Paragon of Sin

Grand Priestess Si De's expression was amongst the first whose expressions twisted, filled with horror, disbelief, and shock. She, alongside several other figures, shot towards the opening with extraordinary swiftness. Most were caught off-guard by Wei Wuyin's words, unsure how to react.

Those who were Timelords were the first to react, so including Grand Priestess Si De, Ai Yin, and Hu Ran, the others from the Scorched Skies, Noxious Seas, and the Zephyr Plains had simultaneously acted. They blurred, zipping past Wei Wuyin with unprecedented speed.

The others that might've acted to stop them before were stunned, their hearts beating with anticipation. A few prayed that Wei Wuyin's words were false. Yet after a few seconds, the Timelords exited. Their hearts sunk as the dark, enraged, and accusatory expressions painted these powerhouses' faces. 

"WHO?!" Grand Priestess Si De roared, her aura erupting fiercely with killing intent. While Wei Wuyin might've decided to trade the resources, he was trading them, not losing everything for nothing. Now, there was nothing.

The other Timelords deeply frowned, looking at Wei Wuyin.

Feeling the gazes on him, Wei Wuyin's expression became unfathomably dark. Before he could even respond, Ai Yin spoke up.

"The Holy Son of Grand Earth swore a tightly sealed oath. He nor any of us from the Desolate Lands had entered the Grand Earth Cache prior to today. Furthermore, do you all truly not know the movements of the Holy Son? Not trust that your men were watching dutifully? Could they have missed that sky piercing light?" Ai Yin was calm, standing beside Wei Wuyin protectively.

Regardless if the cache was empty or not, Wei Wuyin's safety was paramount. He carried the Holy Bloodline.

The others recalled Wei Wuyin's path. Furthermore, he wore no spatial rings or objects with spatial fluctuations. To add, he was only inside for a few seconds yet the space inside was impossibly huge. They couldn't imagine how much was contained within or how many objects that couldn't be stored inside normal spatial rings. Their hearts groaned in pain, twisted in a sense of loss and rage.

The entire crowd was stunned, unable to believe it. Was this real or was this an orchestrated act? A few didn't believe it, testing their luck as they shot into the opening. The Timelords didn't stop them, allowing them to confirm it with their own eyes.

One by one, experts went in and came out with dejected expressions twisted with anger and accusatory glances. They experienced the same emotions as the Timelords.

Who was it?!

The Holy Clans' Envoys were silently watching, similarly shocked by these baffling events. But one of the Lei Clan's Envoys was particularly ill-at-ease. Wei Wuyin was staring at him with a vicious glare and didn't move his gaze away. This started to attract others' attention.

Grand Priestess Si De's aura soon settled. She had no direction for her rage, so she could only calm down, much to her dissatisfaction. She wanted to vent. Those sightless eyes of hers went to Wei Wuyin, and when she noticed his glare, she followed his gaze to the skittish Lei Clan Envoy.

Why was he staring at them like that?

The others caught on too.

In fact, the moment Wei Wuyin exited the opening, his eyes were fixated on that particular member. The other Lei Clan Envoy frowned, he questioned: "Do you have an issue, Holy Son of Grand Earth?" 

Due to the presence of multiple Holy Sons, and the fact that Wei Wuyin held the Earth Element Badge of Divinity, he was referred to by this title.

Wei Wuyin deeply frowned, the light in his eyes turned vicious and violent, shocking everyone. His aura surged, spiritual pressure erupting that staggered all the nearby experts regardless of their cultivation. With a step, he blurred towards the Lei Clan Envoy while shouting: "Give me your Spatial Ring!"

His demand caught both the Lei Clan Envoy and the others off-guard. Still, under attack and having a profound cultivation at the Temporal Eye Phase, he reacted swiftly and slapped out a palm towards the approaching Wei Wuyin. 

Wei Wuyin arrived just a few feet from him before the palm smacked into his chest, pushing it inwards and sending him explosively back. His body was like a cannonball as it shot backwards and heavily crashed into the ground, shocking everyone!

"You!" Grand Priestess Si De roared in madness. 

"No!" Ai Yin screamed in horror. 

They both explosively shot out, the former with a grey short sword in her hand slicing towards the Lei Clan Envoy who struck while the latter arrived at Wei Wuyin's location, ready to inject restorative energies. 

Grand Priestess Si De erupted with terrifying Desolate Intent, it was pure and untouched as an endless desolate force gushed out towards the Lei Clan Envoy. Shocked, he retaliated with a ward of violet-colored lightning force. 

BOOM!

A violent collision of power sundered the skies and rent the earth. Many individuals panicked as desolate force spread out alongside the violent and erratic lightning power. A few experts were too slow, struck by these two powers and nearly killed. 

"What are you doing?!" The other Lei Clan Envoy supported his ally, instantly joining the fight, a bundle of violet-colored lightning force surged out with sinister crackles. The two ganged up on Si De who fought violently, seemingly having lost her mind. Every strike was followed through with lethal intent by her, carrying a vast amount of desolate force. 

Their expressions instantly turned ugly as they were beaten back continuously. Her strikes were extremely difficult to deal with. Grand Priestess Si De revealed her Desolate Astral Soul's power!

"How can she be so strong?!" The Lei Clan Envoys simultaneously thought, defending the best they could. One of them was hit by a sword ray of desolation, their arm turned dry and devoid of life in a mere second. He had to cut it off in haste, their expressions pale. 

