The Guardian of the Time Vortex's aura seethed, unleashing gushing waves of mystic power as he strode toward the new arrivals. His eyes were terrifyingly cold, "Leave—Saints are not permitted here." As the Guardian, his authority within the Time Vortex was of the highest, and he was disgustingly territorial.
The dozens of unfathomable auras all instinctively released waves of their own mystic power, directing their gazes toward the Guardian. However, the Guardian was undaunted by their strong presence, and murderous intent began to flow out of his eyes in the form of glaring spiritual light.
"Leave." That single word shook the foundation of the space. The expressions of the owners of these unfathomable auras distorted instantly, their eyes revealing mixtures of wariness, fear, and displeasure.
"Calm down, Time Guardian." Zhangjie Wushu flickered into existence, entering the crowd of unfathomable auras.
"You have no authority here; you leave too. I'll give you all until I reach one. Five, three!" Somehow skipping four altogether, the Guardian's voice turned hellish. The unfathomable auras all pulsed slightly, and then they vanished in various mystifying ways.
The only one remaining was Zhangjie Wushu, but her expression was extremely displeased. She frowned, her beauty was enchanting yet bore a strong feeling of authority and might, and she said glacially: "Count down. See what happens at one."
"..." The Guardian stared at Zhangjie Wushu for a long time, his eyes narrowed, his pupils reflecting her terrifying image, and he gritted his teeth. "What do you want?" He had backed down, clearly unable to force the issue on this woman.
Zhangjie Wushu turned her profound gaze towards the chaotic flows of the Time Vortex, seeing the vast chasm of time energies of various types colliding without order. "Why did you let him enter?" She asked this question, but it wasn't really a logical question that needed to be asked. The answer was too obvious.
The Guardian softly scoffed, "9,842 cultivators entered the Time Vortex without a Protective Flowshell this year alone. Over the last ten? Over a hundred thousand. Century? Nearly two million. They've all come here to either end their lives or some misguided hope for rebirth or were lured by the mystifying power of time and underwent cultivation deviation. I don't interfere in the life decisions of others. I merely guard the Time Vortex." The Guardian of the Time Vortex was a regulator of sorts, not a self-help advisor.
Suicide?
Let them.
Zhangjie Wushu frowned slightly, but she expected this answer. Still, she couldn't figure it out. "Did he have a Protective Flowshell?" She had realized that Wei Wuyin was zipping across the City of Guardians. And she wasn't the only one, as other Earthly Saints noticed this as well, and they all gravitated here after investigating.
Wei Wuyin left no traces when he shifted, so tracking him was exceedingly difficult. They had to use various methods, tracing Mortal Auras or actively paying attention to abruptly appearing life auras. Zhangjie Wushu had followed Wei Wuyin since his visit to Tian Xiaolu's residence, especially as he kept taking cultivators and bringing them safely back home. She inspected these cultivators and found spatial rings in their possessions with alchemical products as if it was payment.
Zhangjie Wushu concluded that these Destined, who originated from the Sealed Regions, had some relationship with Wei Wuyin. Considering how generous he was, he must have either been carrying out a gifting spree on behalf of others or repaying debts from the Sealed Regions. This completely baffled her. She would have to investigate later.
The Guardian shook his head, "He entered without any sort of protection." All the Protective Flowshells were marked by him and carefully observed at all times unless it was already in the Time Vortex, and even then, he could keep track of them. Wei Wuyin had nothing on him as he decided to find his eternal resting place.
Zhangjie Wushu was stumped, but as she observed the raw, chaotic forces of time intertwining, her heart was internally struggling. It was extremely dangerous to recklessly explore the Time Vortex, and she didn't dare do so without ample preparations.
Such a good seed…
He had birthed Enlightened Scholarly Mist, manifested Alchemic Stars of Mortal Spirituality at the Astral Core Realm, and offered an absurd amount of alchemical products to gain the right to look at the entire Alchemical Section of the Myriad Miles Library. Not to mention, he was young, extremely young, with a high cultivation base for his age, and…yeah, he was exceedingly handsome.
Such a waste.
Zhangjie Wushu truly couldn't fathom why.
She decided to find Liu Yinlan and learn what she was planning and why she would send her True Destined Voyager here to kill himself. Even if it meant giving her a beating.
"I'm leaving," Zhangjie Wushu announced to the Guardian before she vanished, transforming into wisps of translucent mist. She didn't blame the Guardian for Wei Wuyin's decision. After all, even she didn't expect him to jump into the Time Vortex. Considering his cultivation base, she, like others, thought he was here to grasp the profoundness of time.
It was truly a waste.
-----
The thunderous rumblings finally ceased within a particular room in the City of Endless.
"Finished!" Liu Yinlan's typically beautiful expression was abnormally pale as if blood had been siphoned from her body, but her eyes were exceedingly bright and rich in wild exuberance. She wiped off the sweat on her brow, standing up, holding a fist-sized pearl that gave off a strong bloody scent and a frigid yin chill that could send shivers down the spine.
It hovered before her modest-sized chest, thumping ever-so-slightly like a heart. If one paid close attention, they would find that the thumping perfectly matched Liu Yinlan's heartbeat.
