Paragon of Sin
chapter-1473

The rising, heart-palpitating, boundlessly majestic aura from the planet Imperial Sky was like a radiant lantern illuminating the gloomy, endless darkness of despair and agony that enveloped the hearts and minds of the Aeternal Sky Starfield's denizens. As their homes were forcefully taken, their defenders ruthlessly slaughtered, those who could observe these events, even a fragment of it, felt overwhelmed and pushed to the brink of hopelessness. The only glimmer of light that remained was a single name: Tian Taizong!

"Your Majesty!" Tian Weilong cried. Despite his seniority, possessing the illustrious title of Tian Taizong's great-granduncle, his voice was extremely emotional and effused with hope. It echoed throughout the Aeternal Sky Starfield like a grand imperial announcement!

Su Nianzu and Jia Yang calmly watched as Imperial Sky, the capital planet of the Aeternal Sky Starfield, abruptly vanished in a deluge of Aeternal Sky Aura. They had already concluded that the trio of women hadn't just been discovered during their covert mission, but they had fallen into Tian Taizong's trap. Despite their display of extreme caution, their careful considerations, and their Worldly Saint cultivation bases, the trio had failed to elude Tian Taizong in the end!

Su Nianzu was skeptical. Zhangjie Wushu was the definition of competent and cunning, and when she made a move, there were only two options: early success or late success. Failure was not even a potential outcome. It was her ability that allowed him to agree to her request to be his assistant. If something went wrong, it likely was something far, far outside of her ample considerations and vast means. But what?

Jia Yang's outward reaction was mellow. He had already checked Hu Meifang's life talisman hidden within his Sea of Consciousness. There wasn't the slightest sign of abnormal stress on her soul aura, so her life wasn't in any immediate danger. He inwardly sighed a breath of relief but gave none of it away on his face.

When Imperial Sky vanished, only a single lonesome figure stood in its place. All eyes couldn't resist the urge to look over. It was as if the world's presence was being converged onto a single entity, and no one had the right to look away.

When an Emperor stands, the earth stills.

When an Emperor rises, the sky listens.

When an Emperor moves, the heavens must follow!

If earlier, the earth stilled upon his arrival. If earlier, the sky listened to his desire. Then now, the heavens and all those within had to follow him with every move!

The escaping Peng Yue and Zhen Yang looked back. The Imperial Advisor felt the aura, and while she frantically struggled to turn her head, her eye-less sockets bled as if crying tears of blood, unable to actually see Tian Taizong. Still, it was enough to lighten her soul, naturally causing a faint smile to form.

"Argh!" Her smile was immediately wiped away as Zhen Yang tightened his grip, snuffing out any breath in her throat. She felt increasingly lightheaded and weak. It was clear she was tethering on the verge of going unconscious.

Peng Yue was solemn. She sullenly said, "Imperial Law."

Zhen Yang gripped his Yang Tide Rending Sword. A faint hymn of the sword was released, stirring the nearby Chaos Mana into a uniquely lively pattern as if it was dancing to the hymn.

Peng Yue stood up. Her yin aura gushed out, washing over her skin, hair, and clothing, suddenly cleaning her body and allowing her to regain her original grace, elegance, and beauty, especially the removal of her unnaturally tanned skin. With a wave of her hand, a slender two-foot-long white sword exuding grayish mist appeared. While she didn't have the great background as Zhen Yang, who belonged to the Yang Clan of the Exalted Republic, a bonafide superpower with a Mystic Overlord, capable of possessing a true Mystic-World graded Yang Tide Rending Sword, she was still the sole Worldly Saint of her Peng Clan and could afford to forge a quasi Mystic-World grade sword-the Yin Vein Severing Sword!

Zhen Yang glanced at his beautifully enchanting Dao Companion, gesturing toward her by lifting the Imperial Advisor up and down slightly. From his actions, it was clear he was asking if she still wanted this woman alive.

"Keep the little blinded witch in your Internal World. She might be useful later," Peng Yue answered flatly. However, one could tell that she was unwilling to allow the Imperial Advisor off easily at all. Zhen Yang nodded and the Imperial Advisor let loose a shriek before being sucked forcefully into Zhen Yang's Internal World.

The two stood on the earthen-yellow shuttle as it raced toward Su Nianzu and Jia Yang's location. They were intent on regrouping! The earlier eruption of frightening Aeternal Sky Aura was simply too unexpectedly fierce. Moreover, his aura was laced with the aura of laws. The Imperial Law! Had he already reached the minimum requirement to reach the Heavenly Saint Phase? 9% of the Nurturing Phase?!

Who was this Tian Taizong exactly?!