"Wait!" A few Timelords hurriedly interfered including the Shuang Clan's Envoys. They held Grand Priestess Si De back, separating her from the Envoys with much effort. When everything settled, Grand Priestess Si De scoffed, not bothering with them any longer as she shot towards Wei Wuyin with heavy concern reflected in her eyes.

Ai Yin was already there tending to Wei Wuyin's wounds, stabilizing his condition. He coughed out some grey-colored blood and his expression was pale, but he was alive. Ai Yin was also pale, feeling fear she hadn't felt before. When Wei Wuyin was struck, she felt her heart sink to the bottomless depths of despair.

She knew she had to reevaluate her emotions towards Wei Wuyin. While he conquered her body, did he also conquer her heart?

When Grand Priestess Si De saw the grey-colored blood at the edge of Wei Wuyin's lips, killing intent flashed within her eyes, but also a little surprise. Wei Wuyin had survived a direct strike from a Timelord at close range, and that startled her. While Timelords were suppressed, they were still so much stronger than Realmlords.

The Shuang Clan's Envoys realized the situation could deteriorate into all-out war after seeing the violent and readying auras of every member of the Desolate Lands. They seemed ready to pounce, even if it meant throwing their lives away.

One of the Shuang Clan Envoys, a gorgeous young woman with ash-colored hair, stepped forward. She spoke with an elegant posture and a soft and disarming voice, "May I ask why the Holy Son of Grand Earth is so angry? Perhaps we can ease your grievance towards the Lei Clan." Her act as a mediator was spot-on, not mentioning anything about how Wei Wuyin attacked first or how he was struck, but the core of the issue.

Wei Wuyin's eyes lit with happiness. He would give her a thumbs up if he wasn't performing a show. He angrily spat out a wad of grey blood, his eyes gleaming with murder. "My grievance? Is it just my grievance that needs to be addressed? What about my people? What about you all here?!"

The young woman was startled. She composed herself and said, "Holy Son of Grand Earth, I'm not following." In truth, no one understood exactly why Wei Wuyin attacked the Lei Clan, but they were smart enough to understand that he had suspicions towards them.

After all, which of them were lacking in intelligence or the gathering of it? The news that the Lei Clan wanted to act against Wei Wuyin was as well known as the Shuang Clan's desire to intermix Holy Bloodlines. Someone had leaked this information and it was even verified by their sources!

If someone were to act against him, it would only be the Holy Clans, and the only Holy Clan with ill-intent was the Lei Clan! They weren't idiots.

"You don't understand? Then let me explain!" Wei Wuyin said with a growl, turning to the Lei Clan Envoy that he attacked. "You must truly be stupid. You stole the things that had my Holy Bloodline Mark on them? Things that BELONGS TO ME, and YOU expect ME not to notice while carrying it? Do I look incapable or are you just a fucking idiot!" His rage was pure, his emotions felt genuine.

That Lei Clan Envoy was startled into a panic, uncertain what Wei Wuyin meant. Stole? Holy Bloodline Mark? When? What?

Then he recalled Wei Wuyin's demand to check his Spatial Ring, how he was staring at him from the beginning. The others present recalled this too, they were suspicious now and sought a clear explanation. 

Grand Priestess Si De asked, "Are you saying the Lei Clan stole the cache contents?!" Her words were like a white flash to everyone's minds. Was it true?!

Wei Wuyin didn't answer. Instead, he took out the Earth Element Badge of Divinity and a piercing light shot into the sky. The crowd's eyes followed it, then the light shot down and engulfed the Lei Clan Envoy before he could react. 

"Thieves!" Wei Wuyin shouted while pointing his finger, trembling from his apparent rage.

"Impossible! We've never taken anything from the Grand Earth Cache!" The Lei Clan Envoy was terrified. This was a heavy, incredibly heavy accusation being lobbied by a Holy Son! If they stole it and their identities were hidden, then there was no issue, but if they were found out? The trouble…

"Liars!" Someone amongst the crowd who hated the Lei Clan raged with a booming shout empowered by spiritual force. He poured fuel to the blazing suspicions.

"The Lei Clan are a bunch of thieves! They stole from right under our noses! The treasures were very recently taken, not even a few days ago!" Someone shouted amongst the Timelords, having scanned the time energies of the cache room. Of course, this was all manipulated by a certain someone, but it was verified by other Timelords. If the time energies of recent arrivals was truly studied, it would be shortly after Wei Wuyin announced opening it up to everyone!

Since Wei Wuyin swore an oath that he'd never entered nor any of the Desolate Lands individuals, then that only left outsiders! And the only ones who have the gall to do something outright defying religious principles and morality, such as stealing from their own Divinities, were those who felt themselves above all the other inhabitants of their world!

The Holy Clans!

"We didn't steal anything!" The Lei Clan Envoys shouted in panic as they proclaimed their innocence, seeing the murderous gazes targeted towards them.

Hu Ran's dark, imposing voice resounded. "Then, let us see the contents of your spatial ring!" As a member of the Desolate Lands, and a human, he already felt entitled to the Grand Earth Cache, so his expression was the most violent.

The Lei Clan Envoy was about to agree when he recalled the still shining light engulfing him, a feeling of uncertainty emerged in his heart. What if he had an item with the Grand Earth Holy Bloodline Mark? What if he had just a single item?

Where would the rest be? Where could the rest of it be? 

His expression grew uglier and uglier.

Even if the Lei Clan didn't have it…

He gulped heavily, uncertain what to do.

Before he could decide what to do, or figure out the suspicious points, Wei Wuyin's demanding voice exploded!

"They wish to escape! SURROUND THEM!!!"