A mixture of pride, anticipation and hopeful excitement roared to life in her eyes. She sent a message to Liu Suiyin, giving instructions to bring him outside the City of Guardians and saying that she'll pick them up personally. She was already making preparations to have the formations ready. Unlike the long junky shift she gave Liu Suyin and Wei Wuyin, hers would take roughly an hour or two at most.
"Just you wait, you pathetic worm of a wannabe ruler. Let's see how you beg for mercy. Hmph, I'll let her take your head herself!" Her words rippled with vile, vicious violence, blistering anger, and a sense of satisfaction shortly after, as if she was experiencing her imagined future.
But after a few minutes, she got no response. With a faint frown, she sent a message again to Liu Suyin and checked on her life talisman to ensure she was still alive. After verifying she was alive and well, her frown deepened.
"Liu Suyin." Liu Yinlan flatly said with sharp eyes. Without any hesitation, she left her room with the pearl in tow. She intended to find out what had happened herself. Whether it was the Academy of Myriad Transformations or anyone else, no one will stop her.
The spatial formation was being primed for usage!
-----
Liu Suyin's left earring flashed continuously with invisible arcane light that only she and those with an Arcane Spirit of Cultivation could perceive. This was how she was able to communicate with Liu Yinlan without anyone noticing, not even Wei Wuyin.
Her heart was extremely tense. She had lost Wei Wuyin, failing her mission, while an empty feeling was being dug into the pit of her stomach as seconds passed.
"Please be safe, wherever you are."
She softly whispered to herself, but she was locked in an isolated metal sphere-shaped box with no openings or doors. If it weren't for Liu Yinlan's unique manner of communication and her vast powers, she wouldn't have been able to receive any message here. And with her cultivation base sealed, she could not return any messages.
-----
Wei Wuyin's body floated in a mass of jumbled time currents that washed over his body like raging rivers from all sides. Those rampaging currents met his hexagonal grey scales and became incomparably gentle, flowing off him until they reentered another stream, once again becoming chaotic and violent, encompassing the essence of past, present, and future.
Wei Wuyin's True Void Dragon Bloodline was fully unleashed at this moment, granting him a body of enchantingly beautiful dragon scales, a compact physique containing raw dragon might, and a pair of wings that stretched for miles. He continued to sink and follow the aberrant flow of time.
From time to time, the flows of time would be drawn into his mouth and nostrils as if they were air. He was breathing time! The domineering might of a Void Dragon was unprecedented, and Wei Wuyin felt the pure time energies surge throughout his entire body, merging perfectly with his blood.
"Delicious," Kratos commented hungrily. Since the beginning, it had been urging Wei Wuyin to enter the Time Vortex. Why? Because it was a delicious meal that made the walls of its fleshy aorta throb! A beast's greatest strength wasn't their tyrannical might, long lives, or innate talents, but their ability to devour and refine raw material and energies into various forms of power.
By all accounts, Wei Wuyin was a half-dragon, but only his bloodline energies and fleshy heart had this unique refinement ability. Wei Wuyin had only ever used it to its fullest extent once before when Kratos first devoured the Void Crystal to gain its bloodline attribute. Due to the Externalization Method of his Spirits, he never genuinely needed to refine much with his bloodline energies or heart but empowered them with external alchemical products.
But the time energies flowing inside the Time Vortex were the purest that Wei Wuyin had ever encountered, and only Kratos could prematurely refine time energies prior to the Temporal Eye Phase, so it generously refined and sent copious amounts to the other Astral Souls.
They were changing on a fundamental level. While this was merely a pointless differentiation, the Astral Souls current state intermixed with time energies made their refined Astral Force greatly resemble a cultivator at the quasi-Temporal Eye Phase. They were brimming with time energies and thus were digesting its powers.
The Seed of Time Law thrummed strongly at the moment, invigorated by the spirits' absorption of time energies. They shared and shared amongst each other, with Kratos as the leading figure while Wei Wuyin acted as the central brain, comprehending all the profoundness of time.
He took his time. According to his Astral Souls, they wanted to be thoroughly saturated by time energies, allowing Wei Wuyin to have the greatest possible connection with its intricate principles before the tribulation because they, like always, intend to be a little reckless!
Wei Wuyin genuinely feared for his life, so his mind was working a thousand times faster than normal. The last tribulation devastated a large-sized planet and had him fight against the avatar of the World. He could still clearly remember losing his leg from a mere half-pointed finger of its half-awakened existence. If he hadn't struck first, his life would've been over.
What will he fight this time? The mythical river of time? Or some godly being that can control time itself? He didn't wish to be unprepared.
Wei Wuyin soon lost track of progressing time as he stayed in the chaotic flows of temporal currents. It could've been an hour, a day, a week, or even a year before his body was thoroughly saturated with time energies. When he eventually opened his eyes, his four Astral Souls simultaneously called forth the Temporal Eye Astral Tribulation!
Outside the Time Vortex, the Guardian's eyebrows were knitted into the deepest frown. His eyes shone with temporal light of dark grey as he carefully inspected the movements of the ever-churning, extremely chaotic vortex before him. After a long while, his eyes gradually widened until they became full moons, reflecting his tremendous shock.
"Is it slowing down? No—it's reversing?"