Paragon of Sin

The atmosphere aboard the Minor Elysium the last few days had the air of a road trip, light and casual. Like Wei Wuyin, those who went to cultivate used Neo-Dawn Vortex-Zones to expedite their pace of cultivation, and during times of relaxation, they would find themselves on the deck of the ship peering into the beauty of the shifting cosmos.

Yue Songli was immersed in her artistic passion. She sat at various positions on the ship, painting all sorts of astronomical phenomena she could see or musings she might have. She had even completed painting the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone—Tartarus, Onesoul Continent, and the Three Radiant Empires.

They were all extraordinary and colorful, depicting the weight of three mountains, the oddity of a single disc of varied lands, and worlds within shells of light.

Qing Qiumu had joined her. But instead of illustrating locations, she took to drawing people. Wei Si currently acted as her model with his hulking frame and silly smile.

"Done yet, Big Sis Qing?" Wei Si asked as he felt his muscles stiffen. He had been holding a single position for nearly two days. Moreover, Qing Qiumu had thrown out depictions and restarted entirely, extending the duration of his task to remain still.

"Almost," Qing Qiumu responded with a frown and a light bite of her lips. With a brush in her hand with freshly wet paint, she added another touch to its corners. When she gave her heart to something, she was thoroughly invested. That was the type of person she was. Wei Wuyin had told her to cultivate her heart and sense of self, and her imagination was serving as a gateway to do so.

It's been a long time since she felt a sensation of focus and purpose enough to distract her mind from all her worries and concerns.

Ming Shufeng kept staying above deck while cultivating. Throughout the last few days, she would periodically perform a few divination spells and then find Su Mei. Shortly after, Su Mei would approach Yao Houyi and Shui Fengbao who would slightly change course.

A Heavenly Seer could grasp insights into the Heavenly Daos' intentions and bits of its knowledge but also acquire clues into calamities, fortunes, and the trends of the world at times. While the last few days had been without incident, that was largely due to Ming Shufeng's constant interventions and assistance.

A group of mortals and a few lower-stage Ascended Beings traversing an entire galaxy was often fraught with catastrophically lethal opportunities.

The great expanse was not to be casually trifled with. Fortunately, Minor Elysium was an extraordinary vessel for transportation as long as one could pilot it properly. With Yao Houyi at the helm and Shui Fengbao providing the aura of Laws necessary to function many of its formations and arrays, they could use the Minor Elysium to a degree far surpassing the standard of mere mortals.

Tuo Bihan would periodically go below deck and rise back. Each time, his aura was purer, calmer, and more reserved than before. His cultivation efforts were showcasing noticeable results. By relying on the Vortex-Zones' temporal acceleration, Tuo Bihan was capable of experiencing weeks within a single day and was making leaps and bounds in his cultivation.

After staying in their rooms for the first few days, Cao Cuifen left and began to observe the vast expanse with interest. While Wei Wuyin was currently occupied with cultivation, she decided to oversee anything that may need her oversight. In her mind, Wei Wuyin had left her in charge due to her seniority and cultivation base.

Fortunately, whether it was Yao Houyi, Shui Fengbao, or Su Mei, they were all competent. They already had everything under control, so besides a few questions here and there, she allowed them to continue, only instructing them to immediately inform her should anything occur.

Su Mei catered to her wants. The Ascendants, however, knew that Su Mei was undoubtedly the leader while Wei Wuyin was away, especially since she was likely the strongest in terms of straightforward combat abilities, but since Su Mei herself didn't seem to mind Cao Cuifen, they kept their mouths shut.

Young Master Shang drank, ate, slept, and relaxed; he wasn't restrained by any fetters and did little else besides speak out poetry and drink at the edge of the ship, his legs often dangling freely and his spirit as free as an immortal's.

Su Mei remained alert as she observed the Dark Void with Xiao Bai by her side. Her pure black eyes stared into the endlessness of it all.

"Where are we now?" Cao Cuifen walked next to Su Mei and inquired. Su Mei managed their task of navigation and route planning, including any deviation suggested by the Heavenly Seer that Wei Wuyin had brought. They had been traveling for four days now atop Stellar Transit Light at speeds far beyond her.

However, despite traveling for so long, except for some celestial debris, they haven't come across anything.

No starfield.

No living beings.

She was worried if they were going the right way.

Su Mei glanced at Cao Cuifen lightly, "Lord Wei brought us to the edge of the Void-Blank Space between the Onestar Galaxy and the White Abyssal Galaxy. We're still within that region of uninhabitable, uncultivated space."

Her answer left Cao Cuifen shaken. How massive was the Void-Blank Space between galaxies? "Why hasn't this region been claimed by the Ascended Sovereigns?" She knew that Void-Blank Space was a region of space that was often categorized as the area between celestial territories such as Starfields, Stellar Regions, or Galactic Zones.

