Paragon of Sin

"The World Between the Fold?" Wei Wuyin repeated. "Is that the name of this place or its location?"

"Both." Liu Suyin began to walk forward. She didn't indicate for Wei Wuyin to follow, but where else was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do? He could only follow along with a faint smile. He wasn't frustrated by this showing, merely amused.

Plop. Plop. Plop.

Wei Wuyin was taken aback by the sounds of an object touching water. It was soft, melodically sounding like music with its own rhythm. He looked downwards as he walked and found ripples spreading out from each of his footsteps, generating this plopping noise that oddly felt soothing to hear.

The ripples were mesmerizing to observe. Each step of his generated three ripples, all presided by a plopping sound from his steps, and they never stretched far. Amazed by the novelty, he placed a little more strength into his steps, and the ripples surged faster, producing four ripples.

Almost immediately, it became a self-created game as he exerted a tad bit more strength with each step. How many ripples can I produce? By exerting a tenth of his physical strength, dozens of ripples were produced, but they never traveled further than a certain distance, only spreading out faster.

Wei Wuyin felt a child-like amusement form in his heart. He skipped and stomped, kicked and softly tapped, and eventually, he imagined the ripples as his orchestra of music and his legs and feet as its maestro. When was the last time he relaxed to this extent?

Bump!

Wei Wuyin soon felt an impact. A tall, slender figure stood in his path and he collided against them. He instinctively pulled back his body weight and was pushed back by the unmoving figure. When he lifted his gaze, he found Liu Suyin staring at him indifferently, yet there was a strange light within her eyes unbefitting her typically emotionless state.

"What? Never seen anyone have a little fun?" Wei Wuyin teased without the slightest sense of embarrassment. He lived on a ticking clock, so moments like this were exceedingly rare, and he felt free and inhibited. It felt as strange as his thoughts about his life choices, yet as natural as breathing.

What was this?

"Be careful that you don't sink into the Endless Void Mirror, lest you be stuck there for eternity." Liu Suyin warned, turned around, and kept walking. Wei Wuyin was stunned; he looked at the ground and discovered that faint cracks were forming on the asphalt but they swiftly healed.

There was a world beneath the asphalt? Endless Void Mirror? What the hell was that?

"Hmph. We can enter and leave as we wish. Let's enter!" Kratos urged. Wei Wuyin's silver eyes inspected the Endless Void Mirror that was the boundless asphalt. He felt a strange feeling that he had touched something similar before, but he couldn't quite recall where.

"The Stellar Nest," Eden reminded.

"Oh?" Wei Wuyin's thoughts and memories were intrinsically linked to Eden more directly than the other Astral Souls, so it was extremely aware of his thoughts. Furthermore, it could recall all his memories without him having to exhaust his mental energies scouring for it.

"It's similar but not the same," Eden stated.

Wei Wuyin was curious about the purpose of an Endless Void Mirror and why one was in the Stellar Nest. Fortunately, he didn't shy away from asking questions.

He caught up to Liu Suyin, "What's the Endless Void Mirror's purpose?"

Liu Suyin didn't hide or deliberately keep the Endless Void Mirror as a mystifying object, "The foundation of the World Between the Fold. In a way, it is the Fold." Her answer, however, didn't alleviate Wei Wuyin's curiosity in the slightest. He didn't understand key terms, such as what the 'Fold' meant or what the World Between the Fold was, so it was as good as not answering.

"What's the Fold?" Of course, he didn't shy from seeking clarification either.

However, this time, she didn't answer. She kept silent. This caused Wei Wuyin to frown slightly. He felt a wispy flow of energy flow into her, very similar to a transmission through his Celestial Eyes right after she answered his first question. As a mortal, he wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity's ability.

He scoffed inwardly. She was given orders to not spill the beans? A little frustrating, but it was likely that Liu Suyin was speaking about crucial secrets of the Void Voyage Sect. She likely never had anyone ask this question before, so she responded carelessly before.

Wei Wuyin decided to inspect his surroundings, but he saw nothing. There were no buildings, mountains, or…well, anything! Besides the silver clouds, vast grey sky, and dark-grey Solar Star with three Mystic Radiance Belt in gracefully beautiful motion, there was nothing else.

"I can spread my Spiritual Sense, right?" Wei Wuyin curiously asked. He didn't want to suffer a backlash due to being an outsider without certain permissions. The Myriad Monarch Sect had a similar array established around vital locations, and many forces apply this to their entire sect. The Dark Yin Sect had a cloud of grey yin mist that attacked any foreign spiritual strength that dared to carelessly invade their planet, Immortal Yin; Wu Yu had fallen prey to this.

