The chaos of the Born True Starfield lasted for hours on end, noticed by every powerful existence throughout the Neo-Dawn Stellar Region. However, the thin layer of solar radiance that contained the rich and profound aura of the Neo-Dawn Solar Star of the Neo-Dawn Starfield enveloped the chaotic stage and made it difficult to grasp the exact details occurring within.
While the happenings of an intense fight were obvious, it was difficult to determine the direction, and even more difficult to speculate on a winner or reason for this sudden onslaught. It was only after Su Nianzu and Jia Yang dragged out a bloodied figure and heard her ravings to see the Ascendant Emperor that they had some idea. The foreign invaders had launched a focused assault on the Born True Starfield's Unchained Heart Sect!
Moreover, there was a third party that had seized some repulsive object with a smile. They took off toward the Ninestar Starfield. The foreigners captured the woman and brought her back to their territory. The spatial fluctuations were easily traced as they didn't try to hide it at all!
The Born True Starfield, originally multiple starfields forcefully merged into a single whole in much the same way as the Aeternal Sky Starfield and the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, eliminating the Void-Blank Space between them through colonization of space with planets, realms, and lunar satellites, fell silent as a grim atmosphere shrouded every celestial body and realm within.
Yang Zhen was currently executing Temporal Reversions across various mortals in a broad region. The limits of temporal manipulation were eased by an inscrutable law power. Wei Wuyin was silently assisting. The ordinary, uninvolved citizens caught in the crossfire were being promptly saved.
At this time, half a dozen large-sized Voidships with similar designs to Sky Destroyers, but brandishing the Ascendant's insignia on their masts, pierced through space. They surrounded the Born True Starfield from every direction as Ascended beings and high-level Starlords, Timelords, and Realmlords flew out in an organized and pre-planned manner. It was quite clear from a glance that those Voidships were originally Tian Clan's Sky Destroyers!
Yang Zhen had been executing a reversion on a building housing a few hundred souls when he felt the arrival of numerous auras. His sharp gaze focused on a single Voidship with a few figures at the helm. A breathtaking mortal woman of peerless temperament befitting a dignified, stunning empress adorned with a violet crown of eye-catching design was at the center. Her hazel eyes illuminated the hearts of all fortune enough to obtain its notice.
She was overtly executing sharp, decisive orders through spiritual transmissions, easily noticeable due to the rampant exertion of her Spiritual Strength. Every last cultivator at the Soul Idol Phase or higher would notice this. The Ascended beings and Astral Core Realm cultivators sent down into the Born True Starfield moved by her will.
Lives were saved from ruined planets and devastated realms. The agony and pain of others were alleviated. Within minutes, the Neo-Dawn Empire's name was being exclaimed and bellowed joyfully like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. It was welcomed!
As for their oppressors and conquerors over the last few years, the Unchained Heart Sect, the ordinary citizens and cultivators that were once part of a glorious faction before being dominated, were utterly exultant after being liberated. The Born True Starfield was like a prison since their takeover as they kept continuously and endlessly improving their formations and extracting the most out of their people.
It was a living hell and when they finally can leave, they'll surely tell the story of how the Neo-Dawn Empire came to them in their need and swept away their oppressors. While the truth of the story wasn't exactly like this, Xue Yifei had no shame taking all the credit in that regard.
In the eyes of the outside world, the ignorant and amazed, they felt that Wei Wuyin had weaponized the foreigners to attack the Born True Starfield and capture their leader as proof of their future obedience and apology, further inadvertently elevating Wei Wuyin's already exceptional reputation. Some even thought it was Xue Yifei's idea to do so!
The arrival of Xue Yifei was simply too timely. Moreover, there were clear signs of formations master and array masters acting to dismantle the Unchained Heart Sect's formations while adding their own. Moreover, any remnant resistance was swiftly dealt with by Yang Zhen, while the Ascendants directly ignored them.
This only served to heighten the idea of foreigners having been actively mobilized by their emperor. Yang Zhen's Avatar was exhausting its mystic power to slaughter any resistance to the newly arrived Ascendants. The swordmaster of the Endless Voyage Realm wasn't told to do so, but he did so of his own volition!
There was once a time when the leader of Trueborn or the Unchained Heart Sect had implied that Wei Wuyin should be wary and afraid of the invaders from the World Between the Fold. While few knew of this warning or his reply, Wei Wuyin's reply was direct and true!
The events of the Unchained Heart Sect and the Born True Statfield would soon become legends of Wei Wuyin's founding efforts, solidifying his position and eradicating these so-called rats or weeds in his backyard. With the inevitable fall of the Unchained Heart Sect, Wei Wuyin had, in the eyes of most, conquered the entirety of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.
