On the next day, that being the sixth of the fifth month, a number of figures received a message carried through spiritual will that asked them to gather at a certain part of the desert fortress. Judging by the tone of the voice, not to mention the voice itself, the sender was obvious, but all of them collectively felt something odd about it.

The exact oddity was rather difficult to put into words, so none of them thought to share it with one another and just assumed that it was merely some misconception or misinterpretation, but it still stuck with them as they got out of bed, parted from whatever activity they had been engaged in, or did something even less conventional, then proceeded to the location with great interest to learn exactly what the reason behind the sudden invitation was. She had been brief, merely mentioning the location, and so there was a lot of room for guesses.

Naturally, the place where she chose to gather was the central headquarters of Paragon, not just because that place was most fitting for the collection of the Ascendant’s Arbiters, but due to it having a large enough meeting room to accommodate all of them.

As soon as the first one of them, Great Dark, arrived, Wei Yi was already sitting there with Min Lian and Shun Liu Min on either side.

“Got here quick. Sixth realm abilities, right?”

“And my proximity… the fourth realm is luckiest due to being able to obtain… a movement method though a certain manipulation of stabilised energy… which I do not recall you using yet,” he replied, sitting down in a random chair, “Is there some particular reason behind your actions… or have you never gotten around to it yet?”

“I saw some people using those movement methods, copied them partially, and don’t find them particularly impressive. Perhaps if I figure out something particularly effective with whatever I can do with my solidified energy, I might start using such movement techniques, but until then, I will focus on combat and other things that are more relevant now,” Wei Yi replied, “For example, I could benefit from acquiring the Conqueror’s Eye, if that is even possible, or creating a technique to take advantage of my particular abilities and types of energy, more so than slightly increasing my speed.”

“That does make sense, I suppose… It is still more flexible than common movement methods, so I would advise exploring it when you have the time…”

Almost immediately after, Luo Lia Kun and Zhi Qiu Ya entered the room, with the former asking, “What’s that about movement techniques? I have a few ones that I could share, which should be especially useful to you seeing as you can switch between them freely.”

“No need, and you really should listen to the conversation first before making any kind of a suggestion, vice-leader,” Wei Yi said, “You should all also train your spiritual perception and learn to use it constantly, everywhere, and without thought, as you might not see something with your eyes or hear something with your ears. To need to use spiritual perception consciously is really impacting your overall abilities.”

“Noted,” Luo Lia Kun said, sitting down as well.

As she did so, her hand involuntarily went to brush past the scar on her forehead, which was now even more visible than before due to her hair having been trimmed a little shorter once again. When she glanced towards the Ascendant, she saw Wei Yi giving her a quick encouraging smile, although it faded instantly the moment that the two of them looked away.

A little while later, Mo Zhouquan and Long Huang also entered the room, and just as Wei Yi had no difficulty in observing that small detail on Luo Lia Kun’s face, she immediately noticed a conspicuous choker on Long Huang’s neck.

To avoid bringing this to the attention of those that weren’t meant to notice it, seeing as the bloodline researcher was blatantly attempting to make it as difficult to notice as possible with her hair and arm position, Wei Yi reached out with her energy. Mo Zhouquan had a slightly brighter expression than usual, so she was included in this communication, not to mention the fact that they had entered together and had clearly spent some time in the same building together as well.

Due to her own focus on other things, she hadn’t been able to personally observe every little action of everyone in Paragon, leaving that to Yi Shi Ming, but she still knew where everyone she called had been.

‘So, is there a story to that, or no?’ she asked, nearly causing Long Huang to stumble on the spot.

That alone would have been enough information, but when the researcher followed that up with an extremely shaky reply, there was little more to guess, ‘Nope, it’s just a… a thing.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘It’s a sex thing,’ Mo Zhouquan corrected her, ignoring the surprised and panicked gaze she instantly received, ‘She kept pestering me, so I tried something. If you want me to stop, get your research done and get over your boredom.’

Since she could hardly argue with something that she had first started and then agreed to, Long Huang sat down beside Mo Zhouquan, the attempt to remain calm not being helped by the latter’s hand upon her shoulder to force her to sit down more quickly. When the corrupted woman saw that it was a little too much at that time, she quickly drew her hand back, but this gesture wasn’t particularly prominent in Long Huang’s mind specifically due to that shock.

