against and with the flow at the same time, causing her to stay unmoving, and the entire ocean roared thunderously as a result.
"Do you know what that means?" Wei Wuyin repeated as he guided their thoughts to the right question, assisting but not telling them the answer. They may each have different understandings, and it wasn't absolute that they were wrong. What mattered was that understanding led to the same conclusion.
Wei Wuyin had been a part of many paradoxes. The very first was his twin set of memories after Kratos' Mortal Star Formation Tribulation-the first Astral Tribulation, and this left him with a memory of a paradox. It was only now that Wei Wuyin realized that Kratos' tribulation assisted him in later grasping all five energies of time-Past, Present, Future, Isolated, and Paradoxical.
From start to finish, the Mortal Star Formation Tribulation was a guide, he just hadn't fully grasped that yet. It was only after learning that one had to experience an actualized future or substantial past that he came upon this realization, and also why he didn't try to force it upon the others. As a True Void Dragon, his body could naturally contain paradoxical energies and regulate itself to not outright corrupt the flow of time.
The Ascendants, however, could not.
None of the laws he had grasped had particularly easy requirements, and while Imperial Law seemed the easiest to conceive a Seed of Law for, it was the hardest to maintain and nurture in a society where competition was constant, and opinions, beliefs, and emotions of others were ever-changing at the drop of a dime. A single mistake from a ruler could ruin all their past effort and diligence.
Wei Wuyin looked at Yao Houyi. It wasn't entirely true that none of the Ascendants couldn't contain paradoxical energies. One of Yao Houyi's eyes was capable of doing so. Seeing how swiftly he was interacting with the paradoxical energies, drawing them to his Temporal Eye, seeking to refine it a step further, Wei Wuyin inwardly nodded with admiration.
The fundamental property of paradoxical energy when relating the River of Time was to act as an alert for incongruous flows of time, and using it to refine one's Temporal Eye was the first step in noticing ongoing paradoxes and obtaining the natural ability to discern Temporal Dissonance. If the four Abyssal Overlords had refined their Temporal Eye with paradoxical energies, they would have instantly noticed the stasis loop with their Temporal Eye.
They would have noticed the Whirlpools of the Devoid.
"When these paradoxes exist, something called Paradoxical Correction unfolds. If you stepped out of this area as is, you would be corrected; you would be erased from the flow of time. If severe, your 'actualized past' might vanish, preventing a 'substantial future.'"
These terms were like a lighthouse to the others-Paradoxical Correction, Actualized Past, and Substantial Future.
For the Abyssal Overlords who've grasped advanced details of the powers of time, they felt their breathing go ragged and heavy. Two of the few requirements to conceive a Seed of Time Law was to experience a 'Substantial Past' or an 'Actualized Future', the exact opposite!
Actualized! It means that it has happened!
Substantial! It means that it could happen!
How can you experience a past that could happen or a future that has happened? It was beyond difficult! The word 'difficult' doesn't do such terms justice!
San Yongli, a Temporal Reincarnator that was pulled from her flow of time, her Actualized Future, and brought to a Substantial Past was a sign of how difficult! Even the Heavenly Daos had been damaged as a result! Not only that, the River of Time within that area experienced damage as well!
"Should something like that happen, it'll be no different than not existing. No one would remember you. No one can recall your birth, your first steps, your first words, or your death. You'll lose all your substance within the flow of time itself." Those words were eerie and the fear drove stakes into their hearts, and rightfully so.
Wei Wuyin said that no one would remember, but that wasn't true-he would remember. He would remember them all as long as he knew them beforehand.
A True Void Dragon could handle a paradox by the grace of the Void Dao, and even observe them safely. This ability allowed many things. For example, to retain the Mystic Ascendant Realm memories of his alternate self. Fuxi had to personally extract the Magi inherited memories because of this, while the River of Time had been enraged and later accepting of the situation despite Wei Wuyin's outrageous actions within its domain, forcing a paradoxical event.
Soon, the Ascended beings realized what was happening. After some discussions, they realized they were in a dangerous situation, but the foreign Worldly Saint Alchemist was handling it on their behalf, and this was an opportunity to be seized. Moreover, a stasis loop was the safest place in the world.