This wasn't uncommon.

"You can," Liu Suyin said.

Wei Wuyin felt relieved; he mobilized his Spiritual Strength and began to spread out his Spiritual Sense. Instantly, he swept an area of 10 kilometers.

Nothing.

He pushed it to 100 kilometers. Again, nothing.

Wei Wuyin frowned; he glanced at Liu Suyin's side profile, finding her not reacting in the slightest. In the end, he decided to exert his Spiritual Sense to its limits, curious to see the vastness of this space.

200 Kilometers! 300 Kilometers!

When Wei Wuyin reached the World Sea Phase, his Spiritual Sense extended to 3.6 Megameters(3600 Kilometers), and since then, he's maximized his Spiritual Strength with each stage, leaping from the first stage to the seventh!

WOOSH!

A wave of terrifying spiritual energy swept the world, and Liu Suyin's indifferent expression shattered slightly, eliciting the faintest of frowns. She stopped, turning to Wei Wuyin as his Spiritual Sense reached an obscenely great distance!

700 Gigameters!

Liu Suyin's eyes widened slightly. A spark of shock was forcefully born in them!

This distance was enough to cover the entirety of a small-sized Starfield! It wasn't just obscene, it was monstrously inconceivable! While Ascended can 'sense' occurrences from starfields away, a blanket of their Spiritual Sense meant everything within its range from every direction was perfectly within their knowledge. This wasn't a focused inspection, but a freaking wide-range one!

Wei Wuyin, however, was feeling even greater shock in his mind. For the entirety of 700 Gigameters(700 Million Kilometers), there was absolutely nothing! Furthermore, there was no limit to it. He didn't wrap around and sense himself, nor did he even reach the horizon. This shook him to the core.

How far did this world go? What was the World Between the Folds? More importantly, where the hell were they going?

Wei Wuyin retracted his Spiritual Sense like a receding tide, asking: "Where are we going exactly?" He didn't bother asking where Wu Yu and Zhan Zheng were. He wasn't concerned about either of them. They had the means to protect themselves, and if they didn't, he wouldn't be able to free them using his own power no matter what.

"..." Liu Suyin stared at Wei Wuyin's exceptionally handsome countenance, and for the first time, she briefly revealed a betrayal of some semblance of emotion. After a long while, she finally responded, regaining her complete indifference: "We're here."

She pointed at the ground. Wei Wuyin followed her slender finger and discovered a series of inscribed characters that formulated a strange formation in the shape of a Void Gate. He was shaken. He didn't sense that before? Was it always there?

Liu Suyin touched her Celestial Jade Key. The strings of silvery light manifested once again, flowing into the formation below. It began to brightly glow with a silver radiance that was breathtakingly beautiful. Within the radiance, animated runes danced about.

The two of them swiftly became surrounded by these runes and glow. Before Wei Wuyin could properly inspect this event, he felt himself shift through space in the blink of a mortal's eye.

Instantly, he was in an entirely new area. And what an area it was!

Wei Wuyin was instantaneously besieged by hectic activity, the hustle and bustle of cultivators, and the soaring sounds of Skyships flitting through the air at astonishing speeds. He stood outside a vast, silver gate that towered upwards for roughly a hundred feet. Inside the gate, in the far distance, he saw it.

A grand, concentric castle with two twin heaven-reaching towers at its center in the far distance. The endless flow of traffic was composed of multicolored Skyships that flew about in an organized, practiced manner. The exquisitely designed buildings of various sizes saw many cultivators enter and exit freely.

He bore witness to an entire civilization in motion as he stood outside its gate, seeing its walls that extended for hundreds of kilometers, curving after a while, that encapsulated the entirety of the active world within.

"...Is this?" Wei Wuyin, amidst his awe, asked.

"The Void Voyage Sect." Liu Suyin announced.

Woosh!

A figure flew down from the upper walls, landing gracefully before them. It was a young man, handsome and dashing, garbed in light-grey armor. He clasped his hands tightly, slightly bowed his head, and greeted with the most respectful tone that one could possibly imagine, "Welcome back, Vice-Sect Master."

Wei Wuyin gave this young man a look and he was surprised! This man's physique was slender, his irises were a bright blue color containing stars resembling the far-off Dark Void, and a fluffy tail sported out of his armor from slightly above his buttock When Wei Wuyin caught a glimpse of his eyes, he saw non-circular pupils. They were star-shaped, with five points!

The Celestial Race!