To the one person that was paying attention, that being the Ascendant, it confirmed that Mo Zhouquan was doing the whole domination routine less out of whatever perverted tendencies had formed within her during her time listening to Primordial Corruption’s whispers, but instead to help out a person who was an odd mixture of friend and foe at once. Had it been something prompted by corruption, whether past or current, she might have considered putting an end to it, but she would hardly deny those under her unusual methods of encouragement and various kinky activities, especially not while she was going to be following her own mess of an idea.

Great Light arrived some time after, having needed to rise from the mines in order to attend, immediately getting strange looks from most people present.

As a result of his stay in the mines and the highly unprofessional and poor behaviour, most found it difficult to attach any importance to him besides the resources that he was able to bring in while the rest of Paragon and the Kong Prison Realm remained in too low a realm to handle it, including his own brother. In a way, Great Dark had more of what Great Earth had seen as his good sides.

Then, Chao Ru also entered, her pupils doing their best to become hearts as she looked upon Wei Yi, although the approach of Ju Yazhu and the general attempt at being presentable that most humans strove for stopped her from simply freezing in the doorway, or, worse, trying to leap at her.

While there were still a few seats left, Luo Lia Kun looked to Wei Yi and shared, “By the way, I had kept one of the cups that the poisoner at the Luo District had been feeding me, and have not been able to conclude much so far. If everyone here, Mo Zhouquan and Long Huang primarily, do not mind, I would like to pass it along so that you could take a look at it as well. It would be great to know exactly what I had been drinking for some time.”

“I could take a look at it, although I do not know how much I will find from something that old.”

“I… will also take a look, just in case. You think it is related to bloodlines in some way?” Long Huang asked.

“There is a certain chance, so I would like to investigate it. Wei Yi, how about…”

“For the moment, I am expecting to be somewhat busy. Yi Shi Ming might have already looked at it-” the sudden appearance of the spatial spirit in one of the chairs, as well as her prompt shake of the head, permitted her to proceed, “- but if not, then I will take a closer look after that is no longer an issue. I’d tell you what I’m doing, but I will wait for everyone else to be here first.”

Almost right away, Fu Zan and Aimi Miyu appeared in the doorway, with the former letting the latter through first before they sat some distance away from one another.

“I have to say, seeing the collection of people here, I am suddenly getting a rather bad vibe if even we were called in,” the otherworldly tailor commented, “Naturally, this is not some fictional world, but… do avoid setting off any flags, or jinxing things, if you can.”

“Unfortunately for you, I can make no such promises, but I will assure you that if the heavens try to force me into something, I will promptly kick their ass and tell them to fuck off and let me handle things if they’re that bad at resolving them on their own,” Wei Yi stated, earning two surprised looks from Great Dark and Great Light due to their lower familiarity with her usual way of not caring about heavenly authority like some might, “Of course, my ass will probably be kicked first, or they might just decide to spank me for being a silly little kid, but I’ll get around to reversing matters eventually.”

There was little that could be said about that – and if there was some heavenly punishment for this, they would prefer to be out of the spotlight and the lightning bolts that would be thrown down on them – so they remained quiet for a little while as they waited for the remaining seats to be filled by whoever else Wei Yi had called.

So far, most of them were not getting the same odd vibes as they had been from the initial message, but Fu Zan’s words did remind them that she had put together a rather odd set of people to receive any kind of instructions, briefing or whatever else. Most of them didn’t exactly understand his notion of flags or put much faith in jinxing, but the strange circumstances of the matter did make them suspect that there would be something not entirely positive about whatever announcement would be made, or whatever information would be shared.

After a little while longer, Meng Chu had also arrived and finally filled the last seat, allowing all attention to move to the one that had called them there in the first place.

“First of all, good morning, everyone. My apologies for calling everyone out at this particular time, and disturbing those that were up to something at the time. I won’t call them out, although the mere mention of their activities might serve to achieve that very thing,” Wei Yi said, making sure not to look directly at anyone while she did so, “The reason I have done this is that I intend to depart from Paragon in a short while, in order to do something that I believe will greatly advance our cause in nearly every way it possibly can. However, it might take a while, so I figured that I’d speak to a few people that I’m more familiar with than most so that we can figure a few things out. I wouldn’t want you to be left on your own without any warning.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to speak to us through the spatial realm, and Yi Shi Ming?” Fu Zan asked.

