Paragon of Sin - Chapter 1642: : Magi (1)
“How long did it take to complete my ascension?” Wei Wuyin inquired with a gentle, sonorous voice that resounded like soft mystical music. Just the simple action of speaking seemed to invoke unfathomable changes, indicating his settlement into the Mystic Dao’s domain of control. He had become a genuine Ascended being, transcending mortality and delving into mysticism.
The echoing of Eden’s voice sounded within his Sea of Consciousness as four harmonic reverberations, “Thirty-six days.”
“Thirty-six? Days?” Wei Wuyin’s silvery eyes effused with mystical light peered into the vast distance, observing hidden void creatures, the mysterious phenomenon of the Dark Void, and faraway galaxies that swirled beautifully. It was worthy of admiration and unquestionably moving to his soul, heart, and mind.
To think that thirty-six days had passed to complete his mystic transformation! But as he thought further on what these four Astral Souls dared to do, what he was subjected to, and the sequence of events that unfolded, he felt that this was perfectly reasonable. While Su Mei had taken eighty-one hours to ascend, the process wasn’t remotely the same.
“It worked out,” Wei Wuyin waved his arms as space and time moved along the length of his arms like water, creating visible waves that were almost liquid in appearance. With an Ascended Existential Framework, his True Void Dragon Bloodline could finally flow within him without any disharmony or limitations. While the Stellar-Paragon Physique had enabled its evolution and mitigated these restrictions, the fact remained that his soul and True Soul remained within the domain of the Mortal Dao, and many of his abilities were unable to be properly used.
“It was close,” Eden remarked in relief. While the entire incident was relatively subdued, the four of them had to bear the heavy load of various difficulties and complex requirements, such as maintaining together Wei Wuyin’s True Soul after it was ruthlessly split into four. A single slip-up and Wei Wuyin’s death would have been certain.
If the mysterious power born from the process of ascension that completed any incompleteness was lacking in strength or had a limitation, Wei Wuyin would forever be incomplete causing the abrupt ending of his path of cultivation from thereon, and they had to be of a single mind throughout to maintain their connection with each other. A single disconcerted thought of independence might have foiled the entire situation after they were recreated.
There was a slight chance that Wei Wuyin and all of them could have had four versions of themselves, especially if Eden and Ori were unable to recreate and properly utilize the merging force. Who knows what would have happened then, but this type of True Soul cloning could disrupt the flow of many things and infringe some laws of rebirth. After all, all four would have been the same person in every way.
Fortunately, they succeeded; each Astral Soul had base frameworks that reached the Mystic Ascendant Realm, and they could generate, control, and absorb Mystic Energies, Mystic Essence, and interact with things within the domain of the Mystic Dao. Wei Wuyin no longer needed his Celestial Eyes to observe Mystic Ascendant Realm experts or Mystic Power.
During his fierce fight against Sage Springfield, Wei Wuyin was blinded by a backlash and temporarily lost his Celestial Eyes, unable to sense or see Mystic Power. If Sage Springfield had taken that opportunity to strike then, neither Wei Wuyin nor his Astral Souls had any cards to retaliate against it. Now, he simply could use his eyes or Spiritual Sense.
It was a wondrous change that solved a critical weakness of being a mortal fighting against Ascended beings. They operated within a domain that he simply couldn’t observe otherwise.
“Nah. We had it,” King shockingly said with profoundly unwavering confidence. The plan that they had brazenly conceived had flawlessly been completed. This confidence wasn’t unreasonable or unearned.
They did it.
“I never doubted any of you,” Wei Wuyin smiled as he slowly flexed his muscles, sensing his cellular constitution, organs, Sea of Consciousness, and his Mind’s Eye that housed Little Defiant. Whether it was his True Void Dragon Bloodline, the Palace of Eden, Little Defiant, the Stellar-Paragon Physique, or each of his Astral Souls encased by a Mystic Core, diligently refining their starforce into mystic force, they had all undergone wondrous transformations on a tremendous scale.
Just Little Defiant’s solar pulses were dangerously tyrannical. If it was the past, his Sea of Consciousness would have long since been scorched by its indirect exertion of solar essence and solar energies. These solar energies flowed into his body, continuously tempering this bone, blood, flesh, and cells, providing each Astral Soul with a continuous supply of energy that they could transform into mystic-graded energies and then mystic force.
