Paragon of Sin

A single year; for cultivators, both mortal and Ascended beings, this was an extremely short period of time. It could barely cover any form of proper secluded cultivation period, and even certain alchemical products typically require far, far longer than this to refine.

To designate this time as a deadline for an Ascended's cultivation session, every last high-level expert within the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region would guffaw at it. This would include a sneer of mockery if it was to refine a peak Mystic-Earth grade product, cultivate a Low-World tier cultivation method to the first stage, and succeed in the Third Ascension.

This was enough to take a lifetime, yet Wei Wuyin had declared that Wu Yu had a single year, just a single year in total, to complete this monstrous list of feats. If it was anyone else who told Wu Yu of this, he would dismiss them as being mentally deranged and woefully ignorant. However, facing this unearthly handsome youth with ungodly talents alongside his current capabilities, Wu Yu didn't dare to voice anything but a respectful nod of acknowledgement.

Wei Wuyin was content with Wu Yu's attitude, gauging the level of belief and respect Wu Yu held within his heart. That said, Wei Wuyin would never set these goals if he wasn't more than seventy-percent confident of its plausibility.

Wen Mingna watched with excitement, disbelief, and heavy interest in her limpid eyes. She had studied under the Golden Gate Pavilion and was given access to all sorts of knowledge about cultivation and various methods. When she learned that Wu Yu was intending to cultivate a cultivation method at the World-Rank from nothing to the first stage in a single year, she was instinctually skeptical.

Her knowledge of cultivation forbade the acceptance of such unrealistic expectations and assumptions. While Wu Yu was immensely talented in his own right, he had inevitably failed his first ascension attempt into the Demi-Mortal Lord Phase. He clearly wasn't a heaven-defying genius of preposterous talents. No disrespect intended.

Yet Wu Yu didn't blame the glances of skepticism that turned his way, merely giving a faint smile. Why would he decide to follow Wei Wuyin that day, leaving Long Chen to develop on his own, if not for moments like this? While it was primarily to obtain an Ever-Rebirth Pill, his subsequent subordination was fully due to this current development.

In truth, he fully expected to wait until Wei Wuyin became a Saint Alchemist before generating any momentum towards progressing in his cultivation base. This could take a long period of time, but he still had a hefty number of years on his soulspan. He could afford to wait.

Bai Lin clawed her way out of the depths of the lake, drenched in water, and choking a little after struggling to escape. She hadn't expected the abrupt sinking and breathed enough water to fill a water basin in her panic. She coughed out splashes of lake water and turned her golden-colored eyes towards Wei Wuyin and the other two. After a few seconds, she casually went back to float on the water.

It was comfortable.

Bai Lin aside, Wei Wuyin softly breathed in the Utmost Purity Mist. In truth, he was confident of achieving that set goal, but there was a chance of failure. During his discussion with Wu Yu about Utmost Purity Mist and the time of refinement, he had conceived a theory: What if he infused Utmost Purity Mist post-concoction?

Could it reduce the refinement time for foreign products, lessening the strain of refinement, and allowing a cultivator to extract more of the product's potential. Since he became a Mortal Sovereign Alchemist, Wang Yutian's words that they were terrifying had never slipped out of his mind. He fully intended to visit a flourishing association with legacies of true Mortal Sovereign Alchemists in the hopes of attaining the secrets of the Alchemic Stars of Mortal Spirituality and his newly evolved Alchemic Stars of Spiritual Transcendence.

Unfortunately, these secrets were closely guarded and very likely required various oaths to be formed before an organization would comfortably share such legacies and information. After learning how restricted legacies were in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region and its over-usage of Mythical Oaths, he felt vexxed.

At one point, he was contemplating using force to obtain all of this. While he could purchase these pieces of information, methods, and product recipes, he wasn't absolutely certain if this was optimal for him. It might generate leaks in the narrative of his mysterious identity that's circulating or open up an avenue for him to be exploited by others. It was a bit frustrating.

Perhaps he was overthinking it, but the more he learned how the society and civilization traditions of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region operated, the more he felt insecure as a mortal with potential. An option for him to safely conduct such business was through the Golden Life Pavilion or use the Golden Life Pavilion's connections. Unfortunately, Ma Zheng was not the true leader of the Golden Life Pavilion.

Still, cultivation was all about progression and self-discovery. He was reminded of this after discussing the details of Utmost Purity Mist and Alchemic Spirit Remnants. Since the Alchemic Stars of Mortal Spirituality can view and somewhat exhibit control over Alchemic Spirit Remnants, could he exert this power over Utmost Purity Mist?