Unlike the rest of them, perhaps his otherworldly outlook on things gave him a slightly more detached view of the matter, or perhaps he had simply had too many questions before he could even begin to sit down and realise just what she had told them.

“Good, that question was asked. No, I will not. This is going to be an enormous risk that I intend to take, and for it, I will do my best to partly sever my connection with the spatial realm. It will still be somewhere within my dantian, and simultaneously out there near the Yi District, but I will strive my best not to interact with the realm unless it is absolutely necessary.”

“You’re going near Them, then, aren’t you?” Luo Lia Kun said, immediately removing her hand that had wandered near her forehead yet again, “That’s why you want to sever the connection.”

“Of course I’d be nearing Them- and I have just realised we could have been in the Kong Prison Realm and speaking far more clearly. Eh, too late,” she shrugged, “Anyway, you’re right, I intend to do something very dangerous and risky. It might take a while. I cannot guarantee whether it will be a week, two, or possibly even a month, and I also cannot be sure whether They will find you here and try to take advantage of my absence. Yi Shi Ming can protect you to an extent, but not entirely.”

“My seventh realm would permit me to subdue several of the second generation at most, I’m afraid,” the spatial spirit confirmed, “Furthermore, my appearance and connection to the Kong Prison Realm might only give them a different avenue of invasion.”

“Indeed, so I would prefer to avoid that if necessary. Try to keep going for as long as possible without other aid, and if you do reach out to me, do so only when it is absolutely essential. If I reconnect to the prison realm just to hear you checking up on me, I will be annoyed at the least, and possibly discovered and killed at most. In simpler words – be incredibly careful,” Wei Yi said.

For a few moments, the other looked at one another with a degree of concern in their eyes.

Just to lose someone that was essentially their strongest force was bad enough, but they could make do without the assistance of their leader for some time if it was necessary. However, if Yi Shi Ming was also incapable of participating, and if the Greats might be tipped off by the usage of the spatial realm, then their list of defensive possibilities shrank while the number of things that the Great could do simply increased with each item removed.

Furthermore, the fact that she was going off to do something dangerous near the Great Families, and could be found out by them, implied the potential of her capture by them. None of them thought that she would ever fold in any kind of regular interrogation, but the Greats were bound to have many methods, and might be able to use her to learn of something despite everything she conceals.

If she was captured, then their morale would also drop into the ground, since the majority of them were currently present in Paragon in the way that they were due to Wei Yi. Great Dark and Great Light, perhaps the most powerful humans there, had been assisted to a certain degree by her victories at the Deadly Martial Colosseum since they provided them with a forbidden skill to add onto the Paradigm of Yin. Yi Shi Ming, the most powerful in terms of cultivation, had been awakened due to the efforts of Wei Yi in the Kong Prison Realm.

Then, Luo Lia Kun and the Remnants had only managed to free themselves from the Great Families and get to where they were as a result of Wei Yi’s intervention in what they thought would be another damning recruitment session for the false Remnants of Yin.

Everyone from the Brotherhood of Power wouldn’t even be here if not for the sudden abduction of their majority from their base of operations, and many of them might have fallen prey to some plan of the Great Families without even having a clue that they would have been affected. Zhi Qiu Ya wouldn’t have been on her road of recovery from the effects of the living plague, Mo Zhouquan wouldn’t have been able to quieten the voices, and Long Huang wouldn’t have such an excellent subject to examine.

Shun Liu Min wouldn’t have broken out of the Ping family’s mansion on her own, and it wouldn’t have been certain whether any other guest to Ping Gangze would’ve had even the slightest interest in freeing her, while Min Lian would not have regained her mind and a semblance of a full and proper body had Wei Yi not been intrigued by a hatred automaton whose mind had nearly stopped functioning.

For some, it was only something minor, but for others their entire place in the world had shifted immensely as they learned things they could have never known otherwise, and got to go to places they might have never visited. They were almost certain that if she was to suddenly be confirmed dead, whether from an attack by all of the Great Families and their first generation members, or from a sudden illness that was simply not understood and cured in time, that their confidence in eventual success would drop significantly.

This was especially true for the stronger ones amongst them, interestingly enough, as they were also most familiar with the power of the Great Families, and just how much it took to strike them down.