Moreover, there was no resistance formed by the major forces of the stellar region. It was quite clear to all that this conquest was a forgone conclusion. And this was an exhilarating discovery! The Neo-Dawn Defiance Era was in full swing and no one dared to stop it!
Wei Wuyin leaned against the headboard of a relatively plain-looking queen-sized bed with cotton sheets without any clothes on, only the thin layer of sheets covering his body. Next to him was none other than Mei Mei, who was staring at the ceiling as she sat beside him. There was a noticeable degree of exhaustion between her brows that coincided with a strongly relaxed aura and languid breathing.
The two silently observed the dry ceiling. They often did this after. It was a mystery as to when this became normalized, but it was often due to the clarity of the afterglow that allowed him to consider matters of grave importance or make decisions. Sometimes, they had great insights into cultivation methods, arts, or spells.
After a dozen or so minutes, Wei Wuyin lightly breathed out a breath of enriched air. "Boss, come-"
"Stop," Mei Mei interrupted as she similarly breathed out a breath of air, but it was turbid and impure. This was a sign of her body rapidly expelling her deeply entrenched impurities. She could feel Wei Wuyin's yang essence soothing her body, and she felt the urge to instinctively cultivate. This was likely the easiest and purest essence to absorb for those in the Mortal Realms. "If you want to ask me to go with you to the Neo-Dawn Palace, or to be sent off to cultivate somewhere else, I'll have to ask you to stop right there."
"..." Wei Wuyin.
She sighed as she straightened her posture and spine, not using the cotton covers to conceal her body in the slightest. "What do you want from me, Wei Wuyin?"
"I don't know," Wei Wuyin answered honestly as his silver eyes shone with a dim, uncertain light.
"Do you want forgiveness?" Mei Mei asked.
"..." Wei Wuyin didn't reply.
"Do you want me to become one of your women? A wife? A concubine? Perhaps just a mistress that was once your mentor?" She asked.
"..." Once again, Wei Wuyin didn't reply.
"Perhaps you want to repay me for all the help I've given you in the past to relieve your guilt? Give me anything I desire, territory, status, power, or wealth? For not being there until you've conquered this astonishing new world as a great apology?"
"..." Wei Wuyin didn't have a clear answer. A silence filled the air, and while it wasn't exactly stifling or awkward, there was a faintly severe feeling to it. "All of those things?" Wei Wuyin whispered questioningly.
"OR none of those things?" Mei Mei retorted.
Sighing, Mei Mei's tone grew low and solemn, "I don't need an apology; your climb to the top must have been filled with difficulties that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. No one gains your level of power, status, and authority without risking everything many, many, many times over. I don't blame you for leaving me here nor will I ever. Actually, I'm thankful. When I consider all those outstanding women you have that you're open about, I know that I'm different-in your heart, I'm one-of-a-kind.
"They might be special too in other ways, but you didn't dare risk my life in any of your endeavors on the off-chance you failed. While they would likely suffer unfathomable calamities upon any misstep of yours, would I not have been safe here? Untouched? Able to live until a more natural death with all your arrangements long since set?
"Wei Wuyin, I know you. I'm not destined to be your wife." Her words subconsciously caused her to touch her lower stomach. In her life, she had accepted a large number of partners before meeting Wei Wuyin. Some of them were political moves to elevate her position or to acquire benefits, others were for the sake of by-the-whim pleasure or to relieve built-up stress. She was very cavalier about her sexual relationships, and this attitude greatly defined Wei Wuyin's own outlook on sexual relationships. He had been majorly influenced by Mei Mei on multiple fronts, including the principle of never sleeping with your direct subordinates.
Wu Yu was a great Imperial Monarch of his generation, yet he was monogamous in principle. Even today, he was loyal to a single woman and likely would remain so until his death or hers. Wei Wuyin wasn't like that but he cherished purity. If told of Wei Wuyin's journey, she would have guessed that if Xue Yifei had been with Yuan Longshi, not only would she not have been Wei Wuyin's wife, but she wouldn't have been his concubine. Or if Na Xinyi had sacrificed her two remaining Primal Yins to Long Chen back in the Myriad Yore Continent, he wouldn't have given her that promise.
It was a subconscious detail that perhaps Wei Wuyin might not be entirely aware of.
"And I don't want to be a concubine or your official mistress. I don't want to be announced and worshiped by the masses. I don't want to lead an empire or assist in doing so. I'm fine with this. I've always been fine with this. It's freeing and I can still pursue love if I so choose." Mei Mei's words resonated with the truest beliefs carried within her heart. For a large portion of her life, she had to deal with schemes and battles of life and death. She had to deal with lustful idiots that wished to conquer those of higher status and stupid bitches that wanted to drown her.
It's not that she didn't love Wei Wuyin-of course she did, but there were many types of love, and the love she had didn't need a specific title or favor to exist.