They often were defined by the lack of direct influence under Solar Stars or other celestial territorial centers that impose their influence over the region with gravity, light, and other such things. It also assisted in defining the borders between galaxies, stellar regions, and starfields.

"There's a reason for that~!" Young Master Shang exclaimed as he lifted his flagon in the air and waved, his legs still dangling on the edge of the ship without any worry. He seemed to have recently awoken from a nap as his expression was a little drowsy.

"Setting aside the difficulties of those you call Ascended Sovereigns, the Void-Blank Space is extraordinarily dangerous." He took a sip and repeated: "Extraordinarily dangerous!"

Cao Cuifen frowned as she stared into the Void-Blank Space and the rapidly shifting environment. Minor Elysium darted through while atop a rainbow of river-like light, the Stellar Transit Light. They hadn't come across any dangers. Young Master Shang's words caused Yue Songli and Qing Qiumu to look over.

At this time, Liu Suyin walked out of the lower deck and saw Cao Cuifen. She looked about as if to find someone, her cheeks flushed as if she had just completed a round of refining a yang source of energy. She required a little more time than Cao Cuifen to refine Wei Wuyin's 'gift'.

Su Mei had already learned about this from Young Master Shang during her earlier series of thoroughly considered questions, and seeing Liu Suyin walk out, she looked to Yao Houyi. "Halt," she ordered.

Yao Houyi halted the ship as the Stellar Transit Formation was placed on standby. There was no hesitation in his actions and the ship obeyed his commands with impeccable accuracy. He had grasped the fine controls of the ship rather swiftly.

"What are you doing?" Cao Cuifen was uncertain about Su Mei's actions.

Su Mei glanced at Cao Cuifen before sweeping her gaze subtly across the shop toward Yue Songli, Qing Qiumu, and Liu Suyin. One of her jobs was to allow them to experience the vastness of the world beyond, including its dangers and its beauty while ensuring that they were safe.

"Remove the Shroud of Law," Su Mei ordered.

Shui Fengbao retracted his Law of Fire aura. The fiery red Minor Elysium suddenly lost its singular, uniform color as it became a mixture of a myriad of vibrant and dark colors without organization, seemingly a mishmash of formations interlinked together on its hull, deck, sails, and keel.

"Why are you…?" Cao Cuifen was stunned.

Young Master Shang smiled, "The Void-Blank Space of any celestial territory is often dangerous, but the Void-Blank Space between galaxies was by far the most dangerous. Not only is it a long stretch of space, but the flow of time, space, and light can create all sorts of mysterious phenomena. Or…birth creatures of the void."

Ming Shufeng hurriedly stood up and rushed to Yue Songli's side. In her eyes, this was by far the safest place.

"Deactivate all non-essential formations," Su Mei issued another order.

Yao Houyi did exactly that, and all the colorful formations across the ship slowly dissolved. The ship soon became a dark brown color.

"..." Cao Cuifen, Yue Songli, Qing Qiumu, Liu Suyin, Ming Shufeng, and Tuo Bihan all felt their skin crawl, their hearts race, and a deafening silence that drowned out everything but their thoughts, and even then, that felt distorted. It was hard to tell up, down, left, or right, and this caused them to stumble and almost lose their balance.

A gentle light kept Yue Songli and Qing Qiumu from falling, but Cao Cuifen fell to her knees. Liu Suyin was capable of maintaining her balance, but she felt queasy and the urge to vomit invaded her body.

Yue Songli and Qing Qiumu felt only a little light-headed with the gentle light slowly soothing their bodies. However, this was enough for them to feel shaken.

Young Master Shang imbued his voice with a strange power that seeped into the body and traversed into the inner ear, "You're all experiencing a form of Spatial Disorientation. Don't worry, it'll take some time to get used to. Maybe a few centuries or so."

The Prime Ascendants were all fine. This caused Young Master Shang to reveal a look of surprise and praise. They must have cultivated a Grand Convergence Spatial Resonance and an extraordinary Temporal Eye.

Suddenly, the hairs on their body stood up. A sensation of great danger struck all of their hearts. They uniformly looked out into the Void-Blank Space as if their attention was unnaturally pulled. But they saw nothing. For a long, long time, they saw just emptiness.

Until a noxious smell stimulated their Sea of Consciousness, and their Spirits of Cultivation began to violently throb as if alerting their owners on an instinctual level of incoming danger!

Cao Cuifen's eyes widened to the extreme. Her mouth opened, but a hand clasped on it tightly and stifled her cry. Su Mei looked at her with a direct gaze, causing her to swallow her voice forcefully.

What she saw shook her to the core.

They could be described as puffballs with hair as thick as trees and teeth as large as buildings. They didn't have eyes, only a single mouth with thin, crusty, dried lips. However, as they moved, it felt as if they could see across all dimensions of space and time. Their bodily shape was like a perfect sphere, and their sizes were like small mountains.