“My True Soul multiplied and then merged,” Wei Wuyin knew that when they split him into four, they did so thoroughly, and each commanded a single portion, ushering it into the Seed Tribulation Gate. They split the manifestations of his Laws, his Primordial Seeds of Sin, and his fleshy body, creating smaller versions of himself similar to Bai Xiu’s tiny form.
These things had all been rejuvenated and repaired by that mysterious force that assisted the Mystic Dao in its need for completeness until they returned to their former perfect state. Normally, a True Soul could only give birth to four complete True Souls, and each Astral Soul by the originally Haven Heart Qi Method, could only split two more times. The Sacred Elven Queen had proved this by relying on that same method to create and merge three Astral Souls, but these Astral Souls were formed by dividing the Spirit of Cultivation, not her True Soul.
However, after his split, he had created a total of sixteen Spirits of Cultivation, breaking the mold yet adhering to the natural laws. Because he had four legitimate True Souls at the time! So he could contain four Spirits of Cultivation each!
When they merged his True Souls and themselves, he didn’t know what would happen or if there would be an unforeseen change. But the transformation and result was simple. His True Soul became one from four and his Spirits of Cultivation became four from sixteen, so there was no violation of those natural laws.
This followed the logic of their previous transformations; his Mystic Cores had quadrupled in size, and their upper limits had likely been elevated by four times as well. What type of absurdity was that?!
Despite his joy of succeeding in taking this unprecedented step, the bitterness in his mind lingered. He had refined Mystic-World products like food and water repeatedly for seventeen years to reach his peak. The Mystic Star Phase was the crossroads, the last remnant of the transitional process of becoming a genuine Mystic Ascendant, and it acted as the congregate stage for the three principles of the Mortal Dao’s Three Realms-the Realm of Preparation, the Realm of Accumulation, and the Realm of Assimilation.
“I have a long path ahead of me,” Wei Wuyin smiled, but the bitterness that had manifested had vanished already, replaced by anticipation and elation.
The Mystic Star Phase was a phase that was used by top-tier Chosen and demonic talents to reach greater limits on the path of cultivation and further differentiate themselves from ordinary Mystic Ascendants. They willingly failed the tribulation so that their Mystic Core, Mystic Physique’s fundamental structure and various innate energies weren’t solidified yet and could be changed and improved upon by the Mystic Dao’s emulation of the Mortal Dao’s three realms.
After a cultivator entered the Second Stage of the Mystic Ascendant Realm, the Soul of Mysticism Phase, transforming their Astral Souls into Mystic Souls, their Mystic Core, Mystic Physique, and innate energies were set in terms of quantity and quality. The only things that changed throughout the process of the Mystic Ascendant Realm were Mystic Intent and the various stages of its development.
A cultivator no longer cultivated themselves, they cultivated their Mystic Intent. The strength of their Mystic Intent was solely based on the number of complete Mystic Runes within them, and regardless if one was a heaven-defying talent such as Tian Taizong or originally one of the weakest cultivators, Zhang Ziyi, the strength of their Mystic Runes remained constant and unchanging. No one was superior in that regard. The only differences were the mystic power that powered each rune and the profound usage of each rune through Ascension Arts.
To get a significant advantage, geniuses used this last chance to increase the quality and quantity of their energies to produce greater strength from their mystic power-powered Mystic Runes and make significant, last-minute changes to their Mystic Physique and World-Bound Star Domain.
As always, there would be other factors that would affect comprehensive strength, such as their level of Origin State if attained, comprehension of Laws, and external items of power such as Heavenly Treasures. However, besides Origin State which can be reached through the natural progression of the Mystic Ascendant Realm after grasping the Mana Rune of Mysticism to a high level, the others were attributes that exceeded the Mystic Ascendant Realm. This was simply the progression of cultivation spilling over from higher stages, elevating one’s strength.
For example, Laws was strictly a Resonant Soul Realm requirement, and while it was taught by various societies to grasp a Seed of Law and nurture it to act as a bridge to assist the difficult ascension between stages within the Mystic Ascendant Realm, it wasn’t remotely required. In fact, you didn’t need a Seed of Law at all!