Su Nianzu frowned as he watched the shuttle carrying the Dao Couple raced toward them. He, too, felt that law aura. He hadn't expected Tian Taizong, who had been sealed for twenty thousand years, to have not only conceived a Seed of Law but also nurtured it to a higher level. Liu Yinlan was genuine with her assessment, and her solemn display of caution and continuous warning against underestimating Tian Taizong was appropriate!

There were long-lived Worldly Saints that were fifty thousand years old and hadn't conceived a Seed of Law yet! Moreover, there were Heavenly Saints that spent tens of thousands of years, or their entire lifetimes, failing to try to nurture their Seed of Law from 9% to 81%, the minimum requirement to become an Ascended Saint!

The difficulty was unimaginably high; the timeless phrase: "Cultivation is difficult," was perfectly explained with just that!

Moreover, this was 'just' the minimum requirement of one qualifying aspect! There were several others, and each one was increasingly difficult to achieve. Even then, completely obtaining all the minimum requirements only allowed one to gain the qualifications to challenge the Sixth Ascension Trial! It was by no means a guarantee at all, and countless Worldly Saints and Heavenly Saints have been lost to these demanding challenges!

Jia Yang stretched his arms lazily, "He's making a move." Despite his elderly, withered appearance, his tall and muscular body flexed and bestowed him a seething physical aura that possessed boundless might.

"..." Su Nianzu gazed at the lone figure standing where Imperial Sky was once located. As if hearing Su Nianzu's unsaid thoughts, Jia Yang shrugged indifferently. If Su Nianzu wanted to let the Dao Couple test Tian Taizong's strength, he had absolutely no issue with that. It would be best if they could kill him directly. It was evident that Tian Taizong's Aeternal Sky Aura intermixed with an inkling of Imperial Law wasn't enough to place Tian Taizong above the Dao Couple in his mind.

"His Majesty!" An Exalted from a planet that had escaped being brought away shouted passionately, tears dripping down his eyes.

"His Majesty!" A young boy cried out with vengeful grievance towards these invaders. The shockwaves from the battle had shaken his grandmother to her death, and he cradled her lifeless, cold corpse. He cried louder, sending out his desire to see the world drenched in the blood of these invaders!

"His Majesty!" The female Sky Monarch was doubtful of the Imperial Clan and the Aeternal Sky Starfield's Survival, yet as the man himself made an appearance, all those doubts were washed away without any remaining.

"HIS MAJESTY!" The remaining denizens of the Aeternal Sky Starfield, whether they could see or not, instinctively sent out their emotions into the world.

The lonesome figure of the Aeternal Sky Starfield stood upon the Dark Void as if it were a solid platform. He no longer wore hemp clothing. There was no need. The act of returning to simplicity to push forward the image of weakness and despair toward the existence of a false Monarch imprisoned on his 'throne' was no longer necessary.

A voluminous, starry robe with five-clawed dragons traversing it with peerless majesty as they used those stars as footing to move through the starry skies was draped over his tall frame. It exuded immeasurable presence, both robe and his figure. With healthy grey hair, he perfectly accentuated a man of middle age who has experienced the ups and downs of life and conquered them all with sheer will.

He was undeniably handsome. An innately dominant charismatically masculine charm emanated from his every pore, perfectly befitting the image of an Emperor, rivaling the depictions of an Immortal Emperor often drawn in paintings and told in stories.

Despite being incomparably small relative to the sheer vastness of the Aeternal Sky Starfield, in the perceptions of everyone, he seemed larger than the Aeternal Sky Starfield, exuding a remarkable brilliance that exceeded the Aeternal Sky Star before!

The fleeing members of the Endless Voyage Realm were stunned. Was this the ruler of the Ancient Sealed Region's strongest empire?!

Those with keen senses had their instinctual radars go wild, their Mystic Souls pulsating fearfully, and their hearts violently pounded as their scalps turned numb! Horror! They felt genuine dread! Irrepressible dread!

RUN!

RUN!!

"RUN!!!" The Crimson Moon-robed Librarian shouted explosively at those who slowed down their escape, gawking at the Tian Taizong stupidly! She was already unleashing her strongest means, bringing out a talisman forged by a Worldly Saint designed for escape. This belonged to a lover of hers. While she was married to an Earthly Saint in the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone, she had an affair for benefits while inside the Endless Voyage Realm.

If one inspected the talisman closely, one would sense Jia Yang's aura! A blazing light enveloped her in an oval-shaped egg of Mystic Power, and she vanished at speeds far surpassing Peng Yue's shuttle!

"..." Su Nianzu stared at Jia Yang.

Jia Yang picked his ear nonchalantly. "She earned it. Many, many times."

It was extremely evident that she had 'earned' Jia Yang's efforts of imbuing such power into that talisman. Su Nianzu didn't doubt that at all. However, it wasn't his place to chastise Jia Yang's manner of doing things.