Even if Wei Wuyin were to lose it all tomorrow, all his wealth, all his immense power, his good looks, his outstanding talent, and even his enviable manhood that she loved the most out of all her past lovers, she would still love him and stand by his side. There were only a few in this entire world among his women who could say the same, and there were those who weren't his women that would unhesitatingly do so.
For example, Su Mei. It was unconditional. Wei Wuyin's eyes dimmed slightly.
The silence returned. This time, the feeling was grim and heavy.
Eventually, Mei Mei spoke softly: "You built this for me. Right?" She stared back at the ceiling. The safe zones of the Ascendants were something she had once talked about after a drunken tussle between the sheets. Mere pillow-talk. It was an idea or desire that she wanted.
An immortal utopia where the ravaging of cultivation-fueled wars and power-hungry madmen were not allowed. A world where discrimination was punished but freedom wasn't restricted. You can do what you wish as long as it doesn't infringe on another person's right to live with dignity and with their own efforts. It was a dream that was impossible, or so she thought.
Her idea was fanciful and idealistic without much but a general outline. It was drawn up by her own struggles and Wei Wuyin's. The young silver-eyed boy had lost it all solely because he fell for a demon and those cultivators used that reason to eradicate everything he held dear. It was simply one of the reasons, but it made Wei Wuyin the main cause of his entire family's demise. The end of his happiness. The death of his wife. The death of his unborn child. The death of his older brother.
If such a place existed that could protect the basic rights for beings to simply survive and love freely, this would be exactly how it would be. And this would be exactly where she would want to be. Nowhere else.
While it was only for a short few years since its establishment and there were a few things to fine-tune for the better, to give a higher quality of life, the place held a significant resemblance to her drunken description back then.
No one beyond his trusted circle truly knew why Wei Wuyin established these safe zones for cultivators throughout his starfield, especially since he didn't infringe on cultivators' right to own land or have terrifying battles in other areas. It felt as if one should only go one way or the other by trying to regulate their territory with laws as the Tian Clan or the other major organizations had done or establish absolute peace through iron-clad rules and extreme consequences.
Wei Wuyin had shockingly gone for neither and settled on a lax series of laws with freedom as an emphasis on all regions except those specifically outlined. If you wished to fight and cultivate for territory, status, power, or authority, the Ascendants of the Neo-Dawn Empire did not stop you. If you wish to live in peace without conflict, the Ascendants did everything in their power to ensure you had that right.
Should you change your mind? It was only a step away in either direction. It was entirely your choice. This was the main novelty of the Neo-Dawn Empire, including its lack of discrimination toward all races, regardless if one was in a land of promise and conflict or a land of promise and peace.
Mei Mei knew that her drunken spell that day had given birth to a newly defined cultivation society unlike anything before. Who would've guessed that? And she knew that it was likely because Wei Wuyin owed her too, too much.
"Thank you," she gently whispered, clutching the sheets and closing her eyes which were slowly brimming with wetness, threatening to overflow.
"It's something I wanted too," Wei Wuyin said.
Mei Mei smiled, "I know."
"I understand. But...I'm a little selfish," Wei Wuyin finally said as he moved his gaze toward Mei Mei's face. Her facial freckles added a touch of realism to her appearance.
"...Aren't we all?" Mei Mei chuckled. In the end, she opened her eyes and pouted her lips. "Fine. Then I'll be a little selfish too."
Wei Wuyin's dim eyes slightly brightened.
"Haha. No. I won't go with you. Since I helped you build this, I should at least live in it until I'm satisfied. I still rather not be worshiped by the masses or embroil myself in conflict once again. I'm tired of all that. I was then, and I definitely am now that I've experienced this peace and genuine, satisfying type of hard work." Mei Mei's words didn't cause Wei Wuyin's expression to dampen at all. She continued, "I'll be here for whatever you need and perhaps when you've conquered more, established other places like this beyond the stars, I'd go with you there. I won't pursue love or find someone else from now on. I don't think there's any man in this world who could rival you in my mind or who knows my body as well as you do. That'll only create a drift between whatever relationship I form, so why bother?
"In exchange, I want something. I want you to promise me something."
"..." Wei Wuyin owed Mei Mei too much. If not for her, he wouldn't be here. That day where he stood before those impaled heads and a blood-caked battlefield, no longer seeing any path forward...that day would have been his last, and none of this would have happened if not for her.
"Anything," he replied.
Her hand touching her lower stomach pressed a little harder. "I've had all sorts of experiences in this world, but there's something I've always wanted but was afraid to have given my dire circumstances."
She took a deep breath and turned her gaze which was incomparably severe and steely, "I want to have a child. I want to have your child!"
Wei Wuyin's eyes shook!

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