The Ways of Mysticism could refine your Mystic Soul and Spirit of Cultivation to a level that could withstand the ascension process, simply this path had a significantly higher chance of failure and death. The various societies of cultivation simply created ease of process for elites to strive for to obtain higher chances of success and power, further differentiating them from the ‘standard’ and ‘ordinary’ Mystic Ascendants. It was this evolution of cultivation standards that saw a greater number of Resonant Soul Realm experts across the galaxies.
If not for the Prohibition of Heavenly Resonance that prevented Mystic Intent from connecting to the heavens, and manifesting Heavenly Radiance, there would have been Heavenly Saints within the Sky Heart Galaxy despite their primitive and underdeveloped society. Moreover, they were further restrained by ancient legacies that called for Seeds of Law and such.
“Now that I’ve ascended, will I need Mystic-Heaven products to not spend thousands upon thousands of years to reach my maximum foundation through cultivation?” The last foundational stage and realm left was now, and each subsequent stage was a matter of insight and comprehension. Wei Wuyin did a rough estimation of his needs, and he realized that this merging wasn’t as simple as four times four.
Not only was a Mystic Core and half-Mystic Physique significantly greater in terms of quality comparable to an Astral Core and Astral Physique, but the tier and quantity of resources were greater as well!
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he would need thousands or tens of thousands times the resources used during his secluded temporally-accelerated cultivation, and then multiplied that in terms of quality of those resources! Mystic-World products? Mystic-Heaven products…
These products were useful for Resonant Soul Realm experts, and he was already thinking of how to acquire them as a first stage Mystic Ascendant.
“I can’t believe you did what you just did!” The Heavenly War Spirit’s voice resembling a little girl, unbearably cute sounding despite the anger, resounded in his Sea of Consciousness.
She was originally terrified to the point of absolute silence. When those Astral Souls divided Wei Wuyin into four, she was a part of him and his cultivation base, so she was split too! The feeling was incredibly wondrous and equally as terrifying. When she was split, she genuinely felt an urge to piss herself out of fear. The entire process was horrifying! Fortunately, she was repaired and then merged without incident.
She didn’t know what changed exactly, but the soul of Sage Springfield that she had claimed as hers, slowly assimilating it while awaiting for Wei Wuyin to give birth to a Law Seed of War, was divided too and repaired by that mysterious force, similarly merged as well.
It was easy to tell the Heavenly War Spirit was pouting. Wei Wuyin didn’t consult her before doing whatever the hell he had done! How could she not be angry?
“We survived, right? Haha,” Wei Wuyin chuckled lightly. He didn’t consult the Heavenly War Spirit because she couldn’t offer any assistance during this process, and even he only understood the greater details and fully trusted his Spirits to act as they should.
“But what if we didn’t?! Splitting your True Soul! What an insane thing to do! YOU ARE INSANE, Y’KNOW?!” The golden spirit grew angrier and more exasperated with each word, especially how nonchalant Wei Wuyin had been despite doing something as outrageous as splitting his True Soul and undergoing the ascension process four times with each Spirit of Cultivation. She was unaware of the greater changes though.
Wei Wuyin could only laugh. With his True Soul split, repaired to completeness, and then merged as one, he didn’t know what other significant changes this would possess, but he could feel that his soul energy was greater by no small margin. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if it was the merging process or just the ascension process. Could True Souls be expanded?
Regardless, he didn’t have full access and control over his True Soul like those in the True Soul Phase, nor could he cultivate methods such as the True Soul of Sin that was meant for those in the Realm of Sages, so he could only…
“…” Upon thinking this train of thought, Wei Wuyin wondered what if…
Just as he was in contemplation, the Heavenly War Spirit repeatedly informed Wei Wuyin of the dangers of damaging one’s True Soul with anger, a voice resounded in his ears. It was ancient and benevolent.
“You’ve made it, Little One.”
Wei Wuyin’s soul felt as if a warm, gentle hand had touched it. He knew who this was!
Fuxi!
“It’s finally time for you to learn of your heritage.”