The War of Yin had only been able to take a few Great Family lives that appeared to have been replenished by this time, whereas Wei Yi had already gone through and survived an encounter with more than five of the third generation, killing the Great Luo third generation and halving the Great Ping third generation.

None of them could do so on their own, as Wei Yi had done, especially in the same realm as she had been. It was the simple discrepancy in power that couldn’t be bridged without the sheer quantity of powers, techniques and energy types that she was able to use, and the number of coincidences and fortunate – and otherwise – events that could have only really happened to one person in a million years, if even then. A certain level of knowledge, circumstances, and mental ability were also required, and for that many individual matters to be placed together, to converge upon a single person, as it were, was obvious by the fact that the Ascendant’s Arbiters easily had the largest chance to act against the Great Families to ever exist, at least within the knowledge of the people present.

The majority had no clue of what had occurred in the million years between the time of the Master of Yi City and their lifetimes, with there only being some clues that might not necessarily even be accurate on the rest of the modern age, but most doubted that there could have been a greater group.

“Anyway, I wish to give you a quick warning about anything you might hear while I’m out. I don’t actually know how much They know of us, or how much access they have to methods of spreading information, but if they learn that I’m out of the fortress, They might attempt to spread some rumours,” Wei Yi said, “They could say that I am dead, captured, enslaved, have fallen to interrogation… Basically, They might have quite a lot to say, and you should promptly ignore every single thing like that.”

At those words, Luo Lia Kun couldn’t help but frown. As a result of everything that Wei Yi had done so far, and the way she did it, they were guessing that the Greats were unaware of her identity, and of her ownership of Paragon, since the other option would put them in a great deal of danger. Now, she was warning them that they could somehow learn of rumours regarding her capture, which would necessarily mean that the Great Families would know that there was someone to share that with, and that they would know enough of her to know the moment that she leaves the fortress and to try to scare those she is working with.

Either that would mean that the Greats know more about them than they think, putting all of them into significant danger as a result of Wei Yi’s imminent departure, or that they would be able to find out Wei Yi’s identity as part of her plans outside.

Now, Luo Lia Kun partly understood where her strange feeling about this had come from when she had been heading towards the primary structure of the desert fortress. Something about this whole mission, this sudden departure, was blatantly going to be dangerous, hence the possibility of earning a lot from it, as the most dangerous tasks were often the most rewarding in the case of success. It might even mean that there is a high chance of her being genuinely captured, and that she was now telling them not to believe it either because Wei Yi thought that she could free herself on her own, or due to not desiring to affect the morale of Paragon and the Ascendant’s Arbiters in the case of actually being caught.

“Wei Yi… You’re not just going to throw your life away, right?” she asked.

“What are you on about? I’m not throwing my life anywhere, since I think that I had plenty of opportunities to do so in the past and I never took a single one. If you think that whatever I’m going to do is too dangerous, then that’s something else, but this is not some strange attempt to cover up suicide,” the Ascendant replied, “I will come back, the only question is when I will be able to do so.”

Great Dark had already been frowning for some time before he said, “You intend to search for their Testament, perhaps?”

“Might be possible, but I don’t think that I’d be able to find it without finding one of Their residences, manors, or whatever else They have, so don’t expect me to return with full knowledge of what it is, or where to find it, if it is a physical entity in the Planar Continents,” she said, “It is one of the things that I do hope to learn about, if I can. Whatever I do end up learning, you can be assured that I shall return with some valuable information.”

The twin of Great Earth kept his frown on his face for a while as he considered something.

“Will you leave us with defensive measures… at the very least? Inscriptions, arrays, weapons, armour… so on? We might be able to attain success even in the event of a serious invasion… but only if we have the tools required to fight back against those who try to attack us,” he stated, with the rest of the room either nodding or simply silently agreeing, “I will naturally get on with creating something… But as we have seen so far, it is your creations that tend to be the most effective… even if you might be unable to leave behind your stabilised planar energy here.”

“Don’t worry, since I’ve decided that I would leave, I naturally prepared with all of the tools that you might require to combat Them, at least so long as the second generation doesn’t amass or the first doesn’t show up. I’ve got a whole lot of defensive inscriptions made over the day, some offensive ones, some arrays that Senior Yi Yi has also been attempting to learn in order to make some progress on his own creations, and I have worked on a few pieces of equipment as well.”