As one peered into their mouth, they saw pure chaos. It was enough to cause the mind to spiral into madness and terror. Some were as close to them as a few tens of miles away, capable of seeing the cracks on their dried lips like earthen fissures or their fur-like hair that was thick and swayed without wind.

While others were far away, and they seemed roughly the same visual size as those close by or larger, alluding to their gargantuan sizes.

Young Master Shang communicated, "They go by many names, but my Blessed Yri Empire calls them Kaku Eaters. They are strange creatures born of chaotic and irregular space and time and formed from celestial debris. They shift through all layers of space and, if they ate you, could trap you in a world of chaotic space and time.

You might only experience a single second in your senses, but ten thousand of years might have passed on your physical body and soul. They feed off exhausted lifespans and soulspans within that inner space using this frightening method."

The others had an intense reaction as they felt the urge to scream or shout or exclaim or cry, but it was all suppressed by a gentle light sent out by Su Mei.

Young Master Shang continued, "The infants have the strength that could rival top-tier World Emperors, while the mature ones could clash with Sages. A few variants are even worse."

Flee!

Cao Cuifen felt like giving that order out. The puffballs known as Kaku Eaters were moving about at rapid speeds and they vanished in and out of existence at times, causing her to lose track of them. They would chomp about with the intensity to bite into planets like apples. A large wad of saliva flowed down her throat as she heavily gulped.

"But they have a weakness," Young Master Shang said with a faint smile.

Su Mei looked at Yao Houyi who immediately began to reactivate the formations and Shui Fengbao readily reapplied the Shroud of Law. Immediately, those creatures vanished entirely. It was as if they didn't dare to enter fixed space under the warmth of Shui Fengbao's Law of Fire.

"They fear the natural power of the heavens in manifested, realized form. To put it simply: they avoid the aura of Laws. Of course, it has to be sufficiently powerful," Young Master Shang said as he took a few sips with a hearty chuckle as if he was no longer scared of the Kaku Eaters from hearing him.

"These aren't the only creatures of the void either, nor are they the most dangerous. Some consume the natural power of the heavens while others are attracted to it like moths to a flame. Not all of them are outright hostile, but to some of them, we're like small fishes to sharks. While they might not recognize us, we are still a potential food source at a single glance.

"And trying to colonize these spaces means trying to eradicate these creatures or quelling the astronomical celestial dangers that could even claim the lives of Resonant Soul Realm cultivators in the blink of an eye. And some of these things aren't brainless either, and they can hold incredibly long-lasting grudges that are borderline obsessive.

Don't underestimate animals or any living being in this great world. There have been entire forces with dozens of Sages who've tried to expand only to have their entire civilization crushed and become a part of Void-Blank Space by these creatures.

The vast expanse of the Dark Void is not a playground for the reckless." After Young Master Shang explained that, he felt thoroughly refreshed and kept drinking.

"You've probably heard of beast tides before? Where wild beasts attack cities due to migration, ecological distress, or instigation of cultivators by slaughtering the younglings of those leading beasts? Well, imagine a tide of these creatures. Hehe."

"..." Everyone felt cold sweat form on some part of their body, either their palms, back, or forehead. The thought was terrifying and they only saw a single type of creature!

"How come…Galactic Zones are safe?" Cao Cuifen couldn't conceive how these things exist and they were still alive.

"It's thanks to the Daos…" Young Master Shang began and then pursued his lips with a brief pause, continuing: "Let's just say Solar Stars generate a natural deterrent to creatures born within the void." He took another sip.

"Anyways, it's better to expand territory slowly and push these creatures away gently rather than with force. And that's why you'll see a lot of Void-Blank Space between galaxies. That said, a lot of intergalactic wars begin because one territory expands into the other eventually."

Su Mei issued another order, "Continue."

Yao Houyi reactivated the Stellar Transit Formation and continued. After a few minutes, Liu Suyin blushed as she realized that the so-called order of three hours that Wei Wuyin had given earlier was unnecessary. The thought of Wei Wuyin instantly eased her heart of any lingering terror and suffused it with warmth.

At different times, the complexions of each of the four women grew tender and warm as if reminded that despite the dangers, they were safe and secure. Qing Qiumu's mood improved and Yue Songli was inspired to paint those puffball-like creatures.

Young Master Shang chuckled. He remembered the first time he learned of these void creatures. He was so terrified of the Dark Void that he didn't even look out into the starry skies for a hundred years for fear of attracting something's attention. Seeing the influence of proper mental support, he felt extremely envious.

Most people would never explore the Dark Void again or travel in space except using Void Gates after learning about any of this.

As for Ming Shufeng, she was a Heavenly Seer, so she had confidence in the fortune of the Blessed she chose. She just had to be careful and nothing should happen.

"Well, at least they'll have a story to tell."