The events unfolding here besides themselves were on constant repeat. There would be no unpredictable changes as long as they didn't introduce any. There couldn't be unless they create it, furthering the paradox impressed upon the world after the loop naturally breaks.
The Abyssal Overlords had to adjust too and began to cultivate, trying to sense the paradoxical energies wildly building within their bodies as Wei Wuyin expounded upon the Void Dao, guiding them to grasping an extraordinary awareness at the very least. This was only an opportunity, however.
But if they could sense the energies and familiarize themselves with it, they would obtain a supernatural awareness toward disruptions in time and notice irregularities such as a stasis loop in an instant. This was more subtle yet substantial for the long run.
Wei Wuyin found Su Mei, who was cross-legged and diligently cultivating. Her skin was wisps of string-like dark light flowing upon it. His brows furrowed.
"..." Her body was...
He looked toward Yue Songli who needed to be guided a little more, and he discovered that her body was quietly refining the foreign energies within her, allowing it to naturally flow into her Temporal Eye. He heaved an internal sigh. A Pure Catalyst of Three Principles...
Wei Si was present too, but the muscle-head had fallen to sleep after being guided. He wasn't actually being negligent or disregarding this opportunity, and he already grasped Wei Wuyin's words in his state of deep sleep and could be said to be the first to finish.
Spartans were built differently; moreover, he hadn't developed a Temporal Eye yet, but his physical eyes and brain were gathering all the paradoxical energies. This was dangerous, but it was definitely the fastest method to adapt to the dangers of paradoxes.
The rest were using their own methods, most of which were to sense and refine the time energies into their Temporal Eye to some degree. It was harmless while within the paradox, only lethal upon leaving.
Nodding approvingly, Wei Wuyin kept assisting Qing Qiumu, giving extra attention to Cao Cuifen when needed. Within an otherwise area of certain death, a group of over five thousand cultivated wholeheartedly for three hours with varying degrees of success.
"Enough."
A majestic voice erupted within their minds, pulling them out of their cultivation states without harm.
Violet Sea breathed out wisps of time energy. Fairy Silence's eyes shone a strange, corrupting light of temporality. The two of them had the greatest gains out of the five thousand and four.
Qing Qiumu awoke excitedly, her eyes fixed on Wei Wuyin's true body with gratefulness in her heart. Wei Wuyin replied to her with a smile.
Then, he lifted his hand and put two fingers together.
"Ready!" He shouted to the Ascended beings escorting them. They all scrambled to a ready position, and then Wei Wuyin...
SNAP!
When his two fingers snapped a crisp sound, paradoxical energies within their bodies vanished like snow melted by the blazing sun, converted into pure time energy that laid within them without any specific property, perfectly digestible for later, and the stasis loop fell apart.
While ending one was relatively easy, even for those without the Minor Authority of Time, Wei Wuyin couldn't recreate a stasis loop without spending a long, long time doing so. Trying to carve out the present, leaving only an equal flow of past and future without isolation was difficult beyond measure.
Possible, just extremely difficult to balance.
The escorts were freed and all the Abyssal Overlords' doubts and tension faded away with a relieved breath.
"Thank you, World-Saint Neo-Dawn." Crimson Blade's words carried his truest and earnest feelings. While Wei Wuyin had elevated the situation to an insane point, turning two minutes into a microsecond, even the original situation might have left them in complete despair. After all, they would still have to resist Paradoxical Correction to a certain point, all based on the length of time the paradoxical energies had accumulated within them.
If they were too slow in recognizing it, death was certain.
The others followed suit and Wei Wuyin nodded in reply, returning to his comfortable position of holding Yue Songli's waist from behind, kissing the nape of her neck, "This is a trip for my wives to experience the greater world, so this was a good opportunity."
Yue Songli could now sense paradoxical flows with her Temporal Eye, so she was ecstatic, and her joyful exuberance only made her more beautiful, more alluring. "That was so fun."
"Fun..." All four Abyssal Overlords felt their hearts sigh warily. Held within the arms of her lover, the calamity that had left them in utter despair and had their lives flashing before their very eyes was nothing but a short stint of cultivation to her. A comfortable, enjoyable experience! They didn't know whether to laugh or...cry.
No, they wanted to cry.
