Paragon of Sin

'Anima-Devourer?!'

This was an obscure name that, normally, a tiny Medicinal Sage from an isolated portion of the Everlore Starfield within the greater yet equally as isolated Ancient Sealed Regions would not and could not have known! And yet the perspective and tone that Sage Xiaotian reflected her seemingly omnipotent presence of bone-deep haughtiness and peak knowledge!

Moreover, she had explained EVERYTHING!!

Wei Wuyin's heart could not stop racing with heavy, powerful thumps—62%. This question that lingered heavily upon his heart since before his path of cultivation had officially begun finally had an answer that he yearned for for the majority of his breathing existence.

"An Anima-Devourer!" Wei Wuyin's mother seemed somewhat enlightened by this name as if it was trudged forth from the depths of her mind. Wei Wuyin knew that this was simply a masquerade of the setting. He didn't let it distract him.

"Ah! So it's an Anima-Devourer! No wonder, no wonder," Minister Long combed his pristinely white beard with his thin, wrinkled fingers with an expression of realization as if all of Wei Wuyin's mother's symptoms and the prior explanations of her condition given to him by his father had come together seamlessly. It painted a perfect picture.

There was an ancient saying within the Myriad Yore Continent: "The dead share no secrets." Considering how the heavens were readily explaining secrets that not even Wei Wuyin, the proclaimed Emperor of the Ancient Sealed Region, and someone who've received blessings of numerous Daos, peered into the very secrets of the Heavenly Daos brazenly, and dared to offend the River of Time, had origins that could be traced back to the very beginning of literal universal creation, and reached a literal heaven-defying level of cultivation, these secrets were things that were obscure and could remain hidden for an immortal lifetime—forever!

Within the Fourth Calamity of Hell, Wei Wuyin could be considered 'dead' by every logical definition, already in the natural process of cleansing and soul rebirth. The heavens kept no secrets from him if it meant completing its objective that suited the hellish dimension's purpose—despair.

To feel genuine despair, one must feel abundant, lively, and invincible hope. It preyed upon that weakness, be it beast or human or demon.

The word 'cruel' could never do this calamity justice for any unfortunate soul that had sinned enough to be placed here. To be cleansed here.

Sage Xiaotian was not finished, her gaze was slightly distant as if she was peering into the grand secrets of an unknown mythological legend thought false, substantiated by the faintest of whispers:

"Anima-Devourers. They are a part of the three essential devourers of the natural universe. They consist of World, Anima, and Star. According to legend, they correspond to the principles of the three primal energies—physical, mental, and essence. These energies comprise the foundation of our universe and form the quintessential energies of all life.

"Beyond our world is a looming Star-Devourer lost and afraid and trapped and homesick. And beyond that exists existences with impure Star-Devourer bloodlines. They are mistaken as Star Devourers of the current generation," her vocal tone was laden with a rare sadness as she eyed Wei Wuyin as if Karmic ties would inexplicably be severed upon his cleansing. This was a reflection of heaven's reality.

Somehow, Wei Wuyin's soul felt pained at her gaze as if he would forever descend into everlasting regret. He felt his body become colder—78%.

However, none of this surprised him. He was keenly aware that Hell's eighteen calamitous dimensions relied on Karmic ties to constitute their relevant trials. While unaware that Long Chen, that Blessed figure had somehow entered his second calamity, the first calamity thrived and deprived one's Karmic ties by twisting the cause and effects of events in unfortunate and fortunate ways.

The lost, afraid, trapped, and homesick Star-Devourer was none other than the Tiangou that had accidentally brought destruction to his home starfield. As for those Star-Devourers with bloodline origins of Star-Devourers, Wei Wuyin knew about this from Wang Yutian, the Spiritform that served the King of Everlore and the ancient experts of the Everlore Starfield in maintaining their legacies.

Wang Yutian had come from the Endless Purgatory and had barely survived, escaping miraculously and subsequently being saved by the King of Everlore, becoming a quasi-immortal Spiritform entity. He was also, what Wei Wuyin would largely consider, one of his first genuine friends after embarking on this calamitous road against Hell, Heaven, and countless challenges.

Wang Yutian had once mentioned that he had never seen Star-Devourers as large as the Tiangou and that he was fully aware of a Tiangou and referred to them as a part of Star-Devourers, which likely indicated that a few racially divergent Star-Devourers had made their home inside the Onestar Domain. Given the excessive size of its Solar Star, this didn't surprise him.