Wei Yi waved her hand and a number of items were transported from the Kong Prison Realm into the room, ranging from common inscription plates to complex schematics that seemed to include the whole fortress and the land beyond.

Another wave separated the pile based on the complexity and readiness of use of some of the items, with one of the most expansive schematics flying into her hand.

“I’ve had a few ideas for setting up defences and retaliatory systems, but I’m in a bit of a rush and thus am not fully able to set them up in time. Things like this don’t need to be worked on immediately, since, if you notice, all of those particular drawings are of the same defensive system, just expanded further outwards each time,” Wei Yi explained, presenting that image to everyone present, “You can start with the innermost layer, and then work outwards if the sandstorm walls are ever compromised, or if we ever decide to shut them down, which is hardly impossible. Shut them down… is that an otherworldly term?”

“We use it when talking about computers or mechanical things,” Miyu offered, “I don’t know if it has seeped into this world, though…”

“Well, we have had plenty of otherworldly demons making their way in, using all kinds of strange terminology, so I would hardly be surprised if it managed to get into our language. That does bring up the question of just how you two are able to speak the language of the Planar Continents perfectly calmly without even realising it, but that is a question for another time.”

Miyu blinked several times as she thought about that, then gasped “Oh, you’re right…”

“Anyway, another time. For now, you can prepare the internal defences, for if anyone breaches the sands and tries to attack you, and then be able to expand them quickly in the event of a total collapse of the sandstorm or otherwise an attack that simply forces you to take it down in order to have a better chance of going against whatever force is attempting to invade us. When I return, that can be expanded even further, and reinforces with a few things that only I can really set up, and then Paragon will truly be the most secure location in the entirety of Yi City against Them,” Wei Yi said, putting down the schematic in her hand and placing that hand on the table, “So, while I’m out, do your best to remain safe. The moment I return, we might even be able to prepare for outright war with them and decide on a suitable name for the offensive.”

“Names seem to be a difficult point for us, given that we had gone for twenty years without one,” Meng Chu noted, a few shocked stares being directed at him, “What? You do know how time in the Kong Prison Realm works, right? It was sped up by quite a lot.”

“They may be surprised by the fact that you are not only here, but are also speaking. Not even sure that everyone here has had a chat with you yet, since you’re usually too busy at your usual place of work to chat freely,” Wei Yi suggested, “That being said, your two fountains of lust might finally calm down, depending on exactly how limitless a force like that can actually be. If not… just kick them out. They’re not worth the stress, not when there are so many better people around.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, not after everything they have done for me up to this point. It would be great to send them to one of the Eastern Continent Daoists that teach the suppression of common human desires, but I am somewhat afraid that they would instead prompt the creation of some new sect focused on the opposite…”

“Perhaps. Not an expert on the matter of the Daoists, but they’d probably call it a demonic sect and then try to exterminate it, so I wouldn’t presume that to be a good idea… Tell you what, if I come across some technique that helps them control their own urges, I will deliver it when I return. If I fail to find anything, I will attempt to create one when we have the time to do so,” she said after a brief pause, glancing to the side where those two were wandering around Paragon and bothering the other residents, “When you get out, go to the north east and shove those into a bedroom so that they stop.”

“Stop… Alright, I get it.”

Another brief pause occurred, with everyone glancing nervously at one another, with Min Lian clearly clenching her jaw as she stopped herself from sharing what she suspected Wei Yi to be intending. Meanwhile, Shun Liu Min had kept her eyes down most of the time, her control over her own emotion being inferior to that of the professional assassin, hence why her own guesses needed to be held back with even more effort.

As the people that had been teaching her everything they could while Wei Yi had worked upon all of the items that she had now presented to the people of the Arbiters, when presented with this presentation that they were perhaps the closest to understanding just what she intended to do.

“Anyway, since there seems to be nothing else, I shall get going. There is very little time for me to act and be successful, so long as I am interpreting information correctly, and thus every moment that I spend here is actually rather risky. Make sure that all of you are really careful, don’t do anything silly, and I will be back the moment that I can be… I feel like I’m your dad, somehow.”

Most of the people present would have liked to comment on that, but there were two distinct comments that would have been made.