Paragon of Sin

Wei Wuyin softly, delicately, very gently lifted Wen Mingna's body into a bridal carry, using his right chest and shoulder as a pillow for her head. Her breathing was quite subdued, so deathly slow that it seemed she was moving at a different pace of time.

There was very little hesitation as he turned to Wu Yu, who wore a surprised and astonished expression. When he felt Wei Wuyin's 'gaze', Wu Yu hurriedly moved to inspect Wen Mingna's condition without being asked. After a while, he faintly heaved a sigh.

"She's an empty husk; her lifespan has severely decreased and her innate energies are all but empty. If it wasn't for the Domain Seed engulfing her Astral Soul, supporting it to prevent its collapse, she would've died from the rapid expulsion of forces." Wu Yu's conclusion provoked Wei Wuyin to faintly smile, a tinge of annoyance suffused within.

Wu Yu realized he misidentified Wei Wuyin's desires. Wei Wuyin's spiritual sense was abnormally powerful, so how could he not come to this conclusion as well? Closing his eyes, he hovered his hand above Wen Mingna's forehead. A strange wisp of dark-grey spiritual light flowed around his hand.

"Stop," Wei Wuyin moved Wen Mingna away from Wu Yu. He was about to activate Time Reversion, an Ascended cultivator's advanced version of Temporal Dissonance. It was capable of reversing certain events. It even had the means to reverse death if used properly. However, the usage of such time manipulation was very limited and required severe self-cost.

Wu Yu had already explained that, while it can heal, reverse events, Time Reversion wasn't actually healing or a complete redo of time itself. It only affected physical mass and mental consciousness, not energies or various forces. Wu Yu performing this on Wen Mingna would only exhaust his lifespan, not save hers.

"Sense," Wei Wuyin urged.

Wu Yu was taken aback. He inspected Wen Mingna again, but this time, his eyes transformed to reflect endless stars of a multicolored array. It was extremely gorgeous. After an extremely short period of time, he was startled by his discovery, and realized what Wei Wuyin wanted from him. He hurriedly formed a hand-seal which caused various rays of mystic light to encapsulate Wei Wuyin, Wen Mingna, and Bai Lin until they formed a sealed cocoon.

He didn't hesitate to move to the Voidship's helm, resuming control, and sending it flying away at maximum speed. Wu Yu grabbed the cocoon and took off in a different direction, allowing the Voidship to fly in a predetermined course. Shortly after their departure, a figure appeared where the Voidship previously were. They inspected the area for a long while before flickering in the direction of the Voidship.

In the sealed cocoon, Wei Wuyin kept Wen Mingna close as his thoughts rapidly stirred. He had obtained Wen Mingna's memories through her strange, haphazard memory transference method. If it wasn't for Eden's interference and refinement, being an existence entrenched within the Mind Dao, he would've likely obtained only jumbled pieces and indistinct visions.

However, with it, he learned a lot.

Firstly, he misunderstood. Long ago, he had kidnapped Ming Shufeng, Lin Ziyan's companion and a Heavenly Seer, in the hopes of discovering details about the Eighteen Hells and their purposes. He succeeded in learning about the Second Layer of Hell, and obtained a clue that helped him immensely during his Second Calamity. However, when Ming Shufeng spoke of the second layer, her words were an incoherent jumbled mess.

Ming Shufeng hadn't known at the time, neither did he, but this was deliberately done due to the Heavenly Daos' innate restrictions. When one goes into Hell after death, they retain memories of their former lives. After all, if they didn't, how could they be tortured by their memories and insecurities during the first two layers?

He had misunderstood by thinking it was the deliberate action of the Bloodline of Sin from allowing him an unfair advantage, even considering it as if the Bloodline of Sin was using this as a game-like trial that required him to pave his way forward ignorantly, but he was so, so, so very wrong. The Bloodline of Sin hadn't prevented him from hearing it, it prevented him from suffering the severe backlash as a result of learning it.

It was why it was jumbled, why only his soul hurt, and why he couldn with time, understand it. The Bloodline of Sin was masking him and working overtime to do so. He also realized that it hadn't taken action during the description of the first layer, which meant the innate restrictions of the Heavenly Daos' likely had a loophole that couldn't inflict regulatory punishment if a being already had knowledge of the Hell Layer.

Reminded of how he violently blamed the First Sinner for being hypocritical, cursing them without pause since, he felt the need to mentally apologize for all of it.

Secondly, there was no other way.

In Wen Mingna's mind, Wei Wuyin had stressed the severe importance of her entering a sect and obtaining this information, including various arts on divination, and she felt that this was the only option. She had researched for over half a decade and discovered that Wei Wuyin wouldn't be able to obtain this information no matter what without suffering a deadly consequence.

While she was free from this backlash, he would certainly die as a mortal being. So she devised this way to send what she could, regardless of the sacrifice it entailed.

She wasn't wrong; Wei Wuyin wouldn't have been able to acquire the information without her sacrifice. Even if he entered her mind and acquired this information via Eden, he wouldn't be able to avoid the backlash. Considering this type of method exists, how could others not use it in reverse? Many have tried to take a Heavenly Seer's memories, and it eventually led to their deaths without failure.

The Heavenly Daos protected them in a strange, unfathomable manner. If a Heavenly Seer informed others willingly, they'd instantly lose their ability to speak and their cultivation bases, but if someone tried to force it from them, that person would be obliterated instead. The only reason Wei Wuyin survived was due to the Bloodline of Sin's protection. Ming Shufeng was extremely reckless, but he couldn't know for sure if she was aware of this.

