Paragon of Sin

"..." All eyes followed the oddly gorgeous saber light as it thrusted through space, traversing a seemingly endless distance like a never-ending comet. It was magical how the saber light traveled yet simultaneously avoided any other obstacle, vanishing in the starry sky as one of its many mysteries.

While the spectators were transfixed on this detail, Wei Wuyin was entirely drenched in cold sweat, his facial complexion a few shades paler, and his breathing slightly labored.

The hand that held Element was shaking ceaselessly. There was a distinct grip of weakness emanating from his hand, yet it was unyieldingly maintaining contact with Element's hilt.

Standing before Wei Wuyin, beneath the starry sky, not even a feet apart, was his replica, a Worldly Avatar designed in his image, a full thirteen-meters tall, and its eyes were fully opened. Despite the difference in stature, the two's eyes were on the same level.

The Worldly Avatar's eyes were like black holes, endless, infinitely crushing, and unfathomably attractive. It was hard to move one's gaze away, but as long as one was caught in its sights, they would feel it—the all-consuming, world-crushing killing intent. It contained the endless desire to end life that embodied the entire world's will.

At the moment, the Worldly Avatar's hand was slightly lifted from a neutral position, its long, sleek, and immaculate finger stretching ever-so-slightly in Wei Wuyin's direction. It had only risen a little, pointing at the lower-half of Wei Wuyin's body!

The sweat on Wei Wuyin's forehead intensified as he stared at the Worldly Avatar, his silver eyes remained focused on those chasm-like eyes of pure, unfettered darkness. If one were to zoom slightly out, inspecting the states of these two figures, they would instantly note a noticeable difference!

Wei Wuyin's left leg was crushed!

It wasn't a simple crushing, but bone, flesh, scales, veins, arteries, and blood was mangled in such a vicious manner that it was impossible to determine if it was a leg or just grey and white mush. Absolutely unrecognizable!

Wei Wuyin's eyebrows twitched, a wisp of shock reflected clearly within his eyes.

The Worldly Avatar had made the briefest of moves, but Wei Wuyin's body, refined by Mystic Light empowered apex-level elemental and physical energies, his True Dragon Bloodline at the peak of the Mortal Myth, the unique enhancement of the Nexus Battlefield, and four Astral Souls were crushed by that mere half-hearted finger point!

What in the actual fu-

"Hm," the Worldly Avatar of Wei Wuyin released a soft sound that shook the entire world, traveling at such a speed that the violent mana movement smashed against Wei Wuyin, hitting him like a tsunami. He wasn't blown away, but his hair was ruffled, his skin pressed heavily against his muscles, and his eyes and ears bled grey blood.

Then, the Worldly Avatar's neck shone with a faint light. This light became increasingly brilliant with each passing millisecond as a sharp, annihilation, and domineering aura permeated to a greater degree. The light reached a crescendo, enveloping the head of the Worldly Avatar from neck up, engulfing it whole, and releasing a saber howl!

In a split second, the head of the Worldly Avatar vanished! Its headless body went limp instantly, floating in the sky like a corpse at sea. The shift was abnormally swift and drastic, causing Wei Wuyin to feel a little surrealism with each passing second observing it all.

"Haaaa…." Wei Wuyin sighed heavily.

"...haaaa…" All four of his Astral Souls unified sighed, clearly the feeling was mutual yet this harmony was quite timely. Wei Wuyin glanced at his crushed left leg. It was so destroyed that he hadn't felt a single thing except the absence of flowing energies and response from his left leg.

"Would I have died instantly?" Wei Wuyin questioned no one in particular, but the Astral Souls was uncharacteristically silent, even Ori and Eden who typically chimed in with energetic or consoling responses. It was clear that they felt death.

Wei Wuyin took out a few pills and elixirs, tapping into the Mark of Eden, and allowing wood energies and lifeforce to pour into his leg. Eden externalized silently, sweeping the pills and elixirs, hurriedly refining them before sending their alchemical efficacy into full effect. The mangled, crushed, and decimated portions of his body began to undergo the proper regrowth.

If Wei Wuyin didn't handle this properly, he could be a cripple for life. Fortunately, he was an alchemist who delved into concocting all sorts of products for study and experimentation. He was fully prepared to lose his legs, arms, or even his meridians. As long as he had breath in his lungs, thoughts in his head, and control of his body, he was confident in bringing himself back from the verge of death.

"What did you guys do?" Wei Wuyin darkly asked. He stared at the headless corpse of the Worldly Avatar shaped in his image. He knew that his Astral Souls were playing with unknown outcomes, affecting or outright tricking the tribulations somehow, and they had some, just a teensy, a freaking smidgen, of an inkling as to what might come from their success.

But if this 'thing' had fully awakened, he would've instantly died! Wasn't that a little too much?!

"Sorry…" Ori had, shockingly, apologized!

Wei Wuyin was taken aback so deeply that he forgot the pain of losing a leg. The tone and emotion behind this voice was genuine! This was a genuine apology!

'Well…I'll be…'

However, Kratos defended Ori. "We did what we had to!" It was as if the normally aggressive and meat-headed sibling was actually defending the sweet, innocent sibling from their father!

Wei Wuyin was speechless. He wasn't intending to berate Ori, knowing that everything they did was for increased chances in surviving the Calamities of Hell. He now felt as if he was in the wrong for asking. He sighed again, wryly smiling in response.