"..." His family remained silent as they seemed immersed and awed by Sage Xiaotian's words. They refused to add anything to the conversation, or better to describe it, unable to.

"The bloodline lineage of an Anime-Devourer is what's causing my mother's hereditary condition?" Wei Wuyin inquired as he used the present tense. The red dust swirled around his soul and drowned him. But in his eyes that didn't invoke the all-seeing Celestial Eyes, he was unaware—91%.

Sage Xiaotian returned her gaze to Wei Wuyin's little five-year-old figure, yet in her eyes reflected the hazy image of an adult with unearthly handsomeness and extraordinary exceptional bearing that could stand before Hell, the Heavenly Daos, and Supreme Sages fearlessly. "You and your mother have developed unique abilities that humans aren't supposed to have. The main cause for her affliction is Anima Chains of Self-Preservation and the primary power of Anima-Devourers: Gluttony of Mind."

Her words caused Wei Wuyin's expression to change as if nostalgia slammed him and memories of his past life, which had become increasingly hazy, were flashing across his mind. The injury to his brain all those years ago—94%.

"I must say, however, I've heard that those with Anima-Devourer bloodline had an unearthly charm, both physically and spiritually. Moreover, they instinctively exude that chain-like power that halts impure thoughts from those stronger than them like a skunk facing a predator, preventing them from binding them through slavery. From your mother here, it seems that is true. I wonder how irresistibly attractive a young man would be when fully matured."

"..." Wei Wuyin's mind and soul felt increasingly heavy with every passing second. The feeling of red dust overwhelming his soul, adhering to him like a secondary layer of skin, was indescribably strange. To best put it, it was almost as if his soul was settling within a new reality, slowly causing all his former memories to grow hazy and indistinct.

At a certain point, for the briefest of moments, Wei Wuyin felt as if he was five years old and was hearing his most desired wish within his little heart. The wish for his mother's cure.

Hope bloomed; red dust shrouded.

Despair loomed; red dust calls.

"To get to the core of the matter," Sage Xiaotian continued, "your wife, Mister Wu, has suffered an extensive brain injury that likely had the potential of killing her or outright turning her brain dead. As a form of self-preservation, the Anima Chains seized her core psyche, her id, ego, and thoughts which constitute her personality, and secured it within her Mind's Eye.

"Normally, an Anima-Devourer would devour quintessential mental energies of other lifeforms using one of its other numerous functioning minds before shattering these chains anew. But this condition manifests slightly differently within humans as they possess a singular mind, and so a strange sequence of symptoms occurs. For example, your wife here is here and her lost memories haven't vanished, but have only been consumed by her main psyche as her bloodline generates replacements repeatedly, hence the new sense of self appearing like sporadic amnesia.

"She is attempting to recover by doing so, but this method is highly inefficient. There are quite a few solutions to her condition, depending on the cost. One of these solutions is to find a material containing the purest and a high volume of Mental Energy to shatter the chains and free her mind psyche. Demonic energies could also work.

"There is another solution," she paused slightly as the dazed Wei Wuyin stared at her, "to devour the mental or demonic energy of an external entity, relying on the Innate Gluttony of the Mind ability, enough to satisfy the requirement of the ability itself."

And with that, all the questions Wei Wuyin had about why or how he survived such a devastating injury, why his memory was lost, why he was locked by chains, why he developed and kept creating new minds, especially how he had devoured Eden who tried to seize his mind, a mental entity that had lived for millions of years and indescribable amount of mental strength, long before the Ancient Sealed Region ever existed!

He closed his eyes.

99%...

He could feel it.

While there was no grand solution that he hadn't already theorized, all of this verification of his origins in the depths of Hell itself was a step forward on his path of cultivation. Now, all that remained…was to survive this.

To conquer this dimension of Hell!

To conquer the Fourth Calamity!

When Wei Wuyin's eyes opened, the pupils and the mark on his glabella vanished miraculously, fading as if covered by a gentle tap of a make-up brush, buried underneath. And those eyes, those sublime silver eyes, revealed the youthful exuberance and faint mischievous attitude of a five-year-old youngster.

100%.

The entire world began to rapidly shift and spiral!

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