Wei Wuyin gave Wen Mingna a slight smile of praise, "You're really something, huh?" He didn't have high hopes of her finding information about the Calamities of Hell and later delivering complete information. Since he functioned on the pre-existing belief that the Bloodline of Sin prevented him from learning all of it, he intended to go through with the tortuous process once again to find an inkling of a sentence or two for the Third Layer of Hell.

She didn't just do it, she did it perfectly. She skirted by all the restrictive rules in a seamless fashion. It was quite incredible. The Heavenly Daos believed that, at the time of his learning this information, he was a Heavenly Seer. The transference of protected information between Heavenly Seers was not disallowed by any means.

Lastly, he now had complete information about the first Six Layers of Hell. As for the other twelve, in Wen Mingna's memories, information about them was written in a strange language she'd never seen before and couldn't interpret. Furthermore, there were no other records. If this was true, then Ming Shufeng had likely lied about knowing about all Eighteen Hells before.

He felt a growing urge to…

Wu Yu's voice rumbled through the cocoon, "How did you know?" While he was listening to Wei Wuyin's orders, he wasn't without his curiosity and questions.

"It was a guess. I had a feeling we were being tracked by someone, that's all." Earlier, Wei Wuyin felt a looming sense of dread shortly after Wen Mingna had transferred her memories. It reminded him of his experiences when viewing the world's trend using the Eye of Truth, but it felt as if he was being pricked instead.

Unfortunately, the feeling lasted for a brief moment and he wasn't certain what it was about. He also wasn't certain if they were already watching them or making their approach, and the sensation itself was extremely heavy, and no mortal being should be able induce such feelings in him.

"They're an Ascended adept in concealment arts. They seemed to have been tracking the Voidship and aren't a Highlord or at the Earthly Saint." Wu Yu calmly analyzed, keeping a lookout for any other pursuers. After a while, Wu Yu continued: "Their aura is familiar…"

"Should be; they're after you," Wei Wuyin stated indifferently.

"..." Wu Yu wasn't shocked by his statement. His brows furrowed for a while before he accepted that fact. Since Wei Wuyin had just mentioned it, then it could only mean it began when they arrived in the Aeternal Sky Starfield. Since Bai Lin hadn't been seen by anyone and Wei Wuyin's identity and location was as mysterious as heaven and earth itself to many, he was the only one left.

"Bing Clan?" Wu Yu speculated. However, the aura of that didn't match the Bing Clan's signature ice-attributed auras that hunted him down before.

"Did you inspect yourself?" Wei Wuyin asked.

Wu Yu replied, "I did; there's no tracker on me. If there was, they wouldn't have followed the ship instead of us."

Wei Wuyin slightly frowned. This was quite strange. But after some thinking, he was left with only a single conclusion: Wu Yu was being hunted. After all, Wu Yu had to recently reveal his ascended aura to enter the Everlore Domain. If it was anything, then it was that moment that led to this one.

Unfortunately, he had to sacrifice his Voidship. He liked that Voidship. He liked it a lot.

"...urgh…" Wen Mingna groaned in his arms, nestling further into his embrace as she slept in a natural attempt to recover her mental energies. Wei Wuyin hadn't forgotten about her for a moment, holding this phenomenal woman in his hands that likely saved his life.

While he was confident of surviving the Third Calamity without incident after learning about it, he wasn't confident about the fourth. In fact, he was certain he'd perish without complete knowledge of it. No vague sentence would've been enough. Even now, he felt his chances were less than 10% with ample preparation and foreknowledge.

The foreknowledge contributed to 9% of that, while ample preparations barely added to the 1% remaining. As for the fifth and sixth? It was true that the deeper you go into Hell, the worse your chances of resisting its cleansing.

Wei Wuyin gently whispered: "I haven't done much for you, yet you were willing to give up everything for me. And I don't even know why." While he acquired her memories, only the bits relating to the Hell Layers and her attempt to figure out a way was included, nothing else.

If Wei Wuyin said he wasn't moved, he would be a liar. He stared at her pale complexion and lackluster grey hair for a long moment before his face relaxed. If his eyes could be seen, they would reflect a determined resolve of unimaginable proportions.

He moved his face forward, pressing his forehead onto hers, and then moved his chin slightly. Their lips touched once again. The soft peck lacked the intensity of their earlier kiss. It was softer, gentler, lacking any ounce of self-pleasure, just earnest action. Within Wei Wuyin's heart, the Mark of Eden lit with a distinct brilliance filled with wood and life aura.

The Mark of Eden's lifeforce from within began to slowly leave in strands of gorgeous light, funneling through Wei Wuyin's esophagus, out of his mouth, and then into Wen Mingna's mouth, down her esophagus, and spread to every corner of her body.

Wen Mingna's eyes fluttered open, seeing Wei Wuyin's handsome visage and his warmth on her cold, drained lips. Her body felt as if it was being drenched in a warm bath, extremely comfortable. She didn't think too deeply about it, allowing herself to drown into this feeling of warmth.

Slowly, her skin became infused with a healthy glow, growing taut and firm, and her hair regained some semblance of its original luster. Wei Wuyin no longer hesitated to give her and reveal to her once of his greatest secrets, the seemingly endless lifeforce contained within his body!