"It's fine. Just be careful nex-WAIT!" Wei Wuyin instantly stopped himself from consoling Ori. The hell was he consoling it for? "Stop deflecting! What the hell is this thing?!" Wei Wuyin realized that he nearly got caught up in their pace. He pointed towards the floating Worldly Avatar that took his image, refusing to relent.

"The World," Eden softly answered.

"The world?" Wei Wuyin frowned.

"No," King strongly elaborated, "the 'World'."

The World? Wei Wuyin noticed the emphasis placed on the word 'world', but he couldn't figure out what that meant. In truth, when people use that word, they either mean two things: a limited awareness born from the interactable or the vast, boundless expanse of the perceivable and beyond.

Their world or the world.

"The World! It's simple!" Kratos growled slightly.

Wei Wuyin couldn't help but roll his eyes. Just from that, he realized that Kratos was as clueless as always. This typically meant its something they can say and are aware of but can't explain in a way that he would understand. At least, not as they currently were.

Suddenly, the Worldly Avatar exploded into motes of gorgeous lights of all colors. It was as if an entirely stellar region had unfolded before his eyes, accompanied by millions of starfields. He was instantly awed speechless.

The motes were like miniaturized Solar Stars and planets. They swirled around Wei Wuyin like the others had before, but the feeling they gave off felt far more…boundless. He reached out and closed his eyes. The swirling slowed down as rays of light after ray of light entered his body, specifically, his dantian, heart, and glabella.

They were entering the housing units of his cultivation base. Wei Wuyin lost himself. It felt as if thousands of years had passed as he felt the gushing flow of light enter his body, like a comfortable massage from a heaven-shaking beauty. It was extremely relaxing.

When Wei Wuyin finally opened his eyes, all the worldly light had disappeared. He lifted his eyes to observe the endless starry sky above, no longer concealed by an atmosphere, freely exposed to him.

"I can feel it…a closeness to everything," Wei Wuyin softly muttered. He looked down to notice that his leg had been fully repaired, including his attire made from Essence of War. The Worldly Avatar couldn't crush its quasi Mystic-World grade defenses despite its tremendous power.

Wei Wuyin was always curious how it would feel to progress to enter the Realm World Phase, becoming a genuine Realmlord! He had read countless experiences, but when he experienced it himself, he felt as if none of them does it justice. The euphoria bestowed by surviving was unimaginable, and the sensation of feeling connected to everything was indescribable.

Cultivation might be difficult, but it was miraculous!

Inspecting his three hubs of cultivation, Wei Wuyin saw four orbs of unique colors, defining each of his Astral Souls. Within his Sea of Consciousness was a seven-colored orb that enveloped the true form of Eden, contained in the center of its Astral Core.

Within his heart, a grey orb that encased a cloudy silhouette. The Astral Core of Kratos was lively.

The same held true for Ori and King, their orbs were pure white with an ever-changing splash of nine colors and a normal white with a black vortex swirling within. These orbs housed their Astral Souls.

Wei Wuyin instantly recognized them as Domain Seeds of the Realm World!

"So this is why one's cultivation base is considered as cemented at this level," Wei Wuyin noticed that the Domain Seeds of the Realm World, unlike his Neo-Dawn Domain Seeds, were encasing and segregating his Astral Souls from their Astral Cores. They wouldn't be able to effectively expand their Astral Cores any longer, only nurture their Domain Seed, their Worldly Domain.

The term 'seed' was coined for this meaning, as an aspect of cultivation needing to be nurtured, and the Astral Souls and cultivators were now thrust into a unique state for this task. One day, these Astral Souls would ascend into Mystic Souls. This was the very first step towards that life-changing evolution, heavily reliant on the strength of their Domain Seed.

"Interesting," Wei Wuyin noted that his black-white hole had remained in his chest, condensing and tempering his innate energies. But considering that his Domain Seeds of the Realm World had fully formed, this suggested that his Gravitational Central Mass had been infused into these orbs, including the Primary Light Source, Spatial Resonance, and Soul Idol of his Astral Souls.

He didn't feel them any longer, but his Gravitational Central Mass remained. It seemed to have become a separate entity, causing him a little confusion. The Domain Seeds of the Realm World condensed and tempered his innate energies into astral force once again, baffling him. A two-fold tempering?

It was clear the Domain Seed was stronger too, imbuing the astral force refined by his Astral Souls with greater spiritual strength, flow of light energies, refined spatial energies, and higher density.

How peculiar…

As for his Neo-Dawn Eclipse Pill's Domain Seeds, they were thoroughly absorbed, serving as a way to swiftly stabilize his Domain Seed.

Wei Wuyin slowly immersed himself in his Elemental Origin Domain Seed, feeling all of the profoundness within. He felt that sensation prick at him, a sensation to unfold himself, and show the world that he, Wei Wuyin, had become a Realmlord!

He tapped into the Domain Seed's core, his Astral Soul, and he felt as if it was unraveling as wisps of worldly light began to spiral within his World Sea, condense, and then unfurl like a lotus outwards and beyond! A burst of worldly power exploded with Wei Wuyin at the center!

Worldly Pressure!

A sphere of pure white color, shifting every so often, was unleashed! Wei Wuyin was the epicenter of this sphere as it expanded! The Worldly Domain of Elemental Origin!

A hundred meters!

The lowest diameter size of a genuine Worldly Domain! Wei Wuyin's size instantly exploded beyond that in the blink of a mortal's eye, reaching a kilometer with ease!

Two kilometers!

Three kilometers!

It kept growing!!!