"..." Tian Taizong's gaze looked at the fleeing Crimson Moon-robed Librarian for a brief moment. He was about to say something but the speed of her escape was stupendously fast, even he was taken aback. He decided to change what he was about to say.

"Since you've come to my home-STAY."

The Aeternal Sky Starfield's borders and a little beyond that solidified into a starry barrier that resembled the vast, starry night sky. It was just a few hundred miles away from the Crimson Moon-robed Librarian. She was the only one who escaped. Others unleashed talismans of varying sizes and power, but they were all stopped short.

Some outright died, absorbed by the barrier depicting the starry sky. Others were severely injured, slamming viciously into the barrier and being repelled. A few lost consciousness outright.

This included Peng Yue and Zhen Yang!

Panic began to settle into these Venerables, Highlords, and Rune Kings' hearts. What was this?!

The Domain-wide Array of the Imperial Clan! The Night Sky's Undying Stars Array! While its name wasn't too impactful, its strength was by far unmatched throughout the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region!

Suddenly, the hundreds of thousands of solar stars, both small and large, bright and dim, far and near, as if one was observing the vast starry sky from their planet's surface, began to move in a mystical, exquisite manner! It was as if billions upon billions of years were passing before their eyes, constantly shifting constellations that were being born and dying, unleashing supernovae and countless other celestial phenomena!

"UGH!!!" A Venerable cried out in agony.

BOOM!!!

She exploded!

"What's happening?!" An Earthly Saint erected his Mystic Ward and unleashed a defensive Ascension Art. However, his body began to experience rapid development of cracks leaking with wild mystic energy. The Mystic Energy within his body was being stimulated. It was rebelling!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hundreds of explosions roared to life as Venerables died in droves. The Endless Voyage Realm members were twisted into a fright, trying to deploy all sorts of means, yet their Mystic Souls felt heavy and crushed, and then their Mystic Energy began to boil or seethe or rapidly circulate or pulsate violently! Or do all of that at once! They couldn't stop any of it!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Peng Yue stared at the Night Sky's Undying Stars Array. She couldn't sense Jia Yang or Su Nianzu. Zhen Yang stayed near Peng Yue, a golden barrier enveloping them.

A few Ascended beings nearby rushed toward them hurriedly, "Save us!"

Zhen Yang waved his non-sword-wielding hand, expanding the golden barrier as Mystic Heart Intent of the Yang Sword guarded them. Immediately, those Ascended beings felt their Mystic Energy and Mystic Souls calm down. They breathed sighs of relief, but the horror of endless explosions kept unfolding behind them.

Seeing others seek refuge in the arms of the Worldly Saints, many Ascended beings began to use all their means to make their way over. A few didn't make it, exploding into a flurry of bloody mist, fragmented bones, and mangled flesh. The remnant Mystic Energy within them faded miraculously, seemingly absorbed by the motion of the stars.

"Cultivation Deviation..." Peng Yue coldly said.

Zhen Yang nodded. Then, he stared at Tian Taizong. City Lord Liu had mentioned that Tian Taizong was once regarded as invincible. But that was towards the pitiful and ignorant Ancient Sealed Region, not the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone, and he didn't place much emphasis on his strength. His Sword Intent was unnaturally stimulated at the prospect of facing a strong opponent.

"Don't be reckless," Peng Yue warned. The Night Sky's Undying Stars Array was a powerful Mystic-level Array that could affect Mystic Energy on a fundamental level, replicating the intense pressure of Mystic World Intent. To Earthly Saints and below, this was extremely dangerous. With just this, the Imperial Clan's Aeternal Sky Starfield was unassailable by any enemy within the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region!!

"Just a few exchanges," Zhen Yang said. Since Tian Taizong wanted him to stay, shouldn't he oblige? Peng Yue frowned. She knew that Zhen Yang was not against facing any type of challenge. In fact, it stimulated his fighting spirit when faced against a stronger opponent. If not for her words to leave just earlier or her warning him again and again to act in accordance with Su Nianzu's plan, Zhen Yang would've just rushed toward Imperial Sky directly, sword in hand.

She could only sigh with a smile, not blaming him for a second. It was why she loved him. It was why she accepted his proposal to become his Dao Companion!

Zhen Yang's eyes shone with sharp sword light. He didn't hesitate to blitz forward, keeping the barrier of golden light intact for anyone else to find shelter using the Mystic Rune of Permanence as the foundation.

As a golden comet of sword light, he charged into the Aeternal Sky Starfield toward Tian Taizong!

Peng Yue, however, wasn't foolish enough to let her lover and Dao Companion fight alone. They pursued the Dao together and fought as one! She held her sword, and as a white comet of misty light, she followed close behind! The two formed sword rays of yin-yang harmonious radiance across the starry skies!