If the Alchemic Stars truly were the Alchemic Dao's version of Intent, then this possibility might be true. He decided to test it now.

Wu Yu and Wen Mingna exited the Utmost Purity Domain and stood patiently to the side. Wei Wuyin didn't hesitate for a moment before he began to interact with Eden, drawing upon its control over alchemical energies. While this might be needless, he felt comforted to feel this power within his grasp.

With that, he meditated whilst standing. There was no hand-seal to channel his power or phenomenon preluding a grand event. He just stood there within the Utmost Purity Domain with the vial in hand, opened and ready to receive it.

Wei Wuyin slowly inhaled. The Utmost Purity Mist began to softly roil, rippling with every millisecond of his inhale. Then, he exhaled. The Utmost Purity Mist settled. Wei Wuyin's eyebrows shot up instantly, pleasantly surprised by this initial testing! It was a faint success!

Typically, Utmost Purity Mist would instinctively gather into the cauldron during the concoction process, especially the fusion phase of the Alchemical Concoction Process. This would generally elevate the pill's quality and enhance its properties towards ease of refinement. One of the main reasons why Wei Wuyin rarely generated impure-products was greatly contributed by this gushing quantity of Utmost Purity Mist.

'I wonder if it's an ability of the Alchemic Stars of Mortal Spirituality or its evolved version, the Alchemic Stars of Spiritual Transcendence.' Wei Wuyin's thoughts were lamenting at his inability to determine which. This was an unfortunate result of lacking a legacy and discovering an ability long after its evolved.

In truth, he'd never thought about the intricacies of Utmost Purity Mist or to actively manipulate it prior to his conversation with Wu Yu. It sparked a surge of creative brilliance, a genuine eureka moment awaited his success.

"What should we name this?" Ori excitedly asked. It had been a while since they invented something new. The last thing was the Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill. Before then, the Divine Edge Suppression Spell, False God Avatar Art, and the Elemental Saber Life Securing Art. These were all byproducts of their uniqueness and Wei Wuyin's creativity.

"Why? It's not something we made," Kratos unhesitatingly declared with a wisp of a disheartened tone. The ability to manipulate Utmost Purity Mist was likely a part of the Alchemic Stars, not Wei Wuyin's ingenuity.

"Tch," King disapprovingly voiced its opinion. This caused Kratos to growl slightly, "What do you mean?" But King didn't reply.

Eden explained, "The ability to manipulate Utmost Purity Mist isn't ours to claim, but what about the infusion of pure refined spiritual energies, Seven Source Soul Light, and unrefined lifeforce into Utmost Purity Mist, then injecting it into a product to heighten its qualities?"

"Oh!" Kratos immediately understood, its despondent tone vanished abruptly. This was a post-improvement spell! For alchemical products!! Almost immediately, it suggested: "Sky Dragon Gate Spell!"

"..." Ori, King, Eden, and Wei Wuyin.

After a while…

"Let's not go with that. Yeah?" Ori said cautiously.

"Tch," King agreed instantly. It didn't make any sense.

Wei Wuyin wryly smiled. He hadn't even completed the spell's design yet, but these Astral Souls of his were already excited to leap into the naming process. However, he was truly invigorated by this possibility. He had never considered the possibility of two things: Adding effects to a product post-concoction and elevating its base qualities.

Yet his thoughts spurred such possibilities after devising a way to increase the ease of refinement. This was just inadvertent theory-crafting, yet it seemed the ease of refinement might be the least world-defying aspect of this spell of his.

Kratos growled after its name was clearly disagreed with by all. It was a good name, no?

Eden made a suggestion after a while, "How about the Eighth Source Transcendence Spell? Since it could be an eighth aspect of concoction that allows it to transcend its previous quality after its creation?"

"..." Kratos, King, Ori, and Wei Wuyin. Their silence wasn't like before, but filled with genuine shock at the suggestion. This was good, no, it was freaking brilliant!

"I guess it's fine, but it's no Sky Dragon Gate," Kratos begrudgingly commented.

Wei Wuyin brightly smiled. His path of cultivation never felt lonely with these four alongside him. With a heavy breath, he proceeded to draw up the intricate spell formation needed to proceed. While it was all theory, his thoughts had already reached a logical foundational base. If he succeeded, who knew what other world-shaking developments this could bring!

While Wei Wuyin's and Wu Yu's year of cultivation had just begun, a particular development was taking place in the Ninestar Starfield's Soul-Saint Domain after a missing person of great renown had announced their return.