"…"
"…"
"…"
The Imperial Dawn Starfield was quiet. Not just in noise, but life, motion, and flow. There was an absence of all things, seemingly transformed in the matter of mere moments.. There was only one continuously flowing breath, one powerfully throbbing heartbeat, and one thriving intelligent lifeform throughout the entire starfield—Wei Wuyin.
The dreadful feeling of isolation and silence did little to move Wei Wuyin's heart. It felt almost the same as when he was little, just a young man who'd lost everything and entered an unknown, cruel world without anyone's protection. It felt almost the same as facing a nearly impossible and soul-threatening challenge like the Calamities of Hell without any assurances. It was a feeling that he had long since grown used to.
However, for a moment, he heard a single word in the forefront of his mind that brought a shine to his silver eyes.
"We."
That dark-haired, dark-eyed female figure that had a stoic yet stern expression emerged in his thoughts. From being another's favorite plaything, to a capable lieutenant, to his most trusted ally, he felt a strange, inexplicable feeling of absence arise from this imagery. His right hand subconsciously tightened to a fist as he stared at the vast sky, the dry and desolate breeze blowing through his hair.
For a moment, he wondered if dispersing the transportation power was the right decision. But only for the briefest of moments, as the regret that had nearly seeded into his mind was wiped clean by his reality: he was a dangerous variable in everyone else's lives.
Furthermore, he had to consider the fortuitous encounters that his karmic surge would lead those connected to him via karmic ties. He hoped that when he saw them again, they would all become characters with deeper foundations and insight into the world of cultivation. In the future, he hoped they'd forge themselves into excellent cultivators suitable for any and all of his future intentions.
Future…
Just a few days ago, Wei Wuyin was never confident about that word. It alluded to a sense of unlikelihood that disturbed the mind. Yet after the Second Calamity was overcome, that word was empowered and renewed in his mind. He was no longer facing the inevitable, the impossible, and the absurd as a mere mortal. Just a difficult challenge meant to be conquered.
"What's next?" Wang Yutian's voice resounded, breaking Wei Wuyin out of his thoughts, and reminding him of the lingering consciousness within the chandelier. The ancient cultivator's voice carried immense curiosity.
"I have roughly four days before the Star-Devourer arrives. I have some free time," Wei Wuyin answered with a faint smile. Despite the approaching existence that can devour Solar Stars, devastate starfields, and freely roamed the Dark Void, Wei Wuyin seemed without the slightest trace of fear or urgency.
—–
Three days left, Myriad Monarch Planet.
The three solar stars illuminated the quiet lands, seas, and forests of the planet. At the Myriad Monarch Sect, made up of five mountains that imperiously pierced into the sky, a figure garbed in a black tight-fitting martial outfit exited out of the fixed space above.
Wei Wuyin's silver eyes peered at the formerly thriving sect that contained millions of cultivators and beasts, now devoid of even the slightest activity. The numerous families and factions that had settled themselves here had lost their home, losing everything in the matter of moments. To those unaware of their ensuing departure, quite a few vaults that stored treasures and resources remained untouched.
These stores of resources were useless to them now, but Wei Wuyin wouldn't just ignore them. In the last twenty or so hours, he had ventured into the various hegemonic planets and snuck into their formations. Without anyone operating or maintaining them, even if they were established by Ascended, they were easily breached.
He didn't hesitate to sweep them all clean, taking what's valuable and leaving only the scarcest of bread crumbs. Fortunately, his actions of slaughtering in the Four Extreme Continent and being the Holy Son had bestowed him with numerous spatial rings with independent spaces. He had used many of them for Tuo Bihan's mission, but he still had dozens left.
Even if he hadn't, there were many locations where spatial rings were lingering about on corpses or hidden in battlefields. With a little effort, he had gathered hundreds from the Four Extreme Continent.
This was the last planet that he hadn't taken for everything its worth, even the astral stones that maintained the formations weren't left behind.
The scenery of the Myriad Monarch Sect brought memories that caused Wei Wuyin to pause in mid-air, observing the layout and exquisiteness of those five mountains. He recalled his first time arriving here, how astonished and mind-blown he was that something like this even existed.
He recalled Bo Kay, the demons that greeted him when he first arrived. His status as an unofficial King Alchemist and Sky Noble caused that white-haired demon to display an amicable and approachable feeling. Despite Bo Kay's high status, he still humbly lowered himself.
When he recalled that, he remembered his various adventures in the Myriad Monarch Sect. When he traveled to the Alchemic Dao Pavilion where he met Tuo Bihan, that lackadaisical grey-robed figure. After obtaining some Imperial Merits, he obtained the Heavenly King title and learned about the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity.
In a single moment, he had leapt to the stars.
After entering Martial King's Dao Pavilion, he experienced his first fight against an Astral Core Realm Cultivator. His name was Gu Hao, an Earthly Elite-rank Disciple. He belonged to the Grand Axis Faction, and he rudely injured Xiao Bai.
After seeing this monkey step forward to serve as an example, he established his presence with a single move, eliminating the Grand Axis Faction without lifting a single finger. The entire sect knew from that day forward that Wei Wuyin, a newly ascended Heavenly King, had arrived.
His reputation started on that day, and it led to him becoming one of the most influential figures in the entire sect. With his rapid concoction speed, incredible success rate, and deft understanding of cultivator's inherent natures, he grasped an unfathomable amount of power through bribery and forging connections via networking.
Wei Wuyin's figure slowly flew as he thought up to here, unwittingly finding himself above the Execution Platform. This was the location where his reputation, his power, firstly displayed itself to the entire sect. Just the mere mention of his name had halted an execution with clear-cut guilty parties.
In three years, he had the might to bend the rules to his will with a single sentence. Bei Ming, the Captain-class Enforcement Knight had her ability to give birth renewed by his products, and she upheld him with the highest levels of respect and gratitude. Without hesitation, when his name was shouted, she shattered the falling blade mere inches from Qing Qiumu's neck, saving her life.
The Ji Clan fell that day.
It was the first sign that this Heavenly King that had stayed in the sect for a mere three years had his hands unfathomably deep into the sect's foundations. It elevated to the point where even the Grand Prince, a figure anticipated and desired by all, was vastly overshadowed by him.
With a step, he used Spatial Shift and entered the eighth-level of the Extreme Creation Mountain. His reforged Sky Palace quietly floated there. It had been forged by a talented Architect after he destroyed his previous one by accident. With a faint smile, he remembered the day Bai Lin soared into the Dark Void for her Nirvanic Transformation.
With a fierce momentum, the two soared to the skies and decimated the Sky Layers one by one without fear. She reached the Dark Void and burst into gorgeous flames, her body and aura vanishing along with it. She turned into ash that day.
"But I've always felt you near me," Wei Wuyin said as he touched his chest, feeling the faint pounding of his heart. Bai Lin had searched for him for almost two years when he lost himself, she suffered endless loneliness and dangers while he went off to the Eden Earth Sect without his sense of present self. Still, she remained close by for almost nine years, always being ready for his return.
Now, wasn't he doing the same?
Waiting for her to return?
Even if he had to wait for a thousand years, he'd do so in a heartbeat and not a single word of reluctance.
After taking what he could from the Sky Palaces, he left for other areas. It took him a few hours to take things from the vault, storage spaces, and other valuable locations that had been left untouched.
With all the hegemonic planets being visited, taken for all that remained, there was one location left for him